The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1911-05-13
'OREGON TRAIL TO
/. Be PICTURED HERE
Ezra Meeker, Pioneer of the Famous
Roadway, To Deliver Illustrated
Lecture on Romantic Subject.

Ezra Meeker. the picturesque octo-
genarian, who with his prairie
schooner" and team OF oxen, has been
In Detroit during the past week, on his
way from Oregon TO Washington IN
connection with his efforts TO locate
the Oregon trail from the missouri
river TO the Pacific coast, will deliver
an Illustrated lecture on The Oregon
Trail" In the Church OF Our Father,
tomorrow evening, beginning at 1880
o'clock. The lecture will take place
In the course OF the evening services
and will be free TO the public. MT.
Meeker Is a pioneer OF the trail him.
self, having travelled II In the early
40s, when nearly a thousand men,
women and children crossed the Mis-
souri, river, traversed the Platte Val
leys, the Rocky mountains, through
the South Pass. thence TO and down
Snake river 10 the Columbia, and TO
tidewater In the old Oregon country.
Speaking OF his efforts TO make out
the original trail, Mr. Meeker says:
1T is these pioneers as class we
are striving to honor, not particularly
individuals. Twenty-Five monuments
line the way from Puget Sound 10 the
Missouri river TO bear witness TO the
achievements OF the pioneers. But we
are not content TO rest here. We want
greater monument: a monument OF
utility that shall hand down TO all sue
ceeding generations the memory OF
the Old Trail and its pioneers. ma
tional highway TO be known as
Pioneer Way, from the Missouri river
to the Pacific: way that shall make
traffic practicable by the trackless
car. a road Of cement that shall be
thronged with coming generations.
Il do not come among you soliciting
financial aid, but | do ask your moral
support, so that when this expedition
reaches Washington and the proposi.
ton Is laid before the president and
congress, they may know there is
public sentiment behind the move
ment.
ION the 29th OF January. 1906. I left
my home In Puyallup, Wash, with one
OK and one unbroken steer and this
old-time wagon now in your city, built
from the remains OF three old wagons
that had crossed over with the throng
OF 1928, and drove out In search OF
the trail and made an attempt to pre-
serve its identity with granite mark.
ers. The people turned out almost en-
masse. but would not contribute to a
general fund. but would lend a willing
hand TO erect memorial monuments
in centers OF population, I can only
give you a very brief account Of that
trip. My fortune and misfortunes for
the nine months required to retrace as
best We could the old trail makes quite
a story, but I can only here briefly.
very briefly. tell 1t. We could find
traces of 1t here and there. and then
lose IL. Part had been fenced up, the
fields plowed, and all visible signs
gone. In other places nature had been
at work.
THE. storms of half century have
changed the face OF the country, the
river crossings and other landmarks,
by growth OF vegetation and other
wise. Then again, cities have been
built over IL. great irrigation bitches
have been dug, and so IL became evil
dent II would be impossible to recover
the whole of the old track without
more ample means. On that trip,
however, twenty-five granite monu-
ments give evidence OF the interest
taken, for the people paid for them as
/ passed along; but when the Missouri
river was crossed and a halt made
to take account Of stock, then more
fully realized the work had failed. To
be sure, we had succeeded in getting
up twenty-five monuments, but what
was twenty-five monuments for a trail
twenty-five hundred miles long?"