In 1849, Abraham Lincoln turned down President Zachary Taylor's offer to be governor of Oregon Territory, which included what is now Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana.

Lincoln's wife, Mary, opposed the idea, according to Idaho's preeminent Lincoln fan, former attorney general and lieutenant governor Dave Leroy.

"Mary summarily nixed the idea, not wanting to go anywhere so far, so wild and so west," Leroy told the Senate State Affairs Committee on Monday. Leroy is chairman of the Idaho Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. It was Lincoln's action as president that created Idaho out of the former Oregon Territory in 1863.

Leroy convinced the committee to print a resolution that would make Lincoln honorary governor of the territory on Feb. 12, his 200th birthday. Legislatures in Oregon, Washington and Montana are considering similar measures, which Leroy hopes will all be adopted about noon on the 12th.

At noon on Feb. 12, a ceremony unveiling a 1915 statue of Lincoln just south of the Capitol at Bannock Street and Capitol Boulevard will be held. The life-size bronze has been relocated from the Idaho State Veterans Home. A 200th birthday party for the railsplitter is also set that day in Capitol Park, near the statute. The bronze is the oldest Lincoln statue in the western states.