The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

is a

federally recognized This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

confederation of more than 27 Native American tribes and bands who once inhabited an extensive homeland of more than 20 million acres from northern California to southwest Washington and between the summit of the Cascades and the Pacific Ocean. After the

Rogue River Wars The Rogue River Wars were an armed conflict in 1855–1856 between the U.S. Army, local militias and volunteers, and the Native American tribes commonly grouped under the designation of Rogue River Indians, in the Rogue River Valley area ...

, these tribes were removed to the Coast Indian Reservation, now known as the

Siletz Reservation The Siletz Reservation is a 5.852 sq mi (15.157 km²) Indian reservation in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States, owned by the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. The reservation is made up of numerous non-contiguous parcels of land in east-centra ...

. The tribes spoke at least 11 distinct languages, including Tillamook, Shasta,

Lower Chinook Lower Chinook is a Chinookan language spoken at the mouth of the Columbia River on the west coast of North America. Dialects * Clatsop (Tlatsop) was spoken in northwestern Oregon around the mouth of the Columbia River and the Clatsop Plains ''(� ...

Kalapuya The Kalapuya are a Native American people, which had eight independent groups speaking three mutually intelligible dialects. The Kalapuya tribes' traditional homelands were the Willamette Valley of present-day western Oregon in the United Sta ...

Takelma The Takelma (also Dagelma) are a Native American people who originally lived in the Rogue Valley of interior southwestern Oregon. Most of their villages were sited along the Rogue River. The name ''Takelma'' means "(Those) Along the River". His ...

, Alsea-Yaquina, Siuslaw/Lower Umpqua, Coos, the Plateau Penutian languages Molala and Klickitat, and several related

Oregon Athabaskan languages Pacific Coast Athabaskan is a geographical and possibly genealogical grouping of the Athabaskan language family. California Athabaskan : 1. Hupa (dining'-xine:wh, a.k.a. Hoopa-Chilula) :: dialects: ::* Hupa ::* Tsnungwe ::: - tse:ning-xwe ::: - ...

Name

The confederation takes its name from the

Siletz River The Siletz River flows about to the Pacific Ocean through coastal mountains in the U.S. state of Oregon. Formed by the confluence of its north and south forks near Valsetz in Polk County, it winds through the Central Oregon Coast Range. The ...

, which surrounds the original headquarters of the reservation. The word ''siletz'' translates to a description of something that is ''coiled'' like a rope or a snake, describing the route of the river winding through the mountains circuitously to the ocean. The confederation includes remnants of the

Siletz The Siletz (pronounced SIGH-lets) were the southernmost of several divisions of the Tillamook people speaking a distinct dialect; the other dialect-divisions were: ''Salmon River'' on the river of that name, ''Nestucca'' on Little and Nestucca ...

, a

Coast Salish people The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coa ...

who also became incorporated into the larger confederation.

Tribes

The confederation is made up of the following tribes and bands. * Tillamook **

**Salmon River/Neachesna **Nestucca ** Nehalem **

Tillamook Bay Tillamook Bay is a small inlet of the Pacific Ocean, approximately 6 mi (10 km) long and 2 mi (3 km) wide, on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located just north of Cape Meares in western Tillamook Count ...

Alsea The Alsea are a Native American tribe of Western Oregon. They are (since 1856), confederated with other Tribes on the Siletz Reservation, Oregon, and are members of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. Their origin story says that the Yaquina, Als ...

, including Yaquina * Chinook, including Wakhiakum, Multnomah, and

Clatsop The Clatsop is a small tribe of Chinookan-speaking Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. In the early 19th century they inhabited an area of the northwestern coast of present-day Oregon from the mouth of the Columbi ...

