The Legislative Assembly consists of the Council and House of Representatives, and convenes annually on the 1st Monday in December. The Council is composed of nine members, elected for three years, and the House of Representatives is composed of thirty members, elected for one year.

JUDICIARY.

The Judicial power of the territory is vested in a Supreme Court, District Courts, Probate Courts, and in Justices of the Peace. The Supreme Court consists of a Chief Justice and two Associate Justices, who hold their offices during a term of four years. One term of the Supreme Court is held annually at the seat of the territorial Government, commencing on the 1st Monday in January. For District Court purposes, the territory is divided into three judicial districts, in each of which one of the Justices of the Supreme Court holds the sessions. The Supreme and District Courts have chancery as well as common law jurisdiction. For each of these districts, a territorial Prosecuting Attorney is elected by the people for a term of two years, who receives a salary out of the territorial treasury of $200 per annum and his fees.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT.

Judge, C. C. Hewitt, Olympia. Marshal, Wm. Huntington, Cowlitz.

Chief Justice, C. C. Hewitt, Olympia. Associate Justices, B. F. Dennison, Port Townsend; J. W. Wyche, Walla Walla. Salaries of Judges, $2,500 each; of Marshal, $250 and fees.

TERMS OF DISTRICT COURTS.

First District, at Walla Walla, on the 4th Monday in April and 2d Monday in October. Second District, at Vancouver, Clarke county, on the 4th Monday in May and 2d Monday in November. Third District, at Olympia, Thurston county, on the 1st Monday in February and 3d Monday in July.

District Courts for the transaction of territorial business are held at Steilacoom, Pierce county, on the 4th Monday in February and 3d Monday in August; Port Townsend, Jefferson county, on the 2d Monday in March and 1st Monday in September; Pinkney City, Spokane county, on the 2d Monday in June; and in the Third Judicial District, for hearing and disposing of Admiralty and Maritime cases, at Olympia, on the 1st Monday of every month except February, July, and September; at Port Townsend, on the 2d Monday in March and 1st Monday in September.

EDUCATION.

An act incorporating the "University of the territory of Washington" was approved January 24, 1862. The term of office of the regents is three years, and three are elected by the Legislature each year. The general Government has donated to the territory for the endowment of the university, 46,080 acres of unoccupied land, which, it is believed, will create a fund of not less than $75,000. The university buildings are located at Seattle, King county. In 1860, according to the United States census, there were 46 public schools, with 879 pupils, $16,176 income, of which $5,957 was from taxation, 6 academies, with 159 pupils and $7,800 income.

POPULATION, WEALTH AND INDUSTRY.

The population in 1864 was estimated at 14,000, and in 1868, at 30,000. The Cascade mountains divide the territory into the eastern and western

sections which differ from each other in climate, soil and natural and cultivated products. Although occupying higher latitude than Oregon, the climate of the western section is very similar to that state. It is said to resemble also the climate of England, in the amount of rain fall, as well as in the range of the thermometer throughout the year. Properly speaking, there are but two seasons, the dry and the rainy. The grades of temperature and the accompaniments which, in other countries of the same high latitude, are usually associated with the four seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter, are here in great measure obliterated, or at least so dimly marked that the seasons imperceptibly run into each other, and lose their distinctive line of division. It is not unusual for the three winter months to be mild, without snow or ice, the grass growing meanwhile. The rainy season proper begins late in October or early in November, and may be said to continue till the ensuing April. It frequently happens after the first rains that weeks of weather similar to Indian summer occur, and it is seldom that one or the other of the months of January, February or March does not prove continuously mild and clear. The summers of this territory are unsurpassed in the world. While many days are exceedingly warm, the nights are always cool and refreshing, as if specially intended for wholesome sleeping.

The western section has an average width between the ocean and the Cascade mountains of 100 miles, and contains about 11,000,000 acres. The products of this section are like those of the Willamette valley. All the cereals, Indian corn excepted, succeed admirably, the wheat crops being equal to those of the very best wheat-growing countries. In fruits, the apple, pear, cherry, plum, strawberry, raspberry, gooseberry, blackberry, and currant, yield abundantly. The grape succeeds with little trouble. The land in the valleys is generally excellent, and west of the Cascade mountains, of extraordinary fertility. Much not tillable is first rate for grazing, and all kinds of stock thrive in either section of the territory. In the western part, but little dry fodder is prepared, as the pasturage usually continues through the winter.

