TRIBAL PROGRAM NEWS
Construction progresses on the tribal administration building
in the mid-1990s.
Restoration, con’t from page 1
Following in the footsteps of the
Menominees in Wiseonsin in 1972, the
leadership of the Siletz Tribe, after
years of meetings that brought Tribal
members together to chase a dream,
achieved Restoration in 1977.
Tribal Chairman Delores Pigsley
remembered what the situation was like
when membership learned that then-
President Jimmy Carter had signed the
Tribe's Restoration Bill - Public Law
95-195.
“The old building at the county
fairgrounds was freezing,” she said.
“The fire marshal told us that if we used
the heaters we brought in to warm the
place up, he would shut us down.”
Pigsley said no one wanted to be shut
down. The gathering was too important.
“We couldn’t let that happen,” she
said. “Food was being prepared in the
kitchen. Wc were ready for a pow-wow
and there was much anticipation. At the
dinner that evening, Tribal Chairman Art
Bensell made the announcement that
he had just received a call from President
Jimmy Carter himself, who had signed
into law the Siletz Restoration Act. We were
once again a federally recognized Tribe.”
! Pigsley remembered the feeling in
the room after the landmark announce
ment was shared with the people.
“The place exploded with absolute
joy,” she said. “Our warmth that freez
ing November day was the pride and
exhilaration that came from what we
had accomplished. We were Restored
after a long and difficult struggle.”
Siletz became the second Tribe in
the nation and the first in Oregon to
achieve Restoration for its people.
Just two years prior to Restoration,
Siletz became a member of the Affili
ated Tribes of Northwest Indians and
the National Congress of American
Indians. The first congressional hear
ing on Restoration for Siletz was held
in Washington, D.C., in 1976.
“In the midst of our euphoria that
evening, Bureau of Indian Affairs of
ficials reminded us that our work had
just begun,” said Pigsley. “We needed
tri officially elect a government, write
and adopt a constitution and prepare
art updated roll.”
5- In 1979, a Tribal Constitution was
adopted.
6
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Siletz News
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Less than three years after the Tribe
was restored, it was able to secure the
return of Government Hill in Siletz in
1980. Also that year, an election was
held and a Tribal Council was sworn
in. Leadership then submitted a Reser
vation Plan to Congress that called for
the return of 3,660 acres of former
Reservation lands to the Tribe as a Res
ervation land base.
The Siletz Reservation Act in 1980
created a 3,660-acre Reservation.
In 1983, the Tribe established a
Tribal Court and also celebrated the
opening of the Tribal Community Cen
ter on Government Hill. The Tribe es
tablished a business arm in 1985 with
the opening of the Siletz Tribal Eco
nomic Development Corporation. In
1985, the Tribe employed 54 people
and used the Tribal budget to build the
comfort station and improve the pow
wow grounds with lights, electricity,
water and a public address system.
In 1995, the pow-wow grounds
were named the Pauline Ricks Memo
rial Pow-Wow Grounds to honor Tribal
leader Pauline Ricks. She was born in
Siletz, was active in Tribal affairs and
served on Tribal Council, and helped
write the Tribal Constitution. Ricks was
remembered for organizing nearly ev
ery pow-wow in the Siletz area during
her lifetime and acted as the honored
Whipwoman at the annual Nesika
Illahee Pow-Wow.
Fifty-four tribal homes were built
and opened to families in 1987 on land
the Tribe was able to purchase in Siletz.
In September 1989, an enthusias
tic group of Siletz Tribal Elders from
Washington, Oregon and California
gathered to take a return trip to the
Rogue River area. They jet-boated
from Gold Beach up the Rogue River
and down memory lane.
The next major purchase the Tribe
made was when it bought the former Rock
Creek State Fish Hatchcry in 1990. The
Tribe also added 15 more Tribal homes
in 1990 and negotiated three new ser
vice area counties in the Portland area.
