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Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition Guide from the Lewis and Clark Exposition held in Portland, Oregon in 1905.
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The Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition
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" PortlandOregon 1 9 O 5
Open June I Closes October 15
BU8H0NG A CO., PORTLAND, OR. 77640
THE LEWIS AND CLARK CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION AND ORIENTAL FAIR
Portland, Oregon
1905
Open June 1 Closes Oct. 15
Commemorates the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition :
H. W. GOODE, President. HENRY E. REED, Secretary.
Published by General Press Bureau.
PLAN AND SCOPE.
nphe Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition * and Oriental Fair is the first international exposition under the patronage of the United States Government, ever held west of the Rocky Mountains. It demonstrates the marvelous progress of Western America and exemplifies the possibilities for trade development in the Orient.
Although not so large as some former expositions, the Centennial is a world's fair in every sense, reflecting the progress of all participating nations, and particularly of Western America. It is unlike its predecessors in that it combines with
Grand Stairway.
its broad scope the idea of compactness without crowding in the laying out of the grounds and buildings. There is no dreariness of architecture to tire the eye, no miles of aisles to weary the limbs. All is perfection, or, at least, the nearest
approach thereto ever achieved by an exposition.
This is an exposition of processes. Not merely the products of human ingenuity are shown, but there are exhibited first the raw materials, and then, step by step, the method of handling them and the processes by which they are changed from their natural state into things of usefulness and beauty.
The Exposition occupies 406 acres of the most beautiful and picturesque site ever utilized for such a purpose. A natural lake, 220 acres in extent, the largest body of water ever enclosed within an exposition fence, takes the place of the "grand basins" of former world's fairs.
WHAT THE EXPOSITION COMMEMORATES.
This World's Fair celebrates the 100th anniversary of the exploration of the Oregon Country by an expedition commanded by Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, and planned by President Jefferson. The Oregon Country, which comprised what are now the States of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and parts of Montana and Wyoming, was the only acquisition of territory made by the United States through discovery.
SENTIMENT OF THE EXPOSITION.
The exploration of Lewis and Clark gave the United States a coast line on the Pacific Ocean and added a vast and rich territory to the Na-
tional domain. It was one of the direct causes of the acquisition of California, and the subsequent acquisitions of Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Philippines are related to it. The sentiment which inspired the people of the Pacific Northwest in the preparation of the Exposition is, therefore, one in which every American must
Meriwether Lewis.
share. It celebrates the centennial of the peaceful acquisition of a wilderness that has yielded up its riches generously as a reward for the unceasing toil of the pioneer and home-builder. Where the savage dwelt a few decades ago are now the cultivated farms and the flourishing cities of a progressive people.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST.
The growth of the Old Oregon Country in the past fifty years has been remarkable. From a population of 13,294 in 1850, the country has been so rapidly settled that its people now number 1,700,000. While the states are essentially agricultural, extensive manufacturing interests have developed until their product in 1900 was $175,000,-000. Foreign commerce plays an important role in the progress of this great country, its value amounting to $45,000,000 in 1904. The annual output of gold, silver, copper and lead is valued at $70,000,000. This enormous growth of population and wealth over so vast a territory in so short a time has much to do with the importance of the Lewis and Clark Exposition to the world at large.
PORTLAND, THE "ROSE CITY."
Portland is the principal city of the Northwest Coast, and has a population of 140,000. It holds commercial intercourse with the whole world, the chief export commodities being lumber, flour and grain. The city does a wholesale business of $175,000,000 annually, and the product of its factories was $50,000,000 last year. The name of the "Rose City" has been given to Portland because of the vast number of beautiful roses that bloom all the year. The climate is exceptionally mild on account of the warm currents of the Pacific Ocean. Mild winters and cool summers are the rule. Portland is in the first rank of American cities for health, the death rate being only 9.5 per thousand of population. It is equipped 6
with a complete system of electric railways, 163 miles in length, extending to every part of the city, and all of them running to the Exposition grounds. From the central portion of the city the grounds may be reached in fifteen minutes.
EXPOSITION SITE.
Nestling at the base of the low range of hills surrounding Portland on the gentle slopes over-
William Clark.
looking Guild's Lake and the Willamette River, with an unobstructed view of 65 miles, which embraces four snow-capped mountain peaks, including Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens, the World's Fair site presents a picture entirely original in exposition building. There is no need here to build papier mache mountains as scenic ac-
cessories for refreshment purposes. One may-sit on a commanding roof garden, and, while dining, drink in the pictorial sublimity of real snow peaks of mountains that rival the Alps in grandeur. Of the gross area of the site, 126 acres are on the mainland, and 60 acres form a peninsula extending out into Guild's Lake, which is separated from the Willamette River by a narrow strip of land.
