# (Expires 05/31/2020) > Briefs, arguments, decisions, and more. URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/tribal%3Aconfederated_clusi%3A5d2d7c4a4ed3d3cc ## Record - **Collection:** Tribal code - **Document type:** Tribal code ## Text NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 05/31/2020) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. Place additional certification comments, entries, and narrative items on continuation sheets if needed (NPS Form 10-900a). 1. Name of Property historic name Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Cultural Property Historic District To place like a necklace (Jordan Cove) and the Bay of the Coos People other names/site number Name of Multiple Property Listing N/A (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing) 2. Location street & number Roughly Bounded by Coos Bay Estuary and Adjacent Uplands X not for publication city or town Coos Bay, North Bend state Oregon code OR vicinity county Coos code 011 zip code 97420, 97459 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this X nomination request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: national X statewide X local Applicable National Register Criteria: X A X B C X D Signature of certifying official/Title: Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer Date Oregon State Historic Preservation Office State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of commenting official Title Date State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government 4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) Signature of the Keeper Date of Action 1 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State 5. Classification Ownership of Property Category of Property Number of Resources within Property (Check as many boxes as apply.) (Check only one box.) (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.) Contributing X X X X private public - Local public - State public - Federal building(s) X district site structure object Noncontributing 2 154 156 0 buildings site structure object Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register 10 6. Function or Use Historic Functions Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) (Enter categories from instructions.) DOMESTIC: village sites SOCIAL: meeting hall EDUCATION: school, library EDUCATION: library HEALTHCARE: clinic RELIGION: ceremonial sites SOCIAL: meeting hall FUNERARY: cemetery, graves/burial RELIGION: ceremonial sites RECREATION AND CULTURE: outdoor FUNERARY: cemetery, graves/burials AGRICULTURE/SUBSISTENCE: processing, storage, fishing site INDUSTRY/PROCESSING/EXTRACTION: Processing sites, manufacturing facility TRANSPORTATION: water-related recreation AGRICULTURE/SUBSISTENCE: processing, storage, fishing site TRANSPORTATION: water-related LANDSCAPE: natural features, underwater conservation area LANDSCAPE: natural features, underwater DEFENSE: military facility 2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State 7. Description Architectural Classification Materials (Enter categories from instructions.) (Enter categories from instructions.) COLONIAL foundation: OTHER: Traditional plankhouse walls: OTHER: Traditional sweat lodge CONCRETE WOOD: Shingle board and batten OTHER: Board and Batten roof: WOOD: Shingle other: BRICK (chimney) Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance and condition of the property. Describe contributing and noncontributing resources if applicable. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, type, style, method of construction, setting, size, and significant features. Indicate whether the property has historic integrity). Summary Paragraph “The Indians never lived at places hard to get into and inland, such as white people acquire. The Indians always wanted a place on the water, and preferred deep water.” -Lottie Evenoff (Harrington 24:37) Coos Bay, on the southwest Oregon coast (see Figure 1), is the extensive horseshoe-shaped estuary of the Coos River leading out to the ocean. The application focuses on 26 square miles of Coos Bay with approximately 16 square miles identified as the estuary subtidal. Ownership, both subtidal and estuary adjacent uplands, consists of roughly 6.4 square miles of federal and state ownership, less than 0.2 tribally owned, 7.8 of local government ownership and 4.6 square miles of private ownership. The primary zones of Coos Bay include the Lower Bay near the ocean entrance of the bay and North Spit (see Photograph 1 and 2), the Heart of the Bay near Jordan Cove (Photograph 3), and the Upper Bay on the eastern side of the peninsula (see Figure 2). The bay is the second largest drowned river valley on the Oregon Coast. The bay's primary features include the ocean entrance and North Spit of the bay (Lower Bay), an extensive arch of water around the peninsula (Heart of the Bay), the expansive inlets and sloughs around the peninsula, and the confluence of the Isthmus Slough known as Gwsuu and the Coos River, known as the Kulwutl’iich, (Upper Bay). The peninsula is low-lying land that has been settled and urbanized over the past 160 years; the cities of Charleston, Coos Bay and North Bend dominate the central landscape but the landscape retains many of its landforms and viewsheds. Major features of the estuary, visible from a satellite perspective, include: dunal lakes; beaches; the long arm of the North Spit, located on the west side of the bay at the jetty; the North Bend airport, located at the bend of the horseshoe in the Heart of the Bay; a rail line and swing bridge east and across from the airport, adjacent to the North Slough (see Photograph 4); National Register listed McCullough Bridge, which is part of Highway 101; the forested foothills of the western Coast Range, which frame the east and south side of Coos Bay; and the sloughs and mouth of the River where it might be calmer on a windy day indicated by the named place in this area, Wil’lench or “good weather place.” Q’alya-“to put around the neck”, like a necklace, now known as Jordan Cove, and the associated village site, Kuunatich, is the heart or central feature in the Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Cultural Property (TCP) historic district. The TCP includes boundaries up and down river from the Heart of the Bay zone to encompass features significant to Coos history and way of life (Figure 3). The various features described throughout this document support the connection that Coos families have with this area through time, which is evident when overlaying a map with these important features that support Coos identity (Figure 4). While the maps may look like a constellation of loci, the boundary takes in each of the locations and the surrounding features typically associated with them such as burials, resource gathering locations, and ceremonial areas. The boundary also absorbs the central support system responsible for perpetuating Coos way of life still today, 3 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State the Bay itself. A few contributing properties are not in proximity to the estuary itself but have a direct relationship to the TCP’s significance and integrity and are therefore included as discontiguous elements, such as the two Tribal government parcels and historic burial at the Marshfield Cemetery. The connection to this place has been unbroken despite a history that has challenged tribal life in Coos Bay. The Native American community has continuously used the estuary since time immemorial to the present. This is demonstrated by archaeological sites, nearby fish weirs and traps, named places in Hanis and Miluk dialects of the Coosan Language, the presence of prehistoric and historic burials of peoples at former villages and subsistence sites of Native Americans (see Appendix A, Figures 6-13), and significant Coos knowledge holders who transferred their knowledge and captured the meaning of the Coos and Coos Bay in words, places, relationships, stories and tragedies. The boundary includes the legacy of Coos women who were permitted to stay during forced removal of tribes from their homelands and the story of how these families heritage through European settlement of the area (see Figures 14-21), as well as, the locations of events in the oral literature of the Coos people and stories associated with distinct natural features (see Appendix B). Coos Families continue to use the estuarine and shore lands in the area all our lifetimes to fish, gather shellfish (see Photograph 5 and 6), harvest berries, medicines (see Photograph 7), and plants for consumption or cultural purposes (Figures 22-29). Additionally, the estuary's main stem served as a primary transportation route for the Coos and today, continues to be used for fishing and canoeing by tribal members as well as for resource gathering and/or ceremonial purposes. Generally, contributing components of this nomination are important to the culture and way of life unique to the Coos. Examples include viewsheds, oral literature sites (see Photograph 8), archaeological resources, including but not limited to fish weirs, middens (see Photograph 9 and 10), burials, processing sites, gathering sites, traditional places that carry religious or spiritual significance and natural resources that support the vitality of tribal members as well as landmarks that still carry a connection to certain locations in Coos Bay. A total of 156 resources contribute to the TCP historic district. Of the total of contributing resources, there are (154) sites and (2) buildings. Within the (154) contributing sites, fifty-six (56) are contemporary resources within various traditional use areas in Coos Bay, including the estuary itself and the adjacent gathering and contemporary use areas (see Figures 23-29, also Appendix C, bolded), seventy-four (74) are places with cultural significance to the Coos (pre-contact and historic), and twenty-four (24) of the sites are fish weir locations. The two (2) buildings are the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians (CTCLUSI) plank house and the sweatlodge, which are both located on Tribal Hall property (see Photographs 10-13). Most of the culturally significant sites have traditional names, which carry a special meaning and use or were occupied by the Coos as villages, and are all listed in Appendix A. Coos informants identified these locations and these sites possess a contemporary ceremonial and religious significance to Tribal members today, even if not accessible for contemporary practice. Tribal members often note and feel protective of these places even when talking in association about modern landmarks in Coos Bay. Viewsheds in the area permit long distance views (see Photograph 15, 16) of natural or cultural landscape features from the shorelines or in the Bay itself (see Photograph 17, 18). The Bay contains hundreds, if not thousands, of fish weirs; twenty-four (24) of these locations have been recorded within the TCP boundary (see Table 1) and are identified as contributing resources. These weirs are symbols of Coos subsistence on salmon and other fish and life that are still central to Coos identity (see Photograph 19). Thirteen (13) archaeological features (see Table 2 and Appendix A) represent past practices and lifeways important to Tribal members today, and are identified as part of the seventy-four (74) contributing places with cultural significance.1 The CTCLUSI plankhouse and sweatlodge on the Tribal Hall property are part of Coos traditions and are associated with significance to past and contemporary Coos practice or ceremony that are included as part of this application. Additionally, ten (10) resources within the boundary were previously listed in the National Register of Historic Places. 2 1 While there are thirteen (13) resources identified in Table 2, twelve (12) are part of the contributing resource count in Section 5 because one (1), 35CS24 Archeological Site, is previously listed in the National Register. 2 The ten resources listed in the National Register are as follows and are listed by their historic name: Marshfield Elks Temple, NRIS# 83002146; Chandler Hotel & Annex, NRIS# 84002966; Hub Department Store Building, NRIS# 92001307; Coos Bay National Bank Building, NRIS# 89001868; Coke, J.S., Building, NRIS# 91000048; Coos Bay Bridge (McCullough Memorial Bridge) NRIS# 05000817; 4 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State Non-contributing features, those not important to Coos culture and way of life, would typically be described as built environments not associated with the Coos traditions. Features like roads, the airport, bridges (see Photograph 20), active commercial properties, residential buildings, outbuildings, yards, gardens, active pasture/farm lands and/or active industrial operations, components of the navigation channel not attributed to perpetuating Coos practices, and commercial oyster operations, are not considered contributing features. Additionally resources listed on private lands where gathering is not permitted are not contributing. Our nomination does not attempt to include resources that are not important to contributing Coos beliefs, history or cultural practice. As demonstrated in this TCP nomination, and expressed by the Coos community, the integrity and the feeling of association with the area has not been lost. Despite the removal of major parts of the property from native ownership, dredging for the navigation channel, and the transition of parts of the general area into industrial sites, commercial developments, and modern residences, intact features related to Coos practices and beliefs remain that connect the Coos People with their culture and traditional way of life. