Steilacoom by Judge Bryant to try some Snoqualmie Indians, who had killed two white men some months before; and this is the first court north of the Columbia River of which any record has been preserved in history.
On the fifteenth day of June, 1846, a treaty was concluded between the United States and Great Britain which acknowledged the sovereignty of our country over that portion of Oregon lying south of the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude. Thus, at last, was settled the Oregon boundary question. It was not known in Oregon till several months later, but was mentioned by Governor Abernethy in his message of December 1, 1846.
The great episode of the Provisional. Government was the Cayuse War. Monday, November 29, 1847, the Whitman massacre took place, and became known at Oregon City nine days later. I shall not attempt here an account of the Cayuse War. The expedition undertaken to recover the captives and punish the authors of the massacre was a prodigious effort for so small a population as the country then contained. It was successful. It absorbed all attention for the greater part of the year. Its cost to the territory was estimated at $109,311.50 a very large sum for so poor and small a community. In his message to the legislature, dated February 5, 1849, the Governor announced that the objects of the expedition had been attained and the war brought to a successful termination.
This was the last legislative body of the Provisional Government. The discovery of gold in California had drawn many persons away from Oregon, including officers of the Provisional Government and members of the legislature. Special elections were called to fill the vacancies. February 5, 1849, the legislature met. The following was its membership: Benton County, J. C. Avery; Champoeg, W. J. Bailey, Samuel Parker, William Por-
