Los Angeles County
Biographies
EDWARD EUGENE EASTON
EASTON, EDWARD EUGENE, President Engineers’ Exploration Company, Ltd., Los Angeles, California, was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, January 5, 1878. His father is John Ammen Easton, Ph. D., L. L. D., and his mother Laura (Browder) Easton. Mr. Easton is descended from a long line of American ancestry, dating back to the days when Maryland and Virginia were first settled. His family both on the paternal and maternal sides fought through the Revolutionary War, and were prominent in settling up the country after the Republic was formed. Mr. Easton is also related to Admiral Daniel Ammen, U. S. N.
On April 23, 1906, he married Elise Holliday at Berkeley, California. Three children have been born, Nancy, Jean Elise and Edward Montague Easton.
Mr. Easton was educated in the public schools of Cincinnati, including the high school of that city. He went abroad and at Vienna and Paris studied chemistry and engineering (civil and mining) for a period of three years.
Mr. Easton has experienced a very active and picturesque career, having been engaged as a war correspondent, explorer, author, engineer and in several other capacities in distant parts of the world. In his explorations and travels he has visited a great many of the world’s most inaccessible regions, including portions of Africa, South America, the Orient and other little explored countries.
His first venture in the active business world was at Kansas City, where he followed newspaper work for the Kansas City Journal, and when the war with Spain broke out he was sent to Cuba as a certified special war correspondent for that publication. Returning home, he was appointed private secretary in the Interior Department at Washington, D. C., which position he resigned in 1899 in order to go with an exploring expedition into South Africa. While there he was made war correspondent during the Boer War for the New York Journal, also for Harper’s Monthly and Harper’s Weekly.
He had the distinction of being certified as a war correspondent by Sir Alfred Milner, British High Commissioner of South Africa, and also later by President Steyn of the Orange Free States and by President Kruger of the Transvaal.
In 1902, with the closing of the war, he resumed his exploration work, making an examination of the mineral deposits in East Africa and traversing the regions north of the Zambesi River. A year later he was given charge of an expedition in the Malay Peninsula and in Borneo for a French-Dutch syndicate. His success was such that in the year following he was detailed on a similar expedition to the famed Atlas Mountains and along the northern border of the Sahara Desert. In 1905 he explored the jungles of Spanish Honduras, known as one of the most dangerous regions for a white man in all the world.
After spending a brief period in New York he moved to Los Angeles, California in 1906, and since that time he has made that city his permanent residence.
He has written considerably for magazines and periodicals, contributing such articles as “Inside the Boer Lines” (Harper’s Monthly, 1900), and the “Battle of Pepworth Hill” (Harper’s Weekly, 1900).
His achievements since moving to Los Angeles have been largely in California and in the northwestern regions of Mexico. Two of his best accomplishments were the securing of the Cinco Minas Mines, located in the far Hostotipaquillo district, Jalisco, Mexico, for a syndicate of Eastern capitalists and the purchasing of 32,000 acres of land in the Colorado River delta. This territory lies in the heart of the Imperial Valley region, and as a result of his work he was honored with the presidency of the Imperial Valley Land and Irrigation Company of Lower California, S. A. Mr. Easton sold one-half of this land to John Cudahy, the packer, while the remaining portion he has retained in his own corporation. He owns a controlling interest in this company.
As an explorer, war correspondent and author he has seen and written about many of the most interesting movements of the present day, including two modern wars. His scientific research work has brought him under the notice of the foremost scientists and engineers of the day. He is president of the Engineers’ Exploration Company, Ltd., and is a leading spirit in the life of that organization. He is a member of the National Geographic Society; his work in exploring many of the unknown portions of the world having won him an enviable position among the members of this society.
Mr. Easton is now permanently located in Los Angeles, where he continues to carry out his literary and scientific pursuits as well as the more prosaic business undertakings. He takes an active part in the welfare of his home city and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Mines and Oils, and of the Jonathan and Gamut clubs of the city.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: Press Reference
Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 448, International News Service,
New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2010 Joyce
Rugeroni.
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