Ohio History Journal

OHIO

Archaeological and Historical

PUBLICATIONS

 

EZRA MEEKER

Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer

 

 

BY C. B. GALBREATH

 

In the Cincinnati Enquirer of October 10, 1924,

shortly after the historic aviation meeting at Dayton,

appeared the following editorial:

Many interesting features distinguished the great air race

meeting at Dayton, Ohio, but, we fancy, none of the remarkable

feats, sights, scenes or incidents was more genuinely inspiring or

thrilling than the arrival at McCook Field of Ezra Meeker, ninety-

four-year-old pioneer of the Oregon Trail.

Out of the sky dropped this trail-maker of the nation's

swaddling days, a rugged, bearded argonaut who has lived to see

the development of such imperial national progress as fez mor-

tals have known.

It was Meeker's first airplane trip. He came with a repre-

sentative of the United States Army. He came from Puget Sound

in brief space. Just seventy-two years ago he crossed the Mis-

souri at Omaha and started for the Oregon country, with an ox

team. It took him six months to reach Puget Sound. He made

the return trip to Omaha: in fifteen flying hours.

Meeker passed over the old trail and pointed out where buf-

falo and Indians once abounded. He was glad to have enjoyed

this new great experience. Whether anyone realized the fact or

not, this old man of the early trails and present traverser of the

ways of the skies was a monumental feature of the occasion. But

for men like him, the strenuous hardy forerunners of the younger

days of the republic, there would have been no republic, no Wash-

ington Conference, no international airplane exhibitions at Day-

(3)

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4         Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

ton, Ohio. The bull driver of three-quarters of a century ago

incarnates the spirits of adventure and progress. He came by

ways of the air, holding vision of the past and present and of the

future. Those who sawz him, perhaps, looked upon him as a

tired, wondering old man, but he carried on his forehead the in-

effaceable sign placed by the Genius of America on the brows of

all her heroic sons.

Well said. All honor to the editor who penned those

lines. The occasion of the return of this argonaut of

1852 who came by "way of skies" was significant and

epoch-marking, as was the departure over the Oregon

Trail "seventy-two years before."

At the meeting of the American Historical Associa-

tion in Rochester, New York, 1926, papers were read

on the great western migrations in North America. Dr.

C. A. Duniway, in an address that was especially well

received, presented portions of the Journal of Abigail

Jane Scott, an intelligent and educated girl who made

the journey to the Oregon country "in the year of the

great migration." In his introductory remarks Mr.

Duniway said:

The movement to Oregon became larger than before and

1852 was known as "the year of the great migration", because the

movement never again reached such large proportions. An Ore-

gon newspaper estimated in the late autumn that 20,000 people

had come overland to Oregon  * * *. This flood of immi-

grants, pouring across great stretches of plains, through deserts

and semi-deserts, over mountain ranges, covering hundreds of

miles, able to utilize only the primitive methods of wagon trans-

portation, dependent almost wholly on food supplies which could

be carried with them, exposed to perils of hostile Indians, acci-

dents of travel and debilitating sickness, were just one more gen-

eration of the hardy and heroic people who have made this

United States a continental colonizing power without colonies.

Ezra Meeker is the last adult survivor of that great

migration. He was born in Huntsville, Butler County.

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Ezra Meeker -- Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.  5

 

Ohio, December 29, 1830, the son of Jacob Redding and

Phoebe (Baker) Meeker. His father's ancestors came

from England in 1637 and in 1665 they settled near

Elizabeth City, New Jersey. Here they established a

home and built a substantial house which stood until

about the year 1910. "More than a score of hardy

soldiers from this family fought for the colonies in the

War of Independence." His mother was of English-

Welsh ancestry. Her father settled in Butler County,

Ohio, about the year 1804.

Ezra Meeker was born in a typical log cabin of the

time. Luxuries were few, but good food was plentiful

and life was not without substantial enjoyments. His

parents were industrious and frugal. Like their neigh-

bors they devoted their energies to clearing away the

forests, tilling the soil and rearing a family. "They

were sincere Christians" declares Mr. Meeker, but not

austerely so. The father was sternly opposed to the use

of intoxicating liquors and contrary to the custom of

the times refused to furnish whiskey to harvest hands.

He was a miller and worked at his trade early and late.

"We were trained to take our part at home," writes

Mr. Meeker. "The labor was light to be sure, but it was

service and it brought happiness into our lives. For

after all, that home is happiest where everyone helps."

His educational advantages were very limited. Free

schools were unknown in Ohio where his early years

were spent, and the subscription schools were taught by

teachers with few qualifications for their work. Mr.

Meeker somewhat regretfully admits that his youthful

mind "did not run to school work." He was the most

restless member of the family and preferred outdoor

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labor. For the loss of elementary schooling he had to

make amends in later years.

The family moved to Lockland, Ohio, then a small

village "ten miles north of Cincinnati." In 1839 a more

important move was made from Lockland to Attica, In-

diana, a distance of about two hundred miles.

The journey was made in a covered wagon, so filled

with household goods and a few farming implements

that there was left only room for the mother and the

smaller children, while Ezra and his older brother,

Oliver, aged respectively nine and eleven years, walked

all of the way. This we are assured was not a great

hardship for the sturdy boys, as the progress of the

wagon was rather slow.

When they reached their destination they settled on

a rented farm. For a time the father did not find em-

ployment at his trade and at first the family worked

hard to earn a livelihood. Ezra did his part by driving

an oxteam for a neighbor, for which he received

twenty-five cents a day and boarded at home. Soon

afterward he found employment in the office of a Free

Soil paper, published in Indianapolis. He worked as

"roller boy" when the paper was printed on the primi-

tive press then in use, ran errands and sold papers. He

was gruffly treated at times on the street by those who

were opposed to the anti-slavery principles of the Jour-

nal, but he was kindly welcomed by the regular sub-

scribers of the paper, among whom was Henry Ward

Beecher, the young Congregational minister who in

after years attained international fame. Mr. Beecher,

as Mr. Meeker still distinctly recalls, always greeted

him with a smile and usually with a few cheerful words.

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Ezra Meeker -- Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.  7

 

He sometimes delivered the paper to Mr. Beecher in his

room seated at a large table on which were books, pa-

pers, and what especially caught his eye, a large cat

which seemed to be a favorite pet of the minister.

The boy found a little time to attend day school in

which singing was taught. He had a good voice. Some

of the members of Beecher's church heard him and

asked him to join the church choir. Elated at the pros-

pect he asked permission from his mother. He was told

that he had no clothes that were good enough to wear

in the choir. Then an offer was made to get him a suit

of clothes and pay him something besides, but his father

objected. He was not pleased with the liberal preach-

ing of Beecher and feared that it would be unwise to

permit his son to hear the sermons. "That incident,"

says Mr. Meeker, "set me to thinking and finally led me,

young as I was, into a more liberal faith, though I

dared not openly espouse it."

In 1844 the Whigs held a great political convention

on the old Tippecanoe battle ground. Ezra Meeker at

this time was full of Whig enthusiasm. The journey-

men printers of the Journal office attended in a covered

wagon and his parents gave him permission to go along.

The proprietor of the paper asked some of his men to

print a bunch of Whig campaign songs for young

Meeker to distribute, if he could find purchasers. When

they arrived at the convention he offered the printed

songs but nobody would buy. A great crowd, the like

of which he had never witnessed before was in attend-

ance. Clubs were marching, bands were playing and

the throngs were cheering. His anticipations of a neat

sum of money from the sale of the songs vanished.

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8        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Finally a journeyman suggested to him to mount the

fence and sing some of the songs to attract the attention

of the crowd. This he did. The people gathered around

him to listen. In a short time his copies of the songs

were all sold and he went home with eleven dollars in

his pocket, "the richest boy on earth."

