USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848 > Part 53
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Mrs Florentine Wilkes Cornelius, who accompanied her father, P. Wilkes, was born in Indiana, and married Benjamin Cornelius. She died June 26, 1864, aged 34 years. Salem Statesman, July 11, 1864. Benjamin Cornelius, who settled near Hillsboro, on the Tualatin Plains, was a successful farmer and trader. He lost his life in the spring of 1882 in a quarrel with his son- in-law, who, he believed, had ill treated his daughter.
Mrs Laodicea McNary, of the Alexander McNary Company, who dis- covered gold on the head waters of John Day River, in 1845, died near Eola, in Polk County, Feb. 26, 1875, aged 77 years. Salem Record, Feb. 27, 1875.
John Killin, a native of Pennsylvania, settled in Clackamas Co., and died October 23, 1867, aged 70 years. Portland Adv., Nov. 2, 1867.
31 Larkin's Off. Corr., MS., ii. 60-3.
32 This application does not confirm the supposition that British subjects in Oregon desired to prevent immigration.
83 A writer in the Oregon Spectator alleges that Mckay gave up his charter without attempting anything; but that this was not so I can show by the testimony of one of the exploring party, which left Salem July 3, 1846, and consisted of Cornelius Gilliam, James Waters, Seyburn P. Thornton, and T.
532
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1845.
although it is now known that such a pass exists. The great breadth and confused upheaval of the Cascade Range, together with the dense covering of forest and tangled undergrowth on the western decliv- ities, opposed almost insurmountable obstacles to exploration. Even the Indian trails that once existed when the natives were numerous had fallen into dis- use, and were completely overgrown and lost. It is therefore not. surprising that McKay, famous for wood-craft, met with failure on his first expedition in search of a wagon route.
Stephen H. L. Meek also, still of the opinion that a pass would be found at the sources of the Willamette by which a road could be opened direct from the head of the valley to Fort Boisé, petitioned for a charter; but the prejudice created by his leadership a few weeks previous defeated his endeavor to set himself right in the estimation of the public.34
A third applicant for a road charter was S. K. Bar- low, who was personally interested in the completion of the road to Fort Deposit, where his wagons and baggage still remained with those of his company. He was permitted to address the house in behalf of the Mount Hood route, and received authority to con- struct a toll-road, which was so far completed in July that the wagons were brought through, and a few weeks afterward large numbers passed over it.35
After further improvement the road was still so steep that in descending some of the hills on the western declivities the oxen could only be prevented from dashing themselves against some way-side tree
C. Shaw, Americans; and Thomas Mckay, Joseph Gervais, J. B. Gardipie, George Montoure, Zavier Gervais, Antonio Delore, and McDonald, British subjects. They explored up to the Santiam, but failed to find where a road could be made. T. C. Shaw, in Salem Mercury, June 4, 1875.
34 An attempt was made in the spring ~ 1846 to find this pass, which failed. The company consisted of J. M. Garrison, J. B. McClane, Thomas Holt, James P. Martin, J. W. Boyle, A. R. C. Shaw, and Moses Harris. Or. Spectator, March 19, 1846.
35 Samuel K. Barlow continued to be an active and public-spirited citizen of Oregon up to the time of his death, in July 1867. He resided at Canemah, above the falls of the Willamette. Portland Oregonian, July 20, 1867.
533
THE MAKING OF LAWS.
by chaining to the rear of the wagon a heavy tree-top to hold back its weight.36
The memorial to congress concerning the important matter of a good and safe road into Oregon was not the only one rejected by the legislature in December. Gray made a motion to appoint a committee to draft a memorial to the people of the United States, giving a brief account of its soil, climate, productions, and social condition, with the difficulties and facilities of travel and settlement, and was made chairman of that committee, and in due time presented his letter to the people of the United States. It contained some unfortunate passages, and was condemned by the house to the seclusion of the archives.37 Mr Apple- gate resigned after having accomplished his purpose in the legislature. 38
Gray mentions that at the August session Apple- gate adopted the suggestion of Governor Abernethy, that an act should be passed to prevent litigation on account of debt, but that the bill failed, and apologizes for the ignorance of the legislature and governor in the business of law-making; but Applegate writes that he still believes laws for the collection of debts, where no fraud is alleged, are injurious, and at a future day will be abolished in all civilized communi- ties; but that there were special reasons why they should not be enforced by provisional government, which might never be acknowledged-a side of the subject which had escaped recognition.
