Mr. Geo. A. Dennison, who had a long prior record with the State Board of Trade, and who served us so efficiently as Secretary at St. Louis and at Portland, was appointed Secretary at Seattle, and remained with us to the close of our work. In this connection it may be said that other State Representatives had as their office force a secretary, a bookkeeper and a stenographer. Mr. Dennison, possessing the qualifications, filled all three of those positions for California, and being an expert in each branch filled them all with marked efficiency.
ATTENDANCE.
The splendid exhibit made by California proved one of the principal attractions of the Exposition. It became to be the general remark that if you did not see the Government exhibit and the California exhibit you did not see the show. As a consequence all who attended the Exposition visited the California building, and as may be supposed, we had a crowd passing through the exhibits all the time the building was open. The average attendance at the Exposition was close to 25,000 a day; allowing that each visitor spent two days on the grounds, and that in one of the two days practically all visited our building, it may be estimated that the number who inspected the California exhibits daily was about 12,000. This we believe is a fair estimate.
CALIFORNIA VISITORS.
We had a separate card register for visitors from this State, and it will surprise you perhaps to learn that the number of Californians who registered with us averaged nearly two hundred a day, or twelve hundred a week. In one day during the height of the season we registered 372 people from our home State. It is not only possible, but very probable, that many come and went without registering; making allowance for these, and figuring those who did register at 1,200 a week, and counting twenty weeks for the Fair (19 weeks and 5 days to be exact), we estimate the number of Californians who attended the Seattle Exposition at 25,000.
AWARDS.
If other evidence were wanting to establish the claim that the Seattle exhibit was the best and most complete ever made by California, it would be found in the record of prizes won by this State. In proportion to the number of entries we not only beat all the other States in the number of high awards, but we beat all past records made by California, and this in face of the fact that the juries as a rule set a high standard and were very critical in their examinations. California’s greatest total premiums at any previous Exposition was 518, while at Seattle the total was 800. To win gold medals or higher on half the entries is considered a remarkable record, and yet out of the total of 800 at Seattle, 90 were grand prizes, an award only made in case of extraordinary excellence, 414 were gold medals, 155 silver medals, 108 bronze medals and 33 honorable mentions. A careful analysis by one who understands what is required to win a high award at an International Exposition and what it stands for, will show at once that this is a most extraordinary record, one which we confidently believe has never been equalled by any State or country at any Exposition in the world, and one which is not likely to be equalled except possibly by California itself, for many years to come. It will be noticed from the detailed list of the awards, which follows in this report, that they are well distributed throughout the State, nearly every locality and every industry sharing in the honors, a further evidence of the representative character of the exhibit.
SALVAGE.
At the close of the Exposition we took sufficient time to safely pack all material that had to be returned and to label it carefully so as to facilitate its distribution in California. In the meantime we sold some of the edible goods and some on order we turned over to local agents of the owners. All money received therefor has been remitted to the parties who furnished the articles and receipts received for the same. The furniture, fixtures and other material which belonged to the State and which we deemed it advisable to sell, was disposed of to the best advantage possible, considering the great quantity of this class of goods that were being thrown on the market. From this source we realized the sum of $5,135.16. From rent of soft drink stand in the building we realized the sum of $300.00, and from the sale of building $750.00, making the total salvage exclusive of building $5,435.16, which is fully accounted for in the financial statement which follows in this report. The $750.00 received for the building was turned over to the State Printer on account and never passed through our hands.
