USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II, 1848-1888 > Part 15
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Coming in greater state than his predecessor, the new governor was more royally welcomed,4 by the firing of cannon, speeches, and a public dinner. In return for these courtesies Gaines presented the ter- ritory with a handsome silk flag, a gift which Thurs- ton, in one of his eloquent encomiums upon the pioneers of Oregon and their deeds, reminded con- gress had never yet been offered by the government to that people. But Governor Gaines was not sin- cerely welcomed by the democracy, who resented the removal of Lane, and who on other grounds disliked the appointment. They would not have mourned if when he, like Lane, was compelled to make procla- mation of the death of the president by whom he was appointed,5 there had been the prospect of a removal in consequence. The grief for President Taylor was not profound with the Oregon democracy. He was accused of treating them in a cold indifferent man- ner, and of lacking the cordial interest displayed in their affairs by previous rulers. Nor was the differ- ence wholly imaginary. There was not the same incentive to interest which the boundary question, and the contest over free or slave territory, had inspired before the establishment of the territory. Oregon was now on a plane with other territories, which could not have the national legislature at their beck and call, as she had done formerly, and the change could not occur without an affront to her feel- ings or her pride. Gaines was wholly unlike the energetic and debonair Lane, being phlegmatic in
store-ship Supply, in November 1849, arriving at San Francisco in July 1850, where they were transferred to the Falmouth. California Courier, July 21, 1850; Or. Spectator, Aug. 22, 1850; Strong's Hist. Or., MS., 1, 2, 13.
4 The Or. Statesman of March 28, 1851, remarks that Gaines came around Cape Horn in a government vessel, with his family and furniture, arriving at Oregon City nine months after his appointment, and drawing salary all the time, while Lane being removed, drew no pay, but performed the labor of his office.
5 President Taylor died July 9, 1850. The intelligence was received in Oregon on the Ist of September. Friday the 20th was set for the observance of religious funeral ceremonies by proclamation of Gaines. Or. Spectator, Sept. 5, 1850.
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LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS.
temperament, fastidious as to his personal surround- ings, pretentious, pompous, and jealous of his dig- nity.6 The spirit in which the democracy, who were more than satisfied with Lane and Thurston, received the whig governor, was ominous of what soon fol- lowed, a bitter partisan warfare.
There had been a short session of the legislative assembly in May, under its privilege granted in the territorial aet to sit for one hundred days, twenty- seven days yet remaining. No time or place of meet- ing of the next legislature had been fixed upon, nor without this provision could there be another session without a special act of congress, which omission ren- dered necessary the May term in order that this matter might be attended to. The first Monday in December was the time named for the convening of the next legislative body, and Oregon City the place. The assembly remained in session about two weeks, calling for a special session of the district court at Oregon City for the trial of the Cayuse murderers, giving the governor power to fill vacancies in certain offices by appointment, and providing for the printing of the laws, with a few other enactments.
The subject of submitting the question of a state constitution to the people at the election in June was being discussed. The measure was favored by many who were restive under presidential appointments, and who thought Oregon could more safely furnish the material for executive and judicial officers than de- pend on the ability of such as might be sent them. The legislature, however, did not entertain the idea at its May term, on the ground that there was not time to put the question fairly before the people. Looking at the condition and population of the terri- tory at this time, and its unfitness to assume the
6 Lane himself had a kind of contempt for Gaines, on account of his sur- render at Encarnacion. 'He was a prisoner during the remainder of the war,' says Lane; which was not altogether true. Autobiography, MS., 56-7.
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ADMINISTRATION OF GAINES.
expenses and responsibilities of a state, the conclusion is irresistible that jealousy of the lead taken in this matter by California, and the aspirations of politi- cians, rather than the good of the people, prompted a suggestion which could not have been entertained by the tax-payers.
On the 2d of December the legislative assembly chosen in June met at Oregon City. It consisted of nine members in the council and eighteen in the lower house.7 W. W. Buck of Clackamas county was chosen president of the council, and Ralph Wilcox of Washington county speaker of the house.8 George
7R. P. Boise, in an address before the pioneer association in 1876, says that there were 25 members in the house; but he probably confounds this session with that of 1851-2. The assembly of 1850-1 provided for the increase of representatives to twenty-two. See list of Acts in Or. Statesman, March 28, 1851; Gen. Laws Or., 1850-1, 225.
