MEMORIALS.

"MEMORIAL for a Weekly Mail Route from Virginia City, Montana Territory, by way of Silver Bow and Deer Lodge to Hell Gate, and from thence to Fort Owen and Willow Creek, and also to Jocko; and that weekly service be put on the route already established between Salt Lake and Fort Benton, and that the same may be by the way of Boulder City, Beavertown, Jefferson City, Helena and Silver City.

To the Honorable the Postmaster General

of the United States:

Your Memorialists, the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Montana, would respectfully represent, that the people now living in the western and northern portion of this Territory, are laboring under great inconvenience and expense, from the fact of there being no mail facilities to the northward and westward from Virginia City, Montana Territory.

The great extent and richness of the silver and gold bearing quartz lodes, as well as the extent and richness of the placer diggings, already discovered in Deer Lodge and Prickly Pear valleys, together with the unequalled grazing and farming lands in Deer Lodge, Hell Gate, Bitter Root, Jocko and Prickly Pear valleys, have invited and received a large number of worthy and industrious inhabitants, and justifies the belief that there will be many thousand permanent settlers engaged in farming, mining and cattle raising in that portion of our Territory.

In view of these facts, your memorialists would pray that a weekly mail route be established between Virginia City, Montana Territory, Silver Bow, Deer Lodge and Hell Gate, and from Hell Gate to Fort Owen and Willow Creek, and from Hell Gate to Jocko. And your memorialists would also pray, that weekly service be put on the route established between Salt Lake and Fort Benton, and that the same may be by the way of Boulder, Beavertown, Jefferson City, Helena and Silver City; and that a post office be established at each of the places herein mentioned. And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray.

GEORGE DETWILER,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

R. LAWRENCE, President of Council.

JOINT RESOLUTION AND MEMORIAL in relation to the Compensation of Officers of the Territory of Montana.

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled:

Your Memorialists, the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Montana, most respectfully represent, that

WHEREAS, the Organic Act of this Territory provides that the pay per diem of the members of the first and subsequent legislative assemblies, should be four dollars, during their attendance at the session thereof; and the officers of said legislative assemblies, together with all the territorial officers, are allowed a compensation in like proportion; and whereas, on account of the great distance from the manufacturing and producing sections from whence the inhabitants of this Territory obtain nearly all their necessary articles of consumption, such as provisions, clothing, &c., the cost of such articles is usually three times, and in many cases ten times the cost of similar commodities in the more eastern parts of the United States, and in consequence of such advanced prices, common laborers receive as a usual compensation, from eight to sixteen dollars per day; and whereas, it is manifestly unjust that such a compen

sation to members of the legislative assembly or territorial officers should be laid at so low a rate; therefore, your memorialists would respectfully ask your honorable body, so to amend the organic act, as to allow not less than ten dollars per diem for each member and officer in attendance on such first and subsequent legislative assemblies, and an adequate additional amount to the salaries of the gov ernor and territorial judges, not exceeding twenty-five hundred dollars per annum.

Be it resolved by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Montana, That our delegate in Congress be, and is hereby requested to use all honorable means to bring this subject to the favorable consideration of Congress, as early as practicable, and obtain a redress of grievances.

And be it further resolved, That the Secretary of this Territory be requested to transmit a copy of the foregoing memorial and resolutions to our delegate in Congress.

GEORGE DETWILER,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

R. LAWRENCE, President of Council.

MEMORIAL praying for the establishment of a mail route from Omaha, Sioux City, or some point on the Missouri river between said places, to Bannack City, Montana Territory.

To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled:

Your memorialists, the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Montana, would most earnestly represent to your honorable body the great inconvenience the people of this Territory suffer for the want of proper mail facilities.

The only mail communication with the east is via Salt Lake City, over a route nearly seventeen hundred miles, crossing the Rocky Mountains twice, which, of itself, produces great irregularities, causing great difficulty in all business transactions with the east.

We would respectfully represent that there is a company already organized in this Territory for the purpose of constructing a wagon road and telegraph line from Bannack City, via Montana, Junction City, Nevada City, Virginia City, Bozemantown, Emigrant Gulch, and other towns and villages in this Territory, to some point on the Missouri river, at or between Sioux City and Omaha. And your memorialists most earnestly pray that a daily mail may be established over said route, and a sufficient military force, which can be easily raised in this Territory, be stationed along said route, to protect the same. And we would most respectfully represent that the establishment of this route would save to the government the expense of transporting the mail matter for this Territory, the State of Oregon, and the Territories of Washington and Idaho, a distance of nearly or quite eight hundred miles, and give the advantage of two overland routes across the continent instead of one, and be of immense benefit to the people of the far northwest States and Territories.

Your memorialists would also represent that there is now existing in the postal laws an unjust provision in regard to the transmission of newspapers and other printed matter to these interior Territories, amounting to almost a prohibition; and we ask of your honorable body a repeal or amendment of said act or provision, so that all mail matter may be transmitted to us on terms of equality with all other portions of our country.

Your memorialists would humbly urge upon your honorable body immediate action upon the subject set forth in this memorial, as a measure of the greatest importance to the development of the immense mineral and agricultural resources of this country.

As in duty bound will ever pray.

GEORGE DETWILER,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

R. LAWRENCE, President of the Council.

[Approved January 16, 1865.]

MEMORIAL and JOINT RESOLUTION relative to a proposed treaty with the Snake and Crow Indians.

To the Honorable Secretary of the Interior:

Your memorialists, the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Montana, would respectively represent that the interests of this Territory would be greatly promoted, and its early settlement hastened, if the Indian title to the country now claimed and occupied by the Snake and Crow Indians were extinguished.

Only a small fragment of land embraced within the boundaries of this Territory is open for settlement. These Indians now possess an area of land embracing all the waters of the Missouri river south of latitude forty-seven degrees north. This region abounds in mineral wealth, and a large portion of it is suitable for agricultural purposes.

Your memorialists entreat your prompt attention to the subject, confidently believing that the interests of the general government and the people of Montana will be greatly subserved by an early treaty with those Indians. And your memorialists will ever pray.

Be it resolved by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Montana, that our delegate in Congress be and is hereby requested to use all honorable means to bring this subject to the favorable consideration of the Interior Department.

GEORGE DETWILER,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

R. LAWRENCE, President of the Council.