THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



461 



to be built in the midst of a wilderness. 

 Ground was broken for the camp on July 

 9th. The site was almost entirely cov- 

 ered with second-growth timber, the near- 

 est railroad was five miles away, and sup- 

 plies had to be brought by truck from 

 Little Rock over hilly highways. A vast 

 deal of rock was encountered in ditching 

 for water and sewer pipes — nearly 75 

 per cent of the total excavations, in fact. 



Labor was scarce, as Camp Funston, 

 in Kansas, had an earlier start and had 

 secured most of the available supply. 

 But the contractors ranged far and wide, 

 even into the Mexican States of Chihua- 

 hua and San Luis Potosi, with the result 

 that all handicaps were overcome. This 

 camp has little level ground, resembling 

 Camp Ayer and Camp Gordon in that re- 

 spect, and many heavy grades in the road 

 system result. The 75 hospital buildings 

 cover 47 acres of ground. 



Little Rock, which plays the role of 

 host to Camp Pike, is the largest city in 

 Arkansas. It was settled in 1814, be- 

 coming the seat of the territorial gov- 

 ernment in 1820, although at that time it 

 had a population of only 20 people. 



Situated on both banks of the Arkan- 

 sas River, the city takes its name from 

 the rocky promontory which rises to a 

 height of some 50 feet above the river. 

 It was called Little Rock in contradistinc- 

 tion to the bold precipice, some 3 miles 

 above and about 500 feet high, which was 

 known as Big Rock. To the west of the 

 city and of Camp Pike the foothills of 

 the Ozark Mountains rise, but to the east 

 are fertile cotton fields and corn lands. 

 The Arkansas River is navigable to boats 

 of considerable draft as far as Little 

 Rock, while steamboats of shallow draft 

 go as far as Fort Smith, 165 miles to the 

 west. 



At the outbreak of the Civil War the 

 State was hopelessly divided in sentiment. 

 The upland people, living west of Little 

 Rock, were Unionists and the cotton-ter- 

 ritory folk, living east, were Secession- 

 ists. Camp Pike stands near the line of 

 cleavage. 



Camp Pike is named in honor of Gen- 

 eral Zebulon M. Pike, an American sol- 

 dier and geographer. Born in Lamber- 

 ton, N. J., in 1779, he spent his boyhood 



in Pennsylvania, and in 1805 started 

 from St. Louis on an expedition to locate 

 the source of the Mississippi. He was 

 successful. Later he followed the Mis- 

 souri and Osage rivers into Kansas, then 

 went southward to the Arkansas, pro- 

 ceeding through Kansas and Colorado to 

 the present site of Pueblo, and viewed 

 Pikes Peak (since named in his honor). 

 While searching for the Red River he lost 

 his way and wandered into Mexican ter- 

 ritory across the upper Rio Grande. He 

 was arrested, taken to Chihuahua, and, 

 after some delay, escorted back to the 

 border. In the War of 1812 he led Amer- 

 ican forces into Canada and was killed at 

 York by falling rock when the retreating 

 force blew up a powder magazine. He 

 died while his nomination for brigadier 

 general was pending. 



CAMP DODGE 



Troops from four States are being 

 trained at Camp Dodge, 11 miles north 

 of Des Moines, Iowa. These troops in- 

 clude all of the National Army forces 

 from Iowa, North Dakota, and Minne- 

 sota, and those from a middle belt of 

 Illinois. 



Military scenes are not new to the 

 neighborhood of Camp Dodge, for the 

 site embraces the Fort Dodge State rifle 

 range and maneuver grounds of the Iowa 

 National Guard in peace times. The 

 camp lies on both sides of the Des Moines 

 River and occupies an area of about 3,500 

 acres. Many other cities sought the can- 

 tonment, but Des Moines showed that it 

 enjoyed 3,000 hours more of sunshine a 

 year than any rival site. It has 259 days 

 of all or part sunshine. Its average an- 

 nual temperature is 48 degrees. 



Des Moines is one of the great railroad 

 centers of the Middle West. It is the 

 capital of the State, and its name signifies 

 "Of the Monks." Founded 71 years ago, 

 it is now a city of 100,000 progressive 

 citizens. 



Camp Dodge was named for General 

 Grenville M. Dodge, a civil engineer who 

 helped to make the Platte Survey, one of 

 the first railroad surveys toward the Pa- 

 cific. He was an officer in the Civil War, 

 rising to the rank of major general of 

 volunteers. In 1864 he commanded the 