In the year 1845 a letter reached the family from

Ezra Meeker's grandfather Baker, stating that he

would give his mother one thousand dollars with which

to buy a farm. This, of course, was welcome news, but

how was the money to be brought from Ohio to In-

diana? Let Mr. Meeker answer this in his own lan-

guage:

The burning question with my father and mother was how

to get the money out from Ohio to Indiana. They actually went

in a covered wagon to Ohio for it and hauled it home, all silver,

in a box. This silver was nearly all foreign coin. Prior to that

time but a few million dollars had been coined by the United

States Government.*

These incidents, unimportant in themselves, show

what wonderful progress has been made in this country

in one lifetime.

A little later Ezra left the printing office and took

charge of the farm purchased with the thousand dollars

received from his grandfather. The community in

which his life was cast was not without social oppor-

tunities. He was a perfectly normal youth and in his

later teens fell in love with a young woman on a neigh-

boring farm, and they were happily married.

While Indiana at this time was still a "new country"

and belonged to what was known as "the West", while

land was plentiful and cheap, the lure of the greater

West was a powerful magnet to adventurous pioneers.

* Meeker. The Busy Life of Eighty-five Years. Copyrighted.

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Ezra Meeker -- Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.  9

 

The newly married couple were attracted first to the

rich plains of Iowa. Hither they went overland in Oc-

tober, 1851. Ample provision was made for the jour-

ney. The hearts of these young people were full of love

and hope and the five hundred mile journey from In-

dianapolis to Eddyville, Iowa, in the beautiful Indian

summer weather, was long cherished in memory as one

of the most pleasant experiences of their lives. They

crossed the Mississippi River at Burlington, then a

small town with large prospects, and in a few days ar-

rived in good health and spirits at their destination.

The winter of 1851-1852 was unusually severe in Iowa.

Ezra Meeker and a companion named Vance, on their

way back from a surveying party, were caught about

Christmas time in the western part of the state in a

severe storm and were almost frozen. The experiences

of that winter convinced Mr. Meeker and his young

wife that they could not like the climate of Iowa and

their thoughts were again directed to "the farther

West."

In June, 1846, the treaty was entered into between

the United States and Great Britain which settled the

northern boundary line of the Oregon Country, which

then included the present states of Oregon, Washington,

Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming. This

treaty, the close of the War with Mexico, and the offer

of free homesteads to settlers greatly accelerated mi-

gration to the Northwest. The fame of the Cascade

Mountains, their mild climate, fertile soil, and vast for-

ests of choice timber had reached the East and the

middle West, and the "course of empire" was on its des-

tined way.

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10      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. Early in April, 1852, when their first child, a baby boy, was seven weeks old, Ezra Meeker and his wife de- cided that they would go to Oregon, the land of promise, where a free homestead of three hundred acres of choice land awaited those who would come and possess it. Preparations were carefully and somewhat elab- orately made for the great overland trek, toward the

region of the setting sun. As the little party left Eddy- ville, it numbered Ezra Meeker, wife and child, and Wil- liam Buck, who accompanied the expedition as a part- ner. One wagon, two yoke of oxen and one yoke of cows made up the rolling stock and motive power of transportation.  An extra cow was taken along for emergency and to provide an abundance of milk. In the wagon was a plentiful supply of such food as could not be procured on the journey.

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Ezra Meeker -- Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.  11 The trip westward through Iowa was uneventful. At the Mormon town of Kanesville (now Council Bluffs), the party, which had grown to five wagons, a number of old time acquaintances and his brother Oliver, made their last purchases, wrote final letters to friends and started on the second stage of their long journey.

Much difficulty was experienced in crossing the Mis- souri.  Emigrant trains of covered wagons and ox teams were converging from many points to this place of crossing and facilities for ferrying to the other side of the river were woefully inadequate and expensive. One of the Meeker party crossed the river and found an old scow, half buried in the sand. Eleven miles down the river the owner was discovered, who consented to the use of the scow for transporting the party across on

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12      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. condition that it afterward be returned to him in good condition. This use of the boat was given in return for rescuing it from the sand, which proved to be a task of considerable magnitude. When the party was about to cross the sheriff appeared with a writ to prevent the use of the boat. This action was instituted by the ferry- men who were reaping a harvest by exorbitant charges, and they wished to compel everyone to patronize them. Here let Mr. Meeker tell what happened:

I never before or since attempted to resist an officer of the law; but when that sheriff put in an appearance and we realized what his coming meant, there wasn't a man in our party that did not run to the nearby camp for his gun. It is needless to add that we did not need to use the guns. As if by magic a hundred other guns came in sight. The sheriff withdrew, and the crossing went on peaceably until all our wagons were safely landed.1 1 Meeker, Ezra, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. This quota- tion and others following are from a book published by The World Book Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York. This quotation and others re-

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Ezra Meeker -- Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.     13

What Mr. Meeker has to say in regard to lawless-

ness on the plains is of interest. It shows that the tide

of the great army of immigrants moving westward had

its code of justice which it administered effectively and

without partiality:

Some people and some writers have assumed that on the

Plains each man was "a law unto himself" and free to do his

own will,--dependent, of course, upon his physical ability to en-

force it. Nothing could be further from the facts than this as-

sumption, as evil-doers soon found out to their discomfort.

It is true that no general organization for law and order

was effected on the western side of the river. But the American

instinct for fair play and a hearing for everybody prevailed, so

that while there was no mob law, the law of self-preservation

asserted itself, and the counsels of the level-headed older men

prevailed. When an occasion called for action, a "high court"

was convened, and woe betide the man that would undertake to

defy its mandates after its deliberations were made public!

An incident that occurred in what is now Wyoming, well

up on the Sweetwater River, will illustrate the spirit of determi-

nation of the sturdy men of the Plains. A murder had been

committed, and it was clear that the motive was robbery. The

suspected man and his family were traveling along with the mov-

ing column. Men who had volunteered to search for the missing

man finally found evidence proving the guilt of the person sus-

pected. A council of twelve men was called, and it deliberated

until the second day, meanwhile holding the murderer safely.

What were they to do? Here were a wife and four little

children depending upon this man for their lives. What would

become of his family if justice was meted out to him? Soon

there developed an undercurrent of opinion that it was probably

better to waive punishment than to endanger the lives of the

family; but the council would not be swerved from its resolution.

On sundown of the third day the criminal was hanged in the

presence of the whole camp. This was not done until ample pro-

vision had been made to insure the safety of the family by pro-

viding a driver to finish the journey. I came so near to seeing

the hanging that I did see the ends of the wagon tongues in the

air and the rope dangling therefrom.

produced in this contribution are from this book which is copyrighted. They

are used by special permission of the publisher. A brief review of the

book appears on page 147.

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14       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

From necessity, murder was punishable with death. The

penalty for stealing was whipping, which, when inflicted by one

of those long ox lashes in the hands of an expert, would bring

the blood from the victim's back at every stroke. Minor offenses,

or differences generally, were arbitrated. Each party would abide

by the decision as if it had come from a court of law. Lawless-

ness was not common on the Plains. It was less common, indeed,

than in the communities from which the great body of the emi-

grants had been drawn, for punishment was swift and certain.²

On the seventeenth and eighteenth of May Ezra

Meeker and his little party crossed the Missouri River.

From their camp on the day following the shrill whistle

of a river steamboat could be distinctly heard. And

during the days that immediately followed almost a

thousand wagons accompanied by several thousand emi-

grants passed them on the Plains. All were making a

mad rush for the West--all except Meeker and his

party who realized the futility of hurry on such a jour-

ney. Soon his party was passing broken down wagons

and piles of abandoned supplies and property. "Hun-

dreds of wagons were left and hundreds of tons of

goods. In some places signs were posted, 'Help yourself',

as people seemed to vie with each other in giving away

property which they could no longer carry and which

they did not wish to destroy. Flour and bacon were

the most abundant among these piles of discarded ton-

nage."

