The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-12-26
BY MRS. c. o. ROBINSON
Times Hobby Editor


l. memorative half dollars were
issued by the government in con-
nection with the Chicago worlds
fair, the Columbian Exposition of
1893. Since this issue, coined both
in 1892 and 1893, eighteen issues
of commemorative half dollars
have been minted to mark historic
events. Again in connection with
a worlds fair, the recent Century
of Progress exposition, the latest
commemorative coins we're minted
not for the fair alone but as
reissue Of the Oregon Trail half
dollar.
When originally struck in 1926,
the Oregon Trail coins honored
the memory of the pioneers who
travelled the Oregon trail into the
northwest. Starting at Independ-
ence, Mo-, where the wagon trains
assembled for the long trek, the
trail led northwest across the ter
ritory represented by the present
states Of Kansas, Nebraska, Wy
oming and Idaho, to the mouth of
the Walla Walla river in Wash
ington.
The first white men to follow
the trail were sent in 1911 by
John Jacob Astor in the Astoria
expedition to establish a fur
trading post. The first wagon trail
left st. Louis on April 10, 1880;
missionaries followed in 1882, and
shortly after few trading posts
and forts were built along the
way. After the British yielded to
the United States a disputed part
of the Oregon territory in 1916,
the government stimulated settle
ment by offering $40 acres of land
to each family, and the great
migration began.
Until railroad was built, the
Oregon trail was the highway into
the northwest, and by 1852, when
$4,000 emigrantS crossed the Mis-
souri, river, it had become a much
Travelled road.
In the brave group of prospective
l. settlers whose covered wagons
and OK teams, in 1852, stretched
In an unbroken column for 500
miles, was young Indianapolis
man, Ezra Meeker and his bride.
After crossing the Missouri river
the way ran through Indian coun-
try, the rivers were swift and
dangerous to cross, and most of
the land was either an arid plain
or f1ercely steep and mountainous.
1t was trail to try the heart
and strength of the braveSt and
mosht reckless man. Mr.. Meeker
and his wife survived it, however,
and settled near the present town
of Puyallup, Wash.
In 1906, at the age of 76, Ezra
Meeker determined to pioneer a
movement to mark the old Oregon
trail, and started from his home
in Washington in an ox-drawn
covered wagon to attract attention
to his project. His objective was
Washington, D. c., where he
wished to petition congress for a
cement highway, following the old
trail from the Missouri river to
the Pacific, to be known as the
Pioneer way.
During the two years required
for this trip, Mr.. Meeker appealed
to schools, Boy Scout troups and
patriotic organizations along the
route, for help and as a result $50
markers were placed along the
trail.
He found, however, that in the
fifty-four years since his first
journey, many changes had
occurred and numerous old land
marks were obliterated. Therefore
in 1910, Mr.. Meeker made a
second trip over the trail to map
the original route. AS publicity
stunt, he flew over the old trail to
the Dayton air meet in 1924,
making 100 miles an hour in con-
trast to two miles an hour with
an OK team. Henry Ford gave
Mr.. Meeker an OXmobile,
covered wagon bed mounted on a
Ford truck chassis, in which he
tourned the country in 1926, to
form the Oregon Trail Memorial
Association. Its object is to
acknowledge the heroism of the
pioneers who traversed the trail;
to honor the 10000 dead who are
buried in unknown graves along
the 1000 miles Of the great high
way, and to restore historic points
along the trail and commemorate
the tragic events associated with
that migration" Mr.. Meeker died
Dec. 3, 1928 but the association
will continue his work and keep
alive the epic story of the pioneers
who opened the west to civiliza-
ton.
TINE various issues of the
Il oregon Trail half dollars
have been used by the memorial
association to further it's work. In
1926 congress approved the first
issue, designed by James Earle
Fraser and Laura Gardner Fraser,
and a total of 1S8,030 were coined.
Those from the Philadelphia mint
now bring $3.50; from the San
Francisco mint So In 1923 the
Philadelphia mint again issued
$4,000 of the coins but only 5000
were circulated. These now sell
for 81 each.
E GOES ON.