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Narrative Description Coos Bay has remained important for Native American use throughout history. This is demonstrated through the thirty-two (32) Coos villages, with and without toponyms (see Appendix A) that have been identified, and the continued uses in and around these adjacent ancient villages, burial areas, culturally named places and myth tale sites. Significant persons listed in this TCP were critical to the transmission of these important places, language, or customs, participated in important events in Coos history, and/ or had leadership roles within the Coos Tribe and the history of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians (CTCLUSI). Coos Bay also contains the largest fish weir systems in the Pacific Northwest (see Photograph 21, 22); these systems defined not only a reliance on fish for subsistence, but also in and of themselves are a unique construction feature contributing important information about prehistory for this area (see Figures 5,711). Additionally, other contributing archeological features associated with village sites (see Table 2 ; Photographs 9, 10, 23) as well as undiscovered villages lie beneath the dunes, fill, forest, and even 30-feet below the bottom of the navigation channel, which are important to the history of Coos Bay. The Bay has been occupied for millennia and for thousands of years people have lived here, fished here, celebrated here and died here. This has been a good place to be as long as humans set foot here. Although development of the area caused damage and change to some of these features and cultural resources, the viewsheds and connected landscape features (see Photograph 24), villages, important traditional gathering areas (see Photograph 25), as well as, the continued use of the Bay (see Photograph 26), there are still intact features to Coos practices and beliefs that connect the Coos People with their culture and traditional way of life—a reflection of the abundant resources that can be found in the bay of the Coos People, Kukwis shichdii me. “When the tide is low the table is set,” is a common phrase amongst the tribal people of Coos Bay. This speaks to the rich diversity of foods that were and are available to the people. Fed by both upwelling marine currents and upriver environments, estuaries in the Pacific Northwest are some of the richest biotic environments in the world (McConnaughey and McConnaughey 1986). Taxa supported in large numbers historically in Oregon coast estuaries include salmon, herring/smelt, flounder, sturgeon, sculpin, lamprey (“eel”), and many other fish (Monaco et al. 1990) (See Appendix C), as well as a variety of sea mammals and waterfowl. The intertidal zone is an important habitat for cockles, mussels, piddocks, mud or goose-neck clams, razor clams, barnacles, native oysters (now nearly extinct), red rock crab and Dungeness crabs (See Appendix C). The bay is the habitat of harbor seals, sea lions, sea otter, occasional visiting whales, and numerous waterfowl. Some of these species continue to frequent the harbor entrance and lower bay. The size of the Coos Bay reflects the greater extent of ocean influence in large portions of the estuary, compared with river-dominated estuaries elsewhere on the Oregon Coast. Different parts of the Coos estuary have varying levels of marine or Marshfield IOOF Cemetery, NRIS# 12000483; Tower, Dr. Charles, and Flanagan, Patrick, House, NRIS# 84002976; Tribal Hall of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians, NRIS# 89000202; 35CS24 Archeological Site, NRIS# 97001029. 5 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State freshwater input. The ocean heavily influences the lower portion of the bay, from its “north bend” to its ocean entrance point, which includes Jordan Cove. Because of the ocean influence, Jordan Cove has been remarkably historically productive, particularly for fish, shellfish, birds, mammals, and plants important in traditional Coos subsistence and culture. Historically, numerous tidal channels along the margins of Coos Bay drained extensive salt marshes (Dicken 1961) within the bay. Many of the channels are still present albeit modified. These channels are habitat for numerous fishes, and served as the location for fishing weirs and traps; efficient systems for harvesting fish in intertidal channels and on tidal flats (Byram 2006: 2-1). Both freshwater and tidal marshes are present in and around the Coos Bay. The distinction between freshwater marshes and seasonal ponds or lakes is arbitrary, with lakes and ponds having areas that remain submerged all or most of the year; many intact ponds and freshwater marshes are still present around Jordan Cove. Salt marsh losses in parts of Coos Bay may historically be as high as 90 percent, and as with other Oregon estuaries, the bay has changed due to diking, draining, and filling (Proctor et al. 1980). Many of these areas retain smaller remnants of these marshes as witnessed by plant communities such as sedge, tule, cattail, eelgrass, pickleweed, etc., but are not as large as historically they would have been. Additionally, several channel alteration activities including driftwood removal have modified drainage patterns and changed fish habitats (Dicken 1961; Schultz 1990:320; Simenstad et al. 1997b:176-77). The construction of jetties at the harbor entrance has slowed the outgoing movement of coarser silt and sand, causing these to settle on channel floors. As the channel floor has risen, currents have increased along channel banks, producing severe erosion (Byram 2002: Chapter 5). Nonetheless, these smaller marsh areas still provide critical habitat for important cultural plant and fish species and ongoing cooperative work with watershed groups has increased the size of several of these marshland areas across the bay. Even though channel dredging occurs regularly, there are still fish, plants and shellfish communities present in the bay. Because of water quality monitoring and continuing fish habitat restoration efforts, these critical habitat areas are still common and increasing in the intertidal areas. The materials from former dredging in Coos Bay were deposited on tidal wetlands, resulting in significant portions of upper Coos Bay’s tidelands covered with dredged materials. These areas include the commercial area at the head of Pony Slough, the lower business district facing the bay in North Bend, large dredged material islands in the center of the Upper Bay, and the business district of the City of Coos Bay, Henderson Marsh among other locations. Despite these changes, there are still natural resources present, such as plants and animals that Tribal members continue to harvest within their traditional homelands. The connection to this place for Tribal members has remained strong since they continue traditional and religious practices within these same areas as their ancestors and the Tribe continues to work as a partner with various federal, state, local, and non-profit agencies to restore and enhance these resources to a state that is more reflective of historic times. Adjacent to the estuary and tidal wetlands are rolling dunes and uplands containing many varieties of trees and plants with berries, roots, leaves or other parts that are culturally important as well as forested deer and elk habitat (see Appendix C). The Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Cultural Property includes parts of the Lower Bay and Upper Bay sub-systems as well as Pony Slough, North Slough, and Haynes Inlet as well as Kentuck (see Photograph 27, 28) and southern sloughs near Graveyard Point (see Photograph 29) of Coalbank (see Photograph 30) and Isthmus (see Photograph 31) and the commencement of the Coos River (Roye 1979:51). As previously mentioned, modifications occurred to the bay with U.S. settlement, but prior to Euro-American settlement, the ecosystem provided an abundant landscape for flora and fauna alike and still is recognized for the resources reflected in this landscape. Additionally, the area is still known for plants such as huckleberries, shore pine, cedar, sedges, tule (see Photograph 31), etc., fish (salmon, smelt, flounder, lamprey, etc.), shellfish (gapers, razors, cockles, butter, etc.), crab (red rock and Dungeness), hunting (deer), and birds (duck, osprey, egret, heron, eagle, etc.), which are listed in Appendix C. Boat transportation (motorized and non-motorized), aesthetics (dunes, large bay, subtidal area, etc.), expansive views (BLM boat ramp, North bend Airport, CTCLUSI Administration, etc.) and coastal weather patterns also define the area. 6 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State The Coos community is culturally and wholly tied to their interrelationship with nature and the landscape. This connection has developed over thousands of years. Those who lived during the time of great change to the bay, between roughly 75 and 125 years ago, are the voices that help give light to history. Coos traditional stories (see Appendix B) document many landmark features, place names, and gathering locations that tribal members re-told and passed down through the generations; many of which are still used and recounted today. Despite historic losses of many subsistence resources, Coos Bay is still vital to the perpetuation of Coos traditional practices (see Photograph 32), ceremonies and lifeways. There are many other important Coos places, sites and gathering areas that extend beyond the TCP boundary; however, the estuary and adjacent lands represent the core of this nomination. Lower Bay The Lower Bay (see Figures 7, 15, 23) starts at the ocean entrance to Coos Bay and includes prominent features such as Coos Head at the south jetty, Fossil Point, Laxai , Nikkawwaha and Hanisich in the old City of Empire that is incorporated into the city of Coos Bay Historic events and features such as Confederated Tribes of Coos Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw (CTCLUSI) Tribal Hall, Stagecoach line and lifesaving station as well as myth tale sites, other village sites of the Coos are part of the Lower Bay. Cape Arago Highway runs north and south down into Charleston along the edge of the bay water. The North Spit, now a stabilized feature, encloses this section of the bay from the ocean through the expansive dune and wetland formation. Abundant resources on the North Spit include traditional plant resources such as sedge, eelgrass, tule, spruce, bog blueberry, yellow sand verbena, strawberry and cranberry. These resources all reside on the North Spit as well as shellfish, duck and fish habitats. This area is still used for cultural practices such as plant harvesting and processing, canoeing, storytelling and ceremony. Significant features within the Lower Bay include several cultural places, fishing and gathering areas, villages, and myth tale sites that are important to the Coos people. These features have been preserved through ethnographic studies (see Appendix A) and through being passed down orally from one generation to the next. Kweyeis Xwamtat Qaimisich/Mountain Going Down to the Bar/Coos Head (see Figure 7) (see Photograph 1) is a bluff located at the entrance of the Coos Bay estuary. A dominant portion of this bluff and surrounding land is owned by the CTCLUSI. Prior to Tribal ownership, the central parcel was a federal military site beginning in 1875 and last managed by the Air National Guard until it was surplused and transferred to CTCLUSI in 2005. It overlooks the North Spit and an expansive sandy beach to the south. Prior to federal ownership, this area was used as a viewpoint for the Coos people, is associated with the conclusion of the Orca Story (see Appendix B) and was likely used as a ceremonial location. Below the bluff is a tunnel, or Xitlxaldich (this word translates to “becoming daylight”, which refers to the dim light in the tunnel). In 1884, Coos Head was placed in the ownership of the U.S. Army where public access was permitted until 1957, when the U.S. Navy assumed management authority. In 2005, CTCLUSI regained ownership of the property and is currently planning several development options for the property, which include a cultural gathering area, viewing area, trails for recreation, government offices and interpretative areas. Contributing features of the property for the TCP nomination would include plants and viewsheds important to the ongoing use by Tribal members. Noncontributing features are historic military use buildings and areas on adjacent federal lands. Mhmnuu / Fossil Point (see Figure 7) is a Point just south of Pigeon Point, or Tarheel Point. (See Photograph 6). The site, partly owned by the CTCLUSI and partially privately owned, is a large sandstone ledge of fossil remains at Barview. Various private, university and county ownership surrounds the point and sub-tidal areas. The upland area near Fossil Point was where Tarheel, a determined Coos cultural leader, lived with his family prior to his removal to the Coast Reservation (see Appendix E, photo 8). The area contains the only naturally occurring rock in the bay and is exposed to continual tidal action. The fossil remains are well-preserved species of fossils that include Pliocene mollusks, as well as Pliocene skulls 7 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State and bones of whales and sea lions. Fish and shellfish are preserved there as well in brown sandstone (Steere 1955:41; Fisher 2018). Because of the nature of this location, there is a diversity of species found at few other locations; in the algal bed and kelp bed there is a habitat for invertebrates and fishes and a significant spawning site for herring. Fossil Point is the setting of the myth text “The Dangerous Fish Which Poisoned People and Things and Turned them to Stone” (see Appendix B). Coos oral informant Annie Miner Peterson dictated the text, which was then printed in Coos and in English, and is called the Coos Narrative and Ethnologic Texts (Harrington 1942). Today, Fossil Point continues to be a traditional crabbing and shellfish gathering area for tribal members, which dominate the contributing features for the site. Fossil formations also contribute as features for their natural and cultural value. The upland areas around Fossil Point have seen some housing development (noncontributing features) while the lowland area has remained largely unchanged. Laxai Cove and Village (see Figure 7) is a small cove located on the east side of Coos Bay between Fossil Point on the south and Pigeon Point (Tarheel Point) on the north (see Photograph 8). The ownership of this area is mainly private with submerged state jurisdiction. It is also the location for the myth story “He Eats Human Children” an oral literary text of several paragraphs dictated in 1933 by Coos elder Annie Miner Peterson (See Appendix B). The account was an admonitory tale to counsel children to stay close to home and not to go out to play at night. Today only a sandstone knob remains at Laxai as a reminder of the Ogres who kidnapped children (Jacobs 1939 ). Presently, the upland area has seen some development, while the lowland area remains how it was during prehistoric times. As with Fossil Point to the south, this area is a wellused shellfish gathering area with resource habitats similar to adjacent sites. Features contributing to the village and cove include the surrounding shellfish and fish gathering areas, aquatic plant and seaweed gathering areas (see Photograph 6), nearby myth tale features Kiwe’et and Nikkawwaha (see Figure 7, 23) are recognized as a traditional story location Nikkawwaha named after the horsetail plant also the location of the 1855 Oregon Coast Treaty Council and temporary reservation where from November 1855, until January 1856, Special Indian Agent Socrates Scholfield held the Coos Indians prior to their removal to the Coast Reservation at Fort Umpqua. Fifty-three Coos men signed the unratified treaty of August 1855, negotiated by Joel Palmer, Superintendent of Indian Affairs (Palmer 1855). Scholfield served as the Special Agent at this site from October 1855, to April 1856 (Scholfield 1856). Later in the 1910s, this site was the gathering place for the Coos tribe’s annual August meetings, and where the tribe selected a successor to chief Bobby Burns (Anonymous 1913c). In 1861 James Lawson, of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, established a triangulation station for his surveys of the bay In the immediate vicinity of the station is the only appearance of a bluff along this prairie shoreline. Kiwe’et, meaning point or peninsula (see Appendix A), is situated between Nikkawwaha, to the south, and Hanisich, to the north. Jim Buchanan provided a story related to this place about a canoe maker who was murdered and beheaded by someone from the sky and avenged by his son called “The Revenge of the Sky People.” Contributing features of this location include the village, burials, traditional stories and historic landmark features as well as traditional use 8 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State and cultural areas (see Appendix C) such as shellfish gathering areas, viewsheds and associated archaeological features (see Table 2). Residences, yards, gardens, and outbuildings are not associated with the contributing features. Hanisich (see Figure 7) was one of the most prolific of the Coos villages located at what is now Empire. This area overlooks the lower estuary, North Spit and the Hollering Place. (Harrington 1942). Chief Daloose Jackson, a significant Coos Chief and cultural knowledge holder lived and father of Lottie Evanoff, a prominent Coos informant, prior to the removal and relocation of the Coos from Coos Bay (see Appendix E, photo 14). Jefferson Harney (see Appendix E, photo 6), a Hanis Coos and influential leader, was born at Q’aimisiich prior to removal. It is the location of a Coos creation story, “Mi'laq Chanigha” (See Appendix B) that tells how the land was created from blue clay discs thrown down by two young men carrying arrows from the sky world. Today, the area is covered by concrete and is zoned mixed use domestic and commercial. An interpretive sign describes the village site and the encounter between Coos People from Hanisich and the ship wrecked army soldiers of the Captain Lincoln, who survived until their rescue by trading for resources such as food with the Coos people at Hanisich. Down near the water is a boat ramp and dock that is heavily used by Coos tribal members for crabbing and fishing and occasional seaweed harvesting, such as bull kelp and nori (Porphyra varieties) (see Appendix C)(see Figure 23). Contributing features to this village Q’aimisiich, presence of blue clay, the viewshed and “soundshed” associated with Elk’elch or “Hollering Place” across the bay. Non-contributing features include historic and nonhistoric existing structures, docks and parking areas. Tribal Hall Property and Tribal Administration (see Figure 15) are important fixtures in government and cultural practice today. The Tribal Hall Property is the location of Tribal Hall significant building that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 29, 1989 and is located on Tribal reservation land in Coos Bay (see Figure 23)(see Photograph 12). In 1940, a small 6.1 acre lot was established and held by the US government for use by the Tribes, and in 1941 the Civilian Conservation Corps, Indian Divisions (CCC, ID) erected a tribal hall on the reservation. The Property has been a place of continued government, social gathering and cultural activities, and currently houses the tribal museum, in addition to it serving as a spiritual location for all CTCLUSI tribal members (National Register # 89000202). The Tribal Hall complex includes other culturally important structures, such as the plank house constructed in 2001 (Photograph 6 and 8) and a sweat lodge that are heavily used by CTCLUSI members and contribute to this TCP. The natural resources (see Appendix C) and buildings, specifically the plank house (see Photograph 11) and sweat lodge, are used to perpetuate the culture and cultural government programming of CTCLUSI, which contribute to the TCP. Kwonait, CTCLUSI Administration (see Figure 15), implement the objectives of the Tribe, under Tribal Council, to provide cultural programming, environmental and resource protection, health services and benefits, housing, investment, and economic resources through a wide range of programming. The Departments under the administration are grounded in culture awareness and focused on protection and enhancement of health, land, water, for the benefit of current and future generations. The viewshed of the Lower Bay is the most noteworthy contributing feature, along with cultural plants (see Appendix C) and government functions. Wa’alach (see Figure 7) (see Photograph 9, 10 and Appendix E, photo 15) is the birth place of Jim Buchanan, a prominent Coos informant for Coos places and stories. 9 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State The Tribe acquired Wa’alach in the early 1990s from the City of Coos Bay, it has remained unchanged for the past 100 years Near-by residences and non-archeological resources are not contributing. Jilch’ ala, Stone Hammer Baby, and Utter Rocks (See Figure 7) are rock outcroppings located in the channel northwest of Empire (now part of west Coos Bay). The Utter Rocks one time were visible and dangerous to mariners are still visible on navigational charts. The rocks were specifically in the channel between Barrett’s Landing and Henderson Marsh on the North Spit opposite the village of Wa’alach One notable rock associated among Utter rocks, likely impacted by channel modification, was told to be the top of a rock person’s head that started off as a child’s rock hammer baby doll turned to life. This myth tale, “Stone Hammer Baby,” as dictated by Annie Miner Peterson, a very influential told of the Coos tribal member and cultural knowledge holder, in 1933 to Jacobs (Jacobs 1939 origin of these rocks (Utter Rocks) and was recounted as an admonition by elders to Coos children. (See Appendix B). While the contributing features themselves have likely been impacted to some degree by channel dredging, they still exist in navigation charts, and the viewsheds and feeling of the place are retained. To go look for the Stone Hammer Baby is like looking for a mythological character. Any underwater features that are still intact would be contributing even if they cannot be seen above the lowest tide. The altered channel itself does not contribute to the TCP although if altered could further affect this area through increased erosion, removal of what may be left of the stones, and further damage to the association and feeling of this place to Tribal members. Xiila'los or North Spit (See Figure 7) (see Photograph 2) is a large spit consisting of sand dunes that separate the bay from the Pacific Ocean. The southern portion of the spit may have formed in the later Holocene, with further advances resulting from jetty construction at the bay entrance starting in 1892. A photo from 1920 captures a sand bar with no visible vegetation (see Appendix E, photo 11). North of the spit is an extensive body of dunes of which some may date to the Pleistocene. The dunes constitute one of the largest dune sheets in North America and reach north for nearly sixty miles along the Oregon Coast (Proctor et al. 1980; Schultz 1990). These deposits of sand lie in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area (ODNRA), while the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages most of the North Spit. The ODNRA, created by Congress in 1972, is managed by the Siuslaw National Forest. The Army Corps of Engineers has management responsibility for the North Jetty and river and harbor projects in Coos Bay. Because Coos Bay is navigable, a large part of the bay is administered by the Department of Oregon State Lands, though the state has sold tidelands for docks, sawmills, and commercial development. The presence or absence of the spit may have changed through time as well as the location of the mouth or entrance of the Bay indicated possibly at other location. For instance Jim Buchanan provided Qaimisani or “river mouth” as the name at Jarvis landing because tribal elders said it had been the outlet of the bay (see Appendix A). There may be a buried slough near the mouth of the bay that extended north, and other records indicate that the lower bay used to be a lake created when sand was blown in and blocked the channel (Harrington 1942; Whereat, et al. 2011:44). The shifting nature of the sands and channel through time has revealed some sites and buried others. Today due to the anthropogenic stabilization of the sand dunes with European beach grass, many villages and associated cultural items such as canoes have been buried. While the North Spit has a mixed use of both recreation and isolated commercial industry, tribal members continue to gather traditional foods and basketry material from the plentiful resources on the spit. Contributing resources 10 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State on the North Spit are predominately those found in Appendix C as it is still an important gathering site for Coos. Additionally, historic or prehistoric features, including viewsheds, and associated features identified in Figure 7 and Appendix A would be contributing elements. Noncontributing features are existing industrial and recreational development and non-native plants. Elk’elch or “Hollering Place” (See Figure 7), is located on the North Spit across from Empire. It was named “Hollering Place” because it was a place where one could holler for a canoe if transportation was needed from the North Spit to another area. Traditional stories tell that canoes would cross the bay from modern day Empire to retrieve someone from the spit. Like, Hanisich, the soundshed and viewshed strongly contribute to this area. Heart of the Bay The Heart of the Bay (See Figure 8-10) includes submerged lands, tidal and freshwater wetlands, filled wetlands, sloughs, uplands, pre-contact and modern gathering areas, and archeological evidence that indicate the earlier presence of prehistoric villages and burials, as well as historic burials. Presently, much of the area to the south of the bay has been urbanized, and includes: the city of North Bend; the Southwest Oregon Regional Airport; the McCullough Memorial Bridge (see Photograph 3, 20), which connects Highway 101 over the channel; and the Trans Pacific Parkway, a paved road that crosses the North Slough on a berm, and extends north of Jordan Cove to serve industrial sites on the North Spit and recreation sites in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area (ODNRA). Additionally, a functioning railroad travels from northern Highway 101, across to Jordan Cove via a freight train bridge (see Photograph 3), and through North Bend. This railroad is known as the Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad that has been in operation from 1916 through present day. Peter Jordan, who grew up at Jordan Cove, recalled in his 1931 testimony that in the 1870s, there were “plenty of ducks, plenty of clams, plenty of sturgeon, geese, swans, pelican, elk, deer, and bear; now today there is practically none” (U.S. Court of Claims 1931:128). Jordan was but just one who witnessed the dramatic change in landscape and natural resource abundance reduction from what he once knew due to railroad construction and later mill development. Today, the tribal members make use of the plentiful resources that are available, but with knowledge that resource quantity, quality (contaminant concerns) and accessibility has changed over time. The Heart of the Bay remains integral to Coos culture today is, and despite the more industrial use of this area, many feel strongly connected to this area, and in essence, represents the spirit and heart of the Coos Tribe. The Heart of the Bay itself includes Jordan Cove (referred to as Q’alya Kuunatich), North Slough (Ch’hli’ya’ich or going out place), Point between North Slough and Haynes (Ha’yim dibinch) and Haynes Inlet (see Photograph 13 and 14), and east and west areas surrounding Pony Slough Hlwahich, Hattsa, and Da'nis)(see Appendix A and Figure 8). Its main features are the cove itself