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Ezra Meeker

Meeker in 1921

1st Mayor of Puyallup, Washington

In off ice

August 1890 – January 1891

Preceded by new office

Succeeded by James Mason

In off ice

January 1892 – January 1893

Preceded by James Mason

Succeeded by L.W. Hill

1st Postmaster of Puyallup, Washington

Territory

In office

1877–1882

Preceded by new office

Succeeded by Marion Meeker 

Personal details

Born December 29, 1830

Butler County, Ohio

Died December 3, 1928 (aged 97)

Seattle, Washington

Resting Woodbine Cemetery, Puyallup,

Ezra MeekerFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ezra Manning Meeker (December 29, 1830 – December 

3, 1928) was an American pioneer who traveled the Oregon

Trail by ox-drawn wagon as a young man, migrating from

Iowa to the Pacific Coast. Late in life he worked to

memorialize the Trail, repeatedly retracing the trip of hisouth. Once known as the "Hop King of the World", he was

the first mayor of Puyallup, Washington.

Meeker was born in Butler County, Ohio, to Jacob and

Phoebe Meeker. His family relocated to Indiana when he

was a boy. He married Eliza Jane Sumner in 1851; the

following year the couple set out for the Oregon Territory,

where land could be claimed and settled on, with their 

new born son. Although they endured hardships on the Trail in

the journey of nearly six months, the entire party survived thetrek. Meeker and his family briefly stayed near Portland, then

ourneyed north to live in the Puget Sound region. They

settled at what is now Puyallup in 1862, where Meeker grew

hops for use in brewing beer. By 1887, his business had

made him wealthy, and he then built a large mansion. In 1891

an infestation of hop aphids destroyed his crops and took 

much of his fortune. He later tried his hand at a number of 

ventures, and made four largely unsuccessful trips to the

Klondike, bringing groceries and hoping to profit from the

gold rush.

Meeker became convinced that the Oregon Trail was being

forgotten, and he determined to bring it publicity so it could

 be marked and monuments erected. In 1906–1908, although

in his late 70s, he retraced his steps along the Oregon Trail

 by wagon, seeking to build monuments in communities along

the way. His trek reached New York, and in Washington,

D.C., he met President Theodore Roosevelt. He traveled the

Trail again several times in the final two decades of this life,

including by oxcart in 1910–1912 and by airplane in 1924.Meeker wrote several books, and continued to promote the

Trail until his death in 1928 at age 97. His work has

continued through the activities of such groups as the

Oregon-California Trails Association.

Contents

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place Washington

47°10′14″N 122°18′8″W

Citizenship United States

Political

party

Republican

Spouse(s) Eliza Jane Sumner (m. 1851–w.

1909)

Children Marion Jasper Meeker (1852–

1929)

Ella Antoinette Meeker 

Templeton (1854–1943)

Thomas A. Meeker (1857– 

1858)

Caroline Meeker Osborne

(1859–1947)Fred Sumner Meeker (1862– 

1901)

Olive Grace Meeker 

McDonald (1869–1936)

Residence Meeker Mansion, Puyallup

Occupation Farmer 

Religion Unitarian

Signature

Drawing of Meeker 

delivering a newspaper to

Henry Ward Beecher 

1 Early life

2 Migration to Oregon Territory (1852)

3 Territorial pioneer 

3.1 Early days

3.2 "Hop King of the World"

4 Ruin and Klondike

5 Promoting the Trail

5.1 Preparation for 1906 trip5.2 Return to the Trail (1906–1908)

5.3 Advocate for the Oregon Trail (1909– 

1925)

5.4 Meeker reaches the end of the trail

(1925–1928)

6 Aftermath and legacy

7 Books by Ezra Meeker 

8 Notes and references

9 Bibliography

10 External links

Early life

Ezra Manning Meeker was

 born in Butler County,

Ohio, near Huntsville, on

December 29, 1830,[1] the

son of Jacob (1804–1869)and Phoebe (Baker)

Meeker (1801–1854). His

 paternal ancestors had been among the early settlers of Elizabeth, New Jersey,

where their ancestral home was located. In the American Revolutionary War,

about twenty Meekers fought for the new nation. Jacob and Phoebe had four 

sons and a daughter together; Ezra was the third child, and had two older 

 brothers.[2][3]

Jacob was a miller and farmer. In 1839, the family moved from Ohio to Indiana,

close to Indianapolis—Ezra and his older brother Oliver walked behind the famiwagon for 200 miles (320 km). Ezra had little formal education; he later estimate

a total of six months. Phoebe, seeing that her son's mind was not well adapted to

formal learning, allowed him to earn money through odd jobs. He obtained work

as printer's devil at the Indianapolis Journal , where his duties involved deliverin

the newspaper to subscribers, among them local pastor Henry Ward Beecher. In 1845, Phoebe's father, a

Cincinnati merchant, gave his daughter $1,000, enough to buy the family a farm. As both Jacob and Ezra Meeker 

realized the boy enjoyed the outdoor life more than inside work, Jacob placed Ezra in charge of the farm, allowing

the elder Meeker to work as a miller.[1][4]

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The eastern half of Meeker's

migration, as far as Fort Laramie

Migration to Oregon Territory (1852)

Ezra Meeker married his childhood sweetheart, Eliza Jane Sumner, in May 1851.[5] The Sumners lived about four

miles from Indianapolis, and like the Meekers were family farmers who did not hire help. When he asked her for 

her hand, he told her he wanted to farm, which she accepted as long as it was on their own property. In October 

1851, the couple set out for Eddyville, Iowa, where they rented a farm. They had heard that land in Eddyville

would be free, but this was not the case. Ezra, working in a surveyor's camp, decided that he did not like Iowa's

winters—a prejudice shared by his pregnant wife. Reports were circulating through the prairies about the OregonTerritory's free land and mild climate. Also influencing the decision was the urging of Oliver Meeker who, with

friends, had outfitted for the trip to Oregon near Indianapolis, and had come to Eddyville to recruit his brother. Ezr

and Eliza Jane Meeker vacillated on the decision, and it was not until early April 1852, more than a month after the

 birth of their son Marion, that they decided to travel the Oregon Trail.[5][6][7][8][9]

That April, Ezra, Eliza Jane and Marion Meeker set out to journey to

Oregon, some 2,000 miles (3,200 km) in all.[10] With their wagon, they

had two yokes of oxen, one of cows and an extra cow, They were

accompanied by William Buck, who would remain with them much of the

way before separating from them to go to California.[8] Buck outfitted thewagon, Meeker selected the animals, and with his wife carefully prepared

food supplies.[11] The wagons of Meeker's grouping traveled together by

informal agreement; there was no wagon master in overall charge.[12]

A number of Oliver Meeker's friends from Indianapolis joined the group,

most likely before the party left Iowa.[9] They crossed the Missouri River 

at the small Mormon settlement of Kanesville (today Council Bluffs,

Iowa). Meeker recounted that, as he stood on the far side of the

Missouri, he felt as if he had left the United States. As they journeyed westward along the Platte River in Nebrask

