The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1903-10-23
MIR. J. A. Fossum, Who Had Charge Of the
County Exhibit at Helena
PRESENTS A PLAN FOR WINNING
Every First Premium the State Fair Next YearCounty
Exhibit Ranks First in Quality--A Little Generalshp
Will Draw Victorious Banner

ty also had great display of miner
ais. But if we judge by the exhibit
at the fair We would come to the
conclusion that the fruit industry is
by far the most important in this
state.
"Visitors were surprised at the pro-
ductive ability of our state and most
of all over the fruit: and it did not
all come from Ravalli, Missoula and
tiathead counties either. Some of
the counties east of the Rockies made
d very god showing and demonstrate
ed that eastern Montana can grow
fruit.
considering the chance we had
Flathead county need not be ashamed
of it's display. Both our fruits and
general farm products surprised the
sight-seers, and quite frequently one
could hear some one eXclaim, is it
possible that they can grow such
things in Flathead? Our space was
altogether too small and a far better
display could have been made had
we had twice as much or even more
room.
In the competition for prizes for
collective county exhibits, Flathead
came in third, Cascade and Yellow
stone being awarded first and second,
but they had just had their county
fairs and the best articles. of course,
were brought from those to the
state fair.
Thousands of visitors from all
over the northwest were here and
the register shows that every county
in Montana. northern Idaho and AL
berta was represented.
Fla head county has got a good
advertisement through it's exhibit,
and that Mccormick mower given to
Mr.. Peterman for the best bushel of
Montana grown wheat did it's share
/ towards placing Flathead at the head
of the wheat growing counties in the
state.
The management did all in their
power for the visitors and exhibitors.
The management was practically
in the hands of T. A. NARROW. chair
man Of The exhibition committee, and
John w Pace, secretary and treasur-
er, assisted by James A. Shoemaker.
assistant secretary. Everything that
I possibly could be done was done for
the visitors ana exhibitors. and those
mon made many warm friends during
the fair who will remember them in
after years.
"The Kalspell Flour Mill Co. had
the star exhibit at the fair. eXcelling
the Royal Milling company of Great
Falls. and when people knew of Pc
terman's Flathead wheat carrying off
the first prize they were not sur
prised at the wonderful collection of
the local milling company.
For decorating we used the grains
and grasses and the collection of as
ters sent over by Mrs H. O. Christen-
sen and Mrs. o. A. Colby. The as
ters were remarkably beautiful and
were of great effect.
For next year I should say the
first in Importance would be for this
county to have a building construct
ed: it need not be costly, but owning
the building We would know just
what we had to fill up and decorate
Then the farmers should be notified
before haying and harvest that sam
pies were wanted for the Flathead
exhibit at the state fair, and a suffi-
cient quantity of grains and grasses
secured to make a larger showing
! The specimens Mr.. Scott had col
lected when overtaken by his mortal
sickness were all right in quality but
the quantity was too small. Had
there been sufficient bulk this county
would have taken the first prize in
grains and grasses
Further I would suggest that Who
ever has the management of the
county exhibit next time, should be
sure of the space allowed for exhibi-
ton, then plan the display, and have
place for everything and every
thing in its place. When I reached
Helena the allotted space was all too
small. I had no especial help. nor
the proper time to arrange the dis
play.
This county can do better in the
vegetable line. also, than was
shown this year, although | hadn't
the room to properly show the veg
etables I had. Had Mr.. Scott pre-
served the names of the individual
farmers and entered their grain dis
/ play distinctly, there would have
been more premiums for Flathead,
but, as said before, the quantity for
a general display was the handicap.
Our fruit was fine. but there were
some varieties in our exhibit such as
the Red June and Macmahon, not
on the list, tho they are a popular