The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1941-07-17
Mems From- ~
CAMP HAAN 34%A
BY Kenneth Kuefler

BY Kenneth Kuefler
The weekend is finally over and
was 1t ever a hectic one-for most
Of the fellows. We had, as in all
other parts of the country, three
whole days to ourselves and we
could do as we pleased on the 4th,
9Th and 9Th of July. Many of the
fellows had special trips all plan
ned out and there were only
enough in camp to have a skeleton
force. Also few had to stay be-
cause there had to be rs per cent
Of the men in camp all the time.
Every group Of persons had their
own little trip and I'll relate a typ
ical trip to you. Art Cole, Lyle
Ethun, Donnie Ethun, Russ Nelson,
all piled into Arts car and they
were off for Las Vegas, Nevada.
So early Thursday afternoon they
left by way Of Barstow and natur-
ally they had to go through great
big desert. Well 1t so happened
that they forgot to watch the gas
tank and before long they were
stranded on the highway in the
middle of the desert. Tom Ken
nedy lost when they Tipped coins
to see who would go after the gas,
SO he hitch-hiked into the nearest
town, which was fifteen miles
away, and came back with the gas.
They got to rolling again, but were
very sleepy by this time so decided
to get in a little "shut-eye." Art
pulled the car up beside the road
on a sandy flat and they all
brought out their bed-rolls and
went to sleep right beside the road.
The next morning they awoke with
a start because they found out that
they were sleeping in graveyard
and Lyle happened to be sleeping
right on top of Whiskey Pete's
grave. Now this Whiskey Pete is
supposed to be quite character
and was quite man in his day.
When the law finally caught up to
him his last request was that he
be buried with his boots and hat
on, and standing up. His request
was granted and as far as anyone
knows he's still standing up but
Lyle was still sleeping on top of
him. That particular morning
when he got up it was the fastest
raise he had made since he's been
out here.
They proceeded to Las Vegas and
the town was living up to its ad-
vance notice as really wide-awake.
The streets were all decorated out
with gay July 4th colors and it was
quite an active little town. After
a very short tussle with the gamb-
ling tables of Las Vegas, the boys,
after fortunately breaking even,
decided to call it day there. In
the afternoon they proceeded to
Boulder City and saw the big dam.
They spent a couple of hours in
there and they reported it as being
the biggest thing they had ever
seen. AS they had done a lot of
sightseeing, they decided to get a
bite to eat in the town of Boulder
City. They entered large cafe in
the heart of the city and without
looking at the menu Lyle ordered
a couple of fried eggs while the
rest Of the fellows put in their
requisition for steaks. The wait
ress asked Lyle if he wanted to
pay for the eggs before he ate them
or afterwards whereupon he
promptly answered, "After the
meal please" When he was done
eating he found out that the eggs
came just exactly to two-bits each.
Pretty costly eggs, and from that
little experience Lyle has had his
fill of eggs for quite a while. He
is contemplating on raising chick
ems as a sideline so as to make q
little money on the side. Then they
went for the Mexican border and
the stretch of road they went on
led to Needles, which was 102 miles
away-with just one town in be-
tween, and that had queer name
of "Searchlight" AS they drove
along they kept seeing signs 40
miles to Searchlight," "25 miles to
Searchlight," and all that until they
actually got to the place and here
all the place consisted of was
general store and one house and
they were nearly out Of gas. But
with nothing else to do they went
on to Needles where they gassed
up and decided to bunk up for the
night. So that night they slept by
the railroad tracks in Needles, but
as to whether or not they got stuck,
well you'll have to find out for
yourself. Leaving early the next
morning, they struck out through
some more desert and finally came