"The site of the Lewis and Clark Exposition, bordering St. Helen's Road, was vacant land in 1904, remote from the center of Portland. Accounts in the Lewis and Clark Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1, January, 1904 describe the setting as a marshland, forested with dogwoods, vine maple, blackberry vines, and flowering currants, around the shallow Guild's Lake. J.C. Olmstead, landscape designer and son of Frederick Law Olmstead, visited the site and mapped out a general plan for the grounds around the lake setting. Teams of architects then designed the buildings, many with Spanish Renaissance architecture, featuring colors of 'ivory white, with vermillion and moss green roof effects.' ... At the close of the fair, nearly all of these elaborately designed buildings and walkways were dismantled, as planned, and only a few remained after 1910."

From the Oregon Historical Society Website (Carl Abbott, 2004):

" The site of the Exposition covered 182 acres of land and 220 acres of stagnant water beyond the edge of development in Northwest Portland. The road to St. Helens (now U.S. 30) followed the edge of a low bluff that crossed the south end of the site. The remainder of the area consisted of marshes, market gardens, and a dairy farm. Although ownership was divided among dozens of parcels, the land was undeveloped and cheap to lease. The plans came from John Olmsted, stepson of Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of New York’s Central Park. John Olmsted, who was himself a noted landscape architect in the family firm, was in Portland on a dual mission. In town to plan a city wide park system, he provided a basic plan for the fair for an additional $5,000. The formal layout imitated the “White City” of Chicago’s magnificent Columbian Exposition of 1893. The majority of the exhibition buildings overlooked the lake from the ridge where the Montgomery Ward (now Montgomery Park) building would later stand. A wide staircase led downslope to the lake, the amusements, and the U.S. government buildings on a peninsula in the middle of the lake. The buildings (which were cheaply made from lath and plaster and intended for quick demolition) were in the “Spanish Renaissance” style with domes, cupolas, arched doorways, and red roofs. The federal building looked like a cross between a railroad depot and a Mexican cathedral."

From a Union Pacific Railroad brochure advertising the Exposition:

"... The Exposition grounds are composed of hill and dale, and for the most part covered with a beautiful woodland. The site embraces a natural park and a little lake, which together cover 406 acres, a peninsula in the center of the lake completing the picture of rare attractiveness. A portion of this natural park has been but very little altered, and this composes one of the most delightful features of the Fair a woodland called Centennial Park. While the grounds are in themselves marvelously beautiful, Nature has given them a glorious setting. Looking across Guild's Lake from Lakeview Terrace, which crowns the Grand Stairway, one sees the Government Peninsula with its magnificent Exposition structures. A narrow strip of land separates the lake from the Willamette River, and beyond, half a hundred miles away, rise four mighty snow-clad mountain peaks, Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens, Mount Rainier, and Mount Hood, peaks which rival in beauty the more widely famed Alps. to the west are the foot-hills of the Cascade Range, their dark sides still covered with the virgin forest through which Lewis and Clark made their wearisome way to the Pacific Coast. ..."

"... Guild's Lake, which takes the place of the "grand basins" of previous fairs, is the largest body of water ever enclosed within exposition grounds, being 220 acres in extent. The lake is spanned by the Bridge of Nations a unique structure of wood and staff built in imitation of solid masonry, which is more than 2,000 feet long—the longest bridge of its kind ever constructed. Astor Drive separates the Experimental Gardens from Centennial Park and leads to the Trail and the Bridge of Nations, which aggregately 2,000 feet long, connects the mainland with the Government Peninsula. On the peninsula in the center of Guild's Lake is located the United States Government display. Here is an imposing Government Building characteristic of Uncle Sam's exposition structures, with two towers, each 260 feet high. Besides the main building there are several minor structures, among them being the United States Forestry, Fisheries, and Irrigation Pavilion and the Life Saving Station. ..."

"... The water had fallen in the course of last night five inches. I Set out and proceeded up a Short distance and attempted a Second time to fathom the river with my cord of 5 fathom but could find no bottom. the mist was So thick that I could See but a Short distance up this river. where I left it, it was binding to the East of S. E. being perfectly Satisfyed of the Size and magnitude of this great river which must Water that vast tract of Country betwen the Western range of mountains and those on the Sea coast and as far S. as the Waters of Callifornia about Latd. 37° North I deturmined to return. ..." [Clark, April 3, 1806]

Guild Lake was once a cutoff meander of the Willamette River. The waters of the shallow lake was fed by Balch Creek and groundwater. The lake drained northwest into Kittredge and Doan Lakes before it connected with the Willamette. The banks were lined with white ash, cedar, willows, and fir.

