Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/134

132 been promised to another. President Taylor, however, offered to appoint him Governor of Oregon Territory, but Mrs. Lincoln, his wife, objected to going to such a far-distant section, and the offer was declined. It is interesting to surmise what the effect would have been on the history of the United States, if Lincoln had become Governor of Oregon Territory.

Capital Changed from Oregon City to Salem. A bitter contest was waged against the proposed removal of the Territorial Capital from Oregon City to some point further south. Governor Lane had by proclamation declared Oregon City to be the capital, but the session of 1850 passed an act locating the seat of government at Salem. Governor Gaines refused to recognize the constitutionality of the act, and was sustained by two of the supreme judges; and while the judges remained at Oregon City, the legislature met in Salem. On May 14, 1852, Congress settled the matter by confirming the act of the legislature.

Southern Oregon Military Road Built. With the settlement of Southern Oregon came the demand for wagon roads. Being at the head of tidewater navigation on the Umpqua River, Scottsburg was, in 1850, the starting point for commercial operations with the interior and especially with the gold mines of northern California. The original Indian trails were widened, temporary ferries were established at crossings over the Umpqua river, and abrupt declivities avoided, so that a pack horse could carry a load