priority never figured either as beneficiary of the land grant through designation by the legislature on October 20, 1868, or as party in the litigation that developed the decisions referred to by Mr. Gaston on pages 116 and 117. The corporate organization effected on November 17, 1866, seems to have been immediately abandoned.
3. The Salem corporation that contended with the Portland corporation for the possession of the land grant was organized on April 22, 1867 (see Document III).
State of Oregon,
Office of the Secretary of State,
Dear Sir: In reply to your inquiry of the 28th instant, have to advise that the records of this office do not show that any company under the name of "The Oregon Central Railroad Company" filed articles of incorporation on October 6, 1866. However, Articles of Incorporation of "Oregon Central Rail Road Company," "Oregon Central Railroad Company," and "Oregon Central Rail Road Company," were filed in this office on November 17, 1866, November 21, 1866, and April 22, 1867, respectively, and I enclose herewith copies of the same for your information.
Yours very truly,
F. I. Dunbar,
Secretary of State.
Prof. F. G. Young,
Eugene, Oregon.
DOCUMENT I.
Articles of incorporation of the Oregon Central Rail Road Company.
Art. 1. J. S. Smith, I. R. Moores, and E. N. Cooke, and their associates, successors and assigns, do hereby incorporate themselves under and by virtue of an Act of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon, entitled "An Act providing for private Incorporations" approved Oct. 14, 1862.
Art. 2. The name of the incorporation, and by which it shall be known, is the "Oregon Central Rail Road Company," and its duration shall be perpetual.
Art. 3. The objects of this Incorporation and the business in which it proposes to engage are the construction of a Rail Road and Telegraph from Portland, Oregon, to some point on the forty-second parallel of latitude on such line of route as the company may hereafter designate, and also to use said Rail Road when made for the purpose of transporting freight and passengers between the said termini, and
