The Beginnings, - Chapter 1, Page 4

Six or seven miles from the business quarter of Chicago, on the southern verge of its park system, there lay a sandy waste of unredeemed and desert land, in its centre a marshy hollow, and without a trace of vegetation, save for a stunted growth of oak, and here and there a tangled mass of willow, flag and marsh grass, which served but to render its desolation still more desolate. On one side was the road bed of a suburban railway, on another a wall of solid masonry withstood the encroachments of an inland sea, and over the tract lay the bareness of a city's outskirts.

On the sand-hillocks of this plain, a few mule-teams and shovelmen (413K JPG image) were set at work grading in the spring of 1891; and thus was inaugurated the stupendous task of the World's Columbian Exposition. Here was the chosen site for the grandest achievement of artistic skill and mechanical ingenuity, the site of a group of buildings gigantic in plan and structure, a city of palaces arising from a network of gardens and pleasure grounds, all on a scale such as had never before been devised for such a purpose, such as few believed it possible to complete within so brief a period. As to the speed with which the work was accomplished, a comparison may here be made with the Paris Exposition of 1889, up to that date the largest, most successful, and most rapidly constructed of any of the great world's fairs. From the time of President Grevy's proclamation about four and a half years, and from the day when ground was broken, nearly three years elapsed before that display ready for the public. The time of President Harrison's proclamation was less than two and a half years, and the commencement of actual work less than two years before the formal opening of the Columbian Fair. In Paris, fourteen months were required for the erection of the Machinery hall, and nineteen for the Palace of Liberal Arts. In Chicago both these buildings could have been duplicated in less than half the time. In Paris the principal buildings covered a floor area of 75 acres, in Chicago more than 200 acres, while those of the latter far surpassed the Parisian structures in dimensions. Further comment is unnecessary; there are few who will care to dispute that the Garden city surpassed all others in rapidity of execution, as in immensity of design.

Before even the foundations could be laid of any of the Exposition buildings proper, a vast amount of expensive preliminary work was necessary, on account of the nature of the site and its distance from sources of supply. The marsh lands must be drained (95K JPG image) by the construction of artificial water-ways connecting with the lake and utilized in adding to the landscape effect of the grounds adjacent. On this and on landscape gardening, with fountains and statuary, at least $750,000 were expended. For grading and filling purposes, 1,200,000 cubic yards of earth must be handled at a cost of nearly $500,000. For a railroad track (79K JPG image) and rolling stock for the transportation of materials, another $500,000 was required; for viaducts, bridges, and piers, $200,000; for improvements on the lake front, $200,000; for water supply, and water, sewerage, and gas pipes, $600,000. Then there were buildings for construction purposes, with stores and boarding-houses for the accommodation of thousands of workmen; there were fire and police stations; there were quarters and offices for a corps of officials, with hundreds of minor details, all to be provided for before the real work of construction was begun.

It was not until the summer of 1891 that these preliminaries were accomplished, and the foundation laid of the Woman's building, the first to be taken in hand. Then was collected on the grounds an army of laborers, mechanics, architects, designers, artists, surveyors, and engineers, while elsewhere at distant points artificers by scores of thousands, representing every trade and handicraft, were toiling together for a common end. During this summer, from 5,000 to 6,000 men were at work on the buildings and site; in the following summer from 7,000 to 8,000, and in September, 1892, when the principle structures were almost completed, there were nearly 3,000 employees in the service of the Exposition company and 8,000 in the employ of contractors, the total of the pay-rolls exceeding $600,000 a month.

There is perhaps no more impressive feature in the Columbian Exposition than the task of its accomplishment and in the concentration of enterprise, skill, and intelligence whereby such an achievement was rendered possible have in itself an exhibition such as has never before been witnessed. The chief of construction was a man of rare executive ability, of strong personal magnetism, and one capable of inspiring in others a portion of his own enthusiasm. - Through his efforts was gathered together a corps of able artificers and architects who, while acting in concert and coordination under his direction, were permitted to realize their own individual plans in all the fullness of their ambition. Some interrupted a lucrative practice to devote themselves to the work, living at their quarters within the walls of a great enclosure without relaxation or amusement, tolling from dawn till dusk and often far into the night, heedless of self, and intent only on doing to the best of their ability whatsoever it was given them to do.

While the buildings were in process of construction one could almost realize' the colossal proportions of this enterprise. Entering the grounds in the spring of 1892, the visitor beheld such a scene of bustling activity as that which at the founding of Carthage greeted the father of the Roman race when first he set foot on Punic shores. And yet it was a silent activity that pervaded this group of mammoth structures, whose pillars and walls and domes were rising around him. Here was an army of mechanics, with hammer and saw and mallet, all plying their tools with the vigor of a true American workman; but amid the wide spaces that separated these huge architectural efforts the noise was barely perceptible. Then there was an air of unreality about this congregation of edifices, so strange in dimensions and design, rising as from the touch of a fairy's wand at the bidding of some potent agency. On one hand might be seen the two sections of an immense iron arch meeting as silently as shadows flitting athwart the sky; on another a pillar of stucco, the height of a two story house, being hoisted (JPG image of hoisting engine, 203 K) into air by a wire rope, and placed in position by a couple of men two hundred feet above ground.

In estimating the scope of the design, the observer would find himself at a loss for standards of measurement; for here the scale was so vast that there was nothing on which to base a comparison. In the Manufactures and Liberal Arts building, (JPG image 223K) for instance, he would see the largest arched roof in the world, supported without columns, and covering an area of 540,000 square feet. Beneath this monster arch a quarter of million people might be seated, and yet probably not one among them could think of anything that suggested to his mind an adequate idea of its dimensions. He might be told that in the roof over his head were 1,000 tons of iron and several hundred tons of glass; that the truss alone, with its purlines, weighed 200 tons; but this would neither add to his comfort, nor aid him in the mental process of admeasurement. To compare it with other buildings, either Europe or America was impossible, for there were none in existence; and to compare it with those on the grounds would be equally impossible, for adjacent structures, covering several acres of floor space, were dwarfed and dominated by this mammoth edifice.

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