Territory, there were such large numbers traveling that they were never out of sight of the tens of thousands of othe pioneers journeying west that year.[13] Sometimes several wagons advanced side by side.[14] The Meekers chose

slow, steady pace, unlike many who sought to rush along as quickly as possible. Piles of abandoned possessions

lined the way, cast aside to lighten loads. As the party went further west, they passed some of those who had

hurried past them, and whose wagons had broken down or whose oxen had died as a result of failure to care for 

them properly. Disease was an ever-present risk; at the present site of Kearney, Nebraska, Oliver Meeker was

stricken with illness. This led to a division of the group when most of Oliver's friends, including later Idaho Territor

governor David W. Ballard, refused to wait. Oliver recovered after four days, and was one of the lucky ones—his

 brother later estimated that one in ten of those who took the Trail perished during the journey. Ezra Meeker 

remembered meeting one wagon train, slowly moving east against the flow of traffic. That group had made it as far

as Fort Laramie (today in Wyoming) before losing the last of its menfolk, and the women and children turned back

hoping to regain their homes in the East. He never learned if they made it.[9][13] According to local historians Bert

and Margie Webber, "all of these deaths made a great impression on the young man".[14]

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The western half of Meeker's

migration

They encountered Native Americans, who would sometimes demand money for passage, but no funds were paid

(until Meeker earned some cash by briefly running a ferry across the Snake River in present-day Idaho, they did

not have any) and none of the incidents ended with violence. The travelers' stores were supplemented by shooting

 bison, which roamed the Great Plains in huge numbers. Despite being a source of food, the bison were a danger a

their stampedes could destroy property and kill irreplaceable stock. In southeastern Idaho, the California Trail

separated from the Oregon, and Buck and some of the rest of the party

split off there; they settled in California and remained friends with Meek

until their deaths.[15]

Meeker found that the final stretch between Fort Boise (now Boise,

Idaho) and The Dalles was the most difficult. The section is filled with

mountains and deserts, and there was little chance of supplementing

stores. Those who entered this 350 miles (560 km) segment with

exhausted teams or minimal supplies often died along it. Others shed

 baggage brought across half a continent, saving only provisions. Parties

who feared this part of the journey sometimes tried to float down the

Snake and Columbia Rivers; many were wrecked in the rapids and died

At The Dalles, where river passage was available to Portland, the

Meeker party found a motley crowd of emigrants. With the moneyearned at the ferry, they booked passage downriver. Oliver Meeker 

 brought the livestock ahead overland, and met Ezra and his family on their arrival in Portland on October 1, 1852

where they slept inside a house for the first time since leaving Iowa.[16] Ezra Meeker had lost 20 pounds (9.1 kg)

and possessed $2.75 in cash.[17] All of the party survived, although Jacob Davenport, one of Oliver Meeker's

friends from Indiana, became ill on the final part of the trip and died some weeks after reaching Portland. All but

one of the livestock completed the trip—a cow was lost while crossing the Missouri River.[18] Ezra Meeker 

considered his journey over the Oregon Trail to have been the making of him as a man.[19]

Territorial pioneer

Early days

Meeker's first employment in the Pacific Northwest was unloading a ship which had docked at Portland. He move

to the nearby town of St. Helens, where construction of a wharf in competition with Portland's was under way— 

Oliver rented a house to lodge workers in, and Ezra went to help his brother. By this time, Ezra Meeker and his

wife were determined to fulfill their original plan to farm, and when work was abandoned on the wharf, he went to

find land which could be cultivated.[20]

Meeker first made a claim in January 1853 about 40 miles (64 km) downriver from Portland, on the current site oKalama, Washington. There, he built a log cabin and began his first farm. He did not build close to the water, whic

 proved fortunate as there was a major flood on the Columbia soon after he claimed the land. Instead, he profited

from the incident, selling logs the river left on his claim, together with trees he chopped down, for lumber.[21]

In April 1853, Meeker heard that the lands north of the Columbia would become a separate territory (named

Washington Territory), with its capital on Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific. He decided to travel north with his

 brother to scout for lands to claim around the waterway. There were as yet only about 500 European-descended

inhabitants in the Puget Sound region, of which 100 were in the village of Olympia, which would become the

territorial (and later state) capital. Despite there only being a few settlers, there was considerable activity in the are

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Meeker's cabin at Kalama

Meeker at age 23 in 1854

 —the lumber of Puget Sound fueled San Francisco's building boom.[22]

The Meekers' first view of Puget Sound was unprepossessing; the tide

was out, exposing mud flats. Nevertheless, they pressed on, building a

skiff to travel by water. They were met by friendly Indians, who sold

them clams and taught them how to cook the shellfish. Engaging one of 

the Native Americans as guide, they explored the area, looking for good,

well-located farmland. At one point, they entered the Puyallup River, in a

region where no white settlers lived, and camped on the present site of 

Puyallup, but were deterred by the large number of huge trees, which

would make it difficult to clear land for farming. They decided on tracts

on McNeil Island, not far from the thriving town of Steilacoom, where

the farm's produce could be sold. Oliver remained on the island to build a

cabin while his brother went back to fetch family and possessions, and

sell their old claims at Kalama. He returned to a cabin in which they

installed a glass window that looked over the water to Steilacoom, with a

view of Mount Rainier.[23][24] The Meeker claim was later the site of 

McNeil Island Corrections Center.[6]

Later in 1853, Ezra and Oliver Meeker received a three-month-old letter from

their father, stating that he and other family members wanted to emigrate, and

would do so if Oliver Meeker could return to assist them. They immediately

responded that Oliver would return to Indiana by early the following year, and p

their plans on hold to prepare for and finance his journey by steamship and rail. I

August 1854, Ezra Meeker received word that his relatives were en route, but

were delayed and short on provisions. He quickly went to their aid, intending to

guide them through the Naches Pass into the Puget Sound area. When he found

his family's party close to the first Fort Walla Walla (near Richland, Washington)

he learned that his mother and a younger brother had died along the Trail. He

guided the survivors through the pass and to his claim on McNeil Island.[25][26]

Jacob Meeker saw only limited prospects on the island, and the family took 

claims near Tacoma, where they operated a general store in Steilacoom.[27] On

 November 5, 1855, Ezra Meeker claimed 325.21 acres (131.61 ha) of land

called Swamp Place, near Fern Hill, southeast of Tacoma. He began to improve

the land, planting a garden and an orchard.[28]

Pursuant to the 1854 Treaty of Medicine Creek, settlers purchased lands from the Indians. The agreement, signed

under duress, restricted the Native Americans to inadequate reservations, and in 1855, the Puget Sound War 

 broke out, bringing unrest to the region over the following two years. Ezra Meeker had maintained good relations

with the Native Americans, and did not fight in the conflict, though he accompanied one expedition to recover 

 possessions captured by the Indians. A controversial aspect of the war was the trials and hanging of Chief Leschi,

deemed responsible for killing during the conflict. Meeker sat on the jury in the first trial, which resulted in a hung

ury, with Meeker and another man holding out for acquittal on the grounds that Leschi was a combatant in

wartime. A second trial convicted Leschi, and he was hanged. Meeker described the execution as wrongful, and in

later years wrote of the incident. In 1895, Meeker chartered a special train to bring whites to Leschi's reburial on

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Meeker, circa 1880

tribal land, and in 2004 the Washington State Senate passed a resolution that Leschi had been unjustly treated; a

special historical tribunal made up of past and present justices of the Washington Supreme Court also exonerated

Leschi as both he and the man he was said to have killed were combatants.[28][29][30]

"Hop King of the World"

