S IU S L A W
FO REST SEEKS
DATA
Siuslaw National Forest Seeks Data on Siletz Religious Practices
The Siuslaw National Forest which manages more than one million
acres in coastal Oregon is concerned that its land practices do not
adversely affect religious practices of American Indians who reside
in the region. The Forest Service is presently carrying out a study
to ascertain traditional and continuing religious practices of the
many different tribes who lived in the area from Tillamook Bay to
Coos Bay.
Researching and writing this report are Dr. Stephen Dow
Beckham, historian, of Lewis and Clark College, Portland; and
Rick Minor and Kathryn Anne Toepel, anthropologists, of the Univer
sity of Oregon, Eugene. They have made extensive use of the field
notes of J. Owen Dorsey, L_o J. Frachtenberg, Melville Jacobs,
Elizabeth Derr Jacobs, and John Harrington. These anthropologists
worked with Siletz informants in the period between 1885 and 1935.
Of particular interest to the researchers is information known
by present tribal members about sites where religious practices were
carried out, especially if these sites were on or closely adjacent
to Forest lands. The types of such activities might have included:
spirit quests, shaman preparation observances, sites of ’first salmon'
ceremonies, or the locations of the special dances such as those
associated with the Warm House religion.
The researchers have learned about the location of an important
site near Cape Perpetua where the Siuslaw once found red ochre paint
with which they painted their faces in some of their ceremonies.
If tribal members are able to identify any sites they would be
relevant to this study they are urged to report them to:
Siletz Tribal Council
Confederated Siletz Tribes
Buford Street
Siletz, Oregon
The council will then share the information which it thinks is approp
riate with the researchers who will incorporate it into their report
for the Forest Service.
Other aspects of this study include the writing of a general narra
tive history of settlement in the lands today held by the Siuslaw National
Forest and pulling together all known information about the prehistoric
record of this area as well. When this study is completed the Siuslaw
National Forest staff will have a fuller understanding of the lands and
resources which it has to administer.