Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-02-02
(From our Special Correspondent

|
be carried on during the Fair months
on the grounds. Bullets and cartridges
will be made IN sight of the multitude.
Torpedoes for use in military operations
will also be manufactured, but when
people want to see torpedoes
they must visit the battleship,
illinois, - where the navy department
has its exhibit. Care has been taken
not to have the two departments over
lap anywhere. Of course, the ammu-
milton will look like the real thing, but
the powder would not explode, not
even burn. No army officer, however
brave, would care to have real gun
powder and dynamite flying around
among workmen in crowded building.
The spectators, however will not know
the difference
The display from California will be
novel, unique and most interesting.
The ambition Of the people from the
Golden State seems to be to produce
exhibits which, from their very bigness,
will cast an obliterating shadow on all
competitors. When once the matter of
size is settled, attention is given to such
minor affairs as tasty decorations and
artistic arrangement. Hence the State
has building larger than any State
building on the grounds. It is of CYCLIC
pean aspect, modelled after the old
| Spanish missions. : 1t is more fortress
like in appearance than might be ex-
pected of a place rendezvous for a
peaceful commonwealth, and conveys
more of an impression of solidity and
vastness in its great eXpanse of bare
staff masonry than of architectural
| beauty. Within the building will be
placed tons of exhibits showing the
vast resources Of the State. Among the
exhibits will be a redwood log, the
largest ever transported out of the
State. 1t is solid, thirty feet long and
twenty-six feet in diameter, with bark
which in places approaches two feet in
thickness. California has many in
teresting exhibits of which we shall
speak more fully in future letters.
The installations of exhibits in the
various buildings is now actively in
progress. Scores Of freight cars loaded
with exhibits are being run into the |
grounds and switched to the different
buildings. Wagons laden with packing
cases are seen going in all directions. |
Soon the busy scene will be multiplied |
many times over, for hundreds of cars
of exhibits will arrive where now there |
are scores. The majority of exhibits
which have arrived thus far are foreign. |
Advices from Hong Kong say that the
Dutch East Indies exhibit from Java |
will be shipped at once. This includes
the japanese village, which will be
shipped in its entirety, including even
the palms and the tree ferns for orna-
mentations. There will be twenty
houses, native dwellings, of so square
feet, ten" each 100 square feet, one 200
square feet, one 300 square feet, two of |
l 200 square feet, and theatre of IL 900 |
square feet. The inhabitants will COM
prise $50 villagers, with native orchestra, |
and complete exhibit of their indus |
trial pursuits to be shown.
The Ice railway will be one of the
curlosities of the Exposition. It may |
be doubted that visitors to Chicago can
enjoy a toboggan slide on genuine ice
in the hottest days of midsummer, but |
the promoters of this attraction have |
paid literally for the privilege of dem
onstrating their ability to furnish such |
entertainment. The railway is to be
built on an incline, and the ice which |
covers the sliding surface will be made
and pepetuated by machinery after the
manner of manufacturing artificial ice
for consumption.
On the southern edge of Midway |
Plaisance and extending its entire |
lengh the sliding railway will be in
operation. That portion Of it already |
completed has the appearance of a
fume for carrying water in mining
countries. 1t is French invention and
was given practical demonstration at
the Paris Exposition in 1889. It is an
elevated road, and the cars are without
wheels. The rails are eight inches
wide, the substitute for the wheels
being shoes, which fit over the rails and
are practically water tight. Immediate
| ly behind each shoe is water pipe
connection in which is water at a
pressure Of about $50 pounds per square
inch. This water is forced under the
shoes, the effect being to raise the
train about one sixteenth Of an inch
Connected with every second car is a
turbine motor which gets its water
power from the same source as does the
pipe connecting with the shoes. The
power is furnished from a main pipe,
extending the entire length of the road
and lying under the track in sections of
fifty feet. The speed claimed by the
inventor exceeds 100 miles per hour.
Considerable space is set aside for the
street in Cairo exhibit, the repro
duction of historic buildings in the
Egyptian city giving one good idea of
the architecture and mode of life
among the Egyptians. Shops, mosques,
a dancing hail. theatre, and other at
fractions are installed in the building.
Many attractions peculiar to Arabia and
the Soudan will be introduced, and