and large sloughs and inlets. Fish weir systems start to be more prominent as you move up the bay, though Jordan Cove due to its location and abundant fish habitat probably would have had several weir systems associated with the Kuunatich. Additionally, the area would have provided access to uplands for canoe logs or hunting as well as to nearby villages. Significant features within the Heart of the Bay include features important to the Coos through time: precontact, historic and current significance. This is and has been a high use area because of its central location in the bay (for transportation and views), for upland and in-water resources as well; it is important to note that historic occupancy by Coos women validates the unique and important cultural and natural features present. This remains an area where Coos cultural places, fishing and gathering areas, villages, and myth tale sites is still noteworthy and retains its integrity in both physical and spiritual realms for the Coos. Henderson Marsh is on the North Spit, close to the Heart of the Bay, between Coos Bay and the Pacific Ocean, and appears on the earliest maps as a large, vegetated wetland. These maps show an open channel to the bay, and accounts describe abundant driftwood on the bay ward portion of the marsh, indicating tidal influence (Lawson 1863). This setting provided habitat for a great variety of fish, waterfowl, furbearers, and 11 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State game, along with many wetland plants that were used by indigenous communities who lived in small villages all along the spit on the west and north side of the bay and often traded with early fur trappers and traders. In 1864, John L. and Nancy Henderson built a claim cabin and ran cattle in Henderson Marsh. A short distance to the south at Barrett’s Landing, later known as Jarvis Landing, Henry H. Barrett and his Coos Indian wife, Cora, operated a stage landing providing transportation between Coos Bay and the Umpqua (see Figure 15 and 16). The Barrett’s were married in Empire City in 1858. Cora, because she was married to a settler, was permitted to stay in Coos Bay following the removal of the tribe starting in 1855 and interlinking the pre-contact era through the historic period to present day Coos and demonstrating her relevance in CTCLUSI history. Their property was selected for its resources and accessibility via the bay and northward route which were important not only for the stagecoach but to tribal lifeways. The Barrett’s’ horses grazed in the marshes of the North Spit (Beckham 2015a:38-40). Dredge material from the bay and boiler ash have been placed here and in the surrounding uplands of the marsh- while these don’t contribute to the TCP they may contain secondary deposits of cultural resources. The contributing features of this area include the upland forest, adjacent gathering locations (see Appendix C and Figure 24), and landform and viewsheds up to the lakes and across the bay that remain treasured by tribal members today. Kuunatich and Q’alya or Jordan Cove, (see Figure 8, 9 and Photograph 3) is situated on the north side of the turning of the bay, midway between the harbor entrance and the upper bay, and has a view of both these areas. A viewpoint like this is very important in both trade and defense of village sites. The Jordan Cove area is a natural inlet of approximately 95 acres, east of the North Spit and south of the ODNRA. It was the primary access location for Native Americans to the travel corridor into the Oregon dunes and wetland, lake, and forest habitat extending north twenty miles to the Umpqua River as well as access to the upper bay. Like the rest of the TCP, this area has been continuously used by the Coos people from time immemorial to the present as a domestic, burial, ceremonial, gathering, canoe landing and meeting area. Kuunatich, a (see Appendix A), has been identified by multiple Coos informants. During the contact period, Coos women married into both the Jordan and Barrett family and those families homesteaded in this area, likely because of its high cultural value and resources. This connection is still very strong and continues today and, as an example, five of seven current CTCLUSI Council members have the surname Jordan or Barrett prominent in their family tree. At Jordan Cove, the freshwater wetlands extend going north, sustaining beaver, otter, fisher, ducks and geese, pigeons, amphibians, and reptiles such as turtles (see Photograph 4). Yellow pond lily is abundant in the lakes and produces an edible seed (see Appendix C). The bogs surrounding the lakes are excellent sources of bog blueberries and extensive huckleberry patches grow on the dunes beneath the pines; all important resources still utilized (see Figure 24). Jordan Lake is the southernmost in a chain of dune lakes extending twenty miles north to the Umpqua River. Tidal marshes are typically only submerged during high tides, particularly in conjunction with periods of high runoff from nearby uplands, most likely to occur during fall, winter and spring. Jordan Point, originally stabilized with driftwood (Lawson 1863a), a 1924 photo captures open dune with intermittent forests and other sparse flora (see Appendix E, photo 17). Historically the area was covered with some low-level profiles of dredged material and in 1960, it became the site of Menasha Corporation’s paperboard mill and later Weyerhaeuser in 1981. In 2003, Weyerhaeuser decommissioned the mill. Remnants of the facility that remain intact include some paved roads, concrete slabs, some of the foundation around the loading dock, a storage tank, railroad spur, and a fenced electrical transformer site adjacent to Jordan Cove Road. The freshwater lake and beach of Jordan Cove were not impacted by the pulp and paper operations. Immediately to the north are the intact dune fields of the ODNRA, which also includes many lakes and marshes occupying the interdunal valleys or troughs. These changes have not significantly altered the historically flat features of the cove area or the forested area to the west of Jordan Cove. Today, much of the area is in private ownership, owned in part by the Port of Coos Bay, but also includes federal public lands managed by the BLM, and to the north by the U.S. Forest Service. It was historically occupied by forested and un-forested dune ridges and associated wetlands in low-lying areas. Much of the historical landscape has been modified over the past 50-60 years for industrial development. Changes to the 12 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State area include the 1914 construction of the railroad right-of-way that extends along the west bank of North Slough and across Jordan Point to a railroad bridge crossing Coos Bay to North Bend, Oregon. In 1959, a railroad spur was constructed, crossing Jordan Point north of Jordan Cove running west to the North Spit. A (Kuunatich is located near to Q’alya, but due to sand movement, fill and unmonitored ground disturbance, confirmation of the location of Kuunatich has been difficult to confirm. Nearby are locations used by tribal members for basket material gathering, shellfish harvest, fishing, and canoeing (see Photographs 17, 18); however, threat of contamination has kept some tribal members from utilizing this area for first foods and/or resources for fear of exposure to hazardous chemicals. Contributing features are the distinctive cove, viewsheds (although altered viewsheds exist and are non-contributing), traditional plants and adjacent fishing areas and secondary cultural deposits. Existing bridges, buildings, adjacent chip piles, dock, barges and similar are not contributing. Ch’hli’ya’ich (going out place) or North Slough (see Figure 9 and Photograph 4) is situated between the dunes to the east and by a hill on the west, Xwitsxuut ntsestl’aq’eheich (deer bathing place). The Slough is named for a time when a whale got stuck up the slough and then made its way back out again. There is also a point here, Ha’yim dibinch, which separates the Slough and Haynes Inlet. The Slough is east and north of Jordan Ranch, an important congregation location for tribal members, especially those traveling to and from the cranberry bogs, referred to as Kwissaluqwa and named the pitcher plant or Darlingtonia that is found there. In May 1885, Charles D. and Thomas H. McFarlin of Massachusetts purchased fifty acres on North Slough about four miles north of Jordan Cove. They imported cranberry cuttings, laid out their bogs, and set in the ground approximately 28,000 plants per acre. Their first commercial harvest was in October 1887. By 1893, an estimated sixty to 100 Indians from Coos Bay were involved in the cranberry harvests in the height of operation (see Appendix E, photo 10). They camped at Jordan Cove and moved back and forth along North Slough to the McFarlin place (Beckham 1973:53-55). Contributing features are traditional plants for basket making including tule and triangle sedge, food or medicine, culturally important birds (feathers used for regalia), first foods such as fish (see Appendix C) naturally occurring in the slough, landforms, hills, dunes, and places with associated named places (see Appendix A) as well as fish weirs (see Table 1). Non-contributing features include the highway, commercial oyster farms and existing buildings or residential features. Haynes Inlet (See Figure 9) is an expansive slough in length and width further east in the Heart of the Bay that contains minor sloughs with traditional names, Qetl’diiye-“getting longer” or Palouse Slough and Ha’lais“getting in canoe place,” or Larson Slough. High resource extraction that included both fish, clams, and native oysters would have been found in these areas. The area is currently used for commercial oysters and recreational clamming (on the south side). Lone Rock (see Photograph 24), a noted navigational aid in the inlet, is positioned in the mud flats on the south side of Haynes Inlet. Alec observed: “Huckleberry bushes etc. on that & madrone on that rock.” (Harrington1942). While Informants were not able to recall the name of the rock, its stature indicates it likely had a name and possibly played a role in geography and navigation. The residences, oyster farming operations and roads do not contribute. Hlwahich Hattsa see Figure 8 and 9) would have been situated in close proximity to the North Bend Airport, which began in 1936 as a Work Project Administration Project (W.P.A.) and was used as an auxiliary air facility until 1947 (SWCA Environmental Consultants 2006). There is a slough, Hltehs, now called Pony Sough, that lies directly across the Bay, due South, from Jordan Cove. Portions of this area have 13 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State historically been covered by fill, primarily along the northern extent of the airport property to build the runways and further southwest in the former mudflats of Pony Slough where Pony Village Mall is now situated. However, there remains a remarkably intact viewshed of the bay and North Spit/Jordan Cove area present from this location. Archaeological features (see Table 2), place names (see Appendix A), traditionally utilized plant populations (see Appendix C), viewsheds and burial areas associated with Hattsa all contribute to the TCP. It is also possible that additional contributing features such as weirs and other archeological features are present beneath the filled in adjacent airport and slough lands. Non-contributing features include the airport runway, tower, parking lot and roads, as well as existing associated buildings. Da'nis (see Figure 8, 9 and area to the South in Photograph 3) North Bend, Oregon located directly across Coos Bay to the southeast of Jordan Cove the most northern point of the peninsula. Southeast of Da'nis was a place known as Hemis Gahaqich, which was used in the historic period as a ferry landing, it was across from Glasgow (see Appendix A). That neighborhood was apparently a favorite place or home for them” (Sengstacken 1942:119-120). In 1935, the Oregon Department of Transportation set the abutments of the McCullough Bridge (see Photograph 20) Da’nis is surrounded by industrial areas, a large and well-used park, and other natural spaces with panoramic views of the bay and Kentuck Slough, Qa’latl. The beaches on the peninsula are used regularly during summer as soft landings for the CTCLUSI canoes, as they are brought into the estuary for cultural activities. Near Da’nis, there are (see Table 2). Contributing features include viewsheds around the base of the bridge in all directions, access to water and traditional plant resources. Non-contributing features include the bridge, roads, residences, and parks that do not contain archaeological features. Upper Bay The Upper Bay (See Figures 9,10,11,12) extends from Qdet, previously known as Jordan Point (now known as Glasgow), and straightens out upriver, passing Kentuck Slough or Qa’latl (to the east), and commercial facilities next to the water and downtown Coos Bay (to the west). The Coos History Museum, next to Isthmus Slough, holds several Coos made baskets made during historic times from material gathered around the bay and serves as an education tool and repository of knowledge and therefore, is considered as a contributing element. Highway 101 runs along the edge of the bay and continues down south running parallel to the Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad, which continues from North Bend through Coos Bay. Further south on the east side past Qa’latl, there resides Wil’lench and other small inlets leading to the narrowing of Coos River at Graveyard Point (see place names noted in red on Figures 7, 8, and 9). Isthmus Slough, Catching and Coal Bank are clustered together across from Graveyard Point. Isthmus Slough flows for nearly 40 miles in two major forks out of the Coast Range. The Coos people utilized significant amounts of fish weirs, and the Upper Bay, like the Heart of the Bay, contains hundreds