

I offer thanks to my
friends,
relatives, and ancestors whose strength of purpose
led me to my own. A
special
thanks to my co-author,
Rev. Marilyn A. Riedel,
for her deep love and dedication to me and this project.
Without her tireless
effort and selfless interest,
this liberating history
of Oregon would never have been written.
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My grandfather was Cabell Adair
Breckenridge
Patterson. He was called "Cab" for short. He married my grandmother,
Arseneon
P. Turƒƒeman. Their oldest son died six months before my mother,
Harriet
E. Patterson Hill (1847-1931), was born.
Cab Patterson's mother was a Quaker, Lovely
Truitt. The family moved to Kentucky from nearby Philadelphia where
they
first settled.
Grandpa was one of a family of six children.
He was a descendent of the 13 Patterson brothers who migrated to
America
during the time of American colonist William
Penn (1644-1718). The Pattersons were Calvinists.
In my family, the oldest son is always named
"William." Grandpa was named Cab because he wasn't the oldest son.
There was a William Patterson at the battle
of Valley Forge
(1777-1778)
who fought for Gen.
George Washington. He was a Continental who was enlisted for
the
duration of the Revolutionary War.
Lovely Patterson sent William, who was 12
years old, to Valley Forge to deliver socks, food and other provisions
to the Washington's soldiers.
Cab's son, William, moved to Kentucky, and
was a private in the War of 1812.
Grandma was an abolitionist. She begged
her spouse to free their slaves, and told them to get out of slave
territory,
as she saw trouble was coming.
One of the slaves became a good blacksmith.
He earned enough money to purchase his wife and son and fled to
Cincinnati,
Ohio. The family moved to Illinois to escape slavery in the South.
Mother’s family, the Turemans were Germans
who migrated to America when John
Q. Adams (1735-1826) was president. The large family settled in
Illinois.
My dad was Samuel Hill (1839-1916). He was
born in Kentucky, and was the son of Nancy Watters and Philip Hill. His
parents died when he was 12 years old, while the family was living in
California.
An uncle-in-law took all the property he could quickly sell and left my
orphaned family alone. Neighbors found some wild cattle to sell, and
gave
dad the money.
He started for Oregon with his pony, but
ran into three cousins when he stopped to camp along the trail. They
took
him back to California.
Later on, the applied for a donation land
claim in Oregon, but did not prove up on his claim.
He joined the Confederacy, and the last
letter from him was sent out secretly from Vicksburg
(1863). That battle, a Union victory, was the turning point of the
Civil
War.
Before settling at Beaver
Creek, near Seal Rock, he was hired by a woman to ferry her
cattle
across the river in Salem. He took land on the South Beaver side of the
hill next to Harriet Patterson's claim.
They were married after mother's brother,
Corlis "Ike" Patterson, was killed at South Beach while working for the
government on the jetties.
This particular Corlis was buried on the
old homestead; the others are buried at Fernridge Cemetery, Seal Rock.
Waldport
Waldport, a small maritime community
surrounded
by thickly wooded hills, is located on the south shore of Alsea Bay in
what was part of the Coast Reservation.
David
Ruble (1831-1907), who founded the community, was born in
Monongalia
County, Virginia, December 11, 1831. When he was four, his parents,
Elizabeth
Irons (1796-1890) and Thomas Ruble (1797-1857), migrated to Wabash
County,
Indiana, and lived there until the spring of 1853 when Ruble, who was a
miller, crossed the plains to Oregon with his older brother, William
(1822-1905).
The brothers were married to sisters, Orlena
(1834-1911) and Ruth Russell. William was among the few travelers that
could provide a horse-drawn carriage for his wife. Normally the women
walked
the 2,000 miles to Oregon at about 15 miles per day.
Both families took up Donation Land Claim
about four miles west of Salem in the Eola
Hills. In 1872, Orlena and David moved to the Alsea Valley
where
David erected a gristmill and later a sawmill on the North Fork of the
Alsea. After a flood there, the family moved on the coast and
established
Waldport.
David and Orlena had nine children. Their
choice of names broke with the ordinary: Marion (1855-1935), Victoria
(1857-?),
Arizona (1858-1918), Orange Judd (1861-1926), Marshall W. (1862-1955),
Eldorado (1865-?), Arsina (1868-?), Mary Levina (1870-?) and Martha
(1872-1965).
The Waldport area was not opened to
settlement
until 1875. During several years before he moved to Waldport in October
1879, Ruble freighted flour and grain down the Alsea in the flat boat
he
built. In all, he is said to have made 67 trips.
Ruble donated land for a church building,
making it the first Church of Christ or Christian Church on the Oregon
Coast.
Charity Arizona (1860-?), daughter of Elma
Ruble (1824-1914) and Andrew Jackson Rose (1819-1892) wrote in her
Memoirs,
The Rubles have, as a rule, been religious people to whom we can look back with pride. We never knew of a Ruble being intoxicated or of begging his daily bread, although but few have aspired to much wealth.
Waldport (Port of the Woods) was so named
in the 1880s at the suggestion of Paul V. Wustrow, then postmaster at
Alsea,
about 19 miles southwest of Philomath. Col. Wustrow was a well-known
character
in the Alsea Valley of European birth and up-bringing, but it is not
known
whether he was Russian or German. He held the position of postmaster
for
nearly a quarter of a century, from March 30, 1876 until May 28, 1898.
Collins post office, on the north side of
Alsea
Bay, was established January 31, 1875, with Matthew Brand
serving
as postmaster, and the Waldport office was established June 17, 1881,
with
David Ruble in charge of the office.
When Ruble became postmaster of Collins,
the site moved from the north to south shore of Alsea Bay. Ruble lost
the
position on February 23, 1882, and the Collins post office moved back
to
the north shore. A few months later, on August 15, 1882, a new post
office
was acquired for Waldport on the south shore, with Orlena's father,
Thomas
Russell (1819-1894), serving as postmaster. Russell previously served
as
first postmaster of the Alsea office, which was established July 14,
1871.
Ruble succeeded Russell as postmaster of the Waldport office on
September
27, 1883.
Early settlers in this Alsea River Basin
were Germans who came for the brief goldrush then stayed to develop the
timber industry. The winter of 1879-1880, Ruble and others washed
$1,700
in gold dust from beach sands.
When the townsite was platted in 1884, the
streets of Old Town were laid out by the stars, without benefit of a
survey.
The City of Waldport was chartered in 1890.
Alsea Bay Bridge, the longest cement-poured
bridge in the world, it was torn down in 1992.
William Pope McArthur gives Alseya on his
chart accompanying the report of the US Coast Survey for 1851, and the
name Alseya Settlement appears on the Surveyor General's Map of 1855.
The
legend stretches along Alsea River, which rises in the Coast Range and
flows into Alsea Bay at Waldport, and the center of the settlement is a
little to the west of the present community of Alsea. The name has many
variations, but there is no doubt that it was originally pronounced
with
three syllables, and not with two as at present.
Originally a stronghold of the Alsi,
a Yakonan tribe that lived near the mouth of the river, the
quiet
beach town of Waldport also has had incarnations as a goldrush town and
lumber port. A point south of town bears the name of Chief
Yaquina John, one of the last members of the Alsi.
Waldport’s history is written in a hundred
years of forest products. Until the last two decades, fishing and
dairying
were also active. The area once had several sawmills and salmon
canneries.
Logging still prevails as an occupation, but no sawmills remain in the
area. At one time, Waldport even started its own railroad and was
accessed
by train. The line was built in 1918 by the US Army to log spruce that
was used to build airplanes during WWI. After the war ended, the line
was
acquired by the C. D. Johnson Lumber Company, which used to log an area
south of town known as Camp One. When the logging was completed in
1935,
the railroad was abandoned. Mid-century, Waldport was manufacturing the
brightly colored cedar floats that mark the crab fishermen's nets,
which
resemble huge butterfly nets, with steel rings at the top and sinkers
at
the lower end, where bait is fastened. These nets were used near the
ocean
ashore and in the bays, while copper or iron crab pots were employed
farther
out on the banks. The Alsea Historical Society is currently working to
establish a museum dedicated to the local history.
Commercial literature about the place touts
Waldport's livability, suggesting that the town's "relative obscurity"
has spared it the fate of more crowded tourist towns. This may also be
explained by a nondescript main drag that gives no hint of surrounding
beaches and prime fishing spots. A recent influx of retirees has
spurred
new homebuilding, but this cozy little hamlet is decidedly low-key.
Agent Orange in Them Thar Hills 1970
It is hard to picture the quiet beach town of Waldport as the object of national media scrutiny, but it happened twice during the 1970s and again in 1997. During the 1970s, a Sixty Minutes investigative team came here to document the link between dioxin-based defoliants used in the area timber stands to eliminate blackberries, vine maples, and other vegetation that impede the growth of Douglas fir, to an abnormally high incidence of birth defects and miscarriages. This report and the ensuing government ban on this substance in Oregon forests took on national significance when soldiers exposed to ill-effects of the same chemical (Agent Orange) in Vietnam were denied compensation by the Pentagon.
Heaven's Gate Swings Wide Open at Waldport 1975
But this wasn't the only occasion that Waldport basked in the hot glare of a national media spotlight during the 1970s. A 1975, New York Sunday Times article described a bizarre UFO cult's recruitment of followers here to undertake a rendezvous with a spacecraft that would transport them to a higher place of existence. Walter Cronkite, John Chancellor and the like followed up with TV coverage. Their leader, Marshall Herff Applewhite, exhorted the faithful to give up their possessions and depart Oregon for Colorado where the ascension was to take place. The same Marshall Applewhite resurfaced in the spring of 1997 at Gold Beach on the South Oregon Coast, and the town, like Waldport, gained international recognition following the Heaven's Gate suicides in Southern California. Mark Miller of Newsweek reported that
in March 1997, "some followers of Heaven's Gate embarked on a bus trip to Santa Rosa, California, and to Gold Beach, Oregon, the place where cult leader Marshall Applewhite first found his calling in the wilderness. They continued on to Ashland, Oregon, and Sacramento, California, running up more than $2,000 in hotel bills."
The cult's mass suicide in Southern California prompted another media explosion with reverberations felt in Waldport. Broadcast media from Dateline NBC to Good Morning America interviewed locals here for impressions of the deceased, as a stunned and curious nation looked on.
Sinking of the Atalanta Commemorated 1998

On November 17, 1998, people from as far away as Australia, England and Canada gathered at Tillicum State Park in South Lincoln County to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of a British clipper off the coast near Waldport. Fr. Gerald Steckler of Saint Anthony's Catholic church in Waldport blessed the stone and plaque placed in the park in memory of the 23 seamen, including the Atalanta's captain, who died November 17, 1898. The Atalanta had stopped at Tacoma, Washington, and was heading south for a run to South Africa with a cargo full of wheat, when it went aground off the coast. John McMahon, a descendant of one of the three crew members to survive the wreck, Frank McMahon, gave a brief speech. A proclamation from the mayor of Sydney, Australia, the city from which the ship had set out, was also read. Among those attending were Waldport Mayor Phyllis Boehme, Yachats mayor Arthur Roberts and his wife, Fern Roberts, and Lincoln County Commissioner Nancy Leonard, as well as Port of Alsea Manager Maggie Rivers and Doris Tai, a representative of the US Forest Service, who arranged for the plaque and memorial stone.
