Document No. 668, Sixty-ninth Congress, second session. Subsequently, that is on May 17, 1928 (45 Stat. 598), a bill was enacted adding to the Missoula National Forest certain described lands, and this was intended to cover the lands included in the recommendation of the National Forest Reservation Commission above mentioned. Through a typographical error the lands described in the bill now under consideration were omitted from the act of May 17, 1928. These lands lie well within the boundaries of the present Helena National Forest and are the same in character as the surrounding lands which have been placed under national-forest administration. The department recommends favorable consideration of H. R. 4810. The enactment of this proposed legislation will not add to the cost of administering the Helena National Forest. Sincerely yours, ARTHUR M. HYDE, Secretary. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Hon. DoN B. COLTON, Chairman Committee on the Public Lands, House of Representatives. MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: With further reference to your request of December 13 for a report on H. R. 4810, which would add certain lands to the Helena National Forest, in the State of Montana, I transmit herewith a memorandum from the Commissioner of the General Land Office. After a review of the measure, I concur with Commissioner Moore in his favorable recommendation. Very truly yours, RAY LYMAN WILBUR, Secretary. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, January 10, 1930. Memorandum for the Secretary. I have by departmental_reference request of the chairman of the Committee of the Public Lands of the House for report on H. R. 4810. The bill would include in the Helena-National Forest certain lands in sections 14 and 22, township 14 north, range 6 west, Montana. The lands are surrounded by the national forest, contain 800 acres, and 480 acres thereof are shown by the records of this office to be unappropriated and public, title to the remainder having passed from the Government. The legislation proposed would extend the provisions of the national forest consolidation law of March 20, 1922 (42 Stat. 465), as amended, over the privately owned lands in the areas involved. The Department of Agriculture under date of January 3 refers to the bill and calls attention to the fact that these areas were described in the recommendation of the National Forest Reservation Commission for addition to the forest, found in House Document No. 668 of the Sixty-ninth Congress, second session, which has the approval of this department, but through an error in punctuation were not included in the forest by the act of May 17, 1928 (145 Stat. 598), based upon such recommendation. I therefore see no objection to the enactment of the bill. C. C. MOORE, Commissioner. O EXEMPT FROM CANCELLATION CERTAIN DESERT-LAND ENTRIES IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CALIF. FEBRUARY 19, 1930.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. SWING, from the Committee on the Public Lands, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 6809] The Committee on the Public Lands, to whom was referred H. R. 6809, a bill to exempt from cancellation certain desert-land entries in Riverside County, Calif., having fully considered the same, report the same back to the House with favorable recommendation that the same do pass with the following amendment: Line 15, page 2, strike out "3" and insert "5". The desert-land entries in question were made some years ago when there was a local movement on foot to build an irrigation system and bring water from the Colorado River to the lands described in the bill. Before the plan could materialize the greater project embraced in the Boulder Dam scheme came to the front, with the result that the entrymen desired to await the completion of that project and take their water under that scheme. The plans that they had proposed might not fit into the general scheme which will develop under the Boulder Dam project. If not, considerable money would be wasted. At the present time these lands are desert lands on which nothing will grow and they will have no value until water can be brought from the Colorado River. Money expended at this time in making final proof will be a total loss to the individual entrymen and of no benefit to the United States Government. The delay, therefore, will not hurt the Government and the enactment of the bill was accordingly recommended by the department in its report, as follows: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, February 8, 1930. Hon. DoN B. COLTON, Chairman Committee on the Public Lands, House of Representatives. MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: There is transmitted herewith, in response to your request of January 3, for an opinion as to the merits of H. R. 6809, a memo randum that has been submitted by the Commissioner of the General Land Office. After a review of the situation, I am in full agreement with Commissioner Moore in his favorable report upon the bill. Very truly yours, RAY LYMAN WILBUR, Secretary. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Memorandum to the Secretary. GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, January 13, 1930. With reference to the letter of Hon. Don B. Colton, chairman Committee on the Public Lands, House of Representatives, of January 8, 1930, transmitting for report a copy of H. R. 6809, entitled "A bill to exempt from cancellation certain desert-land entries in Riverside County, Calif., the bill is identical in purpose and language with the act of February 25, 1925 (43 Stat. 1580), and continues in a state of suspension about 800 desert-land entries in Riverside County, Calif., until May 1, 1933, with authority to the Secretary of the Interior to further suspend said entries for an additional period of not exceeding three years. Four acts have been passed prior to the act of February 25, 1925, supra, for the benefit of the same group of entries, namely, the acts of July 7, 1912 (38 Stat. 130), March 4, 1913 (37 Stat. 1008), April 11, 1916 (39 Stat. 49), and June 24, 1921 (42 Stat. 66). As it does not appear that any public interest will suffer by reason of the further suspension of these entries, there seems to be no objection to the passage C. C. MOORE, Commissioner. of the bill. O 2d Session No. 715 MEMORIAL BUILDING AT CHAMPOEG, OREG. FEBRUARY 19, 1930.