Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/91

Rh predicted that the great migration to California would benefit Oregon, as many of the gold-seekers would remain on the Pacific coast, and look for homes in the fertile and lovely valleys of the new territory. And last, but by no means least in importance, was the reference to the expected donation of land for which the people were waiting, and all the more anxiously that there was much doubt entertained of the tenure by which their claims were now held, since the only part of the old organic law repealed was that which granted a title to lands. He advised them to call the attention of congress to this subject without delay. In short, if Lane had been a pioneer of 1843 he could not have touched upon all the topics nearest the public heart more successfully. Hence his immediate popularity was assured, and whatever he might propose was likely to receive respectful consideration.

The territorial act allowed the first legislative assembly one hundred days, at three dollars a day, in which to perform its work. A memorial to congress occupied it two weeks; still, the assembly closed its labors in seventy-six days, having enacted what the Spectator described as a "fair and respectable code of laws," and adopted one hundred acts of the Iowa statutes. The memorial set forth the loyalty of the people, and the natural advantages of the country, not forgetting the oft-repeated request that congress would grant six hundred and forty acres of land to each actual settler, including widows and orphans; and that the donations should be made to conform to the claims and improvements of the settlers; but if congress decided to have the lands surveyed, and to make grants by subdivisions, that the settler might be permitted to take his land in subdivisions as low as twenty acres, so as to include his improvements, without regard to section or township lines. The