This Day in 1901 Archives: March 1901

All stories from the Buffalo Evening News, unless otherwise noted

March 1: The most beautiful spectacle yet seen upon the Exposition grounds was viewed by a few persons from 8 o'clock to 8:30 last evening. At that hour the electric current was turned on at the Agricultural building by Henry Rustin, chief of the Mechanical and Electricity Bureau, and the 4000 lamps on the exterior of the building blazed into radiant beauty.

At a distance, the effect was as though watch tower, arch, doorway and cornice were traced upon a dark blue canvas with a brush dipped into Phlegethonian current. Every architectural detail of the structure was marked by a radiant halo, and all combined to form a picture of exquisite beauty.

At nearer view the vision was still more entrancing. The last vestige of scaffolding had been removed from the building and there was nothing to prevent the eye of the spectator from noting every detail. The bulbs were plain, but the vivid colors of the background lent them their own splendors, and the effect was as if the building were illuminated by lamps of various colors. Their searching rays brought into strong relief the faces of cattle, horses, sheep and swine which were distributed in a row all around the building under the protection of the cornices and eaves.

Chief Rustin was highly gratified with the test, and indeed he had ever right to be so.

March 2: Henry Rustin, chief of the Electrical and Mechanical Bureau of the Pan-American Exposition, has been engaged during the current week in installing in the Machinery building the pumping plant that will be used to operate the fountains at the Exposition.

The plant, when completed, will consist of 12 pumps, having an aggregate capacity of 35,000 gallons a minute. The 12 pumps will be operated by as many exhibit engines, each from a different manufacturer. Five will be gas engines. The engines will be in service each day from 8 o'clock in the morning until 11:30 at night.

Six of the pumps, one engine and two boilers, have already arrived and are being put in place by Chief Rustin.

March 3: In the allotment of space in the Horticulture building one-fourth of the whole area of display has been set aside for California,. The possession of this large space is to be ascribed chiefly to the enterprise of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and the State Board of Trade, which canvassed for exhibits early and got in on the ground floor, while other States were thinking about it.

In this space California will have the finest exhibit ever sent from the State. One of the features of it will be the facade of the California booth which have a 25-foot front and be built of the red woods of the State highly polished. The Miniature Ferris wheel which has been in Los Angeles several years will be sent to the Exposition with the cars packed with dried fruits.

Louisiana, too, has been fortunate in securing large space. She has reserved 1500 feet in the agriculture building and 500 in the forestry building. In this it is proposed to have a complete assortment of the hard woods native to the Pelican State, also the fruits and flowers for which the State is famous.

The Oregon commissioners have sent word that their exhibits are packed for shipment. Some of the features are nine-pound potatoes, the largest cherries and biggest apples grown and trees six feet in diameter.

March 4: Mssrs. Charles A. Orr and J. E. Ewell, representing the G.A.R., held a long conference with Director-General William I. Buchanan of the Pan-American Exposition yesterday afternoon, relative to the designation of a G.A.R. day at the Exposition. No definite arrangement was made and an adjournment was taken with the understanding that the memorial and executive committee of the G.A.R., which held its regular monthly meeting last night, should appoint a committee to prepare plans and later make necessary arrangements with the Pan-American authorities if it is finally decided to have a G.A.R day as Mr. Orr thinks is very likely.

The annual G.A.R. National Encampment is to be held at Cleveland next September. It is proposed, if consultation with all interested persons proves such a course satisfactory, to try and have the Exposition authorities set aside a day soon after the close of the encampment as G.A.R. day. By so doing it is thought a large number of veterans from all parts of the country could be induced to attend the Exposition on the day set aside for them, as the railroad fare from Cleveland to Buffalo could be made very low. These details will probably be the subject of future conferences in committee and between the committee and Director-General Buchanan.

The local G.A.R posts are anxious to help the Pan-American all they can, and they think that the Exposition should reciprocate and treat the veterans with as much courtesy as possible.

