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Indian people did live in the Yachats area before the reservation years. The way Indian people related to the land was very different from whites. However, that difference is not to discredit their ties and entitlements to their lands. It is important to understand that they used the Yachats area only part of the year in order to maintain a continuous food supply. But there is strong evidence that the settlements were continuous for well over a 1,000 years. The most recent indigenous people to live in the Yachats area were southern Alsea,

Alsea Sub-Agency, like most reservations, was a brutal prison camp meant to destroy indigenous cultures as dictated under guidelines from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. A few of the agents were sympathetic. However, with no money, few and inferior supplies, and being denied their traditional ways of gathering food, the Indian people were forced to survive as agriculturalists on the ocean shores. Between the sandy soil and the salty air, crop failures were inevitable.

Despite extremely harsh conditions, these people began to subsist and make a new home for themselves. After the Coos, Umpqua, Alsea and Siuslaw people made this area habitable for homesteaders, they were forced out again. Acknowledging this information is important for further understanding of our local history.

There may be readers who have additional information that will enable expansion of a more accurate and comprehensive representation of the Native Americans whose home was the Yachats area. Such information is most welcome. Please contact:

Robert Kentta, Cultural Director of the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz
P.O. Box 549
Siletz, OR 97380

Don Whereat, Historian and Tribal Council Member for the Confederated Tribes of
the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw
338 Wallace St.
Coos Bay, OR 97420

Joanne Kittel
P.O. Box 700, Yachats, OR 97498
541547-3 44

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Last Modified : 12/28/04
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