The superb collection of photographs of the scenic mountain route of the Grand Trunk Pacific was a perennial attraction to visitors in the exhibit made by this transcontinental railway. It revealed anew how the completion of the Grand Trunk System is an achievement which in its daring, its magnitude of interests, and the enterprise involved was one of the great twentieth-century events, and one only to be compared with the opening of the Panama-Pacific Canal itself.
Looking towards Mount Munn from the Valley of Flowers
The Reverend Arthur Barry O'Neill, C.S.G., after visiting the Exposition, wrote that he considered the Canadian and the Grand Trunk buildings as instances of "artistic genius beyond all praise," and as a "lasting honour and credit to the Canadian Government." In a sonnet in which Mr. O'Neill celebrates the youth of Canada, the brave lads who have gone to the front, and who
"... have writ a score
Of valour true, surpassing old romance.
And lent new pride to each Canadian's glance,"
the poet adds:
"And here, as well, where contests fair of Peace,
The nations wage along the Golden Gate,
Huge throngs acclaim the Maple Leaf, nor cease
The chorused praise that makes our hearts elate."
It is not the aim in this chapter to describe the whole of this interesting and beautiful Exposition, but only the contribution made by Canada; yet one can hardly refrain from noting the charm of the Alaskan exhibit with its panoramic presentation of the Muir glacier; nor that of the Santa Fe Railway in the "Zone," where the very realistic and wonderful portrayal of the Grand Canyon in Arizona was one of the great attractions of the entire grounds.