The Tribe broke a lot of ground
over the next few years when it made
major accomplishments, like opening
the Siletz Community Health Clinic in
1991, building the new 30,000-square-
October 2007
foot Tribal Administration Building in
1995 and dedicating both the Chinook
Winds permanent gaming facility and
the Siletz ceremonial Dance House in
1996. The clinic featured medical, den
tal, laboratory, optometry and phar
macy services and the new administra
tion building housed all Tribal pro
grams in one place for the first time.
More importantly, in 1991 the
Tribe became a self-governance tribe
by negotiating its first self-governance
compact with the Bureau of Indian
Affairs, successfully negotiated a gam
ing compact with the State of Oregon,
opened a temporary gaming facility on
May 25, 1995, and a permanent casino
with the opening of Chinook Winds in
Lincoln City on June 28, 1996.
In 1994, the “Run to the Rogue” event
became an important annual ritual in
the modern-day Tribe. The Rogue River
Valley is the traditional homelands of
many of the Tribal ancestors who were
forced to relocate to the Coast or Siletz
Reservation in the 1850s. The “Run”
event was established as a way to honor
those ancestors, increase tribal history
and cultural connections and promote
a healthy lifestyle among the member
ship. Many Tribal members of all ages
participate in the 234-mile journey every
year with friends and family members.
Culturally, one of the most impor
tant accomplishments of the Tribe in the
modern day took place when the lead
ership made the opening of the Dance
House a priority for completion in 1994.
The Dance House held its first tribal
ceremony in June 1996, at the dedica
tion of the house. A Feather Dance was
held for several nights, the first to be
in a ceremonial house since the Indian
agent had them all burned around 1870.
Tribal families in Siletz celebrated
the new century by moving into 20 new
homes on Tribal land in 2000.
Tribal leadership began to funnel
revenues from the Tribe’s gaming ven
ture into the hands of membership in
2001 when the first per capita payments
were made. The economic impact of
the casino continued to benefit the
people of the Tribe when 50 children a
day began receiving day care services
at the Tribe’s Tenas Illahee Child Care
Center that opened in 2002.
The Tribe also purchased an office
complex near Chinook Winds to house
the Siletz Tribal Business Corporation
and the Tribe’s Gaming Commission in
2002. The Tribe also joined with the
Grand Ronde Tribe to establish a busi
ness park development on property co
owned by the Tribes in Keizer near
Chemawa Indian School.
The property, known as Chemawa
Station, is currently being developed
as an economic venture by both Tribes
as a partner project with the city of
Keizer’s larger development known as
Keizer Station. The project recently
received approval from President
George Bush to move ahead as an eco
nomic development for both Tribes.
One of the goals of the retail business
park-style project is to provide another
employment opportunity for nearby
students of Chemawa Indian School.
The Tribe supported local education
in Siletz when it assisted in opening a
charter school, Siletz Valley School, in
2003. The Tribe used 2004 as a platform
to launch several new businesses, in
cluding the purchase of the Shilo Inn ho
tel next to Chinook Winds and the open
ing of Logan Road RV Park in Lincoln
City. The Tribe also maintained the only
gas station in Siletz when it bought and
reopened the Siletz Gas & Mini-Mart.
Tribal leadership continued the di
versification of the membership’s eco
nomic future when it finalized the pur
chase and remodel of the former Lake
side Golf Course and by adding it to the
casino and hotel complex, transformed
the property into the upscale Chinook
Winds Golf Resort. 2005 also marked
the year that the Tribe's important Eu-
gene-area office moved into a Tribally
owned building for the first time.
In 2006, the Tribe opened Hee Hee
Illahee RV Resort and Salem area of-
fice/flex warehouse in Salem and in
2007 the Tribe continued to give back
to the community around it when it
supported the establishment of the new
Siletz Public Library.
Now in 2007, the Tribe invites ev
eryone to join in celebrating 30 years
of Restoration at the Siletz Tribal Res
toration Pow-Wow at Chinook Winds
Casino Resort in Lincoln City on Nov.
17 at 6 p.m.
Logs start to outline the frame of the Dance House in the early stages of
construction in the mid-1990s.