All went well until the cholera epidemic struck the

moving column along the north side of the Platte River.

Scenes of death and excitement were common among

the panic stricken emigrants; but Ezra Meeker and his

little party escaped harm, except for the illness of his

 

2 Meeker, Ezra, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. Copyrighted

1922 by World Book Company, Publishers, Yonkers-On-Hudson, New York.

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Ezra Meeker - Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.      15

 

brother, Oliver, who was able, after four days of care-

ful nursing, to proceed with the pilgrims. The follow-

ing is found in a diary of one of these pioneers:

Found a family consisting of husband, wife and four small

children, whose cattle we supposed had given out and died. They

were here all alone, and no wagon or cattle in sight. They had

been thrown out by the owner of a wagon and left on the road

to die.

And from another page of the same diary:

Here we met Mr. Lot Whitcom, direct from Oregon. Told

me a great deal about Oregon. Had provisions, but none to sell;

but gives to all he finds in want, and who are unable to buy.

History has no other record of so large a number of emi-

grants ever making so long a journey as did these peioneers.

There must have been three hundred and fifty thousand in

the years of the great rush overland, from 1843 to 1857. Careful

estimates of the total migration westward from  1843 to 1869,

when the first railroad across the continent was completed, make

the number nearly half a million.

The animals driven over the plains during these years were

legion. Besides those that labored under the yoke, in harness, and

under saddle, there was a vast herd of loose stock. *  *  *

With these teams must have been nearly ten thousand beasts of

burden and thirty thousand head of loose stock.

Is it any wonder that the Old Trail was worn so deep that

even now in places it looks like a great canal? At one point near

Split Rock, Wyoming, I found the road cut so deep in the solid

sandstone that the kingbolt of my wagon dragged on the high

center.

The dust was intolerable. In calm weather it would rise so

thick at times that the lead team of oxen could not be seen from

the wagon. Like a London fog, it seemed thick enough to cut.

Then again the steady flow of wind through the South Pass

would hurl the dust and sand like fine hail, sometimes with force

enough to sting the hand and face.³

The casualties of the Plains were legion-a heavy

toll for the building of the West:

 

3Meeker, Ezra, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. Copyrighted

1922 by World Book Company, Publishers, Yonkers-On-Hudson, New York.

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16        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

The number of casualties in that army of emigrants I hesi-

tate to guess. Shall we say that ten per cent fell on the way?

Many old plainsmen would think that estimate too low; yet ten

per cent would give us five thousand lives as one year's toll paid

for the peopling of the Oregon Country. Mrs. Cecelia McMillen

Adams, late of Hillsboro, Oregon, kept a painstaking diary when

she crossed the plains in 1852. She counted the graves passed

and noted down the number. In this diary, published in full by

the Oregon Pioneer Association, I find the following entries:

"June 14, Passed seven new made graves.

June 16, Passed eleven new graves.

June 17, Passed six new graves.

June 18, We have passed twenty-one new graves today.

June 19, Passed thirteen graves today.

June 20, Passed ten graves.

June 21, No, report.

June 22, Passed seven graves. If we should go by the camp-

ing grounds, we should see five times as many

graves as we do."

This report of Mrs. Adams's, coupled with the fact that a

parallel column from which we have no report was traveling up

the south side of the river, and that the outbreak of cholera had

taken place originally in this column coming from the southeast,

fully confirms the estimate of five thousand deaths on the Plains

in 1852. It is probably under rather than over the actual num-

ber.                  * * * * *

One of the incidents that made a profound impression upon

the minds of all was the meeting of eleven wagons returning and

not a man left in the entire train. All the men had died and been

buried on the way, and the women and children were returning

to their homes alone from a point well up on the Platte, below

Fort Laramie. The difficulties of the return trip were multiplied

on account of the throng moving westward. How those women

succeeded in their attempt, or what became of them we never

knew.3

Some trouble with the Indians was experienced after

crossing the Missouri River, but at no time was blood

shed by any member of the Meeker party. Usually the

show of arms was enough to frighten away and deter

3 Meeker, Ezra, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. Copyrighted

1922 by World Book Company, Publishers, Yonkers-On-Hudson, New York.

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Ezra Meeker -- Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.      17

 

the Indians in their purpose to rob and pillage the emi-

grant travelers.   More terrible than the Indian raiders

were the buffalo herds that roamed the Plains. It was

Ezra Meeker's habit at night to snuggle up close to the

back of his good ox, Dandy, to sleep. One night a buf-

falo stampede occurred which is vividly described by

Mr. Meeker himself:

Suddenly there was a sound like an approaching storm. Al-

most instantly every animal in the corral was on its feet.

The alarm was given and all hands turned out, not yet knowing

what caused the general commotion. The roar we heard was

like that of a heavy railroad train passing at no great distance on

a still night. As by instinct all seemed to know suddenly that it

was a buffalo stampede. The tents were emptied of their in-

mates, the weak parts of the corral guarded, frightened cattle

looked after, and every one in the camp was on the alert to watch

what was coming.

In the darkness of the night we could see first the forms

of the leaders, and then such dense masses that we could not dis-

tinguish one buffalo from another. How long they were in pass-

ing we forgot to note; it seemed like an age. When daylight

came the few stragglers yet to be seen fell under the unerring aim

of the frontiersman's rifle.

We were lucky, but our neighbors in camp did not escape

loss. Some were detained for days, gathering up their scattered

stock, while others were unable to find their teams. Some of

the animals never were recovered.

When not on the road, the buffalo were shy, difficult to ap-

proach, and hard to bag, even with the long range rifles of the

pioneers. But for over six hundred miles along the Trail, a

goodly supply of fresh meat was obtainable.⁴

Trailing through the mountains and highlands of

Wyoming travel became more pleasant. Nights were

cool and clear; pure water was abundant. Through the

South Pass at the summit of the Rockies--the Gateway

to the West--the party made its way.

 

4 Meeker, Ezra, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. Copyrighted

1922 by World Book Company, Publishers, Yonkers-On-Hudson, New York.

Vol. XXXVI--2.

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18        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Just after passing Soda Springs, Idaho, the little

party of emigrant friends separated. The McAuleys

and William Buck, who had accompanied them this far,

took the trail to California, while the Meekers and Da-

venports went northwest to Oregon. A few years after

this separation Ezra Meeker heard from William Buck

in a very characteristic way:

He (William Buck) had been back to "the States" as we

then called the eastern part of the country, and returning to Cali-

fornia by way of the Isthmus of Panama, he had brought fifty

swarms of bees. Three of these swarms he sent up to me in

Washington. As far as I know these were the first honey bees

in that state.⁵

When the Snake River was reached it was necessary

for the party to calk their wagon beds to make a craft

on which to cross the river. This was successfully done

and of the episode Mr. Meeker writes later:

My boyhood experience at playing with logs and leaky old

skiffs in the waters of White River now served me well; I could

row a boat. My first venture across the Snake River was with

the wagon gear run over the wagon box, the whole being grad-

ually worked out into deep water. The load was so heavy that

a very small margin was left to prevent the water from breaking

over the sides, and some water did enter as light ripples on the

surface struck the Mary Jane--for we had duly named our craft.

I got over safely, but after that I took lighter loads, and I really

enjoyed the work, with the change from the intolerable dust to

the clear atmosphere of the river.

* * * * *

We had no trouble to get the cattle across, although the river

was wide. Dandy would do almost anything I asked of him; so,

leading him to the water's edge, with a little coaxing I got him

into swimming water and guided him across with the wagon bed.

The others all followed, having been driven into deep water after

the leader. It seems almost incredible how passively obedient

cattle will become after long training on such a journey. Indeed

5 Meeker, Ezra, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. Copyrighted

1922 by World Book Company, Publishers, Yonkers-On-Hudson, New York.

