New-York tribune., 1907-09-19
FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN.
IN PRAIRIE SCHOONER.
Thrce-7Rousand-NIc OreriGnd Trip
Took 626 Days.

--.s sa- call from PryaIlup wash. the
ratterv no matter how you Intend TO make TIE
,rtp And Il must be further yet when you stand
OF vour stoop in PuyallUp. where fifty years or 50
AGO there wasn't any stoop. and look out AZ d
miniature camp and prairie schooner that H-slil
he .V brother 20 those that braved the storms OF
.he Oregon trail in 1852 and great oxen ana
realize that the oxen 20 draw you ana uIe
scnpcner when YOU aren't drawing them Hsle-u'
for three thousand miles. That's a voyage ana
task that many a Of hai< the allotted ulIee-
score and ter might well hesitate 70 Inoerlihe'
But Ezra Meeker. pioneer crossec ct ne t'aIl IA
az six years beyond the milestone that mar Ks
seventy. faced the prospect undislnayed year ago
last January and yesterday afternoon he walked
:rto the office Of The Tribune and announced that
Tie old wagon had reached the other ocean AT last
and that he had looked the waters Of New
York Bay just es DAYS after he had taken his last
lock at those Of Puget Sound
New York took Ezra Meeker and his wagon as
show yesterday. New York takes most things that
are out Of the ordinary that way. and the memo
res OF the old days when the West was in the
making stirred few Of those who crowded around
the oxen and their patriarchal driver in Broadway
There were signs the side Of the wagon that
told Of postal cards that were for sale. and OF
books written by Ezra Meeker. and the worldly
wis4 New Yorker saw through the whole thing
right away.
Hun saws one See the game? Want to
throw some bluff about hittin' the pike for thirty
thousand miles or and sell Us lot Of chroros
Not for minet'
But there were Others. Some there were along
Broadway who knew that Ezra Meeker's journey
was TO a great extent labor Of love They knew
Of the monuments that he had left behind in every
town and city hamlet and village that had grown
. up along the path the prairie sohooners Of the
middle Of the century travelled the new lands Of
the coast. They knew that old one Of the
last survivors IF those VINO made the states OF
Oregon and Washington and built the cites OF
Portland and Seattle had blazed out again the olo
Oregon trail so that future generations Of Anlerl
cans might know. when they pass along the great
highways Of trade westward from Indianapolis that
they treadins in the paths opened up Tor
them in the past by their fathers And occaso1la"y
there was a faint cheer as 2 dozen or SO OF thoSe
who knew what they were seeing were foCid lo-
se1her These were not darlpened even by the rain
that reean - rour down in torrents before the
morning Was half done.
The rain spoiled 4 lot Of the pleasure M Meeher
anticipated in taking in the last day Of his trip
He had waiting for a month in camp al I9IsI
street To get permission to steer the oxen down
Broadway. and almost any day in the nonth
would have been better for the final stage Of the
tourney than Yesterday. But there we're YARDS OF
red tape 20 be unwoun5. Tie city ordinances were
Tot framed with view the advent II patriarchal
drivers Of teams Of oxen and the City Fathers were
a little uncertain 20 what % do They finally
adopted a resolution permitting the passage OF the
oxen
General Binghar,'s men did not encourage Mr.
Meeker TO make long stay Grants Tomb.
which he reached about O'Clock. and he accord
tnglv got Long Acre Square at ll;3o a little
ahead az his schedule He was making about two
miles an hour then. and after getting down TO the
thicklv populated part OF Broadway he did not
CO quite well that.
Broadway began TO sit UP and take notice about
the time Columbus Circle reached The pre-
vailing style in transportation that part Of town
IS an automobile. and the wl1izZing cars, shooting
By the placid oxen at all sorts Of speed. within
and without the limits by statute made and pro-
~ided. formed a contrast that must have delighted
those who spend their time seeking contrasts Up
al Grants Tomb there was another contrast, less
obvious but even interesting. The freight
tracks Of the New York Central only a few
hundred feet from the edifice. and over them.
while the stood outside the structure and Ezra
Neeker with barred head. stood looking at the sar-
cophagus. rolled by carrying freight billed
10 Portland. Ore. and Seattle. When Ezra Meeker
took the old Oregon trail in 1872 there was only
one way TO carry freight oregon by land, and
that was in Just such a wagon as the one that was
waiting for him before the tomb
From 42d street TO Greeley Square the crowds
grew thicker but less easy to convince Of the Sc
rfous purpose back OF the display. Broadway, in
that stretch knows little and less Of the
blazers Of the cid trail. Many an actress and
actor. passing slowly from managers Office to
another, looked up in anaZement rs the expedition
sthat is what Ezra Meeker calls it, passed.