The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-05-01
MONTANA'S GOLD NAIL
Driven in the Presence of Dis
tinguished Ladies by Mrs.
Potter Palmer.
Description Of the Beautiful Piece Ol
Workmanship. the Offering of Nom
tana-The Formal Opening.
CHICAGO, April .3.-That the Worlds

CHICAGO, April G.-That the Worlds
Fair is an epitome Of the progress Of civ
ilization was emphasized this afternoon
when Mrs. Potter Palmer. president of
the board Of lady managers. stepped out
from among the throng Of well dressed
women gathered in the assembly room
of the Womans building and barvcly
drove the last nail into that historic
structure which is the first of its kind
ever built ia connection with any inter
national exposition. The exercises com
menced with the presentation of the
Florida flag followed by the prcsenta-
tions in the Connecticut. Kentucky.
California, NaW York and Cincinnati
rooms. Then came the presentation of
the kapp flag: then the gathering in the
assembly room. the driving Of the gold
en nail, and the singing of the martial
chorus. the Battle Hymn Of the Repub
lie. brought the meeting To ii close. 4
hundred ladies present sang the grand
battle song with vim and earnestness
which proved their faith in its truth.
which was marching on. and the truth
that their sex were at last ia IA way to be
recognized as co-elual in temporal
affairs with the men. who for SO many
ages have sat on high and ruled the
things of the earth.
The gold nail driven by Mrs. Palmer
was made by J. II. Leyson. of Butte.
Mont. 1t required two weeks of con
stant work to make it. 1t was conlpos-
ed Of gold, silver. copper. and Mont
ana sapphire is set in the under portion
OF the shield. which is attached to the
nail near the head. The nail itself is of
pure. copper silver and unaloyed gold
and rests IN slide back of the coat of
arms and the shield of Montana which
is in the form of brooch. The shield
is a perfect model of the Montana seal
The mountains represented are of cop
per. and in the foreground. the waterfall,
and stream are of silver. The sunset.
in the crest of the mountains. and the
sky. which forms the back ground, is of
pure gold. as is also the ground in the
extreme back ground.
The shield is enclosed in circle of
gold forming a band. on the one side of
which are the figures Of a typical pros
pector and ON the other farmer. The
prospector is a full bearded and rugged
looking miner holding in his left hand
slouch hat. while the right hand rests
upon the handle Of a @olden pick. The
farmer has smooth face and holds a
hay rake in one hand. the other resting
upon his belt. In the center. between
these figures and having the appear
ance of a bright star in the sky. is a
Montana sapphire. Upon a ribbon of
gold running between the lower portions
of the brooch is the Montana motto in
black enamel letters The metals in the
nail and brooch We're all presented by
Montanians. the silver coming from the
Granite Mountain mine. the copper
from the Parrot mine. and the gold from
the placers of Highland. south of Butte
The nail was driven with a silver ham
mer III the proscenlum arch OF the
Assembly hall in the north end of the
building. The hall was lavishly adorn-
ed with flowers. and the arch where
| Mrs. Palmer stood was hung with Amer
lean rosrs. gracefully set off with /,
back ground Of smilax.
The formal opening exercises of the
women's building will be held Thursday
at two o'clock. and will include address
es by Mrs Potter Palmer and distin
guished representatives of foreign nat
ions. Spain is represented by the duch
ess of Veragua. Italy by the countess ol
Brogga. England by Mrs. Bedford Fen
wick, Scotland and Ireland by Lad.
Aberdeen, Germany by Frau Professerir
and Russia by Princess Schahavsky.