Ezra Meeker

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Ezra Meeker, 1921

Ezra Manning Meeker (born December 29, 1830 in Butler County, Ohio ; † December 3, 1928 in Seattle ) was an American pioneer who traveled as a young man on the Oregon Trail from Iowa to the Pacific, settled in Washington and grew hops . He became known as the " Hop King of the World" and was the first mayor of Puyallup (Washington) . Through monuments and books he made sure that the Oregon Trail, which he traveled often even in old age, was remembered.

Life

Meeker was the son of the miller and farmer Jacob Meeker and his wife Phoebe. The family moved to Indiana when he was a boy. In 1851 he married Eliza Jane Sumner. The following year, the couple traveled with the first son to the Oregon Territory , where land could be settled. They stopped briefly near Portland and then traveled north into the region on Puget Sound in Washington , where they settled in 1862 and grew from 1865 hops. The cultivation was new to the American West and the soil and temperate climate proved suitable. In 1877 Meeker founded a town around his property, which he named Puyallup after an Indian word for "generous people" , and became its postmaster , later its first mayor. He provided land and money for the construction of parks, a theater and a hotel. In 1880 he wrote his first book, Hop Culture in the United States , and became known as the Hop King of the World . He became the richest man in the area and built a large house in 1887. In 1891 hop aphids destroyed his harvest and with it a large part of his fortune. He tried various endeavors, including trading groceries to the Klondike Fields , in hopes of profiting from the Klondike gold rush .

Trail to Portland
Meeker with the ox cart in Omaha, 1906

Meeker feared the Oregon Trail's historical significance would be forgotten, plowed up by farmers, and displaced from the streets and buildings of growing settlements. He was determined to preserve the memory through historical granite monuments at way stations. From 1906 to 1908 he repeated the journey of his youth in the ox cart for this purpose. He used equipment as he did on his first trip, trying to create a stir and interest in his cause among the population and the press. Since there was no functioning covered wagon in Puyallup, he had one assembled from the parts of three wagons. Two oxen pulled the cart 13,000 km, one all the way, while the other collapsed along the way and had to be replaced. On February 20, 1906, he was able to erect the first stone monument in Tenino, Washington . He had a helper and cook who accompanied him over the three years. On the way he showed off his car and animals, sold postcards and books, and gave lectures. His trek also led to New York. In Washington, DC , he met Theodore Roosevelt in 1907 .

In the last two decades of his life he traveled the trail several times, from 1910 to 1912 in a covered wagon, and in 1924 by plane. He wrote several books on the subject. After his death at the age of 97, his cause was carried on by groups such as the Oregon-California Trails Association .

Publications

  • Hop Culture in the United States (1880)
  • Pioneer Reminiscences of Puget Sound, the Tragedy of Leschi (1905)
  • Ox team; or, The Old Oregon Trail, 1852-1906 (1906)
  • Ventures and Adventures of Ezra Meeker (1908)
  • Uncle Ezra's Pioneer Short Stories for Children (undated, ca.1915)
  • The Busy Life of Eighty-Five Years of Ezra Meeker (1915)
  • Seventy Years of Progress in Washington (1921)
  • Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail (1922)
  • Kate Mulhall, a Romance of the Oregon Trail (1926)

bibliography

  • David Dary: The Oregon Trail: An American Saga . Alfred A. Knopf, New York City 2004, ISBN 978-0-375-41399-5 .
  • Howard R. Driggs, Ezra Meeker: Covered Wagon Centennial and Ox-Team Days , Oregon Trail Memorial. Edition, The World Book Company, Yonkers, NY 1932.

Web links

Commons : Ezra Meeker  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Frank S. Green: Ezra Meeker - Pioneer: A Guide to the Ezra Meeker Papers in the Library of the Washington State Historical Society ( English ). Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, WA 1969, ISBN 978-0-375-41399-5 .
  2. ↑ Lori Price: He would have loved it: Energetic Ezra liked excitement (English) . In: Pierce County Herald , July 6, 1982, p. C3. 
  3. ↑ Ezra Meeker: Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail ( English ), revised. Edition, The World Book Company, Yonkers, NY 1922.
  4. ↑ Lori Price: New Yorker helped establish first post office (English) . In: Pierce County Herald , August 25, 1990, pp. 16,32 (Puyallup Centennial special section). 
  5. ↑ Lori Price: Hops blossomed into economic boom, bust (English) . In: Pierce County Herald , August 25, 1990, pp. 36-37, 43 (Puyallup Centennial special section). 
  6. ↑ Ezra Meeker Historical Society: Ezra Meeker ( English ). Ezra Meeker Historical Society, Puyallup, WA 1972.
  7. ↑ Dennis M. Larsen: Slick as a Mitten: Ezra Meeker's Klondike Enterprise ( English ). Washington State University Press, Pullman, WA 2009, ISBN 978-0-87422-302-6 , pp. 1-2.
  8. ↑ Bert Webber, Margie Webber: Ezra Meeker; Champion of the Oregon Trail ( English ). Webb Research Group, Medford, OR 1992, ISBN 0-936738-19-7 , pp. 22-26.
  9. ↑ Ezra Meeker: Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail ( English ), revised. Edition, The World Book Company, Yonkers, NY 1922.
personal data
SURNAME Meeker, Ezra
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meeker, Ezra Manning (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pioneer and hop grower
DATE OF BIRTH December 29, 1830
PLACE OF BIRTH Butler County (Ohio)
DATE OF DEATH December 3, 1928
Place of death Seattle , Washington