Siletz High School - Warrior Yearbook (Siletz, OR)

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THE RIVER SILETZ Several legends explain why the Siletz River was so named, though even the mean ing of the word is disputed The belief that Siletz means Wcrooked river' meets with more agreement than many, but this explanation may stem from the fact that from above Logsden to the mouth it is a winding, twisting stream Actually, the river meanders l2b m1les from source to mouth, a mere I2 or lh miles by air One legend explains why the river is crooked According to it, years ago before the white man came, a favorite daughter of the Chief was so seriously ill that herbs and steam baths did not improve her condition, and the medicine man was called Obeying his instructions, the Chief sent the warriors to find a large snake This snake the medicine man showed to the Great Spirit, which accepted it, casting it upon the ground with such force that it writhed and squirmed, cutting an imprint into the valley, which became this winding river THE SHIPWRECKED MAIDEN One story attributes the name 511822 to that of a white shipwrecked maiden, who was the only survivor when a ship went down in a storm near the mouth of the river She lived on herbs and berries, working her way up the valley, where she was joy ously accepted by an Indian tribe living at the present location of Siletz This beautiful 'strange fair onen was called Celeste, and eventually they named the tribe in her honor It was not until the government agents misspelled the name that Siletz evolved BLACK BEAR SEEKS PEACE Black Bear, legendary father of the original Siletz people, prayed to the Great Spirit for peace, for he hated the continual wars of his people The Great Spirit cross the mountains with his wives, his sons daughters and their families where they were to occupy a beautiful land of plenty Only one warning was given Black Bear must keep his tribe pure He set out with his wives, sons, daughters and their families, and after many days, came to this beautiful river and country, which they called the Celestial Valley Here they lived in peace and plenty, until Black Bear disobeyed, taking a beautiful foreign wife This brought much unrest and Jealousy, for the new wife was very jealous of Black Bear's favorite daughter, Celeste She caused her to be stolen away and drowned, the Great Spirit pun lshed all the people with drouth famine, and fire This foreign wife even contorted the name of Celeste to our Siletz, and the original name was lost Black Bear paid dearly for his disobed ience to the Great Spirit Time passed and the foreign wife re turned to her people, so that once more the trees grew, the rains fell in season, the river rose so that the salmon returned VITAL FOOD FROM THE RIVER Both eel and salmon have long been important in the Indian diet as drying both gave food for the entire year A few old Indians can remember the run of salmon being so heavy that the river was black with the fish, traveling up the stream so close together that a man might have crossed the river on the backs of the salmon Though the salmon and eel are not essential foods for the Indian living here today, many older ones have found it hard to adgust to the modern day meats, and would prefer, if it were possible, to have salmon, eel, and deer meat to the more readily available kinds. THIS PAGE SPONSORED BY NOEL'S MARKET, SILETZ. .J ' - - ' 1 ' heard his prayer, directing him to . and