Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: DEDICATION Commemorating! In a befitting manner; The colossal achievement of mankind, the building of the Panama Canal, is the reason for: The Panama-Pacific International Exposition. The historical material facts are: President Taft signed the bill authorizing the Exposition on February 15, 1911. The Exposition site was selected in July,. 1911. President Taft broke ground for the Exposition on October 14, 1911. The first contract let for an exhibit palace was for the Palace of Machinery, on January 7, 1913, and the building was completed March 10, 1914. The Exposition opened on February 20, 1915. The closing day, December 4, 1915. Facts are interesting! Here are some more: The Exposition embraces 635 acres of ground. The ground is about two and one-half miles in length and it averages about one-half mile in width. The ground is bounded by the great San Francisco Bay, being on its southern shore, and the fortifications of Fort Mason on the east, and the famous Presidio on the west, and San Francisco on the south. Of the finances! You must think in millions! The Exposition is a $50,000,000 investment. The subscribers: Citizens of San Francisco, $7,500,000; City of San Francisco bonds, $5,000,000; State of California bonds, $5,000,000; Other States and Territories, $8,000,000; DEDICATION Counties of California, $3,000,000; Invested in Concessions, $10,000,000; Foreign Governments, $5,000,000; Individual Exhibitors, $6,500,000. These are the material facts of the first finances. And since the opening! The army, of employed: And this includes one or more commissioners and assistants; and the other army that includes from the lowest to the highest. The estimated total of the army of em...