California's Exhibit at the Atlanta Exposition [pp. 387-401]

CALIFORNIA'S EXHIBIT AT THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION.
interest of our State, but after we won
this victory the expression, "You can't
beat a Californian," became almost a byword.
But besides winning the premiums, the
show we made of citrus fruits attracted
great attention, especially from those who
deal in such products. Few of our navel
oranges had ever gotten that far South
before, and they were regarded with
great favor. Some dealers got in a few
boxes for the Christmas trade, and they
readily retailed for ten cents apiece, while
the Florida or Jarhaica oranges were retailing at forty cents a dozen. The day
before Christmas I was offered seven dollars a box for all the navels I had, if I
would take down my exhibit, but they
were doing too much good as an advertisement to think of letting them go while
the Fair continued. On breaking up, we
distributed the fruit among exhibitors and
friends with such discrimination as we
thought would result in the most good.
As illustrating to an otherwise doubting
people the climatic conditions of Northern
and Central California, nothing could
have been more effective than this exhibit. On this point, and in reference to
our citrus exhibit generally, the Atlanta
Constitution had the following:
The California State Exhibit in the Manufacturers' and Liberal Arts building, which, for the
superior quality of the products there displayed
and the artistic manner in which it is installed,
has been from the start one of the most popular
attractions of the Exposition, is being augmented
by a splendid display of citrus fruits. The navel
and other popular varieties of oranges, the pomelos, limes, and lemons, are of a quality calculated
to make the visitors' mouths water, and fill the
denizens of some more hardy clime with envy.
What will strike the visitor, however, as more
remarkable about this fruit is not alone its fine
quality and superior brightness, but the fact that
it,omes entirely from what is known as Northern
and Central California, where, the Californians
in charge tell you, it ripens from four to six weeks
earlier than it does in the Southern part of the
State, and where such a thing as a rusty or
.
smutty or scaly orange has never yet been
known.
This fruit, coming as it does from Porterville,
Sacramento, Auburn, and Oroville, tells the story
of California's wonderful climate and the extent
to which the mellowness of a Pacific Coast winter spreads itself over that State more forcibly
than any book that could be written.
In my opinion, more good will result
in the line of the objects aimed at by the
citrus exhibit made in Atlanta by the
State Board of Trade, than has ever resulted from any citrus fair made in Northern California. Here we convince ourselves that we grow fine oranges, lemons,
limes, etc., in Northern and Central California and mature them for market five
or six weeks earlier than we do in Southern California. There we convinced of
these important facts tens of thousands of
visitors whose belief to the contrary could
not have been shaken by any other
means.
In this report it is meet that I should
speak of the kindly and efficient assistance rendered by the members of the
State Board of Trade who were generous
enough to give of their time and means
for the purpose of being present to help
along the work at Atlanta. Our worthy
President, General N. P. Chipman, made
it his duty to spend two days at the Exposition. In so short a time he could do
little more than look around and satisfy
himself as to the character of our exhibit
and the conduct of its management. We
were more than pleased to see him there,
if but for so short a time, and I was glad
of the opportunity to consult with him in
regard to such matters as pertained to the
work. As to what his impressions were
of our exhibit, our work, and of the Exposition, I leave for him to tell.
Mrs. E. Shields, Sacramento County's
very worthy representative of this Board,
was another welcome visitor. Her stay
and services were cut short by sickness,
much to our regret, for during the time
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