French Prairie, and it is decided to begin at once to lay the foundation of this institution. The name selected is the Oregon Institute; and the first board of trustees are Jason Lee, David Leslie, Gustavus Hines, J. L. Parrish, L. H. Judson, George Abernethy, Alanson Beers, Hamilton Campbell, and J. L. Babcock.
Present at this meeting is the Rev. Harvey Clark, an independent Presbyterian missionary, who is then living on the Tualatin plains, and about whom more will be said by and by. This gentleman exhibits much interest in education, and is put upon a committee with Lee, Hines, Leslie, and Babcock to select a location. Their choice falls on a beautiful situation, at the southern end of French Prairie; but owing to a deficiency of water, this spot is abandoned for a plain known as the Wallace Prairie, about three miles north from the mill, on an eminence half a mile south of the farm of one Baptiste Delcour, and near a fine spring of water.
Having Proceeded thus far, a prospectus is drawn up on the 9th of March, and a constitution and by-laws on the 15th.[1] Soon $4,000 is pledged, in sums
- ↑ This constitution and by-laws may be found in full in Hines' Oregon and its Institutions, 143–51, a work of 300 pages, devoted to advertising the Willamette University. It was published in New York in 1808. By the first article the institute is placed forever under the supervision of some religious denomination. By the second it is made an academical boarding-school, until it shall be expedient to make it a university. The third declares that the object of the institution is to educate the children of white men; but no person shall be excluded on account of color who possesses a good moral character, and can read, write, and speak the English language intelligibly. The religious society which shall first pledge itself to sustain the institution is by article fourth entitled to elect once in three years nine directors, two thirds of whom shall be members of this society, whose duty it shall be to hold in trust the property of the institution, consisting of real estate, notes, bonds, securities, goods, and chattels; and any person subscribing $50 or more shall be entitled to a vote in the business meetings of the society relating to the institution. The school is divided into male and female departments, to be taught and controlled by male and female teachers; and placed in charge of a steward, whose duty it is to provide board and to direct the conduct of the resident pupils; besides which a visiting committee of the society shall examine all the departments, and make public reports. Annual meetings are to be held to fill vacancies in the board of trustees, appoint visiting committees, and transact other business. Should no society pledge itself before the last of May 1842 to sustain the institution, then the business shall be transacted
