Wikipedia:Today's featured article/June 21, 2013

Ezra Meeker (1830–1928) was an American pioneer who traveled the Oregon Trail by ox-drawn wagon in 1852, migrating from Iowa to the Oregon Territory with his wife and newborn son. Although they endured hardships in the journey of nearly six months, the entire Meeker party survived. In 1862, he settled at the present site of Puyallup, Washington, where he grew hops for use in brewing beer. His business made him wealthy, and he served as Puyallup's first mayor, but an infestation of hop aphids in 1891 destroyed his crops and took much of his fortune. He made four trips to the Klondike during the gold rush there, bringing groceries in an unsuccessful attempt to recoup his losses. After the turn of the 20th century, Meeker, convinced that the Oregon Trail was being forgotten, determined to bring it publicity. In 1906–1908, although in his late 70s, he retraced his steps along the Oregon Trail by wagon, seeking to build monuments in communities along the way; he reached New York and Washington, D.C., where he met President Theodore Roosevelt. He wrote several books, and traveled the Trail again several times in the final two decades of his life, including by airplane in 1924. (Full article...)

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