unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
in
Lane County, Oregon
Lane County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 382,971, making it the fourth-most populous county in Oregon. The county seat is Eugene. It is named in honor of Joseph Lane, Orego ...
, United States. It is located on Territorial Road about southwest of Eugene; it is northwest of Cottage Grove. The community is near the headwaters of the North Fork
Siuslaw River
The Siuslaw River ( ) is a river, about long, that flows to the Pacific Ocean coast of Oregon in the United States. It drains an area of about in the Central Oregon Coast Range southwest of the Willamette Valley and north of the watershed of t ...
in a valley in the foothills of 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 t ...
. Local businesses include several wineries, including the
King Estate Winery
King Estate Winery is an organic winery located southwest of Eugene, Oregon, United States near the community of Lorane. Matt Kramer of ''The Oregonian'' considers King Estate the benchmark producer of Pinot gris (aka Pinot grigio) in the cou ...
, Chateau Lorane Winery and Iris Hill Winery, and two general stores.
Lorane is also home to several notable late-19th-century/early-20th-century buildings, including the Lorane Christian Church, built in 1889, the Lorane Rebekah Lodge, built in 1898, and the Lorane
Grange hall
The Grange, officially named The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, is a social organization in the United States that encourages families to band together to promote the economic and political well-being of the community and ...
, built in 1909.
Although Lorane is unincorporated, it has a
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
Lorane was settled by white settlers who participated in the US expansion Westward to Oregon, encouraged by the
Donation Land Claim Act
The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, sometimes known as the Donation Land Act, was a statute enacted by the United States Congress in late 1850, intended to promote homestead settlements in the Oregon Territory. It followed the Distribution-Preem ...
of 1850, which gave 320 acres of free land to any unmarried white male citizen, or 640 acres to every married couple, who moved to the
Oregon Territory
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Ori ...
before December 1, 1850. First settler contact in Lorane is thought to have occurred in the early 1850s, with significant colonial landmarks being the
Applegate Trail
The Applegate Trail was an emigrant trail through the present-day U.S. states of Idaho, Nevada, California, and Oregon used in the mid-19th century by emigrants on the American frontier. It was originally intended as a less dangerous alternative ...
, a stagecoach route, the Cartwright House (Mountain House Hotel), and the original landscape intended for the
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
. The Railroad was built in Cottage Grove, 12 miles east of Lorane.
The indigenous keepers of the land that Lorane occupies are the
Siuslaw people
Siuslaw is one of the tribes comprising the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and a portion of the off-reservation population forms part of the three Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians located on the southwest Oregon ...
, who are believed to have arrived to the
Oregon coast
The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately from the California state border in the south to the Columbia ...
over 9,000 years ago. They spoke the
Siuslaw language
Siuslaw was the language of the Siuslaw people and Lower Umpqua ( Kuitsh) people of Oregon. It is also known as ''Lower Umpqua''. The Siuslaw language had two dialects: Siuslaw proper (Šaayušƛa) and Lower Umpqua (Quuiič).
Classification
Si ...
, but the last documented speakers of Siuslawan were the Barrett family and Billy Dick of
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
, who were interviewed in the 1950s. However, there are ongoing language revitalization efforts, knowledge of which is exclusive to tribal members.
The white settler-colonizers of Lorane arrived after the Siuslaw people had been devastated by
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
and ague fever (now believed to be akin to malaria) that arrived to the Oregon coast due to Spanish sailors in the 1770s, which was followed by further outbreaks in the 1830s. Researchers believe that the Siuslaw population was reduced to a few hundred from 3,000 in 30–40 years. The devastation introduced by settler-colonizers in the form of disease was coupled with massive wildfires and cultural genocide on the part of white settlers. On August 13, 1954,
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
signed Public Law 588, which "terminated" the Siuslaw people, refusing them recognition and ending trust protection and services from the
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 A ...
. In 1960, Siuslaw people were forcibly relocated to
Yachats
Yachats ( ) is a small coastal city in the southernmost area of Lincoln County, Oregon, United States. According to ''Oregon Geographic Names'', the name comes from the Siletz language and means "dark water at the foot of the mountain". There is ...
, at the
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 ...
subagency on the
Yachats River
The Yachats River ( ) is a short river on the central Oregon coast, about west-north-west of Eugene. The name is the native name meaning ''at the foot of the mountain''.
The river begins about east-south-east of Yachats, Oregon, in steep, thi ...
. They were imprisoned here for 17 years and forced to farm the land. 50% of tribal members, which included the Siuslaw, Hanis Coos,
Miluk Coos
Coos people are an indigenous people of the Northwest Plateau, living in Oregon. They live on the southwest Oregon Pacific coast. Today, Coos people are enrolled in the following federally recognized tribes:
* Confederated Tribes of the Coos, ...
, and the Kiutsch, or Lower Umpqua, died from starvation, mistreatment, exhaustion, and disease.
Not until October 17, 1984, when
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
signed Public Law 98-481, was Tribal Sovereignty recognized, after a grueling battle on the part of the indigenous people. In 1987, what became the
Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians
The Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians of Oregon are a federally recognized Native American tribe of Hanis Coos, Miluk Coos, Lower Umpqua (or Kuitsh), and Siuslaw people in Oregon. Today, the Confederated Tribes run the Three Rivers Casino and Resort, and Blue Earth Services and Technology and provide services to five counties: Coos,
Curry
A curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine. In southern India, leaves from the curry tree may be included.
There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in tradit ...
,
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincoln ...
,
Douglas
Douglas may refer to:
People
* Douglas (given name)
* Douglas (surname)
Animals
*Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking
*Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...
, and
Lane
In road transport, a lane is part of a roadway that is designated to be used by a single line of vehicles to control and guide drivers and reduce traffic conflicts. Most public roads (highways) have at least two lanes, one for traffic in each ...
.
Today, knowledge of the indigenous inhabitants of Lorane has all but disappeared in the community of Lorane. Documented interaction with the first settler-colonizers of Lorane and the Siuslaw people is exceptionally rare, summed up by the statement "there is a tradition of a Siuslaw village in the Lorane Valley, southwest of Eugene." The land that Lorane rests on possesses a history that has been confined to the past due to the lack of Siuslaw people in the area of Lorane and the ease in which white settlers claim land as their own.
Oregon Historical Society
The Oregon Historical Society (OHS) is an organization that encourages and promotes the study and understanding of the history of the Oregon Country, within the broader context of U.S. history. Incorporated in 1898, the Society collects, preser ...
Historic American Buildings Survey
Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...
University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...