Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/313

Rh to the United States law for premption and purchase. On the admission of Oregon as a state in 1859, out of eight thousand land claims filed in the registrar's office in Oregon City, only about one eighth had been forwarded to Washington for patent, owing to the neglect of the government to furnish clerks to the registrar, who could issue no more than one certificate daily. Fees not being allowed, this officer could not afford to hire assistants. But in 1862 fees were allowed, and the work progressed more satisfactorily, though it is doubtful if ten years afterward all the donation patents had been issued.