quorum.[1] On the first of December, the legislature-elect[2] convened at Salem, as the capital of Oregon, except one councilman, Columbia Lancaster, and four representatives, A. E. Wait, W. F. Matlock, and D. F. Brownfield. Therefore this small minority organized as the legislative assembly of Oregon, at the territorial library room in Oregon City, was qualified by Judge Strong, and continued to meet and adjourn for two weeks. Lancaster, the single councilman, spent this fortnight in making motions and seconding them himself, and preparing a memorial to congress in which he asked for an increase in the number of councilmen to fifteen; for the improvement of the Columbia River; for a bounty of one hundred and sixty acres of land to the volunteers in the Cayuse war; a pension to the widows and orphans of the men killed in the war; troops to be stationed at the several posts in the territory; protection to the immigration; ten thousand dollars to purchase a library for the university, and a military road to Puget Sound.[3]
About this time the supreme court met at Oregon City, Judges Nelson and Strong deciding to adopt
- ↑ Or. Gen. Laws, 1845–1864, 71.
- ↑ The council was composed of Matthew P. Deady, of Yamhill; J. M. Garrison, of Marion; A. L. Lovejoy, of Clackamas; Fred. Waymire, of Polk; W. B. Mealey, of Linn; Samuel Parker, of Clackamas and Marion; A. L. Humphrey, of Benton; Lawrence Hall, of Washington; Columbia Lancaster, of Lewis, Clark, and Vancouver counties. The house consisted of Geo. L. Curry, A. E. Wait, and W. T. Matlock, of Clackamas; Benj. Simpson, Wilie Chapman, and James Davidson, of Marion; J. C. Avery and Geo. E. Cole, of Benton; Luther White and William Allphin, of Linn; Ralph Wilcox, W. M. King, and J. C. Bishop, of Washington; A. J. Hembree, Samuel McSween, and R. C. Kinney, of Yamhill; Nat Ford and J. S. Holman of Polk; David M. Risdon, of Lane; J. W. Drew, of Umpqua; John A. Anderson and D. F. Brownfield of Clatsop and Pacific. Or. Statesman, July 4, 1851.
- ↑ In style Lancaster was something of a Munchausen. 'It it true,' he says in his memorial, which must indeed have astonished congress, 'that the Columbia River, like the principles of civil and religious equality, with wild and unconquerable fury has burst asunder the Cascade and Coast ranges of mountains, and shattered into fragments the basaltic formations,' etc. 32d Cong., 1st Sess., H. Misc. Doc. 14, 1–5; Or. Stateman, Jan. 13, 1852. 'Basaltic formation' then became a sobriquet for the whig councilman among the Salem division of the legislature. The memorial was signed 'Columbia Lancaster, late president pro tem. of the council, and W. T. Matlock, late speaker pro tem. of the house of representatives.'
