Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1907 — BIG FAIR IS NOW ON. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BIG FAIR IS NOW ON.

JAMESTOWN EXPOSITION OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. $£ - ■. — : r - President Presses Gold Bntton, Delivers Address and Reviews Magnificent Naval Pageant Amid Thunderous Salutes. The exposition opened Friday by President Roosevelt on the shores of Hampton Roads, amid the .salutes of cannon from nearly 100 war ships and in the presence of numerous officials and diplomats representing our own and foreign governments, should have an interest for Americans second to none attaching to any former national exhibition in our history. The Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition commemorates the 300th anniversary of the first permanent English-speaking coL ony in America, and, besides, interest in It should be great-beeause of.—thA. many historic associations of the surrounding territory. The soil adjacent has been the scene of more bloody battles during the Revolutionary War, the war of 1812 and the Civil War than any other part of America. Yorktown and Appomattox are close by. Guns from the war ships of five great nations voiced a salute in unison to the American flag and to the President of the United States at the opening Of the Jamestown exposition. The Doom of the cannon sounded over the waters of Hampton Roads, where nearly half a century ago the Monitor and the Merrimac met In the memorable conflict which brought into being the armored craft of war.

From the “little Yankee cheesebox set upon a raft” and the rectangular mass of iron which carried the Confederate flag in 1862 to the modern fighting machines typified by the flower of the American navy is a far cry. Yet many of those who stood on the shore and saw the naval pageant in the roadstead recalled the day when the waters which form the rendezvous of great war vessels were splashing with the shot and shell of the first battle of steel-clad ships. From the bridge of the Mayflower, whose decks wore the meeting place of the peace plenipotentiaries of Russia and Japan less than two years ago. President Roosevelt reviewed the great assemblage of flag-draped fighters. Steaming down the long column the -President was greeted by each vessel with a salute of twenty-one guns. Ceremony Began at Sunrise. At sunrise the opening ceremonies were begun by the United States artillery, which fired a’ salute -of 300" guns. The President reached Discovery Lauding shortly before noon, and amid, applause from the thousands gathered to extend their welcome he was received by the exposition management. Then followed the program opening to the public the enterprise commemorating the three hundredth anniversary of the first English settlement in America. The exercises included an address by Harry St. George Tucker, president of the exposition,, and one by President Roosevelt, singing by the exposition chorus of 700 voices, the pressing of a gold button by Mr. Roosevelt, which marked the formal opening, and a review of the assembled military forces. The First Settlement. It was in the year 1607 that three small vessels which had sailed from London on the 10th day of the preceding December entered the broad waters of the James river. These were the Susan Constant of 100 tons, the Godspeed of 40

tons and the Discovery of 20 tons, commanded respectively by Christopher Newpert, Bartholomew Gosnold and John Ratcllffe. In this fleet were 105 men besides the crews. They had already landed a few days before upon a sandy point which they named Cape Henry, after the then Prince of Wales. Captain John Smith, destined to play an important role in our colonial history, waa at this

time in irons on board the Constant as a result of dissensions which had arisen while the little fleet delayed in the West Indies. On entering the James they hoped they had found a water waywhich, in accordance with their instructions, they were seeking—that would afford therein entrance into the south sea. Thirty miles upstream above Newport News and on the northerly side of the river the explorers came upon a peninsula some three miles long by one and a quarter wide at its greatest width. It extended in a southeasterly direction and at its northeastern end it was joined to the mainland by a narrow isthmus. The river is here three miles in width. What was then a peninsula is now an island, the river having cut a channel through the narrow isthmus, which at present is about a quarter of a mile wide ahd is spanned by a bridge. It is incommemoration of the settlement of this island and the marvelous progress made in the intervening 300 years that the present exposition is being held. The exposition is not located on the site of the original settlement, but on the southern shore of Hampton Roads—the finest land-lacked body of water in the world.

Site of the Show. The exposition site comprises about 500 acre|, which are beautifully laid out. The exposition buildings proper consist of 25 structures, among them being an auditorium and convention hall, 160x236 feet, haying wings 62 feet long, and an auditorium 91x91 feet, with a seating capacity of about 3,000; a palace. of manufactures and liberal arts, 280x1550 feet; a palace of machinery and transportation, 280x550 feet; a States’ exhibit palace, 300x500 feet; a mining and metallurgy building, 100x250 feet; a hygienic and medical building, 100x250 feet; a pure food building, 90x300 feet; a palace of history and historic arts, 124x129 feet, and an education building, 124x129 feet. Besides these are what is known as are arts and crafts village, which consists of seven cottages of colonial arehi-

teeture. These are the textile buildings, 53xS8 feet; copper, silver and woodworkers’ shops, 44x137 feet; pottery shops, 48x50 feet; iron shops, 48x50 feet; model school, 35x45 feet, with a model school room 25x52 feet: mothers and children’s building, 60x100 feet, and Pocahontas hospital, 50x80 feet. - .

