Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission Part 61

Robert H. Homer, president; Bryant B. Brooks, vice-president; William C.

Deming, secretary.

In pursuance of the instructions of the commission, the commissioner in chief and the secretary proceeded to St. Louis about the middle of March, 1904, and installed Wyoming's exhibit in the Mines and Agricultural departments, along general lines approved by the commission. The exposition was formally opened on the 30th day of April, 1904, and Wyoming was one of the comparatively few States to have its exhibit practically complete upon the opening day.

Almost from the opening day of the exposition a surprisingly large number of people from Wyoming visited the fair, and the expressions of approval of the showing made by this State were highly encouraging to the commission. It was shown by registration at the Wyoming headquarters and at the various hotels that one person in every fifty in Wyoming saw the World's Fair.

In the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy, Wyoming's exhibits were very favorably located on two of the most prominent aisles of the building and occupied a floor s.p.a.ce of 2,700 square feet. In addition to this, a wall s.p.a.ce of 2,100 square feet was utilized for a display of Wyoming pictures, plats, maps, and drawings. The exhibit in this building was quite extensive and weighed about 250,000 pounds, it being the purpose of the commission to show all native products in commercial quant.i.ties.

The oil exhibit, which Dr. F. Salathe kindly volunteered to prepare, consisted of over 200 varieties of every grade of lubricating and illuminating oil in this State, and was one of the most complete exhibits of the kind shown at St. Louis.

Whenever it was practicable, the commission endeavored not only to show the crude material, but some article of utility manufactured from it. In carrying out this idea, the iron exhibit comprised 32,000 pounds of the crude ore, and around it were grouped nails, spikes, bolts, steel rails, barbed wire, and pig iron manufactured from the ore.

To ill.u.s.trate the utility of our onyx and marble displays, a large pyramid of the different varieties of onyx, weighing about 40,000 pounds, was shown; also a beautiful mantel and fireplace manufactured from this material.

The mines exhibit was comprised of 156 varieties of mineral--a larger number than was shown by any other State--and over 3,000 cla.s.sified exhibits. Being one of the most complete in extent and variety shown in the Mines Building, the State received a gold medal on the general collective exhibit.

Great quant.i.ties of copper ore and copper products from the famous Encampment district made up a large part of the State's display. One of the exhibiting companies showed the mineral in all its stages and processes of manufacture, from the crude ore to the finished product.

Wyoming also exhibited one piece of natural soda, weighing 5,000 pounds, taken from a natural soda lake near Laramie, in Albany County, while the exhibit of refined sodas was on a par with that exhibited from any other State. In bituminous and lignite coals, both in quality and quant.i.ty, Wyoming's exhibit was one of the most prominent found at the fair. Cubes of coal weighing as much as 10,000 pounds each, from which huge pyramids were formed, towered high above their surroundings and immediately caught the eye of every pa.s.ser-by. These coal exhibits came chiefly from the great mines at c.u.mberland, Rock Springs, and Kemmerer, and were taken from veins 30 feet in thickness.

Onyx in both its native and finished state was shown in large quant.i.ties. A pyramid of gray onyx and beautiful mantels and polished slabs from fields in northern Laramie County were a revelation to all who saw them.

Gold ore and refined gold from the famous South Pa.s.s district were on exhibition, demonstrating that Wyoming may in the course of time rival her southern neighbor, Colorado, as a gold-producing State.

Marble and building stones were shown in great variety, both in their native and finished states. Moss agates, lithograph stones, asbestos, bentonite, gypsum, gla.s.s from native sand, and soda added to Wyoming's collection, which in variety was as great as any exhibit in the Mines Department. All told, there were 156 varieties of minerals, aggregating more than 3,000 cla.s.sified exhibits. The exhibit was reenforced by beautiful color photographs of Wyoming scenes and resources, which occupied a wall s.p.a.ce in the Mines Building of 2,100 square feet.