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Ezra Meeker -- Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.     19

 

the ox is always patient, and usually quite obedient; but when

oxen get heated and thirsty they become headstrong and reckless,

and won't obey.⁶

The party realized that about one hundred and fifty

miles distant it would again be necessary to cross the

river. Mr. Meeker walked to this point of crossing,

procured a wagon box, started a ferry of his own and,

by the time the teams of his party came up and rested a

few days, he left the river with one hundred and ten

dollars in his pocket. The wife and baby showed signs

of waning strength and the party moved on. The so-

licitude for them is told as follows:

All along the way the baby and the little mother had been

tenderly cared for. We used to clear away a space in the wagon

bed for them to take a nap together. The slow swaying of the

wagon over smooth sandy stretches made a rock-a-by movement

that would lull them off to dreamland and make them forget the

weary way. * * *

What became of that baby? He thrived and grew to man-

hood and is now living * * * in California. Some of his

grandchildren are almost grown to manhood and womanhood.⁷

To reach the end of the Trail it was still necessary

to travel over three hundred and fifty miles of mountain

and desert. The sands of the desert were deep and fine

--surely a trackless waste. After months of this soul-

trying travel, on a clear day in September, The Dalles

on the Columbia River--the end of the Overland Trail

--was reached. The condition of the emigrants is thus

described by Mr. Meeker:

The appearance of this crowd of emigrants beggars descrip-

tion. Their dress was as varied as pieces of a crazy quilt. Here

was a matronly dame in clean apparel, but without shoes; her

husband perhaps lacked both shoes and hat. Youngsters of all

6 Meeker, Ezra, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. Copyrighted

1922 by World Book Company, Publishers, Yonkers-On-Hudson, New York.

^{7 I}bid.

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20        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

sizes were running about with scarcely enough clothing to cover

their nakedness. Some suits and dresses were so patched that it

was impossible to tell what was the original cloth. The color of

practically everybody's clothing was that of desert dust.

* * * * *

We camped but two days on the bank of the Columbia

River. When I say "we" let it be understood that I mean myself,

my young wife and the baby boy who was but seven weeks old

when the start was made from Eddyville.⁸

A great scow, or lighter, carried a company of about

sixty emigrants, together with their few remaining be-

longings, down the Columbia River to the Cascades

The great journey was ended; the last campfire had died

out. This pioneer party were about to begin making

new history; they were facing new experiences, with

unknown possibilities and expectancies before them.

Of the feelings of responsibility, depression and loneli-

ness of these last days Mr. Meeker writes:

As we went floating down that wonderful old river, the deep

depression of spirits that, for lack of a better name, we call "the

blues" seized upon us. Do you wonder why? We were like an

army that had burned the bridges behind it. We had scant

knowledge of what lay in the track before us. Here we were,

more than two thousand miles from home,--separated from it

by a trackless, uninhabited waste of country. It was impossible

for us to retrace our steps. Go ahead we must no matter what

we were to encounter.⁹

The following incident is feelingly described:

In our party a company of three, a young married couple

and an unmarried sister, lounged on their belongings, listlessly

watching the ripples on the waters, as did also others of the

party. But little conversation was passing. Each seemed to

be communing with himself or herself, but it was easy to see

what were the thoughts occupying the minds of all. The young

husband, it was plain to be seen, would soon complete that greater

journey to the unknown beyond, a condition that weighed so

8 Meeker, Ezra, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. Copyrighted

1922 by World Book Company, Publishers, Yonkers-On-Hudson, New York.

9 Ibid.

• 18
 

Ezra Meeker -- Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.     21

 

heavily upon the ladies of the party that they could ill conceal

their solicitude and sorrow. Finally, to cheer up the sick hus-

band and brother, the ladies began in sweet subdued voices to

sing the old familiar song of "Home, Sweet Home", whereupon

others of the party joined in the chorus with increased volume

of sound. As the echo died away, at the moment of gliding under

the shadow of the high mountain, the second verse was begun,

but was never finished. If an electric shock had startled every

individual of the party, there could have been no more simul-

taneous effect than when the second line of the second verse was

reached, when instead of song, sobs and outcries of grief poured

forth from all lips. It seemed as if there were a tumult of de-

spair mingled with prayer. The rugged boatmen rested upon

their oars in awe, and gave way in sympathy to the scene before

them, until it could be truly said no dry eyes were left nor aching

heart but was relieved. Like the downpour of a summer shower

that clears the atmosphere to welcome the bright shining of the

sun that follows, so this sudden outburst of grief cleared away

the despondency, to be replaced by an exalted exhilarating feeling

of buoyancy and hopefulness.10

As they approached Portland they were relieved at

the thought that the long and wearisome journey had

been completed. But before them "lay another task--

the conquest of the new land-to find * * * a

home or make one in the wilderness."

On October 1, 1852, Ezra Meeker, his wife and

child, arrived at Portland, Oregon, and met his brother

Oliver, who had preceded them to find a lodging place.

Such a place had been found--a boarding house kept by

a colored man. Mrs. Meeker was ill and worn out by

the long journey. He carried her in his arms and soon

had the satisfaction of placing her "on the clean bed

a cozy little room." "This was the first house," writes

Mr. Meeker, "we had been in for five months.        From

April until October we had been on the move. Never

a roof had been over our heads other than the wagon

 

10 Meeker, Ezra, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. Copyrighted

1922 by World Book Company, Publishers, Yonkers-On-Hudson, New York.

• 19
 

22       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

cover or tent, and no softer bed had we known than the

ground or the bottom of the wagon."

In the Oregon country at last, with food at hand and

under a sheltering roof, the question of first concern

was what can I find to do? The joint capital of the

Meeker brothers had been reduced to three dollars in

cash. Learning that a ship at the wharf near the saw-

mill was about to take on a cargo of lumber, Ezra ap-

plied for work. He asked if any men were wanted to

help load the vessel. What followed has in it a touch

of human interest:

A gruff-looking fellow eyed me all over as much as to say,

"Not you anyhow.' But he stammered, 'Yes, go below and get

your breakfast."

I fairly stammered out, "I must go and see my wife first and

let her know where I am."

Thereupon came back a growl, "Of course that will be the

last of you. That's the way with these newcomers, always hunt-

ing for work and never wanting it." This last aside to a com-

panion in my hearing.11

This remark stirred Meeker to anger, but this eager-

ness to earn some money to meet a pressing necessity

caused him to swallow his wrath in silence. "As the

day went on," he tells us, "I realized that the man was

not angry; he had merely fallen into that way of talk-

ing. The sailors paid slight heed to what he said. Be-

fore night the fellow seemed to let up on me while in-

creasing his tirades at the regular men."

Before the end of the week the colored landlord

apologetically asked for pay and suggested that the cap-

tain of the vessel might advance some money. Meeker

was afraid to ask for this lest he should displease the

 

11 Meeker, Ezra, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. Copyrighted

1922 by World Book Company, Publishers, Yonkers-On-Hudson, New York.

• 20
 

Ezra Meeker -- Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.   23

 

gruff boss of the vessel and lose his job. His wife was

frail and almost exhausted. She must have continued

comfort and shelter; so he summoned up courage to ap-

proach the captain as he tells us in his narrative:

When I told him what I wanted the money for, the old man's

eyes moistened. Without a word he gave me more money than

I had asked for, and that night the steward handed me a bottle

of wine for the "missus". I knew that it came from the old

captain. The baby's Sunday visit to the ship, the Sunday dinner

in the cabin, the presents of delicacies that followed, even from

the gruff mate, made me feel that under all this roughness lay

a tender humanity. Away out here, three thousand miles from

home, the same sort of people lived as those I had left behind

me.12

Then followed efforts to establish himself and fam-

ily in the new country; first with his brother Oliver at

St. Helens, where a boom suddenly started and as sud-

denly collapsed; the location of his first claim which in-

cluded the site of the present city of Kalama on the

Columbia River. This claim with the cabin erected

thereon was afterward abandoned for one on Puget

Sound on an island near Steilacoom.        Thither he

brought all his earthly possessions, his wife and baby,

the ox team, an ox yoke and chain, enough clothing and

bedding to keep the family comfortable, a little food and

no money. The last cent had been expended for canoe

passage. The journey by land was made in a wagon

loaned by "that great-hearted pioneer, John R. Jack-

son."

