The three exterior porticos were connected with wide terraces, affording over 3,000 square feet of floor space. The building was constructed entirely of Arkansas timber, and was designed by Frank W. Gibb, A.I.A. A., architect, Little Rock, Ark., and constructed at a cost of $19,944.05.
At the conclusion of the fair the building was sold to a citizen of
Arkansas, where it is to be reerected as a residence.
In the building were exhibited many handsome pieces of art and fancywork, burnt-wood plaques and panels, china work, a large silk map of the United States, showing States, rivers, railroads, principal towns, etc.; oil paintings, pictures, and portraits, and miscellaneous exhibits.
In the main exhibit hall of the building was a composite exhibit made by the land department of the Iron Mountain Railroad, consisting of a collection of minerals found in the State, samples of the various woods of the State, a wooden library of seventy-five volumes, each book being made of a different kind of Arkansas wood, paintings and pictures of Arkansas scenes, and a historic clock made in Germany in 1763 for the Duke of Saxony, and samples of mineral waters of Montgomery County.
The Arkansas State commission maintained five exhibits in the exhibition palaces, viz, Agriculture, approximate value, $7,500; Horticulture, approximate value, $9,300; Forestry, approximate value, $3,500; Mines and Metallurgy, approximate value, $6,500; Education, approximate value, $3,600. In addition to these State exhibits, the city of Hot Springs maintained in the Government Building a unique exhibit in the nature of a cave or grotto made of quartz, crystals.
CALIFORNIA.
Members of California commission.—Frank Wiggins; J. A Filcher; George A. Dennison, secretary; Lewis E. Auburg, chief department of mining; George C. Roeding, chief department of horticulture; W.H. Mills, chief department of forestry; Robert Furlong, chief department of education.
On March 25, 1903, the legislature of the State of California passed a bill appropriating the sum of $130,000 for the purpose of adequately exploiting California's resources and progress at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and providing for two commissioners—one to have had one year's residence in the southern half of the State; both to have had experience in installing and managing exhibits at former, expositions. In addition to this appropriation, there was about $120,000 raised by the various counties of the State for exclusive county displays to be installed in the Agricultural Building. These displays were intended to set forth the possibilities of California in an agricultural and horticultural way. The cost of installation of said features was about $40,000. The transportation of all the exhibits, including those of the counties, which were paid by the State, amounted to, approximately, $15,000.
The California State Building was located on "The Trail" in the vicinity of the buildings erected by Georgia and other Southern States, and was always an object of interest to sightseers at the fair. The pavilion was built after the Mission style of architecture, modeled after the houses in which the old Spanish settlers in California used to live. The front of the building was an exact copy in reduced proportions of the Mission at Santa Barbara, which was erected by the Franciscan monks in 1786. The pavilion contained no special exhibits, but its furnishings and decorations were entirely of Californian material, manufactured by Californian labor. The cost of the building complete was about $17,000, the balance of the appropriation by the State being consumed in the collection of the exhibit, its maintenance, and in general demonstration.
In the Forestry Pavilion California showed altogether 73 varieties of commercial and cabinet woods. A separate exhibit in the same place displayed an exhibit of the fish and game of the State. Just outside of the building there was an exhibit of forestry containing five logs, or timbers, which were too heavy to be placed on the Exhibition Building floor.