Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1893-04-01
Not Building = nished... Thieying Contract
ors' Work Needs Infinite Patching.
Painting the Walls With Hose
...Hotei Accommodations.

see the white city" in its perfected
beauty.
Up to October last marvellous feat had
been accomplished In reclaiming the sand
dunes and erecting thereon the vast struc-
lures which, when completed, will consti-
tute u city of unrivaited splendor, but
from that time to the present iuocpUL.
desuetude internal dissensions, rapacify
and reprehensible business methods have
blighted thu prospect The roseate hue
of hope has faded into q sullen and sodden
cloud Of disappointment.
The grounds are strewn with wreckaSe
and debris on every side. Constructural
material lies in unpoetic profusiOn and
armies OF workingmen are rebuilding, re-
pairing and patching the sighted and inn
perfect work OF contractors, who, by q
process unknown in the ethics Of practical
business, have been paid in full for their
work and laugh at the demands OF the
management to make good the defects
The thirty-acre structure dedicated to
the mechanical and liberal arts is being
divided for exhibitors, as much remaining
to be done as has been accomplished.
The great storage building Is but
skeleton, the choral building Is
q frame only and this Is true OF the annex
to the public service building; the two an
nexcs to the magnificent temple of art are
not vet enclosed Not a single structure
on the ground is entirely completed.
The state buildings are In an equally
unsatisfactory condition. Massachusetts,
building has long been finished, and the
aware, Virginia Maryland, Kansas, Mon
tana, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah,
Minnesota, Louisiana, South Dakota,
Ohio, Wisconsin, Colorado and California
buildings are up, but need more or less
finishing work inside Indiana, Washing
ton, Michigan and Kentucky are under
construction, more or less advanced.
Texas stands "a weather beaten skeleton,
and will probably so continue.
ing Is far from being done, and
is still surrounded by scafrolding. Brazirs
big building Is not yet walled in,
while the French marine, Turkish, Costa
Rica Columbia, Guatemala, East India.
Swedish, Canadian, Spanish, British,
Haitian and New South Wales buildings
are in various stages, but none are ready
for occupancy. The foundations for the
Venezuela buildings have Just been laid.
are comparatively small they can be ad-
vanced rapidly.
All the buildings have Suffered more or
less by the action OF the clements. The
STAFF which covers the exteriors and
Of which the statuary, figures and orna-
mentation is made has fallen or in large
flakes, leaving unsightly blanks in the
walls. aud depriving heroic gods and god
desses Of legs and arms, and ragged Sec
tions of scant and classic draperies, while
woeful inroads have been made upon tbe
anatomies of sculptored animals, bir&s
and neurological monsters. Other err
Ations of the art,sts lie upon the grout
waiting TO be set In place, upon sonny
of vantage on pinnacle dome or columha
All the vast structures with their wealth
of ornament, their forest OF fiuted pillars
and multitude OF figures remain to be
painted. and when IL Is understood that
the surface to b. covered IL measured BY
the acre, some idea of the task may BE-
formed.
Jackson Park embraces over 900 acres
of yellow sand, upon the greater part OF
which soil must be laid to induce vegeta
ton Over this wide area, roads and
pathways must be constructed and fin
ished and great stretches OF turf must b.
laid.
Transportation facilities within the
park are inadequate for handling exhibits
with dispatch when they bagin arriving
In large quantities. Exhibito s thus far
have been very dilatory, an average of
not more than fifty carloads day is being
rive daily.
The gates win be thrown open on May
], but the curtain will be rang up on an
embryonic exhibition.
Never before in the history of interna.
tional expositions has there been so ready
and unanimous a response from foreign
exhibitors a has reached the directorate
of the worlds fair of 1898 Every CONT
nent, almost every natioa or colonist will
Id h..t tir.. I'm hap
OF the large buildings Although not all
possess official representation the amount
voted by foreign governments exceeds
$3 0O0, ,0J0 to be devoted to the erection OF
national buildings or to the assistance OF
private enterprise.
One OF the sights at the worlds fair
grounds is the painting machine at work.
The invention Is that OF Fran D..
Millet, an artist Of much capabiiity.
being for temporary use only are
not built Of durable material "Staf, y
which is used to inclose the structures, is
something Of the nature Of cross be-
tweey plaster and papier mache, IL such u
combination can be imagined, When dry
II is white. Many OF the buildings had 10
be painted, but the hundreds OF acres Of
space presented made the task impossible
by the ordinary method. Thare Is not u
IL they were aii sent to Jackson park, 10
have completed the work in time. The
expense wonld reach into the hundreds of
thousands. Officials were at loss for "a
way out Of the difficulty. Then Mr.. Mil
let's genius budded and b!oomed.
Paint the fair with no Sc. he said.
At first the committee on construction
smiled sadly. 1t was good joke, possi-
bly,, bnt 1t was no time for Idle jest and
teer.
Mr.. Millct elaborated his plan Then
the committees brizhtepsd. A small On.
Rine similar TO u Are engine was procured
Paint was manufactured. not by the gall
Ion or barrel, hut by the hogshead The
engine was taken TO tine glaring
white side OF vast building
An experienced fireman worked the hose.
nc engine wac started and the white ~
the wall presently changed to blue. red,
green or any other color you chose The
painting problem was solved and the
brush market, which had stifYened per-
ceptibly, broke and fell of several points.
The immensity Of the task OF painting
the worlds fair buildings will be appreci-
ated when II Is considered that the space
covered is equal to tho walls of a four
story building with fifteen miles frontage.
Outside OF the boundaries of Jackson
park ana Midway p.aisauce, aud within !:
mile of the fence that incloses the terri
tory devoted to the fair, more building Is
being done than on the inside. and far
more push and energy Is being exerted.
Two hundred and scventy-nine structures
are In course of construction and finish.
each and all Of which are dedicated to the
accommodation Of visitors. The hotels
contain an aggregate of 3s.9t5 rooms and
are all within easy walking distance Of
one or more OF the entrances 10 the
fair. Many of these structures
are large and imposing. with charac-
tsristic architectural features, we'll
aud substantially built and equipped with
every modern device for comfort and con-
veniencc. Others are constructed on
less pretentions scale meant to accommo-
date shorter purses, but none are badly
but {. Tie largest among these hotels Il
the Great Eastern. which covers an area
nj 300x600 feet and is said to be the largest
hotel IN The world II contains 100 rooms
and can accommodate $500 people. Three
inspectors from the building Departments
Of the city government have been kept
constantly engaged within the fair d(s-
trict supervising the erection OF these
Buildings
Fully 100 900 visitors can be accommo.
dated within . mile Of the gates.
Within tho business portion OF tho CITY
tho hotel capacity has been more than
doubled.
In addition 70 this there are countlsss
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