Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/202

Rh it was Ewing Young, as Walker says, who "put in motion the introduction of Spanish cattle in Oregon." He was the only man among the settlers who knew enough of California and its customs to intelligently propose such a plan, and to overcome the almost insuperable difficulties of its execution. He, too, it was who resented the restrictions of the fur company, and determined upon the independence of American settlers. No longer under a cloud, after his return Young rose to an important position in the colony. He built a saw-mill on the Chehalem at considerable expense, which was kept in operation until the winter of 1840–1, when it was carried away by high water. Soon after this misfortune Young died. The provisional government of 1841 was organized to take charge of Young's estate, and the jail was built with it, the government pledging its faith to restore it or its value to his heirs. It was restored in part to his heirs years afterward when Oregon had become a state.

In 1854, while Oregon was still a territory, there appeared Joaquin Young, a son of Ewing Young by a Mexican mother, who petitioned the territorial legislature for his father's money. An act was passed empowering him to commence suit in the supreme court to recover the sums paid into the treasury of the provisional government by his administrators, said action to be prosecuted to final judgment. The suit, however, was not brought; the legislature deferred passing a bill authorizing the payment of the judgment until 1855. Finally the supreme court, consisting of George H. Williams and M. P. Deady, gave judgment for Joaquin Young. In the mean time the claimant sold his interest to O. C. Pratt; and when this was known, R P. Boisé, a member of the legislature,