THE PALACES.
All of the main exhibit palaces are in the style of the Spanish Renaissance, except one. The Forestry Building is of a true American type, being constructed of huge logs in their virgin state, thus exemplifying in its compo-Forestry sition the timber resources of the Pa-Building, cific Coast. In its construction two miles of five and six-foot fir logs, eight miles of poles, and tons of shakes and cedar shingles were used. It is 206 feet in length by 102 feet in width, and its extreme height is 70 feet. One of the largest of the logs contains enough timber to build a one-story cottage, 40x40 feet in size.
In the arrangement of the buildings thorough consideration has been given to the convenience of visitors and the attainment of a rich and beautiful architectural effect. The main group of exhibit palaces, consisting of eight structures, occupies the ground bordering on Guild's Lake, and forms nearly a straight line with their short sides facing the water. These buildings are : Forestry, Oriental Exhibits, European Exhibits, Agricul-8
ture, Liberal Arts, Mines and Metallurgy, Fine Arts and Machinery, Electricity and Transportation. The Auditorium, where musical concerts, conventions and congresses are held, is also of this group. Around these structures, on the outer edge, cluster the state, territorial and other minor pavilions. The main gateway to the grounds is an ornate colonnade entrance. The Administration Building flanks one end of the entrance, and the Fire Department Station is on the other.
Entrance and Administration Building.
The central features of the Exposition are Columbia Court and Lakeview Terrace, which have been made the object of elaborate embellishment. The Court is situated between the Agriculture and European Exhibits Buildings and Main consists of two wide avenues, between Picture, which are sunken gardens. In the center of the gardens is a heroic bronze statue of Sacajawea, the Indian woman who 9
guided Lewis and Clark across the continent. Passing through Columbia Court one comes to a parapet at the head of Lakeview Terrace. From here a commanding view of the grounds and lake may be had. From the parapet broad steps, flanked on each side by massive balustrades, supporting statuary and urns of flowers, lead clown to the boat landing on the shore of the lake and the beginning of the esplanade, which is a promenade running more than half a mile around the water front.
THE LANDSCAPE.
Everywhere the eye of the visitor is charmed by beautiful landscape effects. Man and Nature have worked hand in hand to make the scene one of rare attractiveness. Here Nature has done what it would have taken years of skilled labor and millions of dollars to even partially create at another place. Vistas of hill and dale which were created at other expositions only after years of work by an army of workmen are found here as Nature laid them out. Where imitation mountains were erected at former expositions, Nature has raised snow-covered peaks. Where trees were set out to afford shade, Centennial Park, a natural woodland of trees and shrubs, invites the visitor to shady paths and restful retreats. Where steam shovels dug lagoons at former expositions. Guild's Lake is supplied by Nature;
What Nature has left undone, man has accomplished. Upon the slopes leading down to the lake are terraced gardens, and the open spaces 10
between the buildings are enriched with flowers, fountains and statuary. Twenty thousand roses bloom in a rose garden on the hillside overlooking the experimental gardens, where all the different kinds of crops raised in the Pacific Northwest are growing side by side. Sunken gardens of exotic plants grace Columbia Court, the main plaza, and the open space in front of the Government Building, on the peninsula.
The beauty of the night scene surpasses all
Portion of Centennial Park.
expectations. In the creation of the night picture every builder's art has a share. The architect's designs, the landscape architect's clever arrangement of fountains, plants, flowers and Night trees all take on a new beauty under the Scene, electric glow of more than a hundred thousand bulbs. While the buildings are reconstructed in fire for the night view by means of the festive shimmer of countless filaments, the 11
picture is accentuated by the piercing rays of searchlights from the towers of the principal structures. The reflection of the lights in the water of Guild's Lake adds brilliancy to the scene. On the bottom of the lake, along each side of the Bridge of Nations, electric bulbs placed in air and water-tight receptacles illuminate the water and enable the visitor to see fish swimming about.
• FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS.
Almost every nation of the world is represented by a comprehensive display. The best of the foreign exhibits at St. Louis have been transferred to Portland, and have been supplemented by new and attractive displays. Some of the participating countries are: England, Germany, France, Russia, China, Japan, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Australia, Holland, Switzerland, East Indies, Egypt, Persia, Turkey, Algeria.
