The Coquille Valley sentinel., September 10, 2002, Page 21, Image 21

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First inhabitants of the valley made use of it all)
right front side of foe house. Animal
skins or wooden pieces were used to
cover foe front entrance to prevent foe
cold winter winds from blowing in.
Long before white trappers first Mats of cattail rushes covered the
traveled up through the Coquille hard-packed dirt floors and tanned ani­
Valley, these green and verdant shores • mal skips were used as blankets.
were settled by a hearty and carefree Baskets of camas root were used to
people. Their huge mounds of shells hold foe food drying from foe central
provided the name given by the French pole of the lodge.
Houses were placed as near foe
trappers.. “Coquille” is a French word
river as possible because the Coquilles
meaning shell.
The Coquilles fished in the river had no means of transportation and
that now bears their name, hunted in Wanted to be near their source of food.:
the mountains and gathered seafood Their principal source of food came
from the ocean, and picked and dried from the ocean and rivers in foe form,
berries,nuts and acorns.
of seafood, fish and mussel. Acorns
The land supplied their needs for gathered in the fall and ground, Jnto
food, clothing and shelter. The Indians meal was foe staple food.. Delicacies
believed that the land belonged to no for variety were wild bird eggs, sea­
one and willingly shared what they had weed and berries gathered in season.
Ceremonies and festivals often
with settlers who came through foe
valley. But foe settlers had other ideas, accompanied many : of foe food gather­
At foe end of foe Rogue Indian Wars, ing expeditions. During July and
even though foe Coquilles had not par­ August, when smelt came up on the
ticipate^ in those wars, they were beaches to spawn,, foe entire tribe
removed to reservation life on foe would gather to dry, smoke and store
Siletz River. .
these fish.
On.foe trek up to foe reservation
on foe Siletz, many people died and
still others ran away from foe fort to
retqm to their homeland.
The territorial boundaries of foe
Coquille Tribe range from foe Coast
range to Whiskey Run Beach and from
foe Coquille River to Four Mile Creek.
Smaller villages dotted foe area built to
serve as summer homes as a base for
The Coquille Hotel, con­
gathering food during foe summer and
structed in 1895 on Front
fall.
Street near the city docks,
The Coquilles lived in plank
was a popular stopping
houses built of cedar by splitting slabs
point for travelers passing
from trees with elkhom wedges driven
through the Coquille Valley.
by; stone mauls. A stone adz was some­
Rooms were comfortable
times used to plane or smooth foe
and
dinners were served in
planks.. The houses were small in size,
the main dining room for 35
ranging from 12 to 14 feet square, with
cents. This famous old
a fire pit in foe center. Planks :were
Coquille landmark burned
placed vertically and often driven into
to the ground a fire which
foe ground to. give foe house stability
hit downtown Coquille on
and better protection from the weather.
March 17,1918.
The Indians éntered feet first
through a small rounded door on foe
Written by Lucie Cox;
published by The Sentinel in .
a 1976 historical review
Smeit-gathering time was an
occasion for fun and merriment. It pro­
vided an occasion for distant friends
and relatives to get together and renew
friendships.
At foe time of removal to foe
Siletz Reservation, only those Indian
Women married to white men were
allowed to remain. These women did
not practice their culture, for fear of
being removed from their families.
The hardship caused by. forced
removal and foe fear of expulsion from
their homes causes a loss of identity
with foe earth and a breakdown of trib­
al culture. ;
Those Coquilles who remained
on the land and those who returned
when foe reservation at Siletz was
closed found a world totally different
from foe one that they, had left behind.
The city of Coquille h,ad been incorpo­
rated and was foe county seat. White-
owned stores and business establish­
ments covered th^ quiet forests that
had been their homeland. However, foe
descendants of foe once-hearty and
carefree people, still maintained their
tribal council and met regularly to try
to meet foe needs of their people.
During foe termination period of
foe 1950’s, foe Coquille tribe lost foe
services that had been provided by foe
federal government in their treaties.
Educational assistance and medical
care were no longer provided as they
had been in foe past.
“We were not informed of foe
impact of termination^” said Bud
Chase, vice-chairman ofthe Coquille
Tribe. “We: were told that foe govern­
ment was going to give us some,
money and since we were poor people,
we thought that would be a good
thing.”
Now the Coquille Tribe is trying
to re-organize and stimulate their peo­
ple to return to tribal recognition.
“We want to develop an Indian
community center,” explained Bud
Chase, “a place where we can gather to
share with others.”
Editor ’s note: the Coquille Tribe’s
.federally-recognized status has since
been restored.
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