8 The names of the councilmen and representatives are given in the first number of the Oregon Statesman. W. W. Buck, Samucl T. Mckean, Samuel Parker, and W. B. Mealey were of the class which held over from 1849. I have already given some account of Buck and McKean. Parker and Mealcy were both of the immigration of 1845. Parker was a Virginian, a farmer and carpenter, but a man who interested himself in public affairs. He was a good man. Mealey was a Pennsylvanian; a farmer and physician.
Of the newly elected councilmen, James McBride has been mentioned as one of the immigrants of 1847.
Richard Miller of Marion county was born in Queen Anne's county, Mary- land, in 1800. He came to Oregon in 1847, and was a farmer.
A. L. Humphrey of Benton county was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1796 and emigrated to Oregon in 1847. He was a farmer and merchant.
Lawrence Hall, a farmer of Washington county, was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, March 10, 1800, and came to Oregon in 1845.
Frederick Waymire, of Polk county, a millwright, was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, March 15, 1807. He married Fanny Cochagan, of Indiana, by whom he had 17 children. He came to Oregon in 1845 and soon became known as an energetic, firm, strong, rough man, and an uncompromising partisan. 'The old apostle of democracy' and 'watchdog of the treasury' were favorite terms used by his friends in describing Waymire. He became prominent in the politics of the territory, and was much respected for his honesty and earnestness, though not always in the right. His home in Polk county, on the little river Luckiamute, was called Hayden Hall. He had been brought up a Methodist, and in the latter part of his life returned to his allegiance, having a library well stocked with historical and religious works. He died in April 28, 1873, honored as a true man and a patriotic citizen, hoping with faith that he should live again beyond the grave. R. P. Boise, in Trans. Or. Pioneer Assoc., 1876, 27-8. His wife survived until Oct. 15, 1878, when she died in her 69th year. Three only of their children are living. All the members of the council were married men with families, except Humphrey who was a widower.
The members of the house were Ralph Wilcox, William M. King of Washington county, William Shaw, William Parker, and Benjamin F. Hard- ing of Marion, the latter elected to fill a vacancy created by the death of E.
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MEMBERS OF ASSEMBLY.
L. Curry was elected chief clerk of the council, as- sisted by James D. Turner. Herman Buck was sergeant-at-arms. Asahel Bush was chosen chief clerk of the house, assisted by B. Genois. William Holmes was sergeant-at-arms, and Septimus Heulat doorkeeper.
The assembly being organized, the governor was invited to make any suggestions; and appearing before
H. Bellinger, who died after election; W. T. Matlock, Benjamin Simpson, Hector Campbell, of Clackamas; William McAlphin, E. L. Walters, of Linu; John Thorp, H. N. V. Holmes, of Polk; J. C. Avery, W. St Clair, of Benton; Aaron Payne, S. M. Gilmore, Matthew P. Deady, of Yamhill; Truman P. Powers, of Clatsop, Lewis, and Clarke counties.
Of Wilcox I have spoken in another place; also of Shaw, Walter, Payne, and McAlphin. William M. King was born and bred in Litchfield, Conn., whence he moved to Onondaga county, New York, and subsequently to Pennsylvania and Missouri. He came to Oregon in' 1848 and engaged in business in Portland, soon becoming known as a talented and unscrupulous politician, as well as a cunning debater and successful tactician. He is much censured in the early territorial newspapers, partly for real faults, and partly, no doubt, from partisan feeling. He is described by one who knew him as a firm friend and bitter enemy. He died at Portland, after seeing it grow to be a place of wealth and importance, November 8, 1869, aged 69 years. H. N. V. Holmes was born in Wythe county, Va., in 1812, but removed in childhood to Pulaski county, emigrating to Oregon in 1848. He settled in a picturesque district of Polk county, in the gap between the Yamhill and La Creole val- leys. He was a gentleman, of the old Kentucky school, was several times a member of the Oregon legislature, and a prosperous farmer.
