
Opening the Coast Reservation: the Oyster Harvest Rush 1863-1866
In 1864, Oregon Indian Superintendent, J. Perit Huntington, was in charge of Indian affairs for Oregon. Huntington was concerned about a recent movement of Americans onto the Coast Reservation. At the time there were federal laws excluding Americans from going onto or settling Indian reservation lands. The tribes of western Oregon, from 1853-1855, signed treaties which sold the majority of their western Oregon land, and in 1855 the Coast Indian Reservation was created by presidential executive order. This reservation stretched from just south of Florence into the Tillamook region, 100 miles along the Oregon Coast, and 20 miles inland from … Continue reading Opening the Coast Reservation: the Oyster Harvest Rush 1863-1866