The Busy Life of Eighty-Five Years of Ezra Meeker / Ventures and adventures; sixty-three years of pioneer life in the old Oregon country; an account of the author's trip across the plains with an ox team; return trip, 1906-7; his cruise on Puget Sound, 1853; trip through the Natchess pass, 1854; over the Chilcoot pass; flat-boating on the Yukon, 1898. The Oregon trail.

The memoir recounts eighty-five years of frontier life, combining autobiographical chapters, travel narratives, and practical reflections. The author narrates emigration across the plains with an ox team, river and mountain crossings, coastal voyages on Puget Sound, a hazardous pass over the Chilcoot and flat-boating on the Yukon, and later efforts to retrace and memorialize pioneer routes. Interspersed are vivid episodes—buffalo chases, stampedes, encounters with Indigenous peoples, road- and settlement-building, and community meetings—alongside homely reflections on work, frugality, and pioneer character. The book blends practical travel detail, local anecdotes, and efforts to preserve pioneer memory for younger generations.