St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-10-17
Through Illinois and Iowa.

an hours stop at Dubuque. This re
markable time was made on the Hi
nois Central railroad and every train
was side-tracked en- route for the
Boston special" ]. F. Merry, one
of the general passenger agents o.
this system, was aboard to facilitate
in every possible way the convenience
of the passengers. Galena, ILL.,, Gen
Grants home, appeared as city SET
on a hill as we sped past it towards
our destination. Our train was held
an hour at Dubuque by the board OF
trade who took us all over the city
Dubuque is beautifully situated On
the Mississippi river, has many sub
stantial business blocks and attrac-
tive homes and rises from the river
front in terraces that are covered
with fruitful vineyards.
The ride across Iowa from the
Mississippi to the Missouri of 327
miles was made in 91a hours. Being
the first vestibule train that had
traversed this line, crowds gathered
at every station to see the cars. An
other cause of the crowds was the
unwarranted and totally unfounded
supposition that John L. Sullivan
was in our party and many were the
! inquiries made at the small stations
about the future congressman. Our
engines were handsomely decorated
with corn and many in the party left
the cars to see the train whenever it
stopped. At Fort Dodge the band
gave us first-class serenade, and at
Fonda the band played long enough
| for the omnipresent real estate agent
to pass through the train with de-
scriptions of corner lots in Fonda.
Before Sioux City was reached its
| wide-awake mayor, Mr.. Cleland, and
A. S. Garretson boarded the train
and were introduced to everybody
When we reached our destination at
1870 Wednesday night, after an al
most continuous ride of 81 hours, a
brass band and large delegation of
citizens met us and escorted us
through brilliantly lighted streets to
The Corn Palace.
Sioux Citians call this the eighth
wonder of the world Never having
seen the other seven | cannot COM
pare them to the corn palace. BUTT
is certainly a wonderful work of ar
chitecture and art, the like of which
was never seen before. Lawyer Per
~ of Somerville, Mass, well describ
ed it in his toast at the banquet the
next night when he referred to it as
ian original, artistic and beautiful
emblem of the inexhaustible fertility
and tireless energy of the great
West" The cut of the structure,
kindly furnished by the Sioux City
Journal, gives but faint conception
of the buildings grandeur. Itcovers
an area of 24O by $50 feet and is sur
mounted by a tower 200 feet high.
What is it ? Why it is large modern
building completely covered inside
and outside with corn and other ce-
reals 1t was designed by Architect
E. w. Loft, used up over 10000
bushels of corn in construction and
was built in seven weeks for $4,000.
Two hundred and thirty-six men
were paid to build the exterior and
decorate it, while 269 ladies gave
their services to beautify and adorn
the interior. 1t will be torn down
this month and the fourth palace will
be erected next fall on a still grander
scale. An admission of so cents was
charged, and with daily attendance
of several thousand people for three
weeks it will just about pay for itself
this season Most of the exterior
decorations were made by halving
ears of corn lengthwise, or saving
them into transverse sections about
an inch thick, and mailing them to
the building in all sorts of beautiful
designs. One of the simplest forms
was three ears of yellow corn nailed
on horizontally, alternating with
three red ears ofcorn vertically. These
may be squares, triangles, circles, or
other geometrical figures, or they
may be the effect of flowers. By lay
ing on the corn according to perspec-
tive many illusions are produced.
Thus the portal is massive arch.
Above it in an ample space is shield
and folded flags, the folds and stars
and stripes being perfectly represent
ed by red, white and blue squaw
corn. Over the corners there is
surprisingly perfect representation of
large draped curtains, the main body
of the same being formed of red and
yellow corn in perspective. AS the
corn ranges in color from white
through yellow, red and blue to the
deepest black there was a wonderful
opportunity for producing pleasing
or striking effects in colors. But
these colors of corn are further re-
lieved and varied by trimmings of
otherpart of the corn plant, such as
the stalk, blade, tassel, husk, etc, as
well as of grains, grasses, sorghum
seed and other growths. The posts
are covered with single kernels tack
ed to the wood, while the balcony rail
ings are lattice-works of corn stalks.
The roof is covered with grain and
corn on the stalk.
But woman'S work has surpassed
in beauty and originality all exterior
decorations and a view of the in
terror of the palace presents an ever
changing kaleidoscope of wonderful
designs. In one booth is an Indian
wigwam, made entirely of corn
husks, and in panels are bows and
arrows and an Indian in canoe.
The red mans face is made of meal,
his hair of flax, and his clothing of
wool. In another corner is the pic
ture, Little Boy Blue" made entire
ly of the products of the soil and as
natural as an oil painting. Some of
the pictures In the art gallery are
made like mosaics by using kernels
of corn of various colors. Above the
band stand, where the list regiment
band of New York gave daily con-
certs, was the musical score of "OId