Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/49

Rh was brought across the plains in an emigrant wagon in 1848, intrusted to the care of P. B. Cornwall, who turning off to California placed it in charge of Orrin Kellogg, who brought it safely to Oregon City and delivered it to Joseph Hull. Under this authority Multnomah lodge was opened September 11, 1848, Joseph Hull, W. M.; W. P. Dougherty, S. W., and T. C. Cason, J. W. J. C. Ainsworth was the first worshipful master elected under this charter.

A dispensation for establishing an Odd Fellows lodge was also applied for in 1846, but not obtained till 1852. The Multnomah circulating library was a chartered institution, with branches in the different counties; and the members of the Falls Association, a literary society which seems to have been a part of the library scheme, contributed to the Spectator prose and verse of no mean quality.

The small and scattered population and the scarcity of school-books were serious drawbacks to education. Continuous arrivals, and the printing of a large edition of Webster's Elementary Spelling Book by the Oregon printing association, removed some of the obstacles to advancement in the common schools. Of private schools and academies there were already several besides the Oregon Institute and the Catholic schools. Of the latter there were St Joseph for