Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-05-12
TRANSPORTATION.
How Worlds Fair Visitors Are
Carried About.
MOVABLE SIDEWALK ON THE PIER.

4
and riders of many countries. 1t happens
that number of hussars OF other caval-
| rymen are attached to the foreign commits
sions here to serve as official messengers.
Hence one may see, almost any fine day, a
German hussar, Russian cossack, an
| English horse guardsman or an Arab
courier flying about in the vicinity of the
| exposition grounds There are American
| cavalrymen, too. The foreigners all use
big horses and respondent trappings. The
| American horse soldier alone looks as if
he were QUILTED for actual service, the
others being mere parade soldiers. More
serviceable than any of the military horse
men in the capacity of messengers are the
| cowboys of the plains, twenty or thirty of
them having been constantly employed in
the days of construction, carrying nss-
sages and orders to and fro. They are to-
| day the most interesting horsemen in all
this international menaga Their little
mustangs or bronchos fly about with soft,
sure foot, lodging distractions and pedes-
TRANS, swift and intelligent.
A magnificent specimen of the horse
manship is to be found here in the outfit
of Colonel Rice, commandant of the Co
lumbar guards. 1t is no small response
bility the colonel has undertaken-cap-
| taincy of the troop of z, 900 men who are
sort of cross between policemen and sol
diers. In management and training oil his
men the colonel finds it necessary to go
rapidly from one part of the grounds to
another. In fact, he acts like man who
would, if he could, be at forty widespread
spots in one minute of time. He rides
massive iron gray charger, n noble animal
who carries himself with n proud stride
boo, % $50
great army.
1t is indeed a cosmopolitan showing of
craftsmanship and beasts of burden which
we have here. Buffalo Bits cowboys,
rough-riders, steer tanners and Sioux
horsemen are to he seen on the same
bridle-paths with the Cossacks and Hus-
sars Immediately after them may be a
pack-Inule from the Andes going over to
State street for a load of feed for his fell
lows, or a droInedary from the Egyptian
village in the plaiSance. Now and then, at
rare intervals, a Laplander may be seen
out exercising big reindeer. In Hagen
backs famous animal show lions may be
seen riding horseback, and two or three of
the elephants are often ridden about the
neiGhborhood of the plaisance by their
trainers.
The horse show proper will not begin
till late in August. Then it is expected
there will be here the greatest horse show
ever seen. Certainly the management OF
the exposition has been liberal enough in
its provisions and prizes. There are TWEEN
ty-five acres OF stock sheds, and in huge
amphitheatre that Will seat nearly 1000
persons hundreds of animals may be SIM
ultaneously exhibited. 1t is elliptical in
shape, 800 feet wide and 40 feet long, and
looks like an enclosed track. No fewer
than forty-Six barns are to be erected for
the accommodation of horses, and if these
DrOyp inalaQ1atp moro will hP luilt The
premiums offered for horses are very lib
eral, consisting of both cash awards and
medals. There are cash premiums on sim
gle animals as high as $500.
There is a wonderful variety of con-
trivances and vehicles for people to ride
upon within the enclosure of the exposi-
ton. The elevated electric railway,
which runs around the grounds, the steam
and electric launches on the lagoons, the
gondolas and the rolling chairs are all well
known. But this does not exhaust the list,
by any means. One of the most interest
ing spots in the exposition is visited by
only n small proportion of the people who
come here 1t is the steamboat pier which
runs more than half a mile into Lake
Michigan from the Casino at the southern
end of the peristyle. One is not surprised
to learn that this is the greatest pier in
the world. for these Chicago people have a
habit or building everything u niue larger
than any similar thing was ever built else
where. This pier is the landing place of
the many big steamboats, which run be
tween Chicago and the fair, and on warm
day this is the best route to and from the
city. The pier alone is worth going to sec.
Its vast proportions may be better under
stood from the fact that it contains fifteen
acres of space, and that 5000 people may
move about upon it without crowding.
The view of the lake and the exposition
from this pier rs very fine, and one may go
out ON the pier for the purpose of sight
seeing without taking passage on steam
ship for the city.
1t would not be like Chicago to build q
pier more than half a mile long and pro-
vide no means of transportation from one
end to the other of it. A pier so long that
a passenger railway is needed on its sur
face will be a novelty to most people, but
q greater novelty is the railway itself 1t
is what is known as a movable sidewalk,
and is very ingenius continuance. Two
low platforms, endless. run side by side on
a series of small wheels. The outer one
runs constantly at q speed of three miles
an hour and though it does not stop to
take on or let off passengers one has no
difficulty in stepping upon 1t. With the
same ease one may pass from this plat
form to the upper one. Which moves at a
speed of six miles an hour. This faster
platform has comfortable seats. and bet
ter means of resting ones weary limbs the
while refreshing body and soul in the cool
breezes which nearly always blow over
Lake Michigan. could not well be devised.
The fare on this novel railway is only a
nickel. and already it is quite popular.
The road is four-ffths of q mile long, and
quo passengers may ride upon the plat
forms together
Over in the plaisapce or side-show sec
tions of the exposition is another novel
means of transportation. 1t is known as
the sliding railway, and is the same sys-