". . . Mr. Stocking gathered on to a big club and struck the cougar one heavy blow over the back, but the stick broke and the cougar left the dog and attacked his master. And so it was a life and death struggle. . . ."
Ezra Manning Meeker (1830 – 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 his youth, in 1907 publishing a book of both trips titled "The Ox Team Or, The Old Oregon Trail, 1852-1906."
Mr. Meeker is fully entitled to the recognition of being the Ulysses among the Oregon pioneers. Admirably and heroically did he execute his trip back along the Oregon Trail and to New York City and Washington in the interest of the national recognition of the historic importance of the migration of the Oregon pioneers. To have simply retraced the two-thousand-mile stretch of those westward marches across the plains with his ox-team and old-time "prairie schooner," or Conestoga Wagon, would alone have sufficed to arouse the deep interest of those susceptible to historical suggestion. But Mr. Meeker's purpose and plans contemplated a far more strenuous undertaking. Nor did he desist until at every population center on the route a durable monument was set up or a movement for one fully organized. Memorial exercises were held at the unveilings. The curiosity of thousands of school children was aroused in this as yet not fairly appreciated epoch of our national history and their active participation in commemorating its importance was elicited. The sublime and patriotic audacity with which Mr. Meeker's achievement was conceived was only equalled by the grim and heroic determination with which it was carried out to complete consummation.
Think of the quaint but most impressive procession made by this patriarchal figure and equipage down Broadway, of his review of the tens of thousands before the Sub-Treasury building in the heart of America's metropolis, and of his reception by the President in Washington at the steps of the White House—all for the noblest purpose of securing a due recognition of the services of those who won for this nation dimensions four-square to the world. He was but exhibiting— uncouth as the outfit might have seemed to the over-fastidious —the ark in which was borne the scions for a nation of largest destiny.
Nothing could have been more fitting and fortunate than this transcontinental memorial trip by a veteran of the culminating migration, still possessed of the vigor of his prime and an adept in handling the truly symbolic ox-team and prairie schooner. So, single-handed and alone, Ezra Meeker appealed to the historic sense of the American people, to their sense of obligation to the memory of the intrepid Oregon pioneers, as could have been done in no other way.
It is but fair that Mr. Meeker should express in his own words his conception of the mission he undertook and triumphantly carried out. I quote chapter six of his account:
"the Ox Passing.
"The ox is passing; in fact we may almost say has passed. Like the old-time spinning-wheel and the hand loom, that are only to be seen as mementos of the past; or the quaint old cobbler's bench with its hand-made lasts and shoe pegs; or the heavy iron bubbling mush pot on the crane in the chimney corner; like the fast vanishing of the old-time men and women of fifty years or more ago—all are passing to be laid aside for the new ways and the new actors on the scenes of life. While these ways and these scenes and these actors have had their day, yet their experiences and lessons taught are not lost to the world although at times almost forgotten."
Ezra Manning Meeker (1830 – 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 his youth, in 1907 publishing a book of both trips titled "The Ox Team Or, The Old Oregon Trail, 1852-1906."
Mr. Meeker is fully entitled to the recognition of being the Ulysses among the Oregon pioneers. Admirably and heroically did he execute his trip back along the Oregon Trail and to New York City and Washington in the interest of the national recognition of the historic importance of the migration of the Oregon pioneers. To have simply retraced the two-thousand-mile stretch of those westward marches across the plains with his ox-team and old-time "prairie schooner," or Conestoga Wagon, would alone have sufficed to arouse the deep interest of those susceptible to historical suggestion. But Mr. Meeker's purpose and plans contemplated a far more strenuous undertaking. Nor did he desist until at every population center on the route a durable monument was set up or a movement for one fully organized. Memorial exercises were held at the unveilings. The curiosity of thousands of school children was aroused in this as yet not fairly appreciated epoch of our national history and their active participation in commemorating its importance was elicited. The sublime and patriotic audacity with which Mr. Meeker's achievement was conceived was only equalled by the grim and heroic determination with which it was carried out to complete consummation.
Think of the quaint but most impressive procession made by this patriarchal figure and equipage down Broadway, of his review of the tens of thousands before the Sub-Treasury building in the heart of America's metropolis, and of his reception by the President in Washington at the steps of the White House—all for the noblest purpose of securing a due recognition of the services of those who won for this nation dimensions four-square to the world. He was but exhibiting— uncouth as the outfit might have seemed to the over-fastidious —the ark in which was borne the scions for a nation of largest destiny.
Nothing could have been more fitting and fortunate than this transcontinental memorial trip by a veteran of the culminating migration, still possessed of the vigor of his prime and an adept in handling the truly symbolic ox-team and prairie schooner. So, single-handed and alone, Ezra Meeker appealed to the historic sense of the American people, to their sense of obligation to the memory of the intrepid Oregon pioneers, as could have been done in no other way.
It is but fair that Mr. Meeker should express in his own words his conception of the mission he undertook and triumphantly carried out. I quote chapter six of his account:
"the Ox Passing.
"The ox is passing; in fact we may almost say has passed. Like the old-time spinning-wheel and the hand loom, that are only to be seen as mementos of the past; or the quaint old cobbler's bench with its hand-made lasts and shoe pegs; or the heavy iron bubbling mush pot on the crane in the chimney corner; like the fast vanishing of the old-time men and women of fifty years or more ago—all are passing to be laid aside for the new ways and the new actors on the scenes of life. While these ways and these scenes and these actors have had their day, yet their experiences and lessons taught are not lost to the world although at times almost forgotten."
