tric line to encircle the very
center of the big military city, thus adding an additional link of
convenience.

Camp Meade having been officially decided upon as the home of the 79th
Division, a sanitary engineer, a town planner, and an army officer,
representing the commanding general, were named to meet on the ground,
where they inspected the location, estimated its difficulties, and
then proceeded to make a survey in the quickest way possible, calling
upon local engineers for assistance and asking for several railroad
engineering corps.

The town-planner, or landscape architect, then drew the plans for the
cantonment, laying it out to conform with the topography of the
location and taking into consideration railroad trackage, roads,
drainage, and the like. Given the site it was the job of the
town-planner to distribute the necessary buildings and grounds of a
typical cantonment as shown in type plans.

The general design for the camp was prepared by Harlan P. Kelsey, of
"city beautiful" fame, who was one of the experts called on by the war
department to aid the government in the emergency of preparing for
war.

After the town-planner came Major Ralph F. Proctor, of Baltimore, Md.,
who on July 2nd, 1917, as constructing quartermaster, look charge of
the task of building the cantonment. Standing on the porch of a little
frame-house situated on a knoll, set in the midst of a pine forest,
Major Proctor gave the order that set saw and axe in motion; saws and
axes manned by fifteen thousand workmen, consecrated to the task of
throwing up a war-time city in record time.

Chips flew high and trees were felled and soon the knoll belched forth
a group of buildings, fringed by the pine of the forest--to be
dedicated as divisional headquarters--around which, with speed
none-the-less magic-like, land encircling was cleared and buildings
and parade grounds sprang up in quick succession.

The dawn of September month saw over one thousand wooden barracks
erected on the ground, most of which were spacious enough to provide
sleeping quarters for about two hundred and fifty men; also hundreds
of other buildings ready to be occupied for administrative purposes.

While workmen of all trades diligently plied their hands to the work
of constructing the cantonment, hundreds of young men were getting
ready to leave their homes on September 5th, as the van-guard of the
40,000 who were in the course of time to report to Camp Meade for