The public must not expect cantonments to be built until the army is so increased that they will be needed, A. Evan Reames, Medford attorney and former U.S. Senator, stated today in a telegram to Glenn L. Jackson, president of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce. Senator Reames has been in Washington, D.C., for about 10 days looking after the interests of Medford and Jackson County in cantonment plans.
    Senator Reames confirmed that the army had selected Medford and Eugene for two of nine new cantonment sites. Actual construction of the  cantonments, however, depends upon congressional authority for enlarging the army and appropriation of the necessary funds, the Senator stated.
    The army has enough money at hand now, however, to proceed with surveys and the contracting of lands, Senator Reames said, indicating that advance preparations would be made without delay so that actual construction of the cantonment could start the moment it was authorized. This advance work begun last week when a temporary constructing quartermaster's office was set up in the armory.
    Senator Reames said he planned to leave Washington for Medford tonight if he could get plane reservations.
    Mayor H. S. Deuel spoke highly of the work done for Medford and all of Southern Oregon by Senator Reames while in Washington on the present mission pertaining to establishment of a cantonment.
    "Senator Reames, always ready to serve his community, dropped his own work and flew to Washington to be of assistance to Medford, Jackson County and the army," Mayor Deuel said.
    "He has ever been ready to help in the progress and development of Medford and Southern Oregon, and his accomplishments are many. But none, I think, has been of such vast importance as his present accomplishment regarding the cantonment, for not only are Medford and all of Jackson County concerned in this, but the entire nation. The proposed camp is part of national defense plans, and in these Senator Reames has performed a lasting service."
    Mr. Jackson said:
    "Senator Reames has performed an invaluable service for the community in bringing about the designation of Medford as a cantonment site area.
    "While we are all aware of the headaches that may go along with the constructing of the cantonment at Medford, we must realize that there has been an increasing trend toward concentration of business activity in areas where large defense contracts have been let by the federal government.
    "The only possibility of economic stimulation of communities like Medford during this war period would necessarily be something of this kind.
    "The Senator is entitled to the gratitude of the community for the fine job he has done."
Medford Mail Tribune, May 14, 1941, page 1


    Myron Hunt, prominent Los Angeles architect of the famed firm of Myron Hunt and H. C. Chambers, arrived here today to put the proposed Medford army cantonment on paper. Also here today on the same mission was Harold I. Wood of the equally prominent San Francisco civil engineering firm of Blackie and Wood.
    The two firms will be associated in the planning of the proposed cantonment, and while the government has not yet signed the necessary contract, Mr. Hunt and Mr. Wood will proceed with the blueprinting of the entire project. The plans and specifications will be drawn up so that they can be submitted to bidders on a lump sum basis if and when actual construction of the proposed cantonment is sanctioned, said Capt. Theron W. Bean, in charge of the constructing quartermaster's office the army set up in the Medford armory last week. .
    With the approval of Captain Bean, who attended an interview the Mail Tribune had this afternoon with Mr. Hunt and Mr. Wood, the architect and engineer briefly sketched their work here. It was emphasized throughout the conversation that the architect's contract had not yet been signed, that erection of the cantonment depended upon army expansion and congressional appropriation of funds, that the drawings would be 80 percent good at any other site should geological  difficulties or land acquisition obstacles arise and that no construction, even if everything else worked out smoothly, could be started in less than 120 days from now. It will take about three months to put the project on paper, Mr. Hunt said.
    Mr. Hunt said that he and Mr. Wood had about 50 persons, experienced in cantonment work, signed up from their own organizations, that all department key men were employed and would be arriving in the next few days. Some field men, if qualified, would be employed locally, Mr. Hunt and Mr. Wood said. At the peak perhaps as many as 140 to 150 men will be employed on the planning project, they stated. All of the key positions will be filled by experienced men working for the Wood and Hunt firms, they asserted.
    Offices are being established in the Medford armory, where all the paper work will be done.
    Mr. Hunt has just completed work on Camp Callen and Fort Rosecrans in San Diego County, Cal. Both the Hunt and Wood firms have numerous world-famous jobs to their credit.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 15, 1941, page 1


