the front. The accompanying map of France shows in a general way the locations of the plants described. It was highly important that contracts for building material should be placed as early as possible. Drawings for structural steel were completed on September 18th and on the same day orders were placed with various steel mills for the framework for 28 storehouses and four light shops, involving 13,000 tons of material. The manufacturers promised to begin shipment on October 20th at the rate of 1,500 tons per week, completing the order December 15th. The steel for the first storehouse was shipped October 6th and arrived in France November 18th, sixty days after the date of the order and less than ninety days after the contract with Stone & Webster was signed. This steel was delivered at Is-sur-Tille December 1st, and erection was started the following week. After September 18th, additional orders were placed for 11,000 tons of steel to complete six additional shops and six more storehouses, making 24,000 tons of structural steel. On December 18th, ninety days after the first order was placed, 15,000 tons had been delivered at seaboard. It was realized very early in the development of these buildings that plans were subject to change after material was on the ground, and that complete buildings or parts of buildings were likely to be lost during transit as a result of torpedo attacks, accidents or otherwise, and for these reasons the plan of development in standard interchangeable units was recommended by Stone & Webster and adopted. This plan was exceedingly well carried out. The design of all storehouses and light shops required no fabricated members, and all assembling was by bolts instead of rivets. The buildings were divided uniformly into 20-foot square bays. All rafters, purlins, girts and braces were interchangeable and by adopting a scheme of variable heights for column footings, all columns are of the same length and section. This plan has permitted reductions or additions to the storehouses and light shops and the breaking up of large buildings into smaller ones without expensive alterations at the mill or long delay in the field. Its adaptability was effectively shown in the design of the reloading plant. The preliminary plans for this plant showed a few large buildings, but later developments showed the necessity of breaking this up into a number of small ones. Six of the typical storehouses were allotted to this plant and from these six buildings were evolved 109 buildings of various size from 20' square to 240' x 520'. This change required the purchase of a few hundred tons of additional steel, but it did not necessitate the slightest change in the steel for the storehouses with which the development started. The large shops were designed in the same simple interchangeable manner, except that provision for crane runways required a few fabricated members, and a column spacing 35' x 20' instead of 20' square. In the design of all these shops and storehouses only 148 different members were used. This made replacement of members lost in transit wonderfully easy, avoided embarrassing delays in erection, and in many ways simplified and hastened the work of the construction force in France. At Is-sur-Tille was an advance base located near the front lines. It consisted of one light shop 240' wide and 500' long, used partly as a storehouse and partly as a machine shop, and one typical storehouse 240' wide by 500' long. This plant was fully equipped for handling minor repairs of every kind. It was to take care of all work within the scope of its machine capacity until the shops at the rear could be completed, after which it was to serve as a repair point for light work, saving a long trip to the rear for minor repairs on equipment which might be very badly needed. This plant was erected under Stone & Webster supervision, and was known as plant "A." Plant "B" was the main repair base located far behind the lines at Mehun-sur-Yevre, about ten miles west of the city of Bourges. It consists of the following: |