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| LOOKING EAST FROM THE FERRIS WHEEL - Seated in a
car
of the Ferris Wheel, the scene of
the circuit par
excellence, was offered as the spectator rose gently above the Midway
Plaisance, looking eastward. Here the panorama was
essentially as is represented in the engraving, except that in the
latter days the famous street was never to be espied so nearly bare
of people, and there were times, as on October ninth, or Chicago day,
when the picture was pitch black with people. From the
eyrie of the Ferris Wheel the mountainous significance of the
Manufactures Building became
apparent, and it was found
that nothing whatever could belittle the chief structure of the
Exposition. The stupendous disappointments covered in the
abandonment of the Steele Mackaye Spectatorium were to be noted on
the left (just out of range of the picture) in a half-built pile of
timber and staff that frowned over the Fair. The domes of the
Government and Illinois Buildings competed for
the attention of the eye. On the left, the secrets of the German
Village were broken open, and the straw roofs of the Java Village
beyond warned Chicagoans of the danger of fire, and hinted of a
calamity that never happened. The circular building on the right,
below, held the panorama of the Bermese Alps, and the circular roof
and chimney on the left, beyond the first viaduct across the
Plaisance, was over the Libby Glass Works. Two viaducts are seen,
both of which seriously marred the vista. The Midway at night was
bewilderingly bright and exciting. |
