There are now five of these great ordnance depots on the Atlantic coast built by the Construction Division: at Metuchen, N. J.; Curtis Bay, Md.; Pig Point, Va.; Charleston, S. C.; and Pedricktown, Del. The largest of these is the one at Metuchen, known as the Raritan Arsenal. The Raritan site contains about 2,200 acres of salt marsh. High tides used to submerge the whole area almost completely. Before any building could be started the Construction Division had to build a dike 9 miles long around the whole reservation. The entire project was perched on piles, and these piles, by the tens of thousands, were driven into the frozen ground during the severe winter of 1917-18. Labor was hard to get and hard to keep. After the laborers' quarters had been built and a few powder magazines had been erected, it became almost impossible to keep men on the job because of the danger of working in a powder arsenal.
Most of the Raritan buildings are of terra-cotta construction. There are 85 completed magazines, each 51 feet wide and 218 feet long, for the storage of shell, black powder, and miscellaneous items, this number not including 12 magazines of sheet-metal construction, each 26 by 42 feet, for the storage of high explosives. When the armistice was signed the Construction Division was building 60 similar magazines intended for the storage of smokeless powder.
At Raritan was also located a school of instruction for ordnance troops, with a cantonment to accommodate 10,000 men. A 150-bed hospital was part of the equipment, as was also an assembly shop and a motor-instruction school.
Along the river a dock was built 2,000 feet long. On the dock were constructed several huge warehouses for the storage of material. Fifty miles of railway were constructed. The project on the armistice date was probably the best equipped ordnance depot in the world. It cost about $14,000,000.
The next largest ordnance depot is that at Curtis Bay near Baltimore. It is half the size of the Raritan project and cost about $7,000,000.
The Pig Point ordnance depot is located at Hampton Roads, about 12 miles from Portsmouth, Va. In order to obtain berthing facilities for trans-Atlantic ships it was necessary to build a dock more than a mile long out to deep water. The dock is said to be the longest wharf in the United States south of Philadelphia. The Pig Point job cost about $3,500,000.
The Charleston Arsenal cost $5,000,000; while $7,000,000 was the amount provided for the arsenal at Pedricktown. The Pedricktown job, however, was started late, and not over $2,000,000 had been spent when the armistice was signed.
In addition to these five terminal depots the Construction Division provided two other ordnance warehouses for the storage of miscellaneous supplies—one at Middletown, Pa., costing $1,250,000, and the other at Augusta, Ga., costing $250,000.
The description of the powder bag-loading plants, which were built by the Construction Division, is contained in the chapter of this report relating to the production of powder and other explosives. There were three of these plants, one located at Woodbury, N. J., another at Tullytown, Pa., and the third on the historic battle ground at Seven Pines, Va. Since these plants were perforce located at isolated places it was necessary in each case to provide housing accommodations for the workers, many of whom were women. The Construction Division built the houses at Tullytown and Woodbury while those at Seven Pines were provided by the United States Industrial Housing Corporation.
These bag-loading plants cost from $4,500,000 to $6,000,000 apiece, and they were erected in a remarkably short time. Work was started on the Woodbury project on March 19, 1918, and the plant was ready for operation on May 28, although the plant did not actually start operating until June 15. The spade was first struck into the ground at Tullytown on March 6, 1918, and on July 17 the 250 buildings of the project were ready. The work at Seven Pines began April 24, and the plant was ready for operation on August 24, 1918.