The books do not agree who followed the Meek cutoff.

Another book on the subject is "Oregon's Lost Blue Bucket Mine: The Stephen Meek Wagon Train of 1845" by Charles S. Hoffman with Bert Webber, published by Webb Research Group 1992. The book lists my ancestor John Ridgeway, and my wife's ancestor Abner Hackleman. Donna Wojcik's book indicates that a splinter party from the Hackleman group went over Meek's trail, and Clark&Tiller (Terrible Trail) believe that Hackleman kept to the usual Oregon trail route toward Burnt River, and that John Ridgeway was likely, but not proven.

Pioneers frequently changed groups they traveled with. John Ridgeway started out with the Tetherow train, but seems to have been traveling with Lawrence Hall's company when natives put 2 arrows into his white cow. See Stephenie Flora's excellent article on this http://www.oregonpioneers.com/WagonTrainResearch.htm

Within my extended family, there are other claimed connections to the Meek cutoff. One branch is listed in some of the books, but the source of their connection seems to be a grandson of the pioneer, who filed many statements at the Oregon Historical Society. Unfortunately, I found that many of his claims were contradicted by the records kept by others, and his efforts look like there was a major bragging contest about whose pioneer ancestor had done the most. The story of "The Blue Bucket" mine may have been told to children, who mistakenly believed it was a family story. I wish I knew with certainty which trail my family followed, but since all of the trails from Ft. Hall to Oregon City were brutal in 1845, it will not change my admiration for the men and women who survived the trip.

Donna Wojcik did a great deal of research, reporting about 214 wagons followed the cutoff, but she also used descendents of pioneers as sources for individual pioneers. If you do not accept claims by grandchildren as fact, how many pioneers can be identified as followers of the Meek Cutoff, using records from the people with first hand knowledge?