360 W. D. FENTON. their vote against A. L. Lovejoy, who was the regular nominee of the convention held at Champoeg. This leg- islature selected Dr. Elijah White to convey the memorial to Washington, adjourned to August 5, 1845, passed a law making wheat a legal tender at the market price, and ad- journed sine die August 20, 1845. On December 2, 1845, under the new constitution, adopted July 5, 1845, the same body met, held a session of seventeen days, created the county of Polk, and also Lewis County, the latter embracing at that time all of Washington west of the Cascades. Sheriff Meek took a census in 1845 of the population in the five districts, ex- clusive of the region east of the mountains and north of the Columbia. The returns show 18 housekeepers in Clackamas, 24 in Champoeg, 17 in Clatsop, 14 in Tualatin, and 16 in Yamhill. There were 109 heads of families in Yamhill and 405 in the five districts. There were 419 males and 382 females under twelve years of age, of which there were 79 males and 65 females in Yamhill. There were 117 males and 103 females in the five districts over twelve and under eighteen years, of which 31 males and 24 females were in Yamhill. There were 615 males and 322 females over eighteen and under forty-five in the five districts, 124 males and 57 females of which were in Yam- hill. There were 110 men and 41 women forty-five years old and over in the five districts, of which 25 men and 9 women resided in Yamhill. The total population in the five districts was composed of 1,259 males and 851 females, of which 257 males and 158 females lived in Yamhill. Only 415 people at that time in the entire county, ex- tended as its area then was, and of this number only 147 were men, including boys over eighteen years of age. How widely separated were they, and what attachments grew up between these hardy adventurers, far from their kindred and not knowing whether they were living in a