Scarcely had work on the cabin on the new claim

been completed when a letter was received from the

father of the Meeker brothers, with the message, "Boys,

if Oliver will come back to cross with us, we will go to

12 Meeker, Ezra, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. Copyrighted

1922 by World Book Company, Publishers, Yonkers-On-Hudson, New York.

• 21
 

24       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Oregon next spring." Then followed the journey of

Oliver back "to the states", the crossing of the plains

and the mountains, the death of the mother and a

younger brother on the way, and the final arrival of the

party at the island claim on Puget Sound. The father

expressed a strong desire for a claim on the mainland.

The island home with no neighbors was not a pleasing

prospect for him, so in the beautiful and fertile Puyallup

valley, Ezra Meeker located his claim, in close prox-

imity to those chosen by his father and brother.

"One of the saddest chapters in the early history of

Washington," writes Mr. Meeker, "was the trouble with

the Indians, which led finally to open war. On October

28, 1855, word came that all the settlers living on White

River had been killed by the Indians and that the next

day those in the Puyallup valley would be massacred.

At the risk of his life a friendly Indian brought this

news to us in the dead of the night."

Then followed the spreading of the alarm, the har-

nessing of teams, the turning loose of live stock, the

abandonment of the valley and the wild race for life

through the darkness, the women and the babies lying

close to the bottom of the wagon. On the day follow-

ing they reached Fort Steilacoom in safety. In crossing

the plains and moutains, Mr. Meeker and his party

had experienced little trouble with the Indians, and his

testimony as a result of many years of close association

was generally favorable to them. Of this particular

outbreak he writes:

The war was brought on by the fact that the Indians had

been wronged. This seems certain.  They had been robbed

of their lands by the treaties made in 1854, and there had been

• 22
 

Ezra Meeker -- Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.   25

 

atrocious murders of Indians by unresponsible white men. The

result was trouble and suffering for all of us.

The war brought troops, many of whom were reckless men;

the army then was not up to the standard of today. Besides,

there came in the wake of the soldiers a trail of gamblers and

other disreputable persons to vex and perplex us. In the block-

houses could be seen bullet marks which we knew did not come

from the Indians.13

The troops soon brought this war to a conclusion.

Peace reigned again in the Puyallup valley and the en-

tire territory.

In 1858 came the gold rush to Fraser River in the

British possessions. When the "rush" was well under

way the British authorities forbade the indiscriminate

invasion of gold seekers, and soon thousands began the

return journey. Ezra Meeker was involved in this ad-

venture, but returned without serious loss. In 1861, the

steamer Northern was wrecked and his brother Oliver

was among those who lost their lives.

The restless spirit of the pioneer for a time was still

active, but after a few more temporary habitations on

new claims, he finally found a permanent home in the

Puyallup valley where the city of Puyallup now stands

and where he lived and farmed for forty-one years.

The forests were gradually cleared away and Ezra

Meeker became a prosperous farmer. An experiment

in hop raising made him a wealthy man. Hop culture

introduced by him and his father became an important

industry. And at its height he became known as "the

hop king of the Puyallup valley." Trips were made

to London, England, and a branch office was estab-

lished there. The business was fully under way when

 

13 Meeker, Ezra, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. Copyrighted

1922 by World Book Company, Publishers, Yonkers-On-Hudson, New York.

• 23
 

26      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

his father died in 1869. In 1882 his crop amounted

to one hundred thousand pounds, which he sold at an

average of seventy cents a pound, an aggregate of

about $70,000. During the hop harvest he frequently

employed more than a thousand people, many of them

Indians.

In 1870, he made a return journey to "the states",

traveling from San Francisco by rail across the con-

tinent. It was on this trip when he was in New York

that he decided on Sunday that he would attend Beech-

er's church and hear the now famous preacher to

whom he had sold papers when a newsboy in Indianap-

olis twenty-six years before. Observing the directions

of the hotel clerk to "follow the crowd", he in due time

found himself comfortably seated and listening with

keen satisfaction to a sermon from the eloquent divine

whom he had so often met in his boyhood days.

Mr. Meeker continued to prosper until the year

1892. In that year appeared a pest--the hop louse--

which destroyed the hop crop in the Oregon country and

British Columbia. "At that time," says he, "I had ad-

vanced to my neighbors and others upon their hop crops

more than a hundred thousand dollars, which was lost.

These people simply could not pay and I forgave the

debt, taking no judgments against them, and I never

have regretted the action. All my accumulations were

swept away, and I quit the business--or, rather, the

business quit me."

After the failure of the hop business he tried other

ventures, the raising of sugar beets and banking, both

with indifferent success. Finally in the spring of 1898

he decided "to try for a fortune in Alaska." After a

• 24
 

Ezra Meeker -- Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.   27

 

thrilling and boisterous experience he reached Dawson,

where he "sold fresh potatoes at thirty-six dollars a

bushel and other things at proportionate prices" and

started home with two hundred ounces of Klondike gold

in his belt. But four round trips in two years swept

away all his gains, and in 1901 he "returned home to

stay." His resolve, however, was not to keep him there

long. His state of mind is well described in his own

language:

Since I was then past my allotted three score years and ten,

it naturally seemed that my ventures were at an end. But for

many of these years I had been cherishing a dream that I felt

must come true to round out my days most satisfactorily. I

longed to go back over the old Oregon Trail to mark it for all

time for the children of the poineers who blazed it, and for the

world.14

On January 29, 1906, in his seventy-sixth year Ezra

Meeker set out from his home in Puyallup in a prairie

schooner of the type of those used in crossing the plains

in 1852, drawn by an ox team, on a journey over the

entire extent of the old Oregon Trail and other historic

highways to the city of New York. Thence he pro-

ceeded to Washington, the final object of his long "trek,"

November 29, 1907, "twenty-two months to a day" from

the time he started.

There were many misgivings when he started on the

long journey. Neighbors thought he could not accom-

plish his object, which was regarded as sentimental and

visionary. The local minister devoted a paragraph in

his sermon to the "impracticable project", with the opin-

ion that it was cruel to "let this aged man start on this

journey, only to perish by exposure in the mountains."

 

14 Meeker, Ezra, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. Copyrighted

1922 by World Book Company, Publishers, Yonkers-On-Hudson, New York.

• 25
 

28      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

Mr. Meeker started with two very definite purposes

in view: First, to mark the old Oregon Trail; second, to

arouse interest in a transcontinental highway, as nearly

as practicable along the line of that trail. He decided to

make the journey by easy stages with an ox team to ad-

vertise his purposes and turn the thoughts of the people

back to the olden time, the "winning of the farther

west", and the progress that has followed in the wake

of the pioneer.

"The ox team", says Mr. Meeker, "was chosen as a

typical reminder of pioneer days. The Oregon Trail, it

must be remembered, is essentially an ox-team trail. No

more effective instrument, therefore, could have been

chosen to attract attention, arouse enthusiasm and se-

cure aid in forwarding the work, than this symbol of

the old days." He took with him a goodly supply of

literature, including his book detailing, in interesting

narrative, the overland migration to the Oregon country

in 1852, which he sold to make expenses of the trip.

At Tenino, Washington, February 21, 1906, the first

marker was placed with appropriate ceremonies, in

which the school children participated. The marker was

a modest but substantial affair--a granite block in-

scribed "Old Oregon Trail, 1843-57." Monuments were

also erected at Toledo, The Dalles, Pendleton, Baker

City, Old Mount Pleasant, Durkee, Huntington, and

Vale, in Oregon; at Boise, Twin Falls, American Falls,

Pocatello, Soda Springs in Idaho; at Pacific Springs in

Wyoming; and some other points along the old trail.

