142 F. G. YOUNG. command of the newly appointed governors as soon as they qualified, and while yet in the East, so that they could more conveniently make suitable purchases of books. The record of the disbursement of this .library fund is found in communica- tions by Governors Lane and Gaines, respectively, in response to resolutions by the Territorial House of Representatives in- quiring as to what disposition had been made of this money. On July 26, 1849, Governor Lane, in reply to the request made on the fifth day of the first session of the first House, said ' ' that books to the amount of two thousand dollars have been purchased in New York, and shipped for Oregon last winter, and that the balance of the appropriation will be applied, as provided by law of Congress." 26 On December 8, 1852, Governor Gaines had a similar inquiry made of him, to which he responded as follows : "I received from the treasury of the United States, $3,000.00, which was [in] vested in books and maps, and placed in a room fitted up for the purpose in Oregon City, and delivered nearly two years since to Mr. J. Turner, the librarian elected by the Legislative Assembly, together with a catalogue of the entire purchase, since which time I have exercised no control whatever over the library." A voucher from the Comptroller of the Treasury accompanied this statement. 27 In the quarrel between Governor Gaines and the territorial legislature over the validity of the act of the latter locating the seat of government, the penitentiary, and the territorial university, the retention of the library at Oregon City the original seat of government is made a subject of complaint by the legislature in its memorial to Congress in December, 1851. 28 In this memorial the legislature asked for permission for themselves to elect their Governor, Secretary and judges. The first accessions to the library were largely general and law miscellany. Law reports and State and National docu- 26 House Journal, First Session, p. 82. 27 Appendix to House Journal, Fourth Session, pp. 7-8. 28 Appendix to House Journal, Third Session, pp. 1-6.
