The Ward County independent., 1922-07-27
1000 PEOPLE ENJOY MlN0TS
BIG PAGEANT OF PROGRESS

west side, where they saw re-enacted
"In the audience were many who
had come into this territory behind
an OK team and who had struggled
against the terrible forces of plain and
hill, forces which they saw visualized
in dance and in word. Today they are
old men, their work done, but part
OF the life and the success Of this
city and it's territory. They wrote the
history of the Mouse River Valley,
and it IS a golden page in the life
story Of the northWest.~
Natures Theatre IT,.
"Those who were not here cannot
realize the beauty Of the scene. The
amphitEeatre was made by nature for
just such a purpose. Human hands
fashioned the stage out of the earth
at the foot of two hills which came
together at their base in small val
ley. From the top of the rear wall of
the stage rises hill almost hundred
feet, and upon it's side grow group
of beautiful trees and some clusters.
Near it's brow is an old buffalo wal
low, made years ago, but still there,
a bit of hard-packed, burned earth,
for the spade never has gone in on
this hill and no man has ever culti-
waited it. So there was the wallow,
edged by a huge rock and made by
animals whose ilk has all but vanish
ed, to give bit of historic color to
this performance.
Over this hill came the Indians yes
teryear, and over the hill tonight
came the modern Indians to repicture
the old raids, the old dangers which
faced the pioneers. 1t was pictur-
esque sight when the camp fires far
ed red upon the brow of the hill and
the Indians poured down it's side upon
the make-believe camp of the white
men. And it was an inspiring sight
when a little later Lewis and Clark,
sent into the unknown by a president
of faith and vision, came over the
same hill to fly the Stars and Stripes
for the first time over what is now
North Dakota. r.
Nature did wonders for this page
ant. First she gave the Minot folk
an amphitheater and it's appointments
and then, as though offering beni-
son at the end of a noble task, she
filled the sky with color as the open
ing picture Of the performance. +
stood upon the brow of the hill, above
the thousands who sat in gently
sloping bowl beneath me, and watch
ed the sun dipping behind far-away
hill. It went down, huge, swollen
ball of red, falling as it were in some
great container and splashing many
colors all across the western sky.
These colors hung over the amphithe-
ater for a while and then disappeared,
and the stars came out. It was an in
spiration, that brief glimpse of nature
before the work Of mems hands and
minds was unfolded beneath us. And
it was an inspiration to see that crowd
upon the side of hill paying tribute
to the men and women who first came
this way.
The Pageant Story
Came then the performance itself:
The Interpretation of the story OF the
pioneers. It was an excellent visuali-
zation, and it had much of beauty, OF
poetry and of life about it. Its SYM
bolic scenes were inspiring, and it's
episodes depicting the struggles of the
first settlers were dramatic. The story
had sequence and cumulative inter-
est; it began modestly and developed
smoothly into the scenes depicting the
building of Minot and America, the
melting pot Of the nations.
A Beautiful Climax
The finale was one Of the most
beautiful I have seen in pageant or
play. First came a group of Boy
Scouts, carrying the flags Of the Allied
nations. They did drill, and then
stood at attention back stage, while
French girls, sailor girls, Belgians,
Dutch, Chinese and Italian came in
in groups and danced the dances of
their respective countries. Then
while they stood in uniform and pic
turesque groups, came the flag girls,
each dressed in costumes of the Stars
and Stripes, and interpreted a dance
and drill, which symbolized America
at the protector of all the unhappy
folk of foreign countries. Here was
a picture worth while, picture Of
beauty and of hope which gave the
spectators the inspiration that comes
only from a great work of poetry, a
noble picture of one of natures aus
tere sunsets. To George Miles,
representative of the John H. Rogers
goes the credit for this episode, for
the many young women who took
part.
Frontier Life Picture
2 The episode dramatizing the build
ing of Minot was also good. While
Percy Hancock. Of Minot sang "Out
Where the West Begins, the tent
city sprang up, almost unseen by the
spectators, for they were so intent
upon the singer. Not until the cow
boys and the pioneers poured into
the town did they realize the change
the stage had undergone. It was a.
brief glimpse Of life in the frontier
town they gave, but it was pictur-
esque, especially when the camp fires
were kindled and the men and wo-
men gathered round and sang the
quaint old songs which cheered them
on in the early days.
In this episode came the parade
and celebration in honor of the cleo
ton of James H. Scofeld as Minot's
first mayor. w. M. Smart, the pres
ent mayor, was there too, and he