The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1907-08-09

menu during the past rev years mas
been one of the surprising features of
United States expansion, is to cele-
brate with an exposition next year In
order that this country and the world
at large may be given the opportunity
of learning something of the advance
ment which the far northern terri
tory has been making along industrial,
commercial and agricultural lines.
When the suggestion was first made
OF holding an Alaskan exposition, it
was realized that it would be almost
impossible to hold it in Alaska, and
what was more natural than that Seat
tie, the gateway to the territory,
should be suggested as the place for
holding such show.
For two or three years the matter
has been discussed and plans have
been in the making, and all this has
finally resulted in definite work being
begun. Last month the actual con-
struction of some of the buildings was
begun. The first structure to be erect
ed will be the administration building.
In this structure will be located all
offices and from which place the off,
GERS of the exposition will direct the
work of construction and preparation
of the exposition. The building will
be 104 feet by 60 feet, two stories
in height, the material being veneered
brick. This will be the smallest build
ing of the exposition.
The official emblem has been Sc
lected, and is the design of Seattle
artist, Adelai Hanscom. The Occident
is represented bearing locomotive in
her hand, typifying trade on land,
meeting the dark-skinned Orient, with
a ship, typifying ocean commerce.
Alaska clad in white sits to the north
with her hands full of gold ready to
bestow on each. Across the Pacific
the hands of the east and west reach
out in mutual welcome. This emblem
will be used on all the exhibition sta
tionery.
Alaska has no special anniversary
to celebrate, having belonged to the
United States only 3S years, but the
developments of the past few years
have demonstrated that she has
marvellous country to exploit. She
wants to be known more generally,
not as region of perpetual snow and
ice, but as an amazingly attractive
wonderland. And she will bring out
of her treasures things new and
things old to surprise and delight the
hundreds of thousands of visitors who
are expected to visit the show. Alas
kan mummies will be trotted out to
show that our arctic sister has a his
tory more ancient and mythical than
New England. Fair Alaska maidens
will be on exhibition whose tresses
reach the ground, to indicate that
something in the human line besides
ugly Esquimos grow up there.
OF course, there will be totem poles
and dog teams and a Klondike gold
camp in miniature, such as popular
imagination always associates with
Alaska. But there will be a great
building filled with other things that
few people ever dreamed could come
out of Alaska
The cool summers which Seattle en-
joys will permit of bringing down from
the north the reindeer, the musk OK,
the polar bear and the great kadiak
bear, the biggest species of the bear
family in the world. All these crea-
lures can stand moderate amount of
warmth, for Alaskan summers, while
they last, are genial and sometimes
hot.
A skeleton of an Alaskan mammoth
dug up from an arctic morass will be
on exhibition. 1t was only 5000 or TO-
600 years ago that this mammoth of
the north roamed through Alaska's
luxuriant valleys. Specimens of petri-
fed fern palms will represent still
more remote period, when Alaska en-
joyed a semi-tropical climate.
The scientific exhibit will contain
rocks worn by glacial action, picked
up from the river valleys, showing
that large parts of Alaska once COW
cred by glaciers have now mild sum-
mer climate. There, as well as here
in the United States, the. glaciers have
receded into the lofty mountains, and
a general epoch now appears to be adj
vancing. The specimens of plant life
which will be exhibited, particularly
ferns, would lead many people to
think them from the tropics, instead
of up near the arctic circle.
Up to the present time tourists who
have visited Alaska have touched only
at the southeastern ports at Skagway,
Juneau and Sitka. They usually land
only at the Muir glacier, and come
away with the impression that
Alaska's interior is region Of perpet-
ual snow and ice.
The Alaska exposition will put forth
another aspect of this country, show
ing it as an inviting summerland, with
vast valleys as big as all New Eng
land, teeming with a vegetation al
most tropical.
While for mountains, Alaska has
eeaks that dwarf the Alps. To give