along many lines. I handled Oregon's exhibit at the Omaha Exposition. Not only did I receive no salary for this work, but it cost me $1,200 of my own money, but I was glad to contribute not only my time but my money towards advancing Oregon's interests.
While at Omaha some railroad men were attracted to Oregon's exhibit of timber. Later they bought timber from Oregon to build 20 miles of trestles. Some boat builders, who operated on the Susquehanna River, were also greatly attracted by our timber exhibit and they later sent to Oregon and bought lumber for the building of 200 river barges. We also made a very decided impression on eastern markets with our shingles and dried prunes.
From Omaha I went to Buffalo in 1900, and if you will look up the records of that exposition you will find that no other state took as many prizes as Oregon.
The next place where I was installed and was in charge of Oregon's exhibit was at Charleston, South Carolina. We had here a timber 74 feet long and 3 feet square which came from the Eastern & Western Lumber Company's mills. Originally it had been 115 feet long and 3 feet square, but they had to cut it down to 74 feet to get it through a tunnel which was built on a curve in Montana. I also had there a timber 20 feet long and 9 feet in diameter. This had 365 rings, showing it was 365 years old. A prominent official of the German government thought these two big timbers had been specially prepared and he tried his best to see where they were joined together. He couldn't believe it possible that we grew timbers of this size. I told him that he could place an order for a thousand such sticks and the Portland mills would fill his order. I gave him a letter to a Portland lumberman. He came out to Portland, discovered that I had been teling the truth, and purchased a cargo of bridge timbers. He has been back to Portland several times since and has been one of our best customers.
In 1903 I went to Japan to see if I could persuade
