military post in the Klamath Lake country.[1] On the 22d of January the legislative assembly adjourned without having learned whether its acts were invalid, or the state still out of the union; but not without having elected the usual list of territorial officers.[2]
- ↑ There was a clause in the constitution which prohibited the legislature from granting divorces, which prohibition on becoming known stimulated in a remarkable manner the desire for freedom from marital bondage. Thirty-one divorces were granted at this session of the territorial legislature, which would be void should it be found that congress had admitted Oregon. Fortunately for the liberated applicants, the admission was delayed long enough to legalize these enactments. It was said that as many more applications were received. The churches were shocked. The methodist conference declared that marriage could be dissolved only by a violation of the seventh commandment. The congregationalists drew the lines still closer, and included the slavery question. Or. Argus, July 28, 1860; Or. Statesman, Sept. 20, 1859.
- ↑ D. Newcomb was chosen brigadier-general; George H. Steward quartermaster-general; A. L. Lovejoy commissary-general; D. S. Holton surgeon-general; J. D. Boon treasurer; B. F. Bonham auditor and librarian. The expense of the territorial government for 1858 was $18,034.70. To pay the expenses of the constitutional convention a tax of 1¾ mills was levied on all taxable property. Or. Laws, 1858–9, 40.
the line, and damaged the road to such an extent that for months no mails were carried over it. But nothing long interrupted the enterprises of the company. In due course travel was resumed, and in 1865 their coaches ran 400 miles into Oregon. This year the company demanded $50,000 additional for this service, which was refused, and in 1866 they sold their line to Frank Stevens and Louis McLane, who soon re-sold it to H. W. Corbett, E. Corbett, William Hall, A. O. Thomas, and Jesse D. Carr, and it was operated until 1869 under the name of H. W. Corbett & Co. Carr then purchased the stock, and carried the mail until 1870, when the Cal. and Or. Coast Overland Mail co. obtained the contract, and bought Carr's stock. They were running in 1881, since which period the railroad to Oregon has been completed, and carries the mail.
The first daily overland mail from St Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento arrived at that place July 18, 1861, in 17 days 4 hours, having lost but 40 hours running time. One passenger, Thomas Miller, came directly through to Oregon—the longest trip by coach ever made. In consequence of the civil war, the southern route was abandoned, and the central route by Salt Lake established, the precursor of the railroad. Indians and highwaymen caused its discontinuance in 1862, and the government accepted the services of a regiment of infantry and 5 companies of cavalry to protect it between Salt Lake and California, while the 6th Ohio cavalry kept watch on the plains east of Salt Lake.
Contemporary with the daily overland mail was the Pony Express, a device for shortening the time of important mail matter. W. H. Russell of Missouri was the founder, and ran his ponies from the Missouri to Salt Lake, connecting with the ponies of the overland mail from there westward. The time made was an average of 8 days, or half the time of the coaches. In Nov. 1861, the telegraph line from the Missouri to the bay of San Francisco was completed, though the pony express continued for some time afterward. By the aid of telegraph and daily mail, Oregon obtained New York news in 4 days, until in 1864 a telegraph line from Portland to Sacramento had finally done away with space, and the long year of waiting known to the pioneers was reduced to a few hours.