March 5: Wisconsin lumbermen have inaugurated a movement to transplant a lumber camp from the Badger State to the Exposition grounds. Their scheme is to plant a grove of pine trees near the Forestry building, and to build among those a typical lumberman's shack with all the accessories of a lumbering season. The shack will be built of logs and each lumbering company that contributes toward the scheme will be entitled to have its name emblazoned upon the end of a log. C.H. Hambright, the secretary of the Wisconsin Commission, is the father of the scheme, which has found favor with every lumber concern in the State.

Whalers and cod-fishers will be represented by an exhibit at the Pan-American Exposition, owing to the activity of the Board of Trade of Gloucester, Mass. It will include models of fishing and whaling vessels which were exhibited at the Paris Exposition, and which are now on their way home, together with new models and products of Gloucester manufactories, including glue, nets, twines, and fishing lines.

March 6: About 300 men quit work at the Pan-American grounds this morning, owing to the intense cold. The men reported for work as usual. When they arrived at the grounds at 7 o'clock they found the weather much colder, apparently, than in the city. At the Service Building and at other places the mercury was three degrees below zero. It was the coldest morning of the winter upon the grounds, although not as tedious as some others on account of the tranquility of the air. Still it looked like too serious a proposition to go to work upon the roofs and towers of the various buildings upon which the rays of the bright sun were coldly glinting. All the working men whose jobs were high beyond all proposition to their pay decided to wait until noon, and so avoid being transformed into icy statues of the Eminence of Labor.

March 7: Leadville miners propose to exhibit a gold mine in actual operation at the Pan-American Exposition. Supt. David T. Day of the Mines and Metallurgy Department states that the Colorado gold people would like to rent the whole of the Mines building if they could. The Cripple Creek consolidation, failing to preempt all the space in the building, have taken all they could and propose to make it the finest gold display ever produced. About $75,000 worth of nuggets will be shown in one glass-covered pyramid 10 feet high in the center of the building.

The frozen fields of the Klondike and the wave-lapped shores of Cape Nome will also contribute of their auriferous treasures to make an attractive display at the Exposition.

March 8: Supt. Jacob S. Otto of the sanitary department of the Pan-American Exposition says the exhibits under his charge will be very interesting. Although they will not appeal to the eye of most persons and hold them like the gold exhibits, they will be a source of instruction to students of sociology.

Among the objects of especial interest will be models of ideal tenement houses with the plans accompanying them. Another attraction will be a 25-foot model of the Chicago drainage canal.

The system in use in Berlin, whereby garbage and sewage, instead of being a cause of expense, will be a source of revenue to municipalities, and of benefit to market gardeners and farmers in the region about cities, will also be illustrated. Mr. Otto says Berlin derives an annual revenue of $7,000 from the sale of its garbage alone.

Mr. Otto will also present an ideal park and public bath system for cities where the land is too high to be obtained on a very large scale for those purposes, presenting a scheme whereby the bath houses may be located under ground in the parks. In addition to these there will be exhibited great lines of athletic and hygienic apparatus.

March 9: In order to decry any alarm from expected exorbitant charges, and to show a few avariciously-disposed landlords and landladies how futile will be their hope of extorting from $3 to $4 a night from visitors to the Pan-American Exposition, the Pan-American officials have issued a statement through W.D. Thayer, superintendent of the Exposition Bureau of Information and Registration, showing that accommodations are so ample that extortion will be impossible.

The statement shows that the Exposition has already registered upon its list of good clean accommodations in the best residential districts of the city 170 boarding houses, 232 rooming houses and 330 hotels where guests will find good beds from 50 cents up to $2 a night. In many of the hotels and boarding houses an additional charge of 25 cents will be added for breakfast and supper where those meals are desired. The Exposition Company also has a list of 3060 private families who will take in transient lodgers. The majority of them have signified their willingness to rent a bed for 50 cents, 75 cents or $1 a night, the latter including householders chiefly in the Elmwood district.

Altogether the Exposition Company has accommodations for 125,000 visitors on its list. As the experience of expositions goes, it is seldom that the number of visitors from outside the city ever exceeds 50,000 in one day. Probably it will not occur 10 times during the entire Exposition season.

Thus it will be seen that the Exposition is not exposed to the damaging avarice of a few harpies, every ready to snatch where they have not sown.

