Take a Trip Back in Time

The First Peoples of the Oregon Coast

The ancestors of the Siletz and other Native Tribes lived along the Pacific Ocean for thousands of years and thrived on an abundant diet of sea lion, whale, shellfish, salmon, and other fish that were plentiful in the ocean and rivers, and deer, elk, roots, and berries from the forest. Native villages mostly operated with local autonomy but gathered to trade with one another and fight common enemies. Villagers’ houses were primarily cedar or sugar pine plank structures with the hearth area just below ground level, although sometimes the people lived under the open sky as they traveled from one seasonal camp to the next.

European explorers first arrived on the Oregon Coast in the late 16th century and started to trade with Native peoples when they came ashore to hunt and explore the mainland. Fur trappers came across the country from east to west in the late 18th
century, establishing trading posts close to Native villages. Unfortunately, the early explorers, fur trappers and traders and European colonists brought diseases like smallpox, measles, tuberculosis, and influenza that spread rapidly through Native societies across North America and along the Pacific Coast from village to village. At the turn of the 19th century, nearly eighty percent of the Native population had died because they had no immunity to those diseases. By the mid-1850’s, gold miners and settlers had steadily expanded onto the Oregon Coast and had forced Natives into increasingly smaller areas, leading the US Government to create the Siletz Reservation in 1855.

As Native property continued to shrink along the Oregon and Northern California Coast and in the Willamette Valley, many different tribes were forcibly moved to the Siletz Reservation. Most of the people who make up the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians came from the Clatsop, Chinook, Klickitat, Molala, Kalapuya, Tillamook, Alsea, Siuslaw/Lower Umpqua, Coos, Coquille, Upper Umpqua, Tututni, Chetco, Takelma, Galice/Applegate and Shasta Tribes. Over time the size of the reservation continued to shrink and was dismantled altogether in 1954 with the Western Termination Act, which took away one million acres of promised reservation land from the Siletz Tribe. The Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians fought back, and in 1977 became the second formerly terminated Tribe in the United States to regain federal recognition as a Tribe. The Siletz Tribe now owns about 16,000 acres of land.

Support the modern Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians by visiting Siletz-owned businesses. Built in 1995, Chinook Winds Casino is a full-service casino that offers slots and table games as well as lodging, childcare, an arcade for kids, golf, and rotating acts of entertainment. The casino also has great dinner options, dine onsite at Chinook’s Seafood Grill, Rogue River Grill, Siletz Bay Buffet, or La Bahia Mexican Grill. Park an RV and stay in one of the two RV parks owned by the Siletz Tribe; Logan Road RV Park is located in the Roads End neighborhood and is close to the casino, while the Hee Hee Illahee RV Resort in Salem, offers a clubhouse with a full kitchen and exercise room, a swimming pool and spa, reliable internet access, is pet friendly and is located near Willamette Valley wine country.

European Explorers and Pioneers come to the Oregon Coast

As previously mentioned, Spanish, English explorers arrived along the Oregon Coast as early as the mid-16th century and spent the next 300 years searching for treasure and shorter trade routes to Asia, especially the fabled Northwest Passage. Spanish ships also travelled regularly along the Oregon Coast following the Manila Gallion trail that connected Spanish colonies in the Philippines to those in Mexico during that time. Although no known European colonies were formed north of California, explorers and sailors abord cargo ships regularly traded with Natives for food, furs and other local goods when the Europeans would come ashore. By the early 19th
century, the US explorers with the Corps of Discovery (commonly known as the Lewis & Clark Expedition) had crossed the rocky mountains and reached the Pacific Ocean, interacting with Natives they met along the way.

At about the same time, French, British, Canadian and US fur traders and trappers started to reach the Pacific Coast after traveling across the US and Canada. The US Government realized that it could annex western North America if it was settled, and so they designed the Oregon Trail and other routes for pioneers to reach fertile tracts of land, which were granted to settlers for coming west. Many of the first pioneers to reach the Oregon Coast arrived in the 1840’s and 50’s, and began to develop farms for dairy, oysters, hay and other agriculture, build sawmills, fishing boats and fish processing plants, and establish towns to support the new communities.

Make a personal connection to the history of the area and learn much more about how Lincoln City grew and developed with a visit to the North Lincoln County Historical Museum. Check out the Tiny Tours feature that showcases videos of specific displays, experience the glass float collection and celebrate 25 Years of Finders Keepers with a special exhibit to highlight the town’s connection to glass floats, discover how Lincoln City was named and about the many special things that the diverse neighborhoods have to offer. Shop for a piece of Lincoln City history in one of the many antique stores, and make sure to stop by the Lincoln City Cultural Center
to see how important the arts have historically been to the community, the present works of art on display, and what kinds of local and traveling events and performances will be featured and when they will occur.

Coming to the beach for the day, or for an extended stay? Visit explorelincolncity.com for itineraries, ideas and specific events that may be of interest.