* Coos, including Hanis and Miluk *

, including Santiam, Tualatin, Yamhill, Yoncalla, Marys River band, and others * Lower Umpqua (also known as Kuitsh) and Siuslaw * Molalla * Shasta, including Klamath River people * Rogue River peoples, including Shasta, Upper Rogue River Athapaskan peoples: Applegate and Galice Creek, or any of the tribes of Lower Rogue River Athapaskan (or Tututni) people * Klickitat *

, including Dagelma,

Latgawa Latgawa are Native American people who lived in the Rogue Valley of interior southwest Oregon. In their own language "Latgawa" means "those living in the uplands," though they were also known as the Walumskni by the neighboring Klamath tribe. T ...

, and Cow Creek * Oregon Athabaskans, including all Athabaskan bands from southwestern Oregon (bands of Rogue River Athabaskan peoples, Chetco people, Tolowa people and Upper Umpqua (Etnemitane) people), such as the following: ** Lower Rogue River Athabaskan (also known as Tututni) peoples *** Upper Coquille (also known as Mishikwutinetunne) *** Chasta Costa *** Tututni **** Euchre Creek (also known as Yukichetunne) **** Flores Creek **** Mikonotunne **** Naltunnetunne **** Pistol River (also known as Chetleshin) **** Port Orford band of Kwatami (also known as Kaltsergheatunne) **** Sixes (also known as Kwatami) **** Yashute (also known as Chemetunne) and others ** Upper Rogue River Athabaskan (also known as Galice/Applegate) peoples *** Applegate River (also known as Dakubetede) *** Galice Creek (also known as Taltushtuntede) ** Chetco-Tolowa ***

Tolowa The Tolowa people or Taa-laa-wa Dee-ni’ are a Native American people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethno-linguistic group. Two rancherias (Smith River and Elk Valley) still reside in their traditional territory in northwestern California. Tho ...

*** Chetco **

Upper Umpqua Upper may refer to: * Shoe upper or ''vamp'', the part of a shoe on the top of the foot * Stimulant Stimulants (also often referred to as psychostimulants or colloquially as uppers) is an overarching term that covers many drugs including thos ...

(also known as Etnemitane)

History

The Confederated Tribes emerged from the remnants of around 28 different tribes of coastal and other Western Oregon Indians.

Interim-reservations

* Table Rock Indian Reservation

After the war of 1855–1856

After the

of 1855–56, most of the peoples were forced onto the Coast Indian Reservation, which later became known as the Siletz Reservation, where they were to form a single unified tribe. The Coast Reservation originally comprised 1.1 million acres, which was established by the executive order of President

Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unit ...

on November 9, 1855, only weeks after the start of the last phase of the

. The Siletz Reservation was reduced by around 3/4 its area (approximately 900,000 acres) in 1865 and 1875 in violation of treaties. In 1894, 551 individuals received federal allotments from the remaining reservation, and tribal members were forced to cede the "surplus" for 74 cents an acre. By 1912, restrictions on inheriting lands within families led to more than one half of the Siletz allotments being owned by non-Indians.

Termination act of 1954

The Western Oregon Indian Termination Act of 1954, Public Law 588, was passed into law on August 13, 1954. This new law severed

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and Al ...

(BIA) supervision of trust lands and BIA regulation of services to the Indian peoples. All of the remaining Siletz lands were sold except for the 39 acres called

Government Hill The Government Hill is a hill in Central, Hong Kong, bounded by upper section of Upper Albert Road on the south, Queen's Road Central north, Garden Road east, and Glenealy, west of Hong Kong Island. The hill has been the administrative ...

. The proceeds of the sale of the timberland property were distributed to enrolled tribal members in two installments: $250 per person in December 1954, and a final payment of $542.50 per person in August 1956. Other inherited allotments were held in trusts but were also sold off at the request of the owners.

