42 2026 OFFICIAL VISITORS GUIDE Photos courtesy of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians Arts and Culture Lincoln City and the surrounding area lie within the ancestral homelands of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. We honor and celebrate this vital and resilient Indigenous heritage. When visiting Lincoln City, take time to learn about these communities, which continue to steward the land and shape the culture of this region. The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians is the most diverse confederation of Native Americans on a single reservation in the United States. It is composed of more than 30 bands and tribes, including the Clatsop, Chinook, Tillamook, Lower Umpqua and Shasta peoples. These tribes speak 10 languages, each with multiple dialects, and have a combined ancestral territory spanning more than 20 million acres (8.1 million ha) across Western Oregon, Northern California and Southwestern Washington. Despite their differences, the Siletz tribes shared many cultural values and practices before European arrival. They traveled by canoe, passed down history through oral tradition, revered sacred sites, and fished, hunted, and gathered food from the abundant natural environment around them. They were — and continue to be — skilled basket makers, canoe carvers and architects. The Siletz people have faced relentless and brutal oppression over the past 250 years. In 1856, they were forced onto the 1.1-million-acre (445,000-ha) Coast Indian Reservation on the Central Oregon Coast. Nearly 900,000 acres (364,000 ha) of that land was later unlawfully seized. The community was simultaneously devastated by starvation, violence, exposure, depression, disease and boarding school abuse. In 1954, the U.S. federal government “terminated” the tribe, stripping it of federally recognized status. This was part of a nationwide policy that sought to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream society, dismantling tribal governments and eroding traditional cultures. Following termination, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians lost their sovereign government, as well as their remaining resources and land. ANCESTRAL LANDS, LIVING CULTURES Feather Dance Siletz basket weaving DID YOU KNOW? You can learn about the history and heritage of this area and its people at the North Lincoln County Historical Museum.
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