Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1918-01-18
RAYMOND GILLESPIE, LIKES
CALIFORNIA CLIMATE.

6. 1g1s.-Dear Father and Mother:
At last we have found Gods country,
after spending a more or les uncom--
Portable three weeks 1T the "D'
camp. The only drawback can dis
cover with this place IS tn II IS so
far from home If today and yester-
day furnish a fair sanlpIa Of the
weather here i declare that it is SUI
perb! 1t is much like new rorld
here with green everywhere. Our
quarters. the home of about three
hundred from the Island, ccnsio1s of
a part of the Canadian building built
at the time of the big fair here. The
naval boys in training at this place
are fortunate In having such pala-
tial home as these grounds afford.
We eat in the open. and at present
are marched to chow, to bath, etc.
Just finished brushing off the dust
from my Sunday clothes after a sew
eral mile hike across the country l
don't know just the object of it yet.
Perhaps it was only a t.:toughener."
We are in quarantine, for an indefi-
mite time. For only about q week If
we have good luck about contagious
disease within our number, Two of
tn boys il, my company, former tent
mates, were Obliged to r4nsi In be-
Lina. one because he lost time in his
T. P's. when at the hospital; the 9TH
er has measles. and is now in the
hospital Last was my frst in a
hammock. It's a beast to getinto,
hi. comfortable. Nc cracked heads
for the first night. consider that is
doing we'll! couldn't help laughing
to myself after taps and after Up.
O." had ordered the boys to pipe
down and ordered those, struggling
to get into their hammocks, to get
off the deck. = The laughing and
wasjesting stopped and all you could
hear was the chorus of coughing sail
ors.;i From all quarters the sounds
came. some thick and croupy, others
tight and shrill ss,H
We came down here by special
order, so had no opportunity to visit
Frisco. have a wrist watch with
me that Uncle Walt gave me at Spo-
Kane when ! left. Was going to ex-
change it at Frisco for one with the
crystal intact. This one has the crys-
tai off and doubt If it ever was on.
shall have. to send 1t back there un-
less can locate a branch Of the firm
here that makes the watch.
Had no chance to look up relatives
in Frisco. We ferried from the is
land to Frisco but didn't leave the
boat-went on out to Port Richmond
and boarded the Santa Fe at four
o'clock Friday. Got here in the even
ing Saturday. Unloaded for Chow"
on the way and got great stuff to eat.
saw some fine country, with it's
miles OF orange groves but beheld an
over abun dant portion of desert. r.
rlgation seems to do the work EXCEPT
IN natural oasis" such as we have
mere. Much OF the time yesterday we
went thru little settlements or rather
scattered homes of the Mexicans who
live In narrow. low huts much, like
those one sees IN pictures. Most of
the sect1on hands on the S. F. are
Mexlcans.,.s Here, of course, there are
real whites. Today l saw a few of
the middle here. We are roped off
put can see good many pedestrians
who visit here. ] guess Sunday is A
better day, than any other for that
l. haven't done much looking QUIT
keeps me busy most of the time keen
ing clear, sewing on buttons. etc.
] suppose we shall be taken ont to-
morrow for drill and kept pretty, busy
despite our condition of ,ouarintine
The officers at ID Camp promised to
make life tough for us, but by being
conscientious / managed to get by
with no individual extra duty" had
only four hours sentry duty, and that
in daytime., Put in four hours on the
parade| ground with my company one
morning because few men were
caught in their tents still in bed AZ
ter revielle. In military life an indi-
vldual has no comeback, not even a
retort, and has to suffer punishment
along with the guilty whether he be
innocent hr not. At the lower bar
racks at Pat Island, where we. auto
matically hould have been placed at
ter leavi Camp ID. our company
Commander told us they had about
twenty fights week because one fell
low would deprive his companions Of
shore leave because of his mis-con-
duct. . It's mot only misconduct, but
failure to obey orders.
/ The Y. N. c. A. at ID" Camp fur
nished a fineA place for writing and
reading, but 1t was over-crowded.
Here we haven't access to the "Y''
owing to our confinement So am
writing on a cigar box. Some more
unfortunate fellows. have been, de-
tailed with brooms, SO / am standing
trying to write while they are sweep
ing around me. Some others here
are also writing.
An army camp not far from here
has about forty or fifty. thousand
men. So with the sailors, San Diego
streets show preponderance Of olive
drab and blue. Both army and navy
have flying schools here. Saw seven
aiIplanes out over the bay when we
pulled in yesterday.
Have read little about the war
since enlisting. l think 1t must be
the same with all in the service. Per-
haps that is why the Germans are so
easily misled
RAYMOND GILLESPIE.
The above letter was written to
w. H. Gillespie and wife Of Orofino.
Ravmond's parents.