Kate Mulhall: A romance of the Oregon Trail

Calvin Coolidge and Ezra Meeker, two stalwart Americans—the President a New Englander, and Mr. Meeker a native of Ohio, though for nearly all his adult life a resident of the Pacific Northwest. Mr. Meeker was a youth past fourteen when the late John C. Coolidge, father of the President, was born. Photograph taken on the White House grounds, near the Executive Offices, in October 1924, just after Mr. Meeker had flown in an aeroplane from Washington State to the City of Washington: and the old gentleman took advantage of the opportunity to say to the President—as he had to President Theodore Roosevelt near the same spot on November 29, 1907—that the memory of the Pioneers should be preserved, and the route of the Oregon Trail suitably and permanently marked. EZRA MEEKER Born December 29, 1830. Only survivor (1926) among the adults who passed over the Oregon Trail in their own outfits at the height of the migration of 1852. Founder and President of the Oregon Trail Memorial Association, Inc. KATE MULHALL A Romance of the OREGON TRAIL By EZRA MEEKER Author of: Ox-Team Days, Pioneer Reminiscences, The Busy Life of 85 Years, Pioneer Stories for Children, Story of the Lost Trail to Oregon Drawings by Margaret Landers Sanford, Rudolf A. Kauach and Oscar W. Lyons Map of the Oregon Trail, and photographs Published by EZRA MEEKER 18 OLD SLIP, NEW YORK CITY THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED AS A TRIBUTE OF DEVOTION TO THE MEMORIES OF PHOEBE BAKER MEEKER MY MOTHER ELIZA SUMNER MEEKER MY WIFE WHO CROSSED THE OREGON TRAIL AS A YOUNG MOTHER IN 1852, AND WAS AFTERWARD THE COMPANION OF MANY YEARS OF MY LIFE THE HEROINES OF THE PLAINS AND 20,000 PIONEERS MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN—BURIED IN UNMARKED GRAVES, ALONG THAT GREAT HIGHWAY OF HISTORY TO THE FAR NORTHWEST Copyrighted 1926 By EZRA MEEKER All rights reserved CONTENTS FOREWORD : Ezra Meeker, the Author By Robert Bruce. Early Life in Missouri; A Farewell Party; Kate's Suitors Off for Oregon; Crossing the Missouri; Encountering the Buffalo; Troubles with the Indians Trials of the Long Trail; Dangerous River Crossings; the Death of Catherine; West of the Rockies; Separation of the Party; New Homes in the Oregon Country A Massacre and a War; Kate Mulhall, Deputy Sheriff; A Race for a Wife; The Wedding and Charvaree; A Delayed and Adventurous Honeymoon on Puget Sound An Encounter with Pirates, and a…