War Comes to American Lake
The Army selects a site near Tacoma for a massive new officers' training facility.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
American Lake, near Tacoma, will be the big officers’ reserve corps training camp for the western department. This decision was made by Major General J. Franklin Bell, department commander, and instruction given for the immediate laying out of a camp. The camp will have an initial capacity for the handling of 2000 civilian students, but will ultimately care for 5000 students trying for commissions in the reserve corps of the army. Although no definite date for the opening of the camp has been set, it is the intention to open it at the earliest moment practical, probably within a month or six weeks.
“The camp will have an initial capacity for the handling of 2000 civilian students, but will ultimately care for 5000 students.”
This event marked the transformation of the region into a major military hub during World War I. Today, the area remains central to the region’s identity as the home of Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
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