The Chetco (Chetco: chit-dee-ni, chit-dee-ne or Chit-dv-ne' [1]) are a tribe of Native Americans who originally lived along the lower Chetco River and Winchuck River in Curry County in the U.S. state of Oregon. The name Chetco comes from the word meaning "close to the mouth of the Chetco River" in their own language, which is part of the Athapascan languages.[2] Although they were once one of the largest tribes on the Pacific coast of Oregon, "the last known full-blooded Chetco" living on the Chetco River (Lucy Dick) died in 1940.
Many of Lucy Dick’s and Amelia Van Pelt’s (Chetco/Tututni) descendants continue to live in the Chetco region, and are members of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.[3] the Chetco people formerly lived in 9 associated villages, but after the Rogue River Wars in 1856, were removed to the Siletz Reservation and became part of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, living in one large village there. All of the Oregon Coast Tribes were removed to and confederated on the Siletz Reservation. Some Chetco descendants are enrolled in other federally recognized tribes, Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria, located in Humboldt County, California.[4]
Language and name
The Chetco language is a member of the Athapascan languages, which also includes most native languages in Alaska, the Apache and Navajo languages in the southwest United States, and the languages spoken by the Rogue River and Tolowa tribes in Oregon. The name "Chetco" comes from the word Chit-taa-ghii-li (or Chit) in their own language, meaning "close to the mouth of the Chetco River".[2] The nine villages of the tribe on the Chit-see-ghii-li (Chetco River) were named Chettanne, Chettannene (twin villages at both sides of the mouth of the river), Khuniliikhwut (south side of Chetco River), Nakwutthume (Chetco River above all the other villages), Nukhwuchutun (Nukhsuchutun) (south side of Chetco River), Setthatun (south side of Chetco River), Siskhaslitun (south side of Chetco River), Tachukhaslitun (south side of Chetco River), and Thlcharghilitun (on the upper course of a south branch of Chetco River).[2]
The endings "anne/nene/t̟ûn-nĕ" mean "inhabitants of a place/village" or "people"; a place/village site is designated as "dun". Other village names are also mentioned (sometimes they are identical - only in a modern transcription): Chit-dvn ("Chetco River Village"), Duu-srxuu-shi'n ("Winchuck River village"), Lhch'aa-ghii~-lii~-dvn ("Chetco River Forks Village"), Sri'-ch'as-lii~-dvn ("Village upriver from North Fork of the Chetco River"), T'uu-k'wvt ("Village near Gold Beach"), Yaa~-shuu-chit-yan'-ne ("Village at Gold Beach")
History
Map of southwest Oregon and northern California, showing the traditional homeland of the Chetco
The Chetco are believed to have come to coastal Oregon between 3000 and 1000 years ago.[5] They had nine villages on the lower 14 miles (23km) of the Chetco River, with their principal villages at the mouth, where the river flows into the Pacific Ocean.[2] The Chetco territory extended a short distance on either side of the river, along the Pacific coast from Pistol River in the north to the Winchuck River in the south.[3] They were the most populous of the 12 coastal tribes in southern Oregon.[5]
The Chetco were hunter-gatherers with a diet based on hunting deer and elk, gathering acorns and mussels, and fishing. They used dugout canoes on the ocean and river and worked with stone tools. The Chetco cooked on open fires or with simple pots, and were culturally very similar to the Tolowa tribe to the south, "who shared the same customs regulating social relationships and frequently intermarried".[6]
The tribe is thought to have had perhaps one thousand members at its peak,[3] but its numbers declined after European-American settlers came into contact with the Chetco in the 19th century.[6] Settlers destroyed the Chetco villages in 1853 and the surviving members of the tribe were forcibly removed to the Siletz Reservation in Tillamook County, Oregon (in 1879 the land the reservation is on became part of Lincoln County). In 1854 there were 241 members of the tribe on the reservation: 83 women, 117 men, and 41 children. By 1861 there were 262 on the reservation: 96 women, 62 men, and 104 children; by 1871 the total on the reservation had dropped to 63.[2] Lucy Dick, who died in 1940 was "the last known full-blooded Chetco"; as of 2009.[3]
Chinookan peoples include several groups of Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest in the United States who speak the Chinookan languages. Since at least 4000 BCE Chinookan peoples have resided along the Lower and Middle Columbia River (Wimahl) from the river's gorge downstream (west) to the river's mouth, and along adjacent portions of the coasts, from Tillamook Head of present-day Oregon in the south, north to Willapa Bay in southwest Washington. In 1805 the Lewis and Clark Expedition encountered the Chinook Tribe on the lower Columbia.
The Coquille are a Native American people who historically lived in the Coquille River watershed and nearby coast south of Coos Bay. They were signatories of the Oregon Coast Tribes Treaty of 1855 and were subsequently removed to the Siletz Reservation in northwestern Oregon in 1856. Most Coquille people today live there as members of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, but some whose ancestors remained in the traditional homeland or fled the reservation now make up the Coquille Indian Tribe, centered in southwest Oregon where the Coos River flows into Coos Bay.
The Siletz Reservation is a 5.852 sq mi (15.157 km²) Indian reservation in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States, owned by the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. The reservation is made up of numerous non-contiguous parcels of land in east-central Lincoln County, mostly east of the city of Siletz, between it and the Polk County line.
The Umpqua people are an umbrella group of several distinct tribal entities of Native Americans of the Umpqua Basin in present-day south central Oregon in the United States. The area south of Roseburg is now known as the Umpqua Valley.