Ezra Meeker's farm at Swamp Place was not a success as the land was too poor to grow crops.[31] The family

continued to run the store in Steilacoom. On January 5, 1861, Oliver Meeker drowned while returning from a buying trip to San Francisco, when his ship, the Northerner , sank off the California coast. The Meekers had

 borrowed to finance the trip, and the losses from this disaster reduced Ezra Meeker to near penury. He secured th

squatter's claim of Jerry Stilly on land in the Puyallup Valley, and moved his wife and children there in 1862. While

clearing his own holdings, he earned money by helping to clear the land of others.[6][32][27] His father and surviving

 brother, John Meeker, also had claims in the valley.[33] John Meeker had come to Washington Territory by ship in

1859 and had settled in the Puyallup Valley.[34] Ezra Meeker ran for the Washington Territorial Legislature in

1861, but was defeated.[35] In 1869, Meeker ran for Pierce County Surveyor; he was defeated by James

Gallagher, 138 votes to 116.[36]

In 1865, Olympia brewer Isaac Wood imported some hop roots from the United Kingdom, hopeful that theywould do well in the Pacific Northwest. As hops, used to flavor beer, were not then grown locally, the cost of 

transport from Britain or New York made his beer expensive, and he hoped Puget Sound-area farmers would

grow hops and supply him. He was a friend of Jacob Meeker, and gave him the roots to grow. Jacob passed som

of them on to Ezra. The plants grew extremely well, and at the end of the season, the Meekers earned $185 from

selling Wood the crop. Such a sum was rarely seen in the Puyallup Valley at that time, and a hop-growing boom

 promptly began. Ezra Meeker, with his head start, was able to repeatedly expand operations, he eventually had

500 acres (200 ha) of hop-growing lands. He also built one of the first hop-drying kilns in the valley. [33] For years

Meeker supplied Portland brewer Henry Weinhard.[37]

The fertile soil and temperate climate of the valley proved ideal for hops. Not ondid the plants thrive, farmers were able to obtain four or five times the usual yield

Meeker, never one to miss an opportunity, formed his own hop brokerage

 business.[33] In 1870, he penned an 80-page pamphlet, Washington Territory

West of the Cascades, to promote investment in the region. He took ship for Sa

Francisco, then journeyed east by the new transcontinental railroad, hoping to ge

the railroads to expand to his region. He met with newspaper editor Horace

Greeley (known for his famous advice, "Go West, young man") and with railroad

mogul Jay Cooke as part of his promotional blitz. Cooke, who was building the

 Northern Pacific Railway to cross the northern tier of the country, not only boug

up Meeker's pamphlets to give away to potential investors, but hired Meeker todrum up interest in his railroad. While working from a Manhattan office, Meeker

dressed like city dwellers, but did not entirely lose his frontier habits, often stirrin

a lump of butter into his coffee.[31][38]

In 1877, Meeker filed a plat for a townsite to surround his cabin. He named the

town Puyallup, using the local Indian words for  generous people, according to Meeker. The local post office had

 previously been called "Franklin", a common designation in the United States; Meeker, the town's first postmaster

stated that the new name was likely to remain unique. He later admitted that the pronunciation of Puyallup caused

confusion when he visited England—it still remains difficult for non-locals.[a][39][40]

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The domain of the Hop King

Meeker strove to improve life in the region, and donated land and money towards town buildings and parks, a

theatre and a hotel while defraying the start-up costs of a wood products factory.[41] The Ezra Meeker Historical

Society, in their 1972 pamphlet on his life, wrote of his activities:

During those years, Mr. Meeker became a dynamic force in the community, and had a part in almost

everything that happened in the valley. Restless, forceful, a natural leader, he became a prime mover,

galvanizing the citizens of Puyallup into action on such vital problems as the building of streets, roads,

homes, schools, and businesses and transforming the forest into one of the most progressive small

communities in the state. If he was not leading an undertaking, he was sure to be a busy member of 

some committee working on it.[42]

Hops made many farmers wealthy, including Meeker, who at one point

claimed he had earned a half million dollars for his crop. In 1880, he

wrote his first book, Hop Culture in the United States,[41] and soon

after became known as the "Hop King of the World". [33] By the 1880s,

he was the wealthiest man in the territory,[27] and had formed a London

 branch of his hop brokerage. He served as Washington Territory's

representative at the 1885–1886 North Central & South AmericanExposition in New Orleans; he also took exhibits to London's Colonial

and Indian Exposition after the New Orleans fair closed.[31] In 1886,

Meeker sought the Republican nomination for territorial delegate to

Congress, but was defeated after many ballots at the party convention.[43] He became a supporter of women's

suffrage, which was the subject of a long-running political battle in Washington Territory, a dispute which lasted we

after statehood in 1889.[44][45]

Eliza Jane felt that the family should live in a better house than their original cabin,[31] and between 1887 and 1890

they built what became known as the Meeker Mansion in Puyallup. The cost was $26,000, a very large sum at the

time. An Italian artist lived with the Meekers for a year, painting careful details on the ceilings. The Meekers movein during 1890, the same year Puyallup was formally incorporated under state law—they donated their old homesi

to the town for a park. In 1890, Meeker served as first mayor of Puyallup.[32][46] He was elected to a second,

non-consecutive term for 1892.[47]

Ruin and Klondike

In 1891, a blight of hop aphids struck the hop-growing West Coast from British Columbia to California.[47]

Although sprays of various liquids were used in an attempt to defeat the insects, use of such pesticides damaged th

hops.[33] In 1892, the crop decreased to half of what it had been before the infestation. Meeker had advancedmoney to many growers, who were unable to repay him. The problems in the valley were made worse by the Pani

of 1893, a severe worldwide depression. Business after business in which Meeker had invested failed, such as the

Puyallup Electric Light Company. He was overextended, and lost much of his fortune, and eventually his lands to

foreclosure.[48][49]

Meeker spent part of the winter of 1895–1896 in London, recouping what he could from his interests there.[50] In

1896, gold was discovered both in Alaska and in Canada, and when Meeker returned from the United Kingdom,

he found his sons, Marion and Fred, preparing to leave for Cook Inlet, Alaska. They found all the worthwhile

claims had already been taken. Nevertheless, the Meeker family saw the finds as a possible road to financial

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Ezra and Eliza Jane Meeker stand

 before their onetime cabin, Puyallup

(c. 1890s)

Meeker (far right) stands before his

first Klondike grocery store, Dawson

City, Yukon, November 19, 1898

The Meeker Mansion (seen in 2008)

recovery, and founded a company to buy and sell mining claims, thoughthey knew little about the trade. In 1897, Meeker and his sons journeye

to the Kootenay country of southeastern British Columbia, where gold

had been found. Despite the fact Meeker was aged 66, he undertook a

full share of the labor. Both Meeker sons filed claims in Canada, but the

mines required additional investment. Meeker raised money to travel to

 New York to speak with his old contacts, where he received more

 promises than cash. On the return leg he failed to raise money in visits in

Illinois and Minneapolis and by July 1897, he was back in the

Kootenays, working the claim. When the gold discovery in the Klondik

in northwestern Canada was publicized that year, Meeker saw that as a

 better opportunity, and sent his son Fred to investigate. Fred Meeker 

returned with a report in November; the Meekers sought to finance a

mining expedition to the Klondike, but failed to raise adequate money

from investors.[51]

Despite his inability to raise

funds for mining, Meeker was certain there was a way to make money

from the gold rush. He and Eliza Jane spent much of the winter of 1897– 1898 drying vegetables, and Ezra Meeker departed for Skagway,

