The Lost Art Of Long-Distance Wheelbarrow Pushing

I had never heard of long-distance wheelbarrow pushing until I read a book about coffee in St. Louis, which was the center of coffee production in the early 1900's.

Right in the middle of a book about the St. Louis coffee trade, I came across a section on "The Wheelbarrow Man".

It was 1902, and this guy had accepted a bet that he could push a wheelbarrow from Michigan to San Francisco.  He had a year to do the pushing; the wheelbarrow contained about 200 pounds of clothing and provisions.  He had to start with zero dollars in his pocket and had to finish with $500.  Along the way he had to marry a woman who proposed to him.  The bet was for $1,300.

The guy's name was Harry.  He was a fan of the physical culture movement sweeping the country at the time, so he adopted the last name of Adonis.

When Harry Adonis arrived in St. Louis pushing his wheelbarrow, the head of the Blanke Coffee Company immediately saw a promotional opportunity and painted Harry's wheelbarrow blue - the same blue as a can of Blanke Coffee.  And he wrote "Blanke" on three sides of the wheelbarrow.

It was 1902.  I wondered if women back then dared to propose to men.  It turns out that by the time Harry reached St. Louis, 422 women had already proposed to him, but he didn’t find any of them suitable.

Harry pushed his newly-blue wheelbarrow westward out of St. Louis.  It was 1902, and roads were terrible.  Just getting to St. Louis from Michigan was an accomplishment.  Now he had to cross plains, mountains, and a desert before reaching San Francisco.

Did he make it?

Luckily, California has done a wonderful job of digitizing its old newspapers, and I was able to find a San Francisco newspaper online announcing that Mr. and Mrs. Harry Adonis, trundling a wheelbarrow, had arrived in the city on December 20, 1902.

He made it!  He married proposal number 448 - in Kansas City.  This woman definitely suited him, because she walked with him across plains, mountains, and desert.  Harry had triumphed, almost.  I read that he did not arrive with $500 in his pocket, so he could not collect his bet.

Joining Harry Adonis in the pantheon of American wheelbarrow pushers, is Larry Hightower.  

In 1946, Larry left Ellensburg, Washington, pushing a wheelbarrow, and did not make it home again until 1951.  Larry, who was a veteran, spent all this time going from town to town giving speeches about Americanism to elementary schools.

Larry Hightower pushed his wheelbarrow around the world.  He did not go around the world literally (like Phileas Fogg), but figuratively --- by racking up 25,000 miles pushing his wheelbarrow all over North America.  

It is now the 21^st-Century, and it looks like the art of long-distance wheelbarrow pushing has died out in the United States.  However, there was a guy in New Zealand who named his wheelbarrow "George" and pushed George all around the North Island in 2004 to raise money for charity.

Maybe it is time for Americans to put down our buckets of ice water and pick up the handles of a wheelbarrow to raise money for charity.  After all, a wheelbarrow is versatile: it can carry your supplies during the day, and you can sleep in it at night...or under it if it is raining.    

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Here is a 1-minute newsreel segment ("Footloose and Fee Wheeling") showing Larry Hightower pushing his wheelbarrow in the Cascade Mountains:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8qW2LrTp0U

Here is a 10-second video of two people who have walked around the world without ever leaving St. Louis' Citygarden:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6lSA2gTTNg


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NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  Send an email to ParadiseDouglas at gmail.com to find out how to purchase a copy by mail