The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959 Page: 472
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
the army with its plans to organize and train a force to fight
in France.
The first work W. T. Page secured for his charges was that of
clearing the ground upon which Camp Wilson was to be con-
structed, and which the Army Engineers were laying out into
streets, building sites, and drill areas. It had been estimated that
this work would take three or four months because the location
of the new camp was covered with a dense growth of tough and
thorny bushes and cactus. At the instance of Page, one of the
Chinese, Mon Lee Chew, was named foreman, and the work of
clearing was begun the same week the internees arrived from
Columbus. The refugees determined to make the faces of the
estimators turn red and to show the army how quickly and well
they could get this job done. A crew of 350 men went out to work
every day at seven in the morning. Some volunteers worked
during moonlight nights as late as eleven o'clock, and the clearing
job was finished in five weeks. After this, all trees large enough to
serve as firewood were cut up into cordwood, and a spur track
over which building material could be hauled, was constructed
to the camp site.9 The quartermaster at adjoining Fort Sam
Houston paid the Chinese at the rate of 20 cents per hour. There
was no pay given for overtime work. The moonlight volunteers
worked for the fun of it, and because, it is suspected, they were
glad to be with the army again, and inside the United States.
The refugees were perfectly contented with the job and the pay;
of that there can be no doubt.
This work was completed about the middle of August, and by
that time Page had secured other work for the eager Chinese.
From the military authorities he obtained permission for a
number of the Chinese to work for the civilian contractor engaged
in construction at Camp Wilson (renamed Camp Travis). The
contracting company, Page later affirmed, came to consider the
Chinese as the most satisfactory laborers employed during the
course of the construction operations at San Antonio. To build
these camps, and the Camp Kelly flying field on the south side of
the city, the contractor employed over six thousand men; some
of the refugees were hired as cooks to prepare noon meals for these
9Ibid., 948; Page to Albert Johnson, December 17, 1919, ibid., 970o.472
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959, periodical, 1959; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101173/m1/569/: accessed March 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.