Luther Metke
| Luther Metke | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 20, 1885 Buffalo, New York |
| Died | April 7, 1985 (aged 100) |
| Known for | Oregon pioneer and American poet |
| Spouse(s) | Anna Dobbs |
| Children | 4 |
Luther Metke (February 20, 1885 – April 7, 1985) was an American folk poet and early central Oregon pioneer who served in the Spanish American War. He was the subject of Jorge Preloran's Academy Award nominated documentary Luther Metke at 94. Metke moved to Central Oregon in 1907 and built nearly every bridge between Bend and Crescent and over 30 log cabins.
Metke was born in Buffalo, New York and was brought up on a homestead in Minnesota. He started building log cabins as a young boy, helping other homesteaders, and immigrant families build homes. He enrolled in the US Navy in 1898, at the age of 15, saw battle in the Spanish American War, and served in the Philippines, Japan, and China. During an expedition up the Yangtze river, Metke saw the impact that deforestation and uncontrolled logging could have on the environment; this experience would strongly influence his poetry. He was married to Anna Dobbs, of Ireland and they had two sons and two daughters.
Metke returned from service on the battleship Oregon and moved to central Oregon in 1907, at the age of 24. He purchased a homestead in Central Oregon, on the current site of the Sunriver Resort. He was a lumberjack, used the two-man saw to fall giant pines, some measuring six feet across, and floated them down the river for sale to mills in Bend, Oregon. Metke also built log cabins and bridges, a craft he remembered from his youth in Minnesota: he wrote that "a man never forgets how to use the old broad axe", the log-cabin building tool of choice for Metke. It is estimated that he built over 30 log homes in Central Oregon (including the grand lodge at Sunriver Resort) and built almost every bridge across the Deschutes River. In the 1920s, Metke became a labor organizer, an advocate of labor unions and better working conditions for workers in the logging industry. Metke's years spent homesteading, as a lumberjack and woodsman, shaped another of his personal facets and would strongly influence his poetry.
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