March 10: (an advertisement by the H.A. Meldrum Co. store) Another necessity of the marvelous growth and popularity of this store is the establishment of a Bureau for the listing and renting of rooms in Buffalo, to accommodate thousands of patrons, friends and business connections living out of town, who constantly besiege us with questions and requests. We give general notice, therefore, that we shall open such a Bureau on Monday, March 18th, and continue it until the Exposition closes. It will be completely organized and equipped to accommodate visitors, assign them to rooms, and furnish all necessary information conducive to their comfort and pleasure. It will be a great relief to anxious room owners. If you have any first-class rooms to let this summer, come and list them with us, you will get the best class of tenants, and our system makes payment certain. The H.A. Meldrum Company's reliability and reputation guarantee that anyway. If you have friends or relatives out of town that you want to be well taken care of without extra expense, worry or annoyance, whether their stay is for one night or six months, tell them to write to us for full information concerning the Pan-American Exposition, let them know that we will render free the important service of getting comfortable, clean, well-furnished, well-kept rooms at moderate cost, besides giving them all other information FREE. Bureau opens March 18th.

March 11: A company of which Councilman Charles F. Dunbar is president, Alexander Griffiths of Welland, Ont, vice-president, Robert Lynn Cox, secretary, Harry J. Koch and John T. Dunn, members, has been incorporated with a capital stock of $50,000 for the purpose of transporting people to the Exposition ground this summer by means of horse vehicles. The concern is to be known as the West Side Wagonette Company and is incorporated under the omnibus section of the transportation corporation law. It will not be necessary to secure any franchise from the city, although the vehicles will be subject to license under the city ordinances.

Mr. Cox said the purpose of the company is to make it possible for the people of the thickly settled portion of the West Side to get to the Exposition quickly and comfortably. The company calculates that it will be well nigh impossible for anyone to get a seat on a street car after it gets north of Virginia street, and the company will take care of the overflow, or as much of it as it can.

He continued, "Our omnibuses, or wagonettes, as we prefer to call them, will be light, two-horse vehicles, entered from the rear by a step and having on each side a long seat to hold 10 persons comfortably. They will be open except for a canopy or surrey top, but will have side curtains that can be let down in case of bad weather. The fare over all of our lines will be the same, but we have not yet decided whether it will be less than five cents. The wagonettes will have rubber tires."

March 12: Missouri has declared her intention of carrying off the medals and prizes for apples at the Pan-American Exposition, conceding that New York will carry off the honors in pears and quinces.

The Iron State has 200 barrels of Ben Davis apples in cold storage here in Buffalo and 125 more in St. Louis. They are the pick of over 17,000 barrels offered in competition for the exhibit. The apples run about 250 to the barrel, where the ordinary apple of commerce runs from 350 to 400. Every apple is of the largest size and is wrapped in tissue and paraffin papers, being packed in excelsior to prevent bruising. About the 15th of April they will be inspected for specks, and then sent to the cold storage cellars under the Horticulture building.

Two hundred plates, containing five apples each, will be exhibited at a time, being renewed every 10 days. The exhibit is calculated to last until the summer and fall fruit can be sent to relieve it. In the meantime strawberries from the southern end of the state will be forwarded early in June, ending with St. Louis county berries in the last of the month. Raspberries, blackberries, early peaches and apples will follow in succession as they ripen.

March 13: (Special from the News Bureau, Washington, D.C.) Supervising architect Taylor announces that the Government building at the Pan-American Exposition is now practically completed, and that he will next week send a special agent to Buffalo to make the final inspection of the building, preparatory to its acceptance from the contractors.

Mr. Taylor says that he very much regrets that Congress failed at the last session to comply with the recommendation of Secretary Gage and vote to the contractors, Rasmussen & Strenlow, the $15,000 which they were damaged by the cyclone of last summer. He believes, however, that the money will be voted to them at the next session of Congress, as the department will urgently insist upon its being done.

Mr. Taylor has now begun work upon the 40 or more public buildings for which Congress, in the last hours of the last session, voted to increase the limit of the cost, to make up for the increased cost of building material. The plans and specifications will be prepared as soon as possible and then the people of Jamestown and Lockport will soon have the satisfaction of seeing work in progress upon their buildings, for which they have waited so long.

