Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/151

 FINANCIAL HISTORY OF OREGON. 143 ments were added through exchanges. At the beginning of the year 1855 it contained some 1,750 volumes. The next report of the librarian, made on January 3, 1856, a few days after the total destruction of the State House, to which the library had just been moved, says, "all the books, except the few which had been drawn out for use, were destroyed with the Capitol." 29 The first report of the State Librarian in 1860 gives the number of volumes as 1,027. This represented the accumulation through exchanges during five years, and an addition made by the use of a $500 appropriation of Con- gress. 30 This purchase was made by Governer Curry while on a visit East in 1856. Funds for the maintenance of the library were regularly obtained out of appropriations by Congress for the contingent expenses of the Territory. The National Government thus not only equipped this institution, but also supported it though the territorial legislature exercised complete authority in the way of electing the librarians, requiring reports, fixing the amount of his salary, 31 and designating the quarters for the books. The Territorial Penitentiary. At the December session, 1844, of the Legislative Committee of the Provisional Govern- ment, $1,500 were appropriated from the escheat funds of the Ewing Young estate for the construction of a log jail at Oregon City, to serve as a territorial penitentiary. 82 The building erected with these funds was burned down on August 29 The Capitol was destroyed on the night of December 29, 1855. Appendix to House Journal, Seventh Session, p. 164. 30 Appendix to House Journal, First Session, pp. 1-5. On January 30, following the destruction of the library, the legislature, in a memorial to Congress, asked for $20,000 for another library. 31 The salary of the librarian was $250 until 1855, when it was raised to $500. 32 Oregon Archives, p. 68.