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
The United States Government exhibit represents an outlay of $800,000. The display is confined to five buildings, located on the peninsula, in the center of Guild's Lake. Besides the main building, which is a handsome structure, graced by two towers each 260 feet high, there are the Territorial, Irrigation and Fisheries Buildings and the Life-Saving Station.
The Postoffice Department operates the Exposition postoffice as a model institution and as an
exhibit. The visitor may see all the operations of a large postoffice and the labor-saving devices in daily use. Methods of handling mail in Alaska, Porto Rico and the Philippines are illustrated, and there are many relics of postal history, including an interesting display from the Dead Letter Office.
The Fish Commission makes an extensive display of live fish from sea and river, lake and brooklet. The processes of propagating and catching for the marketing of all water foods are
United States Government Building;.
shown. A feature of the exhibit is the Chinook salmon, the king of fresh-water fish, in captivity, in specially constructed tanks.
The War Department shows fighting machinery of every pattern. A collection of cannon and small arms of great historical interest is displayed in the ordnance section.
A feature of the Interior Department display is a panorama of striking bits of scenery in the various forest reservations and natural parks of the United States. A moving picture machine of scenes in Yellowstone Park shows the geysers
in action, the park guards on duty, the stage coaches filled with sightseers, and the wild animal life.
The Navy Department shows a "live exhibit" of a fleet of battleships and cruisers anchored in the Willamette River. Visitors may inspect the fighting craft, and daily drills are given with the batteries. The department also occupies a section in the Government Building with other exhibits, including model of dry dock and small models of every vessel in the navy and an exact model in miniature of the new buildings of the Naval Academy, for which Congress appropriated $10,000,000. Marines from the warships give daily drills on the peninsula.
Many priceless historical documents and relics are presented by the State Department, among them a complete collection of all papers in the department archives having any bearing on the Lewis and Clark expedition, a facsimile of the Declaration of Independence, with portraits of its fifty-six signers, reproductions of the Articles of Confederation, and the original draft of the Constitution.
The Department of Agriculture is represented by many new and interesting displays. Methods by which the Government is advancing interests of agriculture through its Bureau of Plant Industry, the Astro-Physical Observatory, the Weather Bureau, the Chemical Bureau, the Bureau of Entomology, Experiment Stations, Bureau of Forestry, Bureau of Animal Industry, are clearly shown. One whole building is given over to an extensive irrigation display, which illus-14
trates the manner in which Uncle Sam changes the arid lands into fertile farms.
The Treasury Department includes displays from the office of the Secretary, the Supervising
r
Corner of Forestry Building-.
Architect's office, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Bureau of the Mint, the Bureau of Public Health and Marine Hospital Service, and the office of the Treasurer of the United States.
The Life-Saving Service is represented by a crack crew which gives daily drills from a model station on the lake. An operating mint coins souvenir medals for the visitors, the same as real money is made.
The Department of Justice presents some of its most precious relics, which include curious documents from the files of the Supreme Court and other courts, showing the growth and development of their business.
The Bureau of American Republics, the Department of Labor, the Congressional Library, the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum are all represented in the Government exhibit by interesting displays.
STATES.
State participation represents an outlay of more than a million dollars. Fifteen states are officially represented. Twelve of these commonwealths have erected handsome buildings. State exhibits are placed in the buildings and the visitor may inspect his state's entire display without the bother of making a tiresome tour of the exhibit buildings, which was the case at former expositions. The buildings are also fitted up as club houses and the visitor finds every convenience for his comfort and entertainment. Following are the states represented: Oregon, Washington, California, Utah, New York, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Idaho, Montana. 16
PHILIPPINE PARTICIPATION.
A comprehensive Philippine display is made under the supervision of the War Department Every island in the archipelago is represented, and articles of interest and value have been brought together from every nook and corner of the Insular possessions. The exhibits represent manufactures, agriculture, forestry, fish and game, horticulture, anthropology, liberal arts, education, mines and metallurgy, fine arts, transportation, military supplies, machinery, social economy, and physical culture. In fact, all of the departments
Oriental Building.
mentioned in the official classification of the Exposition are represented. Exhibits of pearl fishing, lace making and various native manufac-
*f%^ turers are interesting displays.
I A detachment of native Filipino Scouts, who
are a branch of the regular army in the Philippines, maintain a model military camp and give daily drills.
