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See 16 Hand-Colored Views of PPIE in PowerPoint (900kb) San Francisco, 1915 Description of the Exposition Site
The Exposition site combines to an extraordinary degree the qualities of beauty, adaptability and
convenience. It is a natural amphitheatre, fronting on the wonderful
island-
The view facing north is across the sparkling
waters of the Bay a
land-locked harbor which resembled a great mountain lake more than an arm of the sea. It is rimmed
around by mountain, with haughty Tamalpais towering over all. Under the turquoise California sky,
drenched with sunshine and color, it is a scene at once exquisitely beautiful and solemnly
majestic.
With this wonderful scene as a background, the
architects, artists and landscape gardeners of the Exposition have planned and erected a city straight out of a
beautiful dream. It can not be described in words nor adequately shown in picture, although an attempt to
give the reader of its general color effect appears elsewhere in this booklet. The proximity of the site to a world gateway is a
wonderful advantage. Through the portals of the Golden Gate the nations of the earth can bring their richest
offerings to the very gates of the Exposition, avoiding a long continental haul and consequent damage from
reshipping.
The site adapts itself to the carrying out of
wonderful aquatic displays. Carnivals, maneuvers by the fleets of all nations, international yacht racing,
motor boat racing, exhibitions by submarines and hydroplanes, all will be indulged in in the immediate
foreground of the Exposition palaces. The entire navies of the world can here assemble and land their crews
right on the edge of the beautiful Marina.
The main exhibit palaces, eleven in number,
contain, under a comprehensive and representative classification, examples of the resources and
achievements along all lines of human endeavor, which are divided into departments as
follows:
These eleven great palaces, together with
Festival Hall, form the central setting of a beautiful picture, flanked on the city side by The
Zone or amusement section and other end by the buildings of the various states and the pavilions of
the foreign nations. These latter join the aviation field, race track, and live stock exhibit, terminating in the
grounds of a great military reservation, the Presidio, where the competitive drills and army maneuvers will
take place.
In formation the eight main exhibit
palaces
Passing through the main gate on the city side
the visitor enters the great South Garden, 3000 feet in length, on the right extremity of which can be seen
the beautiful Festival Hall. To the extreme left is the Palace of Horticulture. Immediately in front is the
Main Tower or Tower of Jewels. This great garden, itself a marvel of landscape engineering
skill, is but one side of a magic carpet on which these beautiful palaces are set, the 300-foot wide
Marina and its grand esplanade, with its floricultural splendors, forming the other side, the
pattern threading its winding way through the various courts and recesses over the entire grounds, forming a
correlated whole which, for wondrous beauty, has never been equaled.
Passing from this great garden under the arch of
the main tower the visitor enters the Court of the Universe, the largest of five courts of the
Exposition. This is the meeting place of the Eastern and Western hemispheres, and the decorative scheme
on each side is typical of this theme. On the extreme right and left are two great Triumphal Arches, the one
on the right, which leads to the Court of Abundance, being surmounted by a magnificent statuary group,
The Nations of the East, the figures symbolizing life in the Orient, while the arch on the
left, leading to the Court of the Four Seasons, has a group of the same proportions, The Nations of
the West, symbolical of life in the Occident. Straight ahead is the colossal Column of Progress,
surmounted by the Adventurous Bowman shooting the arrow toward the
West.
To the right, under the Arch of the
Rising Sun, is the avenue leading to the Court of Abundance, which terminates at
its southern extremity into the Court of Flowers, one of the minor courts; while to the left,
under the Arch of the Setting Sun, is the avenue leading to the beautiful Court of
the Four Seasons. Continuing straight ahead one comes to the edge of the spacious Yacht Harbor
and the center of the Grand Esplanade or Marina. Long after the Exposition is
over
This is the first Exposition to have a uniform
color scheme. From one end to the other, throughout the entire area of the site
One of the most attractive and beautiful features
of this Exposition is the electrical illumination. By an entirely new system of flood lighting, a soft, restful,
yet perfect light pervades the courts at night, revealing in wonderful clearness the facades and walls of the
palaces and the natural colors of the shrubbery and flowers, giving an effect as bright and soft as daylight.
A trip to the Panama-Pacific International
Exposition not only affords educational advantages equal to a university course, but is the vacation
opportunity of a lifetime.
From an educational standpoint, do you realize
which this Exposition means to you? This is the first time in the history of man the entire world is known
and in intercommunication. Even the discovery of the north and south poles has been accomplished, and the
wide expanses of land and water have been correctly mapped out. In speaking of the earth, the qualification
The known world is no longer necessary. For the first time all the world is
known.
The
Panama-Pacific International Exposition is an encyclopedia of modern achievement. You are afforded an
opportunity to make a comparative study of the methods and manners of modern civilization; the conditions
and means of living
Besides this, think of the pleasure you will
derive from two or three weeks to a month vacation visiting California. You need an outing, free from care
and responsibility. Here is a chance to combine travel, pleasure, rest and instruction. To cross the great
American desert, now a land of cultivated farms; to climb the Rockies and the Great Sierra Mountains and
feast your eyes upon their rugged grandeur; to visit California and the Pacific slope and delight in their
sun-
Think of some of the glories that await you at
the end of the golden trail:
An expenditure of fifty million dollars in construction.
And you may visit hospital San Francisco and mingle in her interesting, cosmopolitan and
pleasure-
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