The boiler, which furnished the force for running its work, was under the charge of a young Canadian girl, Miss Allison, who, from childhood, had loved machinery, spending much time in the large saw and grist mills of her father, run by engines of two and three hundred horse-power, which she sometimes managed for amusement.
When her name was proposed for running the pavilion machinery, it caused much opposition.

It was said that the committee would, some day, find the pavilion blown to atoms; that the woman engineer would spend her time reading novels instead of watching the steam gauge; that the idea was impracticable and should not be thought of.

But Miss Allison soon proved her capabilities and the falseness of these prophecies by taking her place in the engine room and managing its workings with perfect ease.

Six power looms, on which women wove carpets, webbing, silks, etc., were run by this engine.

At a later period the printing of _The New Century for Woman_, a paper published by the centennial commission in the woman's building, was done by its means.