Restoration bills

During the 1960s, several members of the Siletz tribe began to organize and restore common bonds. Their initiatives included the restoration of the tribal cemetery on Government Hill and aggressive lobbying of Congress and the office of the President to again recognize Siletz as a federal Native American tribe. In June 1974, Rep. Wendell Wyatt introduced a first restoration bill, but it did not pass. On December 17, 1975, Senator

Mark Hatfield Mark Odom Hatfield (July 12, 1922 – August 7, 2011) was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served for 30 years as a United States senator from Oregon, and also as chairman of the Senate Approp ...

introduced restoration bill S. 2801. At the time Senator Hatfield presented his restoration bill he was quoted as saying that the Siletz People were "ill-prepared to cope with the realities of American society" when the Termination act went to effect and that they had been "tossed abruptly from a state of almost total dependency to a state of total independence ... orcing themto leave the only way of life they had known." The bill included wording to grant or restore hunting and fishing rights. This bill also did not pass. Senator Hatfield and Senator

Bob Packwood Robert William Packwood (born September 11, 1932) is an American retired lawyer and politician from Oregon and a member of the Republican Party. He resigned from the United States Senate, under threat of expulsion, in 1995 after allegations of ...

introduced a new bill, S. 1560, in the month of May 1977. Unlike its 1975 predecessor, it did not include that the hunting or fishing rights be restored (although a companion bill was sent by Rep. Les AuCoin to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

, H.R. 7259, which the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission fought and helped to stall). On August 5, 1977, the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and power ...

passed the restoration bill and on November 1, 1977, so did the House. The bill was then sent to President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 19 ...

on November 3 and then signed into law on November 18, 1977. Today about 5,600 of their descendants are enrolled members of this tribe, which is based on the Siletz Reservation along the

in the

Central Oregon Coast Range The Central Oregon Coast Range is the middle section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, and located in the west-central portion of the state of Oregon, United States roughly between the Salmon River and ...

, about 15 miles northeast of

Newport, Oregon Newport is a city in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States. It was incorporated in 1882, though the name dates back to the establishment of a post office in 1868. Newport was named for Newport, Rhode Island. As of the 2010 census, the city had ...

Important events in tribal history

*On November 18, 1977, the Confederated Tribes became the second tribe in the U.S. to have its federal status restored, and returned to being a sovereign government. *On June 2, 1979, tribal members adopted a

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princi ...

. *On November 1, 1979, people of the town of

, voted 148 to 134 to give back to the tribe approximately of former tribal land, which was originally the site of the old Siletz Agency, "Government Hill". The tribe had given this land to the city at the time of termination. *In 1980, the Siletz Reservation Act was signed into law, returning about 3,660 acres to the Siletz Tribe as its initial restored Siletz Reservation. *In 1994, the Tribe voted to lower the

blood quantum Blood quantum laws or Indian blood laws are laws in the United States that define Native American status by fractions of Native American ancestry. These laws were enacted by the federal government and state governments as a way to estab ...

, to 1/16, which allowed new members to join. *In 1995, the first "Run to the Rogue" took place, in which tribal members took turns carrying an eagle flag staff from Government Hill in Siletz to Agness, Oregon (located on the Rogue River) in what is Oregon's longest relay on foot. *In 1995, the Siletz Tribe opened up a casino/convention center, called Chinook Winds Casino, which overlooks the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

from

Lincoln City, Oregon Lincoln City is a city in Lincoln County on the Oregon Coast of the United States, between Tillamook and Newport. It is named after the county, which was named in honor of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. The population was 9,815 at the 2 ...

. *In 2005, a 227-room hotel adjacent to Chinook Winds Casino was purchased and added to the casino. *December 6, 2016 S.817 Bill Passed in U.S. House of Representatives. Real Property located within the original Siletz Reservation boundaries lines is now deemed "on reservation."

Organization and location

The Confederated Tribes have 5,600 enrolled members, 70% of whom live in Oregon and only 8% of whom live near on the reservation. An additional 6% live in the town of

and 22.6% live in Lincoln County. There are 445 households in the city of Siletz and 143 households on the Siletz Reservation. The tribe owns and manages about 16,000 acres total, about of which is a reservation located along the

