94 



CALIFORNIA. 



nearly every one had an elaborate display of its 

 .-peeial products. Two large special buildings, 

 representing respectively southern California,, 

 with the counties of Los Angeles, Riverside, San 

 I'.rrnardino, San Piogo, and Ventura, and north- 

 ern and central California, with the counties of 

 Butte. Colusa. Lake. Xapa. Placer, Sacramento, 

 Shasta. Siskiyoii, Solano. Tehama, and Yuba; 

 also special buildings representing the counties 

 of Alameda. Bumboldt, Monterey, Santa Bar- 

 bara. Santa Clara. San Joaquin, San Mateo, and 

 Tulare. were erected, in which to display all the 

 mairniruvnt products of this great State. Its 

 agricultural, horticultural, mineral, and viticul- 

 tural wealth were exhibited in a richness never 

 before equaled. Luscious fruits, brought to the 

 Palm City by car loads, succeeded each other in 

 (heir appropriate season, and were heaped in 

 almndant masses in various exhibits, to the won- 

 der of the visitors. From Jan. 15 to Feb. 15 

 the fifth annual Northern Citrus Fair was held 

 in the Northern and Central California Building, 

 and on Feb. 20 it was succeeded by the annual 

 Citrus Fair of Southern California in its own 

 building. These fairs were arranged to be held 

 in San Francisco, so lhat the residents of the 

 counties exhibiting might include the Midwinter 

 Kair in their annual outing. Oregon and Nevada 

 had special buildings in which their own prod- 

 ucts were systematically displayed. Besides the 

 United States, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cey- 

 lon, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, 

 Italy, Japan, Norway, Russia, Siam, Spain, Switz- 

 erland, and various smaller Oriental countries 

 had ollicial exhibits, but they were chiefly a 

 duplication of the goods shown at the World's 

 Fair held in Chicago during 1893. The display 

 of paintings, sculpture, and other objects of art 

 in the Fine Arts Palace was undoubtedly the 

 best ever seen on the Pacific coast. It included 

 many of the gems shown in Chicago, and was 

 -pcriallv rich in the productions of Californian 

 artists. 



Special Features. Among the instructive 

 features worthy of more than passing notice were 

 the many that had to do with California life. 

 The beautiful building devoted to agriculture 

 and horticulture, with its heavy walls, low, red- 

 tiled roof, long, shadowy loyyias, and arcades, and 

 deep-set windows, recalled by its architecture 

 (he style of the early Spanish missions. Several 

 of the county buildings were likewise indicative 

 of special historical phases. Monterey erected a 

 quaint old ranch </<> nix<i in imitation of a Span- 

 ish adobe, with tiled roof and large, sheltered 

 porch, upon which were heaped, after the early 

 < feHfornia custom, pumpkins and squashes. With- 

 in t he building were shown a collection of priestly 

 robes and vestments, and a set of bells from the 

 early mission of Father .lunipero Serra, while in 

 front of t he st ructure was the first cannon landed 

 in California and the flagpole on which the Stars 

 and Stripes were, first raised on July 7, 1846. 

 Hmnboldt and Mendocino Counties each erected 

 characteristic structures with the logs of their 

 famous redwoods. San Joaquin reproduced in 

 stall her courthouse, finished on the inside with 

 oiled redwood. Santa Barbara erected a unique 

 structure in the form of a pyramid, its interior 

 walls decorated with jute in its natural color. 

 A concession irom Santa Barbara also built a 



huge water tank, called*' the Amphibria," and 

 exhibited in it trained sea lions from Santa Bar- 

 bara channel. The irrigation system was shown 

 by a model California ranch, with irrigating 

 gates, flumes, and ditches, and other means by 

 which the deserts have been made to bloom. This 

 appeared in the exhibit from Tulare County. An 

 ostrich farm with an incubator attachment was 

 one of the exhibits, showing a valuable industry 

 that flourishes in southern California. On the 

 west side of the grounds was the '49 Mining 

 Camp, toward which at stated intervals a weath- 

 er-scarred old stagecoach drawn by six horses, 

 followed by a train of laden pack mules, made 

 its way. An old tollhouse from the interior of 

 the State stood near the entrance of the Camp, 

 which consisted of a narrow street under a pan- 

 oramic view of Mount Shasta. The tavern, the 

 blacksmith shop, the dance house, the gambling 

 house, were all there with living tenants, show- 

 ing the practices of the time when all California 

 was filled with seekers after gold. On every 

 hand were appliances of practical mining sluice 

 boxes, cradles, and pans, a line or two of precip- 

 itous flume, and the black mouth of a shaft or 

 tunnel. Elsewhere on the grounds was an auto- 

 matic working gold mine, in which everything 

 connected with a mine was shown in detail, 

 from the men working 700 feet below the sur- 

 face to the crusher under which the ore was 

 placed. Two conspicuous engineering features 

 were the Firth Wheel and the Bonet Steel Tower. 

 The former, almost a counterpart of the Ferris 

 Wheel of the Columbian Exposition, reached 

 to a height of 150 feet, and carried 16 cars 

 with a capacity of 10 persons in each. The Steel 

 Tower was in the Grand Court, and was 272 feet 

 high. Elevators ran almost to the top of the 

 structure, and at night thousands of electric 

 lights manifested its presence. Two great flash 

 lights were operated on its top. 



Congresses. As at Chicago, so in San Fran- 

 cisco, a series of literary and scientific congresses 

 were held in connection with the fair. These 

 were organized under an executive committee 

 consisting of the following gentlemen : James D. 

 Phelan, President; Mayor L. R. Ellert, First 

 Vice-President ; John H. Boalt, Second Vice- 

 President; Sheldon G. Kellogg, Treasurer; T. C. 

 Judkins, Secretary ; William G. Harrison, David 

 S. Jordan, Bernard Moses. W. B. Harrington, 

 George T. Gaden, Dr. W. F. McNutt, and Charles 

 A. Murdock. During the last three months of 

 the fair sessions were held in Golden Gate Hall, 

 on Sutter Street. The list of topics considered 

 came under the following divisions: Congress of 

 Economics and Politics, Congress of Literature, 

 Congress of Religion, Congress of Mines and 

 Mining, Congress of Astronomy, Congress of 

 Medicine, Congress of Education, Congress of 

 Art, Congress of Music, Congress of Temperance, 

 Congress of Chemistry, and a Woman's Congress 

 under the sole charge of the Woman's Congress 

 Auxiliary. The Congress of Religion was the first 

 to be held, and its sessions began on April 16. 



Results. The fair was officially closed on 

 July 4. The visitors numbered 2,'250,000. It 

 was kept open unofficially until Sept. 1, when 

 . the buildings were closed. The big days were 

 the opening day (Saturday, Jan. 27). when 72,- 

 243 people were present ; ""Chronicle " children's 



