Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1893 — HUGE GLOBE FOR THE FAIR. [ARTICLE]

HUGE GLOBE FOR THE FAIR.

An Accurate Model of the Earth, 63 Feet in Circumference. An interesting feature of the Governmental exhibit at the World's Fair will be a model of the earth, with all the geometrical accuracy that mechauismaud art can give to such a difficult representation. It is intended to form a part of the exhibit from the General Land Office of the Interior Department. So far as known, it is the largest globe ever constructed. It will surmount a star-shaped edifice, which pedestal will elevate the monster globe fifteen feet above the floor, so that it will rise above the surrounding exhibits of the Fish Commission aud Census Office. The latter, by the way, consists in a wall plastered with Mr. Porter’s unreliable figures of manufactures and population The pedestal for the gigantic globe will, with its ingenious construction, afford opportunity for the display of six big maps of the new States of Wyoming, Idaho. Montana, AVashiugton and the two Dakotas. The edifice may be entered through five doorways, to be artistically draped with flags, the arrangement' of which will have a significance beyond a mere blending of colors. No doorway, for instance, will be decorated with a combination of flags of rival nations. A circular apartment in the centre of the globe's pedestal will contain interesting tabulated statements of the condition of the public lands. The room will be fifteen feet in height, with a convex ceiling formed by the lower part of the globe. An interior stairway will afford access to a balcony around the base of the globe, which will be supported on a horizontal axis, turned by a small motor, instead of being placed at an angle of 674 degrees, as the world is actually hung in space. The globe is about C 3 feet in circumference, with a diameter of 20 feer,superficial area of 1,236 feet, and weight of 4,000 pounds. It will bear upon its surfaces representations of the land and water on a scale of 69 miles to 1} inches measured at the equator. The degrees of longitude and parallels of latitude are indicated, together with the zone lines, the isothermal lines, the principal steamship lines, and an appropriate tracing of the route of Columbus ou the voyage of 1492. The divisions of land, with the boundaries, even down to the provinces of countries and the location of the larger cities, and the direction of the rivers and streams are represented with fidelity. The globe will, ns stated, be supported on a horizontal axis, since that position affords a better view of the depiction on its surface than if it were tilted to the geometrically accurate aDgle. There will be very little to represent at the south pole beyond the vague lines of Graham’s Land. The apparatus for turning the globe will be placed at this end of the axis, and hidden from view by an immense representation of the official seal of the General Laud Office, which will serve as a screen, and lend significant decoration to an otherwise prosaic part of the globe. The General Laud Office exhibit was planued in .all of its details by Mr. A. L. Pitney of Washington, D. C., formerly a clerk in the Land Office. His experience in connection with the Centennial, New Orleans, and Paris Expositions, together with his known assiduity as a worker and ability in preparing Eovel and instructive exhibits, led to his being placed in charge of the Columbian exhibit of the General Land Office. The globe was designed, constructed, and is now being finished by Mr. Pitney. He has erected it in a building especially built to accommodate the great boll and to protect it from the weather during construction and decoration. Mr. Pitney has constructed a globe which can be taken apart and transported in sections. Its interior frame work is an ingenious but simple combination of girders aud struts supporting forty-eight sections, which are covered by a shell-like boarding, over which is securely stretched Scotch linen, upon which Mr. Pitney has painted, in distinct colors, a representation of the earth’s surface and the geographical divisions. The performances of Peary, Brainard, and the other arctic explorers are indicated by reproductions from the maps drawn by them. Mr. Pitney is working diligently to complete, by March l,the remaining artistic features of this globe, which has taken up a vast deal of his time already. He works far into the night under improvised gas jets which surround the globe like so many stars. In the course of his work he is obliged to consult the largest maps procurable. The scale on which the globe is based requires an enlargement of the maps which serve Mr. Pitney as a copy. Other features of the General Land Office exhibit will embrace paintings by Mr. Pitney, illustrative notably of mining in California and of the progress of locomotion in tfeis country. The latter is shown in an allegorical picture, which the artist calls “ a comparison of the carrying facilities of the United States.” The former pack animal, ox-wagons, canal-boat, and nine-ton five-mile-per-hour locomotive of 1829 are illustrated as retreating into the past, while rushing into the foreground of the picture, or the future, is a-mile-a-minute combination train, with its massive locomotive, its express car, its railway mail car, and attached Pullman coaches. The engineering feats of railroading are illustrated by a tunnel, from which the train is just emerging, and the curved bridge, which the train is just crossing. The maps of the six new States are not the only maps which will be shown, but they are particularly interesting on account of the manner of making and size, being the latest single sheet maps ever produced. They were drawn from the Land Office publications and are, notwithstanding their immense size, accurate in all details, and fine examples of the draughtsman’s skill. They were drawn by Mr. I. P. Berthrong and Mr. William Naylor, two gentlemen detailed from the Land Office to assist Mr. Pitney. Two very interesting features in addition to the maps and the paintings will be the reproduction, on a greatly enlarged scale, of a mineral patent and an agricultural patent. They will illustrate the documents in which so many public land holders are interested.