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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 3, 1904)
World's Fair Nearly Ready OUR full months from New Year's day, lacking one day alone, the World's fair will open Its Rates to the people of the earth. Will it be ready? "Yes," answer the exposition builders, "ready and waiting." Hut this Is an Ir.crrdu'ous world, refusing to believe. Predictions of unpreparrdnnss have been made concerning the World's fulr ever since the flrnt spadeful of frozen earth was turned on a bleak I'ecember dijr in lWil. "It will he like previous exposi tions," said the Incredulous ones; "opening with a lot of the buildings In u half-finished Mute, ond the vbltors will be hampered by liordes of workmen engaged in construction work." Such predictions were almost universal Outride of PI. Louis one year ugo, unci even In the city they were not larking la vigor. Many citizens who made occasional trips out to the exposition grounds were heard to utter woeful predictions of un prcpa redness, because of the evident im mensity of the enterprise and the com paratively brief period for working. Kvenj Home of the most cnthuM istlo advocates of the fnlr shook their heads and muttered, sorrowfully, "They can't do it no, they can't get this enormous thing ready in time." Hut the. builders kept on at work, stead ily, sturellly, strenuously. Like little Johnny Jones' peach, the exposition grew and grow; it still grows and grows and grows, and so rapidly that one can almost see it grow. The growth ts general, too, and not merely In spots; wherever It is not already full grown the World's fair 19 gaining flesh, so to speak, und putting on muscle. The progress of building operations sine the first day of December has been very considerable, though esilmates of the prog ress during the closing month of 1!K)3 are not obtainable Just now. Estimates fur nished by the director of works up to De cember 1, however, showed at that date that the great exposition was so near to completion that ona who takes the most casual glance at .the figures cannot full to comprehend the fact that It Is a fore gone conclusion .'.that practically every thing will be in readiness for the opening on April 20. ' la the main picture of the exposition sj V;: - '-: -. J. AS. ti f r jLfV cur ;r . ry i a, -. j , -r . . .i .... . COMPL.ETKD LANDSCAPE BETWEEN WESTERN RESTAURANT PAVILION AND PALACE OF MACHINERY. Itself, but how rarldly it was pushed alon? under the f.crapers, and spades, and rol'.erj of the landscaplsts! And tho.se twin, re: taurant pavilions, pne at each end of the Colonnade of States why, they were fin ished so long ago that visitors rave be;un to ask when meals will bo served. Already below them that they lacked! only the voice to become mouthpieces of Informa tion like the Jefferson Guards. - Right , in the center of the Colonnade Is going up the wonderful Fe3llval.hu.ll the abode of the music of many nations. Ti ts great round theater of harmony was ac- r "x"''- v: . ; .( i tr-r : ; .-irri . i i i 3a:. a trrrrff- I Llfi JTH FRONT OF PALACE OF VARIED INDUSTRIES, WITH CORNER OF rALACE OF ELECTRIC1TT ACROSS THE LAOOON AT THE RIGHT, . the great fan-shaped area of exhibition palaces, grand boulevards and lagoons, there are eight buildings, exclusive of the el at orate structures on Art hill. These eight buildings -vre 97 per cent finished on December 1; that is to say, striking an average. Five of them were each 9J per cent comi leted Education, Ehclr'city, Ma chinery, Varied Industries und literal Arts. On the M j.nuf jc'.ures building but per cent of work remained to be done, and but 7 per cent euh on the Tr impovta tlon and the Mines, und Metallurgy palaccr. During Pecernlcr the work has leen pushed forward on cuch of the.-'o Structures with leaiurkuble rapidity, so that New Year's day finds them so nearly completed that the '.IITcren.e H scarcely worth mentioning. Ki.ch of the buildings Wus ready, weeks ugo, to begin receiving the exl.lblts. On Art Hill, summit and slC the work bus reached a stage that kindles admiration in the ce- of hcholdt r.s, who require but little uld to the Imagination to co the picture complete. What lias te coma of li e man who three months ago aid that It would require a year to do lh landscr.-e work on the d pe of Art bill? Whore uro the snows of yesterday? Whera Is laat year's bird's rest, und the dande lion of list May? All are II iwn p irtlcu larly the inun mentlur.ed; he is Uhhamel to show bis face, for the hill nloje him symmetrically shajed and podded, ready for the f-ettlng out of the millions of How era Unit will adorn them when the warm h of spring Justifies thtt work. The ihalng tap of these slopes to conform to the artlil's Arsam wus a stupendous piece of labor in nearly, all of the fourteen huje pcdestaU deslgned for the carrying of glgintlc fig ures typical of the Louisiana Purchase states and territories are oc;-up!e1. Some , of the immense ladles in staff have oat 0.1 their pedestals for months, and the later,, arrivals received hearty Christmas greet ings from the earlier ones, who had be come old-timers arid had gazed so long at the glories of the expoeltlon spread oat counted 25 per cent finished at the Decem ber 1 estimate.- Work hnB progrejsed since" then to such. an extent that the percentage must be considerably rat ed. As a matter of fact, tliU Festival hall is about the only thing, in the grand picture that shows any appearance of incompleter.ess. As it is to be in a sense the center piece of . the expo sition, und therefore the crown or climax, it has been saved, like tho best things at dinner, till tho last. Back of the Festival hall, on tho level top of Art hill. What do we find? Tho eastern section of the Pulacc of Fine Artsi 9V4 per cent done, and the western rectlon but one-half of 1 per cent behind that, while the main and central structure of tho palace, which Is to he permanent, and is built of solid granite and marble, lacks only about 20 per cent of completion. Going back down tho hill, what of the main thoroughfares and waterways? Grand tasin scooped out so many months ago that grass has grown In Its bottom, and there Is nothing to do but turn on the water und give the cheerful gondolier a chance to put In his oar. Lagoons and bridges complete as to, lagoons, and neatly so as to bridges. Paving and grass plo:s ready und waiting these many moons. Sunken garden ready for the shrubbery and flowers, and waiting for winter days to pass. Nearly a month ago the laying of the last beam on the German government building, conspicuous at tho eastern end of Art hill and toward the north, was ce'e brated with characteristic ceremonies im ported direct from the fatherland; and FtlU farther cast and north the grand steel orch structure built by the I'nlted States government, with Its splendid dome torped off with an inspiring scu'pture group, loomi largely, very near to completion. Just south of the Government building Is tha Government Fisheries structure, gleaming in its staff sheathing, a finishes specimen of Roman classic architecture; and farther up the hill the handsome Missouri state building is more than nine-tenths com plete. Thirty other state buildings are nearlng completion, with a dozen more ready to ba "i lapied up in no time,"., as expres?d by a man who thoroughly believes that every building . will - be ready. Louisiana, Arl . Bona, Nevada and Oklahoma were place 1 in the 100 per cent class December 1, their buildings being finished. The Temple of (Continued on Page Sixteen.) .. . -j t ... .( ..' . : ,' ; ... .. '. . ' -' ' ' r V.:iit!tiii , r ill' lii--1 1 r iiirii mi in b rn i in in ii i 'i " ' 1,1 .4 Si. ii ierug V i i ft, rs PALACE OF MACHINERY SCENE FROM ANT HILU