Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1933-04-19

the heart Of a wrecked noun
tain forest, President Roosevelt's great
sociological experiment is under way.
Here, early Monday evening, 200 in
digent boys and men from the District
of Columbia-some of them away from
the city lights for the first time in their
lives-were unloaded from BUSES to
make their home for the next six
months.
For many it was such weird, strange
world as an explorer might find when
he stepped on the shore of a new con-
tinent. Far below them, as inaccessible
to eyes and ears as if it had been
blotted cut forever, was the old world
in which they had grown to manhood.
Fer hours they had been moving
through mountains, around hairpin
curves In a narrow dirt road, across
rain-swollen brooks falling from the
crags above, along the edges of preci-
pieces with sheer drops of 500 feet or
more to the church steeples Of the
picturesque Luray Valley and the flooded
fields where the brown waters OF the
Shenandoah had overflown. Then the
buses had crossed the crest Of the hills
and stopped at this little clearing beside
the foaming waters Of mountain
branch.
Like Pattern Of Color.
For these men it was the beginning
of a new life. In every direction they
saw only mountain crests and slopes of
gray rock covered with purpie-green
plaid vesture, the warp Of oak and ash
trees not yet touched with the magic
of Spring, and the wool Of pines and
hemlockS.
The first contingent of the forestry
army-city men and boys-was now
face to face with nature. They were
alone in the woods and starting the
life which Is calculated to clear away
the scars inflicted upon them by an un-
weildy civilization which has gone
wrong. They passed an uncomfortable
night. Their camping equipment was
behind them on an Army van which ne
gotiated with difficulty the narrow.
mountain road. 1t did not arrive until
am.-too late to be set up. The men
slept under the open sky-or lay down
and were quiet for a time. They were
a pretty drowsy lot yesterday, for few
really slept.
They were up and about at the break
of dawn and as soon as breakfast was
served started on busy day calculated
to make them forget their troubles. Inc
Job was to set up model tent colony.
It consisted of four rows, each 10 deep.
of Army pyramidal tents, with broad
company street in the center. Trees
must be felled to provide timber for IRE.
wood and for tent floors. The forest
floor was cleared CT leaves and moss.
This was far from a hard job Tor 2OO
men under the direction Of Army
sereeauts skilled in establishing camps
under all sorts Of conditions. Before
noon the camp was taking shape rapidly
and when the slender crescent moon
came out over the mountain tops the
men were assured of comfortable Sleep
ing quarters for the night. But muscles
were sore and hands blistered with axes
and brush hooks.
Morale Appears Good.
The morale was Unexpectedly gooc,
partially as the result OF the weeks
training at Fort Washington, partly due
to the fine caliber of many OF the men
and quite largely due to the excellent
leadership of Capt. Leo Donovan and
his two assistants, Lieuts. Richard r.
Carhart and William F. Train, the Reg
ular Army officers who are in charge
of getting the camp underway. Capt.
0OllOVdA1, CCRCN4uAAys 40 PiOVAAo - Ss~>
leader of these men, shows deep under
standing Of their problems and Of the
whole purpose of the sociological ex-
pertinent President Roosevelt has in
mind. Discipline is good and very
lenient and every man Is sure OF SYM
pathetic hearing.
Probably no actual work in the for
ests will get under way before the end
of the week. Forestry service agents
were at the camp yesterday. The pro-
jects are pretty well laid out. First
the road itself must be fixed up. It Is
about all an automobile can do to make
the grade from Luray. It is partly a
county road and partly forest service
road. One advantage Is that 1t renders
the camp reasonably safe from curious
visitors. The easiest way to get there
Is to walk and an automobile along this
narrow trail along the edges Of steep
declines is safe only in the hands OF a
skilled driver. The transportation diff
flculty will make it harder for the boys
to get out of camp, and the leaders
feel the less contact they have with
the old world below. the better. Fire
breaks are to be laid down. But the
chief job will be in improving the con-
dition of the forest itself.
It is a wrecked woodland. Within
the last Is years all the good timber
was cut OF by numbering interests.