March 14: The Buffalo Young Men's' Christian Association has made extensive plans to cooperate with the associations throughout North America as a bureau of information with reference to the Pan-American Exposition.

A circular of information has been forwarded to 1500 associations, representing a membership of 250,000 young men. An Exposition secretary has been engaged with headquarters at the Mohawk street building. His time is fully occupied in handling the correspondence and in securing the local information desired. The membership of the associations throughout the country is largely composed of the wage-earner class. Young men who will be unable to visit the Exposition if required to pay either the hotel or private house rates. To extend a helpful hand to this class the Buffalo association has made arrangements to convert portions of four of its buildings into dormitories. Three hundred men can be accommodated daily with lodgings at 50 cents, 75 cents and $1, according to conveniences.

As the surroundings will be clean and wholesome and the visitors will have free access to the splendid bathing facilities, these accommodations at half the prevailing rate will be a boon to the young men of limited means and insure the attendance of several thousand who could not visit the Exposition if compelled to pay higher rates. The Central building will provide for 100 men. The German department 100. The Exchange street railroad department has leased two floors in the Rumsey building adjoining its present rooms and will accommodate 75 men and the East Buffalo railroad department will take care of 25.

The railroad department will accommodate railroad men only. Associations all over the country are working up Pan-American clubs. Yesterday a club of 50 men at Pittsfield, Mass., Y.M.C.A. engaged lodgings for the last week in July.

The Young Men's Christian Association offers this provision as a contribution to the problem of caring for the great wage-earning class at reasonable rate during the Exposition. The association desires to help place the educative power of the Exposition within reach of the mechanics and clerks of the country.

March 15: A few weeks ago the Exposition authorities notified the Common Council that another fire house was ready for occupancy and that the safety of the Exposition required that apparatus be placed in it.

The Fire Commissioner recommended that bonds be issued for $18,000 for two new combination hose and chemical wagons and the salaries of the men. The Committee on Fire last evening voted to report in favor of $15,000 in two-year bonds. It was calculated that arrangements could be made whereby the Fire Department could get along with $3,000 less than was asked for.

March 16: Still another strike is on at the Pan-American Exposition grounds. About 20 laborers and plasterers' helpers are dissatisfied with their wages of $1.75 a day and demand $2. Not getting it, they struck. As the helpers were out the plasterers could not work and they, too, are now idle. There were rumors yesterday that they were out for an increase of wages, but there seems no warrant for that statement.

Only the men employed by Smith & Eastman are out. Those employed by the other staff and plaster contractors are still at work. The plasterers signed a contract last fall in which they engaged to work for $4 a day until the Exposition work was completed.

Director of Works Carlton gave out a statement on the strike this afternoon. He said in part, "The plaster contractors on the Exposition grounds have an agreement with the Operative Plasterers' International Association, Local No.9, which provides for a rate of $4 per day until September 21, 1901. In this agreement it is stated that the union will not sanction any demand for an increase in wages over this rate and that so far as they are able they will as a body used all means at their command to make the rate a permanent one for the time mentioned in the contract. While the contractors do not claim that the union is officially sanctioning the strike, nevertheless they are not discouraging it. The plasterers have a magnified idea of the work that remains to be done on the Exposition grounds. A statement has been made that 100 men would be required for six weeks in order to complete the cement steps. The fact is that 10 men in less than six weeks could complete all the cement steps that are outlined. The Exposition has its choice of completing these steps in cement or making them of wood and if the plasterers' strike continues, the latter course will be followed.

