page_title: Ezra Meeker
section_title: "Hop King of the World"
hierarchical_section_title: Ezra Meeker / Territorial pioneer / "Hop King of the World"
caption_attribution_description: Hop barn and other enterprises of Ezra Meeker, Puyallup, Washington
context_page_description: Ezra Manning Meeker was an American pioneer who traveled the Oregon Trail by ox-drawn wagon as a young man, migrating from Iowa to the Pacific Coast. Late in life he worked to memorialize the Trail, repeatedly retracing the trip of his youth. Once known as the "Hop King of the World", he was the first mayor of Puyallup, Washington.
  Meeker was born in Butler County, Ohio, to Jacob and Phoebe Meeker. His family relocated to Indiana when he was a boy. He married Eliza Jane Sumner in 1851; the following year the couple, with Ezra's brother and with their newborn son, set out for the Oregon Territory, where land could be claimed and settled on. Although they endured hardships on the Trail in the journey of nearly six months, the entire party survived the trek. Meeker and his family briefly stayed near Portland, then journeyed north to live in the Puget Sound region. They settled at what is now Puyallup in 1862, where Meeker grew hops for use in brewing beer. By 1887, his business had made him wealthy, and his wife built a large mansion for the family. In 1891 an infestation of hop aphids destroyed his crops and took much of his fortune.
context_section_description: Ezra Meeker's farm at Swamp Place was not a success as the land was too poor to grow crops. The family continued to run the store in Steilacoom. On January 5, 1861, Oliver Meeker drowned while returning from a buying trip to San Francisco, when his ship, the Northerner, sank off the California coast. The Meekers had borrowed to finance the trip, and the losses from this disaster reduced Ezra Meeker to near penury. He secured the squatter's claim of Jerry Stilly on land in the Puyallup Valley, and moved his wife and children there in 1862. While clearing his own holdings, he earned money by helping to clear the land of others. His father and surviving brother, John Meeker, also had claims in the valley. John Meeker had come to Washington Territory by ship in 1859 and had settled in the Puyallup Valley. Ezra Meeker ran for the Washington Territorial Legislature in 1861, but was defeated. In 1869, Meeker ran for Pierce County Surveyor; he was defeated by James Gallagher, 138 votes to 116.
  In 1865, Olympia brewer Isaac Wood imported some hop roots from the United Kingdom, hopeful that they would do well in the Pacific Northwest. As hops, used to flavor beer, were not then grown locally, the cost of transport from Britain or New York made his beer expensive, and he hoped Puget Sound-area farmers would grow hops and supply him.  He was a friend of Jacob Meeker, and gave him the roots to grow. Jacob passed some of them on to Ezra. The plants grew extremely well, and at the end of the season, the Meekers earned $185 from selling Wood the crop. Such a sum was rarely seen in the Puyallup Valley at that time, and a hop-growing boom promptly began. Ezra Meeker, with his head start, was able to repeatedly expand operations, he eventually had 500 acres (200 ha) of hop-growing lands. He also built one of the first hop-drying kilns in the valley. For years Meeker supplied Portland brewer Henry Weinhard.
  The fertile soil and temperate climate of the valley proved ideal for hops. Not only did the plants thrive, farmers were able to obtain four or five times the usual yield. Meeker, never one to miss an opportunity, formed his own hop brokerage business. In 1870, he penned an 80-page pamphlet, Washington Territory West of the Cascades, to promote investment in the region. He took ship for San Francisco, then journeyed east by the new transcontinental railroad, hoping to get the railroads to expand to his region. He met with newspaper editor Horace Greeley (known for his famous advice, "Go West, young man") and with railroad mogul Jay Cooke as part of his promotional blitz.  Cooke, who was building the Northern Pacific Railway to cross the northern tier of the country, not only bought up Meeker's pamphlets to give away to potential investors, but hired Meeker to drum up interest in his railroad.  While working from a Manhattan office, Meeker dressed like city dwellers, but did not entirely lose his frontier habits, often stirring a lump of butter into his coffee.
  In 1877, Meeker filed a plat for a townsite to surround his cabin. He named the town Puyallup, using the local Indian words for generous people, according to Meeker. The local post office had previously been called "Franklin", a common designation in the United States; Meeker, the town's first postmaster, stated that the new name was likely to remain unique. He later admitted that the pronunciation of Puyallup caused confusion when he visited England—it still remains difficult for non-locals.
  Meeker strove to improve life in the region, and donated land and money towards town buildings and parks, a theatre and a hotel while defraying the start-up costs of a wood products factory.  The Ezra Meeker Historical Society, in their 1972 pamphlet on his life, wrote of his activities:
  During those years, Mr. Meeker became a dynamic force in the community, and had a part in almost everything that happened in the valley.  Restless, forceful, a natural leader, he became a prime mover, galvanizing the citizens of Puyallup into action on such vital problems as the building of streets, roads, hom
caption: The domain of the Hop King
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