    There might be a few "bottlenecks" to widen, but prospects seem favorable for the construction of a 35,000-troop cantonment in the Medford area, A. Evan Reames, Medford attorney and former U.S. Senator, said upon his arrival this forenoon by United Mainliner from Washington, D.C., with Mrs. Reames.
    Senator Reames, who went to Washington to look out for the interests of Medford and Jackson County in cantonment planning, and Mrs. Reames were greeted by city, county and Jackson County Chamber of Commerce officials and personal friends upon their arrival at the municipal airport.
    Asked about concern felt in some parts of the country about assertedly excessive prices asked for land the government needs in the present world emergency, Senator Reames waved his hand in a gesture of dismissal. "No one here is going to hold up defense preparations in an effort to secure a few extra dollars," he said. "This is a patriotic move, and we all view these defense preparations in the spirit of patriotism. No one need worry about excessive prices. People of Oregon are truly patriotic."
    Senator Reames pointed out again that although Medford has been designated as a cantonment site and advance planning and surveying have begun, actual construction of the cantonment is dependent upon congressional action to increase the army and appropriate the necessary funds. He added, however, that he feels certain that the army will be increased in the immediate future and that Congress will appropriate whatever money is needed to prepare this nation for any contingency.
    The Senator and Mrs. Reames looked in extremely good health after their visit in the nation's capital. They received a warm welcome back to Medford.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 15, 1941, page 1


    (Editor's note: John W. Kelly, whose column from Washington. D.C., appears regularly in the Mail Tribune, today gives some interesting figures on the magnitude of the proposed Medford cantonment. While the outlay for supplies will be tremendous, it is pointed out by army officers here that practically all food, etc., will be purchased in vast quantities on bids, and that local firms, because of limited facilities, will enjoy little or none of such business.)
    Washington, D.C., May 21.--Approximately $35,000,000 will be invested in Western Oregon by the War Department in the two cantonments, one at Medford and the other at Eugene. In making this announcement the War Department very belatedly confirms the prediction first made in this space many months ago and which the high command repeatedly denied. The prediction that a cantonment will go to Eastern Washington is yet unfulfilled, but the "dope" on that is as authentic as on the projects in Oregon west of the Cascades.
    Under the army estimates, it is calculated that the cost of a cantonment is $500 per man. (There are many cantonments recently built or now being constructed the cost of which runs $700 per man, and at one place almost $2000.) On the $500-per-man basis Medford's military camp will represent an investment of $17,000,000. The same cost at Eugene. This is the original investment for barracks, mess halls, administration hall, sewers, water, lights (later a hospital of about 400 beds) and roadways.
    With 35,000 men in each cantonment it means a payroll of substantial importance. The 70,000 men will represent better than $1,500,000 a month; say about $800,000 per camp. This is the payroll alone, and troopers spend their money. It costs approximately 50 cents a day to feed a soldier, or for the two camps the quartermaster department will spend $35,000 a day or $1,050,000 each month the troops are at the cantonments. On a per year basis (period of training) the grocery bill will run in the neighborhood of $12,600,000.
    Regulations call for furnishing one-half pint of milk to every man each day. This means 8,750 quarts each for Medford and Eugene; total, 17,400 quarts or 4,350 gallons every 24 hours for both camps. Milk sheds of the Willamette and Rogue River valleys will be drained to furnish this new amount of consumption. When possible, troops receive one apple or one pear a day (sometimes a peach or grapefruit), which will provide a market for Oregon fruit, particularly that of the Rogue River Valley, site of the Medford cantonment. Vegetables and meat must be bought, and when possible the local market is patronized.
    An important responsibility devolves upon citizens of Eugene and Medford and nearby communities. This is in providing amusement for the troops. Many soldiers will visit Portland to have a fling; many others will not go so far. Someone proposes that the town of Central Point be taken over and made into a rest camp for the troops, with movies, taverns, etc.
    And before a contract is awarded or even an appropriation made by Congress for these cantonments, a group has started a campaign against "sin," meaning hard liquor and members of "Mrs. Warren's profession." Incidentally, it should be mentioned that several chaplains will be with the soldiers at the cantonments and there will be several chapels.
    Either cantonment will have a larger population than 29 of Oregon's 36 counties. Only Portland will have a population in excess of these camps, for the second city in Oregon is Salem with census population of 30,908, or 4000 fewer people than will be in the Eugene or Medford establishment. Jackson County is barely larger than the proposed cantonment, the county being credited with 36,213 in last year's census figures. The camp will double the population of the county (with camp followers) and will triple the population of Medford, if the cantonment can be regarded as in the metropolitan area. The Eugene camp will be only 50 percent of Lane County population but will be 15,000 larger than Eugene.
    Roughly, the two cantonments will mean $30,240,000 a year new money to those communities, plus the capital investment of $35,000,000 in cantonments.
    Selection of Medford and Eugene was partly political. War Department saw on its map that there was no project west of the Cascades. A great base for the army air corps is building in Pendleton; a munitions depot is under construction at Hermiston; a bombing range has been acquired east of Arlington; Portland has an army air station, but there was a perfect blank on the ocean side of the Cascade Mountains. The planning board spotted Medford and Eugene for new developments when the army is increased and money is available, but the brass hats of War Department were unaware of these preparations.
    Meanwhile officials and public-spirited citizens quietly obtained options on tracts of land for the department, preventing any attempt at a holdup. There may be some difficulty in obtaining funds for clearing the bottleneck on the Pacific Highway for military purposes between Grants Pass and Eugene, subject to revision now with cantonments decided upon at Medford and Eugene.
Medford Mail Tribune, May 21, 1941, page 1


