Cholera outbreaks and pandemics
That year, cholera was transmitted along the California, Mormon and Oregon Trails as 6,000 to 12,000 are believed to have died on their way to the California Gold Rush, Utah and Oregon in the cholera years of 1849–1855. It is believed more than 150,000 Americans died during the two pandemics between 1832 and 1849.
Ezra Meeker
Meeker had long contemplated the idea of marking the Oregon Trail, over which he had traveled in 1852, with granite monuments. By the early 20th century, he was convinced that the Trail was in danger of being forgotten. Farmers were plowing up the Trail bit by bit, and as towns and cities grew along it, the Trail vanished under streets and buildings. Meeker viewed its preservation as an urgent matter because of this slow disappearance. He wanted the Trail properly marked, and monuments erected to honor the dead.