The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1893-06-02
IT is ALL GREAT.
The Worlds Fair Built on q
Model Of Vastness.
JOME SURPRISING COMPARISONS.

Brent Piers, Great Railways, Great Hotels,
Great Expectations of Great Crowds In
Chicago-Optical Delusion Caused by
the Bigness of Things In the Monster
Exposition.
WORLDS FAIR, May 90. - Especial. -
Every one who comes to see the Column
bian exposition is at once impressed by the
vast scale on which everything in connec-
ion with the fair has been planned or con-
.tructed. This is almost as noticeable
without the grounds as within. Even in
he central part of the city one observes
immense hotels that obviously nave been
opened for Worlds fair trade. At the
lake front park are still more striking evil
fences of the exposition boom and OF the
fact that the C~hicagoans nave made all
their plans in anticipation of an enor-
nous influx of visitors. In the harbor is
a big fleet 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 il not very
warm here and every one is in a harry 10
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 ,hecoul lake.
For the accommodation OF thcs" crowds
enormous piers and landings have beCu
constructed. On one of the piers is an
immense pavilion, in which il a restau-
rant, besides many other attractions de-
signed to take the niInbie uickels, dimes
and quarters from the pockets OF the mul-
titude. Near by are otLcr piers ard land
inQs, and the steamers constantly going
and coming with their passengers and
their bands OF music make = sCeuu of great
animation.
Here, toe, ii the terminus of the Illinois
Central Worlds fair railway. An elabo-
rate system Of platforms and turDstilrs
has been provided, and almost every min
ute of the day the special express trains
are arriving from or departing for the cX-
positiun. To take care of the Worlds fair
travel this read 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
ira Is start out every two or three min
utcs, ten cars in a train and each train
carrying, when all the seats are occupied,
900 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 n day
Increased this summerfrom 1897, the third
carrying the through passengerand eXcur
sion trains, and the fourth the freight
traffic.
On the way to the fair visitors behold 6
scene Of much interest. In the lake, the
steamers plying TO and fro. At the water's
edge the trains whizzing past each othel
every minute or two. Not far from tn,
shore the cable roads and the trains on tn,
elevated road may be seen, and now ant
THIN one gets a glimpse of the big coaches
with their -four horses swinging along tn,
boukevurta- All the way out may be scel
hotel after hotel, many Of them enormou!
structures covering half or the whole o
a block aud with from six to twelve stories
These increase in number as the region @
the fair Is reached, Int extend for a mil,
OF two hack from the lake. After a stran
ger has gazed upon acre after acre Of thes'
ting buildings, and noted the innumerabl,
smaller structures n private houses
which have been converted temporarily
into inns, he rightly concludes that Chi
cago has gone into this Worlds fair bust