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| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 5,600[1] (2020) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 United States ( Oregon) | |
| Languages | |
| English | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Athabaskan peoples, southernInterior Salish peoples |
TheConfederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in theUnited States is afederally recognized confederation of more than 27Native American tribes and bands who once inhabited an extensive homeland of more than 20 million acres from northernCalifornia to southwestWashington and between the summit of the Cascades and the Pacific Ocean. After theRogue River Wars, these tribes were removed to theCoast Indian Reservation, now known as theSiletz Reservation. The tribes spoke at least 11 distinct languages, includingTillamook,Shasta,Lower Chinook,Kalapuya,Takelma,Alsea-Yaquina,Siuslaw/Lower Umpqua,Coos, thePlateau Penutian languagesMolala andKlickitat, and several relatedOregon Athabaskan languages.[2]
The confederation takes its name from theSiletz River, which surrounds the original headquarters of the reservation. The wordsiletz translates to a description of something that iscoiled like a rope or a snake, describing the route of the river winding through the mountains circuitously to the ocean. The confederation includes remnants of theSiletz, aCoast Salish people who also became incorporated into the larger confederation.
The confederation is made up of the following tribes and bands.[3]
The Confederated Tribes emerged from the remnants of around 28 different tribes of coastal and other Western Oregon Indians.[4]
After theRogue River Wars of 1855–56, most of the peoples were forced onto theCoast Indian Reservation, which later became known as the Siletz Reservation, where they were to form a single unified tribe. The Coast Reservation originally comprised 1.1 million acres, which was established by the executive order of PresidentFranklin Pierce on November 9, 1855, only weeks after the start of the last phase of theRogue River Wars. The Siletz Reservation was reduced by around 3/4 its area (approximately 900,000 acres) in 1865 and 1875 in violation of treaties. In 1894, 551 individuals received federal allotments from the remaining reservation, and tribal members were forced to cede the "surplus" for 74 cents an acre. By 1912, restrictions on inheriting lands within families led to more than one half of the Siletz allotments being owned by non-Indians.
TheWestern Oregon Indian Termination Act of 1954, Public Law 588, was passed into law on August 13, 1954. This new law severedBureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) supervision of trust lands and BIA regulation of services to the Indian peoples.
All of the remaining Siletz lands were sold except for the 39 acres calledGovernment Hill.[5] The proceeds of the sale of the timberland property were distributed to enrolled tribal members in two installments: $250 per person in December 1954, and a final payment of $542.50 per person in August 1956.[6] Other inherited allotments were held in trusts but were also sold off at the request of the owners.
During the 1960s, several members of the Siletz tribe began to organize and restore common bonds. Their initiatives included the restoration of the tribal cemetery on Government Hill and aggressive lobbying of Congress and the office of the President to again recognize Siletz as a federal Native American tribe.[5]
In June 1974,Rep. Wendell Wyatt introduced a first restoration bill, but it did not pass.
On December 17, 1975, SenatorMark Hatfield introduced restoration bill S. 2801. At the time Senator Hatfield presented his restoration bill he was quoted as saying that the Siletz People were "ill-prepared to cope with the realities of American society" when the Termination act went to effect and that they had been "tossed abruptly from a state of almost total dependency to a state of total independence ...[forcing them] to leave the only way of life they had known." The bill included wording to grant or restore hunting and fishing rights. This bill also did not pass.
Senator Hatfield and SenatorBob Packwood introduced a new bill, S. 1560, in the month of May 1977. Unlike its 1975 predecessor, it did not include that the hunting or fishing rights be restored (although a companion bill was sent byRep. Les AuCoin to theUnited States House of Representatives, H.R. 7259, which the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission fought and helped to stall). On August 5, 1977, theUnited States Senate passed the restoration bill and on November 1, 1977, so did the House. The bill was then sent to PresidentJimmy Carter on November 3 and then signed into law on November 18, 1977.
Today about 5,600 of their descendants are enrolled members of this tribe, which is based on the Siletz Reservation along theSiletz River in theCentral Oregon Coast Range, about 15 miles northeast ofNewport, Oregon.
The Confederated Tribes have 5,600 enrolled members,[1] 70% of whom live in Oregon and only 8% of whom live near on the 3,900-acre (16 km2) reservation. An additional 6% live in the town ofSiletz and 22.6% live inLincoln County. There are 445 households in the city of Siletz and 143 households on the Siletz Reservation.