East of the Cascade mountains, the country is generally unoccupied, the settlements being confined to several excellent valleys, as the Walla Walla, Colville, Yakama, Columbia, and Palouse valleys. Walla Walla valley contains over a million acres of arable land, producing in abundance, grains, fruits and vegetables, with a population of over two thousand, enjoying a high degree of prosperity as a community, and making rapid progress in agriculture and manufactures. The Colville, Yakama, Columbia and Palouse valleys possess much excellent land, adapted to the cultivation of products similar to those raised west of the Cascade range. In all these valleys except the Palouse, considerable tracts have been surveyed. The extent of grazing tract in these valleys and in the hill country surrounding each, is large.

The extensive forests of pines, firs and cedars covering the Coast and Sierra mountains in California, and the Coast and Cascade in Oregon, extend into Washington, covering a large portion of the territory west of the Cascade mountains, the forest increasing in density and in amount of lumber growing upon an acre of ground in its northern part. Fir trees two hundred

and fifty and three hundred feet high, and six and seven feet in diameter, are not at all uncommon. Masts for ships may readily be obtained, straight, and without knots for more than 100 feet. Some of the mills on Puget sound have capacity to turn out, daily, 100,000 feet of lumber, and the present export of the sound in prepared lumber, masts and spars, amounts in value to over one and a half millions of dollars annually. Exports are made to San Francisco, the Sandwich Islands, China, Japan, the Mexican and South American ports on the Pacific, and even to the South American ports on the Atlantic, and masts and spars are sent to France. Timber, although scarcer on the east side of the mountains than on the west, is nevertheless sufficient for all the purposes of domestic use, and in some portions sufficiently abundant for exportation in large quantities.

Gold has been found on the Columbia river and in the northeastern part of the territory, and mines have been worked about Port Colville, though not with great profit. The appearance of veins and out-croppings of coal in almost every section of the territory west of the Cascade mountains, indicates its very general distribution and inexhaustive supply. It is found on the Columbia, upon streams flowing directly into the Pacific, and it appears near the straits of Fuca. It is found in exhaustless fields back of Seattle, then upon the Sto-lu-ana-mah, and at Bellingham Bay in the extreme north.

The fishing interest is destined to hold a prominence in the future commerce of the territory. Salmon of the finest kind, cod, halibut, and other fish are taken in its waters, and exist in quantities sufficient to meet the demands of the most extensive trade. The commercial facilities are good. The straits of Juan de Fuca and the gulf of Georgia, lying south and east of Vancouver island, extend into the territory and ramify into numerous straits, bays, inlets, sounds and estuaries, free from rocks and of depth sufficient for the largest vessels; numerous bends are common, where the most perfect protection may be found against winds or waves. Puget sound has an average width of two miles, a depth never less than eight fathoms, and runs inland in a southern direction one hundred miles from the straits of Fuca. Hood's canal, twelve miles farther west, with an average width of one mile, and an equal depth with Puget sound, runs sixty miles in a southwest direction.

The Columbia courses through more than seven hundred miles, for the greater part of which it is navigable. Snake river, during one-half of the year, is navigable to Lewiston, and the waters of the sound furnish navigation of many hundred miles at all seasons. The trade of the country, by way of Columbia river, is carried up by steamers regularly plying to White Bluffs, seventy miles above Wallula, which is situated at the mouth of the Walla Walla river, twelve miles south of the confluence of the Snake river with the Columbia river. The quantity of public lands to be disposed of in this territory is equal to about 41,600,000 acres.

48. WYOMING TERRITORY.

On the organization of Montana Territory, and the limitation of Idaho to the districts west of the Rocky Mountains, a tract remained south of Montana, which, for want of public organization, was annexed to Dakota. This region, with small portions of Idaho and Utah, including in all about 88,000 square miles, was constituted a territory by an act of Congress, approved July 25, 1868. The boundaries established by this act are as follows: commencing at the intersection of 27° longitude west from Washington with 45. north latitude, and running thence west to 34° west longitude, thence south to 41° north latitude, thence east to 27° west longitude, and thence north to the place of beginning. It has, on the north, Montana; on the east, Dakota and Nebraska; on the south, Colorado and a small portion of Utah; and on the west, Idaho and the northern part of Utah, and includes seven degrees of longitude and four degrees of latitude.

