Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/37



MISSION CLAIM TO THE DALLES 29

1852, for a nominal consideration, had conveyed the premises subject to the military reservation to Messrs. M. M. McCarver and Samuel S. White." Rev. Myron Eells once mentioned this matter to me with much regret, and said his father had corrected and amended this matter as much as it lay in his power to do so.

It was urged by the Society that their claim was valid be- cause the U. S. Congress had passed an act June, 1860, for the relief of the Missionary Society of the M. E. Church. That was in this way : In 1854 the military reservation at The Dalles, which had covered a number of square miles, was re- duced to 640 acres by order of the War Department to "be laid off in such manner as least to interfere with private rights." In the execution of the order 353 acres as surveyed by the mission agent in 1850 was included in the reservation and covered all the improvements of the mission. The Society put in a claim for compensation. This was referred to Major G. J. Rains, the post commander of Fort Dalles, who reported in favor of paying them $20,000. This was recommended to be paid by the house committee on military affairs $20,000 for satisfaction of the claim for the land and also $4,000 for the destruction of property upon the mission claim. The com- mittee considered from their evidence that the Society was still in "possession" of the property on that memorable August 14, 1848, while Judge Deady again emphasized the fact of non- occupancy and ignores the (to use his own words) "convenient term possession." (Act, August 14, 1848.) Now the Organic Law, which was passed on August 14, 1848 (when Oregon be- came a territory), contained a clause on the Grant to Missions in Oregon upon which much stress has been legally laid in the suits between Dalles City and the Missionary Society of the M. E. Church. To quote, the grant "is not confined to a single station to each society, but includes as many stations as were then actually occupied by each society for missionary purposes among the Indians." Now, note the actual occupation clause of the grant, for upon that peg hung all the rights of The Dalles people.