Beavers and Beans

Author of "Beavers and Beans:
Helen Virginia Smith Lewis Hanson
(1917-2004)
Truly this is a wonderful state, for Oregon is a virgin country, so to speak, as yet not greatly changed by the ways of men. Her farmlands are fertile and productive, her forests plentiful and abundant. Its many rivers are a potential source of water and energy, gnawing their courses through soft earth and solid rock. Beneath the surface its minerals have scarcely been tapped. Along her lower coastline stretch countless miles of rugged wilderness on which humanity has little more than glanced. In the eastern portion are her wheat fields and grazing lands, though thousands of acres lie unused, impotent and uncultivated, begging for fertility which only water can bring them. Its resources are many and varied. Beneath the bosom of her snow-capped Cascades lie the secrets of the ages that man can only presume. The lava beds of the central part are mute testimony of the eon of belching infernos which were volcanoes. The tons of massive boulders found in various regions rolled and stacked by superhuman force bear evidence of erosion and time. The fossil beds of its far eastern portion verify humanity's legend and beauty and promise, it lies, geographically old, historically new, but scarcely awakened and yet unexploited. ...
The Egg and I
Two amateur paleontologists have
discovered
a 40-million-year old fossil egg, the first ever discovered in Oregon,
according to William Orr, director of the state museum of fossils, the
Condon
collection, housed at the university.
Jim Leary of Cottage Grove discovered the
egg, slightly smaller than a hen's egg, while fossil collecting with
his
brother-in-law, Kevin Benson, near Vernonia
west of Portland. Though the egg has a shell less than 1/32-inch thick,
it remains nearly intact, with only minor deformation.
Orr says his initial examination indicates
it is probably an ancient bird egg. The prehistoric egg comes from what
is known as the Keasey formation, a layer of sedimentary rock deposited
during the late Eocene epoch, about 40 million years ago. Keasey rocks
of volcanic ash, formed from some of the earliest debris from the
infant
Cascade volcanic range, were laid down in marine continental slope
waters
far from shore, at depths exceeding 1,500 feet.
"But this is quite mysterious," Orr
explains.
"Normally we would associate an egg with coastal environs. It is
puzzling
to find one so far from the shoreline in deep water volcanic clay
stones."
To identify the specimen, Orr and Mike
Shaffer,
research assistant in the University of Oregon Department of Geology,
examined
the eggshell using a scanning electron microscope. They found a typical
porous surface and crystalline, layered cross-section. These
micro-structures
usually indicate a bird egg, possibly that of a pelican.
"Fossil eggs are very rare," Orr says. "Egg
structures are inherently fragile and designed to be broken after a few
weeks or months. That any egg survives for the millions of years it
takes
to become a fossil is truly remarkable."
Prehistoric eggs that do survive are rarely
found, Orr notes. Because they appear similar to rounded stream
pebbles,
fossil eggs usually go unnoticed, even by seasoned fossil collectors.
Still, many collectors think they have found
fossil eggs. Hopeful collectors have presented Orr with hundreds of
"egg"
fossils for identification. All previous specimens have turned out to
be
non-organic stones or "concretions," he says.
Having been generally categorized, the Leary
egg next will be CAT-scanned and X-rayed using the facilities at a
local
hospital. This will determine the extremely unlikely possibility that
the
shell bears an intact preserved embryo. Finally, if owner Jim Leary is
willing, Orr will send the egg to get a more specific identification
from
a paleontologist who specializes in eggs.
Orr and his wife, Elizabeth, co-authors
of a number of books on the prehistory of Oregon and the Pacific
Northwest,
are just completing a new book on the fossils and paleontologists of
Oregon.
He expects to make this newly discovered egg a centerpiece chapter.
Bridges and Beams
After a scant month in Salem, we got
orders
to move to Waldport.
"Oh, Lew, aren't we lucky?," I asked airily,
peering over his shoulder while he charted our next day’s journey via
the
wandering black lines of a road map spread on the table. "You job's a
magic
carpet that whisks us merrily over the countryside, and those tiny
names
printed on the map will become creeks and mountains and rivers and bays
and towns. And besides that, it provides us with the ways and means."
"For gosh sakes! Let the air out of that
cloud and come on down to earth, Gin, and if you know of any place
where
we can trade Josephine in on a second-hand magic carpet, we'd better do
it before we start," Lew stated pessimistically. "Look!"
And his pencil came to rest on a green blob
on the map indicating the mountains of the Coast Range. Then, it moved
on to an inch of broken line, which, he explained, meant secondary
highway
and which could (and subsequently did) mean graveled road in poor
condition.
With all of Josephine's rattles and knocks
and four smoothie tires, Lew continued, "We'll be mighty lucky to wish
ten miles out of town without trouble."
We packed our vases and ashtrays again and
tied the paraphernalia which could not be loaded into the back seat
onto
Josephine's running boards. The next day we started out behind the
state
truck, with one of the other crewmen following behind us in his car. We
had left the town five or six miles behind, when the other driver
started
honking loudly and gesturing in sign language. Lew, who was used to the
crew’s practical jokes, only laughed and said, "They're making fun of
our
good looking automobile. It probably does look like a refugee from a
tin
can factory."
But the honking grew louder, and the
rear-view
mirror showed the gestures were becoming more frantic; so Lew pulled
over
to the next curb and found the rear wheels were all but off—rolling two
feet out in space from the fenders. We had evidently lost a simple
little
thing called a pin. Another half a mile and we would have been in a
very
embarrassing predicament—no wheels! We pulled into a nearby garage for
minor repairs and continued to Waldport without further casualty.
Waldport is a tiny seacoast town nestled
close to the Pacific where the Alsea River empties into the ocean. We
rented
a little cabin along the dunes where we could look out and see the
breakers
creeping in and smell the salt air and the pungence from the small
wharves
where daily, fresh fish and crabs and clams were available.
The crew was scraping and painting a bridge
located ten miles south of Waldport. It spanned a small river whose
ample
and sandy banks made an ideal picnic site, and tourists often stopped
there
to swim or lunch or loaf in the white sand. The crew's foreman, who the
men affectionately called "Minnie," considered himself to be Oregon's
gift
to the "gentler sex." It there were any women—large or small, blondes,
brunettes or redheads, old or young—sited within a radius of a mile,
Minnie
went into his act. On the highest four inch brace of the bridge he
would
perch precariously on one foot, or sing a song in a loud nasal tenor,
or
dance a jig or whistle, which no doubt made an impression on the crew.
One windy day, a couple of
"beautiful-but-dumb"
females scantily clad with scarcely enough cloth between them to flag a
handcar, were trying in vain to start a fire. Minnie hurriedly grasped
this golden opportunity to play “boy scout.” He hastily climbed down
from
his lofty perch, started whistling as jaunty as you please, and headed
for the river banks below and the "pretty, pretty" girls.
When Minnie had all but reached his
destination,
one of the men watching from atop the bridge yelled out, "Hey, girls,
you're
having such a bad time starting your fire, so I'm sending one of my
boys
down to help you." With that he removed his cap, threw it in the air,
and
caught it, bowing politely when the girls waved to thank him. Minnie,
less
his enthusiasm, started the fire.
There was no variety of diversion in this
tiny town. The entertainment was the one and only theater featuring
tender
sagas of murder-in-three-easy-lessons, and blood-and-thunder Westerns,
which neither Lew nor I could endure—even as a last resort. For
week-end
diversion, we made exploration trips of the near-by country. We visited
the lighthouses and aquariums and the small neighboring towns and drove
down the coast to the Sea
Lion Caves, a maternity home for sea lions. They came each year
by the thousands to these caves to bear and rear their young.
One hazy Sunday afternoon we chose to follow
a dirt road on the north side of Yaquina Bay. It meandered through
acres
of farmland, passed farm houses and barns and fields pasturing dairy
herds,
and spiraled down a steep hill toward the mud flats of Alsea Bay. After
following the river upstream a short ways, the road came to a dead end.
We turned around and headed toward town, but we had reckoned without
the
mud, for the hazy sky had clobbered up and the rain came drizzling
down.
A wet clay road provides about as much traction for four "smoothies" as
a glass one would, and we were ascending a steep hill by the ingenious
process of lunging forward a foot at a time and sliding backwards two
feet
at a time. Though we were getting nowhere fast, we had crept half-way
up
the hill and were rounding a bend in the road when Josephine stalled,
skidded
across the road toward the embarkment, and there her left rear wheel
and
fender came to rest snugly against the rut.
Lew got out to look the situation over,
and I bailed out immediately with the baby. Brakes or no brakes, I
wasn't
taking any chances on Josephine staying put, and a little rain wouldn't
dampen my spirits half as much as an unchartered flight backwards into
the bay.
Doubtless, Lew could have solved the
situation
by backing down the hill, but besides losing all the ground we
previously
gained, that could have proven as dangerous as sliding down a greased
flag
pole blindfolded, in view of the fact that the clay road was wet and
slick
and getting wetter and slicker by the minute.
We were standing there trying to find the
easiest solution to our perplexing enigma when a car chugged around the
corner and came to a clattering half after nearly sideswiping us. The
driver,
evidently a farmer from the locality, hopped out and freely offered his
advise. He must have had previous experience, for his car was equipped
with chains.
"Looks to me like you could go downhill
a heap easier'n you can get started uphill," he calculated. "Might as
well
let 'er slide down to the bottom and take yer chance goin' across the
bay
on the railroad trestle—the loggin' train'll most generally back up for
a feller."
As the farmer chugged off, I looked out
across the Bay at the railroad trestle stretched above the dreary mud
flats
and wondered uncertainly what the outcome would be if a tie or two were
missing or the logging train would not back up! We gathered armloads of
fir boughs and ferns and spread them in and about Josephine's old
tracks.
At long last, after coaxing Josephine from one rut to another, we were
going uphill. Though Lew had cursed it for seven kinds of a "gutless
wonder"
with no more horsepower than a Shetland pony, with its four wheels once
more in the center of the road, it climbed up and up and over the hill.
We returned home—sadder and wiser and more than a little wet.
After supper as I was getting the baby ready
for bed, she wrinkled up her tiny nose and sneezed and sneezed. The
sneezes
were probably caused by lint from her fuzzy wardrobe, but at the time I
was positive she was taking cold from the exposure of the afternoon. I
knew so little about babies and had heard so much about babies and
pneumonia,
babies and congestion, babies and diphtheria or croup that her sneezes
suddenly produced a grave and realistic anxiety in my mind.
"Lew," I said, "we'd better doctor her right
away." Lew went to the medicine chest and returned with a bottle of
very
potent nose drops.
"If we just use a drop or two, these
shouldn't
hurt her," he said as he handed me the dropper.
I administered them by hastily and
forcefully
squeezing the bulb least the baby should start wiggling. Janet gasped
and
choked and screamed with rage. Lew had filled the dropper full, and I,
thinking it contained a mere one or two drops, had given her the works,
nearly strangling her to death.
"Lew! How could you!," I wailed.
The baby would not let me comfort her, and
though it was past time for her "Gin Fizz" she clung to Lew in
indignation
and screamed loudly if I dared take her.
"She thinks I did it on purpose," I said
sadly, "and now she'll always hate me—her own mother! It's a
psychological
matter!"
The "psychological matter" was dropped after
an hour or two, and she allowed me to nurse her. Everything was
forgiven,
and contentedly, she fell asleep in my arms. Incidentally, she didn't
develop
even a slight cold.
The Alsea Bay Bridge at Waldport
The old ferries along the Coast Highway
were
being replaced by gigantic bridges of steel and concrete. The Alsea Bay
Bridge at Waldport had opened the year before.
