Tales of the Wild West by Rick Steber

Author:Rick Steber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: wild west tales mountain men pioneer cowboy western historical
Publisher: Rick Steber

Joe Meek

For eleven long years Joe Meek was a mountain man. After the beaver played out and European fashion turned from fur to silk, Meek knew he could never return to civilization. He headed west, settled in the Willamette Valley of Oregon and began farming.

After the Whitman massacre in 1847, Meek volunteered to take the news east to the President. He departed from Oregon City and crossed the continent on foot, horseback and river boat. He arrived in the nation’s capital in May 1848, unshaven, dirty and his clothes in tatters. He marched into the dining room of the Coleman Hotel and demanded, “Fetch me a piece of antelope.”

“We do not serve antelope,” stated the waiter.

“Then bring me beef. Four pounds will do,” instructed Meek.

After dinner Meek told an influential senator, “Tell Jim Polk that Joe Meek wants to see him.” When it was suggested he might want to have a bath, perhaps a shave, and change his clothes before meeting the President, Meek retorted, “Business now, toilet later.”

While in the nation’s capital Meek was invited to many social functions and made quite a hit with his rough appearance and uncivilized ways. At one state dinner a society lady inquired if Meek were married.

“Yes, I am,” he assured her.

“Oh dear!” exclaimed the woman. “I should think your wife, living way out west, would be so fearful of Indians.” “‘Fraid of Indians? Why, Madam,” Meek told her, “she

is an Indian.”

On August 14, 1848 President Polk signed the act organizing the Oregon Territory and he appointed Joe Meek as the first United States marshal.

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