Slick as a Mitten: Ezra Meeker's Klondike Enterprise

By Dennis M. Larsen

Ezra Meeker braved the Oregon Trail in 1852, and eventually became a hop farmer and broker in the Puget Sound country. He platted the town of Puyallup, Washington, and served as its first mayor. By the 1880s he had built a fortune and a mansion. Then suddenly, a devastating scourge of aphids followed by a severe national depression, swept his assets away, "slick as a mitten." He rescued his friends and neighbors when the local bank failed, however, by tapping his own capital to return funds to account holders.

The Alaskan gold rush held renewed prospects for the financially ruined. Despite his advanced age, Meeker ventured to the treacherous Klondike four times, transporting and selling more than 60 tons of groceries to Yukon gold miners. The arduous hauling of eggs, potatoes, dried goods, and even live chickens, required steamers, dog teams, pack animals, human backs, flatboats, and scows. His wife, Eliza Jane, who remained closer to home, managed the food-drying and canning operation, manufacturing granulated eggs and dehydrated soup vegetables.

Ezra delighted in his infant grandson, Wilfred, who accompanied him to Dawson in 1900. Four years of letters, most from Ezra to his beloved Eliza Jane, relate the details of his risky schemes and experiences, from business pursuits, to keeping warm, to the daily antics of his grandchild.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0874223024
• ISBN13: 9780874223026
• Release Date: June 2009
• Publisher: Washington State University Press
• Length: 136 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.4" x 11.0"
• Age Range: 14 years and up

Customer Reviews

An engaging and entertaining read from beginning to end

Traveling the Oregon trail in 1852, Ezra Meeker built his fortune in hop farming and brokering in Puget Sound country. Platting Puyallup, Meeker served as the town's first mayor and was a key businessman. A scourge of hop aphids hit in the 1890s, followed by a national economic depression which wiped out Meeker's assets. When the Puyallup bank was on the verge of failure, Meeker came to the aid of his friends and neighbors by using his own greatly diminished finances to return funds to the depositors. 1898 saw the Alaskan Klondike gold rush and, even though he was now in his 60s, Meeker went north four times transporting and selling one hundred tons of vegetables, dried foods and canned goods in mining camps, primitive inns and restaurants while his wife Eliza Jane stayed behind to manage the family business. To put it mildly, Ezra Meeker led an interesting life and "Slick As A Mitten: Ezra Meeker's Klondike Enterprise" is his fascinating story superbly compiled with historic black-and-white photos by Dennis M. Larsen. An engaging and entertaining read from beginning to end, "Slick As A Mitten" is a splendid and enthusiastically recommended addition to academic library American History and American Biography collections.