than thirteen, nor more that sixty-one members, whose number might not be increased more than five at any one session. In 1846, for the second regular session of the assembly, thirteen were elected, namely, Angus McDonald, A. Chamberlain, Robert Newell, and Jesse Looney, of Champoeg; Hiram Straight, A. L. Lovejoy, and W. G. T'Vault, of Clackamas; George Somers, of Clatsop; W. F. Tolmie, of Lewis; J. E. Williams and John D. Boone, of Polk; Joseph L. Meek, D. H. Lownsdale, and Lawrence Hall, of Tuality; Henry N. Peers, of Vancouver, and Thomas Jefferys and Absalom J. Hembree, of Yamhill.
It will be observed that we have now reached the time when the American settlers within the territory comprised in the present State of Washington began to participate in the Provisional Government. A short statement on this part of the subject will be in place here.
To the four districts defined and named in the first organization, the districts of Clatsop and Polk, lying within the limits of the present State of Oregon, and that of Vancouver, within the limits of the present State of Washington, had been added. The Vancouver district was created in 1845. By the act of the assembly the word "county" was now substituted for "district" throughout. Hitherto, there had been no organization north of the Columbia River, except as the districts of Tuality and Clackamas were supposed to extend northward to the boundary line, which the Oregon Legislature had declared was at the parallel of "fifty-four forty." The district of Vancouver, when created, embraced the whole American territory north of the Columbia River and west of the Cascade Mountains. The legislature appointed these officers, to wit: James Douglas, M. T. Simmons, and Charles Forest, justices, and John R. Jackson, sher-