March 17: (Associated Press)Two hundred animals consigned to a menagerie and destined ultimately for the Pan-American Exposition have reached Baltimore, according to a special to the World. They came on two steamers and are valued altogether at $100,000. Many of them are well-trained, while others are absolutely wild. They include two Indian elephants, two African zebras, five Abyssinian hyenas, two East India jaguars, five East Indian leopards, three royal Bengal tigers, six Polar bears, two Himalaya Mountain sloth bears, two Indian cassowaries, two African emus, Indian yak, six African ostriches, three male African lions, three African lionesses, two Nubian lions and lionesses, one African giraffe, three South American panthers, one case of East India snakes, pythons, anacondas, boa constrictors, etc., 100 birds and monkeys of various kinds and sizes from Africa, India, Gibraltar and Ceylon.'";

March 18: The coming week will see mighty strides made toward the completion of the exterior of the Pan-American Exposition. The colonnades flanking both the Court of Lilies and the Court of Cypresses will be begun. While this is going on Landscape Gardener Ulrich will begin preparing the flower beds in these courts for the reception of the bulbs and early flowers.

Work will also begin upon the Grange building, the official headquarters for the Grangers of this State during the Exposition. Within the week the Bazaar building will be under cover. As soon as the roof is on work will begin upon the quarters to be occupied next summer by representatives of the press both local and at large. It will be completely equipped with every convenience, including telephone and telegraphic services.

Painting will be rushed upon the curved pergolas, which will receive a warm white treatment, upon the various canal bridges and upon the Grand Basin. Supt. bell will also complete the statuary groups of the various fountains and such others as have been waiting for their bases and general environment to be made ready for them.

March 19: Director of Works Carlton realized the full force of the Spanish proverb, "In trouble to be troubled, 'tis to have your trouble doubled," when he was informed of a new strike at the Exposition grounds yesterday.

This second strike was made by the modelers. Of the 48 union men employed on the grounds, every man laid down his tools and quit work yesterday afternoon. The cause of the strike was the refusal of the contractors to grant an increase of 20 per cent in wages.

The modelers are the men employed to make the clay and staff ornaments for the various buildings at the grounds. The largest number are employed by a contractor to make the ornaments for the big buildings. Others are employed by another contractor upon the ornamentation of the Government building, and the rest supply the clay ornaments for the buildings on the Midway. They have been paid from $6 a day up. Yesterday they concluded that they should be getting from $1 to $2 a day more, and struck when their demand was refused. Their action ties up for a time the completion of the Fountain of Abundance, the Acetylene building, New England building, bakery and a number of State buildings.

There are a few non-union modelers still at work. The contractors state that there is not more than two weeks' work remaining to be done and that they expect to struggle through without much embarrassment by what they stigmatize as the latest attempted hold-up.

A few striking plasterers returned to work yesterday and still a larger number of new men were hired to take the places of the men still out. It is stated that the bottom has now fallen out of the strike and that the plasterers realize that they have the worst of it.

March 20: Cattaraugus Indians have determined to display their physical prowess at the Pan-American Exposition and have formed an athletic association. Their object is to select all-Seneca football, baseball and lacrosse teams, taking such men as Pearce, Jemmerson and Kennedy, which will meet all comers in the Stadium.

Moses Shongo, the celebrated Indian bandmaster for Uncle Sam, is back of the project, and he has enlisted the aid of Capt. Lawton, who has charge of the Six Nations Village.

March 21: Another instructive sketch book of the Pan-American Exposition has made its appearance in a small booklet recently published by the Wm. Hengerer Company. It is an attractive little souvenir of 24 pages containing much descriptive matter appertaining to the coming Exposition and is embellished by 11 clever pencil sketches of the building and the grounds. An explanatory page follows each picture serving to give an adequate impression of the beauties and wonders of the Exposition.

The edition is limited to 500,000 copies and is printed on specially prepared paper of which three car loads were used. The cover is printed in eight colors and on it is depicted the electric tower and the fountain in front. This is a valuable souvenir and will command the attention of all those who want a graphic and concise book on the Exposition.

March 22: Dr. Nelson W. Wilson is receiving the congratulations of his friends because of his appointment by Dr. Roswell Park as sanitary officer of the Pan-American Exposition. Dr. Park is the medical director of the Exposition, and his selection of Dr. Wilson for the important post of sanitary officer is a marked compliment to the young physician and surgeon.

Dr. Wilson has had excellent practical experience which fits him for the duties which he will soon assume. He has also served as surgeon in the United States Army, having been in charge at Fort Porter for a considerable length of time. Dr. Wilson will be practically the health officer of the Exposition, performing the duties on the grounds such as Dr. Wende performs for the city -- that is, to guard against sources of disease and to suppress them if they appear. His task is an important one.