B. F. Harding, a native of Wyoming county, Penn., was born in 1822, and came to Oregon in 1849. He was a lawyer by profession, and settled at Salem, for the interests of which place he faithfully labored, and for Marion county, which rewarded him by keeping him in a position of prominence for inany years. He married Eliza Cox of Salem in 1851. He lived later on a fine farm in the enjoyment of abundance and independence. John Thorp was captain of a company in the immigration of 1844. He was from Madison county, Ky, and settled in Polk county, Oregon, where he followed farm- ing. Truman P. Powers was born in 1807, and brought up in Chittenden county, Vt, coming to Oregon in 1846. He settled on the Columbia near Astoria. William Parker was a native of Derby county, England, born in 1813, but removed when a child to New York. He was a farmer and sur- veyor. Benjamin Simpson, born in Warren county, Tenn., in 1819, was raised in Howard county, Mo., and came to Oregon in 1846, and engaged in merchandising. Hector Campbell was born in Hampden county, Mass., in 1793, removed to Oregon in 1849, and settled on a farm in Clackamas county. William T. Matlock, a lawyer, was born in Rhone county, Tennessee, in 1802, removed when a child to Indiana, and to Oregon in 1847. Samuel M. Gilmore, born in Bedford county, Tenn., in 1814, removed first to Clay and then to Buchanan county, Missouri, whence he emigrated in 1843, settling in Yamhill county. W. St Clair was an immigrant of 1846.
Joseph C. Avery was born in Lucerne county, Penn., June 9, 1817, and was educated at Wilkesbarre, the county seat. He removed to Ill. in 1839, where he married Martha Marsh in 1841. Four years afterward he came to Oregon, spending the winter of 1845 at Oregon City. In the following spring he set- tled on a land claim at the mouth of Mary's River, where in 1850 he laid out a town, calling it Marysville, but asking the legislature afterward to change the name to Corvallis, which was done.
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the joint legislature he read a message of considerable length and no great interest, except as to some items
Matthew Paul Deady was born in Talbot co., Md, May 12, 1824, of Irish and English aucestry. His father was a native of Kanturk, county Cork, and was by profession a teacher. He immigrated while yet a young man, with his wife, to the United States, residing near Baltimore for a few years, re- moving to Wheeling, Va, and again in 1837 to Belmont co., Ohio. Here the son worked on a farm until 1841. For four years afterward he learned black- smithing, and attended school at the Barnesville academy. From 1845 to 1848 he taught school and read law with Judge William Kennon, of St Clairs- ville, where he was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of Ohio, Oct. 26, 1847. In 1849 he came to Oregon, settling at Lafayette, in Yamhill co., and teaching school until the spring of 1850, when he commenced the practice of the law, and in June of the same year was elected a member of the legislature, and served on the judiciary committee. In 1851 he was elected to the council for two years, serving as chairman of the judiciary committee and president of the council. In 1853 he was appointed judge of the territorial supreme court, and held the position until Oregon was admitted into the Union, Feb- ruany 14, 1859, and in the mean time performed the duties of district judge in the southern district. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1857, beiug president of that body. His influence was strongly felt in forming the constitution, some of its marked features being chiefly his work; while in preventing the adoption of other measures he was equally serviceable. On the admission of Oregon to statehood he was elected a judge of the supreme court from the southern district without opposition, and also received the ap- pointment of U. S. district judge. He accepted the latter position and re- moved to Portland, where he has resided down to the present time, enjoying the confidence and respect paid to integrity and ability in office.
During the years 1862-4, Judge Deady prepared the codes of civil and criminal procedure and the penal code, and procured their passage by the legislature as they came from his hand, besides much other legislation, in- cluding the general incorporation act of 1862, which for the first time in the U. S. made incorporation free to any three or more persons wishing to engage in any lawful enterprise or occupation. In 1864 and 1874 he made and pub- lished a general compilation of the laws of Oregon.
He was one of the organizers of the University of Oregon, and for over twelve years has been an active member of the board of regents and presi- dent of that body. For twenty years he has been president of the Library Association of Portland, which under his fostering care has grown to be one of the most creditable institutions of the state.
On various occasions Judge Deady has sat in the U. S. circuit court in San Francisco, where he has given judgment in some celebrated cases; among them are McCall v. McDowell, 1 Deady, 233, in which he held that the presi- dent could not suspend the habeas corpus act, the power to do so being vested in congress; Martinitti v. McGuire, 1 Deady, 216, commonly called the Black Crook case, in which he held that this spectacular exhibition was not a dra- matic composition, and therefore not entitled to copyright; Woodruff v. N. B. Gravel Co., 9 Sawyer, 44], commonly called the Debris case, in which it was held that the hydraulic miners had no right to deposit the waste of the mines in the watercourses of the state to the injury of the riparian owners; and Sharon v. Hill, 11 Sawyer, 290, in which it was determined that the so-called marriage contract between these parties was a forgery.
