election in each of said wards, shall appoint three persons to act as judges of election in each of said wards, who shall be duly sworn, and whose places may be filled in case they do not serve as provided by law in other elections. Said elections shall be held and returns thereof be made and certified in all respects as may be provided by law in elections for members of the legislature. A copy of said election returns shall be delivered to said commissioners, who shall canvass the same within three days from the time received, and the persons receiving the highest number of votes for the several officers to be elected under this act, shall be declared by said commissioners, or any three of them, duly elected to said offices. If two or more persons shall at said election receive the same number of votes for either of said offices, the said commissioners shall determine the same between them by lot.

Sec 17. Before this act shall become a law it shall be submitted to a vote of the citizens of the town for their approval or disapproval. The commissioners, or any three of them named in section sixteen of article eight of this act, shall give twenty days notice by posting notices in five conspicuous places in said town that an election will be held on a day and at a place named in such notice. They shall appoint three persons to act as judges of election and two clerks, who shall qualify as other judges and clerks of election are required to qualify. They shall prepare a ballot-box and poll-books for receiving and entering such votes. The votes or ballots cast at such election shall have written on them "Town Charter, No," or Town Charter, Yes." The judges of election shall make an abstract of the votes cast and shall certify the same under oath to the county clerk, and shall, with the assistance of at least one of the county commissioners, open and count said votes, and if a majority of said votes be "Town Charter, Yes," this act shall be in force and operation, and if a majority of the votes be "Town Charter, No," then this act shall be of no validity.

Sec. 18. The polls at the election provided for in the preceding section shall be kept open from ten o'clock A. M. to three o'clock P. M., and no person shall be allowed to vote at

such election except such persons as are, under section three of article four of this act, qualified to vote at other town elections herein provided for.

Sec. 19. That if this act shall be approved by the qualified voters of the town, the same may be forfeited at any time, at any general town election that a majority of the qualified voters of the town may vote so to do.

Approved February 13th, 1874.

JOINT MEMORIALS.

House Joint Memorial in relation to the Yellowstone national park.

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

Your memorialists, the Legislative Council and House of Representatives, composing the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Montana, would respectfully represent that the portions of the public domain which, by the act of congress, approved March 1st, 1872, entitled, "An Act to set apart a certain tract of land lying near the head waters of the Yellowstone river as a public park," is one of the greatest interest to the adventurer, the seeker for the wonderful and curious, and for scientific observers. No like geographical area presents so much to absorb attention, excite curiosity, invite study, and gratify a love of the romantic in nature. Its invigorating breezes and pure waters promote health, and it is destined in a near future to become the resort of travelers from all portions of the civilized world. During the past summer and autumn it was visited by at least five hundred of our people. Its confines are within seventy-five miles of the settlements of Montana, while highways have been constructed by our people along the Yellowstone and Madison rivers, to the northern portions thereof, each leaving an extension of about eighty miles necessary to enable tourists to visit with ease and pleasure all that is there curious or wonderful.

Your memorialists would further represent that with a single exception the entire park is without a permanent occupant interested in preserving intact the facilities of ingress and egress and the curiosities which do there so greatly abound.

Your memorialists do further represent that said park is guarded by immense mountain ranges upon its southern confines, which render it particularly inaccessible from that direction.

Your memorialists do further represent that only a small portion thereof is within the limits of the Territory of Montana, as they are defined by the act to provide a temporary government therefor, approved May 26th, 1864, and that for that reason your memorialists can legislate to preserve only a small portion of what is there curious, wonderful and rare.

Your memorialists would further represent that the tourist through that region for a distance of nearly two hundred miles is prevented by the present incomplete provisions of the laws of the United States, from procuring such accommodations as the situation requires, and that authority to construct roads, hotels, baths, trails, observatories, boats, and other necessary and convenient facilities for travelers, should be granted at an early day.

Your memorialists are of the further opinion that the members of the legislative assembly of this territory, by reason of their proximity to and consequent familiarity with this pleasuring ground and their interest in having all that is there found protected from mutilation may be securely trusted to legislate for its preservation.

Your memorialists would therefore most earnestly pray your honorable body, First, That an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars be made by congress, to be expended as you shall direct in the construction of necessary roads and trails therein.

Second, That so much thereof as now lies within the Territory of Wyoming be detached therefrom and be attached to the Territory of Montana.

Third, That such legislation be had by your honorable bodies as will permit at an early day the construction of hotels at the upper and lower geyser basins upon the Madison river, and at the Yellowstone lake, the lower falls of the Yellowstone, and at the White Mountain hot springs on Gardiner's river, and their occupancy by persons who will preserve the curiosities there from mutilation.

And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray. Approved January 20th, 1874.

House Joint Memorial in relation to irrigation.

To the Honorable the Senate and House of Ropresentatives of the Congress of the United States of America:

Your memorialists, the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Montana, would most respectfully represent that the portion of the public domain lying between the ninety-ninth meridian of longitude west from Greenwich and the Pacific Ocean is generally incapable of cultivation, except by means of irrigation.

That this arid region embraces more than one-third of the geographical area of the United States, or over one million square miles, and comprises the territories of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, and Montana, and the state of Nevada, and large portions of the states of Oregon, California, Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas, and of the territories of Washington and Dakota. That the soils of this vast region are remarkable for their productiveness when subjected to irrigable agriculture.

That the water supply of its rivers and smaller streams is abundant to reclaim millions of acres that now lie waste and unproductive.

That a system of irrigation that will meet the wants of the country will be too extensive and costly for either individuals, private corporations, territorial or state governments to successfully construct.

That the present agriculture of this region is confined to the immediate valleys of the water courses, where irrigating canals are of easy construction and comparatively inexpensive, and it will remain so confined to these narrow limits, unless some extensive system of irrigation can be established.

That for these reasons vast areas of land will remain unsold by the government for years to come, or perhaps forever, unless they can be made available to the agriculturist by irrigation.

That the public domain, outside of this region, subject to the homestead and pre-emption laws, is comparatively exhausted, and the tides of immigration westward, annually