Most of the States have made appropriations or otherwise provided for buildings and exhibits. Some of them have reproduced with fidelity some famous building connected with their history. Pennsylvania, for instance, has raised a second Independence llali, Massachusetts its old State House; Maryland has reproduced the home of Charles Carroll o 2 Carrollton; Georgia has erected a second Bullock Hall, the home of the mother of President Roosevelt. In every instance the State buildings nre characteristic. Four of the Western States. Washington, Oregon. Idaho and Montana, have jointly erected a gigantic building in the form of a maltese cross, each State to occupy a section. Even Oklahoma, the Inst State to enter the sisterhood, has erected ,a suitable building. Among the foreign conntries which take official part in the celebration are Great Britain. Germany, Russia, France, Japan, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Sweden and Greece of the eastern hemisphere and Brazil, Argentina. Venezuela. Mexico. Chile, Santo pomingo, Porto Rico, Salvador, Peru, Guatemala, Nicaragua. Ecuador, Costa Rica and Panama of the western hemisphere.

The nnvnl features of the exhibition will be the greatest and impressive ever witnessed. Crack battleships and cruisers representing' foreign nat7bni“Froni Brazil and Chile to Japan will be present during the entire period of the exposition and the States will have from 18 to 20 battleships, beside numerous cruisers and torpedo boats. At no time during the exposition will there be fewer than 100 warships, either riding gracefully at anchor or engaged in elaborate maneuvers. One feature of the naval display that will arouse deep interest will be a realistic reproduction of the battle between the Monitor and Merrimac, as it was fought in 1862 and for

which the government hffs appropriated SIO,OOO. Sur roan dinar* Are Historic. A short journey up the James river leads to Jamestown Island; a short journey up the York river leads to Yorktown, the scene of the final revolution? try struggle, ~T — Close at hand lies Norfolk, in which are still mementoes of British marksmanship left by the fleet under Lord Dunmore in the revolutionary war, who stopped a while from his retreat from Williamsburg in order to pay his respects to the thriving seaport. The battle between the Monitor , the Merritnac fn Hampton roads was the first time an ironclad was ever seen in war, and it is proposed to have at this historic point a naval display- which will be of world-wide interest. Near by is Fortress Monroe, with the ceil in which Jefferson Davis was imprisoned at the conclusion of the war between the Jtates. At Jamestown are the ruins of the old church, the cemetery in which tho early settlers ’ were buried, the old fort which they built for their defense against the Indians and the ruins of the old Ambler or Jacquelin mansion, which was built on foundations originally constructed for the house of burgesses. At Williamsburg, which is seven miles from Jamestown and to which place the seat of government was moved in 1699, is the Bruton parish church containing the Jamestown communion service and baptismal font used in baptizing Pocahontas. There are many other places of historic interest, among them the college of William and Mary, founded in 1693; the “six chimney lot,” where Washington made love to Martha Custis; the site of the old colonial capitol, burned in 1859; the poor debtors’ prison, the oldest Masonic Hall in the United States, the old “powder horn,” built in 1714; the court house, built in 1769 v the headquarters of Washington in 1781; the home of Edmund Randolph, who was Secretary of State in Washington’s administration; the home of Peyton Randolph, who was first president of Continental Congress in 1774; the home of John Tyler and other points of lesser interest. At Yorktown is the oldest custom house in the United States, where at one time goods were imported in bond for New York and Philadelphia.. Between Jamestown and Yorktown and. in that vicinity-there are- numberless places of the greatest historic interest to every patriotic citizen. Chief of these is the spot, marked by a suitable monument, where Cornwallis handed his sword to Washington. There is the Moore house in which articles of capitulation were drawn up and signed, the home of Gov. Nelson,, which was occupied by Cornwallis, and there is the “Cornwallis cave,” where the British general took refuge after he had been driven out of the Nelson house, and there is the beautiful monument erected by the United States to commemorate the surrender of Cornwallis.

BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE JAMESTOWN EXPOSITION.

HISTORIC SPOT NEAR JAMESTOWN.

WHERE THE JAMESTOWN SETTLERS FIRST LANDED.