172 SAMUEL ROYAL THURSTON
qually in Oregon, ports of delivery, as he is empowered to do by the organic law, and to appoint surveyors. I next went to Thos. Ewing, Sec'y of the Interior, relative to getting a law passed to extinguish the Indian title, establishing agencies and appointing agents and sub-agents, &c. It seems to be the de- termination that no Democrat shall be appointed to office. I then came back, between nine and ten, and there being a social party among the members of our boarding club, I had to attend for an hour or more, and when I returned to my room about ten or after, I found a letter on my table from Wm. F. Moseley of Michigan, requesting information for certain per- sons who wished to emigrate to Oregon. I replied in a letter of over four pages, and forwarded it to the Detroit Free Press for publication, requesting the editor to forward me a paper, and one to Mr. M. I had previously directed 100 Pres. mes- sages with accompanying Doc/s to the people in Oregon. I retired at half past twelve at night.
January 1, 1850 This day was New Year's, and in the morning I called on D. R. Atchison of the Senate and Chair- man of the Committee on Indian Affairs in the Senate, for the purpose of getting him to aid in getting through a bill for the extinguishment of Indian titles in Oregon, and establishing Indian agents and agencies. He promised to report a bill next week. I next went to my room and put in writing for that committee such suggestions as I thought might be of use to the Committee to enable it to frame a proper bill, and went and handed the same to Mr. Atchison.
I then drew up a resolution to instruct the Comt. on Post Offices and Post Roads to inquire into the expediency of making or establishing certain mail routes in Oregon, also a resolution to the Committee on the Judiciary to inquire as to the rights of the H. B. Co., British subjects, and the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, under the treaty of June 15th, 1846; also instructing the Comt. on Territories to inquire as to the expediency of making appropriations for the purchase of the P. S. [A.] Co.'s lands. I then drew up the title to two bills, one for making appropriations of land in Oregon for improve-