Native villages of men, women and children of the wild tribes of the Islands are a feature of the exhibit. There are 300 natives, including the
head-hunting, dog-eating Igorrotes, the fighting Moros and the Negritos, and the gentle. Wild civilized Visayans. The Moros live in Tribes, houses of bamboo and nipa built on poles over the water on the shore of the lake. The Negritos and Igorrotes have built squatty huts in the wooded portion of the reservation, while the Visayans conduct a native theater on the Trail. The representatives of the tribes are finer specimens than those exhibited at St. Louis, as the people were more willing to leave the Islands after hearing the wonderful stories of this country related by the natives who returned safely from that exposition.
ALASKA.
Alaska's exhibit is on a much more elaborate scale than any previous display made by the territory, and will include a showing of all the varied resources of the Northland.
The ore exhibit fills a single case seventy-five feet long by five feet high. Gold and copper ores will be exhibited for the most part.
The fisheries exhibit shows methods of catching and packing salmon in Alaska. There is a fine collection of furs, including skins from all fur-bearing animals native to the territory. The agricultural exhibit serves to dispel the popular impression that the northern territory is a great ice floe. The exhibit includes samples of various grains and garden vegetables, native fruits and berries, and fruits which have been introduced into the territory.
Photographs of scenery form an interesting
feature. The work of the natives, such as baskets, beadwork, totem poles and canoes, is shown in an attractive manner, and the exhibit of native crafts gives evidence of the results of educational methods introduced since Uncle Sam took possession of the territory.
Forestry Building;.
ATHLETICS.
Athletic games in general have been arranged for the Exposition period. The games will be national in character, embracing football, baseball, track and field, swimming, fencing, wrestling, etc. Athletes from all over the United States will compete. The contests will prove especially interesting in that they will show the athletic skill of the young men of the Pacific Northwest, whose performances, handicapped by 19
distance, have not received due recognition east of the Rocky Mountains.
LIVE STOCK.
The sum of $50,000 will be awarded as prizes to exhibitors in live stock. Stock raisers of the United states, Canada and Mexico, have taken a lively interest in the show, and some of the best breeds in the world will be on exhibition. The Exposition management has appropriated $40,000 to be distributed as prizes as follows:
For horses ..............................$12,000
For cattle............................... 16,500
For sheep and goats...................... 6,500
For swine ...........................---- 3,500
For poultry and pets...................... 1,500
The National Live Stock Association appropriated $2500, McLaughlin Bros., of Kansas City, gave a like sum, while contributions from other sources make the grand total $50,000.
CONGRESSES AND CONVENTIONS.
A notable series of conferences has been arranged for the Exposition. It embraces religion, education, civics, charities and correction, labor, science, history and woman's work, the dominant idea being to make a fair showing of all the forces which have been material in the development of Western America and contributed to its progress. Notable men and women have been se-
cured from all parts of the world to deliver addresses. On Sundays there will be undenominational services addressed by leading preachers of all denominations.
More than forty National conventions, bringing as many thousand delegates, will meet in the Auditorium at the Exposition. They embrace meetings of professional, industrial and commercial organizations.
The Auditorium.
MUSIC.
Band concerts by some of the most famous bands in the world are features of the daily program. The Royal Hawaiian Band, Ellery, Innes, Liberati, Dierke, and De Caprio all play engagements during the Exposition. Massed band concerts, in which two or more bands participate, are rare musical treats offered.
Organ recitals and choral concerts are features of the musical program. A large organ is in-
stalled in the Auditorium, which seats 2500 persons. The organ is a three-register, fifty-stop instrument, and is the largest on the Coast.
THE TRAIL.
The "Trail" is the name of the Street of Concessions. One "took in" the Midway or "went down" the Pike at former expositions. It is "Hit the Trail" at the Lewis and Clark Exposition. The name has a historical significance in connection with the trail Lewis and Clark "hit" a century ago on their expedition to the Pacific.
The Trail has an unique location, one that was not possible at previous expositions. It occupies the mainland end of the Bridge of Nations and the attractions are located on each side of a seventy-foot avenue. On account of the unrivaled water facilities thus offered, much attention has been directed to concessions for aquatic features.
The Bridge of Nations, which is built in imitation of solid masonry, connects the mainland with the Government peninsula and is nearly a half mile long.
SUNDAY OPENING.
The Exposition gates are open to the public on Sundays from noon until 11 o'clock at night. The exhibit buildings are open, but the machinery and working exhibits and the attractions on the Trail are not in operation. A feature of
the Sunday program is a series of educational and religious institutes which are held in the Auditorium.
SPECIAL DAYS.
