Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1904-08-05
OREGON AT THE EXPOSITION
Has Displays at st. Louis Far Sur
passing Any Heretofore MADE
by the State.
fBy w. H. wehrung)

handicapped by comparatively slhall
state appropriation, Oregon has an
exhibit at st. Louis that would be
credit to any state in the Union. The
various departments are under charge
of capable superintendent and all
the displays have been installed in
such an attractive manner that they
never fail to interest Worlds Fair
visitors.
Oregon has had exhibits at every
celebration held in the United States
in the last decade, but her crowning
triumph has been at st. Louis, where
she has installed a display that repre-
sents every branch Of industry
and resource existing within her
boundaries.
Oregon's displays are divided into
six departments exclusive of the state
building, which contains no exhibits
other than those generally placed in
state structures. These six depart
ments are Mining, Educational, Agri-
cultural, Horticultural, Forestry, and
Fish and Game. Each of these ex-
hibits is in its respective exhibit
palace.
The Oregon building itself is one Of
the most interesting state structures
at the Fair, and holds a high record
for visitors. Nearly ten thousand
have registered since the opening day.
1t was built at a cost of $4,000 and is
replica of Fort Clatsop. the first
building erected on the Pacific coast
by American citizens, being con-
structed by the great explorers, Meri-
wether Lewis and William Clark, on
the seashore in northwestern Oregon,
a little more than 100 miles from the
place where the city Of Portland is
now located.
The Oregon building is made of fir
and pine logs brought all the way
from Oregon, and is the first state
building this western commonwealth
has ever had at any exposition. The
interior is finished in beautiful native
woods-fir, pine, larch, spruce and
cedar-and the long fine grain and
the absence Of ugly knots in the
planking never fail to elicit favorable
comment from visitors who know good
lumber when they meet it,
The main room is filled with
magnificent views Of Oregon's justly
famed scenery and other articles of
= interest. One side is completely filled
) by large fireplace that can accom-
modate cordwood with ease. Directly
over the fireplace is fifteen-foot
panorama of Portland, the Exposition
City Of 1905, showing snow-capped
peaks and the beautiful Willamette
river and the surrounding country.
The most important and interesting
part of the display in the Mining Pal
, ace is the pure gold showing. A large
} gold brick from an Eastern Oregon
mine weighs SO ounces and is worth
$1S an ounce. 1t isn't the kind of a
| gold brick you read about, either it is
! pure gold and is valued at close to
) $1,000 There are several thousand
| dollars worth of pure gold in smaller
, pieces and in dust, and five thousand
r dollars worth of rs per cent gold
J quartz, worth $15 an ounce. 1t is with
in the last few years only that Oregon s
mines have reached high stage of
development, and this is the first op-
portunity mine owners have had of
2 showing how extensive are the miner
al resources of the state. Displays of
f iron, silver, copper, cinnabar from
J which mercury is extracted, kaolin
from which porcelain is made, asbes-
tos. tin. nickel. zinc and a dozen other
interesting minerals are on display
for visitors inspection.
The educational exhibit embraces
many bound volumes of school work,
, pictures Of all types of public and pri-
vate learning institutions in the state
and examples of manual training.
All Of the display ranks high with
other states and shows that work done
by Oregon students is as good as work
done by students in any part of the
country. The exhibit is tastily Install
ed, and particular pains have been
taken to make it attractive.
The Forestry, Fish and Game dis
plays are better at St Louis than they
were at Chicago. In fact, the Oregon
forestry exhibit at Chicago had prac-
tically no large logs or timbers, while
at st. Louis the state boasts the largest
on the grounds. A fir log 80 feet long
and feet inches through at the butt
is one of the features. This log is one
Of seven cut from the same tree, which
contained something more than 4O,-
600 feet B. NJ. of lumber. The tree
grew at Blind Slough, Clatsop County,
and stood 200 feet to the first limb
rather large in the eyes of the East
erners, but nothing unusual in Ore
gon. Another feature is a squared
timber, four feet by four at the end,
and AZ feet long. Then there are some
big cedar blocks from North Bend
| Coos County, cut by the Simpson
Lumber Company.
All these big sticks are in the Out
side Forestry Exhibit, while the dis
play Of polished native woods is inside,
along with the Fish and Game exhib-
its. The latter show every variety Of
game bird in Oregon, including bob