Upper Umpqua were one of several Athapaskan-speaking groups of southwest Oregon. The word may have meant "high and low water," "thunder," or "boat over the water." Their self-designation was Etnemitane.
Location There were traditionally five bands in southwest Oregon, in the valley of the south fork of the Umpqua River. There were other groups to the west and south, including coastal areas. These included Upper Coquilles (Mishikhwutmetunne), Chetco, Chasta Costa, Tututni (all four so-called Coast Rogue Indians), Galice, and Applegate. Most descendants of these people live on or near reservations in the same area (see "Government/ Reservations" under "Contemporary Information").
Population There were roughly 5,600 Oregon Athapaskans in the late eighteenth century. In 1990 there were roughly 3,000 Grande Ronde Indians as well as 850 Cow Creek Indians. There were around 2,900 enrolled Siletz Indians in the mid-1990s.
Language Upper Umpqua, Galice-Applegate, the Tututni dialects (Mishikhwutmetunne, Tututni, Chasta Costa), and the Chetco dialect of the Tolowa language are all members of the Pacific branch of the Athapaskan language family.
Historical Information
History Non-Indian traders first arrived in the area in the late eighteenth century. The fur trade began around 1818, at which time a group of Umpquas was killed by traders, possibly Iroquois in the service of the North West Company. Hudson’s Bay Company established Fort Umpqua in 1836. Around this time, previously unknown diseases began taking a serious toll on the Indians.
Sporadic, trade-based contact continued until the flood of settlers in the late 1840s and the gold rush (Rogue River Valley) of 1852. In 1851, the Tututnis traded 2.5 million acres of land for $28,500. Their bitterness when they subsequently understood the deal fueled their desire to extract revenge. They soon began killing whites and burning settlers’ houses. Two years later, when a group of whites attacked some Chetco Indians after persuading them to disarm, the Chetcos attacked some soldiers, and the fighting spread.
Upper Umpquas stayed out of the war, having signed a land cession treaty in 1854 and moved two years later to the Grand Ronde Reservation. Some Upper Umpquas along with villages of different linguistic groups signed a treaty in 1853; in exchange for a land cession of more than 700 square miles, it recognized the existence of and called for a reservation for the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua tribe. The Rogue River War of 1855-1856 provided an opportunity for whites to destroy game trails and hunting grounds and to appropriate and clear land for farms. Cow Creeks fled the area during this period, hiding in the mountains as refugees.
After the war, local Indians, once fiercely independent, were shattered. Some Upper Umpquas, Tututnis, Chetcos, Coquilles, Chasta Costas, and others were forced to walk over the mountains in winter to the Grand Ronde Reservation. Other groups straggled in until 1857, when many Indians were moved to the Coast (or Siletz) Reservation, created two years earlier. On the way, and once there, several hundred died from exposure, starvation, and disease. Shamans who failed to cure the diseases were persecuted by their people, which gave the government an excuse to step in and disarm the Indians.
Meanwhile, the Grand Ronde Reservation was created in 1857. A school system designed to eradicate Indian culture was promptly set up. Many people left Grand Ronde for the Siletz Reservation or local communities. Those that remained worked as farmers or loggers.
Disparities between treaty and nontreaty Indians as well as agents’ promotion of alcohol and thievery spread discord and exacerbated intertribal conflict. Many Indians escaped during this time but were rounded up by soldiers, who further abused them. Meanwhile, intermarriage further weakened tribal identities.
In 1865, a central strip was removed from the Siletz Reservation and opened for white settlement. The northern part then became the Siletz Reservation and the southern half (Coosans, Siuslawans, and Alseans) became the Alsea Reservation. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) turned all operations over to the Methodists, who worked to eradicate all vestiges of Indian culture. Indians danced the Ghost Dance in 1871; the variant Earth Lodge cult (locally known as the Warm House Dance) began in 1873. The Indian Shaker Church became popular beginning in the 1890s.
