River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1905-08-03


first fleeting glimpse from
the train of the white fairy city nest
ling at the foot of the great green bluff
made you eager to reach the exposition
grounds, and in order to do so you must
needs pass through the city? No; 1t was
not that, you say, which makes you glad
that you are here? Then it must be be-
cause the fame of the Oregon roses has
reached you? You are lover of flow
ers, and you have heard Portland called
the rose city. You wanted to see if it
was really true that roses grew as big
round as saucers and were as plentiful
as daisies in meadow field. Some one
has told you that house which didn't
have it's rose bush was as hard to find
here as a green spot on the Sahara des-
ert. Yes, it's true that roses grow here
the year round, right out doors, and
houses, big and little, are fairly swathed
in bushes and vines that groan under
their weight of blooms. But it wasn't
the roses, you say, which made you so
anxious to reach Portland? Well, well.
Guessed it wrong again, have 1? What
can it be, then, which has made Port
land so good to set foot in? Has some
sordid scheme by which you expect to
plant dollar and reap two as a reward
brought you here? No? You are not
here on business. Do tell me why, then,
you breathe sigh of relief, and ex-
claim: I'm glad I'm here"
Oh, that's it, is it? Glad you are def
nitely located again? Glad that you
know where you are at, at last? Well,
you did travel through a bit of timber,
to be sure. Nothing small about Wash
ington or Oregon or their trees, either,
Ell? Seemed like as though there was
no end of it? Ha, ma! And there is a
crick in your neck trying to see the tops
of the big timber? Must have been a
sort of relief to drop your eyes and look
off 40, SO miles to some white-capped
peak glistening in the sunshine. Yes,
it does make fellow feel small to see
the tremendous scale on which nature
has laid out her landscape here. One al
most feels lost in the Businesses of some
liMitless forest as he speeds hour after
hour through the big timber. And SO
you feel easier as you roll into the sta
tfon, and you realize that towering trees
are no longer frowning down upon you,
and that the forests on either hand are
not pressing in upon you as though to
Overwhelm you and make you prisoner
for life? Yes, you are willing to admit
that you were interested, nay, capti-
waited, by the giant monarchs of the for
ests. You would not have missed the
sight for anything; now would you?
And we know that we would not The
overpowering sense of the bigness OF
things has made its lasting impression
upon us, and we realize as never before
that it all has to be seen to be apprecia-
ted and understood.
We were more than ever anxious to see
the Forestry building, the fame Of which
has gone out into the world wherever
tidings of the Lewis and Clark Centen-
NAL exposition has spread. At the st.
Louis fair visitors saw 2S-foot Oregon
fir log, perfectly sound, which measured
Ito inches at the butt and 95 inches at
the upper end. That was pretty big
story of Oregon's timber, but here we
were to see not one 28-foot log, but
scores of them twice as long built into
a wonderfully artistic and imposing
structure. Not one 28-foot log, but two
miles of fir logs, to say nothing of eight
miles of poles and tons of shakes and
cedar shingles which were used in the