St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1893-08-31
Correspondence.
AT THE WORLDS FAIR.
The Fisheries Building.

architectural poem. 1t unquestion
ably the most attractive building il
the White city" and is the only on
that contains live exhibits. TIL
building is Romanesque in it's archi
lecture. 1t is in three parts, mali
building and two polygonal annexe'
connected with the main building by
curved arcades. The decorations O
the building consist of various FISK
and marine forms, while the roof is
made of old Spanish tiles. 1t is not
a large building, the entire floor area
being only three acres.
In the main building is the general
fisheries exhibit from all parts OF the
world. The foreign nations are well
represented. Ireland has model OF
a fisheries school and Australia a
large exhibit OF shells and aquatic
specimens in alcohol. Canada and
Russia have good exhibits Of pre-
served fish. In Hollands exhibit
there is fishing scene in miniature,
and in the japanese department be-
sides preserved fish there is an inter
esting collection of edible marine
plants. Norway has a notable ex-
hibit, including models of fishing and
Matching stations, huge polar bear,
fish oils and preserved fish. Several
of the states are represented in this
building. There is a skeleton of
big hump-backed whale, 4712 feet
long, which came from Washington
on the Pacific coast, and Gloucester,
Mass, has a historical collection of
models of vessels and fishing imple-
ments used on the Massachusetts,
coast from 1923 down to the present
time. In 1872 40O-pound sword
fish was caught in Boston bay, and
a cast of this fish is exhibited. Min
nesota, California and North Caro-
lima also have exhibits of fish in the
main building.
The exhibit of the Smithsonian In
stitute consists of models in papier
mache representing the fur seal and
the walrus fisheries in the Alaskan
waters. The animals and fishermen
are modelled in clay. The models of
seals and walruses are ife-size and
painted. The effect is very striking
and there are hundreds of these
models. One scene shows how the
seals are killed by being dubbed by
the natives, and another represents
one Of the breeding haunts of the
seals. There is also represented a
number of hair seals, a variety used
by the natives for food and not for
fur. This whole exhibit was pre-
pared by Henry Elliott, the only ar
fist who has ever drawn and painted
the walrus and seal in their native
waters.
In the west annex is the angling
exhibit. Here private firms make an
elaborate display of their manufac-
lures, including fish poles, hooks, nets
and boats. Pennsylvania and Wis
consin are represented here by exhibits
of their state commissions.
The Fisheries building is one of the
less-frequented places on the grounds
and many who visit it pass through
it hurredly and cannot remember
what they saw there. But there is
one part of the building that is al
ways attractive and that is the east
annex where the aquarium is located.
Here is the live fish exhibit OF the
United States fish commission. The
exhibit consists Of a circle of glass
tanks with capacity of 100000 |
gallons. In these tanks are all the
varieties of fish found in our inland or
coast waters. The tanks are all
alive with fish and one never tires
watching the graceful movements of
these animals. The tanks are
around the building and the visitor
looks through one side of each tank.
All the exhibits are properly labeled
and the name and habitat of each
fish can be seen at glance
Many Of the fish are salt water
varieties audit was no small problem
to bring salt watert to Chicago. The
supply Of sea water was secured at
the United States fish commission
station at Woods Holl, Mass. 1t
was evaporated there and shipped
to Chicago in bulk, Fresh water
from Lake Michigan was then intro
duced to restore the SEA water to
its proper density. To supply the
aquaria with fresh water requires
5000 gallons per hour.
Adjacent to this exhibit is a rotun-
da containing a big basin of water.
A towering mass of rocks covered