Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/240

 228 LESTER BURRELL SHIPPER was some sort of governmental machinery. 19 In 1841 the death of Ewing Young brought the question directly before them for Young left considerable property and no known heirs, consequently some provision for disposing of his estate had to be made. Accordingly there was a meeting, mostly made up of members of the Methodist mission, in February of 1841, and it was agreed that some kind of government must be organized. A second meeting carried the plan still further, and at the same time elected a judge, a clerk and recorder, a sheriff and constables. The judge was directed to act in accordance with code of laws of New York since there was a copy in the colony until a code could be prepared. Owing to the lack of sympathy with the government idea on the part of Dr. McLoughlin, and to the advice of Wilkes, then in the region, against taking action when only a minority of the population desired it, no further steps toward organization were taken then. The large migration of 1842 changed the aspect of the situa- tion. The question continued to come up and throughout the winter of 1842-3 meetings and informal discussion sought to win over to the notion of organization the Canadians who held the balance of power. At one of these meetings, the "Wolf meeting" so-called because it was convened to consider the depredations of wild animals, there was adopted a resolu- tion for a committee "to take into consideration the propriety of taking measures for the civil and military protection of this colony." The committee held frequent meetings to dis- cuss the general topic of organization and the apparently more important one of who should be governor. Finally it was felt that the time was ripe for action and a mass meeting was called to convene at Champoeg on the Willamette on May 2, 1843. There it was decided by a majority of two two Canad- ians to adopt the recommendations of the committee and take the preliminary steps in forming a provisional government. A legislative committee was immediately elected and instructed to draw up a frame of government and a code to be submitted at an adjourned meeting in July. 19 F. V. Holman, Quar. Ore. Hist. See., Sept., 1912.