We drove to Newport for the grand opening
of the Yaquina Bay Bridge, and rode across the bay on the farewell
voyage
of the old ferry. It was a picturesque but sturdy old craft with its
weather
beaten cabin and its ample decks secured on all sides by protective
guard
rails. Once a vital link in the Coast Highway system, it had piled its
course faithfully across the Bay day after day, year after year, except
on those rare but tempestuous days when the stormy Pacific would fling
its wild breakers far into the river's mouth. The bridge overhead
shadowed
its path. The green waves lapped against its sides, and the white wake
trailed lazily behind until we docked on the opposite side of the Bay.
Like the other old ferries, it had been outmoded and would soon fade
into
obscurity, for progress cannot be thwarted by sentiment.
Here in the West a new era was beginning—an
era of progress and industry and steel. The bridge presaged its coming.
Built by the sweat and hands and plans of great and simple men alike,
it
majestically spanned the bay.
Yachats
Yachats is south of Newport, where the
Coast
Range presses closer to the sea, and commercial hustle gives way to
tidepools,
seal lions, and whales. Known as the "Gem of the Oregon Coast," Yachats
may be the perfect coast town. This tiny resort community of 600-some
people
nestled in the shadow of Cape
Perpetua is down close to the water, nearly buried in salal and
huckleberry. Yachats Bay gravels yield and abundance of agates,
flowered
jasper, blood stones and petrified woods Yachats is a corruption of the
Alsi word, yahuts, meaning "dark waters at the foot of the mountain,"
which
is certainly descriptive of this area where the Coast Range abuts the
ocean
in an unyielding tumult of relentless surf against basalt bastions. On
a calm day it can be an exciting contest to witness; in stormy weather
it is awesome. Consequently, this is a favorite stretch of coastline
for
watching winter storms.
Other spelling and pronunciations for Yachats
have included Youitts (Lewis and Clark Expedition); Youitz (Samuel
Drake's
Book of Indians of North America); Yawhick, and Yahauts (from various
Indian
Affairs reports); and Yahuts, Yahatc, Yahats, Yahach, and Yaqa' yik
(from
various history books). The current spelling and pronunciation
(Yah-hots)
is presumed to come from the German settlers.
Many people have lived here for the past
8,000 years; the remnant was removed to Siletz Reservation and is
virtually
extinct. The Alsi and Yahute tribes gathered, hunted, and fished the
Yachats
area. Shell middens, such as the ones by Devil's
Churn or the Adobe Motel, are a reminder of the bounty the
natives
found in the Yachats area. Middens, or piles of clam, oyster, crab, and
mussel shells, formed when, after a seafood feast, diners threw sand
over
the shells to lessen the odor. After many shellfish meals, the middens
resembled small dunes. They also caught salmon and flounder with sharp
sticks. Smelt was caught in dip-nets.
The fish and shell fish, together with
venison
and elk from nearby hills, were smoked or dried for the winter. Local
plants
were gathered and dried or ground for flour. The local vegetation also
provided medicines and materials for clothing and shelters.
The natives regularly burned the hillside
to ensure good hunting, a practice that was continued when non-indians
settled the area so they could have more grazing land for their
livestock.
While Indian campfires are gone now, the
legacy of the Alsi will live on forever as long as people come here to
gaze in wonder at sunsets and at the fury of winter storms.
Alsea Sub-Agency Established 1855
On August 11, 1855, an unratified treaty
created the Coast Range Reservation, and the Alsea sub-agency was
established
at Yachats. This was home to natives from many different tribes and
bands
from throughout Oregon and Northern California.
Board houses, cattle sheds, a blacksmith
shop, storage buildings for far tools, and fields for crops all
occupied
the area at Agency Creek, near the present-day Adobe Motel.
Some of the Indians also made a trail up
Yachats River and cleared land for farming.
Ida L. Case Ingalls (1871-1960) was born
at the sub-agency in 1871. The first non-indian child born in the
Yachats
area, she was the daughter of Mary Craigie (1848-1933) and Sam Case
(1831-1904),
then the current agent. Case served as agent from 1870 to February
1872,
then again from March 23, 1873 to June 7, 1873. He later moved to
Newport
and became very involved with the development of the town and
education.
One of Newport's schools, Sam Case Elementary, is named after him.
During the 20 years following the
establishment
of the Coast Reservation many changes took place. The reservation was
divided
when the center section, near Yaquina Bay, was opened to white
settlement
in 1866. In March 1875 the US Senate passed a bill that removed the
sub-agency
and granted land to all the indigenous peoples that wanted to
homestead.
Some chose to remain in the Yachats area, and they were "allowed" to as
long as they were able to support themselves.

In 1877 US Indian Agent William Bagley wrote
the following letter to the hon. E. A. Hayt, Commissioner of Indian
Affairs
in Washington DC:
I desire to again respectfully call your
attention to the condition of the Alsea Indians who are here, as well
as
those who are now at Alsea on leave of absence. We have found it
impossible
to feed any of them, except such as we can give employment or furnish
with
lumber for houses, and were left with the only alternative of allowing
them leave of absence to fish in the waters of Alsea where they are
acquainted
with the fishing ground and can more easily obtain their subsistence
than
here. Besides this many of them still own their own compunitively
comfortable
houses at Alsea into which they can go and find shelter from the storms
which for a few weeks past have been very severe.
While I deeply regret the necessity of this
course it could not be avoided unless by allowing them to suffer with
hunger
and cold. They should by all means be provided by government and
houses,
food and clothing this winter, and with some teams, seed and farming
implements
in the early spring so that they could during the coming year provide
their
own food for themselves. They do not give up their desire to remain
here
so as soon as they shall be assured that government is acting in good
faith
with them in the matter of allotment of land and assistance to
cultivate
the same, I respectfully ask that you will at an early day make such
provisions
as is possible for their maintenance and so forth. Unless this can be
done
it will not be possible to keep them on the reserve, except by force of
arms. They could be overpowered and starved to death on the reserve but
such a course would not be wise. I herewith send you a statement of the
number of Alseas who have voluntarily given up their claims to the
Alsea
Country and desire to find homes on this reserve with the amount
required
to furnish them with rations during the winter. Could we obtain one
half
the amount they are justly entitled to and in the spring provide them
such
teams, tools, seen, etc., as would enable them to provide for
themselves,
they would be comfortable and contented. Or could they be returned to
their
former houses and secured in the possession of them they would provide
for themselves. What can I do for them? Estimates have been sent to
your
office, from which I have no reply. Can you do anything to help us
place
the Indians of this reserve in a condition to support themselves and
this
soon bring them out of the slough of dispassion? Would that our
government
might deal justly with the Indians and thus save millions expended for
the prosecuting wars against them,. As there are no treaty funds for
this
agency we are dependent entirely upon the general incidental fund, and
hence plead earnestly to you.
On September 13, 1879, "Boston" wrote to the editor of the Gazette:
Some time since the citizens of Lower Alsea sent to Agent Swan, at Siletz, a numerously signed petition requesting him to visit the bay and confer with them in regard to removing straggling Indians to the agency. In response to the petition, Mr. Swan came and held a pow-wow with his dusky wards, but was careful to avoid giving a definite answer as to what he intended to do in the premises. Several of these Indians are holding valuable land claims, which they are not entitled to, as they have not, and can not comply with the law. If they were removed to the agency, where they belong, the land would be taken by white settlers, who would assist in building roads, establishing schools, and otherwise contribute to the prosperity of the country. The residents of the Alsea think that as the government has generously provided for the keeping of these Indians, they should be taken to the reservation, and we shall anxiously await agent Swan's decision.
From Ocean View to Yachats
Formerly known as Ocean View, Yachats is
located at the mouth of the Yachats, eight miles south of Waldport.
Ocean
View post office was established November 5, 1887, with George M. Starr
first postmaster. The office was discontinued September 27, 1893, and
reestablished
April 27, 1904. This early office was located about a mile north of the
City of Yachats, near the old reservation. Jenneta Kindred also served
as postmaster, and in 1912 the Ocean View office was moved to the
Hosford
residence, which was near the mouth of Yachats River.
The new post office was established October
13, 1916, with Donna Berry first postmaster. On February 18, 1917, the
name of office was changed from Ocean View to Yachats at the suggestion
of J. Kenneth Berry (1905-1931) because it was at the mouth of Yachats
River. It was decided that since there were already too many
towns
on the coast with "ocean" monikers, the name really should be changed.
Getting mail to and from Yachats was never
easy, and until the road was rocked in 1931, rains made it impossible
for
the mail to be carried by car.

Yachats on the
OregonCoast 1946
Photo Courtesy of Julie
Hendricks
The Reverend Virgil Howell Remembers Yachats
The following account of Yachats was probably penned around 1930 by Rev. Virgil Howell (1880-1943):
It began to be settled by the whites
in...
Some of the early settlers was Ingram on the present Carson place,
Robert
Mann (1877-1945), Austin Howell, Bill Reeves, Harmon Buoy (1838-1903).
Ms. Buoey was the first school teacher.
The writer was one of her pupils. There was plenty of game then such as
bear, deer, elk. One day Will Buoy left the room and on his return let
the entire school go out to see the bear go over the mountain. You know
the song.
Well, the land wasn't surveyed yet, so the
settlers took what they called a squatters claim. And this meant that
his
family must be there continually for if they left for 24 hours the next
fellow that came along could move right in and take possession. Well,
this
was what happened to the writer's father. He, with his cousin Milt
Howell,
went out to Waldport to fish for the market one year. And on his return
found another man in his house. So he, with his family had to seek
shelter
elsewhere: there was just a horse trail up the river, so the only means
of transportation was on horseback.
The road wasn't built till in the 1890s.
Well, for all the handicaps the settlers visited more as the telephone
hadn't come yet. There was more harmony as the settlers exchanged work
more, had things in common.
Nearly everyone went to church. Well now
we have roads and have exchanged the old log schoolhouse for more
modern
ones. And with the coming of the Coast Highway there is a town
springing
up at the mouth of the river, with two churches, the Evangelical and
Free
Methodist, three grocery stores, two hotels, one bakery. We are much in
need of a garage, a doctor, a dentist.
We also have a good school. The climate
is fine, we have a fine bathing beach with fresh water in the river. So
one can choose between the salt water and the fresh. Plenty of rocky
coast
for fishing.
Mountain climbing near at hand. There is
opportunity here for dairymen and chicken raisers. Berry growers as
well
as professional men. There is a pool hall and a large community hall.
But the greatest sport of all is casting
for the royal Chinook at the rocks right in the surf. You get a thrill
you will never forget. We have rock oysters, mussels, crabs, clams, and
plenty of game in the hills.
The Yachats is growing by leaps and bounds.
There is a $50,000 hotel to be under construction soon and a golf
course.
Vacationers started coming to the Yachats
area in the early 1900s. While some camped near the mouth of the river,
others owned summer cabins. They came down the beach from Waldport, or
came over the Yachats Mountain Road.
In 1905 a chittem bark warehouse was
converted
to the Yachats Motel, and the tourist industry really began. In 1920
the
first cabins were built land others followed.
Little Log Church by the Sea
The rustic building at the corner of
Third
and Pontiac streets in Yachats has been a part of this coastal
community
for generations. When R. J. Phelps came to Yachats in 1926, he
organized
the construction of the first real church in the area. Built in the
shape
of a cross, the Little
Log Church was a community effort completed and dedicated in
1930.
Sir Robert Perks, who owned most of Yachats at the time, donated the
property.
Local people cut and hauled most of the shakes, and the logs were
donated.
The pews, window panes, and Bible came from a church in Philomath.
They were hauled over the Alsea Road and down the beach to Yachats.
