willingly conceded to the administration, the course of which had been temporarily clouded by hurtful though unsubstantiated complaints.[1]
The elevation of Grover to the U. S. senate left Stephen F. Chadwick in the gubernatorial chair, which he filled without cause for dissatisfaction during the remainder of the term. During Chadwick's administration eastern Oregon was visited by an Indian war. During this interval the depredations caused were very severe, and the loss to the white settlers of property was immense, a full history of which will be included in those described in my History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana.
One by one the former democratic aspirants for
place reached the goal of their desires. Joseph S.
Smith was succeeded in congress by James H. Slater, who during the period of the rebellion was editor of the Corvallis Union, a paper that, notwithstanding its name, advocated disunion so as to bring itself under the notice of the government, by whose authority it was suppressed.[2]
The successor of Slater was Joseph G. Wilson,[3] who died at the summer recess of congress in 1873. A special election chose J. W. Nesmith to fill the
vacancy, who, though a democratic leader, had eschewed some of the practices of his party, if not the
- ↑ For a report of the proceedings of the investigating committee, see Or. Legisl. Docs, 1878; Portland Oregonian, Dec. 30, 1878.
- ↑ James H. Slater was a native of Ill., born in 1827. He came to Cal. in 1849, and thence to Oregon in 1850, residing near Corvallis, where he taught school and studied law, the practice of which he commenced in 1858. He was elected to the legislature several times. He removed to eastern Oregon in 1862, engaging in mining for a time, but finally settled at La Grande. Ashland Tidings, Sept. 20, 1878.
- ↑ Wilson was born in New Hampshire Dec. 13, 1826, the son of a dissenting Scotch presbyterian, who settled in Londonderry in 1716. His parents removed to Cincinnati in 1826, settling afterward near Reading, Joseph receiving his education at Marietta college, from which he graduated with the degree of LL. D. He entered the Cincinnati law school, from which he graduated in 1852 and went to Oregon. He rose step by step to be congress man. His wife was Elizabeth Millar, daughter of Rev. James P. Millar of Albany, a talented and cultivated lady, who, after her husband's untimely death, received a commission as postmaster at The Dalles, which she held for many years.