    Just now it appears that there is a strong probability that an army cantonment is going to be built in our immediate neighborhood in the very near future. It seems that the site has been definitely selected--at least roughly. The men who are doing that selecting seem to have a hard time making up their minds just where to draw the line as to the boundary of the big camp. But one thing is sure--if things in Europe do not get better right soon, this country is going to enlarge the army, and when that happens, the cantonment in this country will be among the first to be built.
    So far as the writer can learn, here is a rough outline of the  site as of today (Tuesday p.m.): The GHQ will be located just east of the Crater Lake Highway at the point where the highway comes closest to the railroad. The main camp will lie both east and west of headquarters. The cantonment will take in practically all of Antelope Valley as far south as Grizzly Peak. From there it is proposed to run the line eastward beyond the Lost Lake country, crossing the south fork of Little Butte Creek above Dead Indian Soda Springs down the divide between the south fork and north fork of Little Butte to the vicinity of the Lake Creek store and thence back into the Antelope Valley. That, roughly, is the proposed eastern part of the big camp.
    The northern part will include a strip at the mouth of Little Butte Creek, where a bridge will be built. From there the camp will take in most of the Beagle district as far as Evans Creek. And if you don't think that means a lot of country, just try hiking over it someday. It is bigger than most countries in Europe. But don't put too much faith in this statement of the outlines of the proposed camp. It may have been changed since we left town--those folks beat the Dutch for changing their minds.
    Last Sunday the state highway commission met with the army men in Medford and went over part of the proposed site. They will have a big job on their hands putting the Crater Lake Highway into shape to carry the enormous traffic to and from camp. Also the county is faced with a bit of trouble in putting several of the county roads in like shape. Just which ones will be considered "access roads" we don't know yet. And it is thought that Congress will have passed the national defense road program before the time comes we need the money, and federal funds will be available for all these roads.
    But the most stupendous problems facing the people of this county is the matter of providing housing for the hordes of workmen who will be brought here to build the camp. Army officials estimate the number of these at about 8000. And they prophesy that we will have to take care of at least 1000 trailer houses brought by these men. This means proper sanitary provisions, lighting, water, etc. And on top of that, when the army moves in our cities will face a dwelling house shortage of some 5000 houses. Just try that on your jew's harp.
    And we wonder if the people of Central Point realize that if the cantonment does come--and President Roosevelt's fireside chat makes one even more certain that it WILL come and that right soon--a lot of things will have to be done right here at home. According to the chief architect who is drawing the plans for the cantonment (and who, by the way, has built a number of other such camps in other parts of the United States) there will come with the 30,000 men and 1000 officers somewhere in the neighborhood of 12,000 to 15,000 civilians who must be housed in surrounding towns. That means some four or five thousand new houses in the Rogue River Valley. Which also means that the population of this city will be doubled. Which again means plenty of headaches for the council in their job of providing water, sewers, street maintenance, police, and the like.
Arthur Edward Powell, "Musings by the Editor," Central Point American, May 29, 1941, page 1


