Bisbee daily review., 1919-07-06

Service section was started in the fall of 1917. A year later this section had constructed warehouses containing 57,454 square feet of storage space. There was a daily average of 15 car loads of material received from the base ports and shipped directly to the front. Although there were 200 diff ferent articles handled by this section the principal ones were gas masks, gas bombs and gas shells, and reme- dies for gas burns.
 Load 27,oooo Rounds Ammunition
 In Day
 The Ordnance Section was begun about the same time with the Chem ical Warfare Section. As it. finally existed it covered 90 acres of ground, occupied five large warehouses and had 6O,000 square feet additional open storage space. In addition to the stor- age facilities which were connected with the outside world by three miles of railroad track, there was a ma chine shop, small arms repair shop, three dumps for small arms ammuni- tiOn, and an artillery and tractor park. In August and September, 1918, during the major operations of the American army, the average number of cars handled daily was 100, while 27,000,000 rounds of small arms am- munition were loaded in one day.
 Work on the Intermediate Medical Supply section was also commenced in October, 1917, its first building be- ing an Adrian barrack 36 by 120 feet. A year later it comprised 19 ware houses located on seven railway tracks, with a total area of 400, ,000 square feet, representing 3,225, ,000 cubic feet of available storage space. Here were received, stored and ship ped medical supplies for the entire American D. F., not only in France but in Italy and England. Two of the largest warehouses were filled with salvaged medical supplies.
 From Single Clerk to 1o2 Warehouses
 When work was begun, in January, 1918, on the Intermediate Quartermas- ter section-by far the largest and most important individual project of the General Intermediate Storage De- pot, it's site was merely undrained farm land. The section commenced to function with the erection of a single warehouse, and a total personnel of one officer and a field clerk. At the date of the signing of the armistice, this section comprised 102 ware houses, the average length of which was 500 feet. A network of railway tracks totalling 37 miles connected the warehouses. By means of these tracks each warehoISa could load or unload ten cars simultaneously. The personnel which operated the Quar- termaster Section had increased ac- cordingly. and instead of the one of ficer and one field clerk who were on duty in January, 1918, there were at the date of the armistice 147 commits stoned officers, one field clerk, and 7.412 enlisted men on duty. It re- quired 136 barracks to accommodate the personnel on duty in this sec ton.
 Could Feed All New York
 Food stuffs filled 52 of the ware .ihouses, but this statement gives no idea of the enormous quantity of food which had to be maintained here. A combat division was the unit by which rations were issued, and supplies were checked by the carload. For ex- ample, there were 11,750,OOO pounds of navy beans and S.441.209 pounds of canned beans stored here, a total large enough to feed the entire popu- lation of New York city the army