Convict Camp
State Road No. 8, Camp No. 3
1910
"In January 1910, the State Highway Commissioner of Washington, Mr. Henry L. Bowlby, established a convict camp at Lyle, Wash., for the purpose of building the heaviest section of State Road No. 8."
Kittredge 722
"Commissioner Bowlby makes the statement that three convicts will accomplish as much work as four men that he can hire, their energy being attributed to the fear that if not industrious they will be returned to the penitentiary. This fear is also held to be responsible for their good behavior."
N. Y. Times, November 13, 1910
"The State Camp at Lyle opened with a total of 27 convicts, including those employed in the kitchen and maintenance of the camp. This force remained the same until March, when the number was increased."
Kittredge 722
"All are under the direction of competent foremen. A few armed guards are stationed at advantageous points with orders to shoot if attempt at escape be made. It is stated, however, that no such attempts have been made since the gangs were put on the work."
N. Y. Times, November 13, 1910
"At the convict camp visited there are 84 convicts employed. They're are sheltered in wooden buildings, with kitchens and mess rooms within the enclosure, which is surrounded by a stockade constructed of heavy timbers. These are bolted together so that the stockade can by easily removed when a change of base becomes desirable."
N. Y. Times, November 13, 1910
"The location of the convict camp was well chosen both from the standpoint of minimum of lost time on account of winter weather and from the more important standpoint of concentration of convicts on heavy work, thus reducing the expensive guard force and enabling the state to put up a permanent stockade and camp without the constant expense of moving as work progressed."
Kittredge 722
"A convict who was incarcerated for dynamiting has charge of that portion of the work."
N. Y. Times, November 13, 1910
N. Y. Times, November 13, 1910
A practical demonstration of the utility of convict labor on road work was made on May 21 [1910], says an article in Good Roads, when Samuel Hill, Honorary President of the Washington State Good Roads Association, and Major Henry L. Bowlby, State Highway Commissioner, took a party of leading citizens of Portland and Seattle to inspect the work, being done near Lyle, on a section of the Washington State road. (N. Y. Times, November 13, 1910)
A member of the party from Oregon... is reported to have said: "This is ideal work for them. Here we saw them construction a road as good as the old Roman roads, which also were constructed by convict and slave labor. The men were happy and contented: in the jail they are unhappy and discontented. On the road they are of economic service; in the penitentiary they are a menace to themselves and the State. Few men are required as guards, for the men do not try to escape. I am most favorably impressed with the scheme and I trust Oregon adopts it."
The work ran at a "profit" for the state, according to the 1910 New York Times article:
MARCH:
Total Value of months work: $3,123.00
Cost of camp maintenance: $1,567.00
Profit for March: $1,530.00
936 days labor performed
$1.66 per day profit per man
APRIL:
Total Value of months work: $4,321.50
Cost of camp maintenance: $1,891.87
Profit for March: $2,429.63
936 days labor performed
$2.60 per day profit per man