As he proceeded eastward he found the people less sym-

thetic with his project. At Kearney, Nebraska, how-

ever, his camp was visited by large numbers of people

• 26
 

Ezra Meeker -- Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.  29

who heard him attentively and bought his book and

postal cards. A similar reception was accorded him at

Grand Island.

The interest aroused in marking the Trail has borne

abundant fruit since this return expedition in the years

1906-7.  Shortly after he passed substantial markers

were erected at Cokeville and Casper, Wyoming, -- the

latter at a cost of $1500. Kearney and Grand Island

also manifested their sincere interest in the enterprise

by the erection of monuments. Up to the present time

approximately two hundred markers have been erected

on the line of the Old Oregon Trail.

At Brady, Nebraska, Mr. Meeker sustained a se-

rious loss on the death of one of his oxen, a faithful

and intelligent animal that all along had seemed to en-

joy the journey and gained in weight and strength until

his last day. He bought a cow to take the place of the

ox, but she was not a success as a beast of burden.

At.Fremont, Nebraska, with his team of an ox and

a cow he led the procession in a semi-centennial celebra-

tion of the founding of the town. He proceeded in a

crippled sort of way to Lincoln, and thence to Omaha,

where he sold the cow and purchased an ox in the stock

yards of that city. Here the retracing of the Trail vir-

tually ended.

The journey across Iowa and Illinois was performed

without special incident. At towns and villages where

stops were made much interest was manifest in the ox

team, outfit and the literature offered.

As he proceeded eastward he felt that it was increas-

ingly necessary to make clear what he was seeking to

accomplish. From his book we quote again:

• 27
 

30        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

My hair had grown long on the trip across; my boots were

somewhat the worse for wear, and my old-fashioned clothes (un-

derstood well enough by pioneers along the trail) were dilapi-

dated. I was not the most presentable specimen for every sort of

company. Already I had been compelled to say that I was not a

"corn doctor" or any kind of doctor; that I did not have patent

medicine to sell; and that I was not soliciting contributions to sup-

port the expedition.15

He arrived in Indianapolis on January 5, 1907,

eleven months and seven days after leaving his home

at Puyallup, now twenty-six hundred miles away. He

remained in Indianapolis until March 1. In the mean-

time he had concluded to go to Washington by way of

New York City.

His progress through Ohio, his native state, was

marked by no unpleasant incident. Everywhere he met

kindly manifestations. At Dayton he was generously

treated. The mayor of Columbus handed him a letter

giving him "the freedom of the city." Big hearted Tom

Johnson, then mayor of Cleveland, directed his chief of

police to "treat Mr. Meeker as the guest of the city."

This was done in a manner to cheer the heart of the

veteran pioneer.

His sojourn of two weeks in Columbus was not with-

out incidents that are pleasantly remembered. Soon

after his arrival in the city he went to the State House

and called on the State Librarian.

"Is this Mr. G--," said he.

"Yes," was the reply.

"You are the only person in the city," said he, "with whom

I ever had contact by correspondence or otherwise. You bought

for this library a copy of my 'Tragedy of the Leschi.' My name

is Ezra Meeker and I have just arrived in Columbus with my

ox team and wagon and am planning to make a brief stay in the

15 Meeker, Ezra, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. Copyrighted

1922 by World Book Company, Publishers, Yonkers-On-Hudson, New York.

• 28
 

(31)

• 29
 

32   Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

city. Of course I shall wish to see the mayor and get his per-

mission."

In answer to questions Mr. Meeker gave some state-

ments in regard to his trip eastward across the conti-

nent. The writer had noticed accounts of his coming

in the papers but had not associated his name with "The

Tragedy of the Leschi".

Many citizens of Columbus will recall the visit of

the pioneer with his ox team, covered wagon, driver and

faithful collie dog "Jim". The driver and the dog had

been with Mr. Meeker continuously throughout the

journey and remained with him to its end. While in

Columbus Mr. Meeker made explanations of the pur-

pose of his trip and answered many questions in regard

to the overland journey to Oregon in 1852. His book

he was offering for sale but he did not urge anyone to

purchase. He merely stated that it was his account of

the Oregon Trail as he saw it in his youth and that he

was paying the expenses of his journey by the sale of

the book, which was well worth the price charged for it,

$1.00 bound in cloth, and 50c bound in paper.

In an address in the Chamber of Commerce he de-

scribed briefly the erection of monuments along the old

Oregon Trail and advocated the building of a trans-

continental highway to facilitate automobile transporta-

tion from ocean to ocean. At this time his views on the

practicability of such a road were regarded as rather

visionary. The audience that heard him was not large

but was attentive. An address delivered by him on the

street was published in the Ohio State Journal.16 The

 

16 Ohio State Journal, April 23, 1907.

• 30
 

Ezra Meeker -- Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.  33

 

Columbus papers gave considerable space to Mr. Mee-

ker and their comment was appreciative and kindly.

From Columbus he proceeded by way of Buffalo and

Albany to New York City. At Buffalo he found a bene-

fit performance in progress for a hospital in that city.

A part of the program represented an attack by Indians

on an emigrant train. He was urged to represent the

"train" and was offered pay for doing so. "Yes, I shall

be glad to do so," said he, "but not for pay". The show

was a great success and netted over one thousand dol-

lars for the hospital.

He proceeded without special incident along the tow-

path of the Erie Canal. He was told that such use of

the towpath was not legal but that everybody drove over

it. All went well until he met a boat "with three men,

two women, and three long-eared mules." The mules

took fright, broke their harness and ran away. This led

to a fierce controversy. The two men started toward

the covered wagon, but Mr. Meeker's driver took an old

muzzle-loading gun that was carried along but had not

been loaded for twenty-five years and raised it as a club

to defend the wagon. This frightened the men who

threw up their hands and shouted "Don't shoot, don't

shoot." The mule team was soon recovered, however,

everything was set to rights and the ox team continued

along the tow-path without further molestation.

In New York City Mr. Meeker had some of the most

remarkable experiences of the entire journey. The

people crowded out to see him and his outfit in such

numbers that progress was impeded and frequently

halted. As was his custom he went to the City Hall to

get permission to remain here for a time and travel

Vol. XXXVI--3

• 31
 

34      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

through the streets. Mayor George B. McClellan, the

son and namesake of the Civil War general, was then

absent, but the next in authority stated that while he

could not take the responsibility of granting the re-

quested permission he would instruct the police not to

interfere with the movements of the ox team. Mr.

Meeker then entered the city but found that a portion

at least of the police force had not been notified of the

assurance given him. His driver was arrested, and an

effort made to take the ox team to the city prison. This

failed, however, as no one on the police force knew how

to drive an ox team and their efforts failed to move it,

the oxen stolidly standing still. Mr. Meeker would not

drive the team. Finally the driver was released from

prison and the team was driven to the stable of the hotel

at which Mr. Meeker and his driver stopped. He sup-

posed that this ended the trouble, but soon found that

it was only the beginning.

Many years before there had been passed an ordi-

nance against allowing cattle to be driven on the streets

of New York City. "This was intended to apply to

loose cattle, but the policemen interpreted it to mean

any cattle", and as Mr. Meeker states, "they had the

clubs to enforce their interpretation." He thus found

himself in this delimma: he had succeeded in getting

into the city but now he could not get out. He applied

for relief to the aldermen and learned that before he

could drive the ox team through the streets an ordinance

would have to be passed permitting it. While he was

struggling to get favorable action on such an ordinance

the representatives of the New York Tribune and the

New York Herald interceded in his behalf and an or-

• 32
 

Ezra Meeker--Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.    35

 

dinance was passed. Then the city attorney appeared

with the information that the aldermen had exceeded

their authority, "as they could not legally grant a special

privilege." The acting mayor would not sign the ordi-

nance but promised if Mr. Meeker would wait until the

next meeting of the aldermen and if they did not rescind

it he would not veto it, and Mr. Meeker might proceed

along the streets of the city without further official in-

terference.

