Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1898-11-09
THE OMAHA EXPOSITION.
A Little Girl Writes Interestingly of
Her Trip to Omaha and Return.
Decorah, Iowa, Nov. 3, 1898.

|, RSAhoPo ehht ~ iCV thAhS
about the Omaha Exposition and ou
visit there might be of interest to you
readers, send you few, as seen by
little girl, eleven years old
Mr.. A. G. Baker and his daughte
Alice, who by the way is one of M.
best friends and schoolmates, kindl,
invited me to go with them on the ex
ciirsion.
/ started down to the depot about ,
half hour too soon, and it seemed as /
the train would never start, but i
finally did. On the way down we had
to! wait about two hours or more, about
half mile out of West Liberty. II
was very cold where we had to stop
and some men got out and got some
wood and started fire. At that time
there were sixteen coaches on our train
and the engine couldn't support them,
so they switched off half OF course
that stop made us very late in getting
into Omaha. We staid at Cedar Ra-
pids about half hour. There was a
very large depot and all the people /
saw were running, so think that it
must be very fast town. We should
have gotten into Des Moines in the
night, but didn't get there until morn
ing, and so had a fine view of the
Capitol. OF course they had to make
speed after that stop, and so they went
quite fast but did not get into Omaha
until noon. When we got to Council
Bluffs we were all excited, and could
hardly wait until we got to the Missou-
ri river, and then first saw great
body of water. 1t was grand sight
the Great Muddy, as they call it, and
it was muddy, too. But the Omaha
depot was great thing with all the
trains coming from every direction.
We got out of the car, and walked a
little way until we came to some stairs,
and we went up these and found our
selves OH another bridge. We walked
quite ways, and then we found a man
frora the Brunswick hotel, and we
went there with him and got oar sach-
els and things checked and went out
to find some dinner. We walked about
q mile until we came to a place that
said Bakery & Restaurant" into this
we went and got a little lunch. We
finished eating and then got on a street
car and started for the exposition
grounds. We first looked around out
side and saw the soldiers camp, the
,annons, some of the buildings and the
lagoon. The buildings We're all very
nice, but cannot explain them all.
We went down to "Midway" and the
second day we got a lunch down there,
out it wasn't noted for its goodness nor
,heapness. We went into the streets
,f Cairo, and went into an animal
show, and We're going to ride on the
scenic railway, bat when we got up
here it was broken. We didn't quite |
lare to "Shoot the Chutes," or ride on
he "see-saw." But the merry-go-
'ound, while it went around all the |
ime was going up hill and down and |
was perfectly lovely.
We went into the Iowa building and |
II registered. The Art building was
,ery nice; there was one picture that
covered nearly the whole end of the
building. The machinery building,
he Minnesota building, the New York |
building, the Agriculture building,
md all of them were very nice. We
vent over to the Indian camp, but
most all of them were gone, and the
ew that were left were packing, pre-
,aring togo. The Iowa exhibit in the
building was very nice.
We took it all in and then went back
o the hotel, took our things and start
ID for the depot. We walked, and
when we got to the depot, there were
20 many trains that we couldn't tell
which was the right one, but finally a
policeman said: "The Rock Island GO
ng East" and so we all got onto that
one. We had been on this train quite
4 while, when man said something
about another Rock Island train going
east, so we got out and went over and
rot ON that one; the other one would
have carried us but it would not start
until late. All the trains were late,
but after while ours started, though
behind time. Everything was going
nicely and we had nice car when our
ear began to bump. One wheel had
slid for fifty miles, we found out after
because wheel was broken.
Then of course we had to go into differ,
ent cars, and our party was separated.
They switched off that car and we
had to be separated all night. Then
we were still later, but they went quite
fast after that. When we got to Cedar
Rapids we had to change and then
were nearer together. We had nice
ear then, but later on we had to go
farther to the front and then we had a
still nicer car, and we kept that car all
the way home, without having any
more adventures.
Having spent four days of sight see
ing, all tired, sleepy, but very happy
and thankful for the sights We had
seen and the knowledge we had gained. \
DORA DAUBNEY.