Honoring Indigenous Stewardship

This area now called Yachats is the homeland of the Ya’Xaik villages (pronounced yäh' khīk, gargled h) of the Alsean speaking people who lived sustainably for well over 8000 years, or from time immemorial. The Alsea creation story tells us that “The Yaquina, Alsea, Ya’Xaik, Siuslaw, and Lower Umpqua people were all one people and [spoke] the same language.” In the late 1700’s to early 1800’s, diseases introduced by Euro-Americans killed many of the coastal Tribal people including the Alsea people. Violence, battles, and massacres also became the common experience. Survivors were pressured to sign treaties (from 1851-55) and live on a shared reservation with many other Tribes. The 1.1-Million-acre Siletz Reservation became that shared permanent homeland. However, Tribal Peoples throughout western Oregon were forcibly rounded up and shipped and marched to this new reservation, and it was run like a prison camp. Many died on these “trails of tears.” In 1860, the Coos and Lower Umpqua people were forcibly marched barefoot from their homelands to the Alsea Sub-agency which was under the auspices of the Siletz Reservation. In 1865 and 1875, the reservation was robbed of about 900,000 acres of its treaty guaranteed territory. The lands and resources were stolen, and treaties were violated by the U.S. government with no compensation. U.S. genocidal policies allowed the imposition of horrific treatment at all of the reservation prison camps, resulting in many people dying of starvation, exposure, disease, beatings, and depression of spirit. Despite generations of oppressive policies and cultural genocide, their descendants through perseverance are successfully restoring their communities, rebuilding their traditions, and continuing to fight for recognition and protection of their rights. The Amanda and Ya’Xaik Trails are solemn and spiritual trails that are reminders in perpetuity. Supervision for this project is generously provided by The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.