From the Oregon Historical Society Website (2006):

"... Guild’s Lake was named for Peter and Elizabeth Guild-pronounced Guile- who in 1847 claimed nearly 600 acres including the lake. In the 1880s, the area’s residents included Chinese immigrants who farmed small plots on the lake’s edge. In 1888, the lake’s outlet to the Willamette River was cut off by an embankment built by the Northern Pacific Railroad for a rail connection between Portland and Seattle. By the 1890s, much of the land in and around the lake was owned by real estate speculators, and several sawmills and a garbage incinerator were operating there. In 1902, the Lewis and Clark Exposition Company chose Guild’s Lake as the site of the world’s fair, and by 1903 workers had begun leveling ground for construction. ..."

After the Fair Guild Lake disappeared. While some citizens pushed for a city park, other interests had different ideas. Developers began filling in the lake, turning the area into an industrial area. Between 1906 and the mid-1920s, Guild Lake was filled in with soil sluiced off the hillsides and dredged from the Willamette River. By 1913 at least 50 acres of Guild Lake had been filled in for an industrial center. In the early 1920s, the Port of Portland filled the rest of the lake. More than 20 million cubic yards of dredge material came from the Willamette River as the Port deepened the west side of the Willamette and closed the shipping channel on the east side of Swan Island. Guild Lake became an industrial center. By 1930, the Terminal Company had built a switching yard on the fill and several industries had also moved in. From 1909 through the late 1940s, the City of Portland operated an incinerator and a landfill at the location.

"... Here are housed many interesting displays. The transportation exhibit shows the different modes of travel, from the early days to the present time, from the baby carriage to the steam mogul engine. A feature of the transportation section is the first locomotive used in Oregon. The four wheels of the locomotive appear slightly larger than barrel hoops; the boiler is about as big as an apple barrel, and the whole engine is only thirteen feet long. It stands next to one of the largest and latest patterned locomotives constructed in the United States, and the contrast is vivid. This little engine, which bears the title "Oregon Pony," was the first locomotive used in Oregon. The Pony, as almost every visitor takes occasion to remark, is "not so much to look at." But in its day it was a great engine to work, and its history is so entangled with the history of early days in Oregon as to make it worthy of more than passing attention. ..." [Union Pacific Railroad brochure, 1905]

From a Union Pacific Railroad brochure advertising the Exposition:

"... SIGNALS FROM MOUNTAIN TOP. From the summit of Mount Hood communication will be established with the Exposition grounds. At each of these two points detachments from the United States Signal Corps service are stationed, and each day and night communications are exchanged by means of heliograph and flash signals and other methods used by the military. The signal camp at the Exposition is pitched at a convenient place on the Government Peninsula. Thus the operations can be seen from all parts of the grounds. The Mount Hood camp is established on the very summit of the majestic peak.

SEARCHLIGHTS ON MOUNT HOOD. Plans for one of the most wonderful electrical features ever perfected for an exposition have been worked out by electrical experts. A searchlight, casting a beam of tight eighty inches wide, which pierces the darkness for a distance of 200 miles, has been placed on the crest of Mount Hood, which rises to a height of 11,255 feet above sea-level and is distant forty-six miles from Portland. In addition to the searchlight effect from the summit, the establishment of the electrical apparatus affords means for the general illumination of the mountain by arc lights. One hundred arc lights, equal in power to those used in street illumination, will be distributed on the side of the mountain facing Portland, so that the whole mountainside will be brilliantly illuminated. Besides the use of the searchlight and arc lights, great quantities of red lire will be utilized to produce another unique effect. When the red powder is burned it will give the peak the appearance of a mountain wrapped in flames. This latter effect has been produced on several occasions by the use of fifty pounds of red fire. ..."