in the

of central Lincoln County, Oregon, approximately 15 mi (24 km) northeast of Newport. In total, they own a checkerboard of approximately in and around the original 1.1 million acre Coast Indian Reservation, established Nov 9, 1855 – which was quickly whittled down, and the tribe terminated by act of Congress in 1956. The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians became the second tribe terminated by an act of Congress to regain federal recognition by passage of the Siletz Restoration Act Nov 18, 1977. The tribe owns and operates the Chinook Winds Casino and Convention Center, the Chinook Winds Golf Resort in Lincoln City (including the Chinook Winds Resort hotel purchased from Shilo Inn hotels in 2004), the oceanfront Lot 57 north of Chinook Winds Casino, Hee Hee Illahee RV park in Salem, the Logan Road RV Park, the Salem Flex Building where the Salem Area Offices currently exist, the Portland Stark Building which was purchased in August 2007, which is the site of the tribe's Portland Area Office, the Eugene Elks building which houses the Eugene Area Office, the Siletz Gas & Mini Mart, the old Toledo Mill site, and a commercial building in Depoe Bay. The tribe also owns and runs the Siletz Community Health Clinic. A $7.5 million plan is underway to expand the clinic. $2 million of the funding will come from the Federal government's IHS Small Ambulatory Grant funding. The clinic is currently but will grow to between 2006-2016. The Siletz Tribal Police department was discontinued, but the tribe now contracts with the nearby Lincoln County Sheriff's Office to provide law enforcement services to the Siletz area. The tribe is gradually accumulating additional property into the reservation, as part of its Comprehensive Plan. This includes entrusted to the tribe in 2007 by the state and federal governments as part of the New Carissa oil spill settlement, on the condition that the Confederated Tribes will manage it as a marbled murrelet habitat. The tribal government is attempting to get its 1850's treaties with the United States recognized by referencing them in the tribe's constitution, and also by mentioning the treaties in a work by Charles Wilkinson, who was hired by the Tribal Council to write a history of the Siletz. There have also been attempts to retrieve the remains of tribal ancestors from the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded o ...

, and to retrieve various other tribal artifacts distributed throughout the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

The current Tribal Council includes Chairman Delores Pigsley, Vice Chairman Bud Lane, Secretary Sharon Edenfield, Treasurer Robert Kentta, Reggie Butler, Sr., Lillie Butler, Loraine Butler, Angela Ramirez and Selene Rilatos. The tribal government's Public Information Office publishes the monthly ''Siletz News''.

Cultural activities

Artifacts and historical documents are stored and displayed at the Siletz Tribal Cultural Center, located on Government Hill, under the care of Cultural Programs Staff.

is taught as a common tribal language. Beginning

Athabaskan Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific Co ...

language has been taught at the Siletz Valley Charter School, which opened in the fall of 2006. NezPerce3

The second weekend in August of every year the tribe is host to its annual Nesika Illahee Pow-wow. Every summer and winter

solstice A solstice is an event that occurs when the Sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around June 21 and December 21. In many countrie ...

for hundreds if not thousands of years, a dance has been held, called the Feather Dance (or Nee-dash), for 10 nights. In recent years a new tradition has been started. During the winter solstice, dancers, singers, and tribal members from the Confederated Tribes visit the

's cedar plank dance house near Smith River, California. During the summer solstice, dancers, singers, and tribal members of the Tolowa tribe visit the peoples of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz's cedar plank dance house.

Population

Finding records of the ethnic and cultural history of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz is somewhat difficult. A partial attempt at the tribal population makeup before it was forced on reservation lands in the mid-19th century is as follows: *Upper Rogue River or Shasta Tribe: **John's Band 172 **George's Band 222 **Joseph James's Band 160 *Coastal Tribes: **Joshuas's Band 179 **Choallie's Band 215 **Totoem's Band 202 **Macanotin's Band 129 **

Shasta Costa The Shasta Costa (also known as the Chasta Costa, Shastacosta, Chastacosta, Shastao-Skoton, Shista-Kkhwusta or Shistakwasta ), are a Native American tribe, one of Lower Rogue River Athabascan tribes from southwestern Oregon, who originally liv ...

