-Spoke three distinct languages (62).
-Lived in villages along rivers, estuaries and the coast
-Skilled toolmakers, canoe builders, basketry (basket pic)
-Traditionally lived in villages (plank houses) located near abundant supplies of fish/shellfish.
-During summer/fall would move to seasonal hunting/fishing/gathering camps
-Women’s traditional roles were as gatherers (collecting shellfish, berries and plants)
-First documented contact with Americans was April 10, 1792
-At first trade was beneficial. The tribes were able to trade otter skins for copper/iron.
-July 14, 1828 violent altercation with Jedidiah Smith, an American mountain man and his men. The Lower Umpqua killed 15 of his men.
-After the Ordinance of 1787, and Organic Act of 1848(which established the Oregon territory) on August 17, 1885 Confederated Tribes signed a treaty. Treaty ceded extensive amounts of land but provided for a reservation, good, and annuities. Agreement was never ratified, it was ignored by the U.S. Senate and the lands were essentially “stolen.”
-August 1856: President Buchanan created the coast reservation.
-March 3, 1875 Congress opened the northern and Southern borders of the reservation for pioneer settlement, provided that tribe members agreed.
-Years following 1875 were filled with major adjustments; Adults found work on farms, cutting wood, washing clothes, and logging. Children were sent away to boarding schools where teachers forbade the use of traditional languages, spiritual observances, hunting, fishing, gathering. “The goal of these schools was to transform the Indian children into “civilized” famers, carpenters, and seamstresses” (71).
-In May 1917, the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw tribes officially confederated and began electing tribal leaders.
-For many years, the Confederated Tribes tried to appeal to the courts to regain their land, without any success.
-August 13, 1954 Congress passed the Western Oregon Termination Act. Termination law became effective in 1956: Bureau of Indian affairs began issuing individual allotments. (Many lost this land because they were unable to pay the taxes on the land)
-Tribe lost reservation land with Termination. Land went to the City of Empire, who leased it immediately and did not care for it properly.
-January 8, 1973 the city of Coos Bay yielded contro of the hall to the Confederated Tribes.
-October 17, 1984 with the signing of the P.L. 98-481 the federal recognition of the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw was restored.
The picture above depicts a Coos Indian and his canoe.
(All information found in the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw packet received in class)