The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-01-20
A STATES PRODUCTS.
California on Wheels Pays a
Visit to the City.
TRAVELLING EXPOSITION.
The Great Show Of Great States Pro-
dNctions-Seen BY Million and
Half-Hint to Washington.

California ON Wheels" Is IN Seattle,
and stands on the Northern Pacific track,
near the Lake Shore depot. at the foot of
Columbia street, where thousands OF peo-
pie visited it yesterday. 1t consists of
three cars, containing a complete EXHIBIT
of the products Of California-fruit. cere-
ais, vegetables, wines, wood, and the
various articles manufactured from them
in fact, everything that grows from the
earth. There is all manner Of dried and
canned fruit, from the raisin TO giant
squash, which is equal in weight TO John
l.. Sullivan. There are all kinds OF grain
which grow. and monster potatoes and
other vegetables. Samples OF the beautl-
full varieties of wood peculiar to California
are shown there. The big trees are repre-
sented by pictures, some little matters OF
detail preventing their actual presence.
There are long racks of wine of every kind
dear to the heart of the bacchanallan,
equal in purity and excellence of flavor to
the famed products of France, Spain,
Portugal and the Rhineland. The many
flowers are represented by dried speci-
mems and by pictures of gardens abound
ing in rich bloom. A small rack contains
samples of petroleum in its crude state
and in every stage of refinement, recalling
to the old Pennsylvania visions OF Coal
Oil Johnny and his contemporaries.
Giant quartz crystals and specimens OF
the mineral products to which California
first owed her fame, are to be found IN the
exhibit.
The exhibition cars arrived here on Sun
day evening and will remain until to-
morrow, and are open to the public from
$50 a. m. to p. m. The superintendent
is S. ]. Mathes. Of Los Angeles, who dis
tributes to the visitors maps of California
and literature telling of the resources OF
the various counties. He is assisted by E.
B. Smith, Of the State Board of Trade, and
Major J. B. Lauck, who has charge of the
train for the Southern Pacific railroad.
The exhibition cars are now on their way
home after tour which lasted nearly
fourteen months. They left San Francisco
on December 3, 1885, and travelled over the
Southern Pacific road to New Orleans.
They then passed through the Southern
states to st. Louis, thence to Kansas City.
and then went through Southern Kansas
Then they returned eastward through
Northern Kansas and Southern Nebraska
to St. Joseph, through Missouri and Iowa
to Minneapolis and st. Paul, thence by
Ashland, Wis, to Chicago. Next the cars
went over the Baltimore & Ohio road
Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New
York to New York city, where they re-
manned ON exhibition for three weeks.
They went through New York state to
Buffalo, by the Lake Shore 4 Michigan
Southern road to Chicago, and by the Wis
consin Central TO st. Paul. Thence they
came by the Northern Pacific to Seattle.
They leave here this evening for Tacoma
and return to San Francisco, stopping at
Portland and Salem on the way.
In speaking of the results of his tour
with observation-disclosures reporter yes
terday, Mr.. Mathes said: at is almost
too early at present to speak of results,
but / can say that the exhibition has
aroused an active inquiry. We went out
with the object of opening a market for
our goods, and the increased business was
certainly due partly to this exhibit:
About million persons had passed
through the cars up to September % ana
fully 100000 for the entire trip, the
average being about 5000 day.
1.-THE exhibit has had a considerable eff
feet in awakening people to the importance
of the Pacific coast. They have hitherto
thought we had only wild, uncultivated
the fruit crop in the East, due to warm,
open winter and late frosts in the spring.
The consequence was that they had to de-
pend on the Coast for their fruit supply
entirely, for no fruit except grapes was
grown east of Chicago, and not full crop
of these, while the peach crop in Delaware
and New Jersey was dead failure. This
brought TO the minds of the Eastern peo-
pie the fact that the Coast was of some
Importance as far as fruit is concerned.
I'VE have heard that Washington was
about to send out exhibition cars, and the
scheme was talked of very favorably at
Spokane Falls. California is likely to APP
propriate million dollars to the Worlds
fair and | will wager that Sc. 600 spent ON
an exhibit of this kind will do more good
to the state than that million. The rea-
son is that at the Worlds fair there will
be exhibits from every state in the Union
and every country in the world, and that
the visitor will not probably have dis
tinct recollection of any single exhibit.
This exhibit stands alone as the produc-
ton of California Still | don't want to
say word against the Worlds fair or to
take dollar from it. The people at Spo-
kane talked of getting up an exhibit like
this and of doing it alone, if the rest of
the state would not join them in it. l
think it would be mistake for them to do
so. You would be surprised at the size of
the exhibit you could get together by hav-
ing the productions of every county rep
resented.
1--WE have been received very kindly at
every place we stopped at and many per-
sons thanked us for making the exhibit,
describing il as great educator, especially
"a Ia