Alaska, on March 20, 1898 with 30,000 pounds (14,000 kg) of dried

 produce and 500 live chickens—Fred Meeker and his wife Clara were

already across the border in what would soon be designated as the

Yukon Territory. The 67-year-old Meeker, with one business associate,

climbed the steep Chilkoot Pass. With thousands of others in boats and

on rafts, he floated down the Yukon River once the ice broke up in late

May, and sold his vegetables in two weeks in Dawson City. He returned

to Puyallup in July, only to set out again with more supplies the following

month. This time, he and his son-in-law, Roderick McDonald, opened astore, the Log Cabin Grocery, in Dawson City, and remained through the

winter.[52][53]

Meeker returned to the Yukon twice more, in 1899 and 1900. Most of

the money earned through groceries was invested in gold mining, and w

lost. When he left the Klondike for the last time in April 1901, he left

 behind him the body of his son Fred, dead of pneumonia in Dawson Cit

on January 30, 1901. [54] In his writings, Meeker ascribed his sudden

departure from the Yukon in 1901 to mining losses and his upcoming

50th wedding anniversary. Meeker scholar Dennis M. Larsen in his booon the pioneer's Klondike adventure suggests that a more likely reason

was attempts by those who had lost money in Meeker's enterprises in th

1890s to gain the family's remaining major asset, the Meeker 

Mansion.[54] That property was sold by Eliza Jane Meeker to her 

daughter Caroline and son-in-law Eben Osborne for $10,000 in mid-

1901 and later that year both Ezra and Eliza Jane executed documents stating that the house had been her separat

 property, paid for with funds not deriving from Ezra. The sale to the Osbornes included provisions that Ezra and

Eliza Jane were to have lifetime residence and $50 per month. Ezra Meeker did not live there after his wife's death

in 1909, and the Osbornes sold the house in 1915. Eben Osborne died in 1922, survived by his 91-year-old fathe

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Meeker's wagon (seen in 2012)

in law.[55]

Promoting the Trail

Preparation for 1906 trip

Meeker spent the years after the Klondike in Puyallup, where he wrote and served as president of the Washington

State Historical Society,[53] which he had helped to found in 1891.[31] The Ezra Meeker Historical Society

described their namesake's situation after the Klondike expeditions:

He was 71 years old. He had been an adventurer, laborer, surveyor, longshoreman, farmer, merchant,

community leader, civic builder, richest man in the state, world traveler, miner and writer. He had

made and lost millions. He had made money, not so much to hoard, but to do things with—to

develop, control forces, build and promote. But his money was gone. It was generally assumed that he

had finally come home to stay and live out his days in peace and quiet in his beautiful valley. Not so.

He still had dreams.[56]

Meeker had long contemplated the idea of marking the Oregon Trail, over which he had traveled in 1852, withgranite monuments.[53] By the early 20th century, he was convinced that the Trail was in danger of being

forgotten.[57] Farmers were plowing up the Trail bit by bit, and as towns and cities grew along it, the Trail vanishe

under streets and buildings. Meeker viewed its preservation as an urgent matter because of this slow

disappearance. He wanted the Trail properly marked, and monuments erected to honor the dead.[58]

Meeker came up with a scheme to travel along the Trail again by ox-drawn wagon, raising public awareness for hi

cause. He believed that public interest would provide enough money both to build markers and maintain himself 

along the way. Though many hucksters traveled by wagon, selling patent nostrums, Meeker felt that he would stan

out, as an authentic pioneer able to tell real stories of the Trail—especially if he used authentic gear. He felt that it

was likely that once newspapers got wind of his travels, they would give him ample coverage.[59]

Meeker did not have much money, so he raised it from friends. Ox-

drawn wagons were not a common sight in the Puyallup of 1906;

Meeker was unable to find an authentic complete wagon, and eventually

used metal parts from the remains of three different ones. The

construction was done by Cline & McCoy of Puyallup. Meeker found a

 pair of oxen; even though one proved unsuitable, the owner insisted on

him purchasing both. The one Meeker kept, named Twist, was lodged a

the stockyards in Tacoma as he sought another. Meeker fixed on a herd

of steers which had been brought in from Montana. He decided on onewhich was particularly heavy, which he named Dave. Although Dave

gave Meeker much difficulty, beginning with the 8 miles (13 km) drive

home to Puyallup after the purchase, the animal eventually helped pull the wagon over 8,000 miles

(13,000 km).[60][61]

Although Meeker had not had a dog in his wagon in 1852, he knew that people liked them, and sought to add one

to his crew.[62] Jim, a large, friendly collie who became an expedition member and Meeker's companion for the

next six years, had belonged to one of Meeker's neighbors, a Mr. James. Meeker was impressed by the way Jim

drove James' chickens out of the area where the family grew berries, by moving slowly. Five dollars to one of 

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Meeker's dog Jim

First monument erected by Ezra

Meeker on his trek, Tenino,

Washington (seen in 2013)

James' children secured the purchase.[63] Some of Meeker's friends tried to talk him out of the trip; one localminister warned against this "impracticable project", stating that it was "cruel to let this aged man start on this

ourney only to perish by exposure in the mountains".[64]

Meeker had taken an ox team and wagon to Portland's Lewis and Clark 

Exposition in 1905; en route he had kept his eyes open for places to set

up suitable monuments on the Cowlitz Trail, on which pioneers had

ourneyed from the Columbia River to Puget Sound. He made

arrangements with locals in towns along that trail to raise money to build

monuments there. He gave lectures as a fundraiser, but raised little

money. He took his team and wagon for daylong shakedown trips,

despite the mocking of some who remembered him as Hop King. After 

several days camped on his lawn as practice for the trip, and then in

other nearby locales, Meeker set out from Olympia on February 19,

1906.[65][66]

Return to the Trail (1906–1908)

According to Larsen in his book on Meeker's journey east,

It's easy to assume Ezra Meeker's remarkable 1906–08

expedition over the Oregon Trail was a well-oiled machine that

worked as planned ... But it wasn't always an easy journey. ...

Faith in the whole enterprise, let alone encouragement, was in

rather short supply. His own daughter told him that people would

laugh at him if he went out on the trail with an old yoke of 

oxen ...[67]

The first stop after Olympia for "The Old Oregon Trail Monument

Expedition" was Tenino, Washington, where Meeker went ahead by train

on February 20, 1906 to make arrangements for the first monument of 

the trip. He still had no driver, and had his wagon pulled to Tenino by

horses, with the oxen trailing behind. He appealed to a local quarry for a

suitable stone, which was carved and was dedicated in Tenino at a

ceremony on the 21st.[68][69] He had less success as he journeyed south towards Portland; at none of the remainin

Washington stops was a monument erected, and although Meeker placed wooden posts where monuments should

go, most of the designated towns did not follow through. The lack of enthusiasm about Meeker's mission continue

in Portland, where the Unitarian church elders voted against allowing Meeker the use of the building to give a

fundraising lecture, pledging to do nothing to "encourage that old man to go out on the Plains to die".[70]

In Portland, Meeker lost his remaining helpers (one refused to take a pay cut, the others for personal reasons). On

stayed on for the boat voyage up the Columbia before leaving at The Dalles, where Meeker hired a driver/cook,

