Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission Part 50

During the final months of the exposition, when the live stock displays were made, the board arranged with the State live stock a.s.sociation for an exhibit of cattle, horses, and swine. The board appropriated $4,000 to this department and paid it into the hands of representatives of the a.s.sociation to be distributed to the exhibitors from the State in proportion to the prizes awarded to them by the exposition. This plan was very successful and resulted in a creditable exhibit of the State's prize live stock. At this time also a very successful display of poultry was made, and a great many prizes were won.

In the Department of Education it was determined that Minnesota, should retain its rank among the States and, if possible, should win new glory.

It was therefore made a leading department. The exhibit was especially strong in rural school and primary and elementary education, and much more attention than ever before was given to the secondary schools of the State at large. The State department of education was consulted, and the State Teachers' a.s.sociation, the request of the board, named a committee to advise with the board.

This was the first exposition to devote a separate building and one of the main group of exhibit palaces to education. The plan greatly dignified the department. Minnesota was most fortunate in the location a.s.signed its display, as this exhibit had the first s.p.a.ce at the princ.i.p.al entrance and was the first seen on entering the building from the main exposition thoroughfare. The s.p.a.ce was 30 by 60 feet. The booth, the cabinet, the furnishings, and the frames were of Mission brown oak. The walls were covered by a deep-blue burlap. The mountings of the wall and cabinet exhibits toned with these colors, as did the hangings. The design, as a whole, was exceedingly simple, but in the style, in harmony of tone, and general artistic merit it was given first rank among all the exhibits in the building. Its prominent position demanded this excellence, for it commanded the most critical dicta of the visitors.

In the arrangement of material, repet.i.tion and duplication were avoided.

All the written work and much of the drawing, designing, and drafting was mounted in cabinets or bound in books. The arrangement showed the State system as a unit, and every article in the booth was the work of the schools, including the furniture, pottery, bric-a-brac, and hangings. It was especially strong in manual training. In dividing the s.p.a.ce the manual-training exhibits were united as far as possible. The first alcove of cabinet exhibits was devoted to the rural schools, the second to the semigraded schools. The third and fourth sets of cabinets contained the work of the secondary high schools and the grades in their respective towns. The fifth set was given to the normal schools, while the last two alcoves were devoted to the schools of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the wall s.p.a.ce being also apportioned to them. One cabinet was filled with photographs of the university, the curricula, statistics, etc. On the rear wall was a frieze of excellent photographs of the university buildings, and around the outside of the entire booth was a painted frieze, 5 feet deep, giving a panoramic view of the campus and buildings, both of the academic and of the agricultural department.

A cabinet was also devoted to statistics, which included the State system of aid to rural, semigraded, graded, and high schools. This cabinet also gave figures showing the State permanent school funds, the special tax, and school apportionment based on attendance; school attendance, value of school property, system of examination of teachers, and State examination for pupils, etc. There were also very complete sets of State examination papers.

In the State Building the large reception room and the women's and men's rooms were furnished by the pupils of the manual training cla.s.ses of the Minneapolis high schools, and of the Mechanic Arts High School of St.

Paul.

While the exhibits of mining and building materials were kept separate financially, they were practically combined in one exhibit in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy. No scientific display was attempted, and the plan of installation was severely simple.

Minnesota has but one mineral in such abundance as to be a great financial a.s.set, but in that one--iron--it produces over half the output of the Lake Superior region, which alone of the United States iron fields produces any considerable quant.i.ty of ore of a quality required for manufacturing Bessemer steel. The a.n.a.lysis of the ores and names of the mines were given on the samples, which were shown in nearly 100 large gla.s.s jars. A chart of the Mesaba range; a large map of the State, showing the location of the mineral lands; two groups of photographic views of working mines and mining methods, in frames 3 by 10 feet in size, with statistical charts. These const.i.tuted the wall display. On the floor was a model, 11 feet square, of the Fayal, the greatest producing mine in the world. This showed all the mining processes and every detail of shaft house, ore dumps, cars, tracks, steam shovels, telegraph lines, etc., in and about the mines.