    The army cantonment coordinating committee this afternoon announced employment of Frank J. Van Dyke, Ashland attorney, as coordinator to carry out the actual work in finding solutions to the numerous problems establishment of the proposed camp is expected to create.
    Mr. Van Dyke will also act as a sort of liaison officer between the army executives working on the cantonment plans and the civilian interests represented by the coordinating committee which consists of County Judge J. B. Coleman, Mayor H. S. Deuel and Glenn L. Jackson, president of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce.
    One of the first jobs facing Mr. Van Dyke is to carry out the actual work of solving the problems to arise from the influx of camp construction workers, the committee said. Mr. Van Dyke will begin his work tomorrow and will have his office in the armory, where the construction quartermaster and architect and engineering staffs are housed.
    Mr. Van Dyke will continue his private law practice in Ashland and as Ashland city attorney, he said, but will give the major part of his time to his new job. He is a graduate of Medford High School and Willamette University law school. He has been practicing law since 1932 and has resided in Ashland since 1933 when he became city attorney. He is a director and past president of the Ashland Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Ashland school board. His parents are Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Van Dyke of Route 4.
Medford Mail Tribune, June 11, 1941, page 1


    Washington, D.C., June 21.--Within a brief time the War Department will be in the market for 1,500,000,000 feet of lumber, to be used in the construction of cantonments. This is one reason why officials have been anxious to have all go well in the forests and sawmills of the Pacific Northwest, for a large percentage of the lumber will be Douglas fir and Ponderosa pine. Before the lumber is required, however, Congress must authorize increase of the army to about 2,000,000 men and officers and appropriate the money for construction of the cantonments. These matters will come in due time, but the communities, having "Indian information" that they have been selected as sites. can scarcely wait.
    Contemplated cantonments in Oregon are all located in neighborhoods surrounded by timber and sawmills, but the way things are run by the army the lumber used may come from hundreds of miles away. One of the important officers in charge of part of the construction program says it is foolish and not businesslike. It is like the house-that-Jack-built, he says. First a cantonment is required for 35,000 troops. To build it dwellings must be built for thousands of carpenters, graders and what have you to do the work. But to provide shelter for the carpenters and other who are to build the cantonment thousands of men must be employed, and so on and so forth. "Screwy," is the way this higher official describes the arrangement.
    When and if the cantonments are built they will be on competitive bids and not on the cost-plus fixed-fee basis, the War Department thinks; but Congress is opposed to competitive bids, regards the cost-plus fixed-fee as a quicker method.
John W. Kelly, "Kelly's Comment from Washington," Medford Mail Tribune, June 22, 1941, page 1

