TRANSCRIBED FROM TH NEWPORT DAILY INDEPENDENT SEPTEMBER 18, 1917 P. 2
Dear Friends:
By the kind permission of the editor, I take this method of writing to you.
On August 15th, I, with nine other yeomen, left Little Rock at 8 p. m., and on August 19th, at 6 p. m., we reached San Francisco. We came through the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. We came the Southern Pacific route. We had a few hours stop-over at Ft. Worth, El Paso and Los Angeles. At El Paso we went over into Mexico. El Paso, Tex., and Juarez, Mex., are separated by the Rio Grande river. They are connected by a street car line over the international bridge. We took a car for Mexico and just before the car crossed the bridge it was stopped and searched by U. S. soldiers, and when it crossed the bridge, by Mexican soldiers. The same thing took place when we came back. All of this searching is for contraband during war times.
From about a hundred miles west of Ft. Worth, Tex., until we reached California we never saw a thing but deserts and arid lands. And in the southern part of California we had the worst desert of all. In the heart of this desert, near Niland, California, we passed Salton sea. It is 130 feet below sea level here. This sea was formed by the following: Ten years ago a land owner in that section thought he would use some of the water of the Colorado river to irrigate his land. He dug a reservoir and turned the river into it. This reservoir overflowed and the water flowed to the lowest place. As it had no outlet, Salton sea war formed. It is eight miles long and two miles wide.
California has rightly been called the “Garden of Eden.” It seemed so to me anyway, after spending three days crossing the deserts and Rocky Mountains. The orchards of all kinds of fruit, palm groves and green fields, indeed, seemed like a paradise. We saw these crossing the noted Jorquim valley.
And here I want to tell you a few things about the life in the U. S. navy, or rather, in the training station, as I have never been “to sea,” anl don’t know how it is there.
Some people think that sailors are a bunch of rough-necks, fugitives, etc., but I have not found it such. Most of the boys are fine fellows.
The training station is located on one of the Yerba Buena islands commonly known as Goat Island. It is about three miles from San Francisco, across the bay. On the island are schools for the training of men in all the different branches of the navy, and a large wireless station.
A recruit, upon arriving, is first sent to what is known as detention camp for twenty-one days. The reason for this is to receive three “T. P’s” (vaccinations, etc.) and test for different contagious diseases.
In “D. Camp” discipline in not so strict, yet we have all the privileges, except “shore leave” as later. We have free movies every night and all kinds of athletic games. We have a magnificent Y. M. C. A. building and everyone is required to attend church services every Sunday morning.
The rules are all for making men of us. Gambling, stealing and cigarette smoking are prohibited. Several have been sent to the guard house for violation of these rules.
The climate is fine. It never gets either hot or cold here. The middle of the day gets very warm and pleasant, but the nights get real cool sometimes.
I like the military life fine so far, and am sure I’ll like it better when I get into the yeoman school. My twenty-one days will be up Sept. 10 and I will leave “Detention” then.
If any of my friends in good old Jackson county wish to write to me I shall be very glad to hear from you, and I will answer at once.
NOTES: This letter is written by Dan. S. Harris of Tupelo, Arkansas.
TRANSCRIBED BY CHLOE SMITH
Dear Friends:
By the kind permission of the editor, I take this method of writing to you.
On August 15th, I, with nine other yeomen, left Little Rock at 8 p. m., and on August 19th, at 6 p. m., we reached San Francisco. We came through the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. We came the Southern Pacific route. We had a few hours stop-over at Ft. Worth, El Paso and Los Angeles. At El Paso we went over into Mexico. El Paso, Tex., and Juarez, Mex., are separated by the Rio Grande river. They are connected by a street car line over the international bridge. We took a car for Mexico and just before the car crossed the bridge it was stopped and searched by U. S. soldiers, and when it crossed the bridge, by Mexican soldiers. The same thing took place when we came back. All of this searching is for contraband during war times.
From about a hundred miles west of Ft. Worth, Tex., until we reached California we never saw a thing but deserts and arid lands. And in the southern part of California we had the worst desert of all. In the heart of this desert, near Niland, California, we passed Salton sea. It is 130 feet below sea level here. This sea was formed by the following: Ten years ago a land owner in that section thought he would use some of the water of the Colorado river to irrigate his land. He dug a reservoir and turned the river into it. This reservoir overflowed and the water flowed to the lowest place. As it had no outlet, Salton sea war formed. It is eight miles long and two miles wide.
California has rightly been called the “Garden of Eden.” It seemed so to me anyway, after spending three days crossing the deserts and Rocky Mountains. The orchards of all kinds of fruit, palm groves and green fields, indeed, seemed like a paradise. We saw these crossing the noted Jorquim valley.
And here I want to tell you a few things about the life in the U. S. navy, or rather, in the training station, as I have never been “to sea,” anl don’t know how it is there.
Some people think that sailors are a bunch of rough-necks, fugitives, etc., but I have not found it such. Most of the boys are fine fellows.
The training station is located on one of the Yerba Buena islands commonly known as Goat Island. It is about three miles from San Francisco, across the bay. On the island are schools for the training of men in all the different branches of the navy, and a large wireless station.
A recruit, upon arriving, is first sent to what is known as detention camp for twenty-one days. The reason for this is to receive three “T. P’s” (vaccinations, etc.) and test for different contagious diseases.
In “D. Camp” discipline in not so strict, yet we have all the privileges, except “shore leave” as later. We have free movies every night and all kinds of athletic games. We have a magnificent Y. M. C. A. building and everyone is required to attend church services every Sunday morning.
The rules are all for making men of us. Gambling, stealing and cigarette smoking are prohibited. Several have been sent to the guard house for violation of these rules.
The climate is fine. It never gets either hot or cold here. The middle of the day gets very warm and pleasant, but the nights get real cool sometimes.
I like the military life fine so far, and am sure I’ll like it better when I get into the yeoman school. My twenty-one days will be up Sept. 10 and I will leave “Detention” then.
If any of my friends in good old Jackson county wish to write to me I shall be very glad to hear from you, and I will answer at once.
NOTES: This letter is written by Dan. S. Harris of Tupelo, Arkansas.
TRANSCRIBED BY CHLOE SMITH