Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/246



226 HARRISON C. DALE

of the company, the executive and legislative acts, and the expenditures en route ; 108 the treasurer, under bonds, 107 managed the finances, of which he had to give careful account at the end of the journey ; 108 the sergeants with the corporals posted the guards at night 109 and were responsible for the adequate performance of guard duty. The pilot, usually a salaried officer, employed by the company at the start and receiving any where from $250 to $1000 no was the chief adviser of the commanding officer in determining the route. The term of elective officers varied but tended to be short.

As a part of the executive, and frequently also of the judici- ary, was the Council, an elective body of from nine to thirteen men. Their executive functions consisted primarily in offering counsel to the commanding officers in determining the general policy to be pursued by the emigrant government and in review- ing proposed legislation. 111

The company met in regular session at the outset for the purpose of drafting and accepting their constitution and elect- ing officers. Regular meetings might be called thereafter by the commanding officer 112 or at the pleasure of the members themselves. The actual conduct of official business at the start was usually entrusted to committees, who would repre- sent more adequately the various elements composing the com- pany. Such committees interviewed and employed the guide, 113 drafted by-laws, 114 inspected the outfit of the emigrants, 115 and performed other services of this nature. 116 To secure efficiency

1 06 Constitution, Savannah Oregon Emigrating Company, 8. Resolutions, Oregon Emigrating Society, Rule 4, Wilkes, History of Oregon, Part II, p. 71.

107 Palmer, Travels (Thwaites), p. 43.

108 Constitution, Savannah Oregon Emigrating Company, p.

109 Minto, Reminiscences. Oreg. Hist. Quart., II, 156.

no See communication, New Orleans Picayune, Nov. 21, 1843, reprinted in Oreg. Hist. Quart., I, 401. Medorem Crawford, Journal, p. n. Palmer, Travels (Thwaites), p. 43.

in Resolutions, Oregon Emigrating Society, Rule 2, Wilkes, Loc. cit. Con- stitution of the Oregon Emigration Society of Iowa Territory, at Iou-a City, Article I, 5, 6, 7, 15, in Iowa Journ. Hist, and Pol., X, 420 f.

112 Constitution, Savannah Oregon Emigrating Company, .?/. Diary of E. E. Parrish, O. P. A. Transactions, 1888, pp. 94, 102.

113 Burnett, Recollections and Opinions, Oreg. Hist. Quart., IV, 67.

114 Ibid. Nesmith, Diary of the Emigration of 1843, Oreg. Hist. Quart., VII, 329. Bryant, What I Saw in California, p. 31. Thornton, Address, O. P. A. Transactions, 1878, p. 39 f.

1 15 Bryant, What I Saw in California, p. 32. Burnett, Recollections and Opinions Oreg. Hist. Quart., IV, 67.

1 1 6 Burnett, Loc. cit. Wilkes, History of Oregon, Part II, pp. 67, 72.