    The architect for the proposed army cantonment here is under contract to have the plans ready so that construction can be started by October 1. The plans will be ready before that date, and it is hoped to have the first contingent of soldiers in the camp by November, with more to arrive in December and the post to be filled by January. The positive statements, without any "as, if and when" qualifications, were made last night by Myron Hunt, cantonment architect, at a meeting sponsored by the Jackson County League of Women Voters in the county courthouse auditorium.
    The information was brought out under a barrage of questions from the women in the audience, who brushed aside all verbal skirmishing and asked such point-blank questions as: "When will work on the cantonment start?" "When will the boys start arriving?" "How will the huge quantities of supplies needed by the soldiers be transported to the camp?" "What about hospital facilities?" "How and where will the large quantities of foodstuffs be preserved?"
    It was the first time that any positive information was given out on a number of points. Heretofore, for example, it had been emphasized the cantonment construction was dependent upon congressional appropriation and enlargement of the army, and arrival of soldiers, of course, depended upon erection of the camp.
    Mrs. Hunt, who spoke on the social aspects of military camps, was equally positive. Her first statement was: "The cantonment is going to arrive."
    The cantonment is being planned for 35,000 soldiers, Mr. Hunt said, though other figures he gave indicated that the actual number occupying the camp would be around 30,000. Half the troops will be quartered east of Crater Lake Highway and half west of the highway, he related. There will be four miles of buildings, the ordinary space between them being 50 feet, with occasional firebreaks, he stated.
    A military bridge is to be constructed across the Rogue River about a mile east of the Bybee bridge, so that cannon and lorries can get across the stream safely, Mr. Hunt said, adding that pontoon bridges also were to be built.
    In reply to a question about transportation, after he had said that a camp of 20,000 men uses 40 carloads of materials a day, Mr. Hunt stated that the railroad to the camp site (the Medford Corporation logging railroad), would have to be rebuilt.
    Replying to the question about the preservation of foodstuffs, the architect said a huge cold storage plant would be built at the camp and there "will be a laundry and a bakery big enough to make your eyes bulge." There will be 36 warehouses, each about 60 by 120 or 130 feet in dimensions, he added.
    Mr. Hunt said the army invariably "starves" its camp hospital facilities at the beginning, but he was hopeful enough additional funds would be appropriated within a year for a 1500-bed hospital. As now planned it is a 1200-bed hospital. The one-story hospital plant now planned will be 1500 by 2000 feet in dimensions, he related. He stated that a study was being made now to determine whether government aid could be obtained in financing expansion of hospitals in Medford and nearby towns to take care of the needs of the families of officers and soldiers and other civilians who will come here to live.
    Asked what the camp buildings would be built of, Mr. Hunt replied quickly: "Oregon pine," and then amended it to "Douglas fir."
    A question about the army's method of buying supplies brought the answer that with such large-scale buying, bids are ordinarily asked for once a month.
    "You can't sell from your back yard to an army camp," Mr. Hunt said. "This is wholesale business." He advised persons with produce to sell to organize a selling organization to embrace the entire Rogue River Valley and other valleys of Southern Oregon.
    With 30,000 men in camp, there will be throughout the county roughly an additional 15,000, relatives of the men, camp followers and others attracted here by the cantonment, Mr. Hunt said.
    The community's problem will come next fall with construction of the camp and the influx of camp workers and hangers-on, said Mr. Hunt, who has designed two California camps and speaks from experience. When the army moves in and takes over the camp, everything will be stabilized, he explained.
    Mr. Hunt spoke of meeting Col. F. L. TouVelle while he was looking over the land for possible bridge construction at the TouVelle property on the Rogue River. After asking Mr. Hunt what he had in mind, Col. TouVelle said of his land: "Don't take more than you need, but take what you want," the architect related. "It's a pleasure to meet such a man," Mr. Hunt added.
    In a talk punctuated with keen wit, Mrs. Hunt advised residents here to afford the soldier boys every opportunity for wholesome recreation. "Remember," she said, "they are your boys, for if your boys are not at this particular camp they will be at similar camps." She gave advice from experience on how best to be of service to the boys, and she urged that steps be taken immediately to prepare for arrival of the youths at the camp here.
    The auditorium was filled to capacity and the audience seemed alert and eager to receive the information that Mr. and Mrs. Hunt had to impart. Mrs. Leonard Carpenter, president of the league's county unit, presided.
    Mrs. Carpenter called attention of the audience to the league's campaign to arouse the interest of the public in the "battle of production." In this emergency, Mrs. Carpenter said, "we should put the good of our country above every other consideration."
Medford Mail Tribune, June 24, 1941, page 1


    Most of the population is getting a good lesson in patience, waiting for their cantonment to come in.
Arthur Perry, "Ye Smudge Pot," Medford Mail Tribune, September 7, 1941, page 8


    How to pronounce "cantonment" was definitely settled once and for all at the Jackson County League of Women Voters meeting last night.
    After saying "We have looked it up," Mrs. Myron Hunt, wife of the camp architect, pronounced it "can-tone-ment." A little later Mr. Hunt, looking daggers at his wife, pointedly pronounced it it "can-tahn-ment." And to clarify the matter Mrs. Leonard Carpenter, presiding, pronounced it "can-toon-ment."
Medford Mail Tribune, June 24, 1941, page 1