110 **Port Orford (a Qua-to-mah band) 242 ** Upper Coquille 313

Language

The ancestors of the Confederated Tribes spoke at least 11 different languages. *

Salishan languages The Salishan (also Salish) languages are a family of languages of the Pacific Northwest in North America (the Canadian province of British Columbia and the American states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana). They are characterised by a ...

** Tillamook *

Shastan languages The Shastan (or Sastean) family consisted of four languages, spoken in present-day northern California and southern Oregon: # Konomihu ''(†)'' # New River Shasta ''(†)'' # Okwanuchu ''(†)'' # Shasta (also known as Shastika) ''(†)'' ...

** Shasta *

Penutian languages Penutian is a proposed grouping of language families that includes many Native American languages of western North America, predominantly spoken at one time in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California. The existence of a Penutian ...

(proposed grouping) **

Chinookan languages The Chinookan languages were a small family of languages spoken in Oregon and Washington along the Columbia River by Chinook peoples. Although the last known native speaker of any Chinookan language died in 2012, the 2009-2013 American Community ...

***

Kalapuyan languages Kalapuyan (also Kalapuya) is a small extinct language family that was spoken in the Willamette Valley of Western Oregon, United States. It consists of three languages. The Kalapuya language is currently in a state of revival. Kalapuyan descenda ...

** Plateau Penutian languages ***

Sahaptian languages Sahaptian (also Sahaptianic, Sahaptin, Shahaptian) is a two-language branch of the Plateau Penutian family spoken by Native American peoples in the Columbia Plateau region of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho in the northwestern United States. The ...

****

Sahaptin The Sahaptin are a number of Native American tribes who speak dialects of the Sahaptin language. The Sahaptin tribes inhabited territory along the Columbia River and its tributaries in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Sahaptin-s ...

(Klickitat dialect) *** Molala ** Coast Oregon Penutian languages (proposed) ***

*** Siuslaw *** Coosan languages *

Na-Dene languages Na-Dene (; also Nadene, Na-Dené, Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit, Tlina–Dene) is a family of Native American languages that includes at least the Athabaskan languages, Eyak, and Tlingit languages. Haida was formerly included, but is now considered ...

Athabaskan languages Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific Co ...

*** Lower Rogue River (or Tututni) *** Upper Rogue River (or Galice-Applegate) ***

(or Etnemitane) ***

(or Siletz Dee-ni) According to a report by the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...

and the

Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages The Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages (LTIEL) is a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization based in Salem, Oregon, United States. The institute's focus is to scientifically document endangered languages, as well as assist communities with ...

, Siletz Dee-ni is the last of many tribal languages spoken on the reservation. In 2007 only one living fluent speaker remained. However, according to a later report in ''The Economist,'' the language has since been at least partially revived thanks to an on-line dictionary project; in some areas, "many now text each other in Siletz Dee-ni." The tribe has a language revival program with classes in three area offices and Siletz Valley school."Our Language is as old as time itself."
''Siletz Tribal Language Program.'' 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2012. As of 2020, a number of younger conversant speakers have learned the language.

Notable Siletz people

* Peter "Last Walking Bear" DePoe, drummer for the band Redbone. * Sister Francella Mary Griggs, advocate for the restoration of federal recognition * Mary "Dolly" Fisher, activist to restore federal recognition of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians from 1974. She won the Nanwood Honeyman Award for significant contribution to the advancement of women in Oregon. She won The National Congress of American Indians award, honoring Indian and Native Women's leadership. Named tribal casino as "Chinook Winds." * Calvin Leroy Van Pelt (1924–2011), businessman and tribal elder * Delores Ann (Lane) Pigsley, one of the longest serving Tribal leaders in the United States as of 2020, still serving as Siletz Tribal Chairman.

References

External links

Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
(official website)

* * Kentta, Robert
"A Siletz Historical Timeline".
Siletz Indian Tribe History, Tillamook Oregon, Multnomah County Oregon, Salishan - Part I - Introduction. STBC, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:Confederated Tribes Of Siletz Indians Native American tribes in California Native American tribes in Oregon Federally recognized tribes in the United States Rogue River Wars