On the 24th of June, 1852, Judge Deady was married to Miss Lucy A. Henderson, a daughter of Robert and Rhoda Henderson, of Yamhill co., who came to Oregon by the southern route in 1846. Mr Henderson was born in Green co., Tenn., Feb. 14, 1809, and removed to Kentucky in 1831, and to Missouri in 1834. Mrs Deady is possessed of many charms of person and character, and is distinguished for that tact which renders her at ease in all stations of life. Her children are three sons, Edward Nesmith, Paul Robert, and Henderson Brooke. The first two have been admitted to the bar, the third is a physician.
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LOCATION OF THE CAPITAL.
of information on the progress of the territory toward securing its congressional appropriations. The five thousand dollars granted in the organic act for ereet- ing public buildings was in his hands, he said, to which would be added the forty thousand dollars ap- propriated at the last session; and he recommended that some action be taken with regard to a peniten- tiary, no prison having existed in Oregon since the burning of the jail at Oregon City. The five thousand dollars for a territorial library, he informed the assem- bly, had been expended, and the books placed in a room furnished for the purpose, the custody of which was placed in their hands.9
The legislative session of 1850-1 was not harmo- nious. There were quarrels over the expenditure of the appropriations for public buildings and the location of the capital. Although the former assembly had called a session in May, ostensibly to fix upon a place as well as a time for convening its successor, it had not fixed the place, and the present legislature had come together by common consent at Oregon City. Conceiving it to be proper at this session to establish the seat of gov- ernment, according to the fifteenth section of the or- ganie aet, which authorized the legislature at its first session, or as soon thereafter as might be expedient, to locate and establish the capital of the territory, the legislature proceeded to this duty. The only places put in competition with any chance of success were Oregon City and Salem. Between these there was a lively contest, the majority of the assembly, backed by the missionary interest, being in favor of Salem, while a minority, and many Oregon City lobby- ists, were for keeping the seat of government at that płace. In the heat of the contest Governor Gaines un- wisely interfered by a special message, in which, while
Scattered throughout this history, and elsewhere, are the evidences of the manner in which Judge Deady has impressed himself upon the institu- tions of Portland and the state, and always for their benefit. He possesses, with marked ability, a genial disposition, and a distinguished personal ap- pearance, rather added to than detracted from by increasing years.
9 Judge Bryant selected and purchased $2,000 worth of the books for the public library, and Gov. Gaines the remainder.
HIST. OR., VOL. II. 10
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ADMINISTRATION OF GAINES.
he did not deny the right of the legislative assembly to locate and establish the seat of government, he felt it his duty to call their attention to the wording of the act, which distinctly said that the money there ap- propriated should be applied by the governor; and also, that the act of June 11, 1850, making a fur- ther appropriation of twenty thousand dollars for the erection of public buildings in Oregon, declared that the money was to be applied by the governor and the legislative assembly. He further called their at- tention to the wording of the sixth section of the act, which declared that every law should have but one object, which should be expressed in the title, while the act passed by the legislative assembly embraced several objects. He gave it as his opinion that the law in that form was unconstitutional; but expressed a hope that they would not adjourn without taking effectual steps to carry out the recommendation he had made in his message at the beginning of the session, that they would cause the public buildings to be erected.
The location bill, which on account of its embracing several objects received the name of the omnibus bill,10 passed the assembly by a vote of six to three in the council and ten to eight in the house, Salem get- ting the capital, Portland the penitentiary,11 Corvallis the university, and Oregon City nothing. The mat-
10 The Gaines clique also denominated the Iowa code, adopted in 1849, the steamboat code, and invalid because it contained more than one subject.
