The Pike was a street a mile long, solidly lined with amusements, some varied, more elaborate and more costly than any previous expositions had ever contained. When nighttime came, everyone on the grounds took a stroll down the Pike to see the life in motion, with color and lights, to hear the bands, and listen to the ingenious gentlemen whose wits were sharpened in the competition for patronage, and whose vocal powers, assisted by megaphones, competed successfully with the brass bands. It was an inspiring spectacle of fifty to a hundred thousand people endlessly moving, the wise and the simple, the great and the humble, all pleased, happy, and carefree.