He spent thirty days in New York. The only other

unpleasant incident was the stealing of his dog "Jim".

The payment of a reward of twenty dollars brought

Jim back and Mr. Meeker, in a relieved and rather

happy mood, shook the dust of the city from his feet.

He finally attained the end of his journey, the capital

of the United States, shortly before the assembling of

Congress in regular session. Here he was the recipient

of kindly greetings and interested attention.  Senator

Piles and Representative Cushman of the state of Wash-

ington introduced him to the president in the cabinet

room. He thus describes his meeting with President

Roosevelt:

 

Mr. Roosevelt manifested a lively interest in the work of

marking the trail. He did not need to be told that the trail was

a battlefield, or that the Oregon pioneers who moved out and oc-

cupied the Oregon Country while it was yet in dispute between

Great Britain and the United States were heroes. When I sug-

gested that they were "the winners of the Farther West", he

fairly snatched these words from my lips. He went even further

than I had dreamed of or hoped for, in invoking Government aid

to carry on the work. Addressing Senator Piles, the President

said with emphasis: "I am in favor of this work to mark this

trail. If you will bring before Congress a measure to accom-

plish it, I am with you and will give my support to do it thor-

oughly."

• 33
 

36        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. Mr. Roosevelt thought the suggestion of a memorial high- way should first come from the states through which the trail runs. However, it would be possible to get Congressional aid to mark the trail. In any event, he felt it ought to be done speedily. Unexpectedly the President asked, "Where is your team? I want to see it." Upon being told that it was nearby, without ceremony, and without his hat, he was soon alongside, asking questions faster than they could be answered, not idle questions, but such as showed his intense desire to get real information, bottom facts.17

On the eighth of January, 1908, Mr. Meeker left Washington, shipping his outfit to McKeesport, Penn- sylvania. Thence he drove to Pittsburgh and went into "winter quarters" where he remained until the fifth of March. In Pittsburgh and adjacent cities he received much encouragement for the establishment of a great national highway. After leaving the "Smoky City" he went by Doat to 17 Meeker, Ezra, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. Copyrighted 1922 by World Book Company, Publishers, Yonkers-On-Hudson, New York.

• 34
 

Ezra Meeker -- Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.  37

 

Cincinnati, stopping there with his outfit for one day

only and then proceeding by water to St. Louis, Mis-

souri. In this city his projects received little encourage-

ment. The automobile club and the Daughters of the

American Revolution, however, endorsed them. Mr.

Meeker was somewhat surprised because, as he states:

St. Louis had really been the head and center of the move-

ment that finally established the original Oregon Trail. It was

from here that Lewis and Clark started on the famous expedition

of 1804-05 that opened up the Northwest.18

Mr. Meeker drove his ox team from St. Louis to In-

dependence, Missouri, which has been generally under-

stood to be the eastern terminus of the Santa Fe Trail.

This stage of his journey was without special incident.

At Jefferson City the pioneer and his ox team were cor-

dially received and Governor Folk signified his approval

of the marking of the trail and the encouraging of the

building of a transcontinental highway.

Mr. Meeker tells us that the Santa Fe and Oregon

Trails from Independence and Kansas City were iden-

tical for about forty miles to the town of Gardner, Kan-

sas. He was able to establish the identical spot where

the trails separated "at the intersection of Washington

Street and Central Street in the town of Gardner."

From this point the Santa Fe Trail proceeded westward

and then southwest, while the Oregon trail bore steadily

to the Northwest and reached "the Platte valley below

Grand Island in what is now Nebraska." After visiting

Leavenworth, Atchison, St. Joseph and Topeka in his

investigation of "the remaining prongs of the trail", on

the twenty-fifth of May he shipped his outfit from St.

 

18 Meeker, Ezra, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. Copyrighted

1922 by World Book Company, Publishers, Yonkers-On-Hudson, New York.

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38       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

Joseph, Missouri, to Portland, Oregon, where he ar-

rived on the sixth day of June, 1908. The fame of his

journey had continually drifted backward to his home

people and a splendid reception awaited him at Portland,

Seattle and   intermediate points.   His appreciation

is expressed in the closing words of the volume, Ox-

Team Days on the Oregon Trail, as follows:

Words can not express my deep feeling of gratitude for the

royal welcome given me by the citizens of Portland. I was

privileged to attend the reunion of the two thousand pioneers, who

had just assembled for their annual meeting.

The drive from Portland to Seattle is also one long to be

remembered; my friends and neighbors met me with kindliest

welcome. On the eighteenth day of July, 1908, I drove into the

city of Seattle and the long journey was ended. My dream of

retracing the way over the Old Trail had come true.19

Since 1908 Ezra Meeker has not been idle. The

writer was pleasantly surprised in 1916 to have him

again unannounced appear at his office in the State

House in a rain coat, but full of vigor and activity.

"I will not be in your city two weeks this time," said

he. "I hope to leave Columbus at the end of two hours."

He then explained that he was again on his way to

Washington in the interest of his favorite projects.

This time he was crossing the continent in a fine auto-

mobile piloted by a typical American youth. He was

demonstrating the practicability of ocean to ocean travel

in the automobile, a thing that he had predicted and ad-

vocated nine years before.

Some years later circulars announced a new book by

Ezra Meeker. The writer was in doubt as to whether

the author was still alive but risked sending a letter of

19 Meeker, Ezra, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail. Copyrighted

1922 by World Book Company, Publishers, Yonkers-On-Hudson, New York.

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Ezra Meeker -- Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.  39 inquiry. Promptly came the answer from the Pacific Coast, "Yes, I am very much alive; and I serve notice on you in this letter that I may surprise you again at any time by stepping into your office without announce- ment." Early in October, 1924, occurred the great aviation meeting at Dayton, Ohio. It was on this occasion that

the whole continent was thrilled with the flight of this pioneer from Vancouver, Washington, to Dayton and thence to the city of Washington. The editorial. from the Cincinnati Enquirer with which this contribution opens is a fitting testimonial to that event and its signifi- cance. Shortly after the airplane alighted in Dayton Mr. Meeker and the pilot were seated in an open car where

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40        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

they could be seen by the thousands in attendance at the

meeting.   As they rode along and the cheering com-

menced the pilot said to Mr. Meeker: "Why do you

not bow to the people? They are cheering you." "Oh",

said Mr. Meeker, "I thought they were cheering you.

I did nothing but simply ride along with you." How-

ever, the veteran did bow right and left to the cheering

crowd and later spoke briefly through the "loud

speaker" to the vast assembly. The next day he rode

to Washington.

Following is a copy of a letter from Lt. Oakley G.

Kelly of the United States Air Service to Ezra Meeker,

detailing the flight by airplane from Vancouver, Wash-

ington, to Dayton, Ohio, and thence to Washington,

D. C.:

WAR DEPARTMENT

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF AIR SERVICE

WASHINGTON

October 7, 1924.

Mr. Ezra Meeker,

1520 16th Avenue,

Seattle, Washington.

Pursuant to instructions from the War Department dated

September 20, 1924, I was directed to proceed by airplane from

Seattle, Washington, to Dayton, Ohio, for the purpose of carry-

ing you as a passenger to the International Air Races held at

Dayton, October 2, 3, and 4, 1924.

Due to the limited amount of time it was impossible for me

to make necessary arrangements and reach Seattle prior to start-

ing for Dayton, Ohio. For this reason I advised you to proceed

by rail to Vancouver Barracks, Vancouver, Washington, Tues-

day night, September 30, with a view of starting for Dayton,

Wednesday, October 1, 1924. Upon reaching Dayton permission

was secured from the Chief of Air Service for Mr. Meeker to

continue the flight to Washington, D. C.

