Weekly journal-miner., 1918-10-09
ARE GETTING BETTER
 AT NITRO
C. M. CHITTY OF PRES corr, WHO IS IN BIG POWDER TOWN, TELLS OF UNSETTLED STATE OF AFFAIRS PREVAILING.
(From Fridays DailyO


 ! Tn writing to Robert l.. Jones of this city regarding life at the new powder town of Nitro. West Virginia, ! (. NJ. Gritty; formerly of the Bank of Arizona here has the following to say:
 We arrived here a week ago yes terday and have been at work since about ln hour after landing here. Jack Took and are on the police force and are in the L. s. guard mounted service. We have an S-hour shift on duty for three nights this week and then we will double over for s hours, get 4 hours rest and then three more nights of & hours and then ! 3 hours off duty. I got what they call the graveyard shift, from mid night until a. m. We will get Sl50 per month as patrolmen. Corporals get S175 and sergeants S200. There are about 800 or $50 on the force now and We have about 25,00O people to handle. You sec more people here in one day than you might see in Pres colt on the Fourth of July. fair week or any other big holiday all gut to- gethcr. The camp IS about miles long and ? miles wide now but it is being expanded as fast as possible all the time.
 q was on detail at one of the pow der mills last Sunday and Monday and watched them make some of the first powder. It looks like long strings of macaroni and is dark brown in color. Would send you a piece of it but for the fact that we are not allowed to put the stuff in the mails. It will not explode in thar form, but is highly inflammable like celluloid
 There are ; or G large gates with 15 turn-stilcs at each one and high wire fence all around the factory with sentry boxes stationed every lOo yards. Hereafter everybody will have to 20 through the gates and be searched for matches and other in flammable articles as they are making great quantities of ether, alcohol and powder in the big mills.
 We have all the entertainment here that anyone could ask for. \ large show company is here on a river boat theater. and besides th,S we have dancing. movies. pool halls, boxing bouts. wrestling. ball games and then we also have the Y. NJ. C. \. rest rooms all over the grounds. We have large canteen and cOmmis- sarv and scads of lunch counters.
 'Ne get cur quarters and $l5O per month but thc board costs Us some thing Ike S1 .50 or S200 a day. just according to. what we eat We are all uniformed in military style coat and brooches. and black leather leCgins The suits are a dark grey wool with braid on the sleeves and the lettering. "U 6. Guard' on one side of the collar. and Nitro. w. Va..' on the other side. We have camDaign hats, spurs. belts. .3S Colt police pistols. whistles. clubs, ponchos and flash lights.
 "Thcrc are about 2.5OO or 5000 bungalows built here now. all furnish cd and occupied. Many more are be- ing built and I hore to be able to get one of them within the next few weeks. All of them have lights. gas and water and do not cost us any thing for rent. There are nearly 5O0 Ari7onans in camp now and another br~h of l50 is due here today.
 The different classes of worllmen are maI,ing from 371I cents per hour 10 g per hour. with time and a half for overtime. \ good many Of the men leave shortly after they come here. but we hope that when condi- ! tious become a little better this com dition will be largely overcome. ! Everything is torn up now. there arc no sidewalks and they are just begin ming to put down macadam roads, . and everything will be muchly inn proved inside the next 30 days. The men will probably stick longer then. The Hercules Powder Company will take over the powder plant in about d month and the government will as sumc. control of all eating places and recreation centcrs. Charleston is only l6 miles mp the river and it costs 30 cents to go there on the train and 20 cents by boat. If Jack and I de- eide not 10 stay here, we will go to S3.O0-and. ship to the Oakland. Cal, shipbuilding plants, the fare there being but SIS. But after an We may decide to stick here for there seems to be good chances for promotion and everything will be better in few weeks we believe. My address here is GO Police Depart ment. Nitro, w. Va" 1,