OUT WHERE THE WEST BEGINS 



"some town" in its day — and decreased its population; 

 while that of Eastern Oregon especially between '66 

 and '68 increased, and Pendleton became a more nat- 

 ural and easily reached center for the inhabitants. 



These were the reasons advanced for the transfer of 

 the county seat to Pendleton, and this question was 

 agitated. All the settlers of Eastern Oregon now de- 

 manded by a signed petition that the county seat be 

 moved nearer their center of population. Pendleton 

 considered itself the logical site and when the petition 

 was granted by the legislature, tho no definite place was 

 decided upon, Judge Bailey in January, 1868, ordered 

 the county officers to remove the records to Pendleton. 

 This was done, but in lieu of a courthouse, Judge 

 Bailey's cellar was the official repository. Judge Wil- 

 son of Umatilla declared this removal premature and 

 the records had to be carted back over the old Oregon 

 Trail again to the Umatilla courthouse. 



While the question burned, Pendleton worked The 

 change and location of a seat for the county, was not 

 going to be delayed through any fault of theirs, besides, 

 it was obvious that it should be at Pendleton, and now 

 that they had made up their minds, they built a court- 

 house in short order before the question was settled. 

 But the matter held fire too long for the "go get 'em" 

 spirit of the little town. Anyway, what's the use of 

 having a courthouse and nothing to put in it ? 



On a certain week-end, a score of men, heavily 

 armed, rode down "The Meadow," lying to the west of 

 Pendleton along the river, across the desert, and under 

 the cover of darkness that Saturday night entered Uma- 

 tilla. Early the next morning at the hour when men 

 and dogs sleep heaviest, in the very heart of Umatilla, 

 they piled not only all of the records of the county and 



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