The ore exhibit, especially of gold and copper ores, was very large, filling a glass case 75 feet long and 5 feet high. These ores were collected by an expert mineralogist employed by the Alaska commission, and included specimens from nearly all the mines in Alaska.
Following is a list of exhibits, showing the principal industries the country, as displayed throughout the building: Marble, canned goods, furs, coal, oils, guano, vegetables and fruit, Indian basketry and curios, and mounted specimens of game and fish.
An interesting exhibit of Alaskan ethnology was made, twenty totem poles and two native houses and one war canoe being located about the building. The totem poles came from different places on Prince of Wales Island and from two different tribes. At an old village called Tuxekan four were obtained. These represented the totem or heraldic sign of each family, and the back part of the totem was excavated to receive the charred bones of friends and ancestors of the man who raised it. The Thlingits were in the habit of burning their dead, but carefully preserved all the charred embers from the funeral pile. These totem poles were always erected on great occasions, and the bones were usually carefully wrapped in a new blanket and incased in the back part of the totem.
The Commission was fortunate in securing for the exhibit a fine collection of samples of grains raised at the experiment stations at Alaska, consisting of the grains in the straw and thrashed grains, including wheat, rye, barley, and oats. These samples were handsomely displayed, some of the grains and straw being tastefully arranged on the walls, covering a space 10 by 40 feet, and the balance in a pyramid some 10 feet high and 8 feet in diameter. The thrashed grains were displayed in glass jars. The grasses were shown in bales of hay. The display of cereals and grasses was one of the most important, instructive, and surprising to visitors of any display in the Alaska Building, for it demonstrated the fact that agriculture is possible in Alaska, and seekers of the treasures of the mines may always feel sure of subsistence.
ARIZONA.
Arizona commission.—A.J. Doran, chairman; B.F. Packard, treasurer;
H.B. St. Claire, secretary; Mrs. J.A. Black, commissioner; R.N.
Leatherwood, superintendent of exhibits.
The Arizona Building stood near the southeast entrance of the grounds. Its architecture was Spanish, belonging to the sixteenth century. It contained seven rooms, elegantly furnished and decorated. The cost of the building was approximately $5,000. During the exposition period a large amount of literature descriptive of the Territory and its various resources was distributed.
The exhibits in the Arizona State Building other than those placed therein by the board of managers were a prehistoric collection loaned by Mrs. M. Aguria, of Tucson, Ariz., valued at $5,000; an oil painting of a mountain scene in southern Arizona, loaned by Mr. A.J. Scofield and valued at $4,000; a collection of Indian baskets, rugs, and blankets (Navaho), valued at $600; an exhibit of cactus picture frames, loaned by F.E. White, of Florence, Ariz., valued at $250.
The Territory made exhibits in the departments of Mines and Metallurgy, Education, Agriculture and Horticulture. The exhibit in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy occupied a space of 80 feet frontage by 20 feet in depth. In all, nearly 300 mines were represented by characteristic ores showing actual values rather than specimens, including in nearly every exhibit the inclosing and country rocks in which the vein matter occurred. These exhibits were arranged in two tiers, running the full length of the space, each mine having its distinctive ore placed on wooden mounts, appropriately labeled, giving the county, district, owner, name and character of ore, and its value per ton in gold, silver, copper, or lead. The exhibit also showed free gold, native silver, native copper, copper bars, lead-silver bars, copper ingots, onyx (rough and polished), marble (rough and polished) building stone of various kinds, lithographic stone, petrified wood in rough and polish, meteoric iron, etc.; also photographic views of many of the mines, mills, reduction works, and localities from which the exhibits were taken. The value of the exhibit was approximately $20,000 and the cost of installation $1,900.
The educational exhibit in the Education and Social Economy Building represented the school work of the Territory from the kindergarten to the academic grade, showing the educational system and the progress made in Arizona. The value of the exhibit was approximately $2,500 and the cost of installation $750.