Ezra Meeker
Encyclopedia
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...
by ox cart as a young man. Beginning in his 70s, he worked tirelessly to memorialize the trail, repeatedly retracing the trip of his youth. He was the principal founder of Puyallup, Washington
Puyallup, Washington
Puyallup, Washington is a city in Pierce County, Washington about five miles east of Tacoma. The population was 37,022 at the 2010 Census. Named after the Puyallup Tribe of Native Americans, Puyallup means "the generous people."-History:...
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Meeker was born in Huntsville, Ohio
Huntsville, Ohio
Huntsville is a village in Logan County, Ohio, United States. The population was 454 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Huntsville is located at ....
, to Jacob and Phoebe Meeker; his family relocated to Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
in 1840. Married in 1851 to Eliza Jane Summner, in 1852, with his wife and his newborn son Marian, he headed to the Oregon Territory
Oregon Territory
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Originally claimed by several countries , the region was...
during the era of the donation land claims, ending up near Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
. They settled permanently in Puyallup
Puyallup, Washington
Puyallup, Washington is a city in Pierce County, Washington about five miles east of Tacoma. The population was 37,022 at the 2010 Census. Named after the Puyallup Tribe of Native Americans, Puyallup means "the generous people."-History:...
in 1862, where Meeker began growing hops
Hops
Hops are the female flower clusters , of a hop species, Humulus lupulus. They are used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, to which they impart a bitter, tangy flavor, though hops are also used for various purposes in other beverages and herbal medicine...
for brewing beer.
By 1885 his business had made him wealthy. His wife Eliza Jane convinced him to allow her to build a mansion similar to those she had seen in Europe. Three years and $26,000 later, her mansion was finished. However, in 1891 an infestation of hops aphid
Aphid
Aphids, also known as plant lice and in Britain and the Commonwealth as greenflies, blackflies or whiteflies, are small sap sucking insects, and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Aphids are among the most destructive insect pests on cultivated plants in temperate regions...
s destroyed his crops and nearly ruined him. He subsequently tried a number of ventures, including dehydrating fruits and vegetables, working on packaging milk in paper containers, and four largely unsuccessful trips to the Klondike looking for gold
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...
. He also wrote a novel about his experiences on the trip west.
Meeker is an important figure in what is now the southern portion of King County
King County, Washington
King County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population in the 2010 census was 1,931,249. King is the most populous county in Washington, and the 14th most populous in the United States....
and the eastern parts of Pierce County
Pierce County, Washington
right|thumb|[[Tacoma, Washington|Tacoma]] - Seat of Pierce CountyPierce County is the second most populous county in the U.S. state of Washington. Formed out of Thurston County on December 22, 1852, by the legislature of Oregon Territory...
. A statue to Meeker was erected near the Puyallup Library in 1926.
1906 trek
Conestoga wagon
The Conestoga wagon is a heavy, broad-wheeled covered wagon that was used extensively during the late 18th century and the 19th century in the United States and sometimes in Canada as well. It was large enough to transport loads up to 8 tons , and was drawn by horses, mules or oxen...
and a team of oxen and, stemming the tide of western migration, traveled east over the route, raising money for his trek as he went.
Meeker's rough appearance and his gaudy, painted wagon featuring slogans, advertisements, and a prominent portrait of himself caused some to receive him as a "corn doctor," as he charged admission to see his wagon -- 10 cents for adults, 5 cents for children.
Clearly Meeker was a traveling salesman. He depended upon selling the Oregon Trail
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...
as a patriotic pathway of Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny was the 19th century American belief that the United States was destined to expand across the continent. It was used by Democrat-Republicans in the 1840s to justify the war with Mexico; the concept was denounced by Whigs, and fell into disuse after the mid-19th century.Advocates of...
as much as he relied upon selling post cards and trinkets to meet expenses. For he sought with his 1906 trek to "kindle in the breasts of the rising generation a flame of patriotic sentiment."
At each town along the way the white-haired, bearded pioneer stopped and made speeches. He became a modern day Johnny Appleseed
Johnny Appleseed
Johnny Appleseed , born John Chapman, was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois...
, traveling the western rangeland planting monuments and sewing seeds of patriotism and nostalgia to mark the Oregon Trail. As the trip progressed, publicity started to build, so that he began to find that towns had raised funds and organized memorials in advance of his arrival.
