River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1918-10-24


a big shark aboard. If measured
feet inches in length. This was
Of man-eating shark, SO you can
imagine, perhaps, how big one of
those are. l was transferred to the
signal corps last week. Our tower is
on top of the Washington Hotel.
This is the biggest hotel on the At
laptic side and, as you can see from
this picture, it overlooks the bay.
From our position we can see many
miles out to sea. In this work we
learn semaphore, wigwag and blink
er signalling; incidentally we learn
wireless telegraphy with the blink
er work, | think | shall like this
work very much. Many wounded
Australian soldiers have passed
through here since | have been
here. 1t is pitiful to see how they
are MANNED but in spite of this fact
they seem very happy and their
morale seems to be of the best. The
poor fellows have seen four years
in the trenches, or Whereabouts, and
are tickled to death to think they
are going back home. Several had
Victoria Crosses and other medals
of honor. The spring season is just
started here and the hottest wealth
er comes about Xmas time. Just
now the days are getting warmer,
but since l have been here it has
been no warmer than it is in Wis
consin in May or June, because it
has been winter weather Until about
q week ago.
| have heard of the beautiful trop-
ical evenings and nights. Il GER
tainly will vouch for their beauty.
1t is a pleasure for me to go on the
midnight watch when my turn
comes.
The Y. M. c.. A. follows US every
where we go, or perhaps it would be
more like it if | would say the Y. M.
c. A. is wherever we go. The one
here is the best and biggest we have
found yet. Although New Orleans
is many times bigger than Colon
and Cristobal put together the Y.
here is much nicer than the one in
New Orleans. There is also an
Army and Navy club here. So be-
tween these two places we have lots
Of amusements and reading matter.
Perhaps you remember Of reading
of the "Faith,' the first u. S. con-
crete ship to be built. 1t came
through the canal yesterday and l
gave her good looking over.
wrote letter to Mr.. Ames last
week. he wrote me such a dandy
one when | was at Great Lakes.
This country is pretty strong for
horse racing but we never get a
chance to see them.
There was a monster Liberty loan
parade here last night. All the
sailors from the station and Coco
Solo marched and big detachment
of soldiers and all the different in
dustries were represented There
were many floats. There was one
of the Lusitania and a tank. But
the prettiest of all was one of the
Liberty bell. 1t was in big wagon
filled with little girls about Anna S
size, and it was drawn by a team of
the prettiest black horses l ever
saw. There were four big bands.
| wish you all could have seen it.
When [ first got here | was on
what is known as port guard. l
was on this three weeks. Every
ship that goes through the canal
must have three port guards on
board. They must see that no pic
lures or information is attained
from the canal. l have been
through the canal twice. For an
average sized snip to pass through
the canal it cost from three 10 four
thousand dollars. Two ships pass
ing through a day just about paws
operating expenses for one day.
So you can see how great the ex-
penses are. But many ships pass
through in one day. For ship
the size of the Lusitania to go
through it would cost about thirty
thousand dollars. The canal is for
ty-eight miles long and it takes
from six to eight hours to go
through.