At the December session Gray introduced a bill on currency, which after several amendments was passed. It was suitable to the time and country, he alleges, and was made necessary by the disposition of the
36 Victor, in Overland Monthly, iv. 202.
37 In this memorial it is said that while in certain parts of Oregon the soil would produce 54 bushels of wheat to the acre, other parts in the interior would produce scarcely anything of the vegetable kind.' Or. Archives, MS., 44. Spalding, on the contrary, in his report to White, had given a very favor- able, and as it is now known to be an intelligent, account of the productive- ness of the soil in the interior.
38 Applegate's marginal notes on Gray's Hist. Or., 438.
534
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1845.
Hudson's Bay Company to force payment in an op- pressive manner. But as this was the first law passed for the collection of debts, and the company were heretofore wholly without the power to enforce pay- ment, being entirely outside the pale of colonial war, Gray's explanation of his motives in presenting such a bill lacks consistency.39 The law on currency, after declaring that in addition to gold and silver treasury drafts, approved orders on solvent merchants, and good merchantable wheat at the market price, deliv- ered at some customary depot for wheat, should be lawful tender for the payment of taxes, judgments rendered in the courts, and for all debts contracted in the territory, where no special contract had been made to the contrary-provided that no property should be sold on execution for less than two thirds of its value after deducting all encumbrances; and that the value of the property should be fixed by two dis- creet householders, who should be sworn by the officer making the levy, and they should make a written statement of the value, which the officer should ap- pend to his return. Should the property remain unsold on the return day of the writ, the officer hav- ing so indorsed it, the writ and indorsement should constitute a lien on the property ; the defendant hav- ing the right to remain in possession of the unsold property by executing a bond with sureties, in double its value, to deliver the property at the time and place appointed by said officer.40
An act supplementary to the currency law was passed, requiring all those who paid taxes in wheat to deliver it at stated places in their districts; at Fort George in Clatsop County; at Cowlitz Farm or Fort Vancouver in Vancouver County ; at the company's
39 The act provides: 'The personal estate of every individual, company, body politic or corporate, including his, her, or their goods or chattels, also town lots, city property, or improvements claimed and owned in virtue of occupancy secured and allowed by the treaty between Great Britain and the United States, shall be subject to execution, to be taken and sold according to the provisions of this act.' Or. Spectator, Feb. 5, 1846. 40 Or. Laws, 1843-9.
535
THE PRINTING ASSOCIATION.
warehouse at Linnton ; at the store of F. W. Petty- grove in Portland, Tualatin County ; at the mills either of McLoughlin or the Island Milling Company in Clackamas County ; at the warehouses of the Mill- ing Company or the Hudson's Bay Company in Cham- poeg County ; and ,at some place to be designated by the collector in Yamhill County. These places were to be considered depots for receiving the public rev- enue, and the persons in charge should give a receipt stating the amount which should be placed to the credit of the treasurer of the county or territory.41
Soon after the organization of the house, on Gray's motion it was resolved that the supreme judge be called upon to inform them whether he had examined the laws, which he, Burnett, had helped to make, and how many of them were incompatible with the organic articles of compact adopted by the people in July pre- vious-a piece of irony which might well have been spared the chief justice, whose reply was referred to the judiciary committee.42 For the first time there was a prospect of having the laws printed when re- vised, a company having been formed which owned a printing-press and material at Oregon City, to which application was made for proposals to print the laws. This company was known as the Oregon Printing Association, one of the articles of whose constitution declared that the press owned by the association should never be used by any party for the purpose of propagating sectarian principles or doctrines, nor for the discussion of exclusive party politics.
If it is proper to judge by appearances, the reason of the introduction of this article was that there were mnen in the association who wished to curtail the Methodist influence, the Mission being largely repre-
+1 Or. Laws, 1843-9, 27. These quaint laws concerning currency and revenue are still the pride of the pioneers of Oregon, who contend that gold was of no advantage to the country when discovered, but that they progressed more safely with wheat as a legal tender.
42 Grover's Or. Archives, 140-1.
536
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1845.
sented in the company.4? How they succeeded will appear hereafter.
