gon via the Isthmus in 1855. His educational advantages were received in select schools in his native State, and he made the most of the opportunities offered. Arriving here and meeting incidentally with some of the public officials of the day, his superior clerical abilities were very soon discovered and he received the appointment of clerk under Captain (now Commissary General; Robert McFeely, U. S. A., and Quartermaster (now General) P. H. Sheridan, then stationed at Forts Vancouver and The Dalles, under whose latter command he was until his promotion and departure from this coast in 1861. He was all through the Yakima Indian war of 1855-6, and rendered valuable service in the departments in which he was employed. He afterwards went into the general mercantile business in Yamhill and Polk counties, until he succeeded Col. Logan as United States Indian Agent at the Warm Springs Agency, where he remained until the appointment of Captain John Smith, the present incumbent, in 1865. He served for some time as chief clerk and Special Indian Agent under Superintendent Huntington and was Secretary of the Board of Commissioners appointed by the general government to treat with the Klamath and Modoc Indians. In 1868 he engaged in the mercantile business in Salem, in which he continued until 1872. Mr. Earhart was active in conjunction with other citizens in maintaining peace and quietude at the capital during the troublesome times when the civil war was raging and when an outbreak might have been made in our very midst but for the courage and cool-headedness of a few of our best citizens who were prepared for active service and could be ready for any emergency at almost a moment's notice. In 1870, when the stockholders of the Chemeketa Hotel, then just completed, were looking around for some popular and energetic man to manage it, they unanimously selected Mr. Earhart, who reluctantly accepted, and for year or more was its proprietor. He was chief clerk in the office of Superintendent of Indian Affairs in 1872-3. He also represented Marion county in the House in 1870, and was instrumental in securing the first appropriation for the erection of public buildings in this State. He afterwards mo%'ed to Portland and was for some time engaged in the business management of the "Daily Bulletin." In 1871 he was appointed chief clerk of the Surveyor General's office, which position he held until 1878, when he resigned to accept the office of Secretary of State, to which he had been elected. He entered upon the duties of that office in September of that year, and at once commenced a thorough and systematic overhauling of the books and records, and in a few months' time had the office in better shape than it had ever been prior thereto. So acceptably did he discharge his official duties during his first term in that office that he received the unanimous vote of the Republican State Convention for renomination and received a majority of over 2,500 at the general election in June, 1882. He identified himself with the Masonic order in 1863, and has held every office within the gift of the fraternity, being still active in its interests. He was elected Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge in 1872 and served until 1878, when, in recognition of his past services in that body, he was promoted from the Secretary's desk to the high and honorable position of Grand Master, and was re-elected in 1879. He is at the present time Sovereign Grand Inspector
