LA GRANDE — Union County residents will likely have reason to celebrate 100 years from now when the time capsule in the Ezra Meeker Oregon Trail marker at 110 Walnut St., La Grande, is reopened.

Steve Witty, of Cove, the owner of Witty’s Concrete, dramatically increased the odds that a time capsule filled with items from 2022 will be found. On Thursday, Aug. 25, Witty, volunteering his time and donating his resources, poured a concrete form for the base of the stone Oregon Trail marker.

This will make it much harder for the maker to be moved between now and when the time capsule, whose contents were installed in late June, is set to be opened.

“Anyone who wants to move it will have to deal with hundreds of pounds of extra concrete,” Witty said.

Preventing the marker from being moved will protect the contents of the time capsule from falling out, said La Grande historian Ronnie Allen, who is in charge of the marker Meeker installed in 1906 during a trip across the United States promoting the Oregon Trail. The marker’s time capsule space was believed to have contents at the time, according to a Meeker journal entry.

However, it was barren when it was opened this summer, on June 23, at a public event attended by about 150 people. Allen said the marker reportedly had been moved several times in the Walnut Street neighborhood since 1906 because of building projects. He said during the transfers the contents of the time capsule may have fallen out.

Allen said he is grateful for Witty’s help in anchoring the marker so it likely will not be moved again.

“(Witty) did a wonderful job,” he said.

Witty created the form for the marker with six 60-pound bags of concrete. The Cove resident said he was delighted to extend a helping hand.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to give back. It is all about community,” he said.

The 2022 items now in the time capsule include a $1 bill, an Oregon Trail brochure, a silver medallion of Ezra Meeker, a copy of the Overland Journal, a quarterly publication of the Oregon-California Trails Association, plus items that are or recently have been integral parts of our daily lives, including two N95 face masks, a COVID-19 home test kit and an iPhone. All were placed in the time capsule on June 30 with the help of Dale Counsell, of Union County, and several other of Allen’s friends.

Allen, with help from the Oregon-California Trails Association, which he is a member of, is making arrangements to have the time capsule sealed until 2122.

“We do not want it to be opened for 100 years,” he said.

The stone marker is among at least 35 Meeker set up along the Oregon Trail during the three journeys he made across the United States to promote efforts to preserve the overland route. It was one of three Meeker put up in Union County. The two others were installed at lower and upper Ladd Canyon.