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

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True to the traditions of their forefathers, the Ind1ans today are interested in community betterment, and willlngly give of their time, money, and talents to see that needed improvements are made Three well known civic minded citlzens, whose ancestors were Rogue River Indlans, are pictured below Mr Art Bensell stands at the right w1th h1s mother, they are members of the To To To Ney tribe Mr Coquelle Thompson, who was a coach and teacher in the hlgh school several years ago, is a Coquelle, his father havlng been a chlef Mr Thompson served as a member of the local school board for a number of years, and is always 1nter ested ln athletlc progress, assistlng the coaches and boys 1n many ways THE PITCH WOMAN LEGLND From the valley of the Rogue River comes the legend of the Pitch Woman, who came into the area after the second distructive fire She was covered with pitch from head to toe, and was so strong and large, belng nearly a hundred feet tall that the Indians could not successfully resist her She strode through the val ley, carrylng a large basket on her shoulder, gathering up the children that she could find Many ran into the houses and hid, for they feared her, although she attempted to appear fr1endly The f1YSt basket of chlldren was taken up the mountain 1n which she had her home, where she kept them captlve, feedlng only lizards and snakes to them Then, taklng her basket, she went back to the v1l lage where she trled to capture the rema1n1ng people They hid in the1r homes, but she llfted off the housetops and placed them all ln her basket, hurrylng back to the mountaln One old man determlned to try to defeat her, so he set fire to the p1tch on her back It was qulckly lgnited, and burned rapldly, flnally burn 1ng the strap which held the basket on her back Though quite hot and shaken, the people were not severely 1n1ured but the pitch woman could not extingu1sh her flames, and though she reached the top of the mountaln, was finally burned to death The Indians then freed their ch1ldren from the1r prison 1n the mountaln, all returning to the1r homes S1nce that t1me descendants of these people have d1sl1ked lizards and snakes