Page:The history and achievements of the Fort Sheridan officers' training camps.djvu/206

204, text-books entitled "Notes on Sketching" and "Notes on Contouring" were distributed, and preliminary studies commenced. The first week of study on this subject was devoted to becoming familiar with the contents of the two text-books. The next week position sketches were made, contouring practiced, and road sketches drawn, three inches to one mile. Before making the road sketches it was necessary to become acquainted with the mysterious "alidade." Drawing boards, too, were purchased or fashioned. To establish accuracy in one's "alidade," a man had to determine his "pace scale," Stakes were placed 100 yards apart and men strode from one stake to the next, intently counting, in an endeavor to find their average number of strides.

Following the road sketch, a map of a certain portion of the camp area was required. This, of course, was the hardest work of all, for it required the accurate locating of roads, buildings and contours. Mappers worked in pairs. A board on a tripod, a sketch on the board and an alidade on the sketch, with a man squinting carefully along the alidade, was a common sight during mapping week. Tripods, how^ever, were not plentiful. The partner's back or a handy post or rock generally served the purpose. The area sketch was the last required of all but the artillery men. It was necessary for them to go further into the making of "panoramic sketches."

There were two other subjects, not touched upon in the first period, which were introduced during the second "term" in every company, battery and troop—the study of the "Manual for Courts-Martial" and "U. S. Army Regulations." To the lawyers, and there were a good many present, the verbiage of the former was in no minor way pleasing. Instructors of some of the outfits were even known to entrust the teaching of this military