Hysterical Journey To Historic Places

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UNCLE JOE



Joe Meek was a mountain man of long and notorious distinction. Eventually that life would have killed him, but the beaver trade died first. The final fur rendezvous was held in 1839. By the summer of 1840 he had been in the mountains for 12 years and was very nearly destitute. He and his pal, Newell, packed up what possessions they could scrape together and set off with their families to the Oregon country. In those days Oregon was a sparsely settled country inhabited by a few Methodist missionaries, some Indians, and the Hudson Bay Company. The company controlled all commerce and was the seat of authority throughout the vast reaches of the Oregon Country. It was a country that had no set boundaries and was being settled under terms of a Joint Occupation Agreement we had entered into with Great Britain in 1818. Through the company British interests held full trump. Among the American settlers wheat grown locally was the medium of exchange. All goods were obtained with it, but Joe Meek was no kind of farmer. Joe and Newell would have both quickly starved to death were it not for the largesse extended to them by the company. In due course Joe was elected sheriff and tax collector of the Oregon City community. As Oregon Fever begin to take hold in America settlement began to slowly increase and became a flood once wagon travel breached the Cascades. Joe’s influence in community affairs grew as settlement progressed. In response to the Cayuse Uprising at the Whitman Mission Joe was sent back as an emissary to Washington DC to petition the government for military support. It helped his cause that President Polk was a cousin by marriage. Joe failed to get the military support, but he did get territorial status for Oregon and was appointed U S Marshal. During later Indian uprisings Joe served as a major in the territorial militia. At the time of his death in 1875 he was affectionately known among friends and neighbors as Uncle Joe. The photo shows his grave site outside of Hillsboro.

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