State of Oregon plans ‘Governor’s Ride’ to mark historic event

This ride is terrific news! Here’s what Geer had to say about it a little over a decade later:

Accordingly, on the morning of May 1, 1900, I mounted my bicycle — bicycle riding was a very popular fad at that time — and proceeded toward Champoeg, some thirty miles away. I had previously made an appointment with Hon. F. X. Matthieu, who lived but three miles from Champoeg and who even then was the only man living who had participated in that meeting in ‘43. The arrangement was for me to go to his home, remain overnight, and in the morning, on the anniversary of the day the event took place, go over with him to the quiet little town and mark the spot where history was made by a lot of earnest men. Hon. George H. Himes, the secretary of the Oregon Historical Society, had also promised to be present.

I shall never forget that beautiful ride from Salem to Champoeg. It was a perfect day, with a firm north breeze, not a cloud in the sky; the roads were in good condition, the, crops were growing splendidly, birds were singing everywhere, seemingly to be in harmony with Nature’s glad mood — it was, in short, just that sort of a day which is known in all its wealth of joy, beauty, and inspiration only in the Willamette valley in the spring and summer months.

I passed through the town of Gervais, where Joseph Gervais settled in the early ‘30s. At his home, one of the meetings was held preliminary to the actual organization at Champoeg. The little city rests upon the bosom of the great French Prairie, now teeming with prosperous farmers whose land is worth more per acre now than a section was in the time of Gervais, and the main street is where the old barnyard was located in the days of Jason Lee.

Woodburn, the “metropolis of French Prairie,” railroad junction and all-round pushing town, twenty miles away, was passed in the early forenoon, and Hubbard, four miles farther on, soon afterward. At this place a detour to the west was necessary to strike the old “Champoeg road” on which Father Matthieu lived.

Upon arriving at the celebrated old homestead I found that Himes, with a Portland photographer, was already there, but Mr. Matthieu was in Portland on business and had, in fact, forgotten his appointment with us. A long distance telephone was brought into action and he replied that he would take the evening train for home. A team was sent to Aurora, the nearest station, and he arrived in time for supper

Though by 1900 the bike and telephone weren’t exactly bleeding edge, they did make for a trip that employed pretty leading edge technology. The trip is remarkable in many ways – not the least of which is that he did it on a fixie by himself!

The complete quote is in Chap 24 of Geer’s Fifty Years in Oregon.

As for Geer’s bike, you can see a representation of it in the article Jonathan referenced in the first para. It’s a lot more “regular” looking than the older safety bicycle from wikipedia. The frame geometry had been pretty standardized by 1900.