time. But they did return for a 1900 engagement and fate wasn't kind to them. The end of the famous Galveston hurricane hit El Paso on Monday and Tuesday of that fair week and the big Kemp sideshow tent was ruined.

The turn of the century found El Paso's fair forging ahead in all departments. Farmers were taking keen interest in the competitive exhibitions of horses, cattle, sheep, swine and poultry, while wives and daughters filled the octagon shaped floral hall with prize-winning entries attesting to their skill in baking, sewing, drawing, gardening and other domestic arts. Manufacturers, quick to appraise the size and quality of an expanding rural economy, gave local merchants and dealers fine cooperation in displaying and advertising their latest products. So important had the fair become that railroads at times offered excursion rates to El Paso. The 1905 fair was billed as "Bigger, Better, Grander than Ever." The weather couldn't have been better. It was hot, dry and dusty, the kind that went with fairs like butter goes with bread. Police regulations were strict in those days, one notice reading: "All women will be excluded from the grounds after 7 P. M. until the opening of the ground the next day."

If we read the names of the officers and directors of that fair, we begin to realize how Father Time exacts his toll. The president was John F. Schofield, vice president, John F. Shepard, the treasurer, Azro H. Waite, the secretary, John F. Bosworth. The following were members of the board of directors: George Pinkham, R. W. Gough, James A. Gilbert, Albert E. Fleming, M. A. Adams, O. S. Kring, George W. Tegard, J. L. McOmber, Frank E. Lewis, George R. Curtiss, John C. Evans, B. F. Slenker and George H. Scheer. Every one of the gentlemen who ran our fair forty-nine years ago is now deceased.

The endless parade of years not only removed familiar faces in less than a half century, but played havoc with the names of products that were once household words. For instance, there was the Twin Brace Wire Fence, the Schuttler wagon, and the Stawana gang plow, all once sold by S. H. North. Nor can we forget the Gaar Scott Double Cylinder Engine and the Great Western Endless Apron Manure Spreader advertised and sold by Donner & Risser, and to this should be added their Interstate automobile of which young Clay Donner was so proud.

Old Dobbin was once a great and valued asset on the farms and on the roads. In the heyday of the horse, and it was a long-lived one, it played a role of vital importance. The 1909 fair was famous for its exhibition rings of outstanding draft and driving horses, some 223 animals being entered in those classes. The 1910 fair paid an even greater tribute to the farmers' equine friends, for that year there were 302 entries.

The 1913 fair had the finest of weather, but a deep cut in the gate receipts came from strong competition. At Lacon an old settlers' picnic was in progress; on Thursday another picnic was enjoyed by

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