Eureka! Tetragon 5 – Tent (sleeps 2)
This recreational tent is a great value, stable, easy to pitch and it comes in a series of multiple sizes to fit any adventure!
Although the exact year is unknown, Eureka’s long history begins prior to 1895 in Binghamton, NY, where the company still resides today. Then known as the Eureka Tent & Awning Company, its first wares were canvas products–most notably, Conestoga wagon covers and horse blankets for 19th-century American frontiersmen–as well as American flags, store awnings, and camping tents.
The company increased production of its custom canvas products locally throughout the 1930s and early 1940s. The company even fabricated and erected a series of IBM “tent cities” just outside Binghamton, housing thousands of IBM salesmen during the company’s annual stockholders meeting, which had outgrown its previous locale. With the advent of World War II and the increased demand for hospital ward tents, Eureka expanded operations and began shipping tents worldwide. Ultimately, upon the post-war return of the GIs and the resultant housing shortage, Eureka turned its attention to the home front during the 1950s by supplying awnings for the multitude of mobile homes that were purchased.
In 1960, renowned explorer Sir Edmund Hillary used Eureka’s new and innovative Draw-Tite tent–with its practical, freestanding external frame–in a Himalayan expedition to Nepal (Hillary had climbed to the summit of Mt. Everest only six years earlier). In 1963, Eureka made history during its own Mt. Everest ascent, with more than 60 of its tents sheltering participants during the first all-American Mt. Everest Expedition, where explorers braved fierce 60-plus mph winds and temperatures reached below -20F.
Eureka introduced its legendary Timberline tent in the 1970s, targeting it to backpackers and families. The first to employ the StormShield design, the lightweight, self-supporting backpacking tent became one of the most popular tents in the industry, with sales reaching over 1 million by its 10-year anniversary. Eureka tents have also traveled as companions on other historic expeditions, including the American Women’s Himalayan Expedition to Annapurna I in 1978 and the first Mt. Everest ascents by a Canadian and American woman in 1986 and 1988. In recent years, Eureka designed and donated tents to Eric Simonson and his team. The group took two historic research expeditions to Mt. Everest, this time in a quest for truth regarding the 1924 attempted summit of early English explorers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine. During the 1999 expedition, the team made history by finding the remains of George Mallory, but the overall mystery remained unsolved. Returning in 2001 to search for more clues, the team found several historical artifacts that are now on display at the Smithsonian.