By 1894, most of the Siletz Reservation had been ceded to the public domain, and tribal languages had all but disappeared. Remaining residents worked in subsistence activities or in logging, cutting trees on their plundered reservation. By 1928, as a result of both widespread theft and the allotment processes, most of the land base was gone. Eighteen years later, the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation voted to accept termination of government recognition and services. The former reservation land base of 1.3 million acres had completely disappeared. Most of the allotments were lost shortly thereafter, mainly owing to nonpayment of taxes. Tribal life for most of the former Siletz tribes virtually disappeared. At the same time, although 537 acres of land had been added to the Grand Ronde Reservation in 1936, it, too, was declared terminated.
Meanwhile, the Cow Creek Band had intermarried extensively with other Indians as well as the French-Canadian population. The group created a formal government around 1918. They pressed their case for land claims litigation, but by the time they learned of the existence of the Indian Claims Commission, they had missed the deadline for filing a claim. Officially terminated in 1956, they were formally restored in 1982. Later in that decade they accepted a land settlement of $1.5 million and, over the objections of the BIA, placed the funds in a permanent endowment.
In 1973, the Siletz formed a new council to work for restoration of tribal status, which was obtained in 1977. The new 3,630-acre Siletz Reservation was created in 1980. Grand Ronde was restored in 1983, with all former rights save those pertaining to subsistence activities. A Tribal Council was formed the same year. Five years later, Congress gave the tribe 9,811 acres of timbered land, the income of which was used to purchase a 100-acre administrative land base.
Religion There were numerous opportunities for feasts and gift giving, such as birth, naming, first kills, puberty, war, death, and the make-doctor dance for new shamans. Feasts included both sacred and secular elements.
Government Each village had a chief who had several wives and slaves. He acted as an arbiter and received a share of all financial transactions as well as a food tithe. The position of chief was generally inherited through the male line.
Customs Although they slept in sweat houses, men and boys ate in the family house, where their mothers or wives cooked for them. Women gathered firewood and plants, made baskets, prepared foods, and carried water. Men fished, hunted, tanned hides, tended tobacco, and made nets, planks, and canoes.
Although society was ranked according to wealth, the divisions were not as rigid as they were farther north. Slaves were usually acquired in raids, although a chief could enslave a villager for improper behavior.
Most shamans were women. They cured by extracting a "pain," a small object filled with the patient’s blood. Some groups also had common shamans, who blew smoke and waved a flicker feather over the patient. Unsuccessful cures sometimes led to the identification and murder of evil shamans (sorcerers). However, if the patient then died, a murder compensation had to be paid for the dead shaman. A shaman’s fee was often paid to her husband. Shamans’ powers derived from guardian spirits. Other powers conferred by certain spirits included the ability to cure rattlesnake bites, talk to herbs to receive remedies and love charms from them, and find lost objects.
Numerous rituals were associated with pregnancy and birth. Girls were secluded when they reached puberty and were not permitted to touch their hair or skin nor to eat anything except dry food for a year. They also had to swim twice a day, and their fathers also underwent certain restrictions. Women were purchased for marriage; children were illegitimate if their mothers were not paid for. Jealousy, meanness, and barrenness were acceptable reasons for divorce. Parents could also buy back their daughter, who then had considerable personal freedom.
The various death customs included the deathbed confession of wrongs, carriage of the corpse to the cemetery on a deerskin, and funeral orations. Mourners cut their hair and wore ashes and pitch on their heads and faces
Dwellings House size corresponded to the status of its residents. The plank house of a wealthy family was 20 by 30 feet, with three inside fires, fern and grass wall mats, and inside drying racks. Men slept in sweat houses, of which each village had at least one. People lived in brush houses in their summer hunting camps and in windbreaks on beaches in their fall fishing camps.
Diet Women dug roots such as camas and wild carrots beginning in early summer. Roots were steamed in large pits and prepared for storage.
Women also gathered berries, which were usually eaten fresh. Men caught salmon, trout, and lamprey in summer. In late summer, young men hunted elk and deer in the mountains; the women then dried the meat on racks. Tututnis gathered acorns.
In fall, people moved to fishing camps to catch salmon and smoke salmon eggs. The first few salmon were eaten ritually. The people also burned berry patches in the fall; hunting grounds were burned every five years. Winter fare was soup of leftover bones and dried and rotted salmon heads and eggs. In spring, people ate seagull eggs and yellowjacket grubs, followed by bear and possibly beached whale. There was some local variation in diet, which was leveled out in part by trade.
