PROCEEDINGS. 61 



main building, corner Lockhart and Mitchell avenues, combining an office for Su- 

 perintendents of Implements and Engines, and Machinery, and a Union Express 

 office. This proved to be a great convenience to the officers in charge of these de- 

 partments, to exhibitors and the express companies. 



Two building;!, constructed on a plan similar to that of the hog and sheep pens, 

 were built for cattle, with a capacity to accommodate forty-eight head. Lumber 

 for their construction had been ordered and most of it on the ground, and work 

 commenced, when the excitement in regard to pleuro-pneumonia developed into 

 quite a panic, and several who had applied for stalls recalled their applications, 

 orders aggregating about seventy stalls being countermanded, many advocating the 

 idea of abandoning any cattle show at all. 



At this juncture the President called a meeting of the Executive Committee and 

 others, for consultation, and it was, as results proved, wisely determined to proceed 

 with the show, which resulted in all the stalls, including the new ones, beinj occu- 

 pied, excepting a few which had been allotted to horses when it was expected we 

 would have a large surplus, and it became necessary to erect some temporary sheds. 



The horse stalls were all occupied, and horses to the number of forty or fifty 

 had to be provided for in the city. 



Had it not been for the pleuro-pneumonia excitement, I think we should have 

 had from 150 to 200 more cattle on the ground than we had, provided, of course, 

 that they could have been crowded onto the ground. 



Of hogs there was a regular avalanche. It looked more like the stock-yards 

 under the excitement of a big advance in the hog market than a fair. All the 

 regular pens were filled, generally doubly tilled, and a part of the sheep pens, and 

 it was necessary to erect a number of temporary pens, and all were filled to over- 

 flowing, and every available nook and corner occupied. 



Heavy rains during the preparation and opening days of the fair seriously in- 

 terfered with exhibitors in arranging their displays and greatly retarded the work 

 unexpectedly required to be done; but all seemed to appreciate the condition, and 

 accepted it without complaint. The rain also added materially to some of the ex- 

 penditui'cs, especially straw and sawdust, and lessened considerably tlie receipts 

 from sale of privileges. 



Doors have been placed on all the horse stalls. The horse and cattle stalls, hog 

 and sheep pens, have all been whitewashed ; also, poultry house inside and out, 

 agricultural hall inside, and main building inside, both lower and upper stories. 



The great annual increase in the machinery, implement, and live stock depart- 

 ments of the fair should call the attention of its managers to the solving of the 

 problem of what shall be done for room to meet their inci-easing requirements, as it 

 must be plain to all that there is not sufficient room on the present grounds to 

 properly accommodate exhibitors and visitors, and more must be secured by some 

 means at no distant day, if the fairs are to continue to increase in interest and 

 usefulness in the future as in the past. Lands immediately north of the grounds 

 could now be purchased at what is considered by those competent to judge a rea- 

 sonable price, and on favorable terms as to time, etc. I take it, however, that un- 

 der the present financial outlook, the Board will not be likely to feel like assuming 

 any new obligations without due consideration. 



