The Alsea River and Alsea Bay take their name from the native word Alsi, meaning peace. Native Americans who once lived here were removed by order of the U.S. Government in the mid-1850s and placed on Indian reservations outside the area. Beginning in 1843, thousands of immigrants traveled west over the Oregon Trail into the new Oregon Territory, with most settling in the fertile Willamette Valley, while some continued over the Coast Range to make homes and farms along the Pacific Coast. Waldport was platted in 1884 by David and Orlena Ruble after they received a federal land plat, and by using star observations they laid out street patterns near Alsea Bay that remain in use. About 1885, a fish cannery was established along Alsea Bay, where Chinese laborers helped process strong salmon runs, bringing their own supplies, including tin for canning, and working quickly because there was no refrigeration. The city was incorporated in 1911 with a mayor and city council form of government. During World War I, the army initiated the Alsea Southern Railroad to supply spruce lumber for airplanes, but three days after its completion the Armistice was signed and demand for spruce vanished; C.D. Johnsen bought the line for $500, renamed it Pacific Spruce, and it was later used for logging as well as limited mail and passenger service before being sold again in 1933 and disappearing by the summer of 1936, the year the original Alsea Bay Bridge opened.