Following is a list of stops made en route, flying time re-

quired and distance travelled:

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Ezra Meeker -- Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.     41

 

Wednesday, October 1--            Distance   Flying Time.

Left Vancouver Barracks 9:55 A. M.

Arrived Boise, Idaho 1:10 P. M..... 375 miles 3 hrs. 15 min.

Left Boise, Idaho 3 P. M. Arrived

Pocatello, Idaho, 4:40 P. M ......... 200 miles  1 hr. 40 min.

Thursday, October 2--

Left Pocatello, Idaho, 8:10 A. M. 200 miles 1 hr. 50 min.

Arrived Rock Springs, Wyoming 10

A. M. ..........................

Left Rock Springs 11:40 A. M. Ar-

rived North Platte, Nebraska, 4 P. M. 480 miles 4 hrs. 20 min.

Friday, October 3--

Left North Platte, 7:55 A. M. Ar-

rived Omaha, Nebraska, 10:15 A. M. 250 miles 2 hrs. 20 min.

Left Omaha, 11:45 A. M. Arrived

Rantoul, Illinois 4:05 P. M ......... 415 miles 4 hrs. 20 min.

Saturday, October 4--

Left Rantoul, Ill., 8:15 A. M. Ar-

rived Indianapolis, Indiana 9:20 A. M. 120 miles 1 hr. 15 min.

Left Indianapolis, Ind. 9:33 A. M.

Arrived Dayton, Ohio, 10:30 A. M... 110 miles      55 min.

Monday, October 6, 1924--

Left Dayton, Ohio, 11:45 A. M. Ar-

rived Washington, D. C., 3:30 P. M. 420 miles 3 hrs. 45 min.

Total .......................2,560 miles. 23 hrs. 30 min.

This flight from Vancouver to Washington, a distance of

2560 air miles, was made in 23 hours and 30 minutes flying time.

The trip over the Oregon Trail from Vancouver to Omaha re-

quired 13 1/2 hours. This is a remarkable comparison of the im-

provement in travel to the six months required by you to make

the same journey seventy years ago by ox team.

Sincerely,

(Signed)     OAKLEY G. KELLY,

1st Lieutenant, Air Service.

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Ezra Meeker--Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.  43

 

In Washington Mr. Meeker was instrumental in

having passed a bill authorizing the issuance of six mil-

lion fifty cent memorial coins to the Oregon Trail Me-

morial Association to be sold at one dollar each. There

was some opposition to this act because it was thought

impractical, but Mr. Meeker and his friends pressed

the measure until it passed both houses of Congress,

was signed by the president and is now a law. Mr.

Meeker in his ninety-seventh year, from the office of

the Association in New York City, is industriously at

work selling these coins with no thought of any reward

to himself except the marking of the old Oregon Trail

and the encouragement of trans-continental highway

construction.

On Tuesday, September 14, 1926, the people of the

Pacific Northwest paid Mr. Meeker a signal honor. A

bronze monument, life size, of this "beloved pioneer"

was erected on the site of his cabin in Puyallup, Wash-

ington. United States Senator Jones delivered the ad-

dress on this occasion. Ezra Meeker was present and

spoke briefly and in a clear voice that was distinctly

heard in spite of his ninety-six years.

In December, 1926, a few days before he had reached

his ninety-sixth birthday, Ezra Meeker on his trip

across the continent by rail stopped two days in Colum-

bus. He was the guest of the Neil House where he was

the recipient of many courtesies and a figure of interest

to many who called to greet him. In the previous year

he had passed through the city and had met Governor

Donahey. This time he again called at the State House

but the governor was not in his office. However, the

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Pioneer Monument Dedicated

and

The Ezra Meeker Statue Unveiled

Pioneer Park, Puyallup, Washington

September 14th -- 10 A. M. -- 1926.

 

All pioneers of the northwest will be honored by this magnificent monument

and statue of America's greatest living pioneer, who will be present in person.

PROGRAM in charge of W. P. Bonney, of Tacoma, Secretary of the Washing-

ton State Historical Society.

1         Band Concert by The Auburn Band from 9:30 a. m. to 10 o'clock.

2         "America" led by Paul Wrigley of Puyallup, accompanied by the Auburn Band.

3         Invocationby Rev. J. T. Eshelman, of Tacoma.

4         Introduction of the sculptor, Alonzo Victor Lewis of Seattle.

5         Address by Senator Wesley L. Jones.

6         Presenting of the pioneer memorial to the Washington State Historical Society

by Charles H. Ross of Puyallup.

7   Acceptance for the pioneers and the Washington State Historical Society by

Judge John Arthur, president of the organization.

8    Presentation of the pioneer monument to the City of Puyallup for safe keep-

ing by Frank Spinning of Sumner.

9         Acceptance by Mayor S. R. Gray

10         Introduction of Ezra Meeker.

11         Unveiling, by Mrs. Helen P. Gibson, president of the Daughters of Pioneers

of Washington.

12         Auburn Band plays "Star Spangled Banner."

13         Reception for Mr. Meeker and fellow pioneers from 11:30 o'clock to 12 M.

14         Pioneer Parade and band concert by Auburn Band at Fair Grounds, at 1:15

P. M.

15   Oration in honor of Pioneers by Senator Wiesley L. Jones at 1:45 P. M. at

Fair Grounds.

 

Many Indian Tribes in regalia, pioneers in costume, covered wagons, etc.,

will lend color and enchantment to Washington's Greatest

PROGRAM OF EXERCISES AT THE UNVEILING OF EZRA MEEKER'S STATUE.

The monument shown on the page opposite stands near the site of

the log cabin of Ezra Meeker. The cabin disappeared years ago, but the ivy

that clambered over its walls still flourishes on a trellis, seen back of the

statue.

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46       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

two met at the north entrance of the Capitol building

where the greeting was very cordial.

At the Union Station he met Mr. James W. Stuber,

Secretary of The National Game Conference of The

American Game Protective Association, who arranged

to have Mr. Meeker attend a session of the conference

in New York City the following week.

"I am no sportsman," said Mr. Meeker to Mr. Stu-

ber, "but I should be pleased to attend your meeting."

"Well, you know something about game and wild

animal life," it was suggested.

"Oh, yes, naturally I do" was the reply.

Mr. Stuber reports that he found Mr. Meeker in his

place of business in New York City, took him to the

meeting where he made a brief address and was given

"a great ovation."

Of what value are the achievements of aged men like

Chauncey M. Depew, Weston, and Ezra Meeker?

Aside from the work accomplished by them, their ex-

ample should be and is an inspiration to men who have

passed middle age,--we usually say life's meridian--

but with Ezra Meeker Life's highest point appears to

be reached as he approaches his century mile-stone. This

thought is suggested by the following tribute in verse

to the subject of this sketch:*

EZRA MEEKER

Over the hills and plains by oxen team,

Across the states by the power of steam,

Over mountain grades by electric train.

Exploring clouds in a soaring plane--

That's Ezra Meeker!

* By an author whose name the writer of this contribution has not

learned.

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Ezra Meeker -- Ohio's Illustrious Pioneer.      47   Sending news at first by coach alone, Then by telegraph and telephone, And talking now to the very air With people listening everywhere. That's Ezra Meeker! Not tired of life, with a back that's lame. But up and going to every game, Cheering and laughing, having a "time", A youngish sport just in his prime-- That's Ezra Meeker! Scorning the three score years and ten Boasted by ordinary men, Tallying up to ninety and four, And reaching out for another score-- That's Ezra Meeker! Well! When I'm old I'd like to be Full of pep and energy, Out with the young to set the pace, A credit to the human race-- Like Ezra Meeker.

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