Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 15.djvu/174



162 SAMUEL ROYAL THURSTON

ceived a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury in answer to one of inquiry written him by me, informing- me that no information of the kind had been received from the Collector of Astoria or from any other source. After writing some letters to my constituents in Oregon, and looking still further for laws relative to Oregon, and making memorandums, I went to bed between ten and eleven.

December 11, 1849 This morning I called on the Secretary of the Interior, Thos. Ewing, to find out what instructions had been given to the Gov. of Oregon relative to Indian affairs. The Secretary sent me to the chief clerk of the Indian Bureau for the information.

I then brought to his notice Robt. Newell, Sub. Ind. Agent in Oregon, requesting his removal. He informed me to write him a letter on the subject and he would attend to it. I next went over to the clerk for the information above re- ferred to, and took a brief abstract of said instructions in pencil. This took me till one P. M., as they were quite long, after which I went into the House which was then balloting for Speaker. W. J. Brown ran ahead and came to 4 votes of an election. Winthrop, the Whig candidate, withdrew. After this the House adjourned at about 4 P. M. After supper I called on Senator Douglas to consult on Oregon affairs. Found him favorable. After this I returned home and wrote to the Sec. of the Interior requesting Robt. Newell's removal as Sub Agt, and recommended as his successor Joseph [Jo- siah] L. Parrish of Salem, Oregon. Went to bed about 12 o'clock, M.

December 12, 1849 After perusing the papers, I went to Col. Benton's to see him upon Oregon affairs. He was not in. I then went to the House Library and ordered the J ournals of the House for the last ten years. Then went to the P. O. and found among others two letters, one for information of Daniel P. Bradford of Brooklyn, relative to moving to Ore- gon. I replied to both on the spot, and wrote to Mr. Craw-
 * M. Crawford in Oregon from his father, and another from

i Medorcm Crawford, who crossed the plains to Oregon in 1843.