Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/344

Rh 1840–1. This audacious pioneer left a large property, to which there were no legal claimants or known heirs; and as there was no probate court, the administration of his estate became a perplexing question. Murder, theft, and whiskey-making might be managed without law, but property for which there was no owner—alas for the luck of it! The thrifty settlers could not see it go to waste. And so the needed excuse to those who were anxious for legislation was at hand, and without delay a committee of arrangements called a mass-meeting of the settlers to be held at the Methodist Mission the 17th and 18th of February, 1841.

The meeting on the 17th was composed chiefly of the members of the Mission, Jason Lee being chosen chairman, and Gustavus Hines secretary. The only business transacted was the passing of resolutions to elect a committee of seven to draught a code of laws for the government of the settlements south of the Columbia; to admit to the protection of those laws all settlers north of the Columbia not connected with the fur company; and the nomination of candidates for the several offices of governor, supreme judge with probate powers, three justices of the peace, three constables, three road commissioners, an attorney-general, a clerk of the courts and public recorder, a treasurer, and two overseers of the poor.

The second day's meeting being attended by the French and American settlers, the proceedings took a less sectional tone. To propitiate and to secure the coöperation of the Canadians were the aims of the leading Americans; as without them, or opposed by them, there would be difficulty in organizing a government. David Leslie being in the chair, with Sidney Smith and Hines as secretaries, the minutes of