The Chetco (
Chetco: chit-dee-ni, chit-dee-ne or Chit-dv-ne' ) are a tribe of
Native Americans who originally lived along the lower
Chetco River and
Winchuck River in
Curry County in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
. The name Chetco comes from the word meaning "close to the mouth of the Chetco River" in their own language, which is part of the
Athapascan languages
Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific C ...
.
[ Although they were once one of the largest tribes on the Pacific coast of Oregon, "the last known full-blooded Chetco" living on the Chetco River (Lucy Dick) died in 1940.
Many of Lucy Dick’s and Amelia Van Pelt’s (Chetco/Tututni) descendants continue to live in the Chetco region, and are members of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.][ the Chetco people formerly lived in 9 associated villages, but after the Rogue River Wars in 1856, were removed to the Siletz Reservation and became part of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, living in one large village there. All of the Oregon Coast Tribes were removed to and confederated on the Siletz Reservation. Some Chetco descendants are enrolled in other ]federally recognized tribes
This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...
, Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria
The Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria is a federally recognized tribe with members who are descendants of Chetco, Hupa, Karuk, Tolowa, Wiyot, and Yurok people in Humboldt County, California. As of the 2010 Census the ...
, located in Humboldt County, California
Humboldt County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 136,463. The county seat is Eureka.
Humboldt County comprises the Eureka–Arcata– Fortuna, California Micropolitan Statist ...
."Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria."
''Alliance for California Traditional Arts.'' 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
Language and name
The Chetco language is a member of the Athapascan languages
Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific C ...
, which also includes most native languages in Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...
, the Apache
The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño a ...
and Navajo language
Navajo or Navaho (; Navajo: or ) is a Southern Athabaskan language of the Na-Dené family, through which it is related to languages spoken across the western areas of North America. Navajo is spoken primarily in the Southwestern United Stat ...
s in the southwest United States, and the languages spoken by the Rogue River and Tolowa tribes in Oregon. The name ''"Chetco"'' comes from the word ''Chit-taa-ghii-li'' (or ''Chit'') in their own language, meaning "close to the mouth of the Chetco River". The nine villages of the tribe on the ''Chit-see-ghii-li'' (Chetco River) were named ''Chettanne'', ''Chettannene'' (twin villages at both sides of the mouth of the river), ''Khuniliikhwut'' (south side of Chetco River), ''Nakwutthume'' (Chetco River above all the other villages), ''Nukhwuchutun (Nukhsuchutun)'' (south side of Chetco River), ''Setthatun'' (south side of Chetco River), ''Siskhaslitun'' (south side of Chetco River), ''Tachukhaslitun'' (south side of Chetco River), and ''Thlcharghilitun'' (on the upper course of a south branch of Chetco River).[
The endings ''"anne/nene/t̟ûn-nĕ"'' mean "inhabitants of a place/village" or "people"; a place/village site is designated as "dun". Other village names are also mentioned (sometimes they are identical - only in a modern transcription): ''Chit-dvn'' ("Chetco River Village"), ''Duu-srxuu-shi'n'' ("Winchuck River village"), ''Lhch'aa-ghii~-lii~-dvn'' ("Chetco River Forks Village"), ''Sri'-ch'as-lii~-dvn'' ("Village upriver from North Fork of the Chetco River"), ''T'uu-k'wvt'' ("Village near Gold Beach"), ''Yaa~-shuu-chit-yan'-ne'' ("Village at ]Gold Beach
Gold, commonly known as Gold Beach, was the code name for one of the five areas of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during the Second World War. Gold, the central of the five areas, was ...
")
History
The Chetco are believed to have come to coastal Oregon between 3000 and 1000 years ago. They had nine villages on the lower of the Chetco River, with their principal villages at the mouth, where the river flows into the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...
.[ The Chetco territory extended a short distance on either side of the river, along the Pacific coast from ]Pistol River
The Pistol River is a coastal stream that meanders for through the Southern Oregon Coast Range to the Pacific Ocean near the unincorporated community of Pistol River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Flowing generally southwest from its origin near ...
in the north to the Winchuck River in the south. They were the most populous of the 12 coastal tribes in southern Oregon.[
The Chetco were ]hunter-gatherer
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fung ...
s with a diet based on hunting deer and elk, gathering acorn
The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera '' Quercus'' and '' Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally
two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and b ...
s and mussel
Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which ...
s, and fishing. They used dugout canoes
A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed tree. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. ''Monoxylon'' (''μονόξυλον'') (pl: ''monoxyla'') is Greek – ''mono-'' (single) + '' ξύλον xylon'' (t ...
on the ocean and river and worked with stone tools. The Chetco cooked on open fires or with simple pots, and were culturally very similar to the Tolowa tribe to the south, "who shared the same customs regulating social relationships and frequently intermarried".
The tribe is thought to have had perhaps one thousand members at its peak,[ but its numbers declined after European-American settlers came into contact with the Chetco in the 19th century.][ Settlers destroyed the Chetco villages in 1853 and the surviving members of the tribe were forcibly removed to the ]Siletz Reservation
The Siletz Reservation is a 5.852 sq mi (15.157 km²) Indian reservation in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States, owned by the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. The reservation is made up of numerous non-contiguous parcels of land in east-centr ...
in Tillamook County, Oregon
Tillamook County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,390. The county seat is Tillamook. The county is named for the Tillamook or Killamook people, a Native American tribe who ...
(in 1879 the land the reservation is on became part of Lincoln County). In 1854 there were 241 members of the tribe on the reservation: 83 women, 117 men, and 41 children. By 1861 there were 262 on the reservation: 96 women, 62 men, and 104 children; by 1871 the total on the reservation had dropped to 63.[ Lucy Dick, who died in 1940 was "the last known full-blooded Chetco"; as of 2009.][
]
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chetco People
Native American tribes in California
Native American tribes in Oregon
Curry County, Oregon
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians