The lobby of the Montana building was twenty-two-feet
square, and supported a glass dome which was thirty-eight feet high.
Under this dome, on eight panels of pine, were recorded the principal
historical events in the records of the people of Montana. A gallery
displayed exhibits that had been displayed in the State's pavilions
elsewhere on the grounds. Here, the painters of the commonwealth and
other Western States displayed their art along with mineral showings
appropriate for Montana.
Whether the Silver Statue was located in the Montana
building is uncertain. Another statue, the Silver Queen,
representing a mining company at Aspen, Colorado was housed in the western
gallery of the Mines and Mining Building. It consisted of pedestals
on which infantile figures in solid silver poured cornucopias of silver
dollars out on the world. and held the lines of a boat with chariot
wheels, in which , under a canopy, with staff of office in hand, sat the
Silver Queen, with crown of gold. Above her head was a richly made
canopy, and on its summit rested an eagle with wings spread. It was
considered to be, at the least, as beautiful as the Montana
statue. |