TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



773 



capiisl to make the proper explorations. The 

 population of the territory is about 20,000, of 

 which nearly one-half are at Virginia 

 The Governor's residence is at Bannock ( 



NEBRASKA. An act was passed by Cos 

 at its last session, to enable this territory to 

 form a State Government. The delegates elect- 

 ed to prepare a Constitution met at Omaha on 

 July 4th, and voted to adjourn sine die. The 

 vote for delegate to Congress was for Hitchcock, 

 Republican, 3,486; Miller, Democrat, 2,399. 

 The Legislature contains thirty-one Republi- 

 cans, and twenty-one Democrats. The Gov- 

 ernor of the territory is Alvin Saunders, and 

 the Secretary Algeron S. Paddock. Their official 

 residence is Omaha. The greater number of the 

 four bands of Sioux Indians, which are under 

 the charge of the Indian Superintendency, re- 

 mained hostile, and military operations against 

 them were continued through the year. Major- 

 General Pope, in command of this military De- 

 partment, recommended to the Government to 

 gather the Indians around military posts, dis- 

 arm them, and compel them either to become 

 good farmers and Christians, or to starve. 

 Others proposed to buy lands for them with 

 their annuities, and scatter them among the 

 whites throughout the thickly-settled portions 

 of the country. 



NEW MEXICO. This territory has continued 

 undisturbed since its successful occupation by 

 the Federal forces in 1862. The Governor is 

 Henry Connolly, and the Secretary Win. F. M. 

 Arny. Capital Santa Fe. Some difficulties oc- 

 curred between the military and some of the 

 civil authorities, as appears by a letter of Judge 

 J. G. Knapp, making charges against Gens. 

 Carlton and West. In stating the classes of 

 oft'ences which he charges, he says : 



They have set up in New Mexico a military despot- 

 ism worse and more oppressive than the worst and 

 most cruel tyrants of any country have ever estab- 

 lished, and threaten citize'ns with 'imprisonment and 

 death who dare oppose their unjust and oppressive 

 measures : and all this is done when no enemy is 

 near nor any necessity exists for their conduct. 



WASIHXGTOX TERRITORY, situated in the ex- 

 treme northwest, contained in 1864 an esti- 

 mated population of 14,000. The capital is 

 Olympia, and the Governor William Pickering; 

 secretary, Elwood Evans. The Legislature con- 

 sists of a Council and House of Representatives, 

 which assemble annually on the first Monday 

 of December. The former is composed of nine 

 members, and the latter of thirty. The total 

 vote of the territory in 1863 for a delegate to 

 Congress was 3,231. Of these votes George E. 

 Cole, Democrat, received 1,644 ; and J. O. Ray- 

 nor, Republican, 1,446 ; and 41 scattering. The 

 estimated value of property in 1864 within the 

 territory was $5,482,52 1 . There are five weekly 

 papers published in the territory. This terri- 

 tory possesses great natural advantages, having 

 & vast seaboard on the Pacific Ocean, the Straits 

 of St. Juan de Fuca and adjacent waters. The 

 Columbia River and its numerous tributaries 



flow through the ten the 49th to the 



4lith parallel of hit i;. 



The commerce of the p .ngontho 



seaboard is principally n.nlimd to 

 fishing, and coal-mining. Large cargo. 

 spars, lumber, Arc., are cons; 



shipped to San Franci.-ri.. th- Sandwich K 

 South America, China, New Zealand, 

 in Europe. Large quantities of coal are shipped 

 from Bellingham Bay, where a company, with 

 a capital stock of $1,000,000, is extend, I 

 gaged in mining. < irnon, and other 



varieties of fi.-! M exported in 



quantities. The Columbia River forms the line 

 of division between the State of Oregon and 

 Washington Territory. Passing along, in a 

 northerly direction, the first place of importance 

 on the seacoast of Washington Territory is 

 Shoalwater Bay, a picturesque sheet of water 

 which has the reputation of producing the finest 

 flavored oysters on' the coast. The country 

 bordering the bay is very generally settled by 

 men who unite with the occupation of farming 

 the avocation of fishing. Large quantities of 

 oysters are annually shipped from Shoalwater 

 Bay to San Francisco, Sacramento, Portland, 

 and other places on the Pacific coast. Large 

 quantities of piles and spars are also shipped 

 from this point, which, together with the ship- 

 ment of about 30,000 bushels of oysters, maka 

 the value of the exports from this locality about 

 $120,000. This bay was discovered by Lieut. 

 John Meares, in the Felice, July 5, 1788, and 

 upon sounding for an entrance, discovered so 

 many shoals that he gave it the name it at pres- 

 ent bears. A lighthouse was erected on Cape 

 Shoalwater, which was first illuminated on Oc- 

 tober 1st, 1858. The height of the tower is 41 i 

 feet from the base, and 87 feet above the level 

 of the sea. Oysterville and Brucefort are the 

 names of the villages on the bay. Passing along 

 the coast about thirteen miles further north is 

 Gray's Harbor, a bay which was discovered by 

 Gray in 1792, and named by him Bulfinch Har- 

 bor, after one of the owners of his vessel ; but 

 the present name was subsequently applied to 

 it by Lieut. Whidby, who surveyed it in 17 '.'-'. 

 and called it Gray's Harbor, in compliment to 

 its discoverer. This bay is extensively settled 

 by enterprising people, who have erected lum- 

 ber and flouring mills, and established a town 

 near the point where the Chehalis River empties 

 into the bay. Several smaller streams also 

 empty into this bay. The Chehalis is naviga- 

 ble for boats for a distance of sixty miles, and 

 drains the country well suited for agricultural 

 purposes. North of Gray's Harbor are the 

 Queniult, Raft, Queet*, (Jhahlats, Quilci: 

 and several smaller rivers emptying into tho 

 Pacific Ocean south of Cape Flattery, which 

 forms the southern headland of that vast expanse 

 of water known as the Straits of Juan de Fuca. 

 The entrance to this strait is about four 

 miles wide, and the distance from the entrance 

 to Whidby's Island. :i boundary, is 



eighty-four miles. The depth of water through- 



