Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-05-24
IT is ALL GREAT.
The Worlds Fair Built on a
Model of Vastness.
Great Piers, Great Railways, Great
Hotels and Great Expectations
OF Great Crowds d People b Atssad This
Mehstss Sheu.

Of Great Crowds q People b Atssad This
nsastss shsu.
WORLDS FAIR, May q. .-[specialI -
Every one who comes TO SEQ the Column
bian exposition is at once impressed by the
vast scale on which everything in connec-
ton with the fair has been planned or con-
,tructsd This is almost as noticeable
without the grounds as within. Even in
the central part of the city one observes
immense hotels that obviously have been
opened for Worlds fair trade. At the
lake front park are still more striking evi-
ienees Of the exposition boom and Of the
fact that the Chicsgoans have made all
their plans in anticipation Of an enor-
nous influx of visitors. In the harbor is
hcg feet Of steamships waiting to carry
passengers TO Jackson park, eight miles
away. Some of the vessels are new, as the
monster whaleback passenger steamer
which has just arrived from Duluth, and
which is said to be able TO carry 5000 per-
sons. As yet not many people use the
steamers, for the weather is not very
warm here and every one is in hurry to
get TO the fair. But later in the summer.
when the mercury rises and the city be-
comes disagreeably hot, thousands upon
thousands will be glad to avail themselves
of the opportunity to refresh body and
soul during an hours ride on the cool lake.
For the accommodation of these crowds
enormous piers and landings have been
constructed. On one Of the piers is an
immense pavilion. in which Is restau-
rant, besides many other attractions de-
signed to take the nimble nickels, dimes
and quarters from the pockets of the null
titude. Near by are other piers and land
ings, and the steamers constantly going
and coming with their passengers and
their bands of music make q scene of great
animation.
Here, too is the terminus of the Illinois
Central Worlds fair railway. An elabo-
rate system of platforms and turnstiles
has been provided, and almost every min
ute of the day the special express trains
are arriving from or departing for the ex-
position To take care of the Worlds fair
travel this road must have spent two mill
ions of dollars. 1t bought a hundred loco
motives and nearly a thousand cars. Be-
sides, it elevated several miles of track in
the vicinity of the exposition grounds.
These preparations on SO vast a scale have
produced an admirable result. The special
trains start out every two or three min
utes ten cars in a train and each train
carrying, when all the seats are occupied,
960 persons. There are eight parallel
tracks, one line Of double rails being used
for these Worlds fair expresses, which
make no stops and do the journey in fif-
teen minutes, another serving the subur-
ban trains, of which there are 3l2 in q day
Increased this summerfrom 1sa), the third
carrying the through passenger and excur-
sion trains, and the fourth the freight
traffic.
On the way to the fair visitors behold a
scene of much interest. In the lake, the
steamers plying to and fro. AT thewater's
edge the trains whizzing past each other
every minute or two. Not far from the
shore the cable roads and the trains on the
elevated road may be seen, and now and
then one gets n glimpse of the big coaches
with their four horses swinging along the
boulevards. All the way out may be seen
hotel after hotel, many of them enormous
structures covering half or the whole of
"A block and with from six to twelve stories.
These increase in number as the region of
the fair is reached, and extend for mile
or two back from the lake. After stran-
ger has gazed upon acre after acre Of these
big buildings, and noted the innumerable
smaller structures and private houses
which have been converted temporarily
into inns, he rightly concludes that Chi
hos 70 tbfc vInr1J,o fat bpu
ness on a scale that promises to be suf1
GENTLY large for the entertainment OF all
creation, if all creation will only be good
enough to come hither.
Around the fair gates, where a year ago
there was nothing but open prairie, there
is now great city. Here, again, Chicago
enterprise and Chicago expectations have
built on large plans. The restaurants,
the shops, the lunch-houses, the outdoor
booths, the pavilions and the fakirs are as
countless, almost, as the sands of the sea.
Why, there is one theater out here, not yet
completed, which is nearly as big as the
United States capitol at Washington. As
On amphitheater it rivals the structures in
which the Roman emperors were wont to
Anjoy cruel sports. Probably twenty thou
And people may be accommodated at once
stands on the lake shore, just outside the
Exposition enclosure. and being unfinished
has doubtless led many visitor into the
,rror of supposing that one of the great
Exposition buildings was yet without a
loof.
1t il almost unnecessary to say that
A-ithin the exposition gates everything is
IN scale SO vast AS to almost defy belief.
J queer thing about the exposition is that
Ne longer one stays here the bigger it
seems. Instead of appearing smaller as
bne becomes more familiar with it, through
Iseeing it day after day, it swells and
swells in q manner that is altogether
amazing. 1 have been here almost
month, and have walked a dozen times
from one end of the grounds to the other.
Yet each tine do so my wonder at the
vastness of the thing is greater than it
ever was before.
One begins to realize little of this i'm
mensity, indeed. before entering the
grounds. The gates are almost show In
themselves. Suppose you arrive aS the
Fifty-seventh street entrance. There all
in row at least ten rods in length, are no
fewer than eighteen turnstiles, each
guarded by an official. There are twelve
ticket windows and at certain hours the
men in all of them are kept very busy. A
stranger would say, If he did not stop to
think much about it, that there were gate
and ticket Ahcilities enough here for the
whole exposition. He may even go so far
as to wonder why they put all of their
gates and ticket sellers in one spot. Much
amazement will h. his when he learns
there are Just nineteen other entrances,
and that some Of them are much more ex-
tensive than this one. II you go to the ex-
position by any of the excursion trains
which run into the terminal station on
the grounds you will have a choice of
twenty-six windows at which to buy your
ticket and of ninety-six turnstiles through
which to pass. II you go by the steam
ship line on landing at the big pier--the
| largest in the world-you will be con
| fronted by score of ticket windows and
an even hundred turnstiies. In all there
are 1s2 ticket windows and 3a6 turnstiles
What an enormous crowd they could
| rare for il the people would only come in
steady streams all day long! But the peo-
| pie don't come in that way, and the sur
| prisin2ly large number of ticket boot S
| and entrances is provided 30 that there
may be no mose uncomfortable crowding
at the rush hours. A good many of these
| SO entrances are used exclusively by the
people who have passes, the number of
these fortunate persons being about II, coo.
| Four-fifths of them are exhibitors and
their assistants or other people employed
| on the grounds.