The recommendation of Governor Abernethy, that proposals should be received for locating the seat of government, created little interest and small competi- tion. The only propositions received were from Robert Moore, whose claim of Robin's Nest, opposite Oregon City, was by legislative enactment named Linn City ; and Hugh Burns, who occupied an adjoining claim. Neither of these proposals meeting with entire appro- bation, and a petition, signed by sixty persons of Champoeg County, being received, praying that action on the seat of government question might be deferred,44 it was practically postponed by the passage of an act ordering that the future sessions of the house of rep- resentatives be held at Oregon City until otherwise directed by law. By the same act the governor was authorized to give notice by publication in the news- papers or otherwise, that he would receive sealed pro- posals from all who desired to make donations to the government for the purpose of aiding in the erection of public buildings and locating the capital; which proposals should be submitted to the next legislature.
Two other topics of general interest to the people which received attention were the liquor law and the districting of the territory. Burnett's liquor law of 1844 was found to be insufficient to prevent the use of intoxicating drinks since the advent of the British sloop of war Modeste, whose officers and crew, being independent of colonial laws, not only did not see fit
43 Gray says the originators of the printing association were the same that started the Multnomah circulating library, the Wolf association, and provis- ional government. The pioneers of 1843 founded the library, and Gray claims to have originated the Wolf association, while Jason Lee was the first projector of the provisional government. The truth is, that Abernethy was largely interested in the printing association, and that in spite of the protest con- tained in the 8th article, the press was controlled by missionary influence. The first officers of the company were W. G. T'Vault, president; J. W. Nesmith, vice-president; John P. Brooks, secretary; George Abernethy, treasurer; John H. Couch, John E. Long, and Robert Newell, directors.
# This was the beginning of the long fight made by the people of Salem to secure the capital.
537
SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.
to forego this indulgence, but in their efforts at social intercourse among the colonists, introduced it with a freedom offensive to the temperance sentiment so sedulously cultivated in Oregon, thereby bringing reproach upon the officers of the fur company who supplied them with liquors, and furnishing their adversaries a justifiable cause of complaint, where they were already only too eager to discover evidences of moral turpitude. 45
The alterations in the liquor law in December made it an offence to give away ardent spirits, as well as to sell or barter; the fine being fifty dollars for each violation of the law. It made it the duty of every person, officer or private citizen, who knew of the distillation of any kind of spirituous liquors, to seize the distilling apparatus and deliver to the nearest county judge or justice of the peace, who should issue a warrant causing the premises of the distiller to be searched, and all liquors, or implements for manufacturing them, discovered should be seized and delivered to that officer, who should arrest the offender and proceed against him according to law ; the punish- ment being forfeiture of the property, and a fine of one hundred dollars, one half of which was to go to the informant and witnesses, and the other half to the officers engaged in arresting and trying the crim- inal. No more than half a pint of liquor was per -. mitted to be sold by practising physicians for medical
45 With regard to this matter Minto says: The officers of the Modeste made frequent excursions into the Willamette Valley, and did not always choose the most discreet means of cultivating feelings in favor of British sub- jects. The scenes enacted at the residences they visited indicated that they did not regard the laws of the colony; and even their temporary association with an American was a cause of suspicion. Early Days, MS., 30. Roberts admits that the company furnished rum for the Modeste's crew, and that brandy was placed upon the table while her officers were at Vancouver, in addition to the usual wine; not because temperance was not the rule at Van- couver, but because Douglas could not refuse to furnish to the officers and men sent there to protect the company any supplies they might require. Recollections, MS., 53. But the colonists were not disposed to make allowances for the position in which the company was placed. As an evidence of the efforts made by the Hudson's Bay Company to do away with the use of spirituous liquors, not only in Oregon but east of the Rocky Mountains, see Fitzgerald's Vanc. Isl., 211-13.
538
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1845.
purposes. Such was the rigor resorted to in the effort to promote temperance, and prevent British subjects from defying colonial law.
