Sovereigns of Themselves:
A Liberating History of Oregon and Its Coast
Volume IV
Abridged Online Edition
Compiled By M. Constance Guardino III
  And Rev. Marilyn A. Riedel
July 2008 Maracon Productions

Historians M. Constance Guardino III and Rev. Marilyn A. Riedel

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.

 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.

Alsea on the Oregon Coast 1961
Photo Courtesy of Julie Hendricks

  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.

Chinese Miners in Oregon

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.

Cow Creek Band of Umpqua
Photographs Courtesy of Julie Hendricks

 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.

Marshfield and North Bend on the Oregon Coast 1910

 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.

Coos Bay Bridge 1940
Photo Courtesy of Julie Hendricks

  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