COG 



OREGON. 



OUSELEY, WILLIAM GORE. 



vote was taken on a resolution declaring the 

 action of the House, in authorizing the amend- 

 ment of the Federal Constitution, illegal and 

 fraudulent. This resolution was lost yeas, 23 ; 

 nays, 24. 



But the most important subject before the 

 Legislature at this session was the Oregon Cen- 

 tral Railroad. On October 6th the Governor 

 sent a special message to the Legislature on the 

 subject, urging the necessity of immediate action, 

 otherwise great delay would ensue in conse- 

 quence of their biennial sessions. The State 

 was destitute of common roads, and its water 

 communication with the marts of trade was to- 

 tally inadequate to the wants of the people. A 

 railroad running through the Willamette Valley, 

 and via Oakland, Roseburg, Jacksonville, and 

 Yreka, connecting with the Central Pacific in 

 California, was of vast importance. But not 

 less important was a road running from the 

 navigable waters of the Columbia via Boise City 

 to the valley of the Great Salt Lake, connecting 

 with the Central Pacific at Salt Lake City. 

 This was the route to which the Governor's 

 message referred. An act was passed at a pre- 

 vious session to aid the first-named route, but 

 the appropriation was so small nothing had 

 been accomplished. Congress, by an act of 

 July 25, 1866, donated twenty sections of the 

 public lands for each mile of railroad construct- 

 ed from the city of Portland, Oregon, to con- 

 nect with the Central Pacific Railroad in Cali- 

 fornia, which lands are to be selected within 

 thirty miles of the road on each side. This 

 grant does not afford sufficient security for in- 

 vestment; the Legislature was, therefore, called 

 upon to offer sufficient inducement to draw 

 capital from abroad. Capitalists have offered 

 under such circumstances to embark in the en- 

 terprise. The incorporation of the Oregon Cen- 

 tral, with provisions that would enable it to 

 reap the benefits of the act of Congress, and 

 that should secure the payment of the interest 

 on the bonds of the company necessary to con- 

 struct the first twenty miles, was an all-im- 

 portant measure. The subject was referred to 

 a special committee in the House, who made a 

 report in favor of the measure, and stated the 

 following facts relative to the resources of the 

 State : 



It is a well-known -fact that the wheat crop, the 

 great reliance of the Oregon farmer, scarcely ever 

 yields him one-third the price it commands in the 

 San Francisco market. In 1864, while wheat was sell- 

 ing readily for $2.00 in San Francisco, it would bring 

 the farmer but 75 cents in the Willamette Valley, 

 and now, when it is above $1.00 in San Francisco, it 

 is dull sale at half that price here. The same ine- 

 quality of prices will be found to prevail in all other 

 articles of produce. It is absurd to expect our 

 farmers to prosper and aid in developing our coun- 

 try, as long as they are subjected to such disadvan- 

 tages in competing with the farmers of California. 

 And we cannot expect that other branches of business 

 will prosper when the farmer is thus deprived of the 

 profits of a good market for want of cheap transpor- 

 tation at all times. In Southern Oregon the obstacles 

 to the exportation of agricultural products are so 

 great as to amount to a complete embargo; and such 



must forever continue to be the condition of that 

 country, at least so far as the most profitable part of 

 the farmer's labor is concerned, until the country is 

 tapped by a railroad leading either to Portland or San 

 Francisco. And as illustrating the necessity of a rail 

 road connection to the people of the southern coun- 

 ties, we may mention the fact, ascertained from the 

 books of the commission merchants at Crescent City, 

 California, that the inhabitants of Josephine and 

 Jackson Counties have in a single year paid out, as 

 freight money alone, on 1,800 tons of merchandise im- 

 ported, the sum of $179,700. This large expenditure 

 would be reduced fully three-fourths by the construc- 

 tion of a railroad, while it would give the people 

 some opportunity to pay for this merchandise by the 

 exchange of the produce of the farms, while cheap 

 goods and cheaper machinery would stimulate the 

 production of the means immeasurably. 



The aid proposed to be given by the State 

 was, that she should pay $70,000 per annum as 

 soon as one hundred miles of the road were 

 finished. The increase in the assessable value 

 of property, in consequence of the existence of 

 the ro^d, it was estimated would pay this sura 

 without any increase in the rate of taxation. 

 The bill granting the aid required was finally 

 passed in both Houses. A bill was passed at 

 this session to protect and tax Chinese mining 

 in the State. Another, for the reorganization 

 of public schools, and with one requiring a regis- 

 try of voters, failed to pass. The public institu- 

 tions of the State are yet in an incomplete con- 

 dition. The Penitentiary is a temporary struc- 

 ture in an unhealthy location. The Insane Hos- 

 pital contains, as patients and attendants, one 

 hundred and twenty persons; new buildings 

 have been completed and furnished with all the 

 usual recent improvements. Domestic manu- 

 factures of wool and iron are improving very 

 rapidly. The wool clip is estimated to be worth 

 $300,000. The crops of the year were heavy, 

 but prices of the staple products were low and 

 the markets dull. At Salem, the capital, the 

 thermometer has generally ranged between forty 

 and fifty degrees during the winter of 1866 '7. 

 Grass has grown some during the season, and 

 on February 10, 1867, -the pastures were green. 



OUSELEY, Sir WILLIAM GOEE, K. C. B., 

 D. C. L., an English diplomatist, born in Lon- 

 don, in 1797; died there March 6, 1866. He 

 was the eldest son of Sir William Ousel ey, 

 LL. D., and entered the diplomatic service at 

 an early age. He served in many countries, 

 including a prolonged residence at the court of 

 Rio Janeiro, and also at Buenos Ayres and 

 Monte Video, during an eventful period in the 

 history of some of the South American States. 

 In 1857 he was sent on a special mission to 

 this conntry. While at the British Legation in. 

 Washington in 1829, he married a daughter of 

 Governor Van Ness of Vermont. In common 

 with most members of his gifted family, who 

 for centuries held offices of trust under. the 

 British Government, Sir William was a ripe 

 classic as well as a sound modern scholar, and 

 received the honorary degree of D. C. L. from 

 the University of Oxford in 1855. He was an 

 admirable writer and well versed in many 

 branches of belles lettres. 



