PREEMPTION AND PATENTS. 295

to the United States law for preemption and pur chase. 54 On the admission of Oregon as a state in 1859, out of eio-lit thousand land claims filed in the

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registrar s office in Oregon City, only about one eighth had been forwarded to Washington for patent, owing to the neglect of the government to furnish clerks to

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the registrar, who could issue no more than one certifi cate daily. Fees not being allowed, this officer could not afford to hire assistants. But in 1862 fees were allowed, and the work progressed more satisfactorily, though it is doubtful if ten years afterward all the donation patents had been issued. 55

54 In 1856 John S. Zieber was appointed surveyor general, and held the office until 1859, when W. W. Chapman was appointed. In 1861 he gavo way to B. J. Pengra, and he in turn to E. L. Applegate, who was followed by W. H. Odell, Ben. Simpson, and J. C. Tolman, all Oregon men.

^Land Off. Rept, 1858, 33, 1863, 21-2; Or. Argus, Sept. 11, 1858; S. F. Bulletin, Jan. 28, 1864.