Every one of the 137 days of the Exposition is devoted to one or more special attractions. Each state and foreign government has been assigned a day, most of them commemorating some historical event. Societies and associations throughout the country also have special days in connection with their conventions. On these days special programs are given in addition to the regular daily events.
Agriculture Building.
ACCOMMODATIONS.
Portland has an unusually large number of first-class hotels and boarding houses, a majority of which are located between the business district and the Exposition grounds, so that access 23
to the Centennial and the theaters and shopping district is easy, less than fifteen minutes being required for the journey either way. Prices charged for rooms and board are low, compared to other cities, and the service is excellent. Almost universally the private families of the city have thrown open their doors to the visitor. Many new hotels have been erected recently. One military academy has been turned into a temporary hotel and will house many.
Within the Exposition grounds, the American Inn, a 600-room hotel, provides excellent accommodations for 2500 guests. Rooms may be had on the European plan from $2 to $3 per day, and on the American plan for from $3 to $4.50 per day. A well-appointed cafe provides. meals at popular prices and table d'hote meals are, breakfast 50 cents, luncheon 50 cents, and dinner $1. These rates include daily admission to the Exposition. Guests of the Inn are within the enclosure night and day, thus enabled to divide time between resting and sightseeing at will, and to avoid the expense and annoyance of riding to and fro on the street cars.
The Inn is located on the shore of Guild's Lake, the natural grand basin of the Fair, its front facing the Government building on the peninsula in the center of the lake, and commanding a view of the entire Exposition. Its unrivaled location and advantages make it a veritable summer resort hostlery.
For the purpose of precluding any possibility of extortion an Exposition Accommodation Bureau has been established and is conducted under the supervision of the Exposition management. 24
Information concerning hotels and lodging houses, with their location, room capacity and rates, is given free.
CHANCE TO SEE COUNTRY—LOW RAILROAD RATES.
The low rates made by the railroads to Portland this summer offer the people of the East and Middle West an unparalleled opportunity to visit the Pacific Coast and see what a great
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European Building.
country lies west of the Rocky Mountains. It is a chance of a lifetime for those persons who have long contemplated a pleasure trip across the continent.
The fare from Chicago for the round trip is $56-50; from St. Louis $52.50, and from Missouri River points $45.00. The fare from points east of Chicago is eighty per cent, of double the regular one-way fare to these cities. Tickets are
good for ninety days and provide for liberal stop-over privileges, enabling the traveler to visit interesting points en route, such as Yellowstone Park, Salt Lake City, Yosemite Park. Arrangements have been made whereby the visitor to the Exposition may come by one route and return by another. For small extra charge one may come to the Coast or return by way of California.
Portland offers many side trips which embrace some of the finest scenery in the world. In a few hours one may sleep at Cloud Cap Inn, a hostlery on one side of Mt. Hood, which is 11,225
feet above the sea level and forty-six Side miles from Portland, and in the morning Trips, climb the snow peak in true Switzerland
style. Three hours by rail finds one at the Pacific Coast, which abounds in unrivaled beaches and places of historic interest. Up the Columbia River, through Columbia Gorge and the Dalles, is a trip worth the journey across the continent and the scenery once seen will never be forgotten. Other points of interest, which may be visited at small cost, are : Crater Lake, in Southern Oregon; Vancouver, for many years the chief post of the Hudson's Bay Company; site of old Fort Clatsop, the quarters of Lewis and Clark during their winter's stay in Oregon a hundred years ago; Yaquina Bay, the greatest shellfish beach short of the coast of Spain; Willamette Falls, Multnomah Falls, Oneonta Gorge, Cascade Locks, and Astoria, the first town settled in the Oregon Country. These side trips may be taken by rail, trolley or steamer, and every facility for the comfort of travelers this summer has been provided.
OREGON OZONE AND OPTIMISM.
"There are two big expositions in the Pacific Northwest this year," remarked a man who recently arrived in Portland from the East. "One is the Lewis and Clark Centennial, and the other is the Oregon country. It is altogether unnecessary for you people out here to waste time and money and energy in trying to make an exposition as big as that at Chicago or that at St. Louis. Your exposition—the Pacific Northwest— is already here, vaster and more vivid and more
Mines and Metallurgy Building.
diversified than any man-made exposition could be.
"You have been telling me how many acres there are in your Lewis and Clark Exposition grounds. I believe the area is 406 acres, and that is plenty large enough for a world's fair; but, as a matter of fact, you should include in any estimate of your Exposition area the entire area of this vast territory, which the explorers of a hundred years ago added to the domain of the United States. That is your Exposition site—or sight— 27
for those of us who have lived back East, or in the Middle West, and never before were privileged to look upon this part of the country.
