importance as the political center of the territory. Skagway, "home of the north wind," is the most northern point visited by those who choose to cling to the shores rather than leave the comfort of their steamer for the inconveniences of inland travel in a new country.

However, it was not scenic advantages that the Exposition of 1909 attempted to reveal. This exhibition was directed by hard-headed business men who never lost sight of the objective point, to so graphically display the opportunities Alaska offers the homeseeker and capitalist that sturdy spirits might be prompted to settle there or to make investments.

Seattle was the natural place for the holding of such an exhibition. In the first place, her phenomenal growth resulted from the exodus to the gold-fields. Here the gold-seekers were fitted out for the exposures of their journey; here they returned, when successful, to spend some of the precious metal they had won. From a town of 40,000, within eight years Seattle became a city of 200,000, and the building carried on during that period amazed a nation. But the advantage of being the gateway to Alaska is but one of many possessed by this enterprising center. Its position is enviable. It stands on Puget Sound, the finest body of deep water in the western hemisphere. While many harbors have been created at great cost, Seattle possesses miles of natural wharfage adequate for the largest ocean vessels. At the present time the government is digging a canal which shall admit ships from the Sound to the fresh water lakes within the city itself, Lake Union and Lake Washington. When this was first begun, it was advocated that our battleships could thus come into fresh water and be freer of barnacles without the costly scraping. Far more important than that will be the fact that materials can thus be transported to the very factories and manufactures which will spring up around these lakes.

Furthermore, Seattle is convenient to the trade of the Orient. Ships from Japan and China are constantly in and out the harbor. The trade with Australia is already considerable and it was hoped to stimulate greater commercial intercourse with Central and South Americas.

It is doubtful whether an American city rivals Seattle in its situation. Built on a series of hills, it brings to mind

Scriptural phraseology that a city so placed cannot be hid. Its lights are visible many miles away. In front, the Sound; across this great sheet of quiet water, a line of firs against the sky and above them, the Cascades in eternal loveliness. In another direction lie the placid lakes and in the sky beyond Lake Washington, Mount Ranier, 14,500 feet high, suddenly appears, huge, round, like an inverted sugar-bowl.

The campus of the University of Washington was chosen for the exposition site. Nothing man could do to produce a beautiful spectacle could compare with what nature had already done. For this reason moderation characterized all adornment of grounds. The ones promoting the enterprise determined that funds expended should not be wasted but contribute to the permanent welfare of the state university. Several of the buildings erected were designed for future purposes when the fair should be concluded.

Twelve exhibit palaces were constructed: Government Building, Alaska Building, Yukon, Hawaii, and the Philippine Buildings; Forestry, Fine Arts, Agricultural and Horticultural, Mines, Fisheries, Manufactures and Machinery Buildings.

European nations were asked to exhibit whatever would illustrate their interest in Pacific trade. There was an earnest effort made to have every land that faces the Pacific Ocean represented. Save for its own exhibit and that of Alaska and the Philippines, the government contributed nothing. It was desired by the promoters that the exposition receive no outside aid.

Ground was broken on the 250-acre campus for the first building June 1, 1907. "Ready on Time" was the slogan. President Roosevelt sent the following message, being unable personally to take part in the celebration of the work actually begun: "You can say in strongest terms that I am a staunch believer in the great Pacific Northwest and the Alaska-Yukon country. It has a future of unlimited opportunity, backed up by limitless resources and possibilities. Seattle and other

cities of Puget Sound and the Northwest are fortunate in facing the Pacific Ocean, with its vast commerce, and having everything to make them great and prosperous centers of population, trade and influence. The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition will be typical of the spirit and progress of the section it represents, and I wish it great success."

The center of the Alaska Building was the magnet that attracted all eyes. Upon black velvet and under a secure case was exhibited more than one million dollars worth of gold in nuggets. It was shown that in the last twelve years Alaska had produced enough gold to make a pile of twenty-dollar pieces ten miles high-twice as high as the Himalayas. Salmon exported in 1908 realized nearly $11,000,000; other fish reached half a million; copper is an important mineral and steadily increasing in annual yield.

British Columbia has unguessed resources. It is estimated that it could supply enough coal for the civilized world for one hundred years to come. Only one-tenth of its arable land has been taken up and but a small portion of that is under cultivation, yet its fruit yield amounts to $4,000,000 per year.

