The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-11-09
Some Features Of
the Buffalo Show
Special Correspondence.

Special Correspondence.
Buffalo, Nov g.
~ HERE is a pretty story In Urccian mythology
Of how young Paris, who aftcrward elopcd
i with the far.famed Helen OF Troy, was once
confronted with a most pcrplexed proposition
lie was forced to decide which Of three handsome
goddcsscs Venus, Minerva or Juno, was the most
beautiful. OF course In awarding the prize for
beauty, the apple Of discord, to the Goddess Of
Love. he incurred the eternal enmity OF the two
| other fair divintics. But the task which raris
had was trnng compared with that Of deciding
which OF tho many beautiful features OF the pan.
American Exposition is most to be admired. One
feels the diliculty OF making such decision
now that the buildings are reaching a stage OF
completion and their architecture, their color,
and their landscape setting all present features
that excite enthusiastic admiration. One feels
the difficulty now that the framework OF the
principal buildings has been covered with staff
and the staff itself Is receiving the varied tints
and brilliant hucs which together with the ar.
cNitccturc are to distinguish in outward appear.
ancc this exposition of all the Americas from
any that has preceded Il, and which will mark
the beginning Of new era in exposition build
ing.
First one grows enthusiastic over the graceful
towers and minarets, outlined against the sky,
and the arcadcd facadcs with ovrrhanging caves
which are reminders OF those picturesque mission
buildings that tell Of Spanish occupancy Of Cali
fornia and Mexico. Or one falls to admiring
the colonnades and pavilions, the loggias, domcs
and lanterns, with their elaborate, sculptural
adorn'nents. and the grilled windows with their
richly moulded frames. All these features Of
the exposition architecture, speaking Of Moor
and Spaniard and the fantastic ideas which they
originated, and artists and architects OF later
generations perpetuated, greet the delighted vi.
sion now that the exposition structures are near.
ing completion. Surely, one thinks. this will
be the great feature Of the Pan American over
which the millions who come here next summer
will rave.
But then you lool: at those beautiful towers of
the machinery and transportation building
which Director of Color Turner has succeeded
SO we'll in PARTING, or the pavil0ns OF the same
building where the color has been laid on with
richness and beauty that it is simply impossible
to describe, and You say that if the whole ex.
position is 10 be like this, radiant in all the
nolors TO the rainboS, this, indeed, will be the
feature which will make it the most beautiful!
the eye OF man ever gazed upon. Then next you
go enthusiastic over the sculpture, the begin
ninss OF which are now in evidence, or the land
scape cffccts, which are in most remarkable
state OF advancement considering that winter
is yet to intervene, and so it goes and you are
fairly bcwildered by the beauty you around
You already, though the opening Of the gates
is yet six months away. and the finishing touch,
es will add rnany times to the impression to be
obtained from the tout ensemble.
Perhaps popular interest ccnters most Just now
in the building OF the great electric tower and
in the development OF the splendid color scheme
under Mr.. G. Y. Turner's masterly direction. The
construction OF the tower is wonderful work
in engineering. As you wander down the Court
OF Fountains about which the main exposition
buildings are grouped and which next summer
will be embelished with groups of sculpture, rare
flowers and beautiful hydraulic effects, you strain
your eyes looking up to the dizzy height where
the men at work OH the tower are erecting the
great steel trusses OF this tall structure. At a
height of nearly 800 feet they walk around upon
the beams as unconccrncdly rs if they were not
ten feet above terra fr1na. They begin to look
like fly specks on the sky now, and the sight
reminds one OF the way the workmcn looked on
the topmost point Of the Brooklyn Bridge piers
fifteen years and more ago. As yet no serious
accident has occurred in connection with the
construction of the electric tower, and it is to
be hoped it will reach its total height of $40
feet, receive its covering and its delicate ivory
white. blue, green and gold tints, without the
sacrifice of single human life. Every prccau-
exposition management and those in charge of
the work.
From the tower the eye slances westward
and catches the CLINT of the sunlight the
now completed towers OF the machinery and
transportation building. Fancy campanlc OF
some old Mexican cathedral rciuvenated by ma
gic, evquisitely colo,cd by the hand OF an artis.
tic genius and thrust against Venetian sky. II
80 rl,1i,s tI.n.
idea-only n faint and Inadequate onc-of the
beauty OF the towers OF this building. The ar.
clltect gave MI. Turner q splendid opportunity
when he presented him with these towers in all
their glory Of pillar and pilaster, final and ara
besque and rroiuse sculptural adornmcnt and left
him to add the color. And Mr. Turner nobly
measured up 10 the requirements OF the occasion
and has joined with the architects and sCulptors
and designers TO give us a creation whose ra-
diant beauty will compare with the most splcn-
did conceptions of artistic genius in any age and
Whose persllable nature is the only thing about
it one has to regret.
1t seems almost impossible that the builders
of The exposition can give lis another structure
wonderfully beautiful as this, the first to reach
completion, is seen to be. Yet there are 9th.
ers whose charms may rival it and one waits
with impatient expectancy to see how the ciec-
tric tower will appear when it has received the
elaborate decorations planned for its embcl-
lishments and the ivory.like hues blended with
blues and greens and gold, which the staff will
take ON before the picture is finished, and when
it is done ard there ii nothing to be added to
complete the beauty OF the tower by day, there
will still remain the task OF deciding whether
the spectacle by day is equal in beauty and
grandeur to the spectacle at night, when myriads
OF electric light illuminate it. from the foundtaiI
and cascade at its base to the farthest point