The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-16
PORTLAND FAIR |S
 A GREAT SUCCESS In First Months Attendance It
 Leads All Others IT MAKES A FINE RECORD The Total Admissions for June Were 41s,17s, Which Amounted to More Than Double What the Man
 agement Expected.

Portland, July 15.-Most surprising and satisfying of all facts in connection with the Lewis and Clark exposition is the attendance. During June. the opening month. the admissions were A917s. by of- ficial count This breaks the record for exposition attendance in America, for the first month, not excepting any expo- sition that has been held, when the popu- lation of the territory contiguous to the fair is taken into consideration. The record is not merely broken, but Is smash ed to smithereens, the Portland attend ance being from 100 to 200 per cent better than that of any predecessor.
 The exposition at Omaha, which com pares with the Portland enterprise In general size, was located in territory having population of about HWO,ooO people within the 50omile radius. That radius extended north, east. south and west The 5OO-mile radius for Portland is sliced off on one side by the Pacific ocean, which Is only a hundred miles dis tant: within what Is left of the radius there are only about 1,SOO, GOO inhabitants; and yet omaha had but B9,3ol admissions during the first month, as compared With Portland 415l79 Within Omahas radius were Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas Clty, Des Moines and other very populous centers. Portland has only such clties as Seattle and Tacoma, on Puget Souno. San Francisco is more than iV mlles away. Portland itself contains about lo'- 900 people.
 This record was made during a month that was unusually rainy, and the rainy days cut down the attendance. Had June been as sunny and glorious as the normal June in Portland there is no doubt tnae the remarkable figure of half miilion admissions would have been reached. put with the official figures at 4s,liS, the people of Portland and the officials oi inc fair are agreeably surprised and nlgh- ,y eratified. It has been stated by one exnerienced expositionist, who has been connected with several previous fairs, that 150 GOO admissions during June would nave been as many as could have been eA- nected. considering the experience or other ibg fairs. ,.
 Several reasons contribute to this re- markable attendance. One IS the iaoe that the exposition Is practicaiig III complete state when it opened. June l: Another Is that the bewildering beauty or tba erounds is an irresistible lure. But nerhans the most important fact Is that this Is the very first exposition Whlen the people of the Pacific slope have heen privileged to behold. and they are tax if in to their hearts content The near est big exposition heretofore was that ae Omaha. 20o0 miles away. Comparatively few residents of the states west of the Rocky mountains have visited any of the other worlds fairs. The Portland show IS something new under the sun to them and thev show their appreciation by pay irg the gate money.
 Thousands of people from the miuuie west and the east have visited the 1alr' and the local hotel bookings indicate that the stream or visitors rom po9 a,,s to the eastward will be much larger dur ing July. continuing to increase until the close of the fair, October 15 California. though It's northern border Is a' matter 0. 40 miles from Portland, has contributed largely to the early attendance. Durihs the first three weeks nearly 2OOo Cali1or- nians registered their names and ad- dresses et the California state building and this represents but small propor- tion of the California people who nave been to the exposition.
 Julv opened with an attendance or l6.- eee on the 1st, an increase or several thousand above the average dally at tendance for June. This indicates that Julv,s attendance will far surpass that of lime Fverything is now In full swing, with half a dozen bands furnishing music each day and evening, with glorious sum mer weather and the sky-scraping noun tain peaks visible to east and north from nearly any point in the grounds. AS yet there has not been day of uncomtorta- bly warm weather. Portland's summer climate is ideal There is no humidity It is always cool in the shade, ana there Is no sweltering even in the sun.
 Great national conventions follow each other thick and fast at Portland, and every days programme shows something of special interest. One of the big days of the fair according to present indica- lions. will be Saturday. July 10, when Joaquin Miller, the famous Poet or the Sierras" will be the guest Of honor. The day is named in his honor. He grew up In oregon and much of his poetry celebrate the glories of the new-found land. Mil- lers admirers by the thousand will be present to greet him and give the gray old poet a rousing testimonial to the fact that poets are honored in their own coun- try. whatever may be the fate of proph- cts.