Coos people

Coos people are an indigenous people of the Northwest Plateau, living in Oregon. They live on the southwest Oregon Pacific coast. Today, Coos people are enrolled in the following federally recognized tribes:

• Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians of Oregon
• Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon
• Coquille Indian Tribe.^[3]

Coos

Total population
526 (1990s)[1]
Regions with significant populations
United States( Oregon)
Languages
English, formerly Coosan[2] (Hanis and Miluk)[1]
Religion
traditional tribal religion, formerly Ghost Dance
Related ethnic groups
Siuslaw people[1]

Language

The Coosan language family^[2] consists of two languages: Hanis (also known as Coos) and Miluk.^[1] Both are extinct. The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw has a language program to revitalize them.^[2]

History

Their neighbors were Siuslauan, Kalapuyan, and the Umpqua Indians. The total population of Hanis and Miluk Coos in 1780 has been estimated to be around 2,000.^[4]

On February 8, 1806 the Coos people were first mentioned by Euro-Americans. William Clark, wintering at Fort Clatsop near the Columbia with Meriwether Lewis and the Corp of Discovery, reported the existence of the "Cook-koo-oose nation". His journal entry stated: "I saw several prisoners from this nation with the Clatsops and Kilamox, they are much fairer than the common Indians of this quarter, and do not flatten their heads."

The Coos joined with the Umpqua and Siuslaw tribes and became a confederation with the signing of a Treaty in August 1855. In 1857, the U.S. Government removed the Coos Indians to Port Umpqua. Four years later, they were again transferred to the Alsea Sub-agency at Yachats Reservation where they remained until 1876. In 1876, the sub-agency was handed over to white settlement and the Indians were assigned to relocate to the Siletz Reservation, which created a major disruption among the tribal members. By 1937, their population had dwindled to 55.^[5]

In 1972, Hanis and Miluk Coos, along with members of the Kuitsh and Siuslaw tribes, incorporated as the Coos Tribe of Indians. In subsequent years, they began providing food assistance for low-income families and established job placement and drug and alcohol abuse programs.^[6]

Culture

There were 40–50 villages in the Coos tribes (they lived around the Coos bay and North Bend area). Most of them were hunters, fishermen, and gatherers. For entertainment, they held foot races, canoe races, dice (bone or stick) games, target practice, and also shinny (field hockey).^[7]

Namesakes

Several Oregon landmarks are named after the tribe, including Coos Bay, the city of Coos Bay, Oregon, and Coos County.

Notable Coos people

• Annie Miner Peterson (1860–1939), last speaker of the Miluk language

See also

• Coosan languages

Notes

1. Pritzker 172
2. "Coos." Ethnologue. Retrieved 8 Sept 2013.
3. Pritzker 174
4. Ruby, Robert H.; Brown, John A.; Collins, Cary C. (2013-02-27). A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-8950-5.
5. Ruby, Robert H.; Brown, John A.; Collins, Cary C. (2013-02-27). A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-8950-5.
6. Ruby, Robert H.; Brown, John A.; Collins, Cary C. (2013-02-27). A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-8950-5.
7. "Traditional Culture of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw". Culture and History. Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians. Archived from the original on 2006-09-06. Retrieved 2006-10-07.

References

• Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0-19-513877-1

Further reading

• Leo J. Frachtenberg, "Coos," in Franz Boas (ed.), Handbook of American Indian Languages, Part 2. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1922; pp. 297–430.

External links

• Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw, official website
• Languages of Oregon: Coos
• Coos, Lower Umpqua & Siuslaw Tribes profile
• Coos Texts, collection of origin myths and lore by Leo J. Frachtenberg (1913), on Internet Sacred Text Archive