TRANSCRIBED FROM THE LOG CABIN DEMOCRAT SEPTEMBER 19, 1918 P. 6
Editor Log Cabin Democrat:
May I have space in your valuable paper to describe my trip here and also some of my experience since my arrival? I left dear old Conway July 17, and enlisted in the navy at Little Rock. I left Little Rock for San Francisco via Fort Worth and El Paso, Tex.; Deming, N. M.; Phoenix, Ariz., and Los Angeles, Cal., on the night of July 17. The trip was a very interesting one to me for I had never before been out of Arkansas. A few miles west of Fort Worth we saw the aviation field of Leon Springs. That is an ideal place for such a camp as there are no trees to hinder the aviator in landing. Farther on we saw hundreds of jack rabbits as we shot across the plains of Western Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. I saw the oil fields of the Texas Company, whose cars pass through Conway in great numbers every day, carrying oil to all parts of the United States. Still further I passed what is said to be the greatest undeveloped oil field in the world at Ranger, Tex. Only three wells have been completed and each of them produce more than 5,000 barrels of oil per day. Derricks may be seen on either side of the railroad for miles away, where new wells are being drilled.
The large number of coyotes, prairie dogs and other small animals added to the interest of the trip as they ran across the plains frightened by the noise of the train. I crossed the Trinity, Brazos and Rio Grande rivers, whose names I had learned in the study of United States history. We came near the boundary line of Mexico and the United States and I had the liberty of viewing the sunburned hills of old Mexico.
We cross the great desert of New Mexico and Arizona, and there is where I was almost "burned at the stake." The air was so hot that we had to let down the windows of the train in order to be comfortable. There is no vegetation or animals in this arid region which is hundreds of miles across. You can imagine our joy when we reached
California and once more breathed pure air that had not been heated by the desert sun.
"Somewhere" in California I passed a mountain on the top of which we could see snow while at the foot the sun was scorching hot. On this mountain I saw a rock which is said to be more than a mile in circumference. In western Arizona and all of California were irrigated farms and orchards. Large orange orchards added much to the beauty of the country for the trees were hanging full of ripe yellow oranges. I wanted very much to go into an orange orchard and pluck a number of the yellow oranges until I learned it was a fine of $25 or each orange plucked; then my mind changed. Land in these sections is valued from $500 to $1,000 per acre. All these orchards are irrigated, for it seldom rains in California except in winter.
We arrived at San Francisco on Sunday night after a trip of four days and nights. Immediately upon arrival we were sent across the bay at Goat Island, as it is called, where I began my training. I was sent to detention, as are all recruits, there to stay 21 days, in which time I was vaccinated and received three "T.P." shots. At the end of about 30 days, I contracted mumps and was sent to the hospital for treatment. I remained in the hospital here for a few days and was sent to the base hospital at Mare Island. There I remained almost two weeks, and it was there that I got my first vision of real navy life. Among the things I saw was one of Uncle Sam's torpedo boat destroyers, camouflaged and armed with six torpedo tubes and large guns on the deck, ready to leave port for a trip across the deep blue sea. Submarines were plying up and down the bay as if on watch for a possible enemy vessel.
A portion of the battleship Maine was on exhibit in the park together with many other things of interest to an American.
If this does not find its way to the waste paper basket, I may tell you more later. Yours for a greater America.
William Earle Shuemake.
Co. "X" 3, D. Camp., U.S. Naval Training Station, San Francisco, Cal., Sept. 5, 1918.
NOTES:
TRANSCRIBED BY LAEL HARROD
Editor Log Cabin Democrat:
May I have space in your valuable paper to describe my trip here and also some of my experience since my arrival? I left dear old Conway July 17, and enlisted in the navy at Little Rock. I left Little Rock for San Francisco via Fort Worth and El Paso, Tex.; Deming, N. M.; Phoenix, Ariz., and Los Angeles, Cal., on the night of July 17. The trip was a very interesting one to me for I had never before been out of Arkansas. A few miles west of Fort Worth we saw the aviation field of Leon Springs. That is an ideal place for such a camp as there are no trees to hinder the aviator in landing. Farther on we saw hundreds of jack rabbits as we shot across the plains of Western Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. I saw the oil fields of the Texas Company, whose cars pass through Conway in great numbers every day, carrying oil to all parts of the United States. Still further I passed what is said to be the greatest undeveloped oil field in the world at Ranger, Tex. Only three wells have been completed and each of them produce more than 5,000 barrels of oil per day. Derricks may be seen on either side of the railroad for miles away, where new wells are being drilled.
The large number of coyotes, prairie dogs and other small animals added to the interest of the trip as they ran across the plains frightened by the noise of the train. I crossed the Trinity, Brazos and Rio Grande rivers, whose names I had learned in the study of United States history. We came near the boundary line of Mexico and the United States and I had the liberty of viewing the sunburned hills of old Mexico.
We cross the great desert of New Mexico and Arizona, and there is where I was almost "burned at the stake." The air was so hot that we had to let down the windows of the train in order to be comfortable. There is no vegetation or animals in this arid region which is hundreds of miles across. You can imagine our joy when we reached
California and once more breathed pure air that had not been heated by the desert sun.
"Somewhere" in California I passed a mountain on the top of which we could see snow while at the foot the sun was scorching hot. On this mountain I saw a rock which is said to be more than a mile in circumference. In western Arizona and all of California were irrigated farms and orchards. Large orange orchards added much to the beauty of the country for the trees were hanging full of ripe yellow oranges. I wanted very much to go into an orange orchard and pluck a number of the yellow oranges until I learned it was a fine of $25 or each orange plucked; then my mind changed. Land in these sections is valued from $500 to $1,000 per acre. All these orchards are irrigated, for it seldom rains in California except in winter.
We arrived at San Francisco on Sunday night after a trip of four days and nights. Immediately upon arrival we were sent across the bay at Goat Island, as it is called, where I began my training. I was sent to detention, as are all recruits, there to stay 21 days, in which time I was vaccinated and received three "T.P." shots. At the end of about 30 days, I contracted mumps and was sent to the hospital for treatment. I remained in the hospital here for a few days and was sent to the base hospital at Mare Island. There I remained almost two weeks, and it was there that I got my first vision of real navy life. Among the things I saw was one of Uncle Sam's torpedo boat destroyers, camouflaged and armed with six torpedo tubes and large guns on the deck, ready to leave port for a trip across the deep blue sea. Submarines were plying up and down the bay as if on watch for a possible enemy vessel.
A portion of the battleship Maine was on exhibit in the park together with many other things of interest to an American.
If this does not find its way to the waste paper basket, I may tell you more later. Yours for a greater America.
William Earle Shuemake.
Co. "X" 3, D. Camp., U.S. Naval Training Station, San Francisco, Cal., Sept. 5, 1918.
NOTES:
TRANSCRIBED BY LAEL HARROD