On January 26, 1857, at the instance of the governor, the legislature passed an act incorporating the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, with a capital of fifteen millions, which might be increased to thirty millions, and authority to build a railroad from one of the passes in the Rocky Mountains, on the border of Nebraska, westwardly across Washington by the Bitter Root valley, crossing the Cœur d’Alene Mountains, and traversing the plain of the Columbia, with two branches, one down the Columbia, the other over the Cascade Mountains to the Sound, with a line from the river to the Sound. Among the incorporators were Governor Isaac I. Stevens, Senator Ramsay, and General James Shields, of Minnesota, Judge William Strong, Colonel William Cock, Elwood Evans, A.A. Denny, and W.S. Ladd. The governor expected a rapid development of the Territory, and evidently thought that an organized company with a charter was a practical step towards starting the great railroad enterprise.
Early in the year 1857 General Wool was relieved of the command of the Pacific Department by General N. G. Clarke, colonel 6th infantry, and went to New York, where he continued his malignant warfare upon the authorities, volunteers, and people of Oregon and Washington, by whose governors and legislatures he was denounced, “and whose respect he had long since ceased to possess.”
After his nomination the governor determined to make a canvass of the Territory, and invited Alexander S. Abernethy, who was nominated by the Whig convention, to accompany and meet him in joint discussion. The newly appointed receiver of the Land Office, just arrived from the East, Selucious Garfielde, a man of fine, showy presence and great oratorical gifts, offered to assist in the canvass by discussing national politics. A small steam-tug, the Traveler, W.H. Horton owner and captain, was chartered to take the party around the Sound. Mr. Abernethy declined the invitation, but Colonel William H. Wallace went in his stead, and the governor, accompanied by Garfielde, Wallace, his son Hazard, and a few friends, started from Olympia in May, and visited Steilacoom, Seattle, Ports Madison, Gamble, Ludlow, and Townsend, thence up Hood’s Canal to Sebec, thence Whitby Island, thence Bellingham Bay, and thence returned to Olympia. At each point the governor spoke at length, defending his course, but devoting more time to pointing out the needs of the Territory and the measures necessary for its benefit, such as the confirmation of the treaties, payment of the war debt, additional roads and mail service, and especially the Northern Pacific Railroad and its relation to the trade of Asia. With much feeling he indignantly denied the personal charges against himself, denounced the traducers, and defied them to meet him face to face and repeat them. Though not a fluent speaker, he was clear, strong, earnest, and convincing, and was everywhere received with the greatest attention and respect.
A plot was formed at Steilacoom to get up a row at the meeting to be held there, and under cover of it to assassinate the governor; and in consequence of the earnest entreaties of his friends there, who had discovered the plot at the last moment and were wholly unprepared for it, he made but a short stop at that point. In July he again visited Steilacoom, and held a meeting and joint discussion, but no attempt at disturbance was made, his friends being ready for it.
As the little Traveler slowly churned her way into Bellingham Bay, a great war canoe, manned by the northern Indians,—those dreaded sea wolves,—went speeding across the entrance to the bay twice as fast as the Traveler could possibly go, and the little party felt rejoiced to have escaped meeting them. It was only a few weeks later that the unfortunate Colonel Ebey met his tragic fate at the hands of a crew of these savages. They were forbidden to enter the Sound, and the appearance of one of their war canoes betokened only violence and robbery.
After returning to Olympia the governor spoke at meetings of the settlers there, at Tumwater, and Yelm, Chambers’, and Grand Mound prairies. Then he proceeded down the Chehalis River and traveled along the coast, crossing Gray’s Harbor and Shoalwater Bay, to the mouth of the Columbia, holding meetings on Miami prairie, and each of these points; thence, continuing the canvass, he went up the river, speaking at Cathlamet, Monticello, Lewis River, Vancouver, and the Cascades, and then, returning home by way of the Cowlitz, he spoke at Cowlitz Landing and Judge Ford’s.
In this canvass, in five weeks Governor Stevens traveled by steamer, canoe, and on horseback fourteen hundred and sixty miles, and spoke at forty meetings. His friends supported him with great enthusiasm, and one of the features of the contest was the “Stevens Hat,” adopted as a badge by his more enthusiastic supporters,—a black slouch hat, the rougher and shabbier the better.
The election took place July 13, and he was chosen by a vote of 986 against 549 for his opponent.
During the governor’s absence on the canvass occurred the untimely death of James Doty, his faithful secretary and assistant in so many difficult and dangerous Indian councils and expeditions. “I have never been connected with a more intelligent and upright man,” declared the governor. He was buried on Bush prairie beside his friend, George W. Stevens.
After his election as delegate Governor Stevens resigned as governor, August 11, 1857, and Lafayette McMullan, of Virginia, was appointed his successor. The governor turned over the gubernatorial office to the new appointee on his arrival, and the Indian superintendency to Colonel Nesmith, who was appointed superintendent for both Oregon and Washington, the two superintendencies having been united by the last Congress, in May. At his invitation Colonel Nesmith visited him at Olympia, and the governor took the greatest pains to impart to him all the information and assistance in regard to his new duties in his power.