Jan, 22, 1898.] 
FOREST AND 3TREAM. 
66 
THE SPORTSMEN'S EXPOSITION. 
The fourth annual exposition of the National Sports- 
men's Association, in progress in the Madison Square 
Garden as these pages go to press, is of all spectacles 
now delighting Greater New York the most brilliant 
and crowded. The vast amphitheater of the Garden is 
filled with a bewildering collection of displays to delight 
the sportsman's eye, excite his enthusiasm and empty his 
pocketbook. The trade exhibits cover the entire range 
of field and camp equipment, and represent most ef- 
fectively the excellence, variety and completeness of up- 
to-date arms, ammunition and sporting appliances, as is 
shown in the following detailed notices of all the princi- 
pal exhibits. 
The show this year is in perhaps larger degi-ee than ever 
before a trade display, and the commercial features of it 
are those which are most conspicuous and insistent, be- 
ing intended to receive and receiving chief attention. 
.Nature is on view, but sparingly, and nature chiefly in 
efiigy. Even the Maine and Adirondack camps, which 
gb'f. a grateful woodsy flavor to the show, have their dis- 
illusion for the visitor, when it is perceiA^ed that they 
are stuffed full of railway folders and the business cards 
of hotels. J 
One pleasant feature of thfe Exposition this year, as al- 
ways, is the meeting and greeting of town sportsman 
and woods guide. The friendships formed in camp are 
likely to be enduring, and one has but to linger in the 
Maine or Adirondack quarters to hear many an effusive 
welcome and many a hearty word of pleasure at the 
meeting once again. 
The Cleveland Target Company. 
Just to the left of the main entrance, under the boxes, 
is the exhibit of the Cleveland Target Company, the 
manufacturers of the bluerock target, the bluerock ex- 
pert trap and the magautrap. The latter machine is 
the main portion of the Cleveland Target Company's 
exhibit this year. Paul North says tliat it's the only 
thing, barring his expert traps, to throw bluerocks from, 
and that therefore that's the thing he wants to show the 
public, the expert traps being already so well known 
to those interested in such matters. As in past exposi- 
tions, so in this one, tlie space occupied by the exhibit 
Cleveland Target Company. 
is Upholstered in the bluerock colors- -orange and black 
— colors that readily catch the eye and that light up well 
in the evening. The magautrap and Paul North are of 
course one of the centers of attraction. Seated on the 
bicycle saddle that is a part of the machine, Mr. North 
pedals away and explains the workings of this automatic 
trap for throwing ilocks of bluerocks into the air at one 
and the same time. To show the evolution of this ma- 
chine from the first model made by the inventor, A. W. 
Jenkins, of Norristown, Pa., the first model itself, the 
one the company bought from Mr. Jenkins, is also on 
exhibition. A comparison of the two models will show 
how many improvements experience, skill and mechani- 
cal ingenuity can suggest on what appears to be a first- 
rate working model. 
Another article that Mr. North is showing is the paper 
target for patterning guns on, a sample of which is put 
in each barrel of bluerocks sent out from the factory 
after this date. This paper target will be found to be 
very popular with gun clubs, and there is no question but 
what quite a demand will be created for them as soon as 
the shooting public becomes aware of their existence. 
E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. 
The E. I, du Pont de Nemours & Company are to' 
be found at their old stand, just inside the main en- 
trance on the left of the hall. The background for the 
exhibit is a handsome cabinet of white wood work 
picked out with gold. The firm's name appears in a 
scroll over the cabinet, the gold letters standing out well 
against the white background. Underneath the scroll 
are the words "Wilmington, Delaware," the home of 
the company, while the age of the firm is shown by the 
figures "1802-1898," also in gilt. The two halves of this 
Cabinet are filled with sample kegs of the firm's products 
tastefully arranged, the colors of the different kegs har- 
monizing far better than one might have supposed. In 
the center of the cabinet is a pyramid of powder kegs, 
monsters at the bottom, but growing "beautifully less" 
as the top of the cabinet is reached. 
