On the whole, the people of Rogue River behaved very well after the treaty. The settlers and miners in the Illinois Valley about the middle of October being troubled by incursions of the coast tribes, who had fled into the interior to escape the penalty of their depredations on the beach miners about Crescent City, Lieutenant R. C. W. Radford was sent from Fort Lane with a small detachment to chastise them. Finding them more numerous than was expected, Radford was compelled to send for reënforcements, which arriving under Lieutenant Caster on the 22d, a three days' chase over a mountainous country brought them up with the marauders, when the troops had a skirmish with them, killing ten or more, and capturing a considerable amount of property which had been stolen, but losing two men killed and four wounded.

After this the miners hereabout took care of themselves, and made a treaty with that part of the Rogue River tribe, which was observed until January 1854, when a party of miners from Sailor Diggings, in their pursuit of an unknown band of robbers attacked the treaty Indians, some being killed on both sides; but the Indian agent being sent for, an explanation ensued, and peace was temporarily restored.

24

The Indian disturbances of 1853 in this part of Oregon, according to the report of the secretary of war, cost the lives of more than a hundred white persons and several hundred Indians. The expense was estimated at $7,000 a day, or a total of $258,000, though the war lasted for little more than a month, and there had been in the field only from 200 to 500 men.

In addition to the actual direct expense of the war

upon was $12,000, two small houses, costing about $200, fencing and plowing a field of five acres, and furnishing the seed to sow it; the purchase money to be paid in annual instalments of goods. This sum was insignificant compared to the value of the land, but bargains of this kind were graded by the number of persons in the band, the Cow Creeks being but few. Besides, Indian agents who intend to have their treaties ratified must get the best bargains that can be extorted from ignorance and need.

U. S. H. Ex. Doc., i., pt ii. 43, 33d cong. 1st sess.

1

was the loss by settlers, computed by a commission consisting of L. F. Grover, A. C. Gibbs, and G. H. Ambrose 25 to be little less than $46,000. Of this amount $17,800, including payment for the improvements on the reserved lands, was deducted from the sum paid to the Indians for their lands, which left only $29,000 to be paid by congress, which claims, together with those of the volunteers, were finally settled on that basis.26

25 Portland Oregonian, Dec. 30, 1854; U. S. H. Ex. Doc., 65, 43d cong. 2d sess.

The names of the claimants on account of property destroyed, on which the Indian department paid a pro rata of 34.77 per cent out of the $15,000 retained from the treaty appropriation for that purpose, were as follows, showing who were doing business, had settled, or were mining in the Rogue River Valley at this period: Daniel and Ephraim Raymond, Clinton Barney, David Evans, Martin Angell, Michael Brennan, Albert B. Jennison, William J. Newton, Wm Thompson, Henry Rowland, John W. Patrick, John R. Hardin, Pleasant W. Stone, Jeremiah Yarnel, Wm S. King, Cram, Rogers & Co., Edith M. Neckel, John Benjamin, David N. Birdseye, Lewis Rotherend, Mary Ann Hodgkins, George H. C. Taylor, John Markley, Sigmond Eulinger, James C. Tolman, Henry Ham, William M. Elliott, Silas and Edward Day, James Triplett, Nathan B. Lane, John Agy, James Bruce, James B. Fryer, Wm G. F. Vank, Hall & Burpee, John Penneger, John E. Ross, John S. Miller, D. Irwin, Burrell B. Griffin, Traveena McComb, Wm N. Ballard, Freeman Smith, Nicholas Kohenstein, Daniel F. Fisher, Thomas D. Jewett, Sylvester Pease, David Hayhart, McGreer, Drury & Runnels, James Mooney, John Gheen, Theodosia Cameron, James Abrahams, Francis Nasarett, Galley & Oliver, T. B. Sanderson, Frederick Rosenstock, Dunn & Alluding, Asa G. Fordyce, Obadiah D. Harris, James L. London, Samuel Grubb, Win Kahler, Samuel Williams, Hiram Niday, John Anderson, Elias Huntington, Shertack Abrahams, Thomas Frazell, Weller & Rose, Robert B. Metcalf, Charles Williams, John Swinden, James R. Davis, Isaac Woolen, Wm M. Hughs. Of the settlers on the reservation lands who brought claims were these: David Evans, Matthew G. Kennedy, John G. Cook, William Hutchinson, Charles Grey, Robert B. Metcalf, Jacob Gall, George H. C. Taylor, John M. Silcott, James Lesly. Report of Supt Palmer, in U. S. H. Ex. Doc., 52, p. 3-5, 38th cong. 2d sess.

HIST. OB., VOL. II. 21

CHAPTER XIII.

LEGISLATION, MINING, AND SETTLEMENT.

1853-1854.

JOHN W. DAVIS as Governor-LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS—APPROPRIATIONS BY CONGRESS OREGON ACTS AND RESOLUTIONS AFFAIRS ON THE UMPQUA-LIGHT-HOUSE BUILDING-BEACH MINING-INDIAN DISTURBANCES— PALMER'S SUPERINTENDENCE-SETTLEMENT OF COos BAY-EXPLORATIONS AND MOUNTAIN-CLIMBING-POLITICS OF THE PERIOD-THE QUES TION OF STATE ORGANIZATION-THE PEOPLE NOT READY-HARD TIMESDECADENCE OF THE GOLD EPOCH-RISE OF FARMING INTEREST SOME FIRST THINGS - AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES-WOOLEN MILLS-TELEGRAPHS-RIVER AND OCEAN SHIPPING INTEREST AND DISASTERS-WARD MASSACRE-MILITARY SITUATION.