The tribe owns and manages about 16,000 acres total, about 4,000-acre (16 km2) of which is areservation located along theSiletz River in theCentral Oregon Coast Range of centralLincoln County, Oregon, approximately 15 mi (24 km) northeast ofNewport.[8] In total, they own a checkerboard of approximately 15,000 acres (61 km2) in and around the original 1.1 million acre Coast Indian Reservation, established Nov 9, 1855 – which was quickly whittled down, and the tribe terminated by act of Congress in 1956. The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians became the second tribe terminated by an act of Congress to regain federal recognition by passage of the Siletz Restoration Act Nov 18, 1977.
The tribe owns and operates theChinook Winds Casino and Convention Center, the Chinook Winds Golf Resort[9] inLincoln City (including the Chinook Winds Resort hotel purchased fromShilo Inn hotels in 2004), the oceanfront Lot 57 north of Chinook Winds Casino, Hee Hee Illahee RV park in Salem, the Logan Road RV Park,[10] the Salem Flex Building where the Salem Area Offices currently exist, the Portland Stark Building which was purchased in August 2007, which is the site of the tribe's Portland Area Office, the Eugene Elks building which houses the Eugene Area Office, the Siletz Gas & Mini Mart, the old Toledo Mill site, and a commercial building in Depoe Bay.
The tribe also owns and runs the Siletz Community Health Clinic. A $7.5 million plan is underway to expand the clinic.[11] $2 million of the funding will come from the Federal government'sIHS Small Ambulatory Grant funding. The clinic is currently 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) but will grow to 45,000 square feet (4,200 m2) between 2006 and 2016.
The Siletz Tribal Police department was discontinued, but the tribe now contracts with the nearbyLincoln County Sheriff's Office to provide law enforcement services to the Siletz area.
The tribe is gradually accumulating additional property into the reservation, as part of its Comprehensive Plan. This includes 3,851 acres (15.58 km2)[12] entrusted to the tribe in 2007 by the state and federal governments as part of theNew Carissa oil spill settlement, on the condition that the Confederated Tribes will manage it as amarbled murrelet habitat.
The tribal government is attempting to get its 1850s treaties with the United States recognized by referencing them[13] in the tribe's constitution, and also by mentioning the treaties in a work by Charles Wilkinson, who was hired by thetribal council to write a history of the Siletz. There have also been attempts to retrieve the remains of tribal ancestors from theSmithsonian Institution, and to retrieve various other tribal artifacts distributed throughout theUnited States of America.
The current Tribal Council includes Chairman Delores Pigsley, Vice Chairman Alfred "Bud" Lane III, Secretary Judy Muschamp, Treasurer Robert Kentta, Reggie Butler Jr., Gerald Ben, Loraine Butler, Alfred "Buddy" Lane IV, and Selene Rilatos.[15]
The tribal government's Public Information Office publishes the monthlySiletz News.[16]
Artifacts and historical documents are stored and displayed at the Siletz Tribal Cultural Center, located on Government Hill, under the care of Cultural Programs Staff.
Tolowa is taught as a common tribal language. BeginningAthabaskan language has been taught at the Siletz Valley Charter School, which opened in the fall of 2006.
The second weekend in August of every year the tribe is host to its annual Nesika Illahee Pow-wow.
Every summer and wintersolstice for hundreds if not thousands of years, a dance has been held, called theFeather Dance (or Nee-dash), for 10 nights.
In recent years a new tradition has been started. During the winter solstice, dancers, singers, and tribal members from the Confederated Tribes visit theTolowa's cedar plank dance house nearSmith River, California. During the summer solstice, dancers, singers, and tribal members of theTolowa tribe visit the peoples of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz's cedar plank dance house.
Finding records of the ethnic and cultural history of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz is somewhat difficult. A partial attempt at the tribal population makeup before it was forced on reservation lands in the mid-19th century is as follows:
The ancestors of the Confederated Tribes spoke at least 11 different languages.
According to a report by theNational Geographic Society and theLiving Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, Siletz Dee-ni is the last of many tribal languages spoken on the reservation. In 2007 only one living fluent speaker remained.[17] However, according to a later report inThe Economist, the language has since been at least partially revived thanks to an on-line dictionary project; in some areas, "many now text each other in Siletz Dee-ni."[18] The tribe has a language revival program with classes in three area offices and Siletz Valley school.[19] As of 2020, a number of younger conversant speakers have learned the language.
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