In a glass showcase in front of the exhibit are ar- 
ranged all the raw materials that go to make up the dif- 
ferent kinds of powder manufactured by the firm. There 
are the saltpeter, sulphur and charcoal of black powders, 
E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. 
11 
with samples of the finished products. There also are the 
raw materials for the manufacture of gun cotton and the 
Du Pont Smokeless shotgun powders, now so well 
known to all shooters. The prismatic powder, both 
"arm}-^!' and "navy size," as well as the sphero-hexag- 
onal and' other curiously shaped pieces of powder, will 
attract more than ordinary attention, being something 
that one docs not often meet with, and which at the 
same time speak volumes for the care and chemical 
skill that has been expended in bringing the finished 
product to the excellence now conceded for it. 
M. Pierre Gentieu is once more in charge of the ex- 
hibit, and most courteously exhibits no trace of annoy- 
ance when called upon to answer the same old question 
fifty times an hour while the Exposition is in session. 
The Hazard Powder Company. 
The Hazard Powder Company has secured a position 
where they are bound to be among the first to catch the 
visitor's eye. The space occupied by this firm's exhibit 
is on the right as you enter the Garden. The revolving 
Japanese umbrella, a veritable family umbreila in size, lit 
up underneath with numerous electric lights, and with 
the name of the company in huge gilt letters hanging 
from the brim, cannot fail to capture the eyes of the 
visitor to the Exposition as soon as he gets fairly in- 
side. The lanterns swinging from bamboo poles at each 
corner of the exhibit also add much to the picturesque- 
ness of the whole. The background for the exhibit is 
some gorgeous Japanese tapestry hangings, the oriental 
features of the exhibit being thus well carried out. 
But right here that oriental business ends, and Ameri- 
can inventiveness in the shape of something really novel 
steps in. The piece de resistance of the whole exhibit is 
a bicyclist, built out of kegs that ordinarily contain the 
powders manufactured by this company, mounted on 
a bicycle, and actually reeling off mile after mile on the 
machine, to the intense satisfaction of the beholders. 
This idea is fathered by Mr. Jno. L. Lequin, secretary of 
the Hazard Powder Company, who evolved the plan 
without the least effort. Speaking seriously this "man- 
Hazard Powder Company. 
of-kegs-on-a^wheel" is one of the very best things in 
the show, and is most distinctly a novelty. The rims 0l 
the wheel, we should add, are not surrounded by rubber 
tires. For this occasion the tires have been removed, 
and in their place are tires of curved tubes of glass, sec- 
tionalized and filled with samples of the various black 
powders manufactured by the firm, and also with samples 
of its well-known Blue Ribbon brand of smokeless pow- 
ders. 
The exhibit is in charge of Mr, Lequin, assisted by 
Messrs. B. H. Norton and E. S. Lentilhon, the assistant 
secretary of the company. 
Laflin & Rand Powder Company. 
The exhibit of the Laflin & Rand Powder Co. is under 
the charge of Mr. E. A. Armstrong, assisted by Mr. Ed 
Taylor and his son, E. H. Taylor. 
The chief feature of interest in the exhibit, to ordinary 
spectators at least, is the working model of the company's 
mills at Wayne, N. J., known as the Passaic Mills. This, 
model was designed and built by Mr. George Lyon, the 
master mechanic of the Wayne works, and is a perfect 
specimen of a working model. With the aid of a small 
electric engine, every piece of machinery in the little 
houses on the model is kept moving, the wheels in the 
mills revolving slowly, as in actual powder making. It 
is an easy matter, by looking at this model and listening 
to the explanation of the different processes through 
which the raAV mjtterials — charcoal, saltpeter and sulphur 
— pass before becoming the finished article known as 
black powder, to grasp the use of every building in the 
model of the mills. 