To the Editor:
     I am a visitor here. Came up to see about that reported army cantonment. What's the matter with your newspapers in Oregon? If there is to be a cantonment near Medford why don't you say so; if there isn't why don't you say that? You can't tell me after all this publicity that no one knows whether this camp is to be built or not. It makes a lot of difference to me, and I should think it would to your town. And yet no one knows anything about it--or they pretend not to. What's the big idea--why all the secrecy? You are supposed to give your community news. Why don't you give it?
    Just a minute, stranger, just a minute!
    The Mail Tribune has been trying for two months to get official and definite news regarding the projected cantonment, and none has been available.
    This effort has included persistent inquiry by a special representative of the Mail Tribune in Washington, D.C.; constant contact with army and civilian officials here preparing the preliminary plans; and a high-powered and permanent liaison with the dynamic and omniscient chief executive of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce!
    But if there is any more definite news than the Mail Tribune has already printed, then we would thank our somewhat irritated communicant--or anyone else--to present some evidence of it.
    Our own belief is the answer can't be found in this country because it is in Europe. It may be in the process of formulation indeed along Germany's eastern front at the present time.
    For, as we see it, if the Russian war reports are "all wool and a yard wide" then there IS a chance the Medford cantonment will never be built. Yes, if Moscow is telling the truth--or say 65% of the truth--Hitler has already lost over a million men and is now losing them at the rate of about a hundred thousand a day. At that tempo Germany may well be completely smashed before Labor Day, and World War No. 2 will be over.
    In which event there will be no need for training a larger U.S. army than we have already, and therefore no need for the Medford cantonment, nor for the proposed ones at Eugene or Corvallis.
    On the other hand, this is the ONLY development we can foresee which would definitely remove the local army camp from the field of ultimate certainty, i.e., a prompt and overwhelming allied victory.
    So all we can say to our itinerant correspondent, is: "What do YOU think?" His opinion is as good as the next man's.
    Those who think there is any probability of a complete allied victory in the very near future better not bank very heavily on the construction of the Medford cantonment.
    Those who don't--and particularly those who think Germany MIGHT win--would be justified, we believe, in banking on the ultimate construction of the cantonment, up to say 50% of their maximum credit rating.
    Those who are convinced this is going to be a long war--a very long one--well, they can go the limit as far as we are concerned.
    But to those who not only must LOOK, but must positively KNOW before they leap, there is only one thing to do--wait until they can know.
    And they CAN'T KNOW until Congress does and the necessary cash is appropriated.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 17, 1941, page 6

    Maj.-Gen. Ernest D. Peek, commanding general of the 9th Corps area, was expected to confer this afternoon with Maj. Irvin A. Robinson, commander of the Medford CCC district, upon the general's return from Crater Lake National Park, whither he went last evening with his aide, Col. S. H. Negrotto. It was thought that General Peek would depart by train this evening for his headquarters at the Presidio of San Francisco.
    As commanding general of the 9th Corps area, General Peek has jurisdiction over all the CCC districts in the western states. District headquarters here were notified by mail by the general this week that the Medford district was to be absorbed by the Vancouver Barracks, Wash., district.
    General Peek and several other officers came here to inspect the site of the proposed Beagle-Antelope cantonment and the site plan. All expressed their approval of the site plan, but modified some of the proposed camp boundaries in such manner as to effect a reduction in the total area which the War Department is considering in its planning, said Capt. Theron W. Bean, constructing quartermaster.
    The inspecting high-ranking officers also emphasized again that no funds were yet available for actual cantonment construction, nor had any authority yet been granted for actual construction, Capt. Bean said. They also were quoted as declaring that no funds were yet available for land acquisition and that no steps other than preliminary appraising had yet been taken for either purchase or lease of any land.
    General Peek and his aide arrived by train yesterday forenoon, others having already arrived for the inspection. Others in the inspecting party, all of whom left last evening for Marysville, Cal., were Col. E. M. George, Zone 9, constructing quartermaster, C. L. Coray, Zone 9 principal engineer; Col. Edmond H. Leavey, from the quartermaster general's office, Washington, D.C., and Maj. Gerald R. Tyler, cantonment officer from the quartermaster general's office.
Medford Mail Tribune, August 14, 1941, page 1


    If plans are not carried out in advance to take care of the horde of workers required, Medford and the whole of Jackson County will be submerged in confusion, lack of housing and sanitary facilities and inflated prices should the proposed army cantonment in the Beagle-Antelope district be authorized.
    This warning came today from Mrs. Nellie Fulton, former local resident, who now makes her home in Berkeley, Cal. Mrs. Fulton owns a 10-acre piece of property on Crater Lake Highway, 15 miles out of Medford, which she plans to convert into a trailer camp if the cantonment becomes a reality, she related. Don & Bette's place, a service station and grocery, occupies part of the property, the business having been leased by Mrs. Fulton to the present operators.
    Mrs. Fulton said she has seen the effects of an army cantonment on a number of California cities and she has gleaned other general information from her nephew, Don Hartford, a major in the army who is stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco and is engaged in cantonment construction on the West Coast.
    "Once the authorization is given, army cantonments go up so fast and so many thousands of workers swarm to the jobs that unless something is done beforehand, Medford's head is going to swim when and if the proposed camp is started here," she said.
    "It's hard to conceive the magnitude of these jobs," Mrs. Fulton emphasized. California cities near new camps have been swamped, she asserted, adding that accommodations and even parking space couldn't be found 30 miles from camp sites. For miles around trailer camps and tent colonies spring up, she stated.
    Mrs. Fulton counseled Medford and the county to do something now before the cantonment hordes swarm into the city.
    (Editor's Note: For months the civilian cantonment coordinating board has been at work planning to meet the very problems Mrs. Fulton outlined. Dozens of representatives of various federal agencies which have appropriations to protect communities in defense areas so far as civic needs are concerned have come here to help formulate plans for housing, schooling, recreation, sanitation, water supplies, etc., but apparently none of the agencies has authority to take any definite action until the proposed cantonment is authorized. By then, it is generally agreed, it will be too late, and because of this the coordinating board is known to be gravely concerned over the outlook.)
Medford Mail Tribune, September 12, 1941, page 3


