FEATURES OF THE FRISCO EXPOSITION

Evening Star, Issue 15513, 8 June 1914, Page 3

FEATURES OF THE FRISCO EXPOSITION

AMAZINGLY DIVERSIFIED ATTRACTIONS. [By W. A. Walsh.] To depict the wonders destined to open wide the eyes of thousands who will visit San Francisco in 1915 to attend the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, commencing on February 20, would require not a column, but a page of valuable space. Some of the most prominent features may, however, ba indicated.. The Exposition will present in panoramic form the world's best achievements in the production of every commodity, and its best ideals in all lines of endeavor—scientific, educational, religious, literary, and artistic. The site chosen for the grounds is unsurpassed in the world in point of natural beauty. From the grounds can be seen, on the west, the abrupt cliffs of the Golden Gate, on the south the hills of San Francisco rising in successive terraces, on the east the bay, and beyond the clustering towns and hills of Alameda County, and on the north the water of the bay entrance, with the green hills of Marin in the distance.

The beauty of the electrical illumination of t.'i" Exposition will be unprecedented. An indirect system of lighting will be used for outdoor illuminations ?or the first time at such celebrations. The walls of the palace will be flooded by light from concealed sources, which will bring out all the architectural beauties and preserve the perspective. Realising that the old system of outlining buildings in incandescent bulbs has certain merits, the .Exposition engineers and architects have substituted polished jewels of hardest glass, with which all architectural lines and ornamentation will be emphasised. Batteries of searchlights, throwing, multicolored rays, will be scattered over the grounds. More than 50 noted sculptors are now working on the grounds producing figures and groups to adorn the palaces, the courts, the) colonnades, and parks of the Exposition. The landscape gardening is progressing with scientific precision under the direction of Mr John M'Laren. one of America's best-known landscape gardeners. Thousands of trees and hundreds of thousands of rare plants, bulbs, and vines from all parts of the wofld are under cultivation, and some are now being transplanted to their final place 3 along the avenues and in the gardens and parks.

The stock exhibit will surpass anything of the kind ever held. Over £IOO,OOO will be awarded for live stock and races. Experts are now preparing a course for the great harness races, which, when it is completed, will be the finest and safest ever used for racing. There will be> two great meets, one in summer and one in 'autumn; guaranteed stakes of £45,000 being offered for 24 days' racing. The architectural superiority of this over previous Expositions will lie in the combination of an appearance of stately spaciousness, with actual compactness and accessibility. The grouping of the exhibit palaces produces this effect. Opposite the main entrance will stand the. Tower of Jewels, the dominating architectural feature of the Exposition, 433 ft in height, and scintillating with 160,000 imitation jewels. Through the tower the visitor enters the great Central Court of the Universe. This court, 750 ft 1 by 900 ft, will contain a vast sunken garden, around which will be arranged tiers or seats for 700 people. At either end of the court will stand triumphal arches, surmounted by groups of statuary symbolising the nations of the East and the nations of the West. Through these arches one may enter respectively the Court of Abundance and the Court of the Four Seasons, the first being fittingly in the architectural style of the Levant and the latter in the Graeco J ßonian style. Surrounding these j three courts are the eight main exhibit j palaces, presenting to the bay front an |.unbroken facade of one mile and a-half I in length.