The stone exhibit was also a practical one. It showed the more marketable varieties as they appear in actual use. There were five large wall pieces of granite, one of Winona stone, one of pipestone, and one of Frontenac stone. Inclosing two sides of the floor s.p.a.ce, which was 36 by 54 feet, was a low wall of stone, with two entrances. The shorter wall was of polished granite from the St. Cloud quarries, showing all the more distinct varieties--gray, mottled, black, red, and brown. The wall on the longer side, beginning with a corner post and extending to the entrances, was of polished red granite, with a panel of Minnesota marble. On either side of the side entrance, were high posts of Kettle River sandstone, handsomely carved, and the rest of the wall was of this stone combined in part with the Twin City brick.

An elaborate game and fish display was determined upon in the Game and Fisheries Building. Every inducement was held out by the company, and an especial effort was made for this exhibit. It pledged, among other things, that pure refrigerated water would be furnished for the fish.

The board consulted in this department the State game and fish chief, Mr. Samuel Fullerton, who extended all the a.s.sistance possible.

Eighty-four feet of aquaria were put in, and it is indisputable that they were the best built, most practical, and best arranged in the building. At the close of the fair the Pacific Coast a.s.sociation offered $1,000 in cash for them where they were, or nearly one-third of their cost. They were planned to show not only the State's trout and small fish, but the large game fish that are found there. As it was, splendid specimens were shipped to St. Louis in the fish car of the Pennsylvania commission, loaned without charge for that purpose. The fish arrived on Minnesota Day under the personal care of Mr. Fullerton and one of his wardens and of three Pennsylvanians, expert in such work. The fish were in splendid condition, and they included wall-eyed pike, pickerel, muskellunge, ba.s.s of all varieties, and great northern pike that experts said were larger than had ever before been sent anywhere for exhibition purposes. There were also rare specimens of trout, including the white trout that are a Minnesota specialty. The fish, except the trout, were successfully transferred to the State's tank that evening. By morning only three were alive, and these died during the day. The trout were not tanked at all, but were turned over to the United States authorities, who were glad to get them because of their rarity. The responsibility for this failure rests with the Exposition Company. The water supplied was not from wells, but was the muddy Missouri River water clarified by the alum process, which is fatal to fish. It was also entirely too warm, no attempt to keep the promise of refrigeration having been made. After this disaster the board refused to bring more fish until the company should fulfill its pledge, which it never did. Minnesota's experience was shared by Pennsylvania and Missouri, the only other States prepared to make large live fish displays.

The failure of the St. Louis Fair officials to provide proper water caused a difference in the board finances of nearly $2,000. The board had secured subscriptions from six different towns in the fishing regions of the State toward the payment for the aquaria, the idea being to stock the aquaria with fish from the lakes near the towns that subscribed, and to give them proper individual credit. When the possibility of keeping the fish alive was realized the board promptly released them from their obligations, but it was too late to save the appropriation made through reliance upon the plans and promises of the exposition.

The game exhibit had a large s.p.a.ce adjoining that occupied by the aquarium. It was at the princ.i.p.al entrance to the building. The larger part of the s.p.a.ce was covered by a realistic scene from the northern woods--the State game region. A pine forest was shown with a rocky embankment at the side, while opposite was a birch opening. Breaking through this opening and represented as scenting danger were three moose--two bucks and a cow--that were the finest specimens of the great game animals in the building. Elsewhere in the scene was a family of three red deer; also very handsome caribou, black bears, wolves, foxes, porcupines, grouse, prairie chicken, owls, etc. The background of the scene was a distant lake view, and with effective lighting it was conceded to be among the most novel exhibits in the building. No other scenic reproduction was more complete. Adjoining this scene was a smaller s.p.a.ce filled with moose and deer heads and mounted fish. The walls were draped with fish nets, and a large map of the State showed the railroads, summer resorts, and lakes.

MISSISSIPPI.

In compliance with the very general demand of the press and people, the legislature of Mississippi, in 1902, appropriated $50,000 for the purpose of securing and installing the products, resources, industries, and enterprises of the State at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. This was the first appropriation ever made by Mississippi for a World's Fair.

The bill providing for the State exhibits created a State exposition bureau of five members, specifying that the governor should be ex officio president and name his four a.s.sociates, the following being the personnel of the bureau: J.K. Vardaman, ex officio chairman; Dr. O.B.

Quinn, chairman; Frank Burkitt, secretary; L.H. Enochs; V.P. Still.

