Krag Collectors Association Forum

Look, a 'Whale-Back', that's pretty grand.

Gosh, that Bandsman looks familiar .... hmmm.

I'm starting to feel hungry.
Let us grab something to eat on the way to the Krupp's Building. It's down by the other pier.

Oh, oh, these Germans bear watching! (Historic note - Herr Krupp offered to sell the displayed artillery at a bargain price to the U.S. Government, but, was turned-down and took the guns home to Germany).

Hey, check her out! I'd like to see that on the 'Moving Sidewalk'.

Now we know why it's called the 'Windy City'.

Let's go back to the War Department display. I want to get one of those U.S. Mint Coins and we missed seeing the two "Crag-Jorgensen" rifles.

Hey, when did those West Point Cadets get here?!

My feet hurt. I'm going to sit down for a while and read this Souvenir Book.

Well, I'm about done.
It looks like there were two "Crags" .... err ... Krag-Jorgensen rifles at the 1893-Columbian Exposition.
One Danish Krag and one "Norwegian-1893 Patent" Krag-Jorgensen.
(I wonder if the 1893 Patent Krag is the double locking-lug Krag, that is in the Smithsonian? There is always something more to check out)!

Some of the 1892-1893 'test' rifles were part of the War Department Display, including one very rare .30 caliber 'trap-door' Springfield.



If you will excuse me, I've got to prop up my feet and finish reading, before I catch the train home.

With lots of good stories, I find "The 1893 Columbian Exposition" to be a 'gift that keeps on giving'.

Just think about the millions of man-hours and woman-hours that went into building that show. How many people? Lots!! Construction took a couple of years, but back then, there were not many small power tools. There were residential buildings (apartments, hotels) constructed to house the builders, the workers, and all the attendees, all within walking or trolley-car distance. Many of those lasted until the the construction of the big road system along the lake front. Chicago still uses some of the sites; Soldier Field, the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Museum of Science & Industry.

Along with all the international exhibits the expo also featured the worlds first ferris wheel. This was a huge draw with the visitors. The fair also had a commemorative 1/2 dollar made by the U.S. mint. These are usually found in excellent condition because people saved them instead of spending them. A very good book on the fair and a infamous serial killer who preyed on the fairgoers is "the devil in the white city". The book is worth reading.

Friends of ours found one of the Columbus half-dollars behind wains-coating, during a remodel of their old house in northern Michigan.

I'm still blown away by the magnitude of the whole undertaking. My wife & I went to the 1967 World's Fair in Montreal. I don't think it was as big as this. In Montreal, new apartment buildings had been built with the idea that they could rent them furnished to fair-goers at quite high prices. We rented an apartment for 5 days. Probably got the idea from Chicago. Has anything like this been done since?

My great-grandparents probably took the train from Toronto to Detroit to Chicago. I wonder what was marked on their tickets.

'Reincarnated' - Your Great-Grandparents may have taken the train from Toronto to a Port on Lake Eire and then sailed to Chicago?

There use to be a surprising amount of moving and visiting of people, via Great Lakes shipping, during the late 19th century, up until, post-WW2.

I have a small 'memorandum book' in which my Great-Grandfather logged a trip, made to visit two sons and two daughters in northern Michigan, in 1899. (He was 68 years old, at the time of the journey).

The man was a Canadian farmer on Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron's Georgian Bay. In August, 1899, he boarded the S.S. Germanic, at Gore Bay, and sailed to Sault Ste. Marie.
At the 'Soo', he changed boats to the S.S. Japan, which stopped at Marquette, then at the town of Lake Linden (on Dollar Bay), and then on to Houghton-Hancock.

He was impressed with the "snuff-colored" wait staff on the S.S. Japan. (It may have been his first encounter with Black-People).
He was amused that a lot of the passengers were from the south.
They looked like "Downy Chicks", being bundled up in furs, yet, still shivering on Lake Superior.

From Houghton, Michigan, he took the 12 mile train ride to the Station at Calumet, where he was met by my Grandfather, who had followed his older brother to a cash-paying job, in the Copper Mines.
Two of my Grandpa's sisters also lived at Calumet; the wives of Copper Miners, also from Canada.

'Reincarnated', you are right-on about people coming to the U.S. for jobs and better pay. My Great-Grandfather noted that the Americans were more "corpulent" than the Canadian farm people, who were his neighbors!

(BTW - I also went to 'Expo- 67' in Montreal. As a College Freshman, I talked my parents into going. I did a lot of the planning. My dad had an "Apache" pop-up trailer and we camped at Dorion, a farming community outside of Montreal. There was a mono-rail stop close to the campground. 'Expo-67' was well planned and a great adventure; my parents loved it. We saw Queen Elizabeth, Prince Phillip, Bobby Kennedy, and Canadian Prime Minister - Lester Pierson, in close proximity on various days. I think there have been World's Fairs since, but, that's the only one, I went to. Great adventures and memories)!

Referring to an earlier picture in the post:

The rod-bayonet rifle is one of the rare M1884 "flat latch" models, not the common "1888", and the .30 caliber is "real", possibly letter "J".