Evening star., 1932-02-28

sary detachments of Medical Corps. Quarter
master Corps, Signal Corps and Finance De-
partment troops, which brought the total
strength to 800 men, of whom 25 we're COM
missioned officers.
On August 20 the first detachment, number
ing 118 men and officers, under Lieut.. COL
Dan I. Sultan, officer in charge of the survey.
arrived in Nicaragua the transport u. 3.
Grant and anchored in the roadway of Corinto
Harbor. They were lightered ashore, and On
the following day troops and supplies left By
special train for Granada. where headqcarters
were established in old monastery, placed
at their disposal by the Ncaraguan govern.
ment. This detachment was the first In the
field and had established two camps on the
San Juan River when the remainder Of the
battalion arrived In late October.
The early efforts of all field companies were
devoted to topographic work Company G, the
first out, which had more than the combined
strength Of the other two companies, had hy
far the widest area to cover. But under the
command of Lieut. Thomas H. Stanley they
hacked their way with machetes through SEEM
ingly impenetrable jungles and swamps to con-
vert the black spaces on the maps into contour
lines.
AS quickly as transportation facilities would
permit, all men were sent into the field and
camps were established along the proposed
route Of the canal. Company A. under First
Lieut.. Leslie r. Groves, jr, was assigned to the
western DIVISION. Wnen company d, cO4u-
manded by First Lieut.. Keryn Ap Rice, had
completed its movement to Greytown, q camp
was established in the old buildings of the
Maritime Canal Co.
While the early efforts of all field companies
were primarily devoted to checking, correcting
and extending the existing topographic and
photographic data, the immediate problem was
that of transportation.
Starting from Brito, on the Pacific side, the
proposed canal route follows the Rio Grande to
a low, the west divide, and continues down the
Lajas to its mouth, on Lake Nicarauga, a few
miles South of San Jorge. From this point the
canal would cross the lake to the small town
of San Carlos Below the town, the route
follows the San Juan River, which flows gener-
ally southeast, then east in a winding course
to the Caribbean at Greytown.
In its course to the sea, the San Juan pene.
trates some of the densest jungle in Central
America And at Greytown the wettest place
in the Americas, the rainfall amounts to nearly
800 inches year. In such country thatched
native shacks must be used, for tents are out Of
the question. So thick is the foliage overhead
that the light of day can scarcely penetrate.
In this perennial gloom one cannot see 10
yards in any direction. Even in the So-called
dry season, trails are ankle deep in mud
Literally every step taken must be slashed
through the underbrush with machete. In
this jungle men worked for weeks at a time,
drenched from the frequent rains menaced by
mosquitoes, snakes flies, ticks and poisonous
reptiles. Here, of the men aptly put it,
Everything that don't sting has thorns ON it."
To serve the units in the San Juan Valley, q
detachment of one officer and about 10 men
was maintained at San Carlos, where it un-
loaded the 47-year-old lake steamer Victoria,
and with the aid of three river launches and
a feet of engineer pontoon boats, made weekly
trips with supplies to base camps But this
means Of transportation lent itself only to that
area.
In the western division the 1st Engineers,
under lieut.. Col. Groves, made use of bull carts.
During the dry season along certain portions
of the trail supplies had to be packed in from
the base camps by native porters and the men
themselves. During the rainy months the
small streams were navigable if canoes or cayu-
cas- were used but fallen logs across their
course made progress difficult. g..
While this service of supply was being estab-
lished wireless communication was being In
stalled: Radio stations were soon in operation