"I was not aware how very little I knew of my own country until I visited, this Western fringe of it. I had heard in a vague way of what you term your 'Inland Empire,' but until I saw a part of it from the car windows and a little more of it by taking side trips, I had no adequate notion of its vastness and its possibilities of development. It is a hackneyed expression to say that a thing must be seen to be appreciated, but that is literally true in this case. The Pacific Northwest is the only section I know of that looks better in its natural state than it does on paper.
"Back where I come from it is a common statement that there is no longer any West. We are told, in the public prints and otherwise, that the West has disappeared—that is, the wild and undeveloped West, the West that offers inducements to homeseekers. We have gained the impression, somehow, that the entire West is settled up, and that there are no more worlds for us to conquer. That we have made a great mistake in so imagining I have discovered since I came to the Oregon country. I can not read one of your newspapers without finding half a dozen stories telling about new developments. Here an irrigation enterprise is reclaiming thousands of acres, opening up a new agricultural district. There a new mining field is developed, and men are rushing in to be Johnny-on-the-spot when the pay dirt gets plentiful. Yonder a new line of railroad is cutting its way through a mountain gorge or along a winding river or across a forest or a prairie, and in its 28
wake follows empire—new towns, new ideas, new energies, new opportunities.
"Why, there is plenty of opportunity here for the homeseeker, for the farmer, the miner, the business man and the professional man. Visitors to the Lewis and Clark Exposition will discover this fact, and I predict that thousands of them will remain in this country, or go back to their old homes just long enough to pack up, give away
Interior of Forestry Building.
the dog, and start for the Northwest to remain.
"Two things have impressed me deeply since I came. One is the remarkable development already made in your cities and their environment, and the other is the unexpected possibility of development yet to be, in the districts which as yet are hardly touched by enterprise. Portland and other cities in this great section of country are up-to-date in all respects, and ahead of date in
many ways. As a matter of fact, I verily believe that there is more culture to the square inch in Portland than there is to the square rod in New York City. I never have seen a city so numerously sprinkled with news-stands, magazine booths and book stores as is Portland. I have yet to find the first jot of evidence that there is any considerable portion of the population deeply steeped in ignorance and vice, as is the case in most of our Eastern and mid-Western cities. There seems to be something in the atmosphere—the Oregon ozone, if you will—that brightens the intellect and sharpens the wits.
"It feels good just to be in such a country. I have a friend, back in Missouri, who once wrote a facetious letter to a Boston schoolm'am who had inquired of him if there was any real culture in Missouri. He said there was; that when he was a youth his father sent him to a school in the East, and some of the culture rubbed off on him, and he brought it back and smeared it over a part of Missouri. So I may say that some of this Oregon Optimism—and I spell it with a big O —has rubbed off on me, and I feel like going back East and spreading it over some of our effete civilization. ' There is something in this atmosphere that makes a man feel like doing things.
"I will venture the guess that a large percentage of the people from points east of Idaho who visit the Lewis and Clark Exposition will stay in this part of the country twice as long as they plan to stay when they leave home. They will see >our Exposition—the Lewis and Clark one—and will learn so much about the greater exposition, the Oregon country, that they will go out and 30
see more or less of that, and long to stay and see the rest. When they go through your big palaces of exhibits and behold the wonders of productiveness that abound in this great region—practically everything new to them—they will write home to the rest of the folks not to expect them until they hear the dog barking welcome at the front gate, and then they will dash off into some delightful scenic section of Oregon, or Washington, or Idaho, or take up the study of the irrigation problem, or the fisheries industry, or the mining business, or some other branch of your vast end varied enterprises—and forget to go home at all; may be they'll send for the rest of the folks to come on the next train.
"Down in San Francisco I have a friend who recently returned to that city after a residence in New York. He said at a dinner where his friends welcomed him back that he would rather be a water hydrant in San Francisco, and be leaned against by an assistant chief of the fire department, than to be mayor of New York. After being in this Oregon country a few weeks I want to go on record as saying that I'd rather be an umbrella in Oregon, and be caressed by your soft winter rains and kissed by your glorious summer suns, than to be President of the United States.
"I am writing to all the people I know to come out here and see the two biggest expositions ever opened—the one at Portland for four and a half months of 1905, and the other one for all time."
"HIT T M E TRAIL"
Lake front, showing Trail, Bridge of Nations, Esplanade and Government buildings.
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- 33 pages
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