Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/387

Rh to receive a lot donated by John McLoughlin for the purpose of erecting said jail, which lot shall be conveyed to Oregon agreeably to a communication of said John McLoughlin, addressed to a committee of this house appointed to wait upon him.

"Section 7. That said jail shall be used alike for the imprisonment of all criminals in Oregon.

"Passed December 24, 1846.

"(Signed),

Speaker."

The intention of our sturdy fathers to do absolutely the right thing at all times is well illustrated in the seventh section of this act, in its comprehensive provision for "the imprisonment of all criminals in Oregon," in this proposed jail. Whether the jail was ever built in accordance with the requirements of this act is somewhat doubtful, since it is recorded that on December 13, 1847, a year later, "Mr. Nesmith, from the committee on judiciary, to whom was referred that portion of the governor's message relating to the erection of a jail, reported they deemed it inexpedient in the present embarrassed condition of finance, to incur the expense of a jail."

Although the estate of Mr. Young was collected into the treasury, it was never regarded as the absolute property of the territory. In the territorial liabilities, the amount of $2,615 is given as "collected from the estate of Ewing Young." In after years, when Oregon had become a state, the value of his property was refunded to his son, Joaquin Young, in New Mexico.

The government organized here fifty-eight years ago "by the inhabitants of the Willamette settlements," consisted of a legislative committee composed of the following honored pioneers, to wit: Messrs. Hill, Dougherty, Shortness, Hewell, Hubbard, Gray, O'Neil, Moore, and Beers. Other civil officers were chosen, a major and