William Mardon, at $30 per month. He remained with Meeker for the next three years. Meeker also installed an

odometer on his wagon, calling The Dalles "Mile Zero" of his expedition. In The Dalles, Meeker engaged in

activities which would set the pattern for his progress along the Trail: He showed off himself, his wagon and animal

to the public, and sold tickets for a lecture (fifty cents for adults, half that for children) he would give about the

Oregon Trail, including images shown with a stereopticon. He also met with members of civic committees to raise

money for a local monument. Often these monuments were erected after Meeker passed: he would position a post

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Meeker in Omaha

to designate its location.[71] According to reporter James Aldredge in his 1975 article on Meeker's trip, "for a

septuagenarian he must have been blessed with remarkable health and endurance ... When the curious procession

got underway, not the least impressive part of it was Meeker himself, with his face framed by his flowing white hai

and his patriarchal beard."[72] According to reporter Bart Ripp in his 1993 article on Meeker, "the first expedition

east in 1906 was supposed to be a speaking tour, but people were more interested in seeing the old coot in a

covered wagon. It was the 20th century, and Americans wanted a show."[73]

As he journeyed east from The Dalles, Meeker met with more enthusiasm than in his home state as he slowly passed through Oregon and Idaho. As word began to spread, he sometimes found the townsfolk prepared for him

or with a stone ordered or even ready. The monument in Boise, dedicated by Meeker on April 30, 1906, stands o

the grounds of the Idaho State Capitol. On the road, he camped as he had a half century before, but in towns mos

often took a hotel room, though who paid for this is uncertain. Near Pacific Springs, Wyoming at South Pass,

Meeker had a stone inscribed to mark where the Trail passes through the Continental Divide. [74]

Meeker remembered in a memoir,

The sight of Sweetwater River, twenty miles [32 km] out from South Pass, revived many pleasant

memories and some that were sad.[b] I could remember the sparkling, clear water, the green skirt of 

undergrowth along the banks, and the restful camps, as we trudged up the stream so many years ago.

And now I saw the same channel, the same hills, and apparently the same waters swiftly passing. But

where were the camp fires? Where was the herd of gaunt cattle? Where the sound of the din of bells?

the hallooing for lost children? Or the little groups off on the hillside to bury the dead? All were

gone.[75]

 Nebraska proved resistant to Meeker's sales pitch, and near Brady, the

ox Twist died, possibly after eating a poisonous plant. Meeker had to

wire home to supporters for money. He hired teams of horses to pull the

wagon on a temporary basis, and an attempt with two cows was not

successful. He was able to temporarily yoke Dave with a cow which

 proved more suitable. [76][77] At the Omaha Stockyards, Meeker found

another ox, which he named Dandy, and broke him in on the way to

Indianapolis, near where Meeker had once lived and 2,600 miles

(4,200 km) by road from Puyallup.[78] Beginning in Nebraska, Meeker 

 began to sell postcards from photos taken on the way—there was then

craze for postcards in the United States. He also arranged for the printin

of a book about his 1852 trip, much of which he wrote during noontime

halts on his 1906 trip. The funds from the sales of these items allowed

him to meet expenses on the road.

[79]

Meeker's exploits were closelyfollowed in newspapers on the West Coast as eastern and midwestern

stories about him were reprinted there—when westerners perceived any slights towards Meeker, indignant

editorials followed.[64]

After a visit to Eddyville, Iowa, from where he had set out in 1852, Meeker spent several weeks in Indianapolis,

leaving on March 1, 1907 when his permit to sell on the streets there expired. With the Oregon Trail run

completed, he proceeded east through Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York State, seeking to both raise public

awareness and earn some money for himself through sales of his merchandise. He often spent several days in a

location, so long as sales of postcards and books flourished.[80] When the expedition reached New York City,

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Meeker in Wall Street

Meeker shows his wagon to President

Theodore Roosevelt

Meeker with his wagon, team, and

restaurant at Seattle's 1909 Alaska-

Yukon-Pacific Exposition

Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr. was absent but the acting mayor told Meeker that, although he could not grant

him a permit, he would instruct the police not to molest him. The message was apparently not well-communicated,

as at 161st and Amsterdam Avenue a policeman arrested Meeker's helper, Mardon, for driving cattle upon the

streets of New York in violation of a local ordinance. A stalemate followed as Meeker refused to move his oxen

and the police had no means of doing so. The situation was resolved when higher authority ordered Mardon's

release. Meeker wanted to drive the length of Broadway; it took a month

to get the legal problems resolved. It took him six hours to drive the

length of Manhattan. He had arranged with the press for photographers,

who took shots of him at the New York Stock Exchange and Federal

Hall. Later in his stay, he drove across the Brooklyn Bridge. [81]

After a small family reunion at

the old Meeker homestead

near Elizabeth, New Jersey,

Meeker headed south towards

Washington, D.C. He had

hoped to meet President Theodore Roosevelt at his summer home in

Oyster Bay, New York, but Roosevelt's staff declined, offering a meetin

in Washington instead. Members of the Washington State congressionaldelegation cleared the way, and Meeker met Roosevelt on November 

29, 1907. The President went outside the White House to view

Meeker's wagon and team, and expressed support for Meeker's

activities, and for a Meeker proposal for a cross-country highway (there were then none) in honor of the pioneers.

After Washington, the tour wound down: Meeker went home to Puyallup from Pittsburgh by train to see his ailing

wife. On his return to the East, he arranged for transport by riverboat and train, with a journey across Missouri by

wagon. The expedition was offloaded from the train in Portland, and Meeker proceeded north across Washington

State (receiving a much warmer reception) on a slow route, finishing in Seattle on July 18, 1908. [82]

Advocate for the Oregon Trail (1909–1925)

Meeker ran a large pioneer exhibit and restaurant at the 1909 Alaska-

Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle; he later ruefully stated the

Exposition had cost him his earnings from the book and card sales during

his wagon tour. Later that year, he spent time in California, journeying

with his wagon and team.[83] Eliza Jane Meeker died in 1909 in

Seattle[84] —she had been in poor health for some years. Ezra Meeker 

was in San Francisco, peddling his wares, when his wife died—it took 

three days to locate him, after which he journeyed north for the funeral before returning to his work.[85] On New Year's Day 1910, Meeker and

his wagon and team participated in the Tournament of Roses Parade in

Pasadena.[86]

In 1910, the Humphrey Bill, to appropriate money for monuments to

mark the Trail, passed the House of Representatives and was introduced in the Senate, with a proviso that no

money would be spent unless the Secretary of War could certify that the work would not require any further 

appropriations. Ezra Meeker set out that year on another two-year-long expedition, with the emphasis this time on

locating and marking where the Trail had been, rather than on building monuments. Sometimes the ruts in the

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The ox-team pioneer tries an airplane,

1921

ground from the emigrants' wagons still existed and made it obvious, but other times he had to rely on the memorie

of old settlers. He journeyed to Texas, but had no success in interesting people in his project there.[83][87][88] His

tour was ended in 1912 in Denver when a flood struck the city, resulting in damage to his books. [89] Nevertheless

according to Green, Meeker's two trips resulted in the placement of 150 monuments.[88] A version of the

Humphrey Bill passed the Senate in 1913, but died when the House of Representatives took no action. [83] Despit

this failure, groups began marking western trails: the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution put up

 plaques along the Cowlitz Trail in 1916.[90]

