YAQUINA

The Yakonan, or Alsean, language family consists of four tribes living in present-day western Oregon, on or near the Pacific Ocean; they are, north to south, the Yaquina, Alsea, Siuslaw, and Kuitsh. The first three have the rivers coursing through their homelands named after them. The Yaquina (pronounced YAK-ih-nuh) live along the Yaquina River (and Yaquina Bay); the Alsea, along the Alsea River; and the Siuslaw, along the Siuslaw River. The Kuitsh, living along the Umpqua River, are sometimes called the Lower Umpqua because they lived downriver from the UMPQUA, but the latter spoke an Athapascan language. Two tribes living in coastal regions just to the south, the COOS and the MILUK, were formerly grouped with the Yakonans linguistically, but now most linguists consider their language, known as Kusan, as a separate family. Both Yakonan and Kusan are considered part of the Penutian language phylum.

All these tribes can be classified as NORTHWEST COAST INDIANS, sharing customs with tribes to the north as well as, to a lesser degree, with CALIFORNIA INDIANS to the south. Their social life revolved around their small autonomous villages of cedar-plank houses built over pits five feet deep and entered through low gabled roofs by ladders. Typically four or five families lived in a house, with mats suspended to serve as dividers. Each village had a kiautc, or headman, with limited authority except in those times when villages were threatened. Shamans, thought to have supernatural powers from guardian spirits, also had great influence, although ritual life was not as elaborate as that of the more northern coastal tribes. Fishing was the primary subsistence activity, supplemented by hunting and the gathering of wild plant foods. Men would travel to temporary fishing and hunting camps, where they erected small pole-and-thatch shelters.

In the late 18th century, American and European trading vessels reached the region. Overland Hudson’s Bay Company traders followed in the first part of the 19th century. It was not until the 1850s, and the influx of settlers and miners spreading out from the Willamette Valley in northwestern Oregon, that the way of life of the Yaquina and related tribes was significantly altered. The Rogue River War of 1855-56, involving primarily the TAKELMA and Tututni to their south, led to a roundup of area tribes. Some Yakonan lands became part of the original Siletz Reservation, which was considerably reduced in 1876. In later years, after 1892, some parcels were allotted to individual tribal members. Yako-nan descendants are now part of the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians, consisting mostly of descendants of Athapascan tribes who once lived to the south, such as the Tututni, and with headquarters at Siletz, Oregon.