The Clatsop Plains are an area of wetlands and sand dunes between the Northern Oregon Coast Range and Pacific Ocean in northwestern Oregon in the United States . They stretch from near the mouth of the Columbia River south to the vicinity of Tillamook Head near Seaside . The plains are drained by several coastal rivers include the Skipanon River and the Necanicum River , which flow parallel to the coast and empty into the Columbia at Youngs Bay near Astoria and into the Pacific Ocean near Seaside respectively. At the time, the Lewis and Clark Expedition recorded a different river draining the plains which entered the Pacific near the current day Camp Rilea Armed Forces Training Center. Research, 200 years later in 2005, seems to have confirmed this by locating an old river channel .
28-465: The plains are named for the Clatsop tribe of Native Americans who lived in the area at the time of the arrival of Europeans and European Americans by ship at the end of the 18th century and by land at the beginning of the 19th century. These plains were developed from sand filling in the shoreline during the late Quaternary age. The northern portion is a result of the creation of the south jetty on
56-673: A Chinookan people . Alongside the Willapa Chinook and the Chinook proper, they are one of the Lower Chinook, a cultural-geographical and linguistic grouping of Chinookans whose villages were at the mouth of the Columbia River. The Columbia River in Chinook is called imaɬ or iyagaytɬ imaɬ , 'great water'. In Chinook Jargon , it is called hayásh-tsəqʷ , 'great water'. In
84-457: A Methodist mission there in 1841 and built homes for their families on Clatsop Plains. The first Presbyterian church was founded in 1846. Robert Morrison donated 10 acres for the church grounds, and then two more for a cemetery. The first church was built in 1850, but was destroyed by a windstorm in 1853. It was the first Protestant church built west of the Rocky Mountains . A new church
112-562: A village at Point Adams, noting the presence of burial canoes . The first major European account to describe the Clatsop was the account of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805. The expedition arrived in the fall and wintered in Youngs Bay. The expedition named their last encampment Fort Clatsop after the tribe, whose nearest major village was approximately 7 miles (11 km) away. According to
140-512: A village at the present site of Cathlamet." About 50 to 60 Cathlamet remained in 1849. On August 9, 1851, the Kathlamet ceded lands to the United States in exchange for money, clothing, and other items. They retained two small islands in the Columbia River. On August 24, 1912, the Kathlamet were awarded $ 7,000 for the loss of their lands. "The last speakers of Kathlamet died in the 1930s," and
168-567: Is an unregocnized group which claims descent from the Clatsop people. In January 2001, the Chinook Indian Nation gained official federal recognition through an executive order by President Bill Clinton . The Chinook's legal status was reversed by the Bush administration soon after taking office. The bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 2004–2006 provided renewed interest in the status of
196-569: Is now extinct. Most Clatsops spoke Chinook Jargon by the time Lewis and Clark 's Corps of Discovery made contact with them. Some spoke Nehalem , reflecting intermarriage and cohabitation with that tribe. Chinook Jargon is a trade language and was once used throughout much of the Pacific Northwest. Many place names in the area come from the Chinook Jargon, for example, Ecola Creek and Park — "whale". The Chinook Indian Nation
224-603: Is the first land owned by the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes since they were displaced by European Americans beginning nearly 200 years ago. Other tribes in the region, such as the Quinault , Siletz , and Grand Ronde , also have enrollees of Clatsop descent. Kathlamet The Kathlamet people are a tribe of Native American people with a historic homeland along the Columbia River in what
252-693: Is today southwestern Washington state. The Kathlamet people originally spoke the Kathlamet language , a dialect or language of the Chinookan language family . They were also called "Guasámas, or Guithlamethl, by the Clackamas ", and "Kwillu'chini, by the Chinook ." Lewis and Clark reported "that about 300 Cathlamet occupied nine plank houses on the south side of the Columbia River", and lived between Tongue Point and Puget Island in Clatsop County, Oregon . On
280-547: The United States . In the early 19th century they inhabited an area of the northwestern coast of present-day Oregon from the mouth of the Columbia River south to Tillamook Head , Oregon. Today, Clatsop descendants are members of the federally recognized Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians , as well as the unrecognized Chinook Indian Nation and Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes . The name Clatsop comes from tɬác̓əp , meaning "those who have pounded salmon". It
308-475: The 1830s-1850s, Clatsop society began experiencing a rapid decline after smallpox, measles, malaria, and other diseases ravaged the Columbia River. As the fur trade had become less important to Americans, the Clatsop had to adapt to these quickly changing conditions. Villages were abandoned and populations consolidated together, as tribes began to attempt to negotiate with the American government. In an 1851 treaty,
SECTION 10
#1732851541363336-453: The 18th and early 19th centuries, the Clatsop occupied an area on the south bank of the Columbia River stretching from Point Adams to Youngs Bay . They also had villages on the Pacific coast stretching from Point Adams to Tillamook Head . To the north of the Clatsop, across the Columbia River, were the villages of the Chinook, and to the east were the Kathlamet , another Chinookan people. To
364-575: The Clatsop and Chinook. The Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes are an unrecognized group who claim descent from the Clatsop people. The Confederated Tribes have approximately 200 members. The confederation formed between the Clatsop and their southern neighbors, the Salishan-speaking Nehalem. In May 2020, the North Coast Land Conservancy transferred 18.6 acres (7.5 ha) of its Neawanna Point Habitat Preserve, located on
