Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-08
A CBED|TABLE SHOW
First Big Exposition in the
Far Northwest.
HELD AT WINNIPEG
GIVES AN IDEA OF THE GREAT
NESS OF THE COUNTRY.
People Enthusiastic Over the Present
and Outlook for the
Future.
HELD AT WINNIPEG
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.


The dominion exposition held this year at
Winnipeg was to this new northwest what
worlds fair is to the world. 1t was the
first exposition of a national character
ever held west of the lakes. For months
they had talked of it, for weeks prepared
for it, and for days the hosts had been
gathering. Prospective tourists from the
sultry south lands had timed their trip SO
as to take in the show. Home hunters,
spectators, land boomers and other adven-
furious spirits swarmed up over the border,
as commission merchants and Shell men
precede a circus. Down from the far north
came the old-time Hudson's bay man, see
ing white men en- masse for the first time in
two decades. 1t may be he touches the
shores of civilization now. for the first time
since his arrival at York Factory-the re-
hottest region inhabited by the Hudson COM
pany
His London tailor is still making his
clothes to the old measure Notwithstanding
the snow walker is fifty pounds lighter than
he was when he left his London club.
Otherwise you would never know that he
had come out of the far north, where men
are content to live on meat and fish for
years at a stretch He gaZes with awe on
the horseless trolley and holds his breath
while the Red Rejoicer and the Blue AS
sassin chase children from the kings high
ways into the open fields.
Study the faces of the folk who fill the
diner at breakfast thirteen-car train
coming in from the west; young Englishmen
with sure, comfortable incomes; old Eng
lishnen with plenty and the govt, who nave
been to Banff; ancient English madens
from remote ranches. with faultlesS man
ners and last years gowns; clear-eyed, con-
fident, wives and daughters of well-to-do
American investors or spectators, who
have learned from leading fashion papers
how to hook up their hair; brown-skinned
vail 1hnrf nd oirnr
from the far-off KOotenay country-all COM
ing to the fair Up from old Ontario comes
the first home seekers excursion, carrying
1900 souls.
A Jolly Lot.
And now. as seventeen horses huddle be-
yond the grardstand, we glance about. Here,
where only third of a century ago the
Hudson bay buildings We're punched on the
wind-swept waste, stands a city Of 1900
souls, and out of that new city today $1,000
men, women and children have come to see
them start these seventeen SteedS in the
great free-for-all The sunburnt cowboy
on wild cayuse jockeys with a well-bred
EnglShman on q thoroughbred horse. The
half-breed on a half-breed broncho hangs
backs, but keeps his cayuse always pointed
in the proper direction. The people are free
and frank in their intercourse with each
other and the merrieSt lot imaginable.
From Ottawa the minister of the interior
and the minister of agriculture have come.
from Montreal Sir William Van Horn the
great empire builder. and from Toronto
Mr. Mckenzie, president of the Canadian
Northern railway.
The exposition was formally opened by
Clifford Sifton, who, from western barris-
ter with nothing but innate ambition and
ability, has grown to be one of the fore
most men of affairs in the dominion. AS
minister of the interior he has had under
his eye the important task of peopling the
silent places. Under his administration of
i,ltn III 40 ~-f tral Of nj
can immigration has grown from 40 settlers
in 1896 to 40 900 in 1903.
Among the days designated in the pro-
gram for this fortnight fair were two
American days"
The late unpleasantness concerning the
employment of alien engineers, brought
about by idle agitators, that has embar-
raised the builders of an important trans
continental railway and threatened for a
time to retard the development of the
whole northwest. is forgotten in the whirl
and frolic of the fair and will soon be SUBJ
merged in the resistless wave of prosperity.
Little Short of Amazing.
The mere fact that dominion exposition
is held here in the far west, where the wild
grass still waves on every alternate quarter
section is a surprise to the visitor, but that
such creditable exhibition could be made
by so young a nation" Is little short of
amazing.
At a luncheon given by the board of fair
directors the stranger got glimpse of the
men who are moving things out here and
heard their frank, optimistic, inspiring
speeches.
They spoke with pardonable pride of their
show, with confidence in the west and a
never-fagging faith in the future of the
dominion.
Looking south from the windows of the
banquet hall score or more of
steam, threshers all under steam, threshing
tIA OH fhn ipyyi 9th In So
whirling wheels.
A Lively Scene.
A crack company of northwest mounted
police. the redoubtable watch dogs of the
desert is riding by. and beyond a sea of
white tents are the wild hurdles, the new
wave-m otioned merry -go-round, and above
IL all a daredevil is looping the loop. A
little farther south are rising, as If by
magic. the new. magnificent railway shops,
where trackmen are busy building one of
the largest switching yards on this con-
t,nent. Immediately to the north of us a
half dozen Northland horse are coming
down the home stretch. and beyond lies the
level ocean of growing grain. 1t is to these
fertile fields that the speaker looks when
he tells his hearer that the half million
habitants of the northwest are to harvest
seventy-five million bushels of wheat this
year.
South Selkirk rested upon this almost end
less emerald sea when he said: Here,
within a third of a century, will stand the
first city of the dominion"
Canadian Railways.
BY some oversight. President Gordon had
this speakers name coupled" with "o,r
railways" and when he rose to respond he
showed his embarrassment.
While 1t was a fact that he had in the
past ''railroaded' some. 1t seemed he had
reformed At all events he declared he
lad had nothing to do with the active
management of the Canadian Pacific, nor
any other line. for some years. He would.
however. take this opportunity to say that
he thought the Canadian railways were
being well managed, and that as farmer,
he hoped the present fair and equitable
rates might be continued.
Then the guests of the board followed
the president. who led them through the
various buildings. where they saw on show
almost every conceivable thing that grows