The Busy Life of Eighty-Five Years of Ezra Meeker: Ventures and adventures; sixty-three years of pioneer life in the old Oregon country; an account of the author's trip across the plains with an ox team; return trip, 1906-7; his cruise on Puget Sound, 1853; trip through the Natchess pass, 1854; over the Chilcoot pass; flat-boating on the Yukon, 1898. The Oregon trail.Meeker, Ezra
History
The Busy Life of Eighty-Five Years of Ezra Meeker: Ventures and adventures; sixty-three years of pioneer life in the old Oregon country; an account of the author's trip across the plains with an ox team; return trip, 1906-7; his cruise on Puget Sound, 1853; trip through the Natchess pass, 1854; over the Chilcoot pass; flat-boating on the Yukon, 1898. The Oregon trail.
Meeker, Ezra
Alaska -- Description and travel; Frontier and pioneer life -- Northwest, Pacific; Overland journeys to the Pacific; Washington (State) -- Description and travel
Eliza, the younger sister, a type of the healthy, handsome American
girl, graceful and modest, became the center of attraction upon which a
romance might be written, but as the good elderly lady still lives, the
time has not yet come, and so we must draw the veil.
Of the two Davenport brothers, Jacob, the youngest, became ill at Soda
Springs, was confined to the wagon for more than seven hundred miles
down Snake River in that intolerable dust, and finally died soon after
we arrived in Portland.
John, the elder brother, always fretful, but willing to do his part,
has passed out of my knowledge. Both came of respected parents on an
adjoining farm to that of my own home near Indianapolis, but I have
lost all trace of them.
Perhaps the general reader may not take even a passing interest in this
little party (family) here described. I can only say that this was
typical of many on the Trail of '52. The McAuleys or Buck and others of
our party could be duplicated in larger or smaller parties all along
the line. There were hundreds of noble men trudging up the Platte at
that time in an army over five hundred miles long, many of whom "laid
down," a sacrifice to their duty, or maybe to inherent weakness of
their system. While it is true such an experience brings out the worst
features of individual characters, yet it is also true that the shining
virtues come to the front likewise; like pure gold, they are found
where least expected.
Of the fortitude of the women one cannot say too much. Embarrassed
at the start by the follies of fashion (and long dresses which were
quickly discarded and the bloomer donned), they soon rose to the
occasion and cast false modesty aside. Could we but have had the camera
(of course not then in existence) trained on one of those typical
camps, what a picture there would be. Elderly matrons dressed almost
like the little sprite miss of tender years of today. The younger women
were rather shy of accepting the inevitable, but finally fell into the
procession, and we had a community of women wearing bloomers without
invidious comment, or, in fact, any comment at all. Some of them went
barefoot, partly from choice and in some cases from necessity. The
same could be said of the men, as shoe leather began to grind out from
the sand and dry heat. Of all the fantastic costumes it is safe to say
the like was never seen before. The scene beggars description. Patches
became visible upon the clothing of preachers as well as laymen;
the situations brooked no respecter of persons. The grandmother's
cap was soon displaced by a handkerchief or perhaps a bit of cloth.
Grandfather's high crowned hat disappeared as if by magic. Hatless and
bootless men became a common sight. Bonnetless women were to be seen on
all sides. They wore what they had left or could get, without question
as to the fitness of things. Rich dresses were worn by some ladies
because they had no others; the gentlemen drew upon their wardrobes
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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