Key Technology Fishing gear included harpoons, fences, clubs, and nets. In general, raw materials included wood (acorn stirrers, paddles, drying racks, drums, canoes, arrows, bows, spears, traps, fire drills, bowls), animal hides (blankets, aprons, capes, drums, quivers, tobacco pouches), stone (points, blades, fire holders, hammers, pestles), and bone (whistles, men’s spoons). Women used their fingers or shells instead of bone spoons. Other items included deer hoof rattles, iris-fiber nets, maple-bark string, tule mats, and baskets.
Trade In general, camas and hides from the interior were exchanged for marine products from the coast. Other important trade items included dentalia shells from Vancouver and obsidian points from the south, both of which were valued as items of wealth.
Notable Arts Baskets, especially from the Chetco, were of particularly fine execution.
Transportation Dugout canoes provided the main mode of transportation.
Dress Women wore buckskin aprons; capes of tule, deerskin, elkskin, or woven rabbit furs; and basketry caps. Girls’ aprons were made of maple bark. Men went naked or wore a front apron; they plucked their facial hair. Both sexes kept their hair long and covered their faces with elk or deer grease. Moccasins were only worn when men went into the brush. Chetco women adorned themselves with olivella beads.
War and Weapons Warriors wore very thick elk hide armor, danced a war dance before battle, and fought with bows and arrows. They sometimes paid for a charm to ensure that their arrows might be especially effective. All battlefield deaths were compensated for, a practice that tended to keep the casualty rate down.
Contemporary Information
Government/Reservations The Coquille Tribe, descendants of the Miluk (Lower) Coosans and the Mishikhwutmetunne, was formed in the aftermath of a land claims settlement (1975). In 1993 the tribe of 630 members was headquartered at Coos Bay, Oregon. It elects a seven-member council and owns 6.2 acres of land.
The Grande Ronde Indian Reservation (Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde Indians: Shasta, Kalapuya, Rogue River, Molalla, Umpqua), created in 1857, comprises 9,811 acres. The confederation began in 1934 under the Indian Reorganization Act, and the group was incorporated in 1935. In 1974 the Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde Indians grew out of the old Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde Community; they incorporated as a nonprofit organization the following year and were restored to federal status in 1983. The reservation is governed by a nine-member elected tribal council as well as tribal courts.
The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians were officially rerecognized in 1977 and received 3,630 acres of federal land in 1980. They are governed by a nine-member tribal council. The mid-1990s enrolled population was roughly 2,900.
The Smith River and Elk Valley Rancherias, home to Chetco and Tututni Indians, were terminated in 1960, only to be rerecognized in the 1980s.
The Cow Creek Band owns land in Canyonville, Oregon.
Economy The Coquilles are economically integrated with the local population. Timber revenues are the most important economic resource at Grande Ronde. Under the supervision of the Siletz Tribal Economic Development Corporation (STEDC), the tribe features a smokehouse and timber sales and plans to build a casino. The Cow Creek Band is part-owner of a bingo facility. Its members also work in logging and in the service sector.
Legal Status The Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde Indians is a federally recognized tribal entity. The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians is a federally recognized tribal entity. The Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians, a nonprofit organization, is a federally recognized tribal entity (1984).
In 1983, Chetcos and Tututnis (Oregon Tolowas) formed the Tolowa Nation and petitioned the federal government for recognition, which had not been received as of 1997.
Daily Life Among the Oregon Tolowas, the Feather Dance remains important, as does the Indian Shaker Church. The native language remains alive. Facilities include a clinic, a tribal center, and a senior center.
Grande Ronde sponsors many social and economic programs, including student financial assistance and an annual powwow. There is a community center, a dental center, and a seniors’ center, and there are plans to build housing on the reservation. Siletz features a tribal center, a housing program, and a clinic.
The Cow Creek Band hosts a week-long powwow in July. Members also gather in midsummer to pick blueberries. Many members are Catholic, but traditional burials and reinterments continue to be practiced.