392-531: The Clatsop tribe proposed to cede 90 percent of their land to the U.S. Government. This treaty was one of many in the Northwest that was never ratified by Senate . Unlike other tribes, the members were not required to move to a reservation. They were one of the only tribes in Oregon that were not the focus of an organized effort to remove them from reservations. By the late 19th century, traditional Clatsop society as it
420-473: The Columbia River built in 1885. Within the plain are several lakes including Cullaby , Sunset (Neacoxie), Smith , and Coffenbury . The latter three are filled by groundwater and not local streams or rivers. The first white settlement of Clatsop Plains was by two Methodist missionaries , the first missionaries to arrive in Clatsop County. Solomon H. Smith who with Rev. Joseph H. Frost established
448-469: The Corps' supply of "Indian gifts" had dwindled. Only two Clatsop, Coboway and Cuscalar, are regularly named in the Corps members' journals. The arrival of European traders to the Columbia River in the early 19th century allowed the Clatsop and other downriver Chinookans to obtain trade goods otherwise locked behind the long inland trade routes controlled by the upriver Chinookans, their historic rivals. From
476-479: The Indians 13 red char which we found to be an excellent fish. We have seen those Indians above and are of a nation who reside above and on the opposite side who call themselves (Calt-har-ma). They are badly clad & ill made, small and speak a language much resembling the last nation. One of those men had on a sailor's jacket and pantaloons and made signs that he got those clothes from the white people who lived below
504-520: The journals of William Clark , the Clatsop comprised about 200 people living in three separate villages, with large longhouses constructed of cedar planks. Clatsop members regularly visited the fort to trade furs and other goods for European manufactured goods. The Clatsop shared salmon , berries, and hunting tips with the Corps of Discovery . In contrast to the Corps' interactions with the Plains Indians
532-590: The north Oregon coast, to the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes. The area, located between Seaside and Gearhart, Oregon , consists of saltmarsh and Sitka spruce forest on the Necanicum Estuary at the north end of Seaside. The Neawanna and the Neacoxie creeks meet the Necanicum River , which flows to the Pacific. The Clatsop had known this area by the name niáx̣̣aqši or "place of little pines". This
560-408: The north side, they lived "from the mouth of Grays Bay to a little east of Oak Point." Clark wrote: November 11th Monday 1805 About 12 o'clock 5 Indians came down in a canoe , the wind very high from the S.W., with most tremendous waves breaking with great violence against the shores. Rain falling in torrents, we are all wet as usual and our situation is truly a disagreeable one. We purchased of
588-573: The point &c. Those people left us and crossed the river (which is about 5 miles wide at this place) through the highest waves I ever saw a small vessels ride. Those Indians are certainly the best canoe navigators I ever saw. "In early January 1806 Cathlamet Chief Shahharwarcap, together with 11 men, visited Fort Clatsop ". "About 1810 the Cathlamets moved across the Columbia and joined the Wahkiakums in
SECTION 20
#1732851541363616-410: The previous winter, their interaction with the Clatsop was more limited. The two groups did not mingle for social occasions, and the fort was opened to trading only 24 days during the winter. Part of the reason may have been that the coastal tribes had an existing relationship with British traders . The Clatsop and Chinook asked for higher prices from the American expedition for their goods at a time when
644-583: The south, past Tillamook Head, was the territory of the Nehalem , a Salishan-speaking group to which the Clatsop have strong ties. The Chinookans at the mouth of the river were first mentioned by Robert Gray and his first mate, John Boit , who visited the area on May 18, 1792. Soon after on October 21, the Vancouver expedition visited the area, venturing past the Columbia Bar . The Vancouver expedition described
672-533: Was at the beginning of the century was all but gone. Many Clatsop by this point had merged with their southern neighbors, the Tillamook, and adopted the Tillamook language. The Clatsop had designated headmen but were socially flexible. Individual families affiliated with one another in small villages and seasonal camps located near food sources. The Clatsop spoke a dialect of the Lower Chinookan language , which
700-406: Was built and served until 1927, when the current building replaced it. The church is located east of Camp Rilea. The Pioneer cemetery established in 1846, making it the oldest in the county, is the burial place for many early settlers. A community called "Clatsop Plains" was established and incorporated in 1870, primarily for the purpose of restricting cattle grazing along the sea ridge. This grazing
728-515: Was destroying the ridge grass and plants that prevented sand from blowing onto the nearby farms. As incorporated originally, "Clatsop Plains" extended from the Skipanon River to Seaside. An actual town eventually came into being about a mile north of Seaside, and was later absorbed into Gearhart . However, its early proximity to Seaside is probably why Seaside itself was sometimes referred to Clatsop Plains. The coastal grassy areas of Clatsop Plains
756-461: Was home to the endangered Oregon silverspot butterfly. Re-establishment efforts are continuing. ( Speyeria zerene hippolyta ). A stretch of [REDACTED] US 101 , the Oregon Coast Highway , runs through most of the length of Clatsop Plains. Clatsop The Clatsop ( Lower Chinook : tɬác̓əp ) are a Chinookan -speaking Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest of
784-454: Was originally the name of a single settlement, later applied to the tribe as a whole. Clatsop has also been spelled Clapsott, Clapsot, Clotsop, Cladsap, Clatsap, Clatsup, Klatsup, and Latsop. The Clatsop were also called by the Lower Chinook and Kathlamet tɬák̓ilak , meaning "where there is pounded salmon", deriving from the main Clatsop village, niák̓ilaki . The Clatsop are
#362637