The church was served by ministers through
the Evangelical
United Brethren Church Missions, and later by pastors from the
Presbyterian church. In 1969, when the congregation grew too large for
the building, members built a new church a few blocks away, and the
Little
Log Church and property were sold to the Oregon
Historical Society. It became a museum in 1970, and the site
was
deeded to the City of Yachats in 1896.
The church underwent complete restoration
in 1993, made possible by community support and volunteer laborers.
Some
of the original logs were saved and can be seen at the top of the
church.
Also saved were the bell and belfry, windows and sashes, flooring,
pulpit,
pews (some additional pews have been added to the west wing of the
church
sanctuary, chairs, wood stove, choir-rail, a painting of the three wise
men, and a harmonium. The church is used for weddings and special
events.
In 1997, the 400-square-foot museum annex
was built with the help of the Friends of the Little Log Church to
house
exhibits not connected with the original building. It sits in the
"footprints"
of the old church manse, later a Sunday school, which was torn down in
1976. Today, the museum houses local historical artifacts, local art
and
literature. Clothing and tools from pioneer days are on display at the
museum along with period furnishings.
In 1971, Alma Phelps Plunkett, who operated
the Burnt Woods general store and post office for many years, recalled,
My father, Rev. Rolla J. Phelps, moved to Waldport. He didn't have any kind of religious service at Yachats at all, so he got to thinking that he really ought to have a church down there. He and his brother got busy and started cutting logs. Roland Dawson in Upper Yachats helped them, as did a lot of other people. In 1927, they built the little log church which now belongs to the Lincoln County Historical Society.
Dunk Dunkelberger: Blacksmith Extraordinar
For many years "Dunk" Dunkelberger was a blacksmith at Yachats for several gypo logging outfits. One day a hobo entered the shop and asked for a job. Business was slack and Dunk wanted to get rid of the "bo" as quickly as possible so he told him that the job was his if he could make a three-way weld, a task that was considered impossible. Then Dunk went out to lunch chuckling to himself and expecting the tramp to be gone when he got back. The hobo was gone when he returned, but he left behind Dunk's duckbilled tongs neatly welded together about the horn of the anvil in a perfect three-way weld. It took almost tow days to saw and file the tongs from the anvil and retemper the horn.
Smelt Sands State Recreation Area
Smelt
Sands State Recreation Area is located at the north edge of
Yachats,
one of the few places in the world blessed with a run of oceangoing
smelt
that come ashore to spawn. From April to October, sea-run smelt hurl
themselves
up Yachats River, aiming straight towards locals with clever triangular
smelt nets and oily diets.
During the Yachats smelt fry held in July,
up to 700 pounds of this silver sardine-like fish are served on the
grounds
of Yachats School.
This is also the location of the well-known
sculpture by local artist Jim Adler that has become a symbol of the
Moon
Fish arts program in Yachats.

Smelt Fishing at
Yachats on the Oregon Coast
Photo Courtesy of Julie
Hendricks
Spruce Pacific Railroad 1918
Off Camp One Road north of Yachats, a
"Cullen-Friestedt"
Burro railroad track-laying crane sits on a small section of railroad
track
that was laid by an all volunteer track crew on the morning of July 1.
These new tracks, which came from Toledo,
sit on the ground where in 1918, the US Army Corps of Engineers
constructed
a railroad. Members of the Yaquina
Pacific Railroad Historical Society, an enthusiastic group of
Lincoln
County rail fans interested in exploring and preserving the area’s
railroad
and timber history, placed the latest set of tracks.
President Larry Reisch and treasurer Richard
Cullison, both of Yachats, described the history of the railroad in the
area.
"In 1918, the Army Corps of Engineers built
what they called the Spruce Pacific Railroad from Camp One north to
South
Beach," Cullison said. "The plan was to haul out the spruce wood they
cut
here and use it to build the planes for WWI. The train was the only way
out. It crossed over a trestle in Waldport on the way to South Beach,
since
there weren't really any usable roads. But just as they got it going,
the
war ended, and the tracks sat idle until 1922. Then Gordon Manary
bought
them, turned Camp One into a logging camp, logged the spruce, took it
to
South Beach via the train, and floated it upriver to Toledo to C. D.
Johnson's
sawmill.
"They ran the operation from 1922 to 1937,
and at one time, 400 people lived here in Camp One," he continued.
"They
had their own school and commissary—Manary's old house is still
standing.
They used a big engine to haul the timber to South Beach and smaller,
sidewinder
engines worked the spur tracks all over these hills, bringing the logs
into the main camp. There were miles of tracks everywhere. Camp One was
one of 12 logging camps scattered all over the area. The 12th one was
in
Siletz."
"It's fascinating to look at the connection
between the railroad and the timber industry in this area," said
Reisch.
"Our goal as the historical society is to bring knowledge to the public
of the major impact the railroad had."
Reisch said the historical society hopes
to build an interpretive center in Toledo.
"We were taken by surprise with an awesome
gesture by Bob Melob of Willamette
& Pacific Railroad, who donated the railroad post office
car
that has been sitting next to the platform since the opening party (of
the new Toledo post office) to us," he said. "He feels that with
appropriate
interior renovation, this car could be 'good to go,' on a variety of
assignments,
including public awareness of track safety issues through Operation
Lifesaver."

Logging in Oregon
Photo
Courtesy of Julie Hendricks
Cape Perpetua an Observation Site During World War II
Sea-going ships passed by the Oregon
coast
as early as 1543 when Bartolome
Ferrelo came this way. Sir Frances Drake (in 1575) and Martin
de
Aguilar (in 1605) also are known to have passed by. But Capt. Cook was
the first non-indian to really get credit for being in the Yachats
area,
although he was not able to land due to the rocky shore. He named Cape
Perpetua on March 7, 1787. Some day he name the 800-foot high cape
after
a saint whose birthday fell on that date, while other think it was
because
a storm and high winds kept them in the area for several days, with
that
particular headland in sight the whole time, perpetually.
Al;though there were native trails
interlaced
through Cape Perpetua, and a crude trail cut by early homesteaders for
carrying mail to and from Florence, the Yachats area was very isolated.
Then in 1914 the US Forest Service blasted a narrow road around the
cape
and a wooden bridge was built across the Yachats River, making travel
between
the Yachats area and Florence easier. The wooden bridge was replaced in
1926 with a steel structure built by Montage and Sons, at a cost of
$23,034.
As part of an effort to give men jobs during
the Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was established
here.
A camp was built near the site of the current Cape Perpetua Visitor's
Center
and the men living there worked on many different projects throughout
the
area. Rockwork was one of the main skills they concentrated on; and,
the
rock walls around the cape, as well as the shelter built at the top of
the cape were projects completed by the residents of the camp.
During the early days of the war the shelter
built by the CCCs at the top of Cape Perpetua was used as an
observation
site and radar station. A large gun was installed, and personnel
looking
for submarines and aircraft manned it.
Foxholes and gun emplacements along the
ocean drive on the hill really brought the war close to home for the
locals.
Military personnel outnumbered the civilians, and it was rumored the
government
had spent a million dollars in Yachats installations.
The military personnel were housed in the
skating rink on West Fourth and the Ladies Club was rented for
recreation.
US Navy blimps from the Tillamook
Air Base patrolled the coast as well, looking for Japanese
submarines.
After the war quite a few Japanese mines
floated upon the beaches. The Coast Guard pulled them out to sea and
blew
them up.
Florence
Florence,
on the north bank of the Siuslaw, is a fishing town and the trading
point
for farmers of the small Siuslaw Valley.
The town is said to have been named for
A. B. Florence, who was a member of the state Senate at the session at
1858, 1859 and 1860, representing Lane County. According to another
story,
the town was named for the French vessel, Florence, wrecked February
17,
1875, at the mouth of the Siuslaw.
A more romantic and interesting version,
and one more fitting the character of a charming seaport, is that the
French
ship Florence went aground near the mouth of the Siuslaw in February
1875
and broke up in the surf. A piece of flotsam bearing her name was
washed
ashore, and two beachcombing Siuslaw hung it above the entrance of the
town's first hotel. Since then, the community has been known as
Florence.
In 1989, Betty Olivera wrote that two different stories offer the
origin
of the town’s name:
One suggests that the settlement was named in honor of A. B. Florence, a state senator from Lane County in the years 1858-1860. While that is probably true, it lacks the romanticism of the Siuslaw legend.
The Indian name Osceola
(1804-1838)—possibly after a Seminole chief of the 1830s—passed into
history.
Like many river communities, Florence, in
its early days, was dependent upon the Siuslaw for transportation and
commerce.
Row boats and "one-lungers," boats powered by one cylinder marine
engines,
were used to get around the valley. People traveled from home to home
and
back by boat. Errands were run, children taken to school, and parents
went
to churches and sociables in boats, frequently powered by the winds and
the tides. Mail, food, and supplies were delivered by boat. Highways
have
replaced waterways for such purposes, but Florence's river heritage is
still evident. Even as the town grows and spreads northward, it seems
to
cling to its moorings along the river's north bank. Florence was born
of
the river, and its first buildings were clustered along it. Several of
them still stand in the riverfront area known as Old Town. After years
of neglect and decay, much of Old Florence has been renovated and is
now
the most interesting part of the city.
The Siuslaw and Kuitsh
The Siuslaw
and Kuitsh
(often called Lower Umpqua) peoples were two closely related American
Indian
tribes who lived along the Central Oregon Coast, around the modern
cities
of Reedsport
and
Florence. The Siuslaw lived mainly around the estuary of Siuslaw River,
leaving during summer to travel upriver and into the hills of the Coast
Range. Kuitsh had their winter villages around Winchester Bay, at the
mouth
of Umpqua
River.
The whole coast held by the two peoples was about 50 miles in length,
from
Cape Perpetua in ther north to the Tenmile Lakes in the south. In
summer,
both people wandered probably as far as the Willamette Valley and there
is a tradition of a Siuslaw village in the Lorane Valley, southwest of
Eugene.
Kuitsh fishing camps were common up the Umpqua as far as the modern
town
of Scottsburg.
The indigenous landscape was very diverse.
The Siuslaw and Lower Umpqua rivers and estuaries were the dominating
factor
in the lower economy, providing fish and shellfish. Good fishing was
available
from a chain of freshwater lakes, including Siltcoos and Tahkenitch
lakes,
which lay behind a band of coastal dunes. The rivers provided a highway
into the Coast Range, which lay to the east of the tribal territories.
In the mountains, hunting and gathering were major summer activities.
The
whole landscape was heavily timbered, except along the sand dunes. An
underbrush
of alder and berry bushes was thick and luxurious, making travel
arduous.
To some extent, this also protected and isolated the Siuslawan.
The Siuslaw and Kuitsh lived in a mild,
rainy, marine climate with ample resources of fish, plants, timber, and
game. They followed a seasoned round of hunting and gathering, moving
each
season to harvest salmon, berries, elk and deer, camas bulbs, fern
roots,
and shellfish. Occasionally, they hunted seals and sea lions, and any
stranded
whale was eagerly rendered for blubber and oil. However, they probably
did not engage in open-ocean whaling or sealing.
Language
The Siuslaw and Kuitsh spoke dialects of the same language, called Siuslawan. The language is an isolate, with some affinities to the broad language family known as Penutian. It may be related to the Coos languages to the south, and the Alsea to the north, but no definitive conclusions have been reached. it is certainly a rich and complex language, but it is now extinct, and records are very sketchy. The last Siuslawan-speaking people were the Barrett family and Billy Dick of Florence, who was interviewed in the 1950s.