At the first meeting of the bureau Col. R.H. Henry, of Jackson, was elected executive commissioner, and was charged with the duty of canva.s.sing the State, with a view of procuring the exhibits. He visited all parts of Mississippi, delivered exposition addresses in the different counties, and urged upon the people the importance of making the best exhibit possible at the exposition. He devoted two years to the work.

The legislature of 1904 made an additional appropriation of $10,000 under the administration of Governor James K. Vardaman, who succeeded Governor Longino as president of the exposition bureau. Several counties also made appropriations, as did some of the factories and mills of the State, the total appropriation aggregating about $62,000.

The Mississippi State Building was a reproduction of the last home of Jefferson Davis, known as "Beauvoir." This home is located near Biloxi, Miss., is of old-style southern architecture, ma.s.sive in construction and imposing in appearance, and from its broad porches may be seen the "whitecaps" of the Gulf of Mexico. The house was built by James Brown, a rich cotton planter of Madison County, and by him used as a summer home until the close of the civil war, when it was sold to Mrs. Sarah A.

Dorsey, from whom Mr. Davis secured it. It contained a large historic collection pertaining to the Davis family, much of the family furniture, the bed upon which Mr. Davis died, and the suit of clothes he wore when captured by General Wilson, in Georgia, at the close of hostilities between the North and the South; the object of the exhibit being to disprove the report that Mr. Davis wore a woman's dress when arrested. A statement of Capt. J.H. Parker, of General Wilson's staff was attached, contradicting the falsehood. The building cost $15,000 without furnishings or pictures. It was built entirely of Mississippi lumber, the contractor being J.F. Barnes, of Greenville, Miss.

In the horticultural exhibit the State showed all varieties of sweet and citrus fruits, pecans and edible nuts, together with a pecan horse.

In the Palace of Agriculture two exhibits were shown, the special cotton exhibit, including the 35-foot statue of "King Cotton," and the collective agricultural exhibit--cotton, corn, cereals, grains, hay, gra.s.ses, potatoes, peas, beans, sirups, honey, wines, cordials, preserves, pickles, jellies, canned goods, vegetables, oysters, shrimps, crabs, fish, etc.

All the merchantable timbers of the State were displayed in the forestry exhibit, which contained over 500 samples, highly polished and superbly finished, one of the largest and best collections shown.

In the Department of Fish and Game were exhibited all varieties of native fresh and salt water fish, birds, and wild animals.

In the Educational Building Mississippi showed the best work from the colleges and high schools of the State. The Agricultural and Mechanical College had a fine display in the general Agricultural and Mechanical College section.

Other displays were the following: A varied and attractive collection of building stone, cement material, clays, phosphates, mineral waters in the Mineral Building; buggies and wagons made in the State in Transportation Hall; engines, sawmills, and other heavy machinery in the Machinery Building; a rare old double plate-gla.s.s electrical machine was exhibited in the Electrical Building, the contribution of the State university.

Mississippi was awarded over 30 prizes for her various exhibits, including 2 grand prizes on cotton and timbers; 6 gold medals and 3 silver medals on agriculture; a gold, silver, and bronze medal on fish and game; 2 gold, 4 silver, and 5 bronze medals on education; 2 silver and 3 bronze medals on minerals; a silver medal on wagons; a bronze medal on machinery; a gold medal on fruits, and a gold medal on pecans.

Less than $47,000 of the $60,000 appropriated by the legislature was spent on the State building and on the collection and installation of the exhibits, and from $10,000 to $15,000 of the appropriation was turned back into the State treasury. The expenditure proved of incalculable benefit to Mississippi, and good results are already being felt.

The executive commissioner, Col. R.H. Henry, is a native Mississippian.

He was born in Scott County, May 15, 1851, and received education in the schools and academies of Mississippi. He engaged in journalism in early life, has been an editor and publisher over thirty years, and is regarded as the most successful journalist of his State. As the executive commissioner and the State's only representative at the exposition Mr. Henry designed and personally supervised the installation of the different Mississippi exhibits, ten in number, and the award of over 30 medals, including 2 grand prizes, abundantly attests and amply proves the merit and value of the Mississippi products.

MISSOURI.

