Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission

by Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission

Value of loan exhibits in the different departments ……. $9,000 Cost of new specimens and cases ……………………… 8,000 Value of specimens and cases already on hand and withdrawn from the State museum …………………………….. 30,000 Installation and expenses …………………………… 12,000 ——— Total ………………………………………. 59,000

In mines and metallurgy the exhibit covered a floor space of about 2,200 square feet. It consisted of a full, systematic collection of the minerals of the State, a representation of the ores of gold, copper, silver, iron, nickel, and tin that are native to North Carolina, and a very full exhibit of the economic minerals. Wherever possible, there were shown specimens of the finished product alongside of the raw material, and this feature added considerable value to the display. A very beautiful and very comprehensive collection of cut gems and crude gem material was perhaps the most attractive feature of the exhibit. The collection of building and ornamental stones included a large variety of granites, marbles, and sandstones, many of them of a very superior quality.

In agriculture the chief features of the exhibit were the special tobacco display and the collection of grains and seeds in the main space. A good line of commercial cotton samples and of the best varieties of cotton seed were shown and some cotton-oil and cotton-mill machinery in connection therewith. The late date at which any money became available prevented any show of sheaf grains or grasses and cut short the exhibit in many ways.

In the Department of Horticulture the show was a small one, owing both to the very poor fruit year and also, again, to the late date at which the collecting had to be started. The space occupied was about 500 square feet in size, while in the four different spaces in the Agricultural Building the total floor area occupied was nearly 4,000 square feet.

The combined forestry and fish and game exhibits were among the most complete of any of the State exhibits. The total floor space occupied by these was 2,400 square feet. The display of native timber specimens was most complete and systematic, and the specimens were shown in a way to impart the most information in a condensed form. The main collection consisted of planks cut the full length and width of the trees, 4 feet long by 4 inches thick, with the bark left attached. One-half of each was dressed and sandpapered, but not varnished; the other half filled and varnished and given an oil-rub finish to bring out the beauties of the grain and to show the best finish the different kinds of wood would take. Wherever possible, two sections were shown in the form of disks cut across the log. These brought out the character of the end grain and the annual growth rings, as well as the size of the trees from which each specimen came. A variety of finished wood products and a collection of forest seeds and of medicinal plants completed the exhibit.

In the Department of Fish and Game the State showed collections of mounted food and game fishes, of oysters and clams, and of tools and appliances used in their capture, including some very fine models of the more typical of the fishing craft used in North Carolina waters. Fairly complete collections of the game birds, wild fowl, and shore birds were shown, as well as most of the prey-catching and fish-eating birds found in the State. The game animals and those valuable for their furs were also exhibited, and a very fine lot of furs, both raw and dressed, occupied a case contiguous to that containing the fur-bearing animals. Guns, traps, etc., were shown as well to illustrate the means used in the capture of the different kinds. Collections of marine invertebrates, of reptiles and batrachians, casts of fishes and cetaceans, an old whaling outfit, and a lot of miscellaneous material completed the exhibit.

Considering the amount of money used, the exhibits were large, varied, full, and of good quality all through, and in some cases unlimited funds could hardly have bettered them.

NORTH DAKOTA.

North Dakota had no State building on the grounds. The exhibits, which comprised every variety of grain and species of grass grown in the State, gathered from the very best samples obtained from the crop of 1903, were shown principally in the Agricultural Building, although there was a very excellent exhibit in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy, showing the mineral resources of the State, and including coal, clays, cement, building stones, etc.

The State legislature, on March 17, 1903, passed an act authorizing the participation of the State at the World's Fair to be held in St. Louis in 1904, and at the Lewis and Clark Centennial and Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair to be held at Portland, Oreg., in 1905, and creating a commission composed of the governor, the State auditor, the lieutenant-governor, the commissioner of agriculture, and Warren N. Steele, of Rolette County. The governor was made the president of the commission and the commissioner of agriculture the secretary.