11 It named three commissioners, each for the state-house and penitentiary, authorizing them to select one of their number to be acting commissioner and give bonds in the sum of $20,000. The state-house board consisted of John Force, H. M. Waller, and R. C. Geer; the penitentiary board, D. H. Lowns- dale, Hugh D. O'Bryant, and Lucius B. Hastings. The prison was to be of sufficient capacity to receive, secure, and employ 100 convicts, to be con- fined in separate cells. Or. Spectator, March 27, 1851; Or. Statutes, 1853-4, 509. That Oregon City should get nothing under the embarrassment of the 1)th section of the donation law was natural, but the whigs and the prop- erty-owners there may have hoped to change the action of congress in the event of securing the capital. Salem, looking to the future, was a better location. But the assembly were not, I judge, looking to anything so much as having their own way. The friends of Salem were accused of bribery, and there were the usual mutual recriminations. Or. Spectator, Oct. 7 and Nov. 18, 1851.
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POLITICAL JOURNALS.
ter rapidly took shape as a political issue, the demo- crats going for Salem and the whigs for Oregon City, the question being still considered by many as an open one on account of the alleged unconstitutionality of the act.12 At the same time two newspapers were started to take sides in territorial politics; the Ore- gonian, whig, at Portland in December 1850, and the Oregon Statesman, democratic, at Oregon City in March following.13 A third paper, called the Times, was published at Portland, beginning in May 1851, which changed its politics according to patronage and circumstances.
12 Id., July 29, 1851; Or. Statesman, Aug. 5, 1851; 32d Cong., 1st Sess., H. Ex. Doc. 94, 2-32; Id., 96, vol. ix. 1-8; Id., 104, vol. xii. 1-24; 32d Cong., 1st Sess., II. Misc. Doc. 9, 4-5.
13 The Oregonian was founded by T. J. Dryer, who had been previously en- gaged upon the California Courier as city editor, and was a weekly journal. Dryer brought an old Ramage press from San Francisco, with some second- hand material, which answered his purpose for a few months, when a new Washington press and new material came out by sea from New York, and the old one was sent to Olympia to start the first paper published on l'uget Sound, called the Columbian. In time the Washington press was displaced by a power press, and was sold in 1862 to go to Walla Walla, and afterward to Idaho. Dryer conducted the Oregonian with energy for ten years, when the paper passed into the hands of H. L. Pittock, who first began work upon it as a printer in 1853. It has since become a daily, and is cdited and partly owned by Harvey W. Scott.
The Statesman was founded by A. W. Stockwell and Henry Russel of Massachusetts, with Asahel Bush as editor. It was published at Oregon City till June 1853, when it was removed to Salem, and being and remaining the official paper of the territory, followed the legislature to Corvallis in 1835, when the capital was removed to that place and back again to Salem, when the seat of government was relocated there a few months later. As a party paper it was conducted with greater ability than any journal on the Pacific coast for a period of about a dozen years. Bush was assisted at various times by men of talent. On retiring from political life in 1863 he engaged in bank- ing at Salem. Crandall and Wait then conducted the paper for a short time; but it was fiually sold in November 1863 to the Oregon Printing and Publish- ing Company. In 1866 it was again sold to the proprietors of the Unionist, and ceased to exist as the Oregon Statesman. During the first eight years of its existence it was the ruling power in Oregon, wielding an influence that made and unmade officials at pleasure. 'The number of those who were connected with the paper as contributors to its columns, who have risen to distinguished positions, is reckoned by the dozen.' Salem Directory, 1871; Or. Statesman, March 28, 1851; Id., July 25, 1854; Brown's Will. Val., MS., 34; Portland Oregonian, April 15, 1876. Before either of these papers was started there was established at Milwaukie, a few miles below Oregon City, the Milwaukie Star, the first number of which was issued on the 21st of November 1850. It was owned principally by Lot Whitcomb, the proprietor of the town of Milwaukie. The prospectus stated that Carter and Waterman were the printers, and Orvis Waterman editor. The paper ran for three months under its first management, then was purchased by the
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The result of the interference of the governor with legislation was to bring down upon him bitter denun- ciations from that body, and to make the feud a per- sonal as well as political one. When the assembly provided for the printing of the public documents, it voted to print neither the governor's annual nor his special message, as an exhibition of disapprobation at his presumption in offering the latter,14 assuming that he was not called upon to address them unless invited to do so, they being invested by congress with power to conduct the public business and spend the public money without consulting him. But while the legis- lators quarrelled with the executive they went on with the business of the commonwealth.
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