Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 18.djvu/36



20 Fred Wilbur Powell, A. M.

gress in December, 1820, Benton was in Washington as sen- ator-elect from the new state of Missouri, awaiting formal ad- mission to his seat. There he had quarters at Brown's hotel with Congressman Floyd, Ramsay Crooks of New York, and Russell Famham of Massachusetts. Crooks and Famham had been in the service of John Jacob Astor on the Northwest Coast. Floyd had already become interested in Western af- fairs during his early residence in Kentucky, and he had read the articles which Benton had published in the St. Louis Enquirer. These circumstances led to earnest conversations among the four men; and Floyd determined to bring the question of occupation to the attention of congress.*' He re- newed his efforts in the following congress and continued his endeavors until 1829, when he became governor of Virginia. He died in 1837 ; and it does not appear that he was active in the movement after leaving congress.

On February 22, 1823, Peter Little of Maryland presented to the house "a memorial from eighty enterprising farmers and mechanics within his district, praying congress to pass the [Floyd] bill now on the clerk's table, for the occupation of the mouth of the Columbia river, intimating their wish to re- move thither, for the improvement of that country, and of their own condition."**

Benton's first formal action in the matter was taken on January 10, 1825, when he reported to the senate the Floyd bill, which had already been passed by the house.^*^

Growing interest in the Oregon question is indicated by the proceedings of the twentieth congress. The terms of the joint- occupation agreement had been continued indefinitely in 1827, but made terminable upon a year's notice. On February 11, 1828, Floyd presented a "memorial of citizens of the United States, praying for a grant of land, and the aid of Government in forming a colony on the Northwest coast of the United

13 Benton, Thirty Y tars' View, I, 13; 16 cong. a test. Annals of Congrsss, tXXVn, 679. 945-59; H. joor., 80, 171.

1417 cong. a tew.. Annals of Congrtss, XL, 1077; H. jonr., 150. 15 x8 coog. a test. S. joor., 74-