Illustration depicting the blockhouse established in the Puyallup Valley near Fort Steilacoom in Oregon Territory by Ezra Meeker. Note: Meeker's group settled in the area (now part of Washington) just after a group of settlers on the White River were killed by Indians in October 1855. As Fort Steilacoom had no substantive protection, the blockhouse was built to fortify the new settlement. From a memoir by Ezra Meeker. Image date: ca. 1922.