Ezra Meeker with ox-drawn wagon, Arrival at Indianapolis, Indiana, 1907

Description:	Ezra Meeker (1830-1928) of Washington state became a celebrity when he trekked east across the Oregon Trail in an ox-drawn covered wagon or prairie schooner, similar to the one that first took him west in 1852. The pioneer gave speeches, especially to school children, and encouraged the preservation of the Oregon Trail and the erection of historic monuments on the route. He sold postcards to defray expenses and published a book along the way. This is likely one of the postcards that he published, but it is odd that he is not mentioned on either the front or the back.The 76-year-old Meeker began his trip in January 1906 and arrived in Indianapolis on Saturday, January 5, 1907. Newspapers reported that he would travel into town via West 10th Street, turn south on Indiana Avenue, then east on Market Street where he would stop at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at 12:30. Standing to the right of the oxen, named Dave and Dandy, is his travel companion William B. Marden. Meeker, who had lived in Indianapolis, Stringtown, and near Spring Valley as a boy in the 1840s before leaving with his wife Eliza Jane Sumner in 1851, shared boyhood memories of Indiana with the crowd. Meeker remained in Indianapolis until March 1, 1907, when his permit to sell on the street expired, then continued east where he met with President Theodore Roosevelt in Washington, D. C. He repeated his Oregon Trail journey several more times, traveling in a wagon, Pathfinder automobile, by rail, and eventually an airplane.
Origin:	1907-01-05
Source:	http://indianaalbum.pastperfectonline.com/photo/F12963D1-4B95-4FD0-8D6C-435466450093
Collection:	Indiana Album
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Geography:	Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, United States
Subjects:	Joan Hostetler Collection Pioneers Travel Ox teams Covered wagons Postcards Meeker, Ezra, 1830-1928 Monument Circle (Indianapolis, Ind.) Indianapolis (Ind.) Marion County (Ind.)

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