Beginning in 1913, Meeker began to plan his role in the 1915 Panama-

Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. He had donated his wagon and oxe

to a park in Tacoma: when officials there expressed concern about the

cost of building a proper pavilion for them, Meeker reclaimed them and

set off with them to California. Deeming Dandy unfit for the road,

Meeker had him slaughtered in Portland in June 1914 and had the hide

shipped back to Tacoma for taxidermy; in November, the same fate me

Dave in California. Meeker's wagon was exhibited at the exposition in

San Francisco. His tales of the Oregon Trail became one of the star 

attractions of the Exposition. Nevertheless, he quarreled with theadministrators of the Washington State Building, feeling that it should be

open on Sundays, when the largest crowds came to the grounds. On his

return, the oxen and wagon were mounted as an exhibit at the Washington State History Museum until it closed fo

a move to new premises in 1995. The wagon was then deemed too fragile for display.[91][92][93]

In 1916, the 85-year-old Meeker made another trip, this time by Pathfinder automobile. The Pathfinder Company

of Indianapolis, lent Meeker a car with a covered-wagon-style top and a driver as a publicity stunt. Meeker also

received a small stipend, and journeyed in the vehicle from Washington, D.C. to Olympia. [83][94] Meeker saw the

use of a motor vehicle as publicizing the need for a transcontinental highway. [88] During this trip, he lectured on the

need for a national highway; before he left he met with President Woodrow Wilson and discussed the topic withhim.[89]

Bernard Sun, whose grandparents were Oregon Trail pioneers in Wyoming, remembered another side of Meeker

He'd camp down on Rush Creek with a covered wagon. The old bum was riding a grub line. He'd

grub meals from all the ranchers around here. My grandmother hated the sight of him. He'd comb that

long hair at the dinner table. Put his [false] teeth in to eat and take them out to talk.[95]

Although World War I distracted public attention from Meeker and his activities, he used the time to plan for the

future.

[96]

On December 29, 1919, his 89th birthday, he began work on another book, Seventy Years of Progrein Washington, which was published to favorable reviews. In association with Dr. Howard R. Driggs, a professor

of English at the University of Utah and later at New York University, he published a revised version of his

memoirs, Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail . In 1922, he fell ill for one of the few times in his life. Newspapers

reported that he refused to stay in bed, and his grandson, a physician, stated that he was going to put Meeker bac

to bed and "I am going to keep him there—if I can. If I can."[97]

Recovered, the nonagenarian Meeker began making fresh travel plans.[98] In 1923, he was master of ceremonies

the dedication of a monument to the pioneers at Emigrant Gap, California; it was dedicated by President Warren G

Harding, a week before his sudden death in San Francisco.[99] With the International Air Races to be held at

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Meeker with President Calvi

Coolidge, 1924

One side of the Oregon Trail

Memorial half dollar 

Meeker (lower right) at the

dedication of the statue to

himself, September 14, 1926

Dayton, Ohio, in 1924, Meeker tried to get the War Department to allow him to fly there. He was successful, and

flew with the Army pilot, Oakley G. Kelly. At a stop in Boise, Meeker quipped they were making better time than

with his ox team, and in Dayton met aviation pioneer Orville Wright, to whom he commented, "You'd be surprised

at the difference between riding in a Prairie Schooner and in an airplane."[100][101] The publicity was so favorable

that the Army had Kelly fly Meeker the rest of the way to Washington, D.C., where the onetime pioneer met

President Calvin Coolidge in October 1924. Meeker returned to Seattle by train.[100][102] Wanting the governmen

to build a road over Naches Pass, where he had guided his father's party seventy years before, Meeker ran for the

Washington House of Representatives in 1924 from the 47th district but was defeated in the Republican primary b35 votes.[42][103] In 1925, Meeker drove an ox team for several months while touring in J.C. Miller's Wild West

Show.[104]

Meeker reaches the end of the trail (1925–1928)

 Further information: Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar 

By 1925, Congress had still not passed an appropriation to mark the Trail. One

means of federally-sponsored fundraising at that time was to get Congress to

authorize a commemorative coin (usually a half dollar) and designate a sponsoringorganization to buy the issue at face value from the government and sell it to the

 public at a premium. Meeker got the idea from a group of Idahoans seeking a

coin to further their preservation work at Fort Hall; he arranged a merger of 

efforts. Beginning in 1925, Meeker pressed for such a half dollar to honor the

 pioneers and provide money for his efforts, and in April 1926 he appeared before

a Senate committee, urging the passage of legislation. Congress obliged, and

Coolidge signed the bill on May 17, 1926 at a ceremony which Meeker 

attended.[105][106]

Meeker had founded the Old OregonTrail Association in 1922. In early

1926, it was incorporated in New

York as the Oregon Trail Memorial

Association (OTMA), and was given

office space there by the National

Highways Association. The legislation

authorizing the new coin designated the

OMTA as the organization which could

 purchase Oregon Trail Memorial half 

dollars from the government. The piecewas designed by Laura Gardin Fraser 

and her husband, James Earle Fraser 

(who had designed the Buffalo nickel).

Six million coins were authorized, and a

 beginning was made by the striking of 

48,000 for the Association at the Philadelphia Mint; when those ran low,

100,000 more were coined at the San Francisco Mint. Meeker was less

successful with the later issue, and many remained unsold. Although the Bureau

the Mint struck more in 1928, these remained impounded until after Meeker's death, with tens of thousands of the

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Ezra Meeker's grave,

Puyallup, Washington

Dave and Dandy, on exhibit

in 2013 at the Washington

State Historical Society

Museum in Tacoma

earlier issues unsold.[107]

Seattle had been Meeker's home since moving out of the mansion, but in the mid-1920s the citizens of Puyallup

sought to honor him by the erection of a statue in Pioneer Park, the site of Meeker's one-time homestead. They

also sought to preserve the home site, over which Eliza Jane Meeker had planted ivy a half-century before, buildin

a pergola to support the plant. With the statue and pergola completed, Meeker returned to Puyallup for the

dedication ceremony in 1926. The same year, at age 95, Meeker published his first and only novel, Kate Mulhall

a Romance of the Oregon Trail .[108]

Meeker was again advocating better roads, and gained the support of Henry

Ford,[109] who built him a Model A car with a covered wagon-style top, dubbed

the Oxmobile, to be used in another expedition over the Trail to publicize

Meeker's highway proposals. In October 1928, Meeker was hospitalized with

 pneumonia in Detroit. Determined to die in his beloved Northwest, he was

discharged and sent home to Seattle in Ford's private railroad car. He was taken

to a room in the Frye Hotel, where he told his daughter Ella Meeker Templeton,

"I can't go. I have not yet finished my work."[72][108][109] Ezra Meeker died there

on December 3, 1928, just under a month short of his 98th birthday. His body

was taken in procession back to Puyallup, where he was interred beside his wife

Eliza Jane in Woodbine Cemetery. Under a plaque based on the Oregon Trail

Memorial coin Ezra Meeker had inspired, their gravestone, erected by the

OTMA in 1939, reads, "They came this way to win and hold the

West".[108][110][111]

Aftermath and legacy

Howard Driggs succeeded Meeker as president of the OTMA, and remained in

that capacity at the association and its successor, the American Pioneer TrailsAssociation (APTA), until his own death at age 89 in 1963. The year 1930,

marking 100 years since both Meeker's birth and the first wagon train leaving St

Louis for the Oregon Country, was proclaimed the Covered Wagon Centennial.