The Tututni tribe is a historic Native American tribe, one of Lower Rogue River Athabascan tribes from southwestern Oregon who signed the 1855 Coast Treaty, and were removed to the Siletz Indian Reservation in Oregon. They traditionally lived along the Rogue River and its tributaries, near the Pacific Coast between the Coquille River on the north and Chetco River in the south. Lower Rogue River Athabascan tribes are a group of Athabascan tribes who were historically located in southwestern Oregon in the United States and speak the same Athabascan language, known as Lower Rogue River.
The Chetco River is a 56-mile-long (90 km) stream located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Oregon. It drains approximately 352 square miles (912 km2) of Curry County. Flowing through a rugged and isolated coastal region, it descends rapidly from about 3,200 feet (975 m) to sea level at the Pacific Ocean. Except for the lowermost 5 miles (8 km), the river is located entirely within the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest. The river rises in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, northwest of Chetco Peak at the junction of the Oregon Coast Range and the Klamath Mountains. It flows generally north, west, and then southwest, before emptying into the ocean between Brookings and Harbor, approximately 6 miles (10 km) north of the California state line. The Chetco River's watershed remains largely undeveloped, protected by the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest and the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. The upper 45 miles (72 km) of the river have been designated Wild and Scenic since 1988.
The Clatsop is a small tribe of Chinookan-speaking Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. In the early 19th century they inhabited an area of the northwestern coast of present-day Oregon from the mouth of the Columbia River south to Tillamook Head, Oregon.
The Siletz were the southernmost of several divisions of the Tillamook people speaking a distinct dialect; the other dialect-divisions were: Salmon River on the river of that name, Nestucca on Little and Nestucca River and Nestucca Bay, Tillamook Bay on the bay of that name and the mouths of the Kilchis, Wilson, Trask and Tillamook rivers, and Nehalem on Nehalem River. The name "Siletz" comes from the name of the Siletz River on which they live. The origin of the name is unknown
The Alsea are a Native American tribe of Western Oregon. They are, confederated with other Tribes on the Siletz Reservation, Oregon, and are members of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz.
Pacific Coast Athabaskan is a geographical and possibly genealogical grouping of the Athabaskan language family.
The Rogue River Wars were an armed conflict in 1855–1856 between the U.S. Army, local militias and volunteers, and the Native American tribes commonly grouped under the designation of Rogue River Indians, in the Rogue River Valley area of what today is southern Oregon. The conflict designation usually includes only the hostilities that took place during 1855–1856, but there had been numerous previous skirmishes, as early as the 1830s, between European American settlers and the Native Americans, over territory and resources.
The Tolowa language is a member of the Pacific Coast subgroup of the Athabaskan language family. Together with three other closely related languages it forms a distinctive Oregon Athabaskan cluster within the subgroup.
The Tolowa people or Taa-laa-wa Dee-ni’ are a Native American people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethno-linguistic group. Two rancherias still reside in their traditional territory in northwestern California. Those removed to the Siletz Reservation in Oregon are located there.
The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in the United States is a federally recognized confederation of more than 27 Native American tribes and bands who once inhabited an extensive homeland of more than 20 million acres from northern California to southwest Washington and between the summit of the Cascades and the Pacific Ocean. After the Rogue River Wars, these tribes were removed to the Coast Indian Reservation, now known as the Siletz Reservation. The tribes spoke at least 11 distinct languages, including Tillamook, Shasta, Lower Chinook, Kalapuya, Takelma, Alsea-Yaquina, Siuslaw/Lower Umpqua, Coos, the Plateau Penutian languages Molala and Klickitat, and several related Oregon Athabaskan languages.
The Shasta Costa, are a Native American tribe, one of Lower Rogue River Athabascan tribes from southwestern Oregon, who originally lived on the Rogue River and its tributaries, or, more precisely, on the "Lower Illinois River and the Rogue River between present-day Agness and Foster Bar." They spoke Shasta Costa dialect of Tututni language. They were classified as Rogue River Indians for the purposes of treaty negotiation. One of their villages, Tlegetlinten, was located near Agness, and was eventually "occupied by Euro-American settlers."
The Tillamook are a Native American tribe from coastal Oregon of the Salish linguistic group. The name "Tillamook" is a Chinook language term meaning "people of [the village] Nekelim ", sometimes it is given as a Coast Salish term, meaning "Land of Many Waters". The Tillamook tribe consists of several divisions and dialects, including :
Fort Dick is a small unincorporated community in rural Del Norte County, California. Fort Dick is around five miles north of Crescent City, California, and around 15 mi (24 km) south of the California–Oregon state line. Its population is 912 as of the 2020 census, up from 588 from the 2010 census.It is located on the U.S. Route 101 corridor on the Redwood Coast. A post office was set up in 1917.
The Winchuck River is a short coastal stream that runs through the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest to the Pacific Ocean in the U.S. states of Oregon and California. Flowing generally west from its origin near Elk Mountain, the river enters the sea at Crissey Field State Recreation Site, about 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) north of the Oregon–California border and about 5 miles (8 km) south of Brookings.
The Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation, previously known as Smith River Rancheria, is a federally recognized tribe of Tolowa people in Del Norte County, California. They are Athabascan people, distantly related to northern Athabascans of eastern Alaska and western Canada, as well as the Apache and Navajo peoples of the American Southwest.
The Native American peoples of Oregon are the set of Indigenous peoples who have inhabited or who still inhabit the area delineated in today's state of Oregon in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. While the state of Oregon currently maintains relations with nine federally recognized tribal groups, the state was previously home to a much larger number of autonomous tribal groups, which today either no longer exist or have been absorbed into these larger confederated entities. Six of the nine tribes gained federal recognition in the late 20th century, after undergoing the termination and restoration of their treaty rights starting in the 1950s.
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