The Indians of the Coast

With the discovery of gold in the Rogue River Valley in the early 1850's came an influx of white miners and settlers which applied increasing pressure on the United States Government to remove the Native Americans from their homelands. War broke out between the Indian and the white population. The Coast Reservation was created by an Executive Order signed by President Franklin Pierce November 9, 1855. The purpose of the reservation was to provide a permanent reservation for the "Willamette, Umpqua, Coast Tribes, and others who may be hereafter placed theron." Seven Ratified Treaties of the Umpqua, and Rogue Valley Tribes specified that a "permanent reservation shall be selected under the direction of the President" and the Willamette Tribes ratified treaty specified that the permanent reservation would be selected by the Oregon Superintendent of Indian Affairs. These treaties were, however, ignored and the Coast Reservation was reduced by more than 3/4 it's mass without treaty or compensation.

The original boundaries of the reservation, a 26 mile wide strip, reached from Cape Lookout in Tillamook County on the north to near the mouth of the Umpqua River on the south. The reserve was created to contain 24 separate bands and tribes whose aboriginal homelands extended west of the Cascades from Northern California to Southern Washington. Thesetribes included the Alsea, Chastacosta, Chetco, Chinook, Kusa, Siuslaw, Shasta, Umpqua, Macanotin, Joshua, Coquille, Tutuni, Molalla, Tillamook, Rogue River, Dekubetde, Kwatami (Sixes), Galice Creek, Salmon River, Kalapuya, Naltnatunne, Yaquina, Yuki, and Klickatat. Over the next few years, all Indians of Western Oregon were concentrated on the Coast Reservation and the adjacent Grand Ronde Reservation, some as the result of treaty agreement and some by forceful removal by the Government from their homes. The first population count in 1860 reported more than 3,000 Indians living on the reserve.

Many Native Americans died from sickness, hunger, and exposure as they were forcibly removed from their homelands and sent to the reservation. They were not allowed to bring their possessions with them, having been assured that all they needed to survive would be provided once they reached the reservation, which proved to be an empty promise. Upon arriving in the Siletz Valley, all bands were treated the same and expected to live together in harmony though some had been enemies in the past. Most had no knowledge of farming or their new environment and what it could offer for survival.

Many died in the early years. For example, in 1857-58, 205 of the Rogue River Valley Indians died within a twelve-month period, and this was only one segment of the population. At Siletz, the Indians were under the control of a resident Indian agent. His staff included a farmer, doctor, miller, and teachers. Nearly three quarters of the Indians living in Siletz did not qualify for goods or assistance because their treaties had not been ratified by Congress. They received only the assistance the agent could secure through the limited funds for operating the reservation. However, the Indians of the Siletz Reservation did survive, working hard, and adapting to their environment through fierce hardships. They learned to farm and use the resources of the area. Many became loggers in the later years. Children were educated at the school on Government Hill, and in the 1880's some attended the Chemawa Indian School near Salem. Shortly after the turn of the century those that could began attending colleges and universities.

On December 21, 1865, President Andrew Johnson signed an order opening Yaquina Bay to white settlement. The order divided the Coast Reservation into a southern, Alsea, portion and a northern, Siletz, portion. The land removed involved an area twenty-five miles from north to south and twenty miles from east to west.

In 1875, the northern end and the entire Alsea Subagency (or southern half) of the reservation consisting of 12 townships, was restored to the public domain, reducing the size of what was thereafter known as the Siletz Reservation to 225,279 acres.

In 1891 and 1892, 44,439 acres were alloted to 551 individuals. Except for five timbered sections reserved for the use of the residents of the reservation, the remainder of the reservation was opened to public settlement in 1894. The exchange involved some 191,798 acres for which the government paid $142,000 (74 cents per acre).

The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians were among the Western Oregon Tribes who were terminated by the Act of August 13, 1954. In 1955 all remaining Siletz lands, except for the 39 acres known as Government Hill, were sold. Government Hill was given to the City of Siletz. The reservation which had once exceeded 1,300,000 acres in size had now officially been completely taken away from its original aboriginal tenants and given to public domain. The Termination Act also affected allotted lands which became subject to property taxes. By 1960 many of the last lands that had belonged to Siletz Indians passed out of their ownership due to non-payment of taxes. Termination virtually destroyed tribal life. With the sale of all remaining lands, and no economic or social resource, tribal members moved away from the reservation.

In the late sixties, recognizing the severe effects of termination, a core group of tribal members worked to revitalize common bonds. This included restoring the Tribal cemetery on Government Hill and developing programs to provide alcohol rehabilitation, job training, and social services. In the course of these efforts, it became apparent that the only way to reverse the trends of poverty, alcoholism, and despair was for the Siletz Tribe to regain its status as a tribe recognized by the United States. After years of intense diplomacy, the Congress and President approved Public Law 95-195 which reinstated recognition of the Siletz as a federal Indian Tribe in November 1977. In 1980 a reservation plan was approved, returning Government Hill to the Tribe and setting aside 3,660 acres of scattered sites of timberland within Lincoln County as the Tribal land base.