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Show i ; FINISHING TOUCHES GN : ' - I PORTLAND EXPOSITION : : J eluding New "York. Washington. .Utah, Idaho and Pennsylvania.. On an ami pence In 'the weatern part of--th grounds are situated the Massachusetts and California buildings. Across GuHd's lake on the peninsula the United 8tateGoverament buildings loom up in , Imposing; grandeur. Far in their rear, but .appearing to be only a few-miles away, Mt. St. Helens and Mt,' Adams bound th. horizon. The main Government Govern-ment building Is surmounted by two towers each 260 feet high. Connected with It, on each side, by artistic perl-styles perl-styles are the Territorial and Irrigation Irriga-tion buildings. Near the latter stands the fisheries building and on thej weat-em weat-em shore of the peninsula Is the United States Life-Saving atation. Guild's lake will .bo plied by many-different kinds of crafts, and those who do not car to walk to the Government peninsula penin-sula by the way of the Bridge of Nations Na-tions may embark for a delightful water trip In either a Venetian gondola, gon-dola, a row boat, an electric launch, or a canoa prepellad by a real American Indian. In the Willamette river near the peninsula entrance, during toe exposition, ex-position, will be stationed war vessels of our own and foreign navies. -This feature was pot possible at previous fairs, and will the" give the Inland sightseer a chance to inspect the fighting fight-ing c.raft perhaps for the first time. ' By rraoJt L JXerrick., Work on the grounds and buildings of the Lewis and Clark exposition at Portland Is being rapidly pushed toward to-ward completion. With six weeks still remaining before opening day. June 1. the Western world's fair Is having 1U finishing touches applied? . It has been the aim of the management manage-ment ever alnce the. fair was conceived to have everything! In readiness when the gates were' opened to the world, and Us expectations are now promised fulfillment. An army of workmen has kept at work steadily, sturdily and strenuously all. winter, the mild Portland Port-land weather permitting the work to progress without Interruption. Spring found all the main exhibit palaces finished, fin-ished, except the Liberal arts buUdlng and the Art palace. The unfinished structures are backward because, they were not originally Included ln.the plan of the fair. The Liberal Art building was made necessary by the great demand de-mand for exhibit space, and it was only softer the exhibits division had received re-ceived applications for more than one hundred thousand square feet of epaoe, for. which there waa no' position, that the management decided to erect an additional .building for this classification. classifica-tion. The art exhibit was originally intended for one of the other exhlbrt palaces,- but when space was at a premium, pre-mium, It was decided to build a separate sepa-rate structure to bouse the display. These buildings are now nearing completion. com-pletion. The official report of director of works, Oskar Huber, shows that the exhibit buildings are 87 per cent completed. com-pleted. The State buildings are far" advanced, and as. these structures are not so large as the exhibit buildings they will be completed long before opening day. The Government buildings . are 95 per cent completed, and the electrical installation in-stallation 85 per cent. Not only are the buildings in a finished fin-ished state, but the landscape is equally as far advanced. - Green lawns dotted with beds of roses and . other flowers, freshened by the winter rains, have been brought forth in a riot of color by the spring sunshine. The courts and gardens have been adorned with statuary statu-ary executed by some of the most famous fa-mous sculptors of tb country, and everywhere the grounds have taken on the delicate finishing touches, which, when added to the already unrivaled natural beauty, make the exposition a bower of loveliness. Exhibits from all over the world, which have been 'arriving all winter, are being installed. Foreign and State commissioners have .taken up their residences and are busily engaged with their official duties. From now until the 15th of October, Portland will bustle bus-tle with activity, Sixteen States of the Union are participating par-ticipating in the exposition and twelve of these are erecting handsome buildings. build-ings. State participation la on a scale not hoped for at first, the commonwealths common-wealths expending more than a million dollars. Almost every nation of the world will be represented by a comprehensive display. dis-play. The cream of the oreign exhibits exhib-its at St. Louis ha been transferred to Portland and has been supplemented supple-mented by new and attractive features. Among the participating nations are: England, France, Russia, China, Japan, Italy, Austria. Hungary, Australia, Holland. Switzerland. East India, Egypt, Persia, Turkey and Algeria. The beauty of the site and the superb view to be had from It. coupled with the artistic grace of the buildings, will be an agreeable surprise to all visitors. Nestling at the base of the foothills of the Cascade range, pn the -gentle slopes and" terraces overlooking Guild's lake and the Willamette river, with an unobstructed un-obstructed view of sixty-five miles, which embraces the snow-capped peaks of Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens, the site presents a picture entirely original In exposition building. There Is no need here to build papier mache mountains as scenic accessories for refreshment purposes. One may Bit on a commanding command-ing ropf garden, and. while dining, drink in the pictorial sublimeness of real snow peaks of mountains that rival the Alps In grandeur. Of the gross area of the site. 126 acres are on the mainland and sixty acres form a penln- sula extending out In Guild's lake, a fresh water body 2!0 acres in extent, which is separated from the Willamette river by a narrow strip of land. Many features not possible at previous pre-vious fairs are found bordering on that lake, which is the largest body of water ever inclosed within an exposition fence. The mainland Is connected with Vie peninsula by the Bridge of Nations, which ia a half mile in length, being the longest bridge ever constructed at an exposition. It is built of wood and staff in imitation of solid masonry. On the mainland end. the bridge is 170 feet wide and this nortfon is given over to the trail, the gayety boulevard of the fair. The unrivaled water facilities thus offered have been utilized by the concessionaires for shows embracing elaborate water features. The buildings on the Trail are now under construction and will aoon be ready for the banker to take hla place In front. The Grand Esplanade, a boulevard erected on piles over the water, extending extend-ing for more than half a mile, around the shore of the lake, will be the most popular promenade both day and night. It Is built of wood and staff, and is thirty feet wide from railing to railing. The'walk starts at the main boat landing land-ing at the foot of the Grand Stairway, crosses the Trail, where the latter Joins the Bridge of Nations, and terminates at the American Inn, a 600-room hotel in the western part of the grounds. From the Esplanade a comprehensive view may be obtained of the main picture pic-ture of the exposition. On the mainland main-land on the crest of the grassy slopes leading down to the" lake, is situated the main group of exhibit palaces, consisting con-sisting of eight structures, their coats of white staff making a striking contrast con-trast with the far-covered foothills of the Cascades in the background. These buildings, which form nearly a straight line with their short sides facing the water, are: Agriculture, European exhibits. ex-hibits. Liberal Arts, Oriental exhibits, forestry, mines and metallurgy, fine arts, and machinery, . electricity and transportation. Leading town from Lakevlew. terrace, ter-race, which stands at the end of Columbia Co-lumbia court, the main plaza of the exposition. ex-position. Is the Grand Stairway, flanked on either side by massive balustrades supporting statuary. On each side of the stairway are flowered terraces interspersed in-terspersed with benches w-here the visitor may rest. Here at night on this entrancing spot with thousands of lights reflected in the waters of the lake, the visitor may listen to the band concerts and view the pyrotechnic dls-playa dls-playa rfnd other outdoor features. t Along the shores or the lake are situated situ-ated some of the "State buildings, in-l. in-l. , |
