The Story of the Lost Trail to Oregon by Ezra Meeker. In 1852, while young, Mr. Meeker traveled west on the Oregon Trail settling in Puyallup Washington. Late in life, he travelled east by in a wagon pulled by oxen to promote awareness and preservation of the Oregon Trail history. Per Saving the Oregon Trail: Ezra Meeker’s Last Grand Quest by Adriana Janovich ( Washington State Magazine, Winter 2020 ), Ezra Meeker was first mayor of Puyallup, one-time “Hop King of the World”, and wanted to mark the fast-disappearing Oregon Trail with monuments and preserve the memory of a generation that came West via the overland route. In 1906 at age 75, he embarked on a two-and-a-half-year adventure, which Meeker dubbed “The Old Oregon Trail Monument Expedition.” ( The walk across the continent to New York and then Washington, DC actually began in 1910. ) It resulted in the establishment of 150+ markers and monumenst. After the oxen were retired and the wagon reputably given to the Washington State Historical Society, he purchased a Pathfinder automobile, had it outfitted with a schooner top aka The Prairie Schoonermobile, and traversed the country. From the booklet you are buying: In continuance of this work to retrace the Cumberland Road and Oregon Trail, and to report to the Congress conditions and probable cost of building a national trans-continental military highway is the object of this across continent trip in a Pathfinder 12-cyclinder car with the old-time prairie schooner top of pioneer days, thus combining the old and new. A half century later, President Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 ( June 29, 1956 ) creating the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. About 6 1/8 x 4 1/2 x 1/8 inches
Weight: 0.045 LB
Measurement: 6.125 x 4.5 IN
Depth: 0.125
Condition report:
Removed from a scrapbook. Tape to spine.
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