San Juan saga [excerpt]

              [16] Emelia L. Bave's
tion, each country would have a force of no more than one hundred men on the Island.
The Americans remained at Griffin Bay at the south end of the Island. It was known as Captain Pickett Camp, or San Juan Camp. Besides Captain Pickett's quarters, which was the first structure on the Island to be built of lumber rather than logs, there was a cookhouse, barracks, guardhouse, a hospital, log buildings to house horses and oxen, a blacksmith shop and a blockhouse.
The oxen, as well as the horses had to be shod, for they were used to haul wood and for other tasks. Work stopped there November 11, 1859, and the old buildings have long since disappeared; the old hospital finally caved in during the 1950's. Some of the earthworks, which were called Pickett's Redoubt, are still visible, but for a number of years now, the rabbits have made American Camp a "happy hunting ground", and the historical marker placed there several years ago has been severely damaged by careless or ruthless hunters.
The British camp, now known as English Camp, was es¬ tablished at the north end of the Island on Garrison Bay. The first building was the commissary, or storehouse. A block¬ house and buildings to house the officers were erected, as well as barracks for the enlisted men. A blacksmith shop was set up to forge cannonballs, and a parade ground laid out. For years, the crumbling remains of the blacksmith forge re¬ mained atop a knoll overlooking the bay where the waters lapped at the weathered boards of the old blockhouse on the shore. Gnarled fruit trees stood in aged position on the ad¬ joining parade ground in marked contrast to the disciplined drill of soldiers whose feet once marched in cadence with fife, drum or bagpipe.
The James Crook family homesteaded there after the sol¬ diers were discharged in 1872. The family lived in the Cap¬ tain's house until one washday, when an overheated stove set it afire and it burned to the ground. The family then moved into the barracks. Several years later, they occupied the house Jim Crook had built for his sweetheart. She had a change of