March 23: The Pan-American Exposition will be opened positively upon the 1st of May. Moreover it will be substantially complete in every detail, save for a few State buildings and some exhibits which always come late. The officials were extremely annoyed this morning to find the statement spread broadcast with every attribute of airy responsibility that the Exposition will not be opened until the 20th.

"I deny the statement that the Exposition will not be opened on the 1st of May," said Director-General Buchanan. "There is not a word of truth in the story. I am at a loss to know where the statement that the Exposition will not be opened until the 20th of May originated, but it was probably from some confusion of Opening Day with Dedication Day. The dedication will not be held until the 20th, when those blossoms will be in full radiance, and the hues of Aurora have been spread with master hand, but that was understood and so published long ago. On the other hand, Opening Day with its characteristic ceremonies, will be celebrated upon the 1st of May. That is positive."

March 24: Two workmen saved themselves from being crippled for life by the strength of their grip at the Pan-American Exposition. The two were working on a scaffold in the "Holy City" when it gave way and fell 20 feet to the frozen ground.

The two, who were carpenters, grabbed involuntarily for the nearest object within reach and grasped a cross-timber. Eventually they dragged themselves up to the roof and descended to the ground by a ladder. One of the two, Orange Osgood, sustained a sprained wrist and was obliged to go to the hospital.

March 25: Algar M. Wheeler of the Department of Manufacture is properly elated over the fact that Tiffany & Co. of New York have concluded to exhibit at the Pan-American on a big scale, including all the branches of the business. The firm was willing to make the display here only on condition that they could secure just the accommodations that suited them, and as a result of negotiations with Maj. Wheeler the firm has secured big space and a good location in the Manufacturers' Building. There will be two exhibits, that of Tiffany & Co., jewelers, silversmiths and goldsmiths, and that of Louis Tiffany of Tiffany Studios, glassworkers in cathedral and decorative glass. The Tiffanys have assured Maj. Wheeler that their display will surpass that of either the World's Fair or the Paris Exposition. In value the exhibit will exceed a million dollars.

March 26: "The plumbers who struck yesterday are still out," said Superintendent of Plumbing George P. Brintnall to a NEWS reporter at the Pan-American grounds this morning. "I have strong hopes, however," he continued, "that the trouble will be adjusted and that the men will go back to work tomorrow or next day."

The men who are out are employed by Hanley & Casey of Chicago and Dark & Co. of Buffalo. The Chicago men have been paying their plumbers $3.50 a day and the Buffalo employers have been paying between $3 and $3.50 a day of eight hours. The men demand a uniform rate of $4 a day. There are about 25 men on strike and while their action at this time is annoying the Exposition officials it is not thought the delay will be serious. The men were at work on the toilet rooms of the various buildings.

March 27: Will the dealers take advantage of the Exposition and raise their prices? After a successful season the ice companies have stopped cutting ice, their houses being full. It is said that all the local ice firms have harvested big crops and they will have plenty of the cooling substance on hand to supply the crowd of visitors expected at the Pan-American Exposition. It is intimated there is a possibility of the dealers raising prices. No definite information can be obtained on their plans as yet.

March 28: Landscape architect Otto Ulrich has an army of 650 men clearing up the Exposition grounds preparatory to the subsequent work of spring gardening. The army is divided into platoons, companies and squads, which are detailed on a task that is almost Augean in its proportions. The largest number were engaged in breaking up slag along the borders of the Court of Fountains and the sunken gardens, where the steam rollers cannot operate. Others were leveling the slag in the Esplanade and Plaza. A third corps was strewing the surface of the slag with cinders. As soon as the ground settles sufficiently the steam rollers will be started over this material, crushing it down into the clay where, when the ground hardens, it will constitute a smooth pavement. The surface adjoining the fountains will be covered with asphalt. The rest will be covered with small crushed stone or gravel.

Removing piles of rubbish and general clearing up occupied another force. This work will be held back for some time, however, until the ground becomes firm enough to bear the wagons which will cart the refuse away.

