engine represents "Steam Power." "Imagination," the power which
conceives the thing "Invention" bodies forth, stands with eyes closed;
its force comes from within. Wings on his head suggest the speed of
thought. At his feet is the Eagle of Inspiration. "Invention" bears in
his hand a winged figure,--Thought, about to rise in concrete form.

The eagle appears as a symbol of the United States, on the entablature
carried across the opening below the arch on two Corinthian columns in
each embrasure. The lower third of each of these shafts is decorated
with a cylindrical relief representing the genii of machinery, flanked
by human toilers and types of machines. The genii are blind, as the
forces developed by machines are blind. There are only two of these
cylindrical friezes, but they are repeated many times on the columns at
either end and at the main entrance, and on the pairs of columns that
flank the minor openings in the western wall.

Over the main entrance the gable is extended to enclose a majestic
triple vestibule, backed by the same effect that appears at the palace
ends, but with the entablature and its supporting columns repeated
across the outer arches. (p. 111.) With the exception of the spandrels
on the transverse arches, the sculptural decoration here is the same as
that described for the end entrances, though more often repeated. The
spandrels represent the application of power to machines. All this
decoration is the work of Haig Patigian, of San Francisco.

Before the main entrance stands the only example, in the Exposition
sculpture, of the work of the dean of American sculptors, Daniel Chester
French. This is his noteworthy group, the Genius of Creation. (p. 147.)
Other statues by French will be found among the exhibits of the Fine
Arts Palace. The Genius of Creation was placed here at the last moment.