Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/47

Rh agreeable the free life of the herdsman or owner of stock, who flitted over the endless green meadows, clad in fringed buckskin, with Spanish spurs jingling on his heels, and a crimson silk scarf tied about the waist, that to aspiring lads the life of a vaquero offered attractions superior to those of soil-stirring.

He who would a wooing go, if unable to return the same day, carried his blankets, and at night threw himself upon the floor and slept till morning, when he might breakfast before leave-taking.

If there were none of the usual means of travel, neither were there mail facilities till 1848. Letters were carried by private persons, who received pay or not according to circumstances. The legislature of 1845 in December enacted a law establishing a general post-office at Oregon City, with W. G. T'Vault as postmaster-general, but the funds of the provisional government were too scanty and the settlements too scattered to make it possible to carry out the intention of the act.