From the University of Oregon website (2009):

"... The Willamette Meteorite is believed to be the inner iron core of a planet that shattered in a space collision billions of years ago. It weighs nearly16 tons and is the largest meteorite ever found in North America, and the sixth largest in the world. Erosion from wind, rain, and sun likely caused the openings on the flattened side of the meteorite. .... In 1902, a farmer named Ellis Hughes stumbled across the meteorite in the field next to his land near West Linn. He realized it was valuable and devised a plan to secretly move the meteorite to his property. It took three months to drag it across wooden tracks with a truck. Once it was on his property, Mr. Hughes charged members of the public 25 cents to see the meteorite. When his neighbors, the Oregon Iron and Steel Company, learned the meteorite had been taken from their land, they filed a lawsuit to recover it. They were granted possession, but Mr. Hughes filed an appeal. He argued that since there was no impact crater around the meteorite, the meteorite had not fallen on the land owned by Oregon Iron and Steel and therefore did not belong to them. The Oregon Iron and Steel Company was eventually awarded the meteorite and placed it on exhibit at the 1905 Lewis and Clark World’s Fair in Portland, Ore. In 1906, a philanthropist from New York, Mrs. William Dodge, purchased the meteorite from Oregon Iron and Steel for $21,600. She donated it to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York, where it is still on display. ..."

From J.B. Horner's 1919 publication "Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature", p.280:

"... . Willamette Meteorite took its name from the Willamette Valley in which it was discovered. "It is the most interesting iron meteorite as to external characteristics yet discovered, and it is the largest ever found in the United States." (Edmund Otis Hovey, American Museum of Natural History). The meteor is apparently solid with the exception of deep pits on the surface which it is believed are due to rust. It is 10 ft. long, 6 1/2 ft. wide, and 4 1/4 ft. high; its weight is 31,107 lbs. and contains 91.55% iron. This meteorite was discovered in the autumn of 1902 in the woods 19 miles south of Portland by two prospectors who were searching for the prescious metals. The finders at first supposed they had come upon a ledge of solid iron, but the meteoric character certained. Later one of the prospectors removed the meteorite to his ranch nearby. But the owners of the land on which it had been found instituded suit for its recovery and the contest was carried to the supreme court before the finder relinquished his claim. In 1906, the great specimen was persented to the American Museum of Natural History, in new York, where it was given a prominent place at the entrance of the building. ..."

The meteorite was important to the Clackamas tribe for thousands of years before European Americans settled in Oregon.

"... In recent years, the descendants of the Clackamas tribe, now part of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, have tried to regain ownership of the meteorite. In 2000, AMNH and the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde agreed that the meteorite will remain at the museum, but will be available to tribal members for an annual ceremony. ..." [University of Oregon website, 2009]

"... New York, New York - June 22, 2000 -- The American Museum of Natural History and the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon today signed a historic agreement that ensures access to the Willamette Meteorite, a world famous scientific specimen at the Museum, by the Grand Ronde for religious, historical, and cultural purposes while maintaining its continued presence at the Museum for scientific and educational purposes. The agreement recognizes the Museum's tradition of displaying and studying the Meteorite for almost a century, while also enabling the Grand Ronde to re-establish its relationship with the Meteorite with an annual ceremonial visit to the Meteorite. The agreement reflects mutual recognition of and respect for the traditions of both the Tribe and the Museum. As part of the agreement, the Tribe agrees to drop its claim for repatriation of the Willamette Meteorite and not to contest the Museum's ownership of it. However, the agreement also stipulates the Meteorite would be conveyed to the Tribe if the Museum failed to publicly display it, except for temporary periods for preservation, safety, construction and reasons beyond the reasonable control of the Museum. Also in keeping with the agreement, the Museum will place a description of the Meteorite's significance to the Clackamas in the Hall of the Universe, alongside a description of the Meteorite's scientific importance. ..." [American Museum of Natural History website, 2009]

"... Known as "Tomanowos" to the Clackamas, who lived in the Willamette Valley before the arrival of European settlers, the Meteorite is revered by the Clackamas and their descendants. According to the tradition of the Clackamas, Tomanowos has healed and empowered people in the Willamette Valley since the beginning of time. The Clackamas believe that Tomanowos came to the valley as a representative of the Sky People and that a union occurred between the sky, earth, and water when it rested in the ground and collected rainwater in its basins. The rainwater served as a powerful purifying, cleansing, and healing source for the Clackamas and their neighbors. Tribal hunters, seeking power, dipped their arrowheads in the water collected in the Meteorite's crevices. These traditions and the spiritual link with Tomanowos are preserved today through the ceremonies and songs of the descendants of the Clackamas. Beginning in the 1850s, the Clackamas, along with more than 20 other tribes and bands from western Oregon and northern California, were relocated to the Grand Ronde Reservation in Oregon. Today, the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, a federally recognized tribe, is the successor to the Clackamas Tribe. ..." [American Museum of Natural History website, 2009]

A copy of the meteorite resides at the University of Oregon campus, in Eugene, Oregon.