Ezra Meeker 1906 time capsule opened in La Grande

Jun. 25—LA GRANDE — Dale Counsell had his hammers and chisels ready to help him retrieve a 116-year old message from the past.

Unfortunately, the Union County historian didn't need these tools on Thursday, June 23, for the past proved to be elusive in southwest La Grande when a time capsule was opened and turned out to be empty.

Counsell was among about 200 people gathered at 110 Walnut St. for the opening of a time capsule reputed to be in the stone Oregon Trail marker put up by frontiersman Ezra Meeker, the famous pioneer who spent the later part of his life memorializing the Oregon Trail. The marker, installed in 1906, was removed from its base by a backhoe with assistance from the La Grande Parks and Recreation Department.

Dennis Larsen, the author of several books about Meeker, then examined the stone marker and found a space for a time capsule.

"I've looked at it and unfortunately it is empty," Larsen told the crowd.

The author, who lives in Lacy, Washington, said he was not surprised that the time capsule was empty because a number of people have reported that the marker was moved several times in the Walnut Street area after it was installed in 1906. The marker is now in the front yard of Jack and Jennifer Boyd.

Jack Boyd noted that the empty time capsule may give rise to a new mystery as people try to find out what happened to its contents.

"This is something that could be put into a Steven Spielberg movie," he said.

Larsen is happy that the time capsule, though empty, gave rise to a gathering of people interested in Oregon Trail history.

"It was a good block party," he said.

The time capsule, according to a Meeker journal entry, included a speech read by the mayor of La Grande on April 10, 1906, at a dedication ceremony for the marker. Jim Kreider, of La Grande, said good-naturedly that he had hoped the time capsule contained something more.

"It is unfortunate," he said. "I was hoping the secret of life was in there."

Why La Grande?

Larsen said the La Grande marker is the only one Meeker ever mentioned in his journals as having a time capsule.

Pat Ziobar, Larsen's wife, believes the people of Union County in 1906 may have requested a time capsule. Ziobar said Meeker liked to involve communities in the process of designing the markers.

"I think that was a good idea," she said.

The Oregon Trail was close to Meeker's heart because he had taken the route west from Iowa in 1852 when he was a young man. He later settled in what is now Puyallup, Washington, and was the town's first mayor.

In the 1880s, he made and lost a fortune growing and marketing hops. Meeker then went to Alaska to look for gold, returned and experimented with dehydrated foods. He took up writing, producing at least five books before he died.

Meeker made his 1906 stop in La Grande while on an eastbound trip along the Oregon Trail in an ox-drawn wagon. He made a second trip across the trail by wagon, and still later retraced portions of it in an automobile.

At 94, he made the trip by airplane. He flew over the trail in a week. His 1852 journey took seven months.

Meeker died in December 1928, at the age of 97.

Creating a new time capsule

The empty time capsule in the stone marker on Walnut Street will soon be filled with current items collected by Ronnie Allen, of La Grande, a local historian who organized the June 23 event along with Counsell. Items Allen will put in the time capsule include an Oregon Trail brochure, a copy of the Overland Journal (a quarterly publication of the Oregon-California Association) plus items that are or recently have been integral parts of our daily lives today such as face masks, a COVID-19 home test kit, an iPhone, a $2 bill, a quarter and a 1926 Oregon Trail 50-cent piece.

These items will be placed in the time capsule in about three days and then sealed. Allen said he will notify the Ezra Meeker Society in Washington that the time capsule should not be reopened until 2122.

Allen said loose stones collected from the marker will be sent to Washington State University's geology department for analysis. He hopes this will determine where the rock used for the creation of the marker came from. Allen said the markers Meeker set up along the Oregon Trail were made locally.

Many schoolchildren had attended Meeker's 1906 dedication ceremony on Walnut Street, and Jennifer Boyd was glad to see a number of children and teenagers were at the June 23 event.

"If just some of these kids get excited about history, it will all be worth it," she said.