Technology
The Siuslaw and Kuitsh built large,
high-powered
canoes up to 20 feet long, carved out of cedar logs. They were mainly
for
river and bay travel, as open-ocean sailing was very risky. However, a
few ocean-going canoes were imported from the Alsea and Chinook to the
north, who specialized in such sturdy canoes. Lodges were
semi-subterranean,
up to 50 feet long, built of split and smoothed planks, with an oval
entrance.
The roof was gabled with a single-ridge pole. Racks along the ceiling
stored
dried food, baskets, tools, and personal possessions. The interiors
were
lined with mats. Sweat houses were often dug into hillsides. Basketry
was
ornate and prolific, but pottery was not practiced.
The Siuslaw toolkit included a wide array
of hunting, fishing and woodworking tools, including toggle harpoons.
Hunting
tools doubled as weapons of war. Bows were made of yew and vine maple,
and the Siuslaw held them at a horizontal angle to shoot. Like some of
the Athapascan
people to the south, elk-hide armor was used.
Clothing and Decoration
Clothing was appropriate to the season.
In
the warm summer it was minimal, but during rain or cold, tanned hide or
plant fiber clothing was worn. Men wore belted buckskin shirts and
leggings,
and water repellent capes or cattail or shredded bark were used during
the long rainy season. Women wore long fiber or hide dresses or skirts,
and flat-topped woven basket hats. Regalia and ceremonial gear were
signs
of wealth, and included woodpecker-scalp headgear, dance costumes, and
decorated belts and headbands. Moccasins were only used on long
trips—the
climate and landscape were so wet that bare feet were more practical.
Tattooing was practiced, especially among
women who marked their wrists and legs. The commonest tattoos were
lines
on the arms, as a ready-made calculator for measuring strings of
valuable
dentalia. Edward S. Curtis in 1923 photographed an elderly Tolowa man
(100
miles to the south) with these distinctive tattoos. Hair was straight
and
black, and men often wore bushy mustaches. Men and women were quite
short,
averaging from 5' to 5'6" in height.
The Siuslawan represented the southern limit
of the practice of distinctive head-flattening that was common along
the
Columbia River to the north, and by extension along the Northern Oregon
Coast. There is a tradition that they tried and failed to introduce
this
"prestigious" custom, which in much of the Northwest marked the
aristocracy
from the commoner or slave.
The Siuslawan were a well-nourished people,
probably in better health than 19th Century Europeans. Food resources
were
reliable and abundant, and supported a population of several thousand.
Starvation was seldom a problem, although there may have been some
dietary
deficiencies such as Vitamin C. More likely causes of illness and
mortality
were injuries from hunting and fishing, and possible from warfare and
interpersonal
violence. The population was much more disease-free than their European
and Asian contemporaries—there were only about a dozen important
infectious
diseases native to the Western hemisphere. Unfortunately, this also
meant
that any resistance to Old World pathogens had long since vanished for
the Siuslaw population.
Social , Political and Religious Organization
The Siuslaw and Kuitsh did not define
themselves
as a people in a political or even linguistic sense, in the way that
modern
nations and ethnic groups define themselves. Almost all organization
was
at the village level, which was based on related males, with their
wives
and children. Essentially, everyone outside the village was a
"foreigner."
However, women married outside their village, and each village had
extensive
relationships of marriage, trade and alliances with their neighbors.
Some
people probably spoke several of the nearby languages to facilitate
their
relationships, or used trade and sign languages. Villages combined to
meet
special threats like an alien slaving expedition or other regional
catastrophe.
Much of local life focused on wealth and
its acquisition. Subsistence was seldom a problem, and social ranking
was
largely determined by personal wealth, as represented by valued
possessions
such as dentalia (a shell money from Vancouver Island) woodpecker
scalps,
abalone and olivella shells, and decorated regalia.
Society was quite stratified, probably into
four classes. The elite were defined by wealth and its attendant
prestige,
and below them were progressively poorer people of lesser status. At
the
bottom were the slaves, who were rather few in this area. It was
possible
to fall into slavery from gambling debts, but only the wealthiest
people
held slaves. The Siuslaw and Kuitsh were often themselves raided by
other
peoples for slaves. Each village had a chief or leader, usually a
wealthy
and respected man who mediated village disputes, imposed fines, and
made
sure that wealth was distributed to the less fortunate. Bride price was
an important factor in setting one's status for life, and marriage and
its financial obligations played a very important role in stabilizing
and
integrating the society.
Little is known of Siuslawan religion, but
it probably closely followed neighboring Coosan forms. There were
shamans,
probably of two types: doctors who trained intensively to cure illness
through magic, and priestly shamans who elaborated various tribal
rituals.
Ritual purification was carried out for women after childbirth, at
menarche,
for anybody who had killed (in battle or in murder), or anybody who had
handled a cadaver. Both types of shamans were feared for their power,
and
were sometimes killed.
Dances, games and feasts were popular
activities
at various important times of the year, such as first elk and first
salmon
of the season. Winter was the season for story-telling, when the galaxy
of stories from the oral literature were recited for old and new
audiences.
Gambling, as in all of Western Oregon, was a serious pastime, using
beaver-teeth
dice; and shinny (a ball game similar to hockey) was probably played.
Recent History
Spanish and Asian ships may have
contacted
the Siuslawan in the 17th and 18th centuries. There is ample evidence
of
Chinese coins and pottery from the Northern Oregon Coast. Coos
tradition
recalls a visit from a Japanese junk, which returned across the Pacific
with some local people as passengers. One important geological event
took
place on January 26, 1700. A monster earthquake calculated at 9.0 on
the
Richter scale tore apart the pacific Northwest coastline from
Washington
state southwards. The effect on the Siuslawan is unknown, but probably
many villages were wrecked or inundated by tsunamis.
In the late 18th Century, British, Russian
and American traders appeared along the coast in increasing numbers,
introducing
iron and textiles, but also a wave of disastrous epidemics. The first
smallpox
appeared on the Oregon Coast in 1775, probably introduced by Spanish
sailors.
Another smallpox epidemic broke out in 1801, and from then on measles,
whooping cough, influenza, syphilis and dysentery visited the coast in
a deadly series. In 1830 a sickness now believed to be malaria carried
off thousands of Western Oregon people, and the Siuslawan population
may
have been halved again by smallpox in 1836, although at this point a
small
immunity was beginning to develop. Overall, population plunged from
about
3,000 to a few hundred in 30 or 40 years. The 1910 US Census reported
only
seven Siuslaw.
In 1828, the Kuitsh attacked and wiped out
the Jedediah
Smith exploring party at the mouth of the Umpqua, leaving only
three survivors. Around the same time the Siuslaw destroyed a Chinookan
slaving expedition. In the 1830s, huge forest fires devastated the
Coast
Range landscape, disrupting the local economy and resource base. By the
time the white settlers arrived in this area in the 1850s, the two
peoples
had been drastically reduced in number. Open warfare with non-indians
never
afflicted this region of the Oregon Coast, but the local tribes were
shattered
by the combined effects of epidemics, environmental devastation, and
cultural
extinction.
The Kuitsh were deported north to a desolate
reservation at Yachats in the 1850s, where they hung on in desperate
conditions
until 1875. The surviving Siuslaw mainly stayed in their home area, and
gradually their Kuitsh cousins filtered back to the Central Oregon
Coast.
However, language, culture, population, and native lifeways had been
terribly
damaged. Most of the survivors intermarried or were otherwise submerged
in the new non-indian culture. Tribal identity nevertheless remained
strong.
Periodically the Siuslaw and Kuitsh, in alliance with their Coos
neighbors
to the south, reached the United Nations, and relations with the
federal
government remained strained and litigious.
In the 1950s, the tribes were "terminated,"
along with most of the other tribes of Western Oregon. This meant that
they were no longer recognized as Indians by the government. However,
this
policy is now viewed as a disaster, and a trend towards recognition
began
in the 1970s. The Confederated
Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua (Kuitsh), and Siuslaw were
recognized
by statute in 1984, with an enrolled population of around 500.
Invasion of Siuslawan Lands 1876
With the area thrown open for settlement,
white people began arriving in 1876. Mail service commenced in 1877
with
the arrival of William Moody in Florence. He used his trading center to
gather and deliver mail. Florence, still nameless, received its mail
addressed
to "Siuslaw River, Oregon Territory." The first official Florence post
office was established December 15, 1879, with Albert J. Moody first
postmaster.
William Kyle and his partner, Michael Meyer, established the first
mercantile
business in town, and the post office operated out of the store. The
store
still stands in its original location at the Bridgewater Restaurant. It
is a fine example of early commercial architecture.
In 1881, the Siuslaw Road Association formed
a group to construct a road to Eugene, 56 miles eastward in the
Willamette
Valley. Completed in 1881, the corduroy road was so rough, only the
stouthearted
dare ride the stagecoach. It is said many fainthearted passengers were
strapped to their seats to prevent them from leaping from the careening
stagecoach. The trip to Eugene took two days. The dearth of passable
roads
in the surrounding territory forced settlers to travel by boat. Travel
to neighbors, shopping, school, and social activities was accomplished
by rowing a boat up or down the streams. Travelers waited for the tides
to help push the boats to or from the activity. Caught on the river in
darkness or fog, the boatman dropped anchor and checked the tidal swing
of the boat to determine the direction home.
The town's first mayor was B. F. Alley,
a former state senator who introduced the bill to incorporate Florence,
which took place officially on April 19, 1893. Now, 100 years later,
Roger
W. McCorckle, a teacher in government studies for the local high school
and community college, begins his mayoral duties at the start of a year
long "Centennial Celebration," including a special weekend event in
April
and closing with a time capsule internment in December.
Florence, with a population of more than
300 in 1902, was the largest town on the Siuslaw and boasted a new
telephone
exchange. The building, still standing on Maple Street, housed the
switchboard
on the first floor, with quarters for the operators on the second
floor.
An electrical generating plant went into operation in 1912. The
railroad
reached Cushman about four miles upriver, in 1914.
Chinese Laborers Support Florence's Salmon Industry 1800s
Florence was the hub of the central coast fishing and lumber industry. The salmon canning industry, a $100,000 a year industry in the late 1800s, employed great numbers of Chinese laborers. They cleaned and cut the fish, cut the metal and formed the cans, soldered the lids shut on the filled and steaming cans. Most Chinese laborers lived in their own community.
Heceta Head Lighthouse Illuminated 1894
Continued recognition of the Siuslaw was
given by the introduction of bills by Senator Mitchell and Congressman
Hermann to provide $80,000 for the construction of Heceta Head
Lighthouse,
located about 12 miles north of Florence on the west side of the
1000-foot-high
Heceta Head (44° 08' 15"), 205 feet above the ocean. The light at
the
top of its 56-foot tower was illuminated in 1894. Now, its automated
beacon
can be seen 21 miles from land and is rated as the strongest light on
the
Oregon Coast.
In the fall of 1889, Hermann visited Eugene
and promised to exert his influence towards obtaining a livesaving
station
at the mouth of the Siuslaw and the establishment of regular mail
service
between Eugene and Florence.
Finally, on May 31, 1890, a dispatch from
Hermann stated that Congress had appropriated $50,000 for beginning a
jetty
at the mouth of the river. Eleven months later the representative
announced
that the Siuslaw project was being prepared by the chief engineers.
Great indignation was aroused in Eugene
in June 1891, when the engineers' report stated that the Siuslaw was
not
worthy of improvement at the time. Eugene citizens sent protests to
Washington.
