It's a hands-on adventure through time,
full of everything from dinosaur fossils
and bird feathers, to a mid-1800s general store
and a life-size Indian tipi.
---www.karshnermuseum.org
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Ezra dabbled in a number of enterprises from gold mining in Dawson, dehydrating fruits and vegetables, proposing milk be placed in paper cartons, and many other interests. He tried to replace hops with sugar beets but could not convince his peers that they would produce as the hops did.
He began writing with gusto and published a romance novel about coming west. He was a great friend of the Northwestern Indians. He wrote about one of the major tragedies of the era. The Tragedy of Leschi was a book written in sympathy towards the plight of the Indians. He wrote in particular about the much publicized trial of Indian Chief Leschi. Meekers other books are Pioneer Reminiscences, Ezra's Short Stories for Children and the The Ox Team and the Old Oregon Trail.
In 1906 Ezra started at Camp 1 (the front lawn of the Meeker Mansion) to retrace the Oregon Trail and to erect markers along the way. With very little money he lectured and raised money as he went. His diaries of that journey are transcribed and will eventually be published by the Ezra Meeker Historical Society scheduled to coincide with the 100th Anniversary of his journey in 2006. Ezra is the only known pioneer who originally came west and then retraced the Oregon Trail two more times by ox-drawn wagon. He also retraced portions of the Oregon Trail in a specially built automobile. He was 94 years young when an opportunity to fly in an open cockpit airplane was presented to him. He was amazed that he could fly over the trail in less than seven days and it originally took him seven months to come from Independence to Portland. He is recognized as the Champion of the Oregon Trail, and without his unwavering pursuit to preserve the trail, it would have been obliterated.
Two years before his death a statue was erected in Pioneer Park in his hometown of Puyallup to recognize all pioneers who traveled across the Oregon Trail. Meeker died just short of his 98th birthday in December 1928. Few can match Meeker's accomplishments as a pioneer, historian, author and entrepreneur.
---www.meekermansion.org
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