The exhibit of the company is divided into two sec- 
tions. One half is occupied by the model above referred 
to; the other half is office-like, with three cases of quar- 
tered oak bounding it on three sides. In these cases 
are shown the different vai-ieties of powders, black and 
smokeless, manufactured by the Laflin & Rand Powder 
Co., as well as the raw materials usel in such manufac- 
ture. One case holds the saltpeter, sulphur and charcoal 
of the black powders. Another case shows samples of 
the blasting powders and black sporting powders manii* 
factured by the company. The third is of perhaps more 
interest, as it contains samples of the smokeless powders 
for which Laflin & Rand are noted. Some of them are: 
For the .22cal. rifle; for the .30cal. U. S. rifles, 'g6 and 
'97 models; .4ScaI. Government rifles; No. r and No. 2 
W-A smokeless for sporting purposes; 6-pounder rapid- 
fire gun; 3.2in. rapid-fire gun, and powder for use in 
mortars. The powders for the rapid-fire and mortars are 
more like badly discolored macaroni than "grains" of 
gunpowder. As a matter of interest it might be well to 
state that a "grain" of smokeless powder manufactured 
by Laflin & Rand for the Government's loin. gun is a 
hollow stick of a semi-transparent material 3oin. long 
and about lin. in diameter, with a hole cloAyti the centei 
about T-3in. in diameter! 
Adorning the rear wall of the exhibit is the diploma 
awarded to the company at the recent exposition in 
Nashville for gunpowder, and Mr. Armstrong pointed. 
p 
Laflin & Rand Powder Company. 
out with pride that with that diploma went the only gold 
medal awarded for gunpowder at that exposition. 
Also on the walls are nine panels of oak; on each of 
these panels, and in letters of gold, are the names of the 
nine mills owned and operated by the Laflin & Rand 
Powder Co., together with the date of the foundation 
of each. The nine are as follows, in order of "birth :" 
Orange Mills, near Newburgh, N. Y., 1808; Schaghti- 
coke Mills, Schaghticoke, N. Y., 1813; Moosic Falls, 
Moosic, Pa., 1849; Platteville, Wis., Mills, 1855; Em- 
pire Mills, Kingston, N. Y., 1855; Rushdale Mills, Jer- 
myn. Pa., 1865; Passaic Mills, Wayne, N. J., 1875; 
Cherokee Mills, Turck, Kan., 1888; American Mills, 
Pompton, N. J., 1895. 
In addition to the above, a large number and variety 
of kegs and cans adorn the exhibit, and show the man- 
ner in which the different products of the firm are put 
on the market. 
Tatham & Brothers, 
Messrs. Tatham & Bros, have gotten up in a most 
tasteful manner a pretty exhibit of the article manufac- 
tured by the firm. It may be hard to realize that such 
a prosaic article as shot can be arranged in such a man- 
ner as to appear artistic; but really the exhibit placed 
in charge of Messrs. Frank M. Foye, Joseph McGraw 
and other employees of the firm of Tatham & Bros, is 
more than pleasing to the eye. 
A curiosity in the shot line is exhibited by the firm 
in the shape of the smallest shot ever made. This shot 
is so fine that it looks very nmch like particles of fine 
black sand; but on closer inspection, and with the aid 
of a pair of good eyes, it can be seen that this apparent 
dust is a conglomeration of perfectly made and perfectly 
round particles of lead. In fact, it is shot, just as much 
as No. 6 or No. 7. The size of this shot may be grasped 
in a measure by the following figures: It takes 162,304 
pellets to weigh loz. This shot is not made for sale, but 
is simply a curiosity. 
The "Extra Fine Dust Shot," 24,256 pellets of which 
weigh only loz., is another curiosity, but it suffers in 
comparison with the above-mentioned specimen of shot- 
ms^king. "Fine Dust," a brand of shot that runs 7,568 
pellets to the ounce, is manufactured and sold by the 