After reaching the start of the Oregon Trail, he decided to extend his trip all the way to Washington, DC via New York City where he dutifully applied for a permit to drive his team and wagon down Fifth Avenue. The permit was not forthcoming but the stalwart pioneer continued his trek. Everything went fine until Meeker and his wagon reached 161st on Amsterdam Avenue where he left his oxen and driver in search of a place to "camp."
Meeker's writings recount that he returned to discover that his driver had been arrested for driving cattle on a New-York street. City officials decided nothing short of an edict would resolve the situation. Yet 30 days later the situation remained unresolved. Officials reportedly looked the other way as Meeker sailed his prairie schooner down Broadway and across the Brooklyn Bridge, leaving behind what must have been a host of startled New Yorkers.
On November 29, 1907, Meeker's frontier troupe reached Washington, where he met with President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
. Roosevelt expressed interest in the trail. Congress subsequently considered but did not appropriate a $50,000 request spearheaded by Meeker to mark the trail.
Dave and Dandy, the oxen that pulled his wagon thousands of miles, became artifacts of Meeker's relentless promotion when he had them slaughtered and mounted by a taxidermist. Meeker claimed their carcasses to be an "honorable shrine" so that they could "do their part in the perpetuating of history." Even death did not free the beasts. Meeker, the mounted oxen, and his covered wagon traveled cross country by rail to Washington D.C. in 1915 and later appeared at the Washington State Building during San Francisco's Panama-Pacific Exposition. Today the oxen, still hitched to their wagon, are housed at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
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From covered wagon to open-cockpit plane
Ezra Meeker repeated his trip by ox team in 1910 and again in 1916 driving an 80 horsepower (60 kW) automobile with a prairie-schooner top. Finally, in 1924, at the age of 94, Meeker flew from Vancouver, WashingtonVancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...
over the trail to Dayton, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
in an open-cockpit army plane. The next day, he rode in a parade with Orville Wright, and then flew to Washington, DC and met with President Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
, presenting him with a plan to designate a national highway
National Highway
The term national highway may refer to:* National Highway * National Highway System * National Trunk Highway System or China National Highways* National Highways of India* National highways of Japan...
honoring the Oregon Trail. Meeker's vision of commemorating the trail, albeit unrealized, included erecting 100-foot-tall beacons to light the way for transcontinental airplanes, according to a book that he and Howard Driggs of the Oregon Trail Memorial Association published in 1932, Covered Wagon Centennial and Ox-Team Days.
Meeker finally gained traction with the U.S. Congress in 1926 when the House of Representatives passed a bill subsequently signed by Pres. Coolidge to mint a special edition of not more than 6,000,000 50-cent coins. The U.S. Mint issued the coins to the Oregon Trail Memorial Association, which sold the coins to raise funds for trail markers. Ultimately, the U.S. government only struck 264,419 coins, with the final issue in 1939.
James Earle and Laura Gardin Fraser, a husband and wife team, each designed a side of the coin. Laura's side featured a facsimile of Meeker's 1852 ox-drawn covered wagon and pioneer family marching into a blazing western sun. The reverse showed an American Indian man clad only in a loin cloth facing eastward with an outstretched arm, palm raised as if to stem westering emigrants. Earle also created two more well-known works. His sculpture End of the Trail (1918) showed a dejected Indian, head deeply bowed, his lance pointed to the ground astride a horse. Moreover Earle produced the design for Indian head/buffalo nickel.
At the time of his death on December 3, 1928, Meeker was planning a final drive across the trail, with the support of Henry Ford
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
. On July 4, 1930, a bronze plaque bearing Ezra Meeker's likeness was unveiled at Independence Rock
Independence Rock
Independence Rock may refer to:*Independence Rock , a well-known landmark on the Oregon Trail*Independence Rock...
. The programmers of the mid-1980s version MECC
MECC
The Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium , most commonly known as MECC, was an organization founded in 1973. The goal of the organization was to coordinate and provide computer services to schools in the state of Minnesota; however, its software eventually became popular in schools around...
computer game "The Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail (computer game)
The Oregon Trail is a computer game originally developed by Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger in 1971 and produced by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium in 1974. The original game was designed to teach school children about the realities of 19th century pioneer life...
" paid tribute to Meeker by listing his name alongside a fifth-place score of 2052 on the default version of the high-score list known as the "Oregon Top Ten."
External link and reference
- Guide to the Photographs of Ezra Meeker ca. 1880-1928, from a University of WashingtonUniversity of WashingtonUniversity of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
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