ALASKA-YUKON-PACIFIC EXPOSITION.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 281, 1 June 1909, Page 2

ALASKA-YUKON-PACIFIC EXPOSITION.

, Promptly 'on Jimp 1, the day first announced; Seattle, "Washington, will open to the world, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. If, for any reason, it should be desirable to open it before that date, it could be done as ■well on May 1, for it is already 90 per cent, complete and the little work, that remains is being rushed through a mild winter. Although the title of Seattle's exposition apparently limits its scope to the Pacific seas, such is not the case. It is, in fact, a. world's fair, in everything that the term implies, and in many ways it will be such a world's fair as has never been held, for, to that portion of the gtobe, which has been largely represented at other expositions, it will introduce other' portions which have never been exploited and whose peoples, products and ways of life are a closed book. That . the world may Imow that which it does not know of the Philippine Islands, the Hawaiian Islands and Alaska, the wonderland of the Arctic, the United States Government is spending 600,000 dollars iixion exhibits that no other world's exposition has ever presented. Alaska's marvellous gold mines and fisheries will be shown as they are-. The tremendous resources developed and undereloped, -of the Philippine archipelago, will be thoroughly illustrated. The Pan-American States, Mexico, and the rest will show what manner of life they, lead and the things they produce and offer in barter with the rest of the world. That all of these things may be shown, the Government is erecting four, magnificent buildings of staff, which will cost not less than 350,000 dollars. One of these will house the Philippines' exhibit ; another the Hawaiian, another the Alaskan and the fourth will be devoted to demonstrating the extent and possibilities of the fisheries of Puget Sound and the Alaskan coast. These buildings are now practically complete. As soon as some small details of interior finish are out of the way the installation of the exhibits will begin, and .the contractors who have the work in charge announce that the Government's show will be ready by the middle of April. Canada, too, is playing a big part in the fair. It has sent its Comiiijssion«.»i- of Expositions to superintend the work and is erecting a palace that, when shortly it is finished, will be one of the architectural features of the exposition. Canada's : many provinces will also make independent display of their resources and the. Dominion railroad, the Canadian Pacific, is spending thousands of dollars in the installation of an exhibit calculated to induce heavy :m---migration from foreign countries, to the fertile fields of western and central Canada. Alberta, with its marvellous wheat fields, which are winning away so many Americans, the 1 Saskatchewan, with its grams, fish, mines and big game; and British Columbia, with its mines of Yukon richness, will all take part and spend many thousands 1 of dollars on their exhibits, for here in the northwest no international boundary line is recognised, except in law, and the exposition belongs as much to the Dominion as to the Union. Lying as it does in a natural amphitheatre surrounded by jagged ranges of snow-capped mountains, the exposition site offers unparalleled opportunities for landscaping and more than any other enterprise of the kind, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific exposition has taken advantage of nature's offerings. Tens of thousands of dollars are being lavashcd upon flower beds and fields which, during the period of the fair, will flame with tho color of blossoms from every clime under the sun. Japan is naturally taking a great interest in the show, and besides its magnificent, exhibit, or better, exhibits, for there are many kinds, is contributing largely to the floral display. -It will reproduce, on the exposition, grounds the tea. house in Tokio in which Admiral Sperry and his officers were entertained when the American armada sailed into Yokohama to visit the land of the Rising Sun. Not only will it be the same tea house, but the same dainty gieshas who served tea to the American officers will serve more tea to those who come to the exposition. A Japanese theatre, with one of the leading troupes of Nippon, will be another feature, and there will be an array of Japanese manufactures and products such as has never been shmvn at any exposition. China is planning and already doiug as much as is Japan. The celestial empire will also establish a theatre and a tea house and it will have also a full fledged Chinese vil- ; iage, with its joss houses, restaurants, - bazaars and all else that will make [ the exhibit true to life. The resources- of the world have ! been drafted upon to supply the electrical features for which the exposition will be famous. Its scheme • of illumination and its planned decorative features excel anything yot attempted in that line. In the decorative features of the central

court jilone 800,000 eight candlepower incandescent lights will be used. The Cascades, down which 40,000 gallon* of water will pour every minute, will bo made a plunging rainbow by submerged lights <:f great power ,and the Geyser Basin, into which the Cascades dohoucho, will be similarly lighted. So also will the floor of Lake Union, in tho. waters of which the Government will carry on experiments with, submarine torpedo boats. The Alaskan column, a shaft that rises to a height in the centre of tho" exposition, will be covered with pure gold leaf hammered from nuggets' from the mines of Alaska and Yukon, and its lines by night will be picked out with electric lights. Every building on tho grounds will bo thrown into brilliant silljouette by the same means, while tho ways and, boulevards will be made brilliant with powerful arcs. The straight amusement feature of tlio exposition will also be beyond anything yet brought, together. In Chicago it was the "Midway." At St. Louis it was "The Pike." At Seattle it will be tho "Pay Streak," and on it will be the. fun-making devices of every nation. " The Turkish village, a feature at all expositions, will occupy , almost twice tho space that any other fair has given it. It is already ready for its inhabitants and its bazaars are aAvaiting the strange things that will be displayed there. The Spanish Theatre, the Iggorote Village, the Baby Incubators, the historic battle between the Monitor and Merrimac will all be on the '"Streak," to say nothing of scores of other high-class amusements. . In the general plan of architecture the exposition follows the French renaissance. This applies to the manufactures, mines, fisheries and other structures forming the central picture of the exhibition. The forestry building will be the largest log house ever built and about the frojrt of the structure will be 124 logs, each forty feet high, and containing 6000 feet in board measure. (The weight of each one of these" great logs is estimated at 50,0D0 pounds. The logs used in the exterior of the building are being left in the rough, while those used in the interior will have the bark removed, The home of the Arctic Brotherhood" on the exposition grounds is typical of the houses in Alaska and the north of Finland and is built of logs. The landscape features about this building represent gardens seen iv the north. The structures to be occupied by tho Japanese and Chinese will be strictly oriental in general character. On the Pay Streak, the exposition amusement street, many of the structures wilL follow Japanese architecture and the entrance to the gaiety boulevard is. of JapanoAlaskan design, so called because, the main arch will consist of totem poles supporting curved pagoda roofs. A large number of structures axo of the free American style of architecture, but have been so located as to make si. complete picture with the buildings in the main group following the ,Frencli renaissance design. • Surrounding tho exposition is a forest and much of the natural verdure'has been left.. The formal gar- | dens approaching the manufactures and agricultures' palaces .are similar to those in the public park of Versailles and are French in design. The principal sculpture is the oxposition monument, at the head of tho Cascades. It is seventy feet in height and stands on a pedestal j twenty feet high. About the base of the pedestal are three seated female figures symbolical of tho North- • land, the South Seas and the Orient. j The column is of Corinthian design : and carries a globe showing the signs of the zodiac. Surmounting this globe is a huge American eagle. Tho animal groups about the Geyser Basin are an elk, bear, timber wolf and cougar, all representative of the Northland. Ornamental vases, carrying the official emblem of the exposition in staff, circle the entire central court around the Cascades and the I Geyser Basin and in front of several of the larger buildings. Those, vases' will contain many varieties of flowers and the pergolas about the . front of the buildings will be completely covered with climbing roses. The electroliers on the -grounds are of French renaissance, design and the settees of Roman design. Tho decorative light standards provide for a large sphere of light, each containing sixty j thirty candlo-power lights.