But at the following session there was a reaction, the legislature taking advantage of its power under the organic law to regulate the manufacture and sale of wine and distilled spirituous liquors, to pass an act which allowed the manufacture and sale of them under certain restrictions. This act, like the previous one, was chiefly inspired by opposition to the fur company ; it being held by the majority that so long as the company kept liquors in store at Vancouver to sell or to give away, Americans should not be de- prived of the profits of the traffic.46 . Every British subject in the house voted against the new law, and Governor Abernethy vetoed it in an admirable mes- sage, recommending the repeal of the clauses making it an offence to give away a glass of liquor, and of that also which allowed the fines to be divided be- tween the informant and the officers of the law, by which they became interested in the conviction of the person charged; and advising only the alteration of Burnett's law of 1844, to make it agree with the organic law, if it was in any way adverse to it. But the legislature passed their act over the governor's veto, and prohibition, which up to 1846 was the law and the rule in colonial Oregon, has never been re- stored.
Two new counties were created and organized: one called Lewis county on the north side of the Colum- bia, comprising all of Oregon Teritory north of that river, and west of the Cowlitz River, up to the latitude of 54° 40'; another called Polk County, south of Yamhill, comprising all the territory between the Willamette River and the Pacific Ocean, and extending from the southern boundary of Yamhill County, which line extended due west of George Gay's house, to the northern boundary of California.
46 Tolmie's Puget Sound, MS., 22-3.
539
COUNTY BOUNDARIES.
Neither of these new counties was allowed a sheriff of its own; but the sheriff of Vancouver was com- pelled to do duty for Lewis, and the sheriff of Yam- hill to serve Polk. Judges were not appointed, but it was left for the people to choose them at the annual election of 1846.47 The boundaries of the five counties previously created were definitely fixed as follows: Clatsop embraced the territory bounded by a line drawn from the middle of the main channel of the Columbia River at Oak Point Mountain, thence south to the line dividing Tualatin from Yamhill, thence west to the Pacific Ocean, thence north to the mouth of the Columbia, and east along the middle of the main channel, to the place of beginning.
The southern line of Tualatin and northern line of Yamhill commenced one mile north of Butteville, the Butte, as it was then called, and extended due west to the Pacific Ocean.48 Tualatin County em- braced all the territory lying north of this line, south of the Columbia, east of Clatsop, and west of the Willamette River; and Yamhill all that bounded by Tualatin on the north, the Willamette River on the east, Polk County on the south, and the ocean on the west. Clackamas County was divided from Champoeg by a line running due east from a point in the Willamette River one mile below Butteville, being an extension of the north line of Yamhill. Both of these counties stretched east to the Rocky Mountains, and Champoeg covered all the territory south to the California boundary, in order that everywhere in Ore- gon the benefits of the provisional government might be enjoyed.
One other matter connected with the welfare of society was settled by authorizing every ordained
+1 Grover's Or. Archives, 152.
48 This line was definitely fixed by the legislature of 1846, beginning oppo- site the mouth of Pudding River, running north-west to the summit of the dividing ridges, between the Chehalim and Tualatin and the Yamhill and Tualatin. The county seat was also fixed at or near the falls of Yamhill River where the town of Lafayette was laid off in that year.
540
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1845.
minister of good standing, of any denomination, the supreme and district judges, and justices of the peace, to solemnize marriages.
As to the means of carrying on the government, a revenue was to be raised by levying an ad valorem tax of one fourth of one per cent for territorial pur- poses ; the county taxes to be regulated by the county courts, not to exceed the territorial tax; the levy to be made upon town lots and improvements, mills, car- riages, clocks and watches, horses and mules, cattle, sheep, and hogs; upon every qualified voter under the age of 60 years, a poll-tax of 50 cents; upon every merchant's license where the capital employed was under $10,000, $20; over $10,000, $30; over $15,000, $45; over $20,000, $60; upon each auctioneer's license, $10; upon each pedler's license, $10; upon each ferry license, not less than $5 nor more than $25.
There should be paid into the county treasuries, as the costs of the courts, a tax of one dollar upon each petition of a public nature to be paid by the peti- tioners; for hearing and determining each motion of counsel, one dollar; for each final judgment, three dollars; for allowing an appeal, one dollar; and the fee allowed masters in chancery, where like services were performed by the court.
Thus, while farming lands and farm products were not taxed, the people were, notwithstanding their former protests, assessed on every other species of property and on their business capital, which taxes the farmers paid principally in wheat. The legisla- ture of 1845, in framing laws, had not, after all, greatly improved upon the committee of 1844, being compelled to conform to the usages of other govern- ments in even a greater degree, as the wants of the community increased.
