Alsea Sub-Agency

The Coast Reservation was established in 1855, and four years later the Alsea Sub-Agency opened. The Coos and Lower Umpqua were forcibly marched from Fort Umpqua to the Yachats River, a dangerous journey that caused many deaths and injuries, where they joined the Alsea and Siuslaw Indians. They were forbidden to practice traditional gathering and hunting and were forced to farm ocean land, leading to frequent crop failures. In 1863 the Indian population was 521, and ten years later it had fallen to 343. As the tribes rebuilt their lives, the area was opened to settlement in 1875 despite their desire to remain on the Sub-Agency land. The remaining tribes were marched to the Siletz Agency or assimilated into the southern tribes, while some Coos and Lower Umpqua fled south as refugees in their own land.

Yachats, Oregon · United States