A MARITIME PINE OPERATION IN FRANCE 



661 



vision ot a lieutenant who has two sergeants directly in 

 charge, one in charge of the day shift and the other in 

 charge of the night shift. The sawyers are experienced 

 men in that line and have the grade of sergeants. 



The mill is built some seven feet above the ground and 

 at one end the level of the mill floor is extended onto a 

 long dock onto which the lumber is conveyed by a series 

 of live and dead rolls. On the dock the lumber is sorted 

 and slid down sets of skids directly onto cars which, 

 after loading, are shifted out onto the main yard and 

 picked up by the dinkey and taken to the shipping point. 

 Two turntables and a series of switches made by the 

 Company's efficient blacksmiths render the loading and 

 shifting of cars at the docks and in the yards a simple 

 matter. The lumber goes 

 direct from the saw onto 

 cars and thence to the ship- 

 ping point where a large 

 lumber yard is maintained. 



The camp site while small 

 is well adapted to the pur- 

 pose. A very attractive and 

 conveniently arranged of- 

 fice building was put up. 

 The building is bungalo 

 style, with side walls cov- 

 ered with rough slabs, a 

 wide porch with columns of 

 cork bark oak. In this 

 building is the main office, 

 with a large sliding window 

 for use on pay days and an 

 alphabetical set of letter 

 boxes for mail. In the 

 same building is the small 

 office of the Company Com- 

 mander where judgments 

 are meted out to offenders 

 and delinquents, for we're 

 in the army ! Back of this 

 small office is an attractive 

 room used as an officer's 

 lounge and mess. Back of 

 the office building is a Y. M. 

 C. A., barracks, provided 

 by the "Y" and having a 

 small stage with footlights, 

 a piano and phonograph, 

 table and benches for reading and writing. Here is 

 also the canteen or company store and a barber shop. 

 In this building entertainments are given either got- 

 ten up by the Company (and some splendid vaude- 

 ville has been given by the Company) or provided by 

 the Y. M. C. A. I lere band practice and concerts are 

 held, for Company started a band of thirty pieces 

 shortly after arriving in Prance. This band has now 

 been made the battalion band. Company also start- 

 ed at Camp American University, the first and only 

 fife and drum corps in the Engineers. The large 



"TIMBER!" 



And this time its far from home in the maritime pine forests of France, 

 that the old familiar cry rings out. 



mess hall, with tables and benches provided for some 

 225 men is well screened, and being at a permanent 

 camp the men eat from real tableware, and not from 

 the time-honored and useful mess kit. Near the 

 mess hall is a well-screened meat house and a vege- 

 table cellar. 



Back of the mess hall is a building used for sleep- 

 ing quarters by night crews. Nearby is a small build- 

 ing containing a store room for quartermaster supplies 

 (clothes, shoes, leggins, etc.) and a room used as the 

 sergeants' mess, a great convenience and comfort to 

 the non-commissioned officers, Company being the 

 only Company in the battalion to have a sergeants' mess. 

 Across from the mill is the store house for mill and 



blacksmiths' supplies, a car- 

 penter's and blacksmith's 

 shop being in the same 

 building. Beyond and out 

 at the extreme edge of the 

 camp site are the barn and 

 hay sheds and nearby the 

 small garage for motor 

 equipment. 



On the side of the camp 

 are the long rows of pyra- 

 midal tents for the men, 

 each with floor and borded- 

 up sides, bunks, a Sibley 

 Stove and electric lights. 

 A water tower and tank 

 provide 8 shower baths and 

 a tank for washing clothes. 

 The first line .of tents in 

 the company street is" Ser- 

 geants' Row" and occupied 

 by the fifteen sergeants of 

 the company. 



Beyond is "Officers' 

 Row," small 7x7 tents 

 with floors, boarded sides, 

 cots, stoves and electric 

 lights. 



With the heavy under- 

 brush and the general 

 dryness of the region for 

 several months during the 

 year the danger from for- 

 est fires is great. Every 

 precaution has been taken well in advance of the season 

 to see that no fires get started or if started accidentally 

 that they are put out at once. A fire plan was drawn up 

 before the danger season, just as is done each year for 

 each of the National Forests in the United States. Little 

 did I think when drawing up fire plans as an American 

 forest supervisor for the past eight years that in 1918 

 1 would be making one for a forest in France ! 



The mill and other buildings are supplied with water 

 barrels, buckets, pyrenes and a fire hose, and daily in- 

 spections are made of this equipment to see that it is 



