01Biography
Crossed the trail in 1852 as a 21-year-old with his wife Eliza Jane and their seven-week-old son. They settled on the Puget Sound and built a fortune in hops, then lost most of it in a market crash. Half a century after his crossing, in 1906, at the age of 76, he yoked an ox team and drove the trail east to Washington, D.C., placing stone and concrete markers at major landmarks and lobbying Congress to preserve the route. He retraced parts of the trail by automobile in 1916 and by aeroplane, as a passenger, in 1924.
02Why they matter
Did more than anyone to start the modern preservation movement around the Oregon Trail, and many of his markers still stand.
03How they died
Died at his home in Seattle on 3 December 1928, aged 97, of pneumonia following a fall. He had been planning yet another commemorative trail trip, this time by aeroplane, when he died.
04Legacy
The Ezra Meeker Historical Society, the Meeker Mansion in Puyallup, Washington, and dozens of his stone markers across six states keep his work alive.