Page:Pen Pictures of Representative Men of Oregon.djvu/24

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REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF OREGON.

only the six months pay he had received from the government upon being mustered out of service at Walla Walla, W. T. Upon his arrival in Oregon Mr. Dolph at once began the practice of his profession. With the beginning of the year 1863 he formed a copartnership with Hon. J. H. Mitchell, which continued for more than ten years and terminated upon Mr. Mitchell's election to the United States Senate. He was appointed City Attorney for the city of Portland, in October, 1864, add held that position about one and one-half years, during which time he prepared and proposed important amendments to the city charter, which were afterwards adopted, and also revised for publication of the ordinances of the city. In January, 1865, Mr, Dolph was appointed by President Lincoln United States District Attorney for the District of Oregon, which position he held until September, 1866, when he resigned it to take his seat in the Oregon Legislature as State Senator from Multnomah county, in which capacity he served his county during the session of 1866, and took his seat at the beginning of the session of 1868, but his seat was contested upon the pretence that no allotment had been made at the previous sessions of the Legislature as required by the constitution, «nd Mr. Dolph was ousted by a strict party vote. He was, however, returned at the general election of 1872 by an increased majority of the votes of his constituents, and sat in the two succeeding sessions of the Oregon Legislature as a Senator for Multnomah county. Mr. Dolph has been an active participant in the politics of the State. He was Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee from 1866 to 1868. He has been an able and eloquent advocate of the principles of the Republican party. He was present at Salem at the meeting of the Electoral College in 1876, and after Governor Grover had given the certificate of election to Cronin, advised the course adopted by the Republican electors, and on the spot drafted the papers which were, by the Electoral Commission, adjudged sufficient to establish the election of Messrs. Odell, Cartwright and Watts. To his promptness, discretion and firmness the fortunate result of the matter is largely attributable. In 1876 Mr. Dolph was elected by the Most Worthy Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of the State of Oregon Most Worthy Grand Master, and he held that position with great satisfaction to the order for one year. At the last session of the Grand Lodge A. F. & A. Masons he was elected Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Oregon, which position he now holds. Mr. Dolph was, at the time of his election to the U. S. Senate, the confidential legal adviser in Oregon of Henry Villard, Esq., the able and brilliant financier who has done so much towards the development of the northwest coast during the last few years. He was the consulting attorney of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, the Oregon and California Railroad Co., the Oregon Improvement Co., the Oregon and Trans-Continental Co., and the adviser of the officers of the Northern Pacific Railroad Co. at Portland, and the attorney of other minor corporations. He was also the President of the Oregon Improvement Company, the Vice-President of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company and of the Oregon and Trans-Continental Company. As a lawyer he is prompt, ready, reliable and successful. Few men possess the