The largest appropriation for exposition purposes by any State was by Missouri, namely, $1,000,000. In every exposition building where a State could have an exhibit Missouri's exhibit was found. In every building where only exhibits by individuals, business firms, or corporations were permitted, Missourians made display of the products of their industry and skill. The Missouri State Building was among the finest upon the grounds. The displays of the State in the Agriculture, Horticulture, Education, Mining, Forestry, Live Stock, Poultry, Dairying, Fish and Game, and Woman's Work were noted for artistic beauty and comprehensiveness.

The exhibit made by Missouri at the World's Fair was the result of the labors of the board of commissioners to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, appointed by Governor A.M. Dockery, under the direction of which the $1,000,000 voted by the people of Missouri for an exhibit of the State's resources were expended. At the general election in November, 1900, the people adopted a const.i.tutional amendment permitting the legislature of this State to appropriate $1,000,000 for World's Fair expenses. A bill appropriating the amount and providing for a commission to direct its expenditure was pa.s.sed by the next general a.s.sembly and was signed by the governor April 17, 1901. The same bill was reenacted in 1903 and was signed by the governor March 24, 1903. On the 28th of May, 1901, Governor Dockery appointed as the board of commissioners: M.T. Davis, of Springfield; F.J. Moss, of St. Joseph; B.H. Bonfey, of Unionville; W.H. Marshall, of Morehouse; L.F. Parker, of St. Louis; D.P.

Stroup, of Norborne; N.H. Gentry, of Sedalia; J.O. Allison, of New London, and H.C. McDougall, of Kansas City. Mr. McDougall resigned and J.H. Hawthorne, of Kansas City, was appointed his successor. When the law was reenacted in 1903 the board was reappointed. The board elected M.T. Davis president, F.J. Moss vice-president, B.H. Bonfey secretary, and W.H. Marshall treasurer. Later the ill health of Mr. Marshall caused his temporary absence from the State, and J.H. Hawthorne succeeded him as treasurer.

The Missouri State building was erected at a cost, including furnishings, of $250,000. The keynotes of the Missouri building were public comfort, culture, and social enjoyment. A golden dome surmounted by an emblematic statue of "The Spirit of Missouri" crowned the building. Over the main entrance was this inscription: "Embracing within her confines all the elements of an empire devoted to all the arts and sciences that advance civilization, Missouri, the central State of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, greets her sister States and welcomes the world." Around the building were the names of great Missourians: Thomas Hart Benton, Francis P. Blair, B. Gratz Brown, David R. Atchison, David Barton, Meriwether Lewis, Edward Bates, Lewis F. Linn, Lewis V. Bogy, Aylett H. Buckner, John S. Phelps, James S. Green. The building contained rooms adapted for various purposes, two large halls in either wing, a commodious auditorium or State hall, in which conventions were held, a handsome rotunda with brilliant electric fountain, the suite of Governor Dockery, men's parlors, women's parlors, press room, and executive offices. On the second floor were rooms fittingly furnished.

The building was warmed by steam in cold weather and refrigerated by cold air in warm weather. The approaches and elevations of the building were adorned with statuary, heroic figures of Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon Bonaparte being placed at the main entrance. In the west hall were placed a collection of paintings by Missouri artists and the fine bell presented by the citizens of the State to the battle ship _Missouri_. The mural decorations in the rotunda consisted of four pendentives ill.u.s.trating the prehistoric savage, developing and productive eras in the State's history. The decorations in the dome embodied a historical allegory, tracing the epochs in the development of the Middle West.

In the Palace of Horticulture the s.p.a.ce allotted to Missouri was 6,600 square feet--larger than that awarded to any other State, and filled with Missouri fruits. More than 430 varieties of fruits grown in the State were shown from 84 counties.

In the Palace of Agriculture Missouri agricultural resources occupied prominent position at the main entrance of the building and on the main aisle. In the artistic facade, made, as all the decorative features of the display, entirely of grain and gra.s.ses, was shown a series of thirty pictures ill.u.s.trating the marked contrast between the old and new methods in agriculture. Corn was exhibited in many forms. A corn temple, constructed of the great cereal, was in the main aisle, Missouri being chosen by the exposition to represent the great corn States.