The government made special exhibits of its lighthouses, Coast surveys and safeguards for navigation. These are important in view of merely Alaskan trade which amounts to $50,000,000 per year. The Philippine exhibit attracted many spectators. Fine and costly woods are here obtained. The pearl fisheries are important. Native huts were reproduced. A relief map of the islands was instructive.

Fresh pineapple was served by native girls in the Hawaiian Building at the slight charge of ten cents, made merely to defray the cost. Those who tasted the fruit which had ripened under favorable conditions can testify to how different it was from that gathered long before it is ready for general shipment. A sugar palace, reproducing in miniature the palace of native kings before the new government was instituted, attracted much attention and was sadly encroached upon before the summer ended. It was made entirely of native brown sugar. The rice industry was well illustrated.

The Forestry Building outdid the one built previously at Portland. This was 320 by 144 feet and the roof was supported by tree trunks forty feet in height and five in diameter. It would have been a simple thing to have procured immense trees for this purpose, but the promoters of the fair refused to consider such an idea. They wished to use logs the size of those cut every day into lumber at the Tacoma mills. The slogan, "The truth is good enough," was constantly seen at this exposition, and the moderation exercised elicited the admiration

of those who saw it far more than any extravagant displays could have done. As a matter of fact, those who had contracted to supply the necessary number of logs found it hard to find enough whose diameter should not exceed five feet, but they were bound by their contract to eliminate all others. This building has since become the home of the Forestry Department of the University.

Machinery Hall was a place where great machines might be watched crushing rock to free the ore, or achieving some other end. It seemed unlike other buildings of a similar purpose in that it was a busy place where operations were in the doing. The lumber industry which employs one hundred thousand men in the state of Washington, was illustrated in all stages at this fair. The building has become the home of the engineering department. It was built of solid brick.

The Auditorium, a brick structure costing $300,000, has become the Assembly Hall of the campus. The Fine Arts Building, costing $200,000, has been taken over by the chemistry department. It was made fireproof. The Arctic Brotherhood Building is now a museum of Natural History and a fraternity house for Alaskan students.

The western states particularly made fine displays.

In every way the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition was successful. As at Portland, when all the bills were paid, there was still money remaining. More than 42,000 people were on the grounds daily and they have done much to make the wonders of the west known to those who could not be present. Although there is not likely to be any unnatural growth such as that which preceded 1909, there is a steady stream of people pressing westward to find new homes. The mining regions, agricultural centers, the apple districts of Idaho, Washington and Oregon, the citrus regions of California, all receive their share.

Of the trade of the Pacific, which amounts to $4,000,000,000, it was stated at this exposition that the United States has one-fifth. Commercial intercourse with Australia is very satisfactory, this country supplying an important lumber market. It is hoped to stimulate and extend the trade with South American countries as well as with the republics of Central America.

CHAPTER XVIII.

PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION.

ASIDE from the Pan-American Exposition, the intent of which was to unite more closely the nations and peoples of the American continents, and the Alaskan-Yukon Exposition, which was intended to illustrate the vast resources of Alaska and the Northwest, all expositions held in the United States have commemorated some historical event of signal importance. The Panama-Pacific Exposition, on the contrary, commemorated a physical achievement, whose influence carried with it world-wide significance. By opening new trade routes and modifying old ones, the Panama Canal has affected the commerce of every nation, to a greater or less degree.

The history of the Canal, conceived as early as 1520 by Charles V. of Spain, seriously begun by a French company in 1878, has become a familiar story. During the years in which the United States government carried on the work of construction, and before this was actually begun—when, indeed, the Sanitary Commission was making the surrounding region suitable for habitation-questions of policy, expediency and safety were argued frequently before Congress and were discussed by the public press throughout the land. Suffice it to say that the cost of the Canal, approximating $400,000,000, was greater than any previous expenditure made by this nation for a single achievement.

Several cities contended for the honor of the international exposition which was to celebrate the Canal completed. It was due to the enterprise and activity of San Francisco's leading citizens that Congress accorded it to the metropolis of the Pacific Coast.

An area comprising six hundred and twenty-five acres, ex-. tending for more than two miles along the water front, was chosen as the site, and on the 14th of October, 1911, President Taft turned the first spade of earth on the grounds. On the 2d of February the year following the nations of the world were invited to participate in the great fair designed