The commission was especially indebted to State Geologist H.C. Beeler for his valuable a.s.sistance and advice in connection with this work.

As the State's appropriation was so limited, the commission decided to show all the agricultural, horticultural, educational, and forestry and game exhibits in the Palace of Agriculture. In this building Wyoming occupied a floor s.p.a.ce of 2,100 square feet and a wall s.p.a.ce of 1,400 square feet.

The agricultural display was prepared and installed under the direction of Prof. B.C. Buffum, a.s.sisted by Mr. Elias Nelson, and consisted of over 1,400 cla.s.sified exhibits. The showing of grains was particularly remarkable, and by actual compet.i.tive tests it was demonstrated that Wyoming grown wheat weighed 66 pounds per bushel, and the heaviest wheat from elsewhere was that of the Argentine Republic, which weighed 64 1/2 pounds per bushel. Wyoming oats weighed 48 pounds per bushel, and the heaviest oats from elsewhere were those from New Zealand, which weighed 46 1/2, and those from Idaho, weighing 46 pounds. Wyoming hulless barley weighed 56 pounds, while the standard is 48 pounds per bushel.

On all these products, as well as Wyoming grown alfalfa, Wyoming was awarded grand prizes.

The exhibit of Wyoming forestry products, which was prepared under the direction of Mr. John H. Gordon, showed a number of trees from 5 to 7 feet in diameter, and a variety of over 40 woods found in the State.

Owing to the great expense and disadvantage under which such a collection must necessarily be made, it was impossible to reach every section of the State and secure samples of the different woods, but this was done wherever it was found to be possible, and an effort was made to secure samples of all the woods of the State.

A beautiful table manufactured by Mr. Gordon, made of over 35 varieties of these woods, was a work of art and attracted more attention and favorable comment than anyone thing shown in the exhibit.

The exhibit of Wyoming grown fruits from Fremont county, as well as the fruits grown in Laramie County, were especially praiseworthy.

The educational exhibit, which was prepared and collected under the direction of the superintendent of public instruction, T.T.T. Tynan, consisted largely in showing pictures of school buildings of the State and the school work of many of the pupils. Although only a small sum was available for this purpose, the exhibit was quite complete and made a very creditable showing.

The commission printed and distributed over 500,000 pamphlets giving information on the resources of Wyoming, and this was supplemented by a large amount of literature which was received for distribution from other sources.

Wyoming exhibitors received 125 awards in the two departments of Mines and Agriculture, where the Wyoming exhibits were shown, and the grand prizes awarded Wyoming grown grains were the results of actual tests by weight for the excellent quant.i.ty and size of the grain. Credit must be given Prof. B.C. Buffum, of the State University, for his thorough work in the preparation of these exhibits.

The Wyoming Commission closed up its affairs February 1, 1905, showing that its entire expenditures for all purposes was only $20,000, or about four-fifths of the appropriation.

LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION HOSTESS' a.s.sOCIATION.

In obedience to the call of Mrs. Parks Fisher, hostess of the Maryland Building, the hostesses of the various State and Territorial buildings of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition a.s.sembled at the Maryland Building on the morning of June 16, 1904, for the purpose of forming an organization, the object being mutual improvement and the bringing into closer social relationship the members thereof.

Preliminaries were discussed and the meeting adjourned to a.s.semble on June 30 at the Alaska Building, on which occasion the organization was perfected and the following officers were elected:

President, Mrs. Parks Fisher, Maryland; vice-presidents, Mrs. Mary E.

Hart, Alaska, Mrs. C.C. Monson, Connecticut, Mrs. Floyd Walton, Mississippi, Mrs. Sallie Douglas, New Mexico, Miss Esther Wehrung, Oregon; recording secretary, Mrs. Dore Lyon, New York; a.s.sistant recording secretary, Mrs. G.L. Hall, New Jersey; corresponding secretary, Mrs. W.N. Strother, Virginia; a.s.sistant corresponding secretary, Miss Elizabeth Cage, Arkansas; treasurer, Mrs. Belle Hall Small, Missouri; press representative, Mrs. Mary E. Hart, Alaska.

