Evening star., 1942-10-07
Expanded Quontico Reservation
Soon to Echo With Big Guns
Farm Families and School Children Begin
Giving Way Over 50,000-Acre Tract

0Nln9 way Over ,
Heavy artillery soon will echo
along tract of land across No. l
highway from the Marine Corps
base at Quantico, Va, for the first
time since guns roared at the first
and second battles of Manassas in
the Civil War.
Announcement yesterday by the
Navy Department that the marine
base would be expanded by $4,000
acres was the first public evidence
by the Federal Government that it
planned to put into effect an i'm
provement that has been under con-
sideration for years.
Military authorities have known
for some time that Quantico, the
only marine training center for Of
f1cer candidates, needed maneuver
area large enough to enable trainees
to become familiar with all types of
weapons. .....
Use Larger Weapons h..
With the additional land, increase
can be made not only in the num-
ber of men accommodated at GUAM
tico, but in the size of weapons en-
ployed in training. Officers in
charge say that as soon as the new
tract is ready artillery up to 6-inch
pieces, especially the 7-millimeter
anti-aircraft guns, will be brought
into play.
This will make it possible to offer
we'll rounded program, authorities
explained. Officer candidates are
given a 10-week basic training
course, followed by 10 weeks of Re
serve officer training. Then they
go through specialization period
during which it is determined to
what branch-infantry, artillery,
tank, gas, Signal Corps or otherwise
they are best adapted. 1t is in this
last phase of the work that the addi-
tional area will be particularly bene-
fetal.
Between three-fifths and four
f1fths of the land to be acquired by
the Federal Government lies in Stat
ford County and is occupied by
about $50 families. The remainder
is divided between Prince William
and Fauquier Counties.
Historical Section.
In a sense, this section is coming
back into the public eye after three
quarters of century 1t was near
there, at the present little village of
Dumfries, that Scottish merchants
200 years ago set up busy tobacco
port along Quantico Creek. The port
brought to the vicinity a population
Of 1000, and made the town the
county seat of Prince William, where
prosperous men strolled through the
counting houses and along the
streets in red cloaks and cooked
hats.
1t was there that Col. Alexander
Henderson organized what was prob
ably the first chain of stores in
America. 1t was along Aqua Creek,
bordering one side of the tract, that
the first English-speaking Catholic
colony in Verginia was established.
And it was in this part OF Virginia
that Jeb Stuart dashed behind
Burnside on his surprise reconnais-
sance raid of Christmas, 50.
Sparsely Settled.
All of the tract is sparsely settled
particularly that in Prince William
and Fauquier. It Is a section in
which there has been little activity
since tired Union and Confederate
soldiers dragged over its broken and
rolling terrain.
The land. practically all on the
opposite side of No. l highway from
0uantico, Is intersected largely by
dirt roads, narrow, winding paths
unsuited to the speed of modern
vehicles. Its slopes are heavy with
pine and scrub oak. Streams are
few and homes in most instances are
small and weatherheaten. Its land
marks are widely scattered roadside
stores, or an occasional church or
! graveyard.
Nearly a dozen small commlmi-
ties. none with more than q store
and. four or five houses, are included
within its borders. Chief of these
are Shiloh. Mount, Onyille, Stat
ford's Store, Mount xion,, Bride
wells Corner, Black Rock, Gar
risons Corner and Shackley.
One country -of1icisl, when told
Of the Navyss action, said:
For the last two weeks man
has been examining the record
books in my ONCE. and 1t, was
only this morning that learned he
was looking up deeds for the Federal
/ Government ;,@s
Residents Not Startled.
Without exception, families inter
viewed yesterday had received nc
notice Of what was MANNED. Hut
few. II any. were psrtlrbeA. Large
| tracts In the vicinity, most Of then