of fish weirs, many of which are still visible today. This part of 14 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State the bay includes many commercial and noncommercial shellfish harvesting areas. In prehistory and early historic times, it was a popular and important travel corridor known as “Overland.” Qdet or Glasgow and Qa’latl or Kentuck Slough (see Figure 8 and 9) are two landscape features that distinguish this area. Qdet, a landform that sticks out into the bay and Qa'latl (see Photographs 27 and 28) is a slough and intertidal area The higher elevations around the slough are known for their mention in a popular Coos traditional story about the tsunami, which occurred in 1700 AD leaving canoes in tree tops (see Appendix B). The fish weirs, viewsheds, place names, story landforms and traditional plants associated tidal wetlands and inundated areas are all features that contribute to the ongoing importance of this place to tribal members for canoeing (see Photograph 26) as well as traditional food and resources (see Appendix C). Nearby Willanch reflects its Coos roots in its name, Wil’lench or “good weather place” ). Long ago, it was not safe to visit the valley of Wule’ench Slough. There was some kind of big animal up there. It would kill people. It would holler from a distance making this strange “u ghghgh u ghghgh” (gh=inhale) noise that could be heard from far away. The only escape was to get in the creek and get away. By land, it could follow a person’s tracks. Then a great fire came in waves over the ocean. Glasgow did not burn, but many places, including Wule’ench, did. When the ashes got cold, some people went there. There was something with big jaws in a tree, dead. No one ever heard that monster again. Since then, it has been safe to go through the valley. Shuuhtlits’ (see Figure 10), near Dewey’s Rock or Haiwalli, referred to as “shudlitc” by Melville Jacobs comes from the Hanis verb shuuhtl describing a brush fire means. The “Burned over Place” is located where the present Engles furniture store resides. The area later became known as Dewey’s Rock, from a large rock that used to be just offshore. Most of this rock was blasted away, and the remainder used as a foundation for a mill boiler (Whereat, et al. 2011). Daloose Jackson, the last hereditary Hanis Coos Chief, and his family lived in a float house at Dewey’s Rock (Youst 1997). Haiwalli, which means bundle of meat, was given this name because it was prayer site, giving good luck those who would place a bundle of salmon here and is still marked as culturally significant to the tribe. Malukwich, Sqwatl’iiya and Walamtii tl’da are contributing places on the west side of the Upper Bay (see Figure 10 and 11). Malukwich was named for red ochre deposits, which was an important clay for Coos traditional practice. Sqwatl’iiya near deep water Nearby Walamtii tl’da, salamander land was a place with many creeks. The burial site of Daloose Jackson’s at , is also contributing as a location still visited by tribal members today. The natural features, including clay and mineral deposits, contribute also to the traditional and continued cultural importance of this area. The residences or commercial development of this area would not contribute to the significance. Graveyard Point (see Figure 11) was a highly significant fishery for the Hanis; the weirs were located at the point where the Coos River flowed into the bay (Beckham and Minor 2016). At Graveyard Point, the river 15 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State wraps around the point flowing from up the Coos River (See Photograph 29). It was also the starting location of “Coos Orca Story” myth tale story (see Appendix B). my father Went up to that place every summer, & since he was a chief would merely look on as his Men were catching salmons there. My father never mentioned the name of the place, Saying merely we are going up to our father’s home. So I never got to hear the place. Others may know it. Harrington incorrectly recorded that Lottie Evanoff called said that this location was known as “Takimiya” meaning blackfish (Beckham 1977) and in 1965 Charlotte L. Mahaffy (1965:12). While the original name of this place was lost, Lottie did speak of a homestead in this area at Graveyard Point that “near the forks of north and south coos rivers In 1964, Stephen Dow Beckham (1977) had two diary entries from interviews with Mr. Herman Larson about Graveyard Point: Also he noted that when dredging at Graveyard point when he built the dike road along Coos River that he discovered weirs that ran all across the river at this point. Drove over to the Christensen ranch at Graveyard Point to seek permission to go down into the field along the bottomlands where the herons and cranes nest in the large trees on the knoll, but the bulls were in that field. Young Mrs. C. said that they have their garden in the field by the river on the old kitchen midden—what a rich garden place. Yesterday when weeding the carrots she found a marvelous arrowhead which was perfect in form. We then met old Mrs. C., aged 83 years. She took us into the old McIntosh house—where she was born, and showed us a few arrowheads that they had found in the fields—they were obsidian spear points! Sure the Coos Indians must have traded for them….. She told us that one time (I think in 1945) when the dikes broke in the fields that the water and logs tore thru across the pasture. The gap opened to about 80 feet and mud and water churned thru the point. Then Indian baskets and several sorts of woven articles boiled up in the flood as it cut thru part of the midden in their field. Sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, a culvert was placed through the dike in the vicinity of one of the shell middens and burial site. The City of North Bend currently owns the mainly pasture property and the Tribe is working with the City for the protection of the two midden locations and burials on the property. The agricultural use does not contribute nor do the residences in this area to the significance of the application. Qaltat, Q’atl’iixas, La’oltl, Kwusu: Upper Bay Sloughs and upstream Coos River places, with traditional importance to the Coos. Kwil’wittl’ach is the area between Graveyard Point and Coos-Millicoma fork. This area was a fish camp spot for Coos during salmon runs. Qaltat or Coalbank Slough is meaningful to the CTCLUSI as both a traditionally named place and CTCLUSI owned parcel recognized for cultural and environmental values (see Figures 11, 27; Photograph 30 and Appendix A). Other important activities associated with Q’atl’iixas, and Kwusu (see Appendix A and Figure 27-29) are fishing, shellfish gathering, upland resources and birds of cultural significance (see Appendix C) all of which are contributing features due to their untethered connection to Coos cultural practices. Fish weirs present in this area are also contributing, representing a way of life for the Coos still central to Coos identity. Some villages, Jim Buchanan identified a few in this area near Catching Slough, did not have known locations like Buu’ich, La’oltl and Hantqat’. Isthmus Slough was also a named place Gwsuu. 16 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State In addition, there are also a few named places which do not have locations such as Kumis (possibly a name for Graveyard Point, comes from the word for salmon gristle, k’um) and Nuk’wiinich. Elqnihich is the village at the forks for the Millicoma and South Fork Coos River, also known as Milukwume (see Figure 12 and Appendix A). Named places, natural landmarks as well as aquatic and subtidal plants contribute to the TCP. Modern residences, roads and development do not contribute to this application. Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me (see Figure 3 and 4) in its entirety, describes an area in Coos Bay that has defined Coos culture through time. In spite of construction projects, wetlands reclamation, dredging and filling, and industrial development, the Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Cultural Property area in this nomination retains many of its natural and cultural features. It meets the test that it could be recognized by tribal ancestors were they to visit the area today. Ethnographic records indicate Coos Bay has always been a good place to live. The record shows the prolific resources supported many Coos villages (see Appendix A). The villages tell an important story of this area for the Coos that was almost lost by removal, assimilation, and death. The shoreline retains many natural areas with access to recreation, fishing, clamming and plant gathering. Also important, at the center of the TCP, is the bay. The river itself, a transportation route, the first highway, a way to get to resources and villages up and down the bay. The animals and plants that rely on the bay are at the core of Coos cultural identity. There are culturally important areas spanning from the Lower Bay to the narrowing of the Coos River that tell stories about Coos culture through names places or myths. The location of the largest documented assemblage of fish weirs and fish traps on the Northwest Coast of the United States are positioned north and east of Jordan Cove and extends down into the Upper Bay (Tveskov 2003). The weirs and traps are in the tidelands of North Slough, Haynes Inlet, mouth of Larson Inlet, and at the mouth of Kentuck Slough. These water-saturated objects have associated with them fish clubs, gaffs, basketry, adzes, spears, stone tools and other objects used in fishing and fish-processing. Because these are watersaturated, alkaline settings, the preservation of organic materials is remarkable; although, acidic conditions may have affected some objects. The only visible disruptions of this historic landscape are the berm for Highway 101 crossing the mouth of Haynes Inlet, the McCullough Bridge over Coos Bay for Highway 101, and the berm for the North Spit access road crossing the entrance of North Slough. Ninety-five percent of the extensive intertidal acreage containing the weirs and traps remains as it was centuries ago. It is not changed nor is it significantly altered by piling, docks, tide gates, or other historic era changes. There has been loss of important features within the Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Cultural Property, loss of access to resources or degradation of resources; however, the community today embraces the remaining resources and appreciates the opportunity to still live in alignment with a traditional way of life and retain a strong sense of connection to these places. 17 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State 8. Statement of Significance Applicable National Register Criteria (Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing.) Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions.) Archaeology X A Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. Agriculture X B Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. Conservation Commerce Ethnic Heritage – Native American C X D Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction. Government Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history. Time immemorial to present Social History Transportation Period of Significance Significant Dates Criteria Considerations Historic Dates listed below (Mark "x" in all the boxes that apply.) Property is: X X X A Owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes. B removed from its original location. C a birthplace or grave. D a cemetery. E a reconstructed building, object, or structure. F a commemorative property. G less than 50 years old or achieving significance within the past 50 years. Significant Person (Complete only if Criterion B is marked above.) Hanis and Miluk Coos Indians – See list below Cultural Affiliation (if applicable) Coos (Hanis and Miluk speaking bands) Architect/Builder X N/A ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 18 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State Significant Dates: Historical (See Appendix E for Full Timeline) 1700, January 26th, a 9.0 Earthquake caused a tsunami, that flooded the coastal communities, potentially associated with the myth tale ma'atl, or the flood. 1828 Daloose Jackson is born at Hanisich; Jedidiah Smith’s fur trapping party, reaches Coos Bay 1852, The Coos Indians greeted unexpected visitors when the Captain Lincoln wrecked on the North Spit of Coos Bay. Its survivors camped for weeks in the sand dunes. 1855, Summer, the Coast Treaty was negotiated between the Coos and the Federal Indians Agents, including Joel Palmer, to allow for the peaceful acquisition and settlement of the Confederated Tribes ancestral lands. This treaty is never ratified. 1856, Coos People rounded up and placed on a reservation at Empire for a short time. 1856, Coos People moved to new Umpqua Reservation near the U.S. Army’s Fort Umpqua. 1860, Coos People were marched 60 miles up the coast to the Alsea sub-agency of the Great Coast reservation on the Yachats River. 1860s and 1870s, Barrett Homestead and stagecoach line. 1875, The Alsea reservation, of the Coast Reservation, is terminated. 1876, The Alsea Reservation is opened for American Settlement. 1877, December, The Coos People are released from Yachats and try to return to Coos Bay. 1878-~1890, Coos Peoples return to Coos Bay after staying with Siuslaw people. 1891, Coos off-reservation allotments are awarded (Dawes Act 1887). 1907, Death of last hereditary Chief Daloose Jackson (buried at Marshfield Cemetery, Coos Bay) 1917, Beginning of the Coos et al. vs. U.S.A. Indian claims lawsuit. 1935, Construction of the McCulloch Bridge (Highway 101). 1938, May 2, Coos (or Kowes) Bay, Lower Umpqua (or Kalawatset), and Siuslaw Indian Tribes Vs. The United States of America, No. K-345. Decided in favor of the USA. 1930s and 1940s, informant interviews for James Buchanan, Annie M Peterson, Lottie Evanoff, Frank Drew. 1954, Termination of the Tribes of Western Oregon, PL 588. 