This sign located in the outdoor Siuslaw River Bridge Interpretive Center.
Marker Name: Siuslaw River Heritage
Marker Text: Grateful for ‘Iktat’uu’s Gifts
You are looking at what is now named the Siuslaw River. The Siuslaw River is of course named after the Siuslaw People or “Shaiyuushtla” in their language. They lived along this river, then called ‘iktat’uu, sustainably for thousands of years. Carbon dating traces the oldest recorded site within the Siuslaw Territory to around 8,000 years old. The children of the Shaiyuushtla are still here within the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians. Grateful for the great gifts ‘iktat’uu gives all of us.
Who was here before?
The Siuslaw People trace their homelands from the Pacific Ocean into the Coastal Mountain Range and east to the headwaters of the Siuslaw River. The people of this tribe lived peacefully in villages surrounding the inland estuaries. They relied upon the rich natural resources of the central Oregon coast.
Tribal villages tended to be autonomous of each other. The men of these villages hunted, fished, and built canoes, traps, and house planks. Women picked berries, dug for roots and clams, wove baskets, and processed hides and meat. The Siuslaw People traveled by river or mountain trail to trade, to hunt, to fish, or to even hold large gatherings and games with other Tribes. Today the Siuslaw People are part of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians, which is one of the nine Federally Recognized Tribes in the State of Oregon.
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