Other men are transforming the mall into the garden spot of the Exposition. They have covered the asphalt pavement and curb of Amherst street with earth, which in turn will be strewn with gravel and packed into a hard road by the steam road roller. The sloping sides are to be filled with flower beds. These, together with the scores of sculptured Hercules and Bacchantes between the trees will form a very pleasing environment for hundreds of benches on each side of the Mall. It is designed to be one of the favorite haunts for sentimental people, a veritable lovers' lane on summer nights, when it is illuminated by the electric lights on the Machinery, Liberal Arts, Agriculture, and Electricity buildings.

March 29: "We will get there on time," was the cheering announcement of Director-General Buchanan after a survey of the field at the Pan-American grounds this morning. This is one of the brightest days seen within the Exposition gates for weeks, and the place is teeming with progress. The mud is dried sufficiently to allow teams to be driven, and hundreds of them are engaged in carting away rubbish.

The staging was removed this morning from the Liberal Arts Building and the Temples of Music and Ethnology. This allows these handsome buildings to be seen in their new colors, and they are pronounced extremely beautiful. The laying of asphalt pavement in the Esplanade is progressing rapidly. More men are set to work upon it next week. A number of men are engaged in constructing a raised walk around the Court of Fountains.

The Bazaar and the Acetylene buildings are being roofed over. Staff is being laid on the former at a rapid rate. The towers of the monumental bridge are about completed, and the staff men are right at the heels of the carpenters.

March 30: Steve Dermback of 83 East Huron street was the victim of a peculiar accident at the Pan-American grounds today. Dermback was engaged with other laborers in setting up the huge plaster horses of the Quadriga on the Ethnology building, and stood upon a platform on the top of one of the porticos. A careless painter at the top of the building dropped his paint bucket and it came bounding down the side of the dome. As it neared the portico it struck an obstruction and executed a jump, striking Dermback on the top of the head and leaving the impression that one of the plaster horses had kicked him.

When he came to he felt relieved to find it was only a paint pot that struck him. The cut in his scalp was sewed up by Dr. Allen in the Pan-American Hospital.

March 31: Beginning April 2, the force of men employed at the Pan-American grounds will be doubled and trebled. Where 5,000 were working heretofore 10,000 will be busy before the end of the week, and the number will be still further increased as fast as the men can be secured.

This is the card the Pan-American officials have had up their sleeves when they declared so confidently that the Exposition will be ready on the 1st of May. Having this in their possession they were in a position to refute at the proper time the assaults of the vindictive or short-sighted who declared that the opening day would have to be postponed. The number of men would have been increased before this had the condition of the grounds been such as to permit them to work. As long as the snow and mud held sway only limited number could be used. Now, however, laborers, gardeners, carpenters, plasterers, pavers, as many as there can be found, will be set to work and a place to stand, will be set to work in a grand drive that shall make the Exposition complete by Opening Day.

The prosecution of the work will know no let-up by day, night or Sunday. Today while the bells are inviting the devout to worship the ring of hammers and the thud of mattock will be heard on the grounds. About as many men will be employed there today as during the past week. It is a measure of necessity, as the officials view it, to which every other consideration must yield.

Progress along the line was very noticeable when the week ended with yesterday's sunset. The life-saving station on the Park Lake is painted and ready for its exhibit. The bridge across the lake is within striking distance of completion. The log house which is to be the retreat of the directors during the Exposition is ready for the chimney and interior fittings. The temporary art gallery is ready for the glass roof. The material for this is on the way and will arrive within a few days. The building will be then finished off a room at a time, and the exhibits will be installed as fast as a room is ready. The last room will be finished by the middle of April.

The "Field Marshall", as Otto Ulrich, the efficient landscape architect is often affectionately termed by his associates in recognition of his successful operations on a large scale, had his army of men out yesterday, bringing order out of chaos. They moved over the grounds leveling, paving, building platforms, spading flower beds, and carting away rubbish, showing results wherever they moved. A number threw open the frames of the hotbeds, and let the warm sunshine beam wooingly upon the pansies and kindred blossoms that are waiting to be transplanted as soon as the earth is warmed enough. Most of them are already in blossom.
 
 

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