1984, October 17, Restoration of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw peoples. 19 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State Significant Persons: Coos Indians Annie Miner Peterson (Hanis Coos): (1860-1939) Informant for several studies, linguistic informant Daloose Jackson (Coos): (1828-1906) Chief, leadership role Don Whereat (Coos): (1924-2013) Author, historian Frank Drew (Coos): (1867-1951) Informant for several studies, linguistic informant James (Jim) Buchanan (Coos): (born between 1845 and 1848 died approx.1933) Informant for several studies, linguistic informant Jefferson Harney (Coos): (1849- unknown) Tribal leader of importance Lottie Evanoff (Coos): (1870-1944) Informant for several studies, linguistic informant Tarheel (Coos): (unknown birth/death) Well-known, master of ceremonies Cora Barrett (Coos): (abt. 1845- unknown) Hanis Coos, married and remained in Coos Bay, Stagecoach line Jane Jordan (Coos): (abt.1840-1890) Hanis Coos, married James Jordan and remained in Coos Bay ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Period of Significance (justification) The Coos people have continually lived around the Coos Bay estuary since time immemorial through today; making use of the resource rich area of the bay and continuing their traditional lifeways. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Criteria Considerations (explanation, if necessary) The Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Cultural Property also meets criteria considerations A, C, D, and G. Criteria consideration A is met for the association with traditional cultural values, as the Coos people have continued to practice and perform religious ceremonies since time immemorial at various sites around the Coos Bay estuary. Criteria consideration C is met since the knowledge of traditional practices, language, place names, and the continued connection of place has been perpetuated by numerous Coos tribal members, leaders, Coos informants and knowledge holders, and Tribal members who were not removed to reservations and who were born and/or died within the boundaries of the TCP and members who have helped perpetuate Coos lifeways and traditions. Criteria consideration D is met, as with the remains of Ancestors, who should be protected in their final resting places. Lastly, criteria consideration G is met because the Coos people have continually lived on the landscape and utilized the same resources within the same areas since time immemorial and demonstrated continued use today that has been documented in recent interviews with Tribal elders and Tribal weavers. 20 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Statement of Significance Summary Paragraph (Provide a summary paragraph that includes level of significance, applicable criteria, justification for the period of significance, and any applicable criteria considerations). The Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Cultural Property historic district is a significant area to the Coos Indians since Time immemorial through the present. This significance is demonstrated through documentation in the ethnogeography and ethnobotany of the Coos Indians; the location of numerous, permanent villages (See Appendix A and Table cultural practices on the margins of Coos Bay; as the location of the largest assemblage of fish weirs and fish traps on the Northwest Coast of the United States and opportunities provided for travel, resource access and cultural practice offered by the river itself that still function today. This area is significant not only for its local level of significance due to the resources it provided to the Coos people but also at the statewide level of significance as Tribes from outside the area would travel to Coos Bay to trade for various plant and animal resources that were in abundance in and around the estuary. The Lower Bay contains one of the largest Coos villages at Empire (Hanisich), the treaty signing location, major shellfish gathering areas still utilized by tribal members, myth tale locations, important fossil resources, ceremonial practices The historic residential site of tribal member Jane Jordan, – these tribal members (Jane and Cora) who married into Euro-American families (Jordan and Barrett) are significant because they were not removed to reservations up north and continued traditional Coos cultural practices within their homeland; as a travel hub; and as an area used for extensive estuarine and land resource collection and processing from time immemorial to the present. Moving up the bay to the Upper Bay there are other notable villages and burial areas, as well as myth tale sites ( for example the Orca Myth Tale, see Appendix B), ceremonial sites, and traditional fishing locations still used today, as well as complexes of weir systems containing hundreds of weirs. The area is significant under National Register Criteria A, B, and D. The period of significance for the Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Cultural Property historic district is time immemorial to present, as it has been continually occupied and traditionally used by Coos people since time immemorial. It is the setting for traditional oral literary accounts (see St. Clair 1909; Frachtenberg 1913; Jacobs 1939, 1940) and is associated with living tribal members, tribal sovereignty, and their ancestors. The connection, as well as continuity of traditional commodities and practice use areas, for example, berry-picking sites, basketry and regalia materials locations, medicinal plant areas, traditional fishing, shellfish and hunting areas, plant gathering locations and ceremonial sites, supports significance under Criteria A. Specifically under Criteria A, the TCP has statewide level of significance in the areas of Agriculture and Commerce for its association with trade commodities and trading and trade routes with Tribes from outside. The TCP is locally significant under Criteria A, for Conservation, Government, Social History, and Transportation. The events in Coos culture and history, from pre-contact to present, through traditional stories and oral histories that explain the lifeways of the Coos people important to social history. Ethnographers and linguists also captured this history from the tongues of our ancestors and their resilient relationship of the tribal community to resources in Coos Bay and the importance of cultural and natural resources for the Coos people. The recent interviews with tribal members conclude that these practices are still alive here locally. The stories and histories provided outline the significance of the bay as a transportation network that connected people to all of the resources within the TCP and the historic stagecoach line. In 1917, the tribes banded together as the CTCLUSI and established a formal elected government that still exists today with central offices in Coos Bay. Further, the Tribal Government Administration recognized the importance of the preservation and conservation of natural and cultural resources and acts to conserve and protect those resources. The TCP is locally significant under Criterion B, for Ethnic Heritage, as there are numerous tribal members who helped to document and retain a cultural presence on the landscape, thus maintaining that connection to place. The area around the Coos Bay estuary contains numerous archaeological sites (along the shoreline as well as submerged sites, estuarine fish weirs and traps with preservation of water-saturated objects and artifacts to nearly 1,000 B.P.) many of which have not been radiocarbon dated or surveyed and thus are likely to yield additional information important in prehistory. Thus, the Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Cultural 21 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State Property historic district is significant under Criteria D, in the area of Archaeology, for its statewide level of significance. Additional interviews with Tribal members may yield additional information about cultural sites, economy, and how they continue to use resources within their environment and this may aid in our understanding of what we are observing in the archaeological record. Lastly, the TCP meets criteria considerations A, C, D, and G. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Narrative Statement of Significance (Provide at least one paragraph for each area of significance.) Criterion A: Traditional Cultural Values and events The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians (CTCLUSI) are comprised of three tribes consisting of four bands. The Coos people have two different bands, each having their own language, Hanis Coos and Miluk Coos. The Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw spoke different dialects of the same language. Originally, these three tribes occupied 1.6 million acres of the Oregon coast, including the Siuslaw watershed, and the Umpqua and Coos estuaries extending into the Coast Range valleys. Our ancestors were the stewards and caretakers of all these lands and waters referred to as Ancestral Territory, since time immemorial. Our Tribes did not ever cede title to this land as no treaty was ever ratified and no compensation ever paid to us. Our lands and waters gave our culture to us over the span of millennia. This happened by observing the natural world around us for thousands of years. Our culture became symbiotic with the local area. Many ceremonies, while spiritual in nature, fill a biological need in the area. The Coos ancestral lands are centered on the Coos Estuary where there was an abundance of resources so rich it allowed the people to stay relatively localized year round. The Miluk Coos Territory was located from South Slough, near the entrance of the Coos Bay, south to Coquille River and surrounding areas. Hanis-speakers lived from Rocky Point and South Slough near the entrance of Coos Bay north to Tenmile Lake. Their territory included the estuary of Coos Bay and its tributary rivers east to the crest of the Coast Range Mountains. The Coos Tribe thus traces to both Miluk Coos as well as the Hanis Coos (Zenk 1990a:572; Beckham 2015a:1). During interviews with Indians residing at the mouth of the Columbia River during the winter of 1805-06, William Clark and Meriwether Lewis enumerated, as best they could, the tribes of the coasts of Oregon and Washington. Their “Fort Clatsop Miscellany” identified the “Kil-la-wats” [Lower Umpqua] and, residing on the seacoast to the south, the “Cook-koo-oose Nations.” Their note for this later tribe reads: “I saw Several prisoners from this nation with the Clatsops and Kilamox, they are much fairer than the common Indians of this quarter, and do not flatten their heads” (Moulton 1990a:476, 485). At that time, the explorers estimated a population of 1,500 Coos Indians (Moulton 1990a:476,485; Beckham 2015a:1). Around 1824 smallpox hit Coos Bay area and wiped out entire villages around the bay and Tenmile Lakes (Youst 1997: 8), those who survived were had faces marked with this story (Whereat et al. 2011: 35). Some twelve years after more disease, likely measles, lowered populations again (Youst 1997: 9). These diseases may have prevailed over time into the late 19th century as was noted by John P. Harrington in 1942 when he spoke with Lottie Evanoff, a Coos significant person. There were likely more deaths related to these diseases and others that lessened the number of Coos as stories passed down tell of the Coos River being densely populated, so much so that some mornings the River was invisible from the many “campfires” (Whereat et al. 2011: 35). The first recorded contact with the Coos tribe occurred in 1826 when a Hudson’s Bay Company brigade led by Alexander Roderick McLeod arrived on the north shore of Coos Bay. On November 11, 1826, McLeod wrote: “Fine weather, about midday encamped on the bank of an inlet [North Slough] connected with the main river, river Cahourz, in this neighborhood the hopes of getting a few beaver suggest the propriety of making a stay” (Davies and Johnson 1961 [volume 23]:168,191-193). While McLeod’s party found few furs, and that the Indians were engaged in fishing (Beckham 2015a:3). 