Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 15.djvu/117

OREGON. owned by her at marriage or subsequently acquired. Chinamen are not allowed to hold real estate or work mining claims.

. The Constitution prohibits the Legislature from contracting any State debt exceeding $50,000, or assuming the debt of any county, town, or corporation, except for purposes of war or to suppress an insurrection. Debts to the amount of $237,000 were contracted in 1864 in order to pay bounties to soldiers and for relief of discharged soldiers and officers. The bonds were rapidly redeemed and in 1870 only $90,000 were outstanding. In that year the Legislature authorized the issue of $200,000 for construction of a canal, to be redeemed from the proceeds of the sale of public lands. The Indian wars of 1874 and 1878 further increased the debt by about $175,000. Another debt was the ‘indorsed and unpaid’ warrants issued in 1873-75 and bearing 10 per cent. for construction of wagon roads and other purposes. These high interest bearing warrants were necessary because of the constitutional provision against bonds. Altogether about $350,000 of these warrants were issued. By 1878 the public debt amounted to $651,595; but the bonds and warrants were rapidly redeemed through a special tax on property. In 1886 the debt was reduced to $53,632 in bonds and warrants, which were advertised for but not presented for redemption. In 1903 the State had no funded debt except bonds to the amount of $2365 never presented and probably lost. The income of the State is derived mainly from a State tax and sale of public lands. In 1901 the total receipts were $1,772,808, of which 38 per cent. came from the State tax and 45 per cent. from sale of lands and payments on old sale-contracts and interest on the loans. The expenditures were $1,889,134, of which more than 50 per cent. went for educational purposes. Notwithstanding the deficit, the balance in the treasury on September 30, 1902, was $1,137,575.

. The population by decades was as follows: 1850, 13,294; 1860, 52,465; 1870, 90,923; 1880, 174,768; 1890, 313,767; 1900, 413,536. Oregon ranks 35th in population, and is exceeded by both of the other Pacific Coast States. The increase from 1890 to 1900 was 30.4, as compared with 20.7 for the United States. Over half of the population is located in the Willamette Valley. In 1900 the foreign-born numbered 65,748; Chinese, 10,397; and Indians taxed, 4951. The male sex exceeded the female by 52,000. The five places having a population exceeding 4000 each, contained together 27.6 per cent. of the population.

The Indians are collected largely on five reservations, namely, Grande Ronde, Klamath, Siletz, Umatilla, and Warm Springs. A limited amount of agriculture and stock-raising is carried on upon each of the reservations.

. In 1900 Portland had 90,426 inhabitants; Astoria, 8381; and Baker City, 6663. Salem is the capital.

. The leading denominations numerically are the Roman Catholic, Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterian, Congregational, Methodist Episcopal (South), Protestant Episcopal, and United Brethren.

. In 1900 only 3.3 per cent. of the population ten years of age and over were illiterate. The State Board of Education consists of the Governor, Secretary of State, and a

superintendent of instruction. County superintendents are elected biennially, and officers of district boards every three years. Women are eligible to the office of school director, and widows with children to educate and owning taxable property in the district may vote in school meetings. Congress in 1848 gave Oregon sections 16 and 36 of all the public domain (3,387,520 acres) for public schools, 26 townships (500,000 acres) for a State university, and 90,000 acres for an agricultural college. From the proceeds of the sales of a portion of these lands an irreducible fund of $3,500,000 has been secured. The sparse settlement of a large part of the State makes the maintenance of schools difficult in many places. The Oregon law does not provide for district high schools, and rural communities are therefore without the advantages of secondary education. The length of school term, 123.9 days, is considerably below the average for the whole country. In 1899 there were 101,900 children between the ages of five and eighteen; the number enrolled was 88,485; the average attendance was 61,234. The public high schools numbered 15, and the private secondary schools 19. There are State normal schools at Monmouth, Drain, Ashland, Weston, and Gold Beach. The University of Oregon at Eugene was established in 1872. Pacific University and Tualatin Academy at Forest Grove are under Congregational control; Willamette University, Salem, is Methodist Episcopal; McMinnville College, McMinnville, Baptist; Portland University, University Park, Methodist Episcopal; Pacific College, Newberg, is a Friends institution; Philomath College, Philomath, a United Brethren; Corvallis College, Corvallis, Methodist Episcopal. Blue Mountain University is located at Lagrande. The State Agricultural College is at Corvallis. Willamette University gives instruction in law, and the University of Oregon has a law department at Portland, where also is situated the medical department of Willamette University. There is a successful Indian training school at Chemawa.

. There is a soldiers' home located at Roseburg, but the other State charitable institutions, in accordance with the requirements of the State Constitution, are located at the State capital. They are as follows: School for Deaf Mutes; Insane Asylum; School for the Blind; Boys' Reform School; and the State Penitentiary.

. The accounts of the early exploration of the western Pacific coast are conflicting and unreliable. The Spanish explorer Ferrelo possibly reached latitude 42°, the southern boundary of Oregon, in 1543, and the English flag was carried fifty or sixty miles north of this point in 1579 by Sir Francis Drake. The Spaniards Vizcaino and Aguilar reached 42° or just beyond in 1603. The fear of a Russian advance led Charles III. of Spain to order further explorations, and Perez in 1774 reached 55°, and on his return anchored in what has been identified by some as Nootka Sound. The next year Heceta, with Perez as second in command, observed the mouth of the Columbia, and a party landed at the modern Port Grenville, where several were killed by the Indians. One of the ships reached 58°. The English navigator Captain Cook in 1778 landed at Nootka Sound, which he so named. This English claim to possession was disputed by