    Washington, D.C., Sept. 24.--There is a whisper circulating that if the Japanese situation simmers down and the Mikado gives assurance that his military men will be restrained in the future, a very decided change will take place in the defense preparations of the Pacific Northwest; that these preparations will be frozen. As is common knowledge, the defense which the army and navy have been, and are, installing from Alaska, through Washington, Oregon and California has been primarily undertaken in anticipation of a warlike move by Japan. Some there are who assert that the entire program on the West Coast has been a bluff; something to impress Japan and show that the United States can "go to town" if necessary.
    It is hinted that, provided Japan ceases its belligerent attitude, there will be no occasion to spend additional millions in the construction of cantonments, air bases, etc., as the incentive to build such defense will have vanished, but that similar defenses on the Atlantic Coast will be strengthened, as will those bases in the Caribbean.
John W. Kelly, "Kelly's Comment from Washington," Medford Mail Tribune, September 24, 1941, page 1


    Washington, Dec. 4.--(AP)--General George C. Marshall, chief of staff, told the house appropriations committee that there were no immediate prospects for establishing additional army cantonments.
    His statement was made in recent committee hearings on the new $8,000,000,000 defense bill and were made public with introduction of the bill yesterday. General Marshall added that extensive site surveys had been made so the army would be prepared if forced to move suddenly into another construction program.
    Medford Armory took on a feverish activity this afternoon as final shipments were made ready preparatory to closing out the proposed army cantonment engineering office, which has been transferred to the San Francisco Zone 9 office. The office here was to be closed at the end of today's business.
    The transfer to San Francisco involved packing and shipping in 72 hours $48,000 worth of survey and drafting equipment and office furniture, supplies and equipment. There was enough drafting equipment for 170 men. About a third of the $48,000 worth was bought here.
Medford Mail Tribune, December 4, 1941, page 1


    San Francisco, Dec. 12.--(AP)--Lieut.-Colonel Harold D. Stetson, Ninth Corps area assistant constructing quartermaster, announced today he had received approval from Washington for construction of three major cantonments in the West.
    Preliminary plans and engineering specifications for the camps--at Marysville, Calif., and Medford and Corvallis, Ore.--already had been drawn up.
    Each cantonment will house 33,000 soldiers.
    Colonel Stetson made the announcement to a convention of contractors.
    Months and months of work, pleading, conferring, drawing up surveys and preparing briefs culminated today in success for the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and city and county officials with the granting of authorization for construction of an army cantonment here.
    Almost a year ago, when hints were received here that the army was interested in studying sites for new camps, the chamber of commerce swung into action, made a survey of available land in the Beagle-Antelope district, sent the data to the War Department and invited the army to come and have a look.
    Army officers did come and have a look. They came for look after look, but they were always noncommittal. Their attitude did not discourage the chamber of commerce and its dynamic president, Glenn L. Jackson.
    Each time the army showed even only passing interest, Mr. Jackson and his associates redoubled their efforts and set to work on additional briefs, surveys and arguments in favor of Medford's sites.
    When army officials did show some interest in Southern Oregon as a site for a cantonment, the chamber of commerce went to work in earnest. Enlisting the active cooperation of city and county officials, the chamber sponsored formation of a committee to represent all interested parties. The group made a thorough study of the cantonment project, not overlooking the effect so gigantic an undertaking would have on community life, on the economic and social life of Jackson County and its cities.
    Early last May the county was electrified with the news that Capt. Theron W. Bean had arrived here from Vancouver Barracks, Wash., to establish a constructing quartermaster's office in the armory to engage in advance planning and preliminary surveys in a proposed cantonment in the Beagle-Antelope district.
    Then Myron Hunt, famed architect of Los Angeles, and Harold I. Wood, engineer of San Francisco, came here under contract to draw up advance plans and specifications. The constructing quartermaster and the architect-engineer took over practically the whole armory and for months worked rapidly on plans. During the early stages of this work, rumors were spread far and wide and a mild boom, especially in real estate, followed.
    A civilian coordination board under the direction of Frank Van Dyke of Ashland was organized to plan in advance for every possible problem a camp would create, morality, health, housing, schooling, sanitation, traffic. The board worked for months, got everything in readiness and then quit for the time being, awaiting word of construction authorization.
    Then came the letdown. The architect-engineer finished the advance planning and closed shop here, leaving Capt. Bean to carry on. On December 4, on War Department orders, the constructing quartermaster's office was moved to the Zone 9 constructing quartermaster's office in San Francisco. There was a sudden collapse in enthusiasm, as nearly everyone thought the move forecast the end of Medford's chances to procure a cantonment.
    But not Glenn Jackson. He hopped a train to Washington, D.C., to find out just what was happening. While he could procure no definite commitments, he did return with confidence that Medford would not be overlooked if the army should be enlarged. Confidently he called the cantonment civilian coordination board together this week to swing back into action to be fully prepared in case the camp should be authorized.
    Today the authorization came.
Medford Mail Tribune, December 12, 1941, page 1