Although the laws were still imperfect even for present uses, they covered, by enactment and adop- tion, nearly the whole ground embraced by the legis-
541
PEACEABLE INTENTIONS.
lation of the territories established by the authority of the United States.
On the 19th of December the house adjourned. Its last act was to pass a resolution, "that one of the princi- pal objects contemplated in the formation of the govern- ment was the promotion of peace and happiness among ourselves, and the friendly relations which have, and ever ought to exist between the people of the United States and Great Britain; and any measure of this house calculated to defeat the same is in direct viola- tion of the true intention for which it was formed."
CHAPTER XX.
OPENING OF THE SOUTHERN OREGON ROUTE-IMMIGRATION OF 1846.
ROAD-MAKING AS A WAR MEASURE-A PASS REQUIRED-A COMPANY OR- GANIZED-THEY PROCEED TO ROGUE RIVER-WHENCE THEY CONTINUE EASTWARD AND CROSS THE CASCADE RANGE INTO THE HUMBOLDT VAL- LEY-THEY PROCEED TO FORT HALL-HASTINGS AND HIS CUT-OFF-IMMI- GRATION OF 1846-APPLEGATE'S CUT-OFF-J. Q. THORNTON, HIS BOOK AND HIS VINDICTIVENESS -- SUFFERINGS OF THE EMIGRANTS BY THE NEW ROUTE-COMMENTS OF THE SETTLERS ON THE SOUTHERN ROUTE-BIO- GRAPHICAL NOTICES.
THE disasters attending the immigrations of 1843, 1844, and 1845 stimulated exploration, as we have seen. The United States government was not indif- ferent to the need of a better route to Oregon, as the attempts for the third time of one of its officers attest, even if he was always floating away toward California. There were other reasons, besides the sufferings of the immigrants, which influenced both the government and the colonists to desire a route into the Willamette Valley which led away from the chain of the fur company's posts. As the British officers Park and Peel had been anxious to know whether troops could be brought from Canada over- land to Fort Vancouver, so thoughtful men among the colonists were desirous to make sure, in the event of their being needed, that troops from the United States could be brought without interruption into Oregon,1 knowing that in case of war nothing would be easier than for a small force of the enemy to pre-
1 ' One of the road-hunters,' in Or. Spectator, April 15, 1847; Lindsey Ap- plegate, in Portland West Shore, June 1877; Tuthill's Hist. Cal., 162.
( 542 )
543
THE BARLOW ROAD.
vent the passage of the Columbia from the Dalles to and beyond the Cascades.
It was still doubtful whether the road that Barlow had undertaken to open would prove practicable; in any case it must be difficult, from the nature of the mountains near the Columbia. The passes looked for at the head waters of the Santiam and Willamette rivers had not yet been found, and there was the prospect that if war should be declared neither immi- grants nor troops could force their way to the settle- ments.
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ROUTES AND CUT-OFFS.
In order to settle the question of a pass to the south through the Cascade Mountains, the colonists offered to raise money for the purpose of paying the expense of an expedition, and the cost of opening a road in that direction, and early in May 1846 a company was formed in Polk County to undertake this enterprise; but being insufficient in numbers, after travelling seventy miles south of the Calapooya
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544
THE IMMIGRATION OF 1846.
Range, which forms the southern boundary of the Willamette Valley, and being deserted by four of their number on the border of the hostile Indian country, which left them not men enough to stand guard, they returned for reënforcements.
The head of the first company had been Levi Scott, a native of Illinois, who came to Oregon in 1844 from near Burlington, Iowa, a man of character and deter- mination. He appealed to the patriotism of the Polk County settlers, and secured the cooperation of Jesse and Lindsey Applegate, who had privately pro- moted the expedition from the first, but who now left their homes and families with the fixed resolve never to retrace their steps, never to abandon the enterprise, until a good wagon-road should be found, if such existed, as they did not doubt, from what they knew of Frémont's expeditions, and the accounts given by the lost emigrants of 1845, of the level appearance of the country to the south of their route in the lake- basin.2 The company as finally organized consisted of fifteen men, well supplied for a protracted expedi- tion, who set out from La Créole settlement June 22d.3
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