Shoalwater Bay Reservation
Writings, Culture, Heritage, and History
First Person Accounts and History From Shoalwater Bay, Willapa, and Lower Columbia River Ancestors.
3: Government agreement, 1876.
In the chaos of post Civil War America, the 1866 executive agreement was all but forgotten, leaving the Reservation at Namscac in limbo until 1876.
Namscac Tyee Matote was officially recognized as Head Chief soon after.
4: Rolls of Certain Indian Tribes in Oregon and Washington, 1906.
Bay Center and Namscac community members were encouraged when the government prepared a set of first person interviews taken from both communities.
5: Federal Recognition: Shoalwater Bay Constitution, 1971.
In the era of termination the Shoalwater Bay community resisted government pressure, reorganized and continued to affirm the tribe's legal statis as an executive order reservation. In 1971 the tribe adopted a new Constitution.
1: Relocation to Reservations, 1855.
Several waves of settlers reached the rich coastal lands of Shoalwater Bay, Willapa, and the Lower Columbia River.
Indigenous communities were displaced or relocated away from key resource areas.
2: Executive Order, 1866.
Holdout communities of Namscac and Bay Center remained, prompting the 1866 presidential order for a reservation land base.
Rebuilding, Sovereignty, Cooperation.
Under the Shoalwater Bay Constitution the community went on to gradually increase infrastructure and government stability, opportunity for tribal members, cultural renewal, health, and self sufficiency.
Village Life
Characteristics of Early Lower Chehalis and Chinook societies: Longhouses, village life, intermarriage, seasonal rounds, heavy trade and commerce throughout the region.