RAIL TRANSPORTATION
The ox teams and prairie schooners lumbering over the hills of Ohio are indeed a long way back of the present railroad train and the most modern of railroad stations. The latter is typically illustrated by the new Cincinnati Terminal which was opened to the public about the same time as was "A Century of Progress" Exposition.
AGRICULTURE
This painting, located in the back center of the exhibit, purposes to tie together the various paintings depicting Ohio products of the soil. Allegorical in its treatment it pleasingly conveys the idea of "Land of Plenty" which is Ohio.
WATER TRANSPORTATION
In this mural is depicted the progress made since the primitive bringing into the Ohio country of the pioneer by early flat boats and pirogues.
From this we progress to the Ohio river packet with the typical group awaiting its landing; the tow boat carrying millions of tons of freight each year; then the modern lake steamer and the modern ore boat with the attendant colossal loading and unloading docks.
ELECTRICITY
This painting is dedicated to Thomas A. Edison and his works.
This great Ohio born inventor is shown in his study with his first phonograph, and the allegorical background brings out the fact that each American workman now has the assistance of four electrical horse power in his daily labors.
OIL
The romance of the oil industry is linked with Ohio's early history and we illustrate in this mural the first American use of petroleum.
The early Indians found this oil useful for medicinal purposes and obtained it by absorbing the oil from the surface of ponds, etc., with blankets. From this simple beginning has grown the mammoth industry shown by the modern oil wells in the haze above.
