Ezra is the guy who's standing next to the wagon with the ragged clothing and the white beard. After seeing his covered wagon and learning about him, I became fascinated with the history and decided I had to find an Ezra Meeker postcard. Ezra Meeker originally followed the Oregon Trail out to the Pacific Northwest from Indiana with his wife in 1852. He settled in Puyallup, Washington and grew hops. He also tried his hand at a number of other things, including prospecting for gold and trying to dehydrate fruits and vegetables.
Above all though, Ezra Meeker was concerned that the Oregon Trail, the route traveled by over 400,000 emigrants on foot, on horseback, and in wagons, would disappear and be forgotten. The trip along the 2,000-mile wagon trail took four to six months. It was not an easy journey. Thousands died from disease, Indian attacks, freezing to death, drowning, and even scurvy on their way to settle the West, but the phenomenon of western settlement fed by the Oregon Trail was momentous for North America. By 1869, the transcontinental railroad had been completed, so there was a viable alternative, but there was also a threat that the Oregon Trail and its importance in the settling of the West would be forgotten.
Meeker made it his personal mission to ensure that the Oregon Trail would not be forgotten. In 1906, at the age of 76, Ezra Meeker loaded up his oxcart and headed East (backwards) on the Oregon Trail in an effort to raise awareness. He gave speeches along the way and sold postcards and souvenirs to cover his expenses. He also erected markers along the trail.
Meeker decided to travel all the way to Washington, D.C. where he met with President Theodore Roosevelt, who was supportive of Meeker's crusade. Along the way, Meeker also drove his covered wagon down 5th Avenue in New York City. (While he was looking for a place to camp, his driver was arrested for driving cattle on a New York City street.) Meeker made the trip again by ox cart in 1910 and made additional trips by car and plane. His later dream was to erect beacons along the Oregon Trail, so that even airplanes would be able to see the route clearly.
Meeker was obviously eccentric, and many considered him a "corn doctor" for selling trinkets and charging admission to see the inside of his wagon, but I admire his relentless dedication to the cause. I am convinced that he used himself to promote the cause rather than the other way around. Although Meeker's grand dreams for memorializing the Oregon Trail were not as successful as he had hoped, we still have him to thank that the trail is remembered so well today. At the time of his death in 1928, the 98-year-old Meeker was still promoting the Oregon Trail and was in the process of planning another trip by automobile, supported by Henry Ford.
If you like to travel through history with pictures, you won't want to miss Sepia Saturday.
What a fascinating man and remarkable story: thanks Christine!
ReplyDelete(off topic: I LOVE that house in the background! Reminds me a bit of the Munster's...)
I love that house too - and the way they describe it as typical.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I loved about his cart was that he had a sign on it telling people it was against the law to write on it or deface it, but everyone did anyway. The canvas and the cart itself are covered with old graffiti from places where he stopped along the trail, mostly people's names locations, and dates.
The most 'typical' aspect of the house was that it was indeed 'banished' by the skyscrapers that the card text mentions (or perhaps a 7-11 or surface parking lot...), as were almost all of the mansions near the central business district.
ReplyDeleteThe big old houses in the Nob Hill neighborhood (or Alphabet District) fared much better, and many still remain, making for some interesting sight seeing. It almost didn't end that way though: As with many inner city neighborhoods, at one point it had fallen into disrepair and was populated by a high number of vagrants, the poor, and of course, artists, with many of the big houses cut up into numerous apartments. The city, jumping aboard the urban renewal bandwagon of the era, considered demolishing the entire neighborhood and starting fresh.
Fortunately, the potential of the neighborhood infrastructure was recognized by some individuals who started opening shops, restaurants, etc, and renovating the old buildings, and it eventually became the trendiest area in town.
That is an amazing postcard. We have the Morman Trail going through our home front in southern Iowa and those trails were so fascinating. I can't think of which one that it was that took out of the Kansas City area. Maybe it was another branch coming in from the south. Great post!!
ReplyDeleteMakes me wonder, though, Christine, about how many families were grateful to forget the miseries of their journey on the Oregon Trail. You're right, too, a house like that in Youngstown around 1900 would have been owned only by the wealthiest iron- and steelmaking families. Jack/Youngstown
ReplyDeleteIt must have been quite a sight seeing him driving through New York.
ReplyDeleteJudy
Great post, and I want you to continue with great posts.
ReplyDeleteThere IS such thing as "Better than Ezra" postcard story. [Just a cultural reference to a music band].
:)
When you have time, read some of my tweets, or I can select some for you - for cool word jokes and anagrams.
:)
I learn so much from your posts! What a great story!
ReplyDeleteThis is the second post today that has mentioned Payallup. The other was about Meri's grandmother.(Meri's Musings)
ReplyDeleteIs that a woman driving the wagon? I wonder what her story is.
A great postcard and a very interesting post!
Ooops! Meri's address is Meri @ Playing Along.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting post. I don't think I'd ever heard of Ezra Meeker before. I think it was admirable of him to want to preserve the history of the Oregon Trail and to go to such an extent to do so. From appearances and your story, he seems like an interesting man, and perhaps a character.
ReplyDeleteSuch intrepid folks, to set out for a new life in a new place and to endure such a dangerous and grueling journey! The Oregon Trail certainly deserves to be remembered!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful photo and story, I enjoyed reading your post.
ReplyDeleteFascinating Christine, I could have read more and more and more. It is remarkable that at such an early time Ezra M had such a sense of history and a history that would soon be forgotten. The way you use postcards to tell stories is unparalleled. As I say, fascinating.
ReplyDeleteI agree w/ Alan that Ezra had an acute sense of history. I'm no historian, but wouldn't the settlement of the Americas count as one of the great deliberate migrations of all time? Still, I wouldn't have blamed anyone who'd made the trek w/ Ezra for wanting to forget. Imagine this: "Honey, remember that month we lost the kids to the trots, got shot at, and prit'near starved to death if it hadn't been for the wild berries and leaves we et?"
ReplyDeleteSorry, that's my post immediately above. Jack/Youngstown
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jack. I think the hardship and suffering of the people, the tenacity really, is the reason to keep the memory of the trail alive.
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt folks endured some major hardships on their way to a better life in the Oregon Territory, and while they may have wanted to forget the trip, it is precisely the reason something like the Oregon Trail needs to be preserved for folks that didn't make the trip. It is easy to forget the sacrifices that were made by others as the generations pass, so saving historical sites that have negative associations- Civil War battlefields, Auschwitz, etc- is important to remind us to be thankful for the good things we have in our lives, and in some instances to act as a deterrent from repeating the tragedies of the past. (hopefully...)
ReplyDeleteA Practical Eccentric ! A Heady Combination .An Interesting Fellow ,For Sure.
ReplyDeleteI agree w/ Christine and Anon. above. There may be a trade-off between memorializing events while they're still fresh in the memories of some of the participants (such as Ezra), and waiting for a larger, and, I think more robust picture to present itself. (Viz., we've yet to see a history of the Vietnam War written by an American or Vietnamese using Vietnamese government sources.)
ReplyDeleteAgain, I agree w/ Christine and Anon., and now, four generations after the last participants have passed on, may be a good time to stengthen our collective memory of that Oregon trek. Jack/Youngstown
Now I want to find an Ezra Meeker postcard too!
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