March 14, 1943

C. P. S. #59
Elton, Oregon
Mar. 14, 1943

Dear folks,

Here’s the latest developments in my CPS carier. I wrote to the passenger agent at Portland and here’s what he told me as to the cost of a round trip coach fare. The round trip fare from Drain to Jefferson would be 71.52 if I went through Portland both ways and if I made a circuit and returned through Calif it would be $68.07. In addition there is a federal tax of 10%. My schedule would be:
Lv. Drain -1:24 a.m. –Sun. for example
Ar. Portland -7:55 a.m. – “
Lv. “ -9:00 a.m. – “
Ar. Jefferson -10:05 P.m. Tue.
I think that I will go and come by different routes as long as it seems to cost less and he didn’t say about it taking any longer and I asked him about the time involved. Also some of the fellows that came here from Iowa came through Calif. and made it in three days. So my ticket would cost $74.99 including the tax. Then it will take something for eats. Eating on a train costs like the dickens. I think I’ll start out with a loaf of bread in my suitcase. If I eat some on the dinning car and myabe I can get off someplace and get something to make sandwitches of it won’t take so much. You had better put in an extra 5 of something like. It might be better to bring some money home than run out maybe you better make that 10 extra. I guess that about finishes the Money talk. All I want is $84.88. That sure is a lot of money but I tell myself that I may not be able to come home a year from now fro several reasons.

I’m not exactly sure when I’ll come home but I still intend to come. We get a paper here in camp that is put our by the NSBRO so what’s in it is straight stuff. Well, it said that there was a deal to get 200 men do do the surveying work for the Coast and Geodetic Survey. It seems that they survey the whole US. and make all of the maps. They wanted to send from 50 to 100 men to Alaska for a short time. All that hasn’t come to a head yet but will soon. If it is going, to get started this summer. If I wait for the 200 man deal I don’t think it will interfier with my furlough. But we shall have to wait and see. I figured my furlough with one of the fellows in the office and then I figured it again myself and get something different each time. The latest is that if I leave on the 10th of May and come back on the 31st. I will have 22 days. The wouldn’t be so bad. I look for the Alaska surveying to get underway in June so I would come out about right. We shall see. What do you think about the whole situation?

Thanks for the films I havn’t used any of them yet but will soon I can’t think of much else to say right now.

Did I ever tell you about out water suply? We get it out of a stream about a mile and half up in the hills. The pipe line hadn’t been working right and so I got in on fixing it. There had been two extiditions at different times that had failed to fix it I think that is why I got in on it this time. It is sort of out of my department but there was only one other man in this camp now that so many are in spike camps, that knew enough to figure out what was wrong. Well this other smart guy and I and a couple of dumb guys started out to fix the water supply. We found out what was the trouble and it was so simple that I have only told one of the fellows cause it is so silly. You see the pipe runs up and down over each one of thoes little humps while it is coming down. Well, each one of those little humps had a lot of air in the pipe and the water couldn’t get through very fast. It took us almost a whole day to discover what the trouble was but we finally decided to open the pipe at the top of each hump and let out the air. As near as we could figure that air had been there since the pipe was laid. The pipe runs a full stream of water now and it was only running about the size of your thumb in a 2 ½ in pipe. I had to brag a little since I didn’t have anything else to write about.

I’m back in the notion of getting hill billy shoes now cause one of the new fellows said that just before he came he got some Engineers Boots and they told him that there wasn’t going to be any more high cut shoes made. I think they will continue to make the hill billy style cause the lumberjacks and anyone that works in the hills just about has to have them.

Yours
Bernard

PS I imagine that the sooner I buy my train tickets the better. The guy I wrote to at Portland said he would suggest that I secure my transportation well in advance of when I plan to leave.