The largest event was at one of the landmarks along the Oregon Trail, Wyoming

Independence Rock, on July 3–5, 1930. This event included the dedication of a

 plaque depicting Meeker, embedded in the rock. For many years, the OTMA

made it a practice to go out each summer and dedicate monuments along the

Oregon Trail. Although the APTA no longer exists, that mission has been

continued by state historical societies and organizations which share its purpose,

such as the Oregon-California Trails Association.[112][113]

The commemorative half dollars were struck in small numbers in most years of 

the 1930s; after collectors complained about the lengthy series and high prices,

Congress forbade further strikings in 1939.[114] The first route across America,

the Lincoln Highway, was completed in the 1920s, and others soon followed.

Although Meeker's highway along the Trail was not built, U.S. 30 generally

 parallels the route of the Oregon Trail. [115] A number of sites relating to Meeker remain in Puyallup. In addition to

his gravesite, and the Meeker Mansion (now owned by and being restored by the Ezra Meeker Historical Society

there is Pioneer Park, where the ivy-covered pergola and the statue of Meeker may be found.[46][116][117]

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The Oregon Trail

Local historian Lori Price noted, "Throughout his long life of nearly 98 years, the word for Meeker was action."[6]

Historian David Dary, in his book on the Oregon Trail, deems Meeker primarily responsible for re-awakening

 public interest in it.[96] According to Bert Webber, "There would be no 'Oregon Trail' to enjoy today if Ezra

Meeker had not set out, by himself, and without government subsidy, to preserve it."[118] Driggs stated of Meeker

after his death:

So the Oregon Trail was blazed and tramped—traders, trappers,

gold-seekers, missionaries, colonists—until the highway stretchedfrom the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. Years passed and

railroads supplanted the old Oregon Trail; its very location was

forgotten; disputes arose. Then an old man, almost eighty,

clambered into a prairie schooner, made in part of some in which

the pioneers had journeyed westward, and the Oregon Trail was

retraced and marked with monuments, that a people and a nation

may not forget.[119]

Books by Ezra Meeker

 Hop Culture in the United States (1880)

 Pioneer Reminiscences of Puget Sound, the Tragedy of Leschi (1905)

Ox Team; or, The Old Oregon Trail, 1852–1906 (1906)

Ventures and Adventures of Ezra Meeker (1908)

Uncle Ezra's Pioneer Short Stories for Children (undated, c. 1915)

The Busy Life of Eighty-Five Years of Ezra Meeker (1915)

Seventy Years of Progress in Washington (1921)

Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail (revised and edited by Howard R. Driggs, 1922)

 Kate Mulhall, a Romance of the Oregon Trail (1926)[120]

Notes and references

Explanatory notes

a. ^ The Franklin post office was moved several miles in 1877 and its name changed in 1883 to Sumner.

 b. ^ His younger brother Clark had drowned in 1854 at Devil's Gate on the Sweetwater. Webber 1992, p. 50

Citations

1. ^ a b Green, p. 9.

2. ^ Meeker 1922, pp. 1–2.

3. ^ "Jacob Redding Meeker" (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=63242292).

findagrave.com. Retrieved April 12, 2013.

4. ^ Meeker 1922, pp. 2–13.

5. ^ a b Price, Lori (July 6, 1982). "He would have loved it: Energetic Ezra liked excitement". Pierce County Herald .

 p. C3.

6. ^ a b c d  Price, Lori (July 3, 1984). "Ezra Meeker had little rest in life".  Pierce County Herald . pp. D3, D20, D21.

7. ^ Meeker 1922, pp. 15–20.

^a

 b

 

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. , . .

9. ^ a b c Larsen, Dennis (Spring 2013). "The Ballard Family on the Oregon Trail in 1852". Northwest Trails (Oregon

California Trails Association, Northwest Chapter) 28 (1): 7–9.

10. ^ Webber 1992, p. 14.

11. ^ Meeker 1922, p. 22.

12. ^ Webber 1992, pp. 15–16.

13. ^ a b Meeker 1922, pp. 33–34.

14. ^ a b Webber 1992, p. 15.

15. ^ Meeker 1922, pp. 43–55.

16. ^ Meeker 1922, pp. 55–69.

17. ^ EMHS, p. 6.

18. ^ Meeker 1922, pp. 22, 50.

19. ^ Price, Lori (July 3, 1984). "'Hop King' marked Oregon Trail line".  Pierce County Herald . pp. D3, D9.

20. ^ Webber 1992, p. 18.

21. ^ Webber 1992, pp. 19–20.

22. ^ "Ezra Meeker is lively at 91 years". Tacoma News-Tribune. January 4, 1922. (clipping in Ezra Meeker file at

Tacoma Public Library; does not have a page number)

23. ^ Webber 1992, p. 20.

24. ^ Meeker 1922, pp. 78–105.

25. ^ Meeker 1922, pp. 108–134.26. ^ Webber 1992, pp. 20–21.

27. ^ a b c Webber 1992, p. 21.

28. ^ a b EMHS, p. 9.

29. ^ "Nisqually Chief Leschi is hanged on February 19, 1858" (http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?

DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=5145). Historylink.org. January 29, 2003. Retrieved April 1, 2013.

30. ^ "Leschi's first trial" (http://stories.washingtonhistory.org/leschi/leschitrial/firsttrial.htm). Washington State

Historical Society. Retrieved April 1, 2013.

31. ^ a b c d  e Becker, Paula. "Meeker, Ezra (1830–1928)" (http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?

DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=7737). Washington State Historical Society. Retrieved April 2, 2013.

32. ^ a b Price, Lori (August 25, 1990). "Puyallup founder's life symbolized by hard work".  Pierce County Herald .

 p. 25 (Puyallup Centennial special section).

33. ^ a b c d  e Price, Lori (August 25, 1990). "Hops blossomed into economic boom, bust". Pierce County Herald .

 pp. 36–37, 43 (Puyallup Centennial special section).

34. ^ Price, Lori (January 15, 2004). "John, Ezra's older brother, was the beloved Meeker".  Puyallup Herald . p. 4B.

35. ^ "The Election". Puget Sound Herald . July 11, 1869. p. 2.

36. ^ "Official Vote of Pierce County". Vancouver (Washington)  Register . July 3, 1869. p. 1.

37. ^ Webber 1986, p. 21.

38. ^ Price & Anderson 2002, p. 46.

39. ^ Price, Lori (August 25, 1990). "New Yorker helped establish first post office". Pierce County Herald . pp. 16,32

(Puyallup Centennial special section).

40. ^ Price, Lori (August 25, 1990). "Meeker puts Puyallup on map".  Pierce County Herald . p. 3 (Puyallup Centenniaspecial section).

41. ^ a b EMHS, p. 13.

42. ^ a b EMHS, p. 11.

43. ^ "Republican Convention". Seattle Post-Intelligencer . September 9, 1886. p. 1.

44. ^ Meeker, Ezra (August 9, 1896). "Farm Field and Fireside". Tacoma  Daily Ledger . p. 12.

45. ^ Harper, Ida Husted (1898). The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony: Including Public Addresses, Her Own

 Letters and many From Her Contemporaries Over Fif ty Years

(http://archive.org/details/lifeandworksusa01harpgoog) II. Indianapolis: The Hallenbeck Press. p. 676. Retrieved

April 17, 2013.

