Native Americans in Florence Oregon and the Oregon Coast

The earliest written record of life along the Siuslaw River comes from the journal of Alexander McLeod of the Hudson's Bay Company. In the mid-1820's he led a fur trapping brigade to the coast and came as far south as the Siuslaw River. He described the Native Americans he met as "peaceful and industrious." Fur trappers and traders would have ongoing good relations with coastal tribes until the middle of the 19th century when political events would forever alter the way of life along the coast. First, the bill that created the Oregon Territory passed Congress in 1848 and Lane County was formed by act of the territorial legislature a couple of years later. Then in 1855 a series of treaty conferences along the Oregon coast obtained the signatures of the heads of almost every Native American group between Tillamook Bay and the California border ceding more than 2.5 million acres that were never paid for as had been agreed upon. They were forced onto the Siletz Reservation which originally extended from Tillamook County to the "outlet of Tahkenitch Lake" south of Florence and stretched to the crest of the Coast Range. In 1865, the reservation was further decimated when it was cut into two parts, a wide swath being taken out of the middle so that non-Natives could exploit the oyster beds in Yaquina Bay. Then once more, in March 1875, the southern part of the reservation, including the Siuslaw Valley, was opened to non-Native American settlement. Most Native Americans moved to what was left of the reservation. The census of 1910 showed only 7 members of the Siuslaw Indian tribe living in the valley. Taken from "The Florence Book" 2008 Revised Edition, The Siuslaw Pioneer Museum