Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 13.djvu/138

 130 FREDERICK V. HOLMAN "All the country south of the northern boundary line of the United States, west of the Willamette, or Multnomah River, north of the Yamhill River and east of the Pacific Ocean." Clackamas District was not described by boundaries. It was declared to comprehend "all the territory not included in the other three districts." June 27, 1844, the Legislative Committee passed an Act : "That all those parts of any counties heretofore organized which lie north of the Columbia River be and they are hereby stricken off respectively, and that the said river shall consti- tute the northern boundary of said counties, respectively." (General and Special Laws of 1843-9, page 74). As there were no counties north of the Columbia River this was practically an abandonment of jurisdiction north of that river, if the original Provisional Government ever had juris- diction north of that river. In fact, in 1843, there was no attempt even to assert jurisdiction north of the Columbia River. There was then, at least, a tacit understanding that north of that river the Hudson's Bay Company controlled the country and that the Provisional Government had control only south of that river and west of the Cascade Mountains. December 24, 1844, an Act was passed "explanatory" of said Act of June 27, 1844. This latter Act defined the boundaries of "Oregon" and made the northern boundary line "the parallel of fifty- four degrees and forty minutes of north latitude." The eastern boundary was made "along the main dividing ridge of the Rocky Mountains," latitude forty-two was made the south- ern boundary, and the Pacific Ocean, the western boundary (General and Special Laws of 1843-9, page 72). But no county was then created, north of the Columbia, so that north of that river Oregon had a boundary but it was without the control of the Provisional Government. It was merely a dec- laration of boundaries, not an assumption of jurisdiction north of the Columbia River. THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY AND THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. The, number of the officers, employes and servants of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Oregon Country was several