Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/408

Rh At the close of this day's arguments some amendments were offered to the bill, Mallary moving to make the occupation merely military, over the territory north of the 42d parallel, and west of the Rocky Mountains, which section should be known as the Territory of Oregon; a fort was to be erected at the mouth of the Columbia River; as soon as expedient the Indian title to a tract of country not exceeding thirty miles square, including the place selected for the fort, should be extinguished. To every head of a family settling in the territory should be granted three hundred and twenty acres of land; to an unmarried settler, farmer, or mechanic, two hundred acres; this to apply only to citizens of the United States, and for six years only after the extinguishment of the Indian title. The president was authorized to open a port of entry for the territory, and to appoint officers for the revenue service, the revenue laws of the United States being extended to the territory. An appropriation of §60,000 was also made by the amendments, to carry into effect the provisions of the bill.

The consideration of Floyd's bill being resumed on the 24th, Walker of North Carolina made a motion to amend by inserting Columbia in place of Oregon as the name of the territory to be erected, which did not prevail; and Floyd amended Mallary's amendment, so as to call the tract of country over which the Indian title should be extinguished, and where the fort should be erected, the District of Astoria, the object of which was to restore the original name of the establishment at the mouth of the Columbia made under the auspices of Astor. This amendment was accepted. Smith of Virginia and others then spoke for and against the bill. Baylies replied at some length to the objections of the opponents of the bill that the Rocky Mountains were the natural boundary of the United States.