Many pleasant social functions took place under the auspices of this popular organization, and its business and social meetings were characterized by the greatest harmony. The organization is a permanent one and is to be represented at all future expositions. Its officers are to be elected annually, the next election to be held at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland, Oreg.

The full list of membership is as follows:

Mrs. Parks Fisher, Maryland; Mrs. Mary E. Hart, Alaska; Miss Jessie Drais, Arizona; Miss Elizabeth Cage, Arkansas; Mrs. Frank Wiggins, California; Mrs. J.A. Filcher, California; Mrs. Josiah Hughes, Colorado; Mrs. C.C. Monson, Connecticut; Mrs. John W. Hughes, Georgia; Miss Anne Sonna, Idaho; Mrs. Floyd Walton, Mississippi; Mrs. Belle Hall Small, Missouri; Mrs. Emma D. Nuckols, Missouri; Mrs. Addie McDowell, Montana; Mrs. H.E. Freudenthal, Nevada; Mrs. G.L. Wall, New Jersey; Mrs. Sallie Douglas, New Mexico; Mrs. Dore Lyon, New York; Mrs. E.B.

Marchant, Oklahoma; Miss Ethel Wehrung, Oregon.

APPENDIX 5.

REPORT OF BOARD OF LADY MANAGERS TO THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION COMMISSION.

AUTHORIZED BY ACT OF CONGRESS MARCH 3, 1901.

NEW YORK, N.Y., _June_, 1905.

I have the honor to transmit herewith the report of the Board of Lady Managers of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, which was appointed by you as provided for by the act of Congress dated March 3, 1901.

Very respectfully, MARY MARGARETTA MANNING, _President of the Board of Lady Managers Louisiana Purchase Exposition_.

The LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION COMMISSION.

Historical Data.[1]

[Footnote 1: Compilation.]

The territory originally known as Louisiana was taken possession of by the explorer La Salle in 1682, in the name of Louis XIV, and the first colony was founded by the French at Biloxi in 1699. The vast domain was transferred to Spain, by secret treaty, in 1763, and remained in the possession of that country until 1800, when the King of Spain, during the a.s.sistance of Napoleon in the erection of the Kingdom of Etruria for his son-in-law, the Duke of Parma, ceded the Louisiana Territory to France in return for that aid. It was part of Bonaparte's policy and earliest ambition to restore to France all her lost possessions, and by the significant treaty of San Ildefonso, signed by Manual G.o.doy, the Spanish minister of state (known as the "Prince of Peace"), and Marshal Berthier, minister of France at Madrid, all that vast and vaguely defined territory known as Louisiana, which France had originally transferred to Spain, was reconveyed to France.

Up to the end of the revolution the possession of the Louisiana Territory by one foreign power or another had not touched Americans closely, but now conditions changed. When rumors of the last treaty finally reached the United States, the planters in the Mississippi Valley became alarmed. The laws and customs regulations of the Spaniards at New Orleans were arbitrary, and their business methods antiquated, complicated, and irksome to the colonists, and there had already been friction between them, the Spaniards being aided by Indians hostile to the frontiersmen. The right of deposit was essential to the pioneers who journeyed down the river in their flat-bottom homemade boats; they required a place to store their goods at New Orleans while waiting the arrival of trading vessels. In the early nineties the Spanish authorities closed navigation and refused the right of way to the ocean, but in 1795 a treaty was signed which gave the right of deposit, with certain minor limitations, for three years, and the way to a market was kept open for that period, and thereafter until 1802; that year the Spaniards again withdrew the privilege, and therein lay a potent motive for the acquisition of at least the mouth of the Mississippi River, and, although the immediate demand of these early American settlers was simply an open seaport and waterway to the sea, the Louisiana Purchase was the direct outcome of our strained relations with Spain.