TRIBUTE TO PETER M. GIDEON. 31 
TRIBUTE TO PETER M. GIDEON. 
W. W. PENDERGAST, HUTCHINSON. 
The Northwest owes a debt to Peter M. Gideon, whose amount it is im- 
possible to calculate. Thousands of farms named in this and adjoining 
states have been made richer and happier by his grand contributions to 
horticulture along the line of apple growing. In the prime of life—and that 
means many years ago—he formed his plans and entered upon the work of 
experimenting with a resolute will and determined purpose to succeed. His 
object was to produce and place before the people of this northern clime 
some varieties of fall and winter apples which should be of high quality and 
hardy enough to withstand our trying winters and the hot weather of our 
early spring. All previous attempts in this direction had resulted in failure. 
Minnesota seemed doomed to wheat, vegetable and cattle growing exclu- 
sively. But Mr. Gideon was not a man to be easily discouraged. He was 
not to be terrified or side-tracked by the mistakes or failures of others. 
“They might come and they might go,” but he went right on till the “grim 
reaper” gathered him into the “harvest of death.” 
If the great end of life is to serve others and make their lot brighter by 
smoothing the asperities of life and increasing its comforts, if he who causes 
two blades of grass to grow where one grew before is a public benefactor, 
then Peter M. Gideon must have had the satisfaction of feeling that his life’s 
work had been faithfully performed and that his self-imposed task was com- 
plete. Of course, there is much to be done by us who remain, but his mis- 
sion was fulfilled, his purpose carried out, his life a success. Let us all, 
then, unite in giving him the full meed of praise for what he accomplished 
for us under the most adverse circumstances, working with an ardor that 
no scoffs could cool, a devotion that no obstacle could turn aside. Such men 
should be honored not for the good it will do them after they are dead, but 
as a recognition of merit, an incentive to others, especially to the young, to 
be as diligent and persevering as he, always following with unswerving zeal 
wherever duty points the way. 
Mr. Gideon is dead, but his noble work will live after him. His memory 
will long be green in the hearts of men whose interests are bound up in the 
interests of the great Northwest. 
The Wealthy, the Peter, the Gideon, the Martha and scores of other val- 
uable apples which he originated and gave to the public without a thought 
of monopolizing the profits sure to accrue from their introduction, will add 
millions to the wealth of this country. Countless children yet to be, as they 
look admiringly upon the rosy fruit hanging from the bending boughs, glis- 
tening in the bright September sun, will bless the man who spent his life 
in making such a sight possible, and will place his name high up on the 
scroll of worthies who have passed away, as the particular one, who in spite 
of pain, poverty and disappointments enough to discourage weaker and less 
resolute men, yet struggled on till victory was won, and he could hand down 
a valuable heritage to posterity. 
There are others—but the list is not a long one—who from the organiza- 
tion of the state have steadfastly and successfully labored to promote its hor- 
ticultural interests, and they are now tardily receiving a part of the honors 
due for the noble services they have rendered their brother settlers in their 
new land. As the years lapse by these honors will increase, but most of 