GOVERNMENT.

The act organizing the territory, provides that "The executive power and authority shall be vested in a governor, who shall hold his office for four years and until his successor shall be appointed and qualified, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the Senate. The governor shall reside within said territory, shall be commander-in-chief of the militia thereof, shall perform the duties and receive the emoluments of superintendent of Indian affairs, and shall ap prove all laws passed by the legislative assembly before they shall take effect, unless the same shall pass by a two-thirds vote, as provided in section six of the act."

There is to be a secretary, who will reside in the territory and hold his office for four years, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States, with the consent of the Senate.

The legislative power and authority of said territory is to be vested in the governor and legislative assembly. The legislative assembly will consist of a council and house of representatives. The council will consist of nine members, which may be increased to thirteen, whose term of service shall continue two years. The house of representatives will consist of thirteen members, which may be increased to twenty-seven, and whose term of service shall continue one year. The governor is to receive an annual salary of $2,000 as governor, and $1,000 as superintendent of Indian affairs, and the secretary an annual salary of $1,800. The members of the legislative assembly will be entitled to receive $4 each, per day, during their attendance at the session thereof, and $3 for every 20 miles travel in going to and returning from the said sessions, estimating the distance by the nearest traveled route. Every male citizen of the United States above the age of 21 years, and (including persons who shall have declared their intention to become citizens of the United States), who was a resident of the territory at the time of the passage of the act, is entitled to vote at all subsequent elections,

and is eligible to hold any office in the territory. The legislative assembly can not at any time abridge the right of suffrage, or to hold office, on account of the race, color, or previous condition of servitude, of any resident of the territory: Provided, That the right of suffrage and of holding office shall be exercised only by citizens of the United States, and those who shall have declared on oath before a competent court of record their intention to. become such, and shall have taken an oath to support the Constitution and Government of the United States.

JUDICIARY.

The judicial power is vested in a Supreme Court, District Courts, Probate Courts, and Justices of the Peace. The Supreme Court consists of a Chief Justice and two Associate Justices, any two of whom constitute a quorum, and who hold a term at the seat of government of the territory annually. They hold their offices for four years, unless sooner removed by the President, with the consent of the Senate of the United States. The territory is divided into three judicial districts, and a district court is held in each of said districts by one of the justices of the Supreme Court, at such time and place as may be prescribed by law; and said judges, after their appointment, respectively, reside in the districts assigned them. The jurisdiction of the several courts herein provided for, both appellate and original, and that of the probate courts, and of the justices of the peace, is limited by law; the said Supreme and District Courts, respectively, possess chancery as well as common law jurisdiction, and authority for redress of all wrongs committed against the Constitution or laws of the United States or of the territory affecting persons or property. Each district court, or the judge thereof, appoints its clerk, who is also the register in chancery, and keeps his office where the court is held. Writs of error, bills of exception, and appeals are allowed in all cases from the final decisions of said district courts to the Supreme Court, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law, but in no case removed to the Supreme Court is trial by jury allowed in said court. The Supreme Court, or the justices thereof, appoints its own clerks, and every clerk holds his office at the pleasure of the court for which he has been appointed.

The Supreme and District Courts, and the respective judges thereof, may grant writs of habeas corpus in all cases in which the same are grantable by the judges of the United States in the District of Columbia; and the first six days of every term of said courts, or so much thereof as is necessary, are appropriated to the trial of causes arising under the constitution and laws of the United States; and writs of error and appeals in all such cases are made to the Supreme Court of said territory, the same as in other cases.

There is to be an attorney, who continues in office for four years, unless sooner removed by the President, with the consent of the Senate. There is also a marshal appointed for the territory, who holds his office for four years, unless sooner removed by the President, with the consent of the Senate, and who executes all processes issuing from the courts when exercising their