In August, representative Hermann announced that the engineer had
overestimated
the cost. Shortly afterwards the work was ordered to commerce. This so
thrilled George Melvin Miller, brother of the poet Joaquin
Miller, that he rode to Florence on horseback to deliver the
good
news before the mail could bring it, and was eventually instrumental in
the development of the town.
Heceta Head
Lighthouse on the Oregon Coast
Cincinnatus Hiner Miller
Cincinnatus Hiner Miller (1837-1913) was
born in Union County, Indiana, November 10, 1842. His parents moved to
Missouri in 1848, and to Oregon in 1852. The poet tells the story:
"The first thing of mine in print was the
valedictory class poem, at Columbia College, Eugene, 1859. At this
date,
Columbia College, the germ of University of Oregon, had many students
from
Oregon and California, and was famous as an educational center. I had
been
writing Oregon trying to write, since a lad. My two brothers and my
sister
were at my side, our home with our parents, and we lived entirely to
ourselves.
We were all school teachers when not in college. In 1861, my elder
brother
and I were admitted to practice law under Geo.rge H. Williams,
afterwards
attorney-general under Pres. Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885)."
As a lawyer, Miller became deeply interested
in Joaquín Murietta, a Mexican outlaw for whom he made a legal
defense.
Later he "poetized" his client, taking his name.
The nom-de-plume became popular; and at
the present time the poet is best known to literature under the name of
"Joaquín Miller."
In 1862, he edited the Democratic Register
in Eugene, which was later suppressed for disloyalty. While
editor, he married Minnie Dyer, of Port Orford, who, in the 1870s,
became
famous for her early Victorian writing style in Oregon literary
circles,
using the pen name "Minnie Myrtle Miller." She produced a marked change
in the character and writings of her husband. That delicate and refined
love of the beautiful and that sympathy for the erring and unfortunate
which characterized his writings must be admitted to date from his
marriage.
The poet said: "That which is best in my works was inspired by her."
Miller moved to Canyon City, in Eastern
Oregon, where he wrote poetry, served as county judge and practiced
law.
In 1868, he published "Specimens," and in 1869, "Joaquín-Et Al."
Believing that he could find a better market for his publications in
Europe
than in American, he went to London in 1870. Soon "The Songs of the
Sierras,"
written before he left Oregon, appeared in England and in Boston
simultaneously.
Included in Miller's Songs of the Sierras
was "Kit Carson's Ride." Carson, who also appears in Willa
Cather's (1873-1947) novel Death Comes to the Archbishop, was
an
American folklore hero. Kit Carson was the popular name of Christopher
Huston (1809-1869), a frontiersman and guide who appears as a hero in
many
legends. One of Carson's contemporaries said "Kit Carson's word was as
sure as the sun comin' up" and "Kit never cussed more'n was necessary,"
making Carson a perfect subject for legend.
Miller's originality, freshness of style,
vigor of thought and expression were greeted with applause; and
Englishmen
hailed him as the "American Byron." Upon returning to America he did
journalistic
work in Washington DC, until the fall of 1887, when he removed to
Oakland,
California, where he remained until his death, February 17, 1913.
In the meantime, feeling was so intense
against
the engineer that the citizens of Florence had him hung in effigy.
Miller's
arrival directed their resentment to enthusiasm, but the remnants of
the
stuffed image swayed in the breeze.
Lumbering thrived in the coastal community.
This was due to the extensive forests of tall pine trees surrounding
the
town. The cut timber was shipped by barge to San Francisco. The growing
influx of settlers also placed a heavy demand on the lumber mills for
timber
for homes.
In 1913, a bill backed by a local lumber
company was introduced in the state legislature to form Siuslaw County.
In 1975, after dissatisfaction with Lane County officials'
responsiveness
to Florence citizens, "McCall County"—honoring the highly regarded
former
governor—was put in motion by strong-willed community leaders, the
local
newspaper and timber industry. While this latter effort also fell short
of establishing a new coastal county, West Lane area residents continue
to remind the county seat that there is life west of Veneta.
The Siuslaw
National Forest is located in the Coast Range of Oregon. Its
630,
acres extends from Tillamook to Coos Bay. Its terrain ranges from dense
Douglas fir stands, complemented with lush, green vegetation, and miles
of sand dunes. This forest is just one of two in the continental US
whose
borders include the Pacific Ocean. The Los Padres National Forest in
California
is the only other national forest that can make this claim. The highest
point in the forest is Marys
Peak with an elevation of 4,097 feet. Dense forests, combined
with
controlled timber harvest, provide habitat for a variety of big game,
including
blacktail and Roosevelt deer. Coastal scenic attractions within Siuslaw
National Forest include Cascade Head Scenic and Research Area, Cape
Perpetua,
and the Oregon Dunes National Recreational Area. The forest contains
three
designated wildlife areas totaling 22,600 acres. They are Cummins
Creek,
Driftwood Creek, and Rock Creek.
Oregon Sand Dunes Formed 60 Million Years Ago
The dense forests and seaside basalt
cliffs
stop short at the mouth of the Siuslaw, where they're replaced by giant
sand dunes all the way south to Coos Bay. The dunes, claimed to be the
highest in North America, started to form more than 60 million years
ago.
Volcanic basalt cliffs never formed a barrier here, and the ocean
bottom
sand was free to blow inland, forming huge shifting hills, to heights
of
500 feet or more. The dunes are vast; they stretch 41 miles southward
along
the coast, and in some places, they reach a couple of miles inland.
European
beach grass, introduced around 1900 to hold sand down and prevent it
from
blocking river channels, is forming a mat over the sand, and the dunes
no longer blow and shift as they once did. Once the dunes are held
firmly
in place, other vegetation can take hold, and the unpredictable blowsy
wild cards of the landscape will be replaced by more permanent features.
Famous for the abundance of rhododendrons
growing in the area, Florence is designated the City of Rhododendrons
and
has since 1908 held the annual Rhododendron
Festival each May. South of Florence, the wild azalea replaces
the rhododendrons on the hills. This brightly flowered shrub thrives
best
in open spaces, and reaches the height on its beauty and fragrance in
May
and June.
Vine Maple Savages
An historical account of Florence would not be complete without mentioning the notorious Vine Maple Savages with a mailing address of "1/2 Mile Back in the Brush, Florence." Though unknown by names and seldom seen, they have moss in place of hair, wear tin pants and only come out of the woods when it is apparent that citizens are unable to defend themselves against the bureaucracy of government. Once the group was reported to be standing guard, muskets ready, looking for Bonneville Power agents disguised as fish swimming up the Siuslaw. In another incident when local residents struggled with the National Parks Service over maintaining Forest Service management of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, the Savages, not surprisingly, were reported to have led a Park Service dignitary away with a noose around his neck during the annual Rhododendron Festival parade. Some say his boots are still visible out there in the ever-blowing sand dunes.
Gem Along The Central Oregon Coast
The City of Florence, situated on the
Siuslaw
River amidst a chain of beautiful freshwater lakes, rests almost
exactly
halfway along the Oregon Pacific shore, and is fortunate to possess all
of the many gems the shore’s 400-mile stretch features including wide
beaches,
rocky inlets, scenic rivers, fir-clad mountains, and quaint harbors. As
inhabitants boasted in 1891, Florence is "a diamond set among the
pearls"
of the Siuslaw Valley.
Today, the City of Rhododendrons serves
a population of 19,000. To some it is a retirement community. Almost 50
percent of the residents are retired, contributing of their time and
talents
to the betterment of the community.
The business community will tell you
Florence
is a tourist town, citing the fishing, the tourist accommodations, the
Old Town with its art galleries, book shops and souvenir shops. They
will
boast of the sand dunes or extol the lumbering industry.
The mild climate, outstanding sport fishing
opportunities, vast forests, clean lakes, high sand dunes and inspiring
scenery will bring you back again and again to this gem along the
Central
Oregon Coast.
Chapter 22: South Oregon Coast
The Spanish navigator, Bartolome Ferrelo, is said to have reached the mouth of the Umpqua in 1543 and some romanticists like to believe, English admiral Sir Francis Drake sailed the Golden Hynde into the river and there set ashore in the wilderness his Spanish pilot, Morera. This however, probably took place farther south. Spanish archives record that in 1832 a ship disabled by severe weather entered the Umpqua, and ascended it as far as the site of Scottsburg, where repairs were made. Many trees were cut down and, the decayed stumps were seen by the first white settlers, who were told by the Indians about the vessel that had arrived there many years before, manned by white men with beards.
Valley of the Green Giant
At the far end of Douglas County in the
Cascade
Mountains, the North Umpqua River rises and flows westward, gathering
the
waters of two dozen rivers and creeks before joining the South Umpqua
near
Roseburg. From there the mighty river courses north and west through
the
Coast Range, creating what might be called the Valley of the Green
Giant,
because that's exactly what the Umpqua
is
by the time its slate-green waters pass beneath the State Route bridge
at Scottsburg, he head of tidewater.
Flanked by emerald mountains, the great
river parallels State Route 38 for another 16 miles and is joined by
the
Smith River before passing beneath the US-101 bridge at Reedsport, in
the
heart of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.
Reedsport is located on the south shore
of Winchester Bay, three miles south of Gardiner. It was named in honor
of Alfred W. Reed, a pioneer resident of the western part of Douglas
County,
and evolved because of the site’s proximity to the Umpqua River. The
name
was first applied about 1900 when the townsite was platted. The post
office
was established July 17, 1912, with Joseph Lyons the first postmaster.
The vast dunes of the Oregon Dunes National
Recreation Area stretch for 40 miles from the mouth of the Siuslaw
south
to Coos Bay.
Birds and animals abound in this land of
buried forests, rare plants and insects, freshwater lakes and mountains
of shifting sand. At the Dean
Creek Elk Viewing Area, three miles east of Reedsport, shaggy
Roosevelt
elk graze in this 1,040 acre preserve. Sections of the preserve have
been
improved to provide better habitat for waterfowl and wildlife. In
addition
to the herd of 60 to 100 elk, nutria, black tailed deer, ospreys,
mallard
and wood ducks, great blue herons and western bluebirds flourish.
Beyond, the bridge at Reedsport rounds the
big bend just past Gardiner, swings southward, and becomes Winchester
Bay. Having traversed the breadth of Douglas County and wended
its way through the canyons, gorges, and benchlands of two mountain
ranges,
the Umpqua has become the largest coastal river between the Columbia
and
San Francisco Bay.
Once an important transportation and
commerce
corridor, the Umpqua moved passengers and freight, via riverboat,
between
the coast and Scottsburg. The Willamette Valley was connected to
Scottsburg
by roads traveled by stagecoach and wagon. Sawmills in the area sent
their
lumber on schooners and streamers south to the burgeoning boomtown on
the
Bay, San Francisco.
Smith River
Jedediah Strong Smith (1799-1831), for
whom
Smith River is named, explored this country in the 1820s after the
Hudson's
Bay Company's Peter
Skene Ogden (1794-1854) theorized that the Umpqua River might
be
the fabled Northwest Passage.
Smith, a western fur trader and explorer,
was born in Jericho (now Bainbridge), New York, June 24, 1799, and was
killed by Comanche Indians in the summer of 1831 while on the way from
Saint Louis to Santa Fe. When he was 13 years old Smith obtained a
position
on a freight boat on the Great Lakes, and when he was about 18 he was
in
Saint Louis, attracted to the fur trade. In 1826, Smith started from
Saint
Louis with fur trader and explorer William
Henry Ashley (1778-1838) on the first stage of what was to be
the
first journey of a non-colored man from the Mississippi to the Pacific
Ocean over the midland route. He traveled to Southern California by way
of Great Salt Lake, then returned to Utah and in 1828 started for
Northern
California and Southern Oregon. His party made its way up the Pacific
Coast,
and reached the Umpqua, which was crossed very close to the mouth early
on July 12, 1828. The party then made its way up the west and the north
side of the river until the evening of July 13, where camp was pitched
on the north bank just west of the mouth of what is now Smith River.
