74th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2007 Regular Session
 
NOTE:  Matter within  { +  braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within  { -  braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
 { +  braces and plus signs + } .
 
 LC 2482
 
                  House Concurrent Resolution 4
 
Sponsored by Representatives THATCHER, MERKLEY, Senators L
  GEORGE, COURTNEY; Representative KRUMMEL, Senator AVAKIAN (at
  the request of Oregon State Society Daughters of the American
  Revolution, Robert Newell House Museum, Friends of Historic
  Champoeg)
 
 
                             SUMMARY
 
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
 
  Declares March 30, 2007, Robert 'Doc' Newell Day in Oregon in
honor of 200th anniversary of his birth.
 
                      CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
  Whereas Oregon pioneer Robert 'Doc' Newell, a mountain man, fur
trapper and civic leader, brought the first wagon overland into
the Willamette Valley in 1841; and
  Whereas Robert Newell's skills at rudimentary medicine earned
him the nickname 'Doc' by which he was known the rest of his
life; and
  Whereas Robert Newell was present at the historic vote on May
2, 1843, to vote 'yes' at Champoeg for the provisional
government, the birth of citizen government in Oregon; and
  Whereas Robert Newell promoted Champoeg as the seat of
government, offering four square blocks of his own land for the
provisional capitol of Oregon; and
  Whereas Robert Newell was a member of the committee of nine
appointed after the vote on May 2, 1843, to write the first laws,
the Organic Articles and Laws, for the new provisional Oregon
government; and
  Whereas Robert Newell was one of the members of the first House
of Representatives for the provisional government when the
amended Organic Laws were accepted on July 25, 1845, taking
office on December 2, 1845; and
  Whereas Robert Newell was one of the founding members of the
first literary and debating club in the Oregon Territory, the
Oregon Lyceum; and
  Whereas Robert Newell served as one of the founding directors
and was influential in publishing the first newspaper west of the
Rocky Mountains, the  { - Oregon Spectator - }; and
  Whereas Robert Newell placed the first keel boats, the Ben
Franklin and the Mogul, in the Willamette River above the falls
at Oregon City in 1846; and
  Whereas Robert Newell was the first Indian sub-agent appointed
by the federal government for tribes south of the Columbia River;
and
 
  Whereas Robert Newell was appointed one of three commissioners
to hold a council with the Indians after the Whitman Massacre;
and
  Whereas Robert Newell was re-elected to the House of
Representatives in June of 1848, and in August 1848 Congress
officially made Oregon a territory, led by Governor Joseph Lane;
and
  Whereas Robert Newell served as captain of a select group of
Oregon scouts accepted into the service of the United States
during the Yakima Indian Wars of 1855-1858; and
  Whereas Robert Newell became the first grand master of the
Champoeg Masonic Lodge No. 27 in 1859 and served in that capacity
for three years; and
  Whereas Robert Newell was re-elected as a representative to the
Oregon Legislature in 1860; and
  Whereas Robert Newell was appointed Indian agent to the Nez
Perce tribe on July 22, 1868, and assisted the tribe in their
meetings with federal officials for one year in his last official
capacity before his death on November 14, 1869, at the age of 62;
now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of
  Oregon:
  That March 30, 2007, be declared Robert 'Doc' Newell Day in
Oregon on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of his birth.
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