trustees; and the attendance was increased to two hundred students from Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Because of certain unavoidable but far-reaching financial reverses, Blue Mountain University closed its doors in 1883, having completed a comparatively brief but signally important career.
Hayes-Tilden Contest Over Oregon Electoral Commission. During the closing months of L. F. Grover's term as Governor, Oregon's prominence in national affairs was augmented by reason of its connection with the Hayes-Tilden contest for the presidency. The state had voted in favor of Mr. Hayes, but since the result in the electoral college stood 185 for Hayes and 184 for Tilden, the managers for the latter sought to declare J. W. Watts, one of the electors for Oregon, ineligible because he was postmaster, which disqualified him under a federal law, from holding two remunerative offices at once. Governor Grover refused to issue a commission to Watts, and, instead, gave it to E. A. Cronin, a Tilden elector. This would have resulted in the election of Tilden as President of the United States, but the Electoral Commission, to which this and other doubtful questions were referred, decided in favor of Watts, on the ground that the people of Oregon had unquestionably voted in favor of Hayes» and their will should be observed; so the vote of Mr. Watts, the republican elector from Oregon was counted, without which Hayes could not have been elected to the Presidency.
Univenity of Oregon. The predecessor of the University of Oregon was Columbia College. This college, which was located (1660) by the Presbyterians at Eugene, Oregon, trained many prominent men and women, among whom was the poet, Joaquin Miller. However, the school languished for want of patronage: and it became evident
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