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Website
Owner:
Jefferson Fairbanks, PhD,
grandson of the sculptor
Comments
are welcome
Related
Links:
Books
on the Sculptor Avard Fairbanks by Eugene F. Fairbanks:
"A
Sculptor's Testimony in Bronze and Stone"
"A
Sculpture Garden of Fantasy"
This
web site is non-commercial in nature, and was not created for the
purposes of selling art. Viewers interested in purchasing art may
visit FairbanksArt.com
for information regarding the sale of art.
links: LDSMusician.com,
LDSMusicNetwork.com,
LDSMusicWorld.com, LDSMusic.org,
BuyLDSMusic.com,
Medical
Physics and Radiation Oncology
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The Old Oregon Trail
Ezra Meeker Portrait by Avard Fairbanks
About Ezra Meeker
The bronze relief is named the Old Oregon Trail because of the influence
of the legendary Ezra Meeker, the living relic of an 1852 immigrant
pioneer party. By the turn of the century, Ezra Meeker had begun
his quest to save the Trail from neglect and oblivion. He re-trekked
the trail another four times, calling great public attention to
its history. And he placed a remarkable 171 granite markers along
it, with the words "Old Oregon Trail".
In 1924 he came to the studio of Avard Fairbanks, the 27 yr old
professor of sculpture at the University of Oregon. There, posing
for his portrait, they became fast friends. Admiring Avard Fairbanks'
works, Mr. Meeker gave the young sculptor the charge to use his
talents and his life to honor the memory of the pioneers.
For more about Ezra Meeker visit the Meeker
Mansion Website
About the Sculpture
This sculptural bronze relief was created in 1924 by Avard Fairbanks
while he served on the University of Oregon faculty. It was inspired
by his friendship with Oregon Trail Pioneer Ezra Meeker whose passion
for recognition and preservation of the Trail was legendary. It
depicts a pioneer mother and babe-in-arms in a covered wagon with
her husband driving the oxen on a rocky trail.
Original placements of this sculpture are in Baker City and Seaside,
Oregon. Additional locations of the monument include Vancouver,
Washington and Casper, Wyoming at the National Historic Trails Interpretive
Center. The Fairbanks design was also selected for the Oregon Territory
Centennial U.S. Postage Commemorative Stamp in 1948. The new bronze
casting placed in Boise, Idaho is taken from the sculptor’s
original model.
About the Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail was the “backbone” of transportation
in the early American West. Along it traveled the greatest land
migration in human history. From 1841 into the 1880’s, nearly
one half million pioneers trekked it to settle America’s western
frontiers. Some 20,000 perished along the way. It stretched from
points along the Missouri River into the Northwest Territories,
and it encompassed parts of the California Trails (“Donnor
Party,” “49’rs,”etc.), the Utah (“Mormon”)
Pioneer Trail, the Pony Express Trail, and the Overland Stages Trail.
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