Gordon's
land office survey of 1857 gives the location as about a quarter of a
mile
west of the east line of S 26, T 21S, R 12W, or about the same distance
southwest of what is now East Gardiner or Gardiner Junction on the
Southern
Pacific railroad. On the morning of Monday, July 14, Indians attacked
the
party, while Smith and two companions were away from camp. He made his
way north to Tillamook, then to Fort Vancouver. Smith and his two
companions
escaped toward Willamette Valley. Fifteen men were killed.380
McLoughlin
sent an expedition to secure the pelts, which he then bought from Smith
for $20,000 with the understanding that the Yankee should thenceforth
stay
out of Oregon. Smith eventually returned to Saint Louis and continued
in
the fur trade until his death. He was a devout Christian, and a
reliable
geographer, and entitled to great credit for his explorations.
Although he didn't find the Northwest
Passage,
Smith's explorations were exceeded in importance only by those of Lewis
and Clark, and the Umpqua is still one of the great fishing streams in
the state. Zane Grey (1875-1939) avoided writing about it, lavishing
the
publicity instead upon the Rogue to divert people from his favorite
steelhead
spots. At any rate, Winchester Bay's Salmon Harbor marina has given the
whole area new life in recent years, following hard times precipitated
by the decline in timber revenues. Salmon Harbor sits at the mouth of
the
Umpqua, one of the largest rivers between San Francisco Bay and the
Columbia.
Winchester Bay
Winchester Bay, a town on the Umpqua
River
near its mouth, is located on the south shore of the bay, about four
miles
southwest of Reedsport. Named for Herman Winchester of the 1850
expedition
from San Francisco, which explored the Umpqua Valley, it was first a
trading
point called West Umpqua.
West Umpqua was the name selected for the
community planned for the other side of the Umpqua. There was some
development
at both Umpqua and West Umpqua, but the towns had petered out by 1867.
Winchester Bay is now primarily a summer
resort and fishing village by the Umpqua River, about three miles from
its mouth.
The expedition founded this community, and
for the first few years it was the seat of Douglas County government.
In
1854, the county seat was lost to Deer Creek (Roseburg), and with it
went
most of the population and businesses of Winchester.
The territorial post office was moved north
to Wilbur,
which is located on Cooper Creek, six miles north of Roseburg, and near
Sutherlin. It is the home of the Umpqua Academy (later Wilbur Academy),
established in 1854 by James H. Wilbur (1811-1887), DD, a pioneer
Methodist
clergyman; it was closed in 1900. The first building was a rough log
structure
with a few rough pine desks. Like other Oregon pioneer places of
learning,
the rules of the academy prohibited:
Profane, obscene or vulgar language or unchaste yarns or narratives, or immoral gestures or hints; any degree of tippling anywhere; any sort of night reveling.
The pupils for the academy came
from Southern Oregon, from about Jacksonville, Leland, Canyonville, Cow Creek, Lookingglass and from the northerly parts of the county, from Yoncalla, Elk Creek, and Green Valley and the classic precincts of Duck Egg, Tin Pot and Shoestring.
The community inherited the post office,
established December 14, 1860, from the pioneer Winchester settlement,
after the latter lost its bid to become county seat in a contest with
Roseburg.
Curtis P. Stratton was first postmaster of the Wilbur office, which was
discontinued November 17, 1865, and reestablished May 16, 1870.
It would be 30 years before a new office
was established at Winchester, on October 10, 1890. Winchester post
office,
established November 3, 1851, was located on the south bank of the
North
Umpqua, four miles north of Roseburg.
Addison R. Flint was the first postmaster of this early office.
Winchester Bay post office was established
February 21, 1916 with Louis A. Weeks serving as first postmaster. It
was
designated a rural station of Reedsport on May 31, 1959.
Winchester Creek flows into Winchester Bay,
which is home to the largest recreational salmon port on the Oregon
Coast.
Known as Salmon Harbor, the port is located at the mouth of Umpqua
River,
77 miles west of Roseburg.
Built in 1924, Booth Bridge connects the
banks of North Umpqua on the old Pacific Highway at Winchester. The
bridge
is 884 feet long and consists of seven 112-foot reinforced concrete
spans
and five concrete approach spans. Curved decorative bracketing,
observation
balconies, and a band of dentilis (concrete block moldings under the
cornice)
add to architectural interest of this historical bridge.
Gardiner
Gardiner
is on the north bank of the Umpqua near its mouth. It is an historic
community
of Oregon, and bears the name of Boston merchant Gardiner Chism who
sought
to trade on the river. His vessel, Bostonian, was wrecked at the mouth
of the Umpqua on October 1, 1850. Most of the goods on the vessel were
saved and moved to the location of what was subsequently the town of
Gardiner.
The place became headquarters of the Umpqua Customs District in 1851,
with
Colin Wilson a collector. The post office of Gardiners City was
established
on June 30, 1851, with George L. Snelling first postmaster.
The current Gardiner post office,
established
August 1, 1864, is located on the northeast bank of Umpqua River,
opposite
Cannery Island, and three miles north of Reedsport. The form Gardiner
City
was used on October 20, 1853, which was the date that Harrison Spicer
became
postmaster.
Fort Umpqua
Umpqua is an historic name in Oregon. It was used by the Indians to refer to the locality of the Umpqua River and came to be applied to Umpqua River.
The Hudson's Bay Company sent expeditions
to the river in the century, and in 1828 the trapper and explorer, J.
S.
Smith, followed the river with a party of 19 fur trappers that were
almost
annihilated by the Indians, three men only escaping. The company had a
trading post in the Umpqua Valley as early as 1832, probably on
Calapooya
Creek, which rises on the south slopes of Calapooya Mountains in
Douglas
County and flows through Oakland and joins the Umpqua river at Umpqua.
It was generally called Old Fort Umpqua, a post at Umpqua City from
1856
to 1862.
There have been several places known as
Fort Umpqua. John Work visited Umpqua River in 1834 and Fort Umpqua,
which
was later established by the Hudson's Bay Company near the present site
of Elkton, did not then exist. Just north of the mouth of the Umpqua is
the site of Fort Umpqua, established July 28, 1856 by Cpt. Joseph
Stewart,
3rd US Artillery, on a site selected by Cpt. John F. Reynolds, 3rd US
Artillery,
at the close of the Rogue River Indian War.
Not to be confused with Hudson's Bay Company
forts of the same name, the post was one of three forts set up to watch
over the Indians at Grand Ronde and Siletz agencies. The other two were
Fort Yamhill and Fort Hoskins. A letter in the Bancroft Library,
University
of California, dated Umpqua City, March 20, 1862, with a signature that
seems to be J. V. Cately, says that the post was built to accommodate
two
companies of soldiers, but on that date had but one lieutenant and 22
men.
The original buildings of the post consisted
of structures from the abandoned Fort Orford. In the summer of 1862,
the
paymaster, Col. Justus Steinberger, 1st Washington Infantry, commanding
the district of Oregon, arrived and found found all the officers,
commissioned
and non-commissioned, stationed at the fort out on a hunting trip. His
report of this incident, and the fact that there were no Indians here
caused
the fort to be abandoned on July 16, 1862.
An effort was made to reestablish it, and
Capt. J. B. Leeds was on the point of leaving San Francisco with troops
when the order was countermanded. The old blockhouse and soldiers'
quarters
was moved to Gardiner.
Umpqua City
In the summer of 1850 a party of
prospectors,
originally planning to visit Klamath River, explored the Umpqua and
established
Umpqua City on August 5, 1850. The town was located about two miles
north
of the mouth of the Umpqua, on the west bank, not far from what is now
known as Army Hill, which is little more than an elevation of sand.
West Umpqua was the name selected for the
community planned for the other side of the river. There was some
development
at both places, but the towns had petered out by 1867.
Umpqua City post office was established
on September 26, 1851, with Amos E. Rogers postmaster. Samuel S. Mann
became
postmaster on February 24, 1852. This office may have been on the east
side of the river when first established but in 1860 the post office
and
community of Umpqua City were on the west side of the river about two
miles
north of the mouth. Fort Umpqua was then at the same place. The present
Umpqua post office is on Umpqua River near the mouth of Calapooya Creek
and a long way from the places mentioned above.
Umpqua post office was initially located
on the east bank of the Umpqua near its mouth, but when in 1856 a
military
reservation, Fort Umpqua, was built on the west bank, the post office
moved
across the stream. The post office was established September 24, 1851
and
discontinued March 19, 1869. A. E. Rogers was the first postmaster.
Umpqua Ferry was the site of an early ferry
crossing, about seven miles west of Sutherlin. The Umpqua Ferry was
replaced
by a bridge completed in August 1890, but old names change slowly
sometimes,
and it was 1906 before the name of the local post office was modified.
The post office now known as Umpqua was initially located in the George
Shambrook homestead. Shambrook operated a general store and the ferry,
and his son, John C. Shambrook, was the first postmaster here. Umpqua
Ferry
post office was established March 16, 1877 and discontinued October 4,
1906, at which time the Umpqua post office post office was established.
Henry F. Hebard was the first postmaster.
The territorial legislature created an
Umpqua
County January 24, 1851. It ceased to exist October 16, 1862, its area
having been added to other counties.
Lakeside
Lakeside is a small community situated near the northwest shores of Tenmile and North Tenmile lakes, seven miles south of Winchester Bay and 12 miles north of North Bend. It is along Tenmile Creek, which empties into the Pacific Ocean about ten miles south of Winchester Bay, at the mouth of the Umpqua. The creek, which is also about ten miles north of the northern bend of Coos Bay, is steeped in Oregon history. On May 5, 1864, Lt. Royal A. Bensell wrote in his Journal:
At Tenmile Creek (waist deep) the Indians wade. Miss Kitty and several of her stripe affected extreme modesty. I told them "hyac [hurry]" up and they pulled their flounces displaying "conaway squitch" to the great amusement of the guard. Some very fair legs got a good washing, a thing much needed.
The town, once a thriving resort, was
incorporated
in 1974, and had a population of about 1,615 in 1994. The post office
was
established April 18, 1908, with Nels O. Olson serving as first
postmaster.
Lakeside still possesses a resort
atmosphere,
but the pace has slowed considerably. With the closing of its only
remaining
sawmill, however, outdoor recreation will likely become the area's
economic
mainstay.
Tenmile Lake was formerly known as Johnson
Lake, and North Tenmile Lake is also known as North Lake. The latter’s
outlet is into Tenmile Lake, which in turn drains into the ocean
through
Tenmile Creek.
Tenmile and North Tenmile lakes are typical
lakes found in hill country. They are sprawling bodies of water with
many
arms, bays, and coves. The two, joined by a canal at their western
ends,
offer 42 miles of shoreline to explore by boat. The lakes are among the
most popular on th coast for swimming, waterskiing, sailing and fishing.
Tenmile Butte, southeast of Tenmile Lake,
was also named for Tenmile Creek.
About halfway between Winston and Camas
Valley, there is a Tenmile post office, but it derived its name
from the fact that an early settler who lived in Happy Valley drove
cattle
from the valley and grazed them at the community now known as Tenmile.
