[192] For Gray's Harbor see our volume vi, p. 256, note 64; the Chehalis River is described in Farnham's Travels, our volume xxix, p. 81, note 103.—Ed.
[193] For the Cowlitz settlement see our volume xxvii, p. 386, note 203.—Ed.
[194] Much has been written on the provisional government of Oregon, which was shadowed forth in the action of 1841, and actually established July 5, 1843. Consult J. Quinn Thornton, "History of the Provisional Government," in Oregon Pioneer Association Transactions, 1874, pp. 43-96; J. Henry Brown, Political History of Oregon (Portland, 1892); James R. Robertson, "Genesis of Political Authority in Oregon," in Oregon Historical Quarterly, i, pp. 1-59; and H. W. Scott, "Formation and Administration of the Provisional Government of Oregon," ibid., ii, pp. 95-118. Palmer's brief synopsis is a summary of the revised organic law, drafted by a committee appointed by the legislature in June, 1845, endorsed by popular vote on July 26, and put in operation August 5 (see appendix to the present volume). This government continued until February 16, 1849, when it was superseded by the territorial government provided by Congress under act approved August 14, 1848. The code of Iowa laws appears to have been adopted because of the existence of a copy of Iowa statutes in the country. See F. I. Herriott, "Transplanting Iowa's Laws to Oregon," in Oregon Historical Quarterly, v, pp. 139-150.—Ed.
[195] The legislature of 1843 erected four districts for the purpose of local government—i. e., Tualatin (read for Quality), Yamhill, Champoeg (read for Shampoic), and Clackamas. That of 1845 changed the title to counties and created four more—Clatsop, Polk, Vancouver, and Lewis. Palmer gives their location properly.—Ed.
[196] For the location of Spaulding's mission see our volume xxviii, p. 338, note 215.
William Craig was a mountain man who came to Oregon in 1842. He married among the Nez Percés, and established a farm just east of the Lapwai mission, where he had great influence with this tribe. In 1855 his land was reserved to him by treaty, the Nez Percés "having expressed in council a desire that William Craig should continue to live with them, having uniformly shown himself their friend." In 1856 he was made lieutenant-colonel of Washington volunteers, and in 1857-59, Indian agent at Walla Walla.—Ed.
[197] For the beginnings of Portland see note 136, ante, p. 166.
Francis W. Pettygrove was born in Calais, Maine, in 1812. Having engaged in mercantile business he carried a cargo of goods valued at $15,000 to Oregon by sea, establishing a store at Oregon City (1843). It was due to his wish that the newly-founded town near the mouth of the Willamette received the name of Portland. In 1848 Pettygrove sold his interest in the Portland town site, going to California, where he speculated in land at Benicia. In 1851 he was one of the founders of Port Townsend, in Washington.—Ed.
[198] The town of Linnton was founded in 1843 by M. M. McCarver and Peter H. Burnett, emigrants of that year, who supposed they had chosen a site that would be the head of ship navigation. They spent the first spring cutting the road to Tualatin Plains; but not finding Linnton a profitable speculation, they removed to the Plains and began farming. The town has continued to exist until the present, its population in 1900 being 384.—Ed.
[199] The stream is the Washougal River of Clarke County, Washington whose source is not as far north as Mount St. Helens, but near Saddle Peak in Skamania County. A number of the immigrants of 1844 stopped here and established winter quarters, going on the next year to settle at Puget Sound. Chief among these was Colonel Michael T. Simmons, this title being bestowed because he was second in command of the caravan of 1844. Born in Kentucky in 1814, he had in 1840 removed to Missouri where he built and ran a saw mill, which he sold to obtain his outfit for the Oregon journey. He explored the Puget Sound region in the spring of 1845, settling at Tumwater, where he died in 1867. Simmons is known as the father of Washington; he was sub-Indian agent for several years, and much concerned in building up the settlement.—Ed.