File:The Esquimaux Village.jpg

"Without his icabergs and polar landscape except in so far as it can be simulated by scenery, the Esquimau is shown as he lives in the polar region. His huts of reindeer skin surround the lake on which canoes are handled with long oars. Alaskan sledge dogs draw the visitor through a clonnade which fairly represents the appearance of things polar, without the temperature. Arctic curiosites in great number and variety are displayed. The ledges of glaciers are enough like nature to prompt at least the suggestion of coolness. Along them the Alaskan dogs drag heavily weighted sledges. The Pike traveler is taken under what seems to be an icy arch into the midst of surroundings which give an illusion of arctic life. The sports of the Esquimaux and the ceremonies as well are shown. A seal hunt on the lake is a feature. The placer mining of the Klondike camp is reproduced and, in the presence of the tenderfoot, the placer gold is washed out of the gravel by experienced miners. Life on the Yukon is reproduced. There is entertainment for the visitor in the form of a striking imitation of the Northern aurora as he passes from the ice colonnade beneath the glacier. A ride on a sledge drawn by dogs through the colonnade is rendered exciting by a realistic combat between the sturdy Esquimaux and polar bear. An hour with broad-faced smiling Esquimaux is well spent."

THE FOREST CITY with introduction and text by Walter B. Stevens and photographs by William H. Rau, was published by the N. B. Thompson Publishing Company (1904). THE FOREST CITY contains the official photographic views (all black & white, most 8"x10" in size) of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, which was held in St. Louis April 30, 1904-December 1, 1904. The series provides photographs of most major structures and attractions of the 1904 Fair (each photograph is accompanied by approximately one paragraph of descriptive text). The photographs were taken for the most part by William H. Rau, official photographer of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, organizer of the 1904 Fair.

The photographs were issued so many per week while the Fair was in progress. Often a particular structure or attraction will be featured in more than one photograph issued in a particular week, so it would be wise to examine all the photographs from a particular week to be sure all images of the object of interest have been viewed.