The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-01-01
RAPID PROGRESS MADE AT PORTLAND Beautiful Site Chosen for Mex
 Worlds Fair FEATURES FOR THE TRAIL Managers Feel Satisfied That Big Show VIII Be Ready For Public June 1, 1eo5-Demand For
 Exhibit Space.
BY w. E. RRlNpLEY.

Portland, Ore, December 31.-(Speclal) ) Do you remember when you were a small boy, a very small boy in knee trousers, how father used to lead you on Saturday morning to the back yard, and show you a wood pile that looked to your eyes like a mountain2 If you do, you remember how glad you were after dinner to return to the wood pile and see 1t much smaller. and you remem- Der that you found that by working hard you would be able to go skating for a while before supper time.
 At the Lewis and Clark exposition, the managers who felt few months ago like small boy on a Saturady morning. feel like the small boy after dinner. The beginning of 1905 sees the task well in hand, and there Is no doubt that 1t will be finished ahead of time.
 People nowadays are accustomed to marvels in exposition buildings. They have seen the remarkable changes effect ed in a short time at Chicago, and St. Louis and Buffalo, and the other places but Portland will still show some sur prises. At the exposition grounds, where q few months ago there was a dreary wilderness, a few years ago a hunting ground, a century ago an untraveled vir- gin forest, stately palaces, gleaming ivo- " white in their coats of ornamental stucco, stand as monuments of progress. BlBnl or the eXnlDlllOn SITucluTeS are now completed and ready to receive ex- hiblts, which will begin to arrive in a few days. Work on the others Is pro- gressing rapidly, the mild Oregon win ter making 1t possible for the contractors to keep their men busy the year around, while crews of men working under di- recton of landscape artists, have laid out shady walks and drives, set out flow cring plants and made the wilderness o a few nnOfhS take fle ance of a paradise.
 What 1t Commemorates.
 The Lewis and Clark exposition will commemorate the centennial of the jour ney of Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who, with a small party of hardy adventurers, crossed the noun tains and opened up the great oregon country to settlers. Their journey en- abed the United States to add this great territory, embracing Washington and Or egon and parts of Idaho and Montana, to its domains by right of discovery
 The exposition will represent an expen- allure approximating $5.00O0 GOO, The state of Oregon and the United States gov ernment will be the largest participants, but majority of the states will be rep resented, and several will have pavilions. Among these latter are New York and Massachusetts, California, Idaho and Or tEOu. ut OitBOD dPPlppii- ated for the fair the sum of S450000, which equals nearly a dollar for every man, woman and child In the common wealth, while the people of Portland subscribed $420.000 in stock. The United States government exhibit will represent an aggregate expenditure of $S00,0O0.
 The exposition site, by all odds the most beautiful ever untilized for such purpose, occupied 402 acres, and adjoins the principal residential district of Port land, being distant fifteen minutes ride on the street cars from the business cen ter of the city. The cite comprises a natural park, and includes Guilds Lake, a beautiful little body of water which is separated from the Willamette river by a peninsula. On this peninsula Is lo- cated the United States government building. while the other principal expo sition structures cluster on the top of a slight eminence, on the mainland, and ovelook the lake and river, with Mt Hood and Mt. St Helena towering in snow-capped grandeur half a hundred miles beyond.
 The main admission gates which are between pillars of an ornate colonnade. open upon Pacific Court, and give access through this to Columbia Court. the main plaza of the exposition Columbia Court consists of two wide avenues, be- tween which are beautiful sunken gar dens, and one side of which stand the Agricultural Palace and the Euro pean building. On either side of these buildings. with their short sides facing the lake. are situated the other main exhibition palaces, which bear the rames Oriental. Forestry Mines and Metallurgy, Fine Arts, Machinery Elec- tricity and Transportation, Manufac- lures, Liberal Arts and Varied Indus tries. A broad flight of steps known as the Grand Stairway. leads from Colum- lia Court to the band stand on the lake shore.
 Centennial Garden.
 In the western part of the grounds a considerable part of the site, has been Jeff almost in its natural state. forming