The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-01-11
CONSTRUCTION
OF CAMP DEvENS
Story of a Big Job Done in
A Big Way Told to Board
of Trade
ONE BUILDING
EVERY 40 MINUTES
Tract of Hilly Land Covered With
Scrub Oak Turned into Model Army
Cantonment-How Flies and Mosqui-
toes Were Eliminated

V. i. G0ggln, representing Fred L.
Ley Co of Springfield, Mass, ap-
peared before the members of the board
of trade last night in the board of
trade rooms and delivered a lecture
on the construction of Camp Devens
at Aver, Mass. Splendid stereopticon
views were used to illustrate the talk
The pictures showed step by step Tie
| transformation of 10000 acres of hilly
land covered with scrub oak and swamp
into a complete city of 10000 lnnabr-
tants.
In his opening words Mr.. Goggin tod
of Senator Mccormack, who came pack
from Europe after the congressional
tour of investigation, and said that
near miracles were being performed at
the front. In the opinion of the lee
turer n near miracle was performed in
the construction of Camp Devens and
before he had gone very far in the
| lecture those who heard him arrreed
that he was right.
The site for the cantOnment at Aver
was the most difficult one of the entire
| 10 which the government had selected
All the other camps were placed on
fairly level ground where it was nee
essary TO use only six-foot posts for
the foundation of the buildings and but
very little grading had to be done. At
Camp Dev2ns, however, the contractor
had to use l1foot posts and keep a
gang of steam shovels and hundreds of
men at work levelling.
One of the first acts of the company
IN preparing for the job was to build
four-track railroad yard two miles
/ long An average of 80 ears per dav
were unloaded from this yard and in
the busiest times more than $50 cars
a day were handled
When the camp site was selected. ma
tives Of Aver declared that il was i'm
! possible because of the mosquitoes and
flies which would make life miserable
and dangerous. The company proceed.
ed to fill in every swamp hole and to
spray all pools of water with oil. The
lecturer declared that it would have
been lmnooSible to find half a dozen
flies IN the huge camp kitchen at anv.
time during the summer. The method
OF cleaning up the grounds was 50
thorough that screens on all the build.
lngS were unnecessary.
A huge executive force was neces
sary to direct the construction. In or
der to give the necessary office space
the company erected a modern office
building, 200 feet long aud eontainino
room for the entire executive force and
switchboard with FIVE operators in
Il l-2 hours. This record for speed
was maintained through the entire iot
and every phase of the work was so co
ordlnated that one followed the othe,
without hitch. Supplies arrived II
the yards, were unloaded, checked, i'm
medlately sent to the spot where need
ed and workmen found them at hanG
when they needed them.
The original government contract
called for 622 buildings but when tat
camp was finally completed Sept.
there was a grand total of $40 build
lngs, or one-third more than the scbed
ule had called for. The remarkabl,
tact is that work was begun June p
and completed Sept l. a total of :,
working days. Not only did the com
{ pany construct the camp on better tha,
, schedule time. but it lead all othe
camps in the country in percentage O.
completion
, The work done represents an expend
lture of $S,000,000 On June &c. las!
men were employed and on Aug % tn,
forces had been augmented to 9,176. Th,
, work progressed at the rate of on,
2 building completed every 40 minutes
| and great ma jority of the work wa
done so fast that it took only 10 min
utes to complete building. Not onl,
E was the building itself erected, but wa
ter supply, sewage and heat was in
stalled at the same time.
The Ley Co. has published littl
book giving statistics on Camp Dev
ems. Copies of this booklet were dis
trlbuted to those present at the lee
ture and there is limited number o
them which may be procured bv anv
!. one calling at the board of trade office