LATE in October 1853 intelligence was received in Oregon of the appointment of John W. Davis of Indiana as governor of the territory. He arrived very opportunely at Salem, on the 2d of December, just as the legislative assembly was about to convene. He brought with him the forty thousand dollars appropriated by congress for the erection of a capitol and penitentiary, which the legislature had been anxiously awaiting to apply to these purposes. Whether or not he was aware of the jealousy with which the lawmaking body of Oregon had excluded Governor Gaines from participating in legislative affairs, he prudently

1 Davis was a native of Pennsylvania, where he studied medicine. He subsequently settled in Indiana, served in the legislature of that state, being speaker of the lower house, and was three times elected to congress, serving from 1835 to 1837, from 1839 to 1841, and from 1843 to 1847. He was once speaker of the house of representatives, and twice president of the national democratic convention. During Polk's administration he was commissioner to China. He died in 1859. Or. Statesman, Oct. 25, 1853; Id., Oct. 11, 1859; Or. Argus, Oct. 15, 1859.

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refrained from overstepping the limits assigned him by the organic law. When informed by a joint resolution of the assembly that they had completed their organization, he simply replied that it would afford him pleasure to communicate from time to time from the archives any information they might require. This was a satisfactory beginning, and indicated a policy from which the fourth gubernatorial appointee found no occasion to depart during his administration.

3

The money being on hand, the next thing was to spend it as quickly as possible, which the commissioners had already begun to do, but which the legislature was compelled to check by appointing a new penitentiary board, and altering the plans for the capitol building. A bill introduced at this session to re

The members of the council elected for 1853-4 were L. P. Powers, of Clatsop; Ralph Wilcox, of Washington; J. K. Kelly, of Clackamas; Benj. Simpson, of Marion; John Richardson, of Yamhill; J. M. Fulkerson, of Polk. Those holding over were L. W. Phelps, A. L. Humphry, and Levi Scott. The house of representatives consisted of J. W. Moffit, Z. C. Bishop, Robert Thompson, F. C. Cason, L. F. Carter, B. B. Jackson, L. F. Grover, J. C. Peebles, E. F. Colby, Orlando Humason, Andrew Shuck, A. B. Westerfield, R. P. Boise, W. S. Gilliam, I. N. Smith, Luther Elkins, J. A. Bennett, Benj. A. Chapman, H. G. Hadley, Wm J. Martin, George H. Ambrose, John F. Miller, A. A. Durham, L. S. Thompson, S. Goff, Chauncey Nye. There was but one whig in the council, and four in the house. Or. Statesman, June 28, 1853. Ralph Wilcox was elected president of the council; Samuel B. Garrett, of Benton, chief clerk; and A. B. P. Wood, of Polk, assistant clerk; John K. Delashmutt, sergeant-at-arms. The house was organized by electing Z. C. Bishop, speaker; John McCracken, chief clerk; C. P. Crandell, enrolling clerk; G. D. R. Boyd, assistant clerk; G. D. Russell, sergeant-at-arms, and Joseph Hunsaker, doorkeeper. Or. Jour. Council, 1853-4, p. 4, 5.

3 Half of the $20,000 appropriated for a state house, according to the commissioners' report, was already expended on the foundations, the architect's plan being to make an elegant building of stone, costing, at his estimate, $75,000. The land on which the foundation was laid was block 84 in the town of Salem, and was donated by W. H. Willson and wife, from the land which they succeeded in alienating from the methodist university lands, this being one way of enhancing the value of the remainder. The legislature ordered the superstructure to be made of wood.

The penitentiary commissioners had selected two blocks of land in Portland, and had made some slight progress, expending $5,600 of the $20,000 appropriated. William M. King, president of the board, charged $10 per day as commissioner, and $5 more as acting commissioner. He speculated in lots, paying Lownsdale $150 each for four lots, on condition that two lots should be given to him, for which he received $300. In this way,' says the Oregonian of Feb. 4, 1854, 'King has pocketed $925, Lownsdale $600, and Frush $2,800, of the penitentiary fund. Add to this between $1,100 and $1,200 for his invaluable services for letting all the prisoners run away, and we have a fair exhibit of financiering under democratic misrule in Oregon.'

locate the seat of government may have had some influence in determining the action of the assembly with regard to the character of the edifice already in process of construction. It was the entering wedge for another location war, more bitter and furious than the first, and which did not culminate until 1855-6. The university had not made so much advancement as the state house and penitentiary, the appropriations for the former being in land, which had to be converted into money."

Remembering the experiences of the past three years, the legislative assembly enacted a militia law constituting Oregon a military district, and requiring the appointment by the governor of a brigadier-general, who should hold office for three years, unless sooner removed; and the choice at the annual election in each council district of one colonel, one lieutenantcolonel, and one major, who should meet at a convenient place, within three months, and lay off their regimental district into company districts, to contain as nearly as possible one hundred white male adults between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years capable of bearing arms, and who should appoint captains and lieutenants to each company district, the captains to appoint sergeants and corporals. Commissions were to issue from the governor to all officers except sergeants and corporals, the term of office to be two years, unless prevented by unsoundness of mind or body, each officer to rank according to the date of his commission, the usual rules of military organization and government being incorporated into the act." In compliance with this law, Governor Davis appointed,

5 The legislature of 1852-3 had authorized the commissioners to construct the university building at the town of Marysville, in the county of Benton, on such land as shall be donated for that purpose by Joseph P. Friedly,' unless some better or more eligible situation should be offered. Or. Statesman, Feb. 5, 1853. The commissioners to select the two townships had only just completed their work.

Or. Jour. Council, 1853-4, 113, 118, 128; Laws of Or., in Or. Statesman, Feb. 21, 1854; Or. Jour. Council, 1854-5, app. 12, 15, 17.