. Ox-team days on the Oregon Trail /by Ezra Meeker ; revised and edited by Howard R. Driggs. uld kill thelice, we had to use so much spraying material on the densefoliage that, in killing them, we virtually destroyed thehops. Instead of being able to sell our hops at the topprice of the market, we saw our product fall to the foot of Finding and Losing a Fortune 159 the list. The last crop I raised cost me eleven cents a poundand sold for three under the hammer at sheriffs sale. At that time I had advanced to my neighbors and othersupon their hop crops more than a hundred thousanddollars, which
. Ox-team days on the Oregon Trail /by Ezra Meeker ; revised and edited by Howard R. Driggs. uld kill thelice, we had to use so much spraying material on the densefoliage that, in killing them, we virtually destroyed thehops. Instead of being able to sell our hops at the topprice of the market, we saw our product fall to the foot of Finding and Losing a Fortune 159 the list. The last crop I raised cost me eleven cents a poundand sold for three under the hammer at sheriffs sale. At that time I had advanced to my neighbors and othersupon their hop crops more than a hundred thousanddollars, which was lost. These people simply could notpay, and I forgave the debt, taking no judgments againstthem, and I have never regretted the action. All myaccumulations were swept away, and I quit the business —or, rather, the business quit me. After a long struggle with the hop plague, nearly all thehops were plowed up and the land in the Puyallup valleyand elsewhere was used for dairy farming, fruit growing,and general crops. It is actually of a higher value nowthan when it was bearing United Slates Forest Service Going up the Chilkoot Pass. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO TRYING FOR A FORTUNE IN ALASKA After the failure of the hop business, I was left more orless at sea for some years. I tried various other projects —-among them the raising of sugar beets. The country, wesoon found, was not adapted to this industry. Then Itried banking, likewise with little success. Finally Idecided to strike out for the mines of Alaska. This adven-ture, taken when I was nearly three score and ten years ofage, was full of exciting experiences. Indeed, it left mericher only in experience. I had lived in the old Oregon country forty-four yearsand had never seen a mine. Mining had had no attractionfor me. But when my accumulations had all been swal-lowed up, I decided to take a chance. In the spring of1898 I made my first trip over the Chilkoot Pass, went 160 Trying for a Fortune in Alaska 161 down the Y
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectoverlan, bookyear1922