The distance was about ten miles, hence the name. William Irwin was
first
postmaster of this pioneer office, which was established June 13, 1870
as Ten Mile. The style was changed to Tenmile on October 4, 1918.
Just north of Lakeside and east of US-101
lies Eel
Lake. Though smaller than either of the other two, this is
still
among the largest lakes on the coast.
Oregon's Bay Area
The towns around the harbor of Coos Bay
refer
to themselves collectively as the "Bay Area." In contrast to its
namesake
in California, the Oregon version is not exactly the Athens of Oregon.
Because much of this natural beauty is on the periphery of the
industrialized
core of the Bay Area, it is easy to miss.
North Bend is located at the north end of
a peninsula around which Coos Bay bends on its way to the Pacific. The
community has several sawmills, including the Weyerhaeuser Timber
Company
plant on a 40-acre site, a larger plywood plant, a shipyard, and
several
fisheries and packing plants. A large fishing fleet operates from the
local
docks.
Called Yallow by settlers in 1853, it is
said that the name North Bend was originally applied in 1856 by Capt.
Asa
M. Simpson, the founder of the city, and his son, Louis J. Simpson, the
founder of Shore
Acres.
Shore Acres is located 12 miles southwest
of Coos Bay on a 75-foot promontory. It was the former estate of L. J.
Simpson, which began as a summer home and grew into a three-story
mansion
complete with an indoor heated swimming pool and large ballroom.
Originally a Christmas present to his wife,
Shore Acres became the showplace of the Oregon Coast, with formal and
Japanese
gardens eventually added to the 743-acre estate.
After a 1921 fire, a second, smaller
incarnation
of Simpson's "shack by the beach" was built. This was acquired by the
State
of Oregon in 1942 after it fell into disrepair. Because of the cost of
upkeep, the latter had to be razed, but the gardens have been
maintained.
The international botanical bounty culled
by Simpson clipper ships and schooners is still in its glory,
complemented
by award-winning roses, rhododendrons, and azaleas.
North Bend post office was established
February
27, 1872, with C. H. Merchant first postmaster. The office was
discontinued
March 20, 1874. When it was re-established November 13, 1900, records
indicate
the name "North Branch" was originally used, but this was changed to
"North
Bend" on December 5. The entry is believed to be an error in the
records.
A city of about 9,840 in 1994, North Bend
was replatted as a town in 1902, and incorporated in 1903.
North Bend Station No. 1 was established
July 1, 1963, and discontinued September 22, 1978 when the name was
changed
to Pony Village Contract Station of North Bend. The office is located
at
Pony Village Mall, some two miles west of the heart of North Bend.
Empire
Formerly known as Empire City, the town
of
Empire
is a suburban area four miles northwest of the heart of the City of
Coos
Bay and near North Bend. Its first settlers were men from Jacksonville,
called the Coos Bay Company and headed by Perry B. Marple, who left the
place during the height of the local gold fever. Discovery of gold in
Northern
California and Southwestern Oregon led to the formation of the project,
and stock in the company was offered for sale in the Oregonian, January
7, 1854.
Empire City was at one time the county seat
of Coos County. A custom house was established there in 1853 for the
southern
collection district in Oregon, with David Bushing serving as port
collector.
Established April 30, 1858, Empire City
was the first post office in the Coos Bay region, with John J. Jackson
serving as first postmaster. It was named with the expectation that
this
community would become the heart of a vast region, rich in natural
resources
and focused on an excellent port. It was located on the east side of
Coos
Bay, four miles northwest of the heart of the City of Coos Bay.
The town soon had a lumber mill and did
considerable shipping, particularly a low grade coal that was for a
time
mined south of Marshfield. Local trade declined as North Bend grew in
prominence,
though Empire residents were slow to accept their fate.
Empire City post office operated with that
name until October 20, 1894, when the title was changed to Empire.
Chauncey
M. Byler first postmaster of the new office. The pioneer dream of being
the hub of a vast empire had faded by this time, and the deletion of
"City"
from the settlement's name was prudent.
One mill, however, was kept in good
condition;
during many years of idleness the machinery was greased at intervals
and
turned over, and resumed operations during WWI. Over the years other
industries
established themselves there, until the town achieved a position of
prominence
in the industrial and commercial life of the Bay Area. Fish canneries
and
a pulp mill also provided local employment. Many new homes were built
after
WWI, and Empire had one of the area's most attractive schools.
On January 8, 1965, the city voted to
consolidate
with Coos Bay, and the name Empire, in use for over a century, like
Marshfield,
became a thing of the past.
Cape Arago
Cape
Arago is the western point of a large headland just south of
the
mouth of Coos Bay.

Cape Arago Lighthouse on the Oregon
Coast
Photo
Courtesy of Julie Hendricks
Coos Head, the point on the south side of the entrance to Coos Bay, extends northward from Cape Arago, but is much lower than the main part of the cape.
Cpt. James Cook sighted it on March 12, 1778,
and
named it Cape Gregory for the saint of that day. although that name did
not stick, it is perpetuated by Gregory Point.
Since 1850, this cape has been called Cape
Arago, and is officially so known by the USBGN. Dominique Francois Jean
Arago (1786-1853) was a great French physicist and geographer. He was
the
intimate of Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), and his friendship with
Humboldt "lasted over forty years without a single cloud ever having
troubled
it."
The name Cape Arago first appeared on the
USC & GS chart prepared by W. P. McArthur in 1850, and issued the
following
year. It seems apparent that McArthur applied the name Arago as the
result
of the naming of Humboldt Bay, California, which took place about the
same
time. Humbolt Bay was named in 1850 during the visit of a company of
miners
styled the Laura Virginia company or association. A. J. Bledsoe, in
Indian
Wars of the Northwest, gives an account of the exploration of the Laura
Virginia expedition in the ship Laura Virginia, and he says that
Humboldt
Bay was named at the solicitation of a member of the party who was an
admirer
of the great scientist. Elsewhere it is reported that the name was
selected
by Lt. Douglass Ottinger, captain of the Laura Virginia, but this does
not agree with Bledsoe.
McArthur visited Humboldt Bay and mapped
it in 1850 and a few weeks later charted Port Orford which he named
Ewing
Harbor for his Coast Survey schooner, Ewing. He charted the vicinity of
Cape Arago shortly after leaving Ewing Harbor. It seems obvious that
the
well-known friendship between Arago and Humboldt suggested the name for
the cape.
Between Coos Head and the west point of
Cape Arago is the Cape Arago Lighthouse, a well-known landmark 12 miles
southwest of North Bend and Coos Bay off US-101. The lighthouse stands
100 feet above the Pacific Ocean on islet just off Gregory Point, the
northwest
promontory of Cape Arago, 2.5 miles southwest of the entrance to Coos
Bay.
The light atop the 44-foot-high tower was first illuminated in 1934.
Although
newest in terms of service, earlier structures were built on this site
in 1866 and 1908. Both succumbed to weather and erosion. This
lighthouse
also has a fog horn. Sailors can identify its unique sound.
The community of Arago is some 18 miles
to the northwest of the lighthouse. and about six miles south of the
town
of Coquille.
Ms. T. P. Hanley of Bandon said that Arago was named by her father, the
late Henry Schroeder, of the cape. The Arago post office was
established
April 7, 1886. William H. Schroeder was first postmaster of this
office,
which was not named for a racehorse, as is sometimes asserted. The
community
was formerly called Halls Prairie, but postal authorities rejected a
name
of two words. On February 28, 1959, the Arago office was designated a
rural
station of Myrtle Point.
Coos Bay
Coos
Bay, like Lincoln City, is a consolidated
community. As the result of votes at two city elections held November 7
and December 28, 1944, the name of the community of Marshfield was
changed
to Coos Bay, thus doing away with a geographic title that had been in
use
for 90 years.
On January 8, 1965, the City of Empire also
voted to consolidate with Coos Bay, and the name Empire, in use for
over
a century, like Marshfield, became a thing of the past.

Empire is a suburban area four miles
northwest
of the heart of the City of Coos Bay and near North Bend. Its first
settlers
were Jacksonville men, called the Coos Bay Company and headed by Perry
B. Marple, who left the place during the height of the local gold
fever.
Discovery of gold in Northern California and Southwestern Oregon led to
the formation of the project, and stock in the company was offered for
sale in the Oregonian, January 7, 1854.
Empire City was formerly county seat of
Coos County. A custom house was established there in 1853 for the
Southern
Collection District in Oregon, with David Bushing port collector.
Established April 30, 1858, Empire City
was the first post office in the Coos Bay region, with John J. Jackson
serving as first postmaster. It was named with the expectation that
this
community would become the heart of a vast region, rich in natural
resources
and focused on an excellent port. It was located on the east side of
Coos
Bay, four miles northwest of the heart of the City of Coos Bay.
The town soon had a lumber mill and did
considerable shipping, particularly a low grade coal that was for a
time
mined south of Marshfield. Local trade declined as North Bend grew in
prominence,
though Empire residents were slow to accept their fate.
Empire City post office operated with that
name until October 20, 1894, when the title was changed to Empire.
Chauncey
M. Byler first postmaster of the new office. The pioneer dream of being
the hub of a vast empire had faded by this time, and the deletion of
"City"
from the settlement's name was prudent.
One mill, however, was kept in good
condition;
during many years of idleness the machinery was greased at intervals
and
turned over, and resumed operations during WWI. Over the years other
industries
established themselves there, until the town achieved a position of
prominence
in the industrial and commercial life of the Bay Area. Fish canneries
and
a pulp mill also provided local employment. Many new homes were built
after
WWI, and Empire had one of the area's most attractive schools.
Eastside
Located on the southeast shore of Coos
Bay,
just east of the City of Coos Bay, Eastside was at one time the
terminal
of the old Coos Bay Military Wagon Road. The post office, formerly
known
as East Marshfield, was established January 14, 1908, with William J.
LaPalme
first postmaster. The post office was designated a rural station of
Coos
Bay on August 31, 1957, and in 1983 Eastside merged with and is now a
part
of the City of Coos Bay.
The earlier East Marshfield post office
was established September 28, 1891 with Charles J. Bishop was first
postmaster.
The office was discontinued August 30, 1919, and re-established
December
9, 1907.
Marshfield
Marshfield
was located on the west shore of Coos Bay near the mouth of Isthmus
Slough. The name was transferred from Marshfield,
Massachusetts,
by early settlers.
The first cabin in the area was built by
a trapper called Tolman in 1853. In the following year he left and a
retired
seaman, Capt. George Hamilton, move in. Hamilton, following the
wilderness
custom, took an Indian woman for a wife and managed to subsist without
neighbors until the arrival of John and George Pershbaker a few years
later.
George Pershbaker provided stock for a
trading
post to meet the needs of men arriving to work in the shipyards John
Pershbaker
had established. Pershbaker's first boat was a tug, the Escot; later
his
plant built the schooners Staghound, Louise Morrison, Ivanhoe, and
Annie
Stauffer, and the barkentine Amelia.
The Marshfield post office established June
22, 1871, with Andrew Nashburg first postmaster.
But the population still grew very slowly;
in 1884 it still had only about 800 people. In addition to its
isolation,
one factor that hindered the growth was the type of ground on which the
town had been founded and from which it had taken its name.
The Lynching of Alonzo Tucker 1906
African-Americans were unequivocally not wanted in Oregon. Some, nevertheless, persisted quietly and settled in the state. The 1850 Census reported in the entire Pacific Northwest either 54 or 56. The 1860 Census identified 124 blacks and mul