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. ELLIOTT, from the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 7983] The Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, to which was referred the bill (H. R. 7983) to authorize the construction of a memorial building at Champoeg, Oreg., having duly considered the same, hereby make report of it to the House with the recommendation that the bill do pass. Mr. Hawley, author of said bill, made the following statement: STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF A MEMORIAL BUILDING AT CHAMPOEG, MARION COUNTY, OREG., TO COMMEMORATE THE WINNING OF THE OLD OREGON COUNTRY FOR THE UNITED STATES The bill (H. R. 7983) proposes the erection of a memorial building at Champoeg, Oreg., to commemorate the services of the pioneers of the old Oregon country, which were the decisive factor in making that great area a part of the United States. These pioneers went out beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution and laws of the United States, and beyond the protection of its flag, and by the settlements made by them and by their patriotism, courage, privations, and endurance, and their establishment of a provisional government as American citizens in a disputed territory won this section for our country. The old Oregon country comprised what is now the States of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming. The question of whether this territory should belong to the United States or to Great Britain was in dispute for more than half a century, and was not determined until 1846. BRIEF SUMMARY OF EVENTS Discovery. Capt. Robert Gray in May, 1792, discovered the Columbia River and sailed up that stream for a considerable distance. Exploration.-Lewis and Clarke explored that portion of it along the Columbia River from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean in 1804-1806. Commercial undertaking.-John Jacob Astor founded a fur-trading station at Astoria, near the mouth of the Columbia River, in 1812. Diplomacy.-Diplomatic negotiations failed to settle the controversy over national ownership and in 1818 a joint-occupancy agreement was entered into between the United States and Great Britain for a period of 10 years, and near the end of that period, the controversy still remaining unsettled, the agreement was extended in 1827. Settlement.-Settlement by Americans began early and was continued so that in 1826 the American settlers in Oregon outnumbered the British. In the decade beginning early in 1830 settlement by Americans began in greater earnest. It will not be possible to call to attention all the names of all the men who took a prominent part in this movement. The American settlers, realizing the need for organized government and greatly desiring American ownership of the land, sent, in 1838-39, Jason Lee to Washington to ask Congress for protection for life and property, and to urge that the United States assume the government of the territory. Congress took no action. It became necessary for the settlers to provide some system of government. Left to their own resources, the Americans began to urge emigration to Oregon among many communities in the East and prepare for provisional government. Competing claim of Great Britain.-The Hudson Bay Co., a British concern, whose trapping and fur-trading operations constituted what is considered to be the principal basis for the British claims, had begun the policy of permitting its employees to settle in the Willamette Valley, since it was becoming apparent that actual settlement would determine national ownership. Its policy, except in this instance, had been to oppose settlements, and to keep the northern half of North America, including the old Oregon country, as a great game preserve for fur-bearing animals. It allowed settlements by the employees to be made in the Willamette Valley as a means of retaining all the vast remainder as such game preserve. Again the Americans.-In 1840 the American settlers in Oregon thought the most effective method of forestalling the British claims and activities was to set up a provisional government under American control. In that year, Jason Lee, whose wife was Miss Lucy Thompson, of Barre, Vt., returned to Oregon in the ship Lausanne via Cape Horn with more than 50 persons on board. This is known as the "great reinforcement." During the following years, considerable numbers of settlers arrived by wagon trains. In 1841, the American settlers called a meeting for the purpose of framing a code of laws for the growing settlements. There were no American citizens north of the Columbia River and few outside of the Willamette Valley. The outcome was that on May 2, 1843, a general meeting was called to assemble at Champoeg, in Marion County, Oreg., for the purpose of forming a provisional government. Both Americans and British assembled, for it was realized that the crisis had come. A long and vigorous debate occurred. In the afternoon Joe Meek called for a division or vote on the question whether the provisional government should be formed under the American or the British flag. There were 102 men then present. Fifty stepped over to the American side. Fifty-two hesitated. Then F. X. Matthieu and Etienne Lucier joined the Americans. The other 50 retired. This left the field in the hands of the Americans, who by 1844 had formed and adopted a provisional code, which was accepted by all. Thus the settlers and this Champoeg meeting were the decisive factors in establishing American ownership, because in 1846, by treaty between the United States and Great Britain, it was agreed that the boundary line should run west from the Rocky Mountains along the forty-ninth degree of north latitude. This treaty gave the United States the old Oregon country. Purposes of the bill.-It is proposed that the United States should commemorate these important and invaluable services of the pioneers by the construction of a suitable memorial building at Champoeg, where they were finally culminated in the establishment of an American provisional government. These pioneers were a self-governing, liberty-loving, home-building, law-abiding, God-fearing, patriotic body of brave men and women. Argument. A grateful country has reared monuments and consecrated battle fields to the memory of those who have served their country in the wars of the Republic. It is our proposal likewise to honor and perpetuate the memory and services of men and women, who, braving the dangers of the desert, thirst, and hunger, and the violence of savage tribes, carried the flag of our country across more than 2,000 miles of uncivilized land and spread its folds over a kingly heritage. They settled serious international disputes by the peaceful methods of |