Roger Blair, of Pendleton, a member of the Oregon-California Trails Association, takes a photo of the Ezra Meeker Oregon Trail marker in southwest La Grande on Nov. 21, 2023. The stone marker was moved 6 feet, from private property onto the public right of way. 

LA GRANDE — The Ezra Meeker Oregon Trail marker in southwest La Grande is possibly safer now than it has been at any time in its 117-year history.

The heavy stone marker at Walnut Street and B Avenue was moved 6 feet east on Tuesday, Nov. 21, by a city of La Grande public works crew. The move took the marker off private property and on to a public right of away along B Street owned by the city.

The move was made to protect the marker and the contents of its time capsule in case the private property the marker was on was ever sold, according to Ronnie Allen, a La Grande historian. Allen said if the property owner changed there was a chance the marker and its time capsule would be lost.

A public works crew, using heavy equipment including a backhoe, moved the Oregon Trail marker in about 40 minutes. Allen was was very pleased with how the move went.

“There was no damage whatsoever to the marker or its base,” said Allen, the volunteer leader of a drive to protect the marker and its time capsule.

A new concrete foundation for the marker will soon be poured, according to Stu Spence, director the city of La Grande Parks and Recreation.

The stone marker was placed in the B Avenue and Walnut Street area in 1906 by Oregon Trail pioneer Ezra Meeker. The marker was believed to contain a time capsule from 1906, according to a Meeker journal entry. However, when it was opened in 2022 the inside space was empty. Allen said the marker reportedly had been moved several times in the Walnut Street neighborhood since it was first installed, due to building projects, and during the transfers the contents of the time capsule may have fallen out.

After the historical marker was opened in 2022, a new time capsule was filled with items and then sealed into the marker. A silver 2022 Ezra Meeker necklace medallion is one of the items included in the time capsule.

A sign has been created that will be placed next to the Oregon Trail marker stating that the time capsule inside is not to be opened by the city until June 25, 2122.

The sign, which cost $900, was purchased with money donated by the Oregon-California Trails Association and by Allen. The Oregon-California Trails Association was represented by Allen and Roger Blair at the site of the moving work conducted on Nov. 21. Blair said the move was a good one because it will allow the city to protect the marker and the time capsule. Still, he knows that there is no guarantee the time capsule will be opened in 2122.

“Hopefully, the city will still be around a century from now,” Blair said.

The stone marker is among at least 35 Meeker set up along the Oregon Trail during three journeys he made across the United States to promote efforts to preserve the overland route. Meeker put up two other historical markers in Union County, at the lower and upper ends of Ladd Canyon.