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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



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the cantonment; for, as far as practical, 

 buildings are erected along the high 

 points. 



The "main street" of the soldier city 

 winds from end to end through the trace 

 of the outline. This is a broad avenue, 

 separating the officers' quarters from the 

 barracks of the soldiers, about ioo feet 

 wide and more than 2.^/2 miles in length. 

 Branch streets, running at right angles 

 to this boulevard, separate the battalions 

 of the division, wider avenues the reg- 

 iments, these latter serving as "fire- 

 breaks." Remember, in a city where all 

 the buildings are of pine, a fire-break is 

 an obvious precaution. 



These battalion and regimental streets 

 are about 200 yards long, and form in 

 themselves compact social areas. 



Keeping this general plan of the sol- 

 dier city in mind, consider the different 

 municipal problems involved in provid- 

 ing homes,, food, water, and sanitary ac- 

 commodations for as many people as live 

 in Atlantic City, or Augusta, Ga., or 

 Haverhill, Mass., or Lincoln, Nebr., or 

 Bay City, Mich., or Sacramento, and you 

 begin to grasp what the War Depart- 

 ment has effected in each one of the 

 selected cantonment sites ; then multiply 

 by sixteen for the total labor involved. 



Actually, the soldier cities were built 

 bv contract. Firms of long standing in 

 contracting work involving building in 

 all phases considered the War Depart- 

 ment plans. Agreements were reached 

 with reliable firms in the different States 

 where cantonment areas were located, 

 and within three weeks from the time 

 the last blue print of barrack plan was 

 traced, work on all the soldier cities com- 

 menced. 



"V 



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A PLACE THAT STOOD STILL LOR HALL A 

 CENTURY 



In June, 1917, the site of Camp Lee 

 was much the same as it had been in the 

 days of the war between the States, with 

 one notable improvement — a concrete 

 road 14 feet wide ran through the center 

 of the site, from the town of Petersburg 

 to the Dupont powder plant settlement at 

 Hopewell ; but the main feature of the 

 landscape presented the same aspect as 

 when the gray-coated soldiers camped 

 here. 