22 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State The second group of Euro-Americans to document contact with our ancestors, Jedidiah Smith’s fur trapping party, reached Coos Bay on July 8, 1828. Harrison Rogers, a diarist, wrote: “The river at its mouth is about 1 mi[le] wide, the ind[ians] very numerous they call themselves Kakoosh. They commenced trading shell and scale fish, raspberries, strawberries and two other kinds of berries that I am unacquainted with, also some fur skins” (Maloney 1940 [volume 41](3):317-318). Smith’s party crossed the South Slough and proceeded north along the beach. They found several villages with plank houses and Indians eager to trade foodstuffs and furs (Beckham 2015a:3). Euro-American settlement began around Coos Bay in 1853 with the arrival of investors in the Coos Bay Commercial Company from the Rogue Valley via the Umpqua and south along the shore to the harbor. Members of this joint stock company founded Empire City at a Coos village on the east side of the lower estuary. With the opening of coal mines, the discovery of gold in the black sands near the mouth of the Coquille River, and the prospect of logging and lumbering, the process of displacement of the native peoples commenced immediately (Beckham 2015a:4). By the mid-1850s, growing numbers of European-American settlers had arrived in the region. At the same time, the Oregon tribal population had been decimated by disease and only a small fraction survived. Despite the human misery they had to endure, our ancestors continued in their roles as stewards of the land until the late mid-1850s. We will never know the true scale of mortality or crimes committed against our ancestors, but it is clear that our Tribe was physically and spiritually exhausted by the late summer of 1855. The Rogue Indian Wars to the south had brought concern and attention to indigenous residents throughout the area. The Coos People were rounded up and held, first at Empire and then at Fort Umpqua with their Lower Umpqua neighbors. Oregon was recognized as a state in 1859 and this was the same year that the Coos and Lower Umpqua people were removed from their lands to the Great Coast Reservation at Alsea Sub-Agency, under force of arms and an unratified treaty – a treaty of peace and land cession that our ancestors signed in good faith which the Senate failed to ratify and the United States Government refused to honor (Kappler 1904[1]:890-891; Beckham 2015a:15). Our ancestors endured starvation, disease, isolation, exposure to extreme weather, and the cruelty of a succession of sub-agents from the United States. In spite of the removals in 1856 to Fort Umpqua and 1859 to the Alsea Sub Agency, an Indian presence remained on the North Spit. Indian women married to Euro-American settlers were permitted to stay in the area rather than forced to move to a reservation. For example, in the 1860s James T. Jordan, his Coos wife, Jane, and their children settled on Jordan Cove. Their residency in the cove was sufficiently enduring to fix their surname on three features: Jordan Cove, Jordan Point, and Jordan Lake (Beckham 2015a:27). There, Jane and her children were able to continue to harvest the same traditional foods as our shared ancestors: bog blueberries, huckleberries, clams, crabs, and oysters. They may have also fished for salmon and speared flounders in the Jordan Cove tide pools. In 1875, after nearly 20 years, from the time of first removal in 1856, imprisonment starvation, death and disease and relocation, enough was enough. The Alsea Sub-Agency was illegally closed and tribal people were told to move north to what is now known as the Siletz Reservation (Beckham 2015a:17). However, many refused to move north and instead moved back to their homelands with nothing, preferring the familiar landscapes and rivers to the misery of another reservation. Tribal people are place based meaning the land defines who they were and reflects their identity. Some returned to the old locations of our villages and camps, including those located within the Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Cultural Property. During the years of our captivity, the majority of our ancestral villages and camps and processing areas, fishing sites had become town sites or had been farmed and logged. The land base and culture of the tribe was traumatized through the loss of our families, damage to our places and, forced assimilation resulting from the loss of our homelands and economic base. Nevertheless, the Coos people retained their identity as Native People. In 1917, the tribe officially banded together as the CTCLUSI and established a formal elected government that still exists today. 23 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State When our Tribes were forcibly removed from our homelands, much was left behind. Ethnographic informants in the early twentieth century identified numerous named Coos villages and places (see Appendix A). Annie Miner Peterson, Lottie Evanoff, Frank Drew, and Jim Buchanan were among those who spoke to ethnographers and linguists such as John P. Harrington and Melville Jacobs. Not only did they name villages and burial areas and/or cemeteries but also, they documented much of what we know today about our traditional language, medicines, ceremony, crafts, food, stories, oral literature (myths) and people (see Appendix C). Our Tribe has been able to retain our connection to our ancestral homelands because of these tribal members who survived this transition. In fact, in his field notes, Melville Jacobs recorded seventy-one local traditional sites in the 1930s and John Peabody Harrington noted thirty-four in the 1940’s noted (Beckham 2015a:1). In the 1930s, Coos elders provided Land Claims testimony, which confirmed an extensive ethnogeography in the Coos Bay region. When combined with Harrington’s (1942) field notes, this testimony verifies that our ancestors made extensive use of the North Spit, Jordan Point, and Jordan Cove. At least one named village, Kuunatich, was located at the Cove and/or Jordan Point. These known villages are only a small comprehension of what our Tribe knows will be found at Jordan Cove, including the resting places of our ancestors (Beckham 2015a:11-12). During their testimony, Coos elders also identified specific geographical locations as the loci of mythic events recounted in their oral literature (Jacobs 1940a). Coos ancestors operated extensive fish weirs in the immediate vicinity of Jordan Cove. They also travelled back and forth through the Jordan Cove dunes to nearby natural resources, including weaving materials such as tule, triangle sedge, and spruce root, and important sources of traditional foods, such as bog blueberries, huckleberries, and lupine. The dunes immediately north of Jordan Cove were a region of extensive wetlands and are habitat for ducks and geese, as well as the occasional deer and elk, and nearby mudflats provided native oysters and four varieties of native clams (Beckham 2015a 11-12). Most of these resources are still present at Jordan Cove and nearby and continue to be utilized by Tribal members. In 1941, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) held a small parcel for use by the tribes in the city of Coos Bay. The CCC erected a Tribal Hall that included an assembly hall, kitchen, offices, and medical clinic. Despite the Tribes’ continued existence, the U.S. government terminated their federal recognition in 1954 (Public Law 588). Although this was another difficult hit for the tribe, they refused to accept the termination of their own existence as a Confederation of Tribes. In 1984, after three decades of hard work, 125 years of struggle and sacrifice, federal recognition was rightly restored by Congress (Public Law 98-481). At the time of restoration, we, CTCLUSI, had only our Tribal Hall on six acres and three other slivers of land totaling less than eight acres, very different from our original territory of 1.6 million acres. Since restoration, the tribe has continued the work of reconstructing our fragmented land base and culture, and this Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Cultural Property nomination is no doubt a part of this reconstruction. Since restoration, our people have worked tirelessly to rebuild our relationship with our lands, resources, and distinct Tribal cultures. We continue our cultural roles of stewards and caretakers of the lands and resources that were once solely managed by our ancestors, including Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me, the area lands, waters, and all our aboriginal homelands. We acknowledge that parts of our ancestral homeland have already been impacted by development, including Jordan Cove itself, without any fanfare or outcry from the Tribe. However, this was not by choice. Historically, the Tribe did not have any opportunity to be included in those conversations and decisions, often because we were a terminated tribe trying to regain federal recognition. We did not obtain federal restoration until 1984, long after many of our culturally sensitive areas had been lost to us. For example, when Coos Bay was first 24 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State dredged in 1899 (Army Corps 1899: 3207-3209) and commencing regular dredging, the Tribe was not recognized as a formal government, nor was there adequate cultural resource protections that would allow our voices to be heard. Given the negative historic impacts to many of our resources since the removal of our ancestors, the protection that which remains today is critical to our connection and use of the Bay and surrounding uplands. The CTCLUSI embraces our traditional lessons and lifeways to protect, inform, and enhance the lives of our people, the health of our environment, and the sustainability of our community. We do this by striving to ensure the economic, environmental, cultural, and social needs of the Tribe are secured and sustained through implementation of holistic natural resource management strategies. We have also built a modern system of government and administration, with thriving commercial operations, which employ hundreds of tribal members and non-members in living-wage jobs across our five-county service area in southwestern Oregon. Archaeological and ethnohistorical data confirm that the village and related cultural resources at Jordan Cove were integral to settlement and subsistence activities in the aboriginal and early historic periods. In other words, Jordan Cove was vital to our ancestors’ survival. Today, villages, sacred sites, cultural resources, and other historical sites important to the Tribes are scattered across this entire region and can be found on both public lands as well as private property. Jordan Cove is no exception. Vulnerable cultural resources and archaeological sites, including burials, are known to exist within the Jordan Cove area (Beckham 2015a:29, 3132, 54, 56-57). Tribal members report continuity of use within the Jordan Cove area not just into the historic era, following contact with Euro-Americans in the nineteenth century, but continually from time immemorial into the present day. This use demonstrates integration of tribal members into the dominant culture and market economy, in addition to continuity of traditional activities that contributed to commerce (state level under criteria A). One example is duck hunting ( 2016:3), with Bluebill [Greater Scaup] ducks often being sold to local restaurants in the pre-World War II years ( 2016:1). Also in the pre-World War II years, over a hundred tribal people worked near Jordan Cove picking cranberries or logging while still maintaining traditional ways of life. Cranberry picking just north of the Jordan Ranch was an important source of employment and “one of the only ways that the native people would get hired because they hadn’t had schooling or training to do much else in the area after the white people settled on our land” ( 2016:3) so it was a place where 2016:8-9; 2016:8). This wage labor was an native people found work ( 2016:8; activity that often involved entire families, and for some, “my family tells wonderful stories about picking cranberries…it was one way of getting…money by the Indian people” and that “cranberry picking originally was that the adults would wade and pick cranberries and that the little kids had little cranberry baskets, if you will, or little scoopers. And some of the cranberries that would come off to the side the kids would go around and scoop those up”, and cranberry picking was “a huge focal point for my family and probably many of our other tribal people” and some, like the “Elliott families…actually made some of the cranberry scoops in those days…out of their traditional nets, in their traditional…styles” ( 2016:8). Part of continuing our cultural role is protecting those resources that we depend on for our physical, mental, and spiritual health and remembering those who survived the removal and became informants of Coos traditions. The CTCLUSI seeks to perpetuate tribal identity through the sense of place by continuing the traditions of protecting, preserving, and enhancing ancestral coastal waters and lands where the tribe once gathered and celebrated the resources, and continue to gather, harvest and practice these ceremonial traditions. The Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Cultural Property is a significant place in the pre and post-contact history and culture of the Coos people and, as such, is “associated with one or more events important in the defined historic context” (NPS 1995: 12). These events range from the naming of places in the Coos languages, the location of vital subsistence activities, 1855 treaty signing location at Nikkawwaha, myth tale loci, gathering locations and homesteads, the operation of the stagecoach line, prehistoric and expansive viewsheds, and several gathering and fishing 25 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State locations, and continued use by the Tribe today. The ethnogeography, including toponyms for gathering locations, villages, myth sites, language documentation, spiritual and/or burials sites, cultural practices including ethnobotanical information connects current Tribal members to their past. Coos Named Places in the Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Property- Social History (local) The Coos people maintain an extensive oral history about Coos Bay. In addition, there is an extensive ethnohistorical body of knowledge, which parallels and enhances the oral history. We have identified 64 places in the bay that have traditional Coos names, based on prehistoric and historic village sites, or if the location is associated with cultural practices and oral history (see Appendix A). The oral histories document important events in history and history for the Coos culture and suggest ways in which align within the Coos cultural traditions. The oral traditions are important parts of the Coos cultural traditions and correlate to modern gathering areas or labeled as ceremonial by tribal members (see Appendix C). The testimony in 1931 and in 1942 of Coos elders confirmed an extensive ethnogeography and ethnobotany of the Coos Bay region. Patricia Whereat Phillips, Coos tribal member, linguist and ethnobotanist, has developed an enumeration of the toponyms identifying many places in the Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Cultural Property (see Appendix A). The informants included several Coos elders from Harrington’s interviews, Lottie Evanoff, fullblood daughter of Hanis chief Daloose; Frank Drew, Coos tribal interpreter from the 1910s to the 1940s; and James Buchanan. Buchanan was present at the 1855 unratified treaty council, the Yachats Council of 1875, and testified in 1931. Other informants were Agnes Johnson, Coos, who