THE QUARTERLY

of the

Oregon Historical Society

VOLUME XIV SEPTEMBER, 1913 NUMBER 3

Copyright, 191 3, by Oregon Historical Society The Quarterly disavows responsibility for the positions taken by contributors to its pages

LETTER BY DANIEL H. LOWNSDALE TO SAMUEL R. THURSTON, FIRST TER- RITORIAL DELEGATE FROM OREGON TO CONGRESS

Introduction by Clarence B. Bagley

In December, 1912, the writer spent several days in the rooms of the Oregon Historical Society, in Portland, examin- ing old manuscripts and newspapers. The collection belonging to that Society is large and of historic value that but few even of its own members appreciate.

From 1852 to 1860 our family lived; in and near Salem, it being the capital of Oregon Territory, where nearly all the notable people of those early days congregated at some time of the year; thus their faces and reputations were familiar to me. The reading of these letters and documents bearing dates of more than sixty years ago from Joseph Lane, James W. Nes- mith, Asahel Bush, Matthew P. Deady, et al., brought to my mind hundreds of incidents of my childhood when these men and their contemporaries controlled affairs in Old Oregon.

Among these papers and docume'nts were several from Daniel H. Lownsdale to Samuel R. Thurston, Oregon's first delegate in Congress. The document presented herewith in the Quarterly is unsigned, but while reading it the handwriting seemed familiar and after a careful comparison with letters a'nd documents signed by Mr. Lownsdale, Mr. George H. Himes and I, both, by the way, expert in deciphering poor chirography and in the recognition of individual penmanship, unhesitatingly pronounced it the work of Mr. Lownsdale.