NOTES ON THE STATE EXHIBITS IN THE MINES 



AND MINING BUILDING AT THE WORLD'S 



COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION, CHICAGO. 



The Mines and Mining Building at the World's Columbian 

 Exposition contains exhibits of the different mining industries 

 of the various states of the United States and of foreign coun- 

 tries, exhibits of many of the manufactured products derived 

 from these industries, exhibits of various kinds of mining and 

 engineering machinery, and many private mineralogical and pet- 

 rographical collections of great value and interest. To describe the 

 whole would require a volume, and it is the intention of the present 

 paper to discuss only some of the more important features of the 

 state exhibits, with occasional references to the foreign exhibits. 



A mining exhibit should seek to show the actual resources 

 of the region it represents, whether these resources be developed 

 or undeveloped, and to give the different products prominence 

 according to their present or prospective importance to the 

 region. The products of present importance should be exhib- 

 ited as showing what the region actually produces ; the pro- 

 ducts of prospective importance should be exhibited as show- 

 ing what the region contains in bountiful quantities, but what 

 is not yet utilized, either from lack of knowledge on the part 

 of the public concerning it, from temporary inaccessibility, or 

 from some other cause. By this means many valuable mate- 

 rials, which have not yet been developed, are brought to the 

 attention of the general public, and often to that of specialists 

 on such subjects, and in this way receive quicker development 

 than if they had not been exhibited. It is often difficult to 

 give the proper relative importance in an exhibit to products 

 actually being mined and those which have not yet been devel- 



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