worked with anthropologist Philip Drucker; and Laura “Lollie” (Hotchkiss) Metcalf, Coos, who was an informant for Morris Swadesh, a linguist trained at the University of Chicago and Yale University. John Peabody Harrington conducted extensive fieldwork among the Coos people in the early 1940s. Harrington collected many original Coos place names and where they were located. The Harrington 1942 field notes are quite extensive and include numerous reels of microfilm and thousands of slides. The field notes describe a rich, well-known cultural landscape, where elders of the Coos Tribe retained the meanings of the Coos names. Many of these elders were quite old and learned about Coos Bay from their parents when they arrived as young and middle aged adults from Yachats after 17 years of forced exile. The Coos people clearly maintained their culture so that when they returned they were able to immediately tap into the rich wealth of knowledge of the resources of the bay, and used and maintained the original Coos place names and their geolocation in the bay. The toponym table lists Coos place names in the Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Cultural Property area compiled by Patricia Whereat- Phillips from Coos ancestors and elders; many of these properties had continual use into the historic period by members of the tribe and early settlers on Coos Bay. Today, some of these locations are still used for gathering, while other locations, which would still be used for gathering, harvesting, and hunting or for spiritual purposes, are privately owned. In some cases, development or pollution has also negatively affected traditional practice patterns. Native place-names demonstrate tribal presence, as testaments to tribal history and culture and show the connection between the tribal community and their homeland. The retention of place names in Native 26 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State American languages can be associated with family oral histories and traditional tribal stories. Place-names describe resources in the area, relationships with the land, and the experiences of the people with the land. Many place-names in the Coos languages have been identified in the Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Cultural Property conveying a familiarity that contributes to the cultural significance of the landscape to the tribal community. The place-names have special meaning to the people who live near these traditional use sites, as they contain a wealth of historical and ecological information and illustrates the dependence on the land and the resources contained on the land by the indigenous people (Hunn 1990). Many sites with placenames have cultural and/or significance to the tribal communities. Coos Bay is part of the traditional homelands of the Hanis speaking Coos peoples, while the Miluk speaking Coos people lived in the South Slough and south to the Coquille River. Robert Boyd (1999) has estimated the pre-Euromerican settlement population of Hanis Coos in Coos Bay at 2,250 individuals. Oral histories of the Coos peoples have noted Whiskey Run or Cut Creek as their southern boundary, the point between North and South Tenmile Lake as their northern boundary, and the crest of the Coast Range as their eastern boundary. Many oral histories collected from the Coos Indians (those of anthropologists Melville Jacobs, John P. Harrington, Philip Drucker, Nathan Douthit, Leo Frachtenberg, Lionel Youst, Mark Tveskov, Jason Younker, George Wasson, R. Scott Byram, and 2016-2018 interviews by the CTCLUSI) suggest that the people remained in the bay the majority of the year, and lived off of the extremely rich quantity and quality of resources available in the estuary, the many sloughs, surrounding lakes, and in upriver localities. Some people accessed rich salmon and eel runs in the rivers, lakes, and estuaries to the north and south of them (Tveskov 2000). However, the majority of people interviewed suggested that they did not need to leave the bay at all, during any time of the year. The people remained in the bay because of the abundance of resources; there was no need to ever leave except for trade. The Coos Indians lived in permanent villages with many temporary seasonal encampments for fish, shellfish, hunting and gathering, and berry picking. Because of the nature of the bay, its many sloughs, and its many varying degrees of fresh and saltwater areas, there was an immense variety of resource environments. There was some specialization of resource gathering, as oral histories from families suggest that they would remain in the bay with their fish and shellfish and would not venture upriver or leave the bay while some individuals may leave for salmon or eel fisheries, or to fish in the Pacific Ocean. This great number of environments offered resources year-round. Prime village site locations, like Jordan Cove, a permanent village and seasonal encampment for people from other villages, offered annual seasonal fishing and shellfish gathering opportunities in the bay, as well as berry gathering and hunting opportunities on the land. The bay provided a fast easy mode of transportation (local level criterion). Miluk Coos elder (Interviewed by his son (2006)) recounted that his elders said “This location was easy to get to when using the tides to navigate—you could swing (a canoe) right into the cove on either the incoming or outgoing tides depending on where you were” (Byram 2006:2-19). The Coos Indians continued to gather there regularly for feasts and other related activities during the time the Jordan family was living at Jordan Cove. Jordan Cove, in the Heart of the Bay, is in the traditional homeland of the Hanis-speaking people (Zenk 1990: 572), a division of the Coosan language family. The Heart of the Bay of the Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Cultural Property was the homeland of the “Downriver Hanis,” namely the villages occupying the great bend and nearby areas of Coos Bay but distinct from the Hanis who lived on the upper bay, its sloughs, on Coos River to the east, and at Ten Mile Lake to the north. Writing in “The Cultural Geography of the Coos and Coquille,” Mark Tveskov (2001-2002: 33) noted the distinctions: 1Most of the Hanis-speaking informants traced their ancestry to several villages belonging to the G’ed’itc, or “Downstream” Hanis yetl-ein who lived on either side of Coos Bay between the town of Empire and the mouth of the Coos River These informants also provided the names of several local groups not represented by informants in the ethnographic record. The Sgae’i`itc Hanis, for example, lived around Ten Mile Lake north of Coos Bay and the Dag’aitc (“Up-River”) Hanis 27 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State lived along the Coos River and Millicoma River The Sgae’i`itc Hanis were apparently wiped out by smallpox prior to the American occupation (Harrington 1942[22]:1155). Jordan Cove and its village have been identified by aboriginal names. In 1931, Tsetehl (known also as James Buchanan), a Coos, who was born at Wa’alach, testified that Jordan Cove was Kuunatoch or Q’alya, translated to “put around the neck,” as placing a necklace. Frank Drew, the Coos interpreter in 1931 land claims depositions, identified the place as Q’alya (U.S. Court of Claims 1931). In 1942 Lottie (Jackson) Evanoff, a Coos, in interviews with Dr. John P. Harrington of the Smithsonian Institution, provided four Hanis variants for Jordan Cove and its village: Q’alya, Q’olya, Kuunatiich, and Kunnatich (Harrington 1942:23:903a; 24:51, 205b, 501a) (see Appendix A). Reservation Land in Empire, now known commonly as the Tribal Hall Reservation of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians, was held for use by tribes and the city of Empire during the termination era and was officially taken into trust by the United States for that purpose. The now exclusive CTCLUSI reservation is located in the Empire District of Coos Bay, approximately one mile east of the lower Coos estuary. The Tribal Hall, erected on the reservation in 1941, is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is one of the few remaining examples of a Civilian Conservation Corps, Indian Division (CCCID) project in Oregon. Coos traditional practices and ceremonies continue on this property today. The Government (local criterion level) Administrative Offices of the CTCLUSI are located in the Empire District of Coos Bay and look out over lower Coos Bay, the North Spit, and the nearby Pacific Ocean, and referred to as Kwonait which translates to the look out place. The viewshed from this property includes about thirty percent of the TCP identified in this nomination. Defining Natural Resources as Cultural Resources- conservation (local) The Bay and resources of Coos Bay, some noted in Appendix C, are still used today for food, ceremony, regalia, transportation, construction, tools as they were for thousands of years by the Coos and tied to traditional practices of Coos artists and artisans. For many tribal members, there is no distinction between natural resources (plant and animal) and cultural resources ( 2016:8; 2016:5); they rather see them as integrated and “closely intertwined” ( 2016:7), and that “natural resources inform the cultural perspective” ( 2016:5). One interviewee stated that “Native Americans are one of the most treasured natural resources this land has” and “would challenge someone to name me something that is a natural resource that doesn’t have an indigenous, historical tribal use”, since “if you don’t have the natural resources you can’t have the culture, and if you have the culture and don’t have the natural resources you have nothing to practice with” ( 2016:16). Tribal members express that microorganisms “feed the fish that feeds the birds and takes care of our health overall and including our air” ( 11). To further illustrate the integration of natural and cultural resources, and of cultural continuity, a tribal member states: “I wear clothes and I live in a house…but you have to remember where you came from and what, you have to remember all the time…as a woman I know my ancestors picked cedars and I just did that four days ago. I know I did the exact same thing” ( 2016:12). Lastly, people have noted a change in the quality of the natural resources used as cultural resources, such as “the sweet grass sedge that we gathered…while it 28 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2020) Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me TCP Coos Co., OR Name of Property County and State brought most of the family,” which was significant because “people…in those days…didn’t travel. To come to Coos Bay…[it] took a day just to get down here” ( 2016:3). Some stories incorporate tribal members engaging in the traditional hunting and fishing activities in recent memory. One involves deer hunting, and, according to is “one of my favorite stories from Jordan Cove”. The story features a member of the Jordan family who in the 1950s, was hunting and shot a buck. To his surprise, the buck stood up after being shot, so he shot it again and discovered after he walked to the body that he had shot two bucks who had been standing next to each other. So he walked back to his canoe near Jordan Cove, and “rowed back across the bay” to get his cousin to help him dress out and take the deer home. This story has been maintained and passed down through the family ( 2016:5). Others have mentioned the connection they feel with the remnants of the fish weirs made by their ancestors, and describe the connection felt as “important” and “pretty powerful” ( 2016:5). This ancestral connection to the area is perpetuated in families, as some were taken there by my grandparents, who had grown up in the Jordan Cove area ( 2016:6) and for the gratitude felt for their “ancestors…here…for thousands and thousands of years, since the creation story, my family has been here” ( 2016, p. 4). Tribal members were told stories by “ June Jordan [that] when she was a girl that you couldn’t even see the water out in here, there were so many salmon” ( 2016: 2). June Jordan’s stories about the abundance of salmon are referenced today, just as many stories continue to be passed down to tribal youth so that they can reimagine their heritage and envision how they can continue the practices today. These stories, and the recurrent theme of natural resource as a cultural resource inherently also perpetually yields information about prehistory and history. Preservation and conservation of cultural resources is the commitment of the cultural and natural resources department under the Tribal Government Administration. Consultation with federal, state, and local agencies as well as review of permitted activities within the Coos territory are reviewed by the Tribal Historic Preservation Office and impacts to these resources are consulted on with the Tribe to avoid, minimize, and appropriately mitigate for loss of damage of/to these invaluable resources. Coos Stories in the Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me Traditional Cultural Property (Social History- local) Traditional stories may be considered sacred and sensitive to the tribal community. Traditional creation stories provide not only an explanation of creation itself, but also reasons for the placement and appearance of features within the landscape. In many cases, traditional stories explain natural features, a fact that could make these features eligible for consideration as historic properties. These traditional stories often take place from a time before there were people and when animals had human characteristics. Such stories often explain why certain resources are found in certain places but not others, the way fish travel in the water, why c [Text truncated at 120,000 characters. The full text is on the page linked above.] --- Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/tribal%3Aconfederated_clusi%3A5d2d7c4a4ed3d3cc. Public record. Not legal advice.