    With construction of the proposed army cantonment here now apparently certain, it was expected that the civilian coordination board under Frank J. Van Dyke as coordinator would be re-established immediately in Medford.
    The office was temporarily given up a few weeks ago when the board had gone as far as it could with its advance planning. It was to have been reopened sometime next week but the word received here today from San Francisco will accelerate the reopening, it was stated.
    The board has a great many things to do to prepare for the changed conditions which the camp construction will bring about. First item of business probably will be a new and thorough housing survey to ascertain definitely how many houses and apartments are available here, first for workers and later for officer and noncommissioned officer personnel.
Medford Mail Tribune, December 12, 1941, page 1


    Frank J. Van Dyke, coordinator of the Medford cantonment civilian coordination board, will leave by train tonight for Portland to confer with the U.S. district engineer's office and various government agencies that have promised federal aid in case the proposed camp is constructed. Army officers expect authorization to be granted any day now.
    Construction work has been transferred from the quartermaster corps to the army engineers and so Mr. Van Dyke wants to establish contact with the district engineer in Portland. If the situation seems to warrant the trip, Mr. Van Dyke said he would continue to Seattle to consult other federal agencies on projects outlined for development in case the camp came here.
    Mr. Van Dyke will be accompanied by Mayor T. S. Wiley and George Green of Ashland, who will appear before the state highway commission in Portland regarding plans to take the curve out of the plaza section of Ashland.
Medford Mail Tribune, December 17, 1941, page 10


    Work is progressing rapidly on the field building being erected on the army cantonment site about eight miles from Medford off the Crater Lake Highway. The building, a frame structure, is being constructed by Marshall O. Bessonette. Because of a ban on military news, no details are available for publication.
Medford Mail Tribune, January 19, 1942, page 8


    The one-way traffic control plan necessitated by construction of Camp White will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.
    The one-way system involves Crater Lake Highway, the Midway road and the Wellen road outside the city and Riverside Avenue, Central Avenue and Court Street inside the city.
    Office of the area engineer said that guards would be stationed at the important points of intersection to direct traffic over the out-of-town route until motorists became used to the change. Saturday night motorists were cautioned that the one-way system becomes effective one minute after midnight Saturday and were advised to travel with the greatest of care.
    In the city only northbound traffic will be permitted on Riverside Avenue (Pacific Highway) from the intersection of Riverside with Central Avenue to the north city limits. Only southbound traffic will be permitted on Court Street and Central Avenue from the north city limits to the function of Riverside and Central avenues.
    The city plan is in the nature of an experiment ordered by the state highway commission. If it works out satisfactorily, the commission will make improvements at the point where Court Street and Riverside Avenue meet.
    The map published on page 4 today shows how the traffic will flow under the one-way system in the cantonment area outside of town.
    New directional signs will help guide motorists over the one-way routes.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 6, 1942, page 1


Advertisement, Medford Mail Tribune, April 19, 1942, page 6