In the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy a display was made of the mining resources of the State. Missouri's s.p.a.ce was at the main entrance. The exhibit consisted of typical products of Missouri mines and quarries--coal, lead, zinc, iron, copper, tripoli, building and ornamental stone, clay, sands--and mineral waters, crystals of all types, mining machinery at work, laboratory specimens and equipment from the School of Mines, and photographs of 1,200 mining views in a brief comprehensive showing of all the mineral wealth of the State. Every district was represented by adequate specimens. An outside mining exhibit was made by Missouri in the Mining Gulch, where mining machinery was shown at work and a Missouri mine. Special features were a zinc and lead concentrating plant, model of shot tower, ill.u.s.tration of process of making Babbitt metal and solder. A Scotch hearth furnace for smelting lead ore was also in operation.

Missouri was represented in several places in the Palace of Education and Social Economy. Here was made the general exhibit of Missouri schools. The main school exhibit consisted of showings of grades of the work done in the twelve regular grades of the public schools and in the kindergarten, of the work of the colleges and normal schools, of the schools for negroes, and of special schools. Aside from the high school and grade exhibit, private inst.i.tutions had separate displays. The public school exhibit was intended to show the work of the entire system of the State public schools, each grade being represented by photographs of typical children and school scenes by representative work of the pupils. Over 300 photographs were shown. Mutoscopes presented in moving pictures scenes upon the school grounds. By means of cabinets, tables, and winged frames the exhibits were presented in compact form. Every kind of school--city, town, village, and rural--was represented in the exhibit, and the work of more than 200,000 children was on exhibition.

The State University exhibit showed what that inst.i.tution had been and what it is doing. Bird's-eye views of the university at different periods of its existence and a fine model of its present buildings and grounds were shown. The various departments made exhibits of their work.

In social economy were shown the work of the Industrial Training School at Boonville, the School for the Deaf and Dumb at Fulton, the School for the Blind at St. Louis, together with photographs of the Colony for the Feeble-Minded at Marshall, the St. Louis Hospital, the Hospital for the Insane at St. Joseph, the work of the Missouri board of charities and correction, and other eleemosynary inst.i.tutions. The work of the Industrial Manual School was shown by an exhibit of the products of the school--wagons, clothing, shoes, bricks, and other results of the industry of the boys. In addition to an exhibit along similar lines of the School for the Blind and the School for the Deaf and Dumb, showing the pupils' proficiency in industrial training, cla.s.ses from these schools were at different times shown actually at work in cla.s.s rooms in the building.

In live stock Missouri offered premiums supplementary to those offered by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company. The list of animals for which prizes were offered included cattle, horses, a.s.ses, mules, hogs, sheep, goats, and all domestic animals. The aggregate appropriation for live stock was $93,000.

In poultry, prizes for Missouri poultry of all kinds were offered on the same lines as for other live stock, the total of $7,000 being set aside for the purpose.

The fish and game exhibit, located just outside of the Forestry, Fish, and Game Building, was the only exhibit of live game at the exposition.

It was arranged in cages around a lake, the waters of which were stocked with fish. A commodious hunter's lodge, furnished in rustic style with the paraphernalia of the sportsman, was conspicuous upon the lake sh.o.r.e.

The exhibit showed live deer, wild cat, mountain lion or panther, coyote, gray wolf, red fox, gray fox, opossum, racc.o.o.n, beaver, rabbit, fox and gray squirrel, mink, wild turkey, wild geese, wild duck, quail, black wolf, bald eagle, horned owl, and four varieties of pheasants, all the varieties of game to be found in Missouri forests. As showing the chief varieties of fish, were exhibited rainbow trout, lake trout, brook trout, large-mouthed black ba.s.s, c.r.a.ppie, channel cat, buffalo, sunfish, perch, eel, and carp.

In the Agriculture Building was shown a model of the St. Joseph stock yards, setting out all the buildings and grounds of that section of St.

Joseph. A working model of one of the great packing establishments was exhibited, displaying the actual process of preparing cattle for the market.

The woman's-work exhibit had booths in the Varied Industry Building and the Manufactures Building. In the first were shown specimens of fancy embroideries, laces, and needlework by Missouri women. In the second were displayed china painting, pyrography, and paintings in oil, water color, and pastel, all by Missouri women.

The forestry exhibit, located in the Forestry, Fish, and Game Building, showed the woods of the State available for commercial use rather than a mere botanical display. More than 60 varieties of Missouri woods were shown. The forestry exhibit was shown in two booths--one devoted to gum, the other to Missouri woods. The gum booth showed furniture of black, red, and tupelo gum wood. In the booths were shown hand-carved mantels, tables, and chairs.