after a severe and prolonged contest between the friends of J. H. Mitchell and the democracy, uniting with the independents, was Joseph N. Dolph,[1] Mitchell's former partner and friend.
The time has not yet come, though it is close at hand, when Oregon-born men shall fill the offices of state, and represent their country in the halls of the national legislature. Then the product of the civilization founded by their sires in the remotest section of the national territory will become apparent. Sectionalism, which troubled their fathers, will have disappeared with hostility to British influences. Homogeneity and harmony will have replaced the feuds of the formative period of the state's existence. A higher degree of education will have led to a purer conception of public duty. Home-bred men will repel adventurers from other states, who have at heart no interests but their individual benefits.
When that period of progress shall have been reached, if Oregon shall be found able to withstand the temptations of too great wealth in her morals, arid the oppressiveness of large foreign monopolies in her business, she will be able fully to realize the most sanguine expectations of those men of destiny, the Oregon Pioneers.
- ↑ Dolph was born in 1835, in N". Y., and educated at Genessee college, after which he studied law. He came to Oregon in 1862, where his talents soon made him prominent in his profession, and secured him a lucrative practice. He married, in 1864, a daughter of Johnson Mulkey, a pioneer of 1847, by whom he had 6 children. At the time of his election he was attorney for and vice-president of the Northern Pacific railroad.
inspector of U. S. surveys in Cal., afterward residing for some time in Ill., but returning to The Dalles in 1862. The country being in a state of rapid development on account of the mining discoveries in the eastern part of the state and in Idaho, he established himself at Umatilla, where he remained in business for three years. In the spring of 1866 he built the steamer Mary Moody on Pend d'Oreille Lake, and afterward aided in organizing the Oregon and Montana Transportation Company, which built two other steamboats, and improved the portages. In 1867 he was merchandising in Boisé City, returning to The Dalles in 1869, where he took charge of the business of Wells, Fargo & Co. At a later period he was a mail contractor, and ever a busy and earnest man. He was elected in 1872 to the state senate, and in 1880 to the lower house, being chosen speaker. In 1882 he was nominated for governor, and elected over Joseph H. Smith by a majority of 1,452 votes. Representative Men of Or., 1-111.