46. ^ a b Price, Lori (August 25, 1990). "Mansion maintained to preserve history".  Pierce County Herald . p. 26

 

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.

47. ^ a b EMHS, p. 14.

48. ^ Larsen 2009, pp. 1–2.

49. ^ Price & Anderson 2002, p. 71.

50. ^ Larsen 2009, p. 5.

51. ^ Larsen 2009, pp. 4–7.

52. ^ Larsen 2009, pp. 9–11.

53. ^ a b c Webber 1992, p. 22.

54. ^

a

 

b

Larsen 2009, pp. 8–9, 103.55. ^ Larsen 2009, pp. 3, 9, 120–121.

56. ^ EMHS, pp. 12–13.

57. ^ Dary, p. 311.

58. ^ Webber 1992, pp. 22–23.

59. ^ Webber 1992, pp. 23–27.

60. ^ Webber 1992, pp. 24–26.

61. ^ Larsen 2006, pp. 8–9.

62. ^ Webber 1992, p. 26.

63. ^ Larsen 2006, p. 10.

64. ^ a b EMHS, p. 16.

65. ^ Webber 1992, pp. 29–30.66. ^ Larsen 2006, p. 15.

67. ^ Larsen 2006, p. 8.

68. ^ Meeker 1922, pp. 173–174.

69. ^ Larsen 2006, pp. 6, 16.

70. ^ Larsen 2006, pp. 8, 17–20.

71. ^ Larsen 2006, pp. 22–27.

72. ^ a b Aldredge, James (January 26, 1975). "From Puyallup to Oyster Bay". Seattle Post-Intelligencer . pp. 3–5

(Northwest section).

73. ^ Ripp, Bart (June 23, 1993). "Ezra Meeker's pioneer daze". Tacoma News-Tribune. pp. 3–4.

74. ^ Webber 1992, pp. 33–49.

75. ^ Meeker 1922, p. 195.

76. ^ Larsen 2006, pp. 51–55.

77. ^ Webber 1992, pp. 59–60.

78. ^ Meeker 1922, p. 211.

79. ^ Larsen 2006, pp. 61–68.

80. ^ Larsen 2006, pp. 56–61, 68–77.

81. ^ Meeker 1922, pp. 214–218.

82. ^ Larsen 2006, pp. 86–114.

83. ^ a b c d  Larsen 2006, p. 117.

84. ^ Webber 1992, p. 92.

85. ^ Larsen 2006, pp. 97–98.86. ^ Green, p. 28.

87. ^ Webber 1992, p. 65.

88. ^ a b c Green, p. 30.

89. ^ a b Green, p. 33.

90. ^ Larsen 2006, pp. 20–21.

91. ^ Becker, Paula. "Ezra Meeker's oxen Dave and Dandy arrive at the Washington State Historical Museum in

Tacoma for permanent display on January 14, 1916" (http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?

DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=7760). Washington State Historical Society. Retrieved April 15, 2013.

92. ^ Green, pp. 20, 22.

93. ^ Larsen 2006, p. 116.

 

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94. ^ Webber 1992, pp. 65–68.

95. ^ Ripp, Bart (June 4, 1993). "Meeker's markers". Tacoma News-Tribune. pp. A1, A24.

96. ^ a b Dary, p. 322.

97. ^ EMHS, p. 17.

98. ^ EMHS, p. 19.

99. ^ Dary, pp. 322–323.

100. ^ a b EMHS, pp. 19–20.

101. ^ Webber 1992, p. 68–69.

102. ^ Webber 1992, pp. 68–71.103. ^ "Ezra Meeker, at 94, will run for office" (http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?

res=F60615FF395D1A728DDDA80994DF405B848EF1D3). The New York Times. July 11, 1924. Retrieved April

10, 2013.(subscription required)

104. ^ "Ezra Meeker in Wild West Show". Tacoma News-Tribune. February 19, 1925. (clipping in Ezra Meeker file at

the Tacoma Public Library; lacks a page number)

105. ^ Webber 1986, pp. 14–21.

106. ^ Driggs & Meeker, p. 13.

107. ^ Dary, pp. 323–326.

108. ^ a b c Price & Anderson 2002, p. 73.

109. ^ a b Dary, p. 325.

110. ^ EMHS, pp. 20–21.111. ^ Webber 1992, p. 71.

112. ^ Webber 1986, pp. 23–25.

113. ^ Dary, pp. 325–330.

114. ^ Webber 1986, p. 24.

115. ^ Larsen 2006, p. 118.

116. ^ Price, Lori (August 25, 1990). "Pioneer Park truly a Puyallup park pioneer".  Pierce County Herald . pp. 20–22

(Puyallup Centennial special section).

117. ^ Webber 1992, p. 35.

118. ^ Webber 1992, p. 7.

119. ^ Driggs & Meeker, pp. 7–8.

120. ^ Green, p. 12.

Bibliography

Dary, David (2004). The Oregon Trail: An American Saga. New York City: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-375-

41399-5.

Driggs, Howard R.; Meeker, Ezra (1932). Covered Wagon Centennial and Ox-Team Days (Oregon Trail Memoria

ed.). Yonkers, NY: The World Book Company.

Ezra Meeker Historical Society (1972).  Ezra Meeker . Puyallup, WA: Ezra Meeker Historical Society.

ASIN B000KSAAV6 (//www.amazon.com/dp/B000KSAAV6).Green, Frank S. (1969).  Ezra Meeker—Pioneer: A Guide to the Ezra Meeker Papers in the Library of the

Washington State Historical Society. Tacoma, WA: Washington State Historical Society. ASIN B0007FKFVW

(//www.amazon.com/dp/B0007FKFVW). ISBN 978-0-375-41399-5.

Larsen, Dennis M. (2006). The Missing Chapters: The Untold Story of Ezra Meeker's Old Oregon Trail Monume

 Expedition January 1906 to July 1908. Puyallup, WA: Ezra Meeker Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-9674164-2-7.

Larsen, Dennis M. (2009). Slick as a Mitten: Ezra Meeker's Klondike Enterprise. Pullman, WA: Washington Stat

University Press. ISBN 978-0-87422-302-6.

Meeker, Ezra (1922). Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail (revised ed.). Yonkers, NY: The World Book Company

ASIN B003OKG6SI (//www.amazon.com/dp/B003OKG6SI).

Price, Lori; Anderson, Ruth (2002). Puyallup: A Pioneer Paradise. The Making of America. Charleston, SC:

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6/21/13 Ezra Meeker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-2374-3.

Webber, Bert (1986). The Oregon Trail Memorial Half-Dollar . Medford, OR: Webb Research Group. ISBN 0-

936738-16-2.

Webber, Bert; Webber, Margie (1992).  Ezra Meeker; Champion of the Oregon Trail . Medford, OR: Webb

Research Group. ISBN 0-936738-19-7.

External links

Meeker Mansion Website (http://www.meekermansion.org/)

Guide to the Photographs of Ezra Meeker ca. 1880–1928

(http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/findaids/docs/photosgraphics/MeekerEzraPHColl596.xml), from

a University of Washington website

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ezra_Meeker&oldid=560841442"

Categories: 1830 births 1928 deaths American farmers American lobbyists American pioneers

History of Washington (state) Mayors of places in Washington (state) Oregon pioneers Oregon Trail

People from Butler County, Ohio People from Puyallup, Washington People of the Klondike Gold Rush

Writers from Ohio Writers from Oregon Writers from Washington (state)

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