Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1906-12-19
PIONEER EZRA MEEKtR
ON THE OREGON TRAIL
Travelling Back East as He Travelled
the Same Road a Half Century Be
fore

! TO a canvasstoped prairie schooner. j:
making its way to IndianaI oils. 1t /.
driven by Ezra Meeker. of Puyallup
Wash. who at the age of 76 is retrac
ing over the Oregon trail the course ht
took hfty-four years ago, when he wen
west from Indianapolis For years i
has been his dream to retrace his path
and now he is finishing his journey.
The long trip is made both as a mat
ter OF personal enjoyment and in th'
interest of history. At regular inter
walls along his route. Meeker has cree
ted monuments to mark the old Oregon
| trail, so that he who comes after may
be able to pick out without difficulty
/ the trail.
The plan of operation is simple
Meeker calls upon the people of tbs
! city or town near where he desires tC
leave mark to erect a monument, and
in every case they have responded The
I size of the monument has depended
upon the liberality of the donors.
From Washington to Omaha nineteen
monuments have been erected. At the
/ time when the traveller made his frs
trip across the plains. Omaha was not
on the map. Council Bluffs was then
known as Kanesville. a trading station
and the end of civilization.
Since leaving Washington 30. GOO peo-
pie have contributed to the erection o.
monuments At Baker City. ore. the
monument was erected by contribu.
lions received from 500 school child
rem.
At Boise City. Idaho Meeker camped
for several days beside the postofIice.
lie spoke to the public school children
OF his object and /. 200 contributed TO
purchase the granite monument which
will mark the place where the old
timers passed through what is now a
thriving city.
The governor of the state and the
other state officials insisted that the
slab be erected in the state house yard.
and IL was The monument at this
place Is twelve feet high.
To erect a monument at the summit
OF South pass. Mr. Meeker Travelled
cighty-four miles from a postofTice. and
twentyfour people who reside in the
reighborhood were the only witnesses
20 the event Those people with Mr..
Meeker. inscribed the stone. II stands
on the irrigation survey near Sweet
water. and Is 7.54O feet above the sea
level probably the highest monument
in the United States.
In most of the towns and places
where monuments have been erected.
Mr.. Meeker stays To see the work done:
but in some instances he has turned
the matter over to local committee
appointed for that purpose. He has
witnessed the exercises Incidental to
the erection of the permanent Landmark
at the following places: Tenino. Wash.
The Dalles. Pendleton. Meacham. La
Grand. Baker City. Durkee. all in Ore
gon: American Falls and Twin Falls
Idaho Fort: Boise. and at Casper. Wyo.
Mr.. Meeker. accompanied by his
granddaughter. Miss Bertha Temple
ton. left Puyallup. Wash. January %.
1906. and has made the trip by easy
stages. His Old-fashioned prairie
schooner is fitted up for housekeeping
and in IT he spends his days and nights
as comfortable as in his own home.
He has not been ILL., he said. for fifty !
four years. and he looks it. He isl
strong and rugged and apparently cap
able OF enduring any kind OF hardship. !
He will reach indianapolis in time for
a Christmas dinner with friends Of his
boyhood.
In appearance Ezra Meeker is the 1
typical pioneer. He is tall and straight.
his 76 years and his
hard life on the plains His hair and
beard are white and long. making him
in any crowd.
1.-THE changes that have been made.
he said. ARE marvellous. The entire
face of the country is changed
with the exception of about soc !
miles through the Rocky mountains the
country is thickly settled. but even i'm
this country things have changed. The
has changed. The old buff
falo grass is no more and other grasses
have come on to take its place.
THE country l passed through over
ffty-four years ago is nothing like the
country am going over today. Noun
iains, rivers. valleys. prairies. hills
all are different. II seems impossiblel
'or me to realize that the vast wilder
hess we Travelled over such a short time
ago is now built up with magnificent
titles and villages. and the never end
ng prairies have been transformed into
great forests and elegant homesteads.
THE increase in the number of for
.sts is wonderful 10 me- We travelled
lays without seeing a tree. and now
he entire way is almost shady
In making his westward trip. Mr.. /,
Aeeker went up the Platte river,
through South pass down through Ore
ron IN Puget sound At the last Mace
re located. probably because he had
,ome to the jumping off place, but for
ifty-four years he stayed there. he and
lis wife, and during that time. so he
aid. neither had been i'll.
In those days the traveller was only :
2 years old and he was accompanied ]
~ his young wife and their one child.
lie at once began raising hops. which
las been his business ever since. The I
OF machinery and the
rowing demands for his products
aused him to make dozen or more
rips back East, but those trips were :
made aboard vanished cars. conse-
uently he knew only in a general
way Of the vast changes which had oc-
urred.
At Lincoln. Neb.. one of the oxen
led and he stayed for some weeks be-
Dre he could find another. Much of
l.. in, ,,-Hi lob