The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1912-1921, 1918-07-01
(By the Associated Press.)

iBY the Associated ffeSS.)
Washington, July 1-tTrans1orma-
ton OF a forest into great military
camp in four months is one of the
achievements OF which the American
Corps of Engineers boasts.
Early in February Camp Allen A.
Humphreys. at Belvoir. va, was vir.
,ually unknown. But American engi-
neers We're put on the job and today
il is thriving. pulsating camp. a
great city in itself housing some H.
000 men. and growing day by day un-
til by August it will accommodate
80 900.
Camp Humphreys. named for the
| first Chief of Engineers of the Unit
ed States Army, is some twenty miles
south of Washington, just below the
| town of lAcotink, Va. Its confines
cover the historic Lord Fairfax tract ;
! TO one side is Mount Vernon. home
of George Washington, and in the
other direction is Gunston Hall. plan
tation and typical old Southern
home of George Mason, illustrious
/ Virginian. author OF the Bill of Rights
! the famous document which Thomas
| Jefferson made the corner stone of
the American Declaration OF lndepap.
denee. Camp Humphreys is peculis,'.
arily adapted for an engineer train
ing school. In the hills and valleys
Americas eitizen-soldiers are tunnel
ing, mining. quarrying, excayating,
fitting themselves for work on foreign
battlefields
Send Units Directly Abroad.
Tzhe camp is the only engineer re-
| placement camp IN the country, and
it is here the vast supply OF engineers
! is to be kept, upon which General
iPershing will call for men to expand
and replace engineer units working
with the American overseas army.
Already replacement units have been
| Selih dCioSS. Ibdil III Juhei 2rOUN
men trained in all branches of engi-
neering work were sent to Pershing
The camp can train, equip and dis
I patch men to France at the rate OF
! 1000 a month. and by the first OF the
year the capacity will be raised to
5000 a month.
Washington newspaper correspen-
dents recently were guests of the
| Corps of Engineers on an inspection
| trip to the camp and its vicinity
Every detail of the work was explain
ed to them by headquarters officers
of the staff of Lieutenant Colonel
Richard Park, L. S. a., an engineer
OF engineers. who has been placed in
charge of The greatest replacement
camp
Seventeen thousand men are at the
camp at present, most of them draft
ed men, and new ones are arriving
from civil life every day. There is
a continual ebb and flow Of troops,
men being sent across the Atlantic
as fast as they can be accommodated
in France, and new ones arriving to
take their place at he schools. Even
after the war it is the governments
intention to make Camp Humphreys
a permanent raining camp for. engi-
neersi and all work is being done
with that scheme in mind
One of the most interesting fea-
lures of Camp Humphreys is the
light, combat railway which has been
constructed for the carrying of sup
plies through the reservation, as well
as for training men in the construc-
ton, operation and maintenance of
battle-line railroads. A 607centimeter
narrow gauge road twelve miles in
length, similar to the French roads,
covers the camp, and all day trains
of fiat cars and gondolas run back
and forth with construction material
and supplies. The locomotives are
built especially for foreign service,
and the power is furnished by four