mules, each laden with goods to the amount of from two hundred and fifty to four hundred pounds weight. FIFTH. With the exception of about seventy-five or eighty miles, along the whole route from the mouth of Clearwater to Gallatin City, there exists arable lands, some of which are rich and capable of sustaining a dense population; and with the exception of one hundred and twenty-five miles of the distance along the whole route, stock can range and support themselves through the entire year without human aid. SIXTH. This entire route, with the exception of eighty miles, is regularly traveled in mild winter by both horsemen and footmen. In the opinion of your memorialists, an appropriation of fifty thousand dollars, judiciously expended, would be ample to construct and open this road; and when once opened, the enterprise of our people would be sufficient to keep it open and in repair; so that, for nearly every month in each year, it would become an extensively traveled highway, and confer exceedingly great and permanent advantages upon the people of the Union, not only as a means of military defence, but as greatly stimulating commerce between the east and the west. For the construction of this road, at an early period, we, your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray. APPROVED January 8, 1864. MEMORIAL To the Secretary of the Interior, praying a Treaty to be made with the hostile Indians of Yellowstone and vicinity. To the Honorable, the Secretary of the Interior of the United States: Your memorialists, the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Idaho, respectfully represent : FIRST. That the valleys of the Yellowstone and its branches comprise an extensive tract of valuable land, well adapted to cultivation, highly fitted for stock growing, and in every respect inviting to the industrial pursuits of American enterprise. SECOND. That the mountains from which said river and its numerous affluents flow, are known to contain deposits of gold, quicksilver, and other metals, scattered all along the Wind river, Big Horn river, and Rocky mountains. THIRD. That the Yellowstone river is believed to be navigable for seven hundred and fifty miles from its confluence with the Missouri. FOURTH. That the rapidly increasing population of the mining districts, demands a sufficient amount of arable land to support them, and that this section of the country is indispensably necessary to said population, for purposes of cultivation and civilization. FIFTH. That efforts have already been made to occupy and colonize said regions, and parties who have penetrated and prospected the same during the summer of 1863, have been driven out. SIXTH. That, if the country is once opened, it will be speedily occupied by thousands of loyal citizens, and the population in a few years will entitle them to a State government. SEVENTH. That finally, the only obstacle to affect access to this attractive and desirable country, is the hostility of the Crow and Sioux bands of Indians, who are pressing them back toward the mountains. Therefore your momorialists would recommend and pray that a treaty may be entered into and concluded with the hostile Indians of the Yellowstone and vicinity; that the Indian titles may be extinguished, and white settlers may be protected in the occupancy and development of this interesting and valuable portion of the public domain. And your memorialists will ever pray. APPROVED January 16th, 1864. MEMORIAL Praying for the establishment of a Mail Route from Salt Lake Your memorialists, the members of the legislative assembly of the territory of Idaho, would respectfully but most earnestly represent the inconvenience we suffer from the want of proper mail facilities. We are comparatively without mails throughout the territory. We are made to depend upon express riders for letters and newspapers, for the delivery and sale of which the most exorbitant prices are charged, thus entailing a heavy and, as we believe, an oppressive burden upon twenty thousand inhabitants. Your memorialists would ask and recommend a tri-weekly mail from Salt Lake City, in the territory of Utah, by way of Boise City, Bannock City, Centerville, Pioneer City to Placerville. And we do further pray that a mail be carried from Placerville to Lewiston once a week. Such a route, we believe, would be of the first importance in curing the ills of which we complain, occupying as we do a half-way position between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the route we ask is, in a great degree, indispensable to our prosperity. We would not importune congress on this subject if it were not that we are satisfied that the revenue accruing to the postoffice department would equal, if not exceed, the expenses attendant upon the establishment of the route, for which we most earnestly pray your honorable body. APPROVED, January 4th, 1864. |