The new North-west., 1896-06-12
SOME EARLY Law MAKING
HOW GOVERNMENT WAS ESTAB-
LIsHED IN THE NORTHWEST.
Formation OF Spokane County, and
1t. Extensive Aren-The Coua-
try's DeveIopme

Du=ng ali the long years intervening
between the days when this country was
the home Of the wild beasts and hunts
men and each man was a law unto him
self. down to it's present condition of
statehood and advanced civilization the
process of internal improvement, the
perfccting Of civil institutions and the
machinery of government generally kept
even pace with the influx of population
The iaw-respecting classes were always
III the majority among the early settlers
OF this country, and, though we had our
days of lynch law and vigilance COM
znittees when the best and COOLEST cit
izensa concurred in just though lawless
dealing with offenders, yet it was only a
day of brief eSpedient. when as in early
California the spirit of the law reigncd
without the letter. In spite Of the Brit
iSh taunt THE Americans can never
settle Oregon" the Ubiquitous Yankee
who came, in steadily increasing num-
bers. brought his institutions and his art
of self-government with him, and he and
they are solid yet.
In one of the books pertaining 20 the
time when "Oregon' comprised not cniy
Oregon, but Washington, Idaho and a
small part of Montana and of Wyoming,
likely to revert to England as to the
United States, we are told that I'm 1913
there We're not enough Americans ia the
country even to wish to form a. govern
ment Previous to the arrival of the
missionary reinforcement of 1888 there
We're, nearly as can now be aScer-
tanned, only flfty-one Americans in Ore
Son. thirty of whom were connected
with the Methodist Missionary Society
and the American board, and hence ex-
rected to govern themselves, leaving en-
ly twenty-one who needed further gov
ernment. = Neither California. Ne
vada. Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Tex
as, nor Alaska belonged to the United
States: all the people over whom our
country had direct control in the region
now covered by all these states and ter
17tories being comprised in the ABOVE
mentioned fifty-one Americans. This whs
even then 50 much of a foreign country
that it was necessary for the missionaries
70 procure passports from the secretary
of war. Oregon was held by
learned men In congress to be a mere
off-scouring of creation--a Botany Bay
for rogues and scoundrels, if ever the
United States should need such place
while the idea Of a railroad across the
continent was ridiculed in congress like
the lamp Of Aladdin
Buckskin. seWed with sinews, formed
clothing, shoes. -four sacks and valises in
those days, being cheaper than cloth or
leather and always available.
Goods of all kinds had to come ON
England, and had to be ordered I, year
before delivered.
Horse meat and boiled grain were the
principal articles of diet in this country
which now furnishes beef to the mil
lions and bread to the world.
From another early chronicle we learn
that by the fall of 1910 there were about
two hundred colonists. exclusive of the
Hudson Bay Company in the country
These two hundred colonists, nearly
one-third of them opposed to the organi-
cation of any form of provisional govern
ment, and favoring the sway OF the for
eisn corporation that had ruled SO long
in trade and in civil and social life, were
a weak company to form government
and hold the country under peaceful and
efficient law. But with q heroic courage
this they essayed to do. in face of all
foes and hindrances. The first aud sec
ond attempts having failed, the object
was finally, after two years, won by
means of what was styled the Wolf
meeting called to protect their persons
and their stock from wild beasts, and
ending in a resolution to organize GOV
ernnent for the protection Of themselves
and their families. Thus began the pro
vsonal government of Oregon on May
2. 1913"
George Abernethy was elected provs-
ional governor and served for two terms,
of two years each, without salary.
The story of Whitman's ride across the
continent, the immigration to this coun-
try which followed his return, the long
years of stagnation all over the country
on account of Indian hosti'lties, and "a
tedious settlement of English and Amer
lean disputes are familiar to all.
1.-The boundary controversy was finally
adjusted by a provision in our treaty vith
Great Britain of May c, 1871, submitting
the question to the arbitration of the
German emperor who, on October /, 1872,
made his award sustaining the ,onten-
ton of the United States; and thus, after
a period of nearly eighty years, dating
from the discovery Of the Columbia by
Captain Gray, the whole question as to
the ownership of the Oregon territory
was finally determined"
The little village of log huts erected
at Marcus for the accommodation Of the
boundary commission are standing yet.
Meanwhile the feeble organization be-
gun at the "Wolf meeting had grown
like Jonah's gourd divided and subdiyid-
ed and quickly became a power instead
Of a butt in the council of the nation.
The consequences of the Whitman r.as-
sacre were the organization of Dragon,
Washington and Idaho into a territory,
In 1913, with, General Joseph Lane as
governor, a defensive war against the
TIA; f,,oI I'll,