Editing Yachats, Oregon (section)

==History==
Archeological studies have shown that the Yachats area has been inhabited for at least 1,500&nbsp;years.  Remains of a [[pit-house]] in Yachats have been [[radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon dated]] at approximately 570&nbsp;AD.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yachats.info/history/alsea2.htm|title=Indians of Yachats|publisher= J. Kittel and S. Curtis|access-date=May 23, 2009}}</ref> Yachats is built on seashell [[midden]]s and numerous graves left by its past inhabitants. Excavations for construction of buildings and [[U.S. Route 101]] uncovered a great many skeletons and artifacts. Most of these became part of the fill dirt forming the base of the current highway and city.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yachats.info/history/sub-agency2.htm | title=Alsea Sub-Agency|publisher=J. Kittel and S. Curtis|access-date=May 23, 2009 }}</ref>

<!--[[Image:Amanda's Trail.jpg|180px|thumb|left|{{deletable image-caption|Sunday, 17 March 2013}} Sy Meadow's sculpture "Amanda" on Amanda's Trail]]-->
For many centuries the Native Americans in this area were [[hunter-gatherer]]s who migrated between summer camps and winter residences. The [[Alsea|Alsea Tribe]] had as many as 20 permanent villages (used on an annually rotating basis) on the [[Alsea River]] and the central Oregon coast. Archeological and linguistic evidence support the existence of a southern Alsea village known as the ''Yahuch'' band, located on the coast at the [[Yachats River]].  By 1860, the ''Yahuch'' band was extinct, many having succumbed to European diseases such as [[smallpox]] and [[tuberculosis]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.yachats.info/history/indians.htm | title=Indians of Yachats | publisher=J. Kittel and S. Curtis | access-date=May 23, 2009 }}</ref>

In order to open up land in the [[Coos Bay, Oregon|Coos Bay]] area for [[Homestead Acts|homesteading]] in the early 1860s, the U.S. Army forcibly marched the [[Coos (tribe)|Coos]] and [[Umpqua (tribe)|Lower Umpqua]] Indians {{convert|80|mi|km}} north over rugged terrain to the Alsea Sub-Agency reservation in Yachats where the peaceful Indians, treated by the Army as though they were prisoners of war, were incarcerated.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.yachats.info/history/indians.htm | title=Insights on the Alsea Sub-Agency (1859–1875) | publisher=J. Kittel and S. Curtis | access-date=May 23, 2009 }}</ref>  Amanda's Trail, named for a blind Indian woman who suffered greatly on the march, was dedicated on July 19, 2009.<ref>{{cite news |first=Barbara B. |last=Covell |title=An Unforgotten Legacy |work=South Lincoln County News |page=1 |date=August 5, 2009 }}</ref>  The trail climbs {{convert|800|ft|m}} from downtown Yachats to the summit of Cape Perpetua where it links with the extensive trail system of the Siuslaw National Forest.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hale |first=Jamie |date=2023 |title=Tribes, locals come together to build trails, find healing on the Oregon coast |url=https://oregonlive.com/entertainment/2023/09/tribes-locals-come-together-to-build-trails-find-healing-on-the-oregon-coast.html |access-date=2023-09-02 |website=OregonLive |language=en}}</ref>

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Above Yachats River Valley.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Mountains cradling the Yachats River Valley]]  -->In Yachats the hunter-gatherer tribes were forced to learn to make a living by agriculture.  Crops planted near the ocean failed, resulting in many deaths from starvation.  Approximately 300&nbsp;Indians died in just 10&nbsp;years.  Twelve years after the Alsea Sub-Agency had opened, the Indians were allowed to establish a trail and develop agricultural plots up the Yachats River Valley, where they were able to grow potatoes, oats, wheat, and corn. They were also allowed to return to hunting. Once the Indians had built a new life there, the U.S. government opened up the area for homesteading in 1875, and once again, forced the Indians to move—some returned to their ancestral homelands, others went {{convert|40|mi|km}} north to the [[Siletz Reservation]].  Many of the Indians died during this relocation.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.yachats.info/history/sub-agency4.htm | title=Alsea Sub-Agency continued | publisher=J. Kittel and S. Curtis | access-date=May 23, 2009 }}</ref>

Homesteaders used the Indian farms and trails to develop the Yachats area.  In 1892 the first post office was established in Yachats (called Oceanview until it was renamed Yachats in 1917).  Until Yachats could be reached by a [[macadam]] road, rains made it impossible for the mail to be carried by car.  The Roosevelt Memorial Highway (now Highway 101), carved out of the rock of [[Cape Perpetua]] in 1931, changed all this by opening up a route from the town of Florence.  Despite the early difficulties of reaching Yachats, the tourist industry began in 1905 with the conversion of a [[Rhamnus purshiana|chittum bark]] warehouse into the first hotel.  Today tourism is the city's main industry.<ref name=History>{{cite web|url=http://www.ci.yachats.or.us/Yachats%20History.htm |title=Yachats History |publisher=City of Yachats |access-date=June 2, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090308061353/http://www.ci.yachats.or.us/Yachats%20History.htm |archive-date=March 8, 2009 }}</ref>

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Yachats Little Log Church.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Little Log Church and Museum]] -->
Yachats was part of the war effort in both world wars.  Spruce was needed for airplanes during World War I, and in 1918 the [[U.S. Army Signal Corps]] under the [[Spruce Production Division]] wanted to commence logging of the Blodgett Tract area, an area about {{convert|2|mi|km}} north of Yachats.  A {{Convert|23.5|mi|4=-long|adj=mid}} logging railroad, the Alsea Southern Railroad, needed for transporting logs to the [[Yaquina River]] was completed by the Spruce Production Division from [[South Beach, Oregon]] (near [[Newport, Oregon]]) to Yachats on November 8, 1918, just three days before the war ended. Logs could then be floated on the river to the mill in [[Toledo, Oregon]]. A private company, the Pacific Spruce Corporation under its Manary Logging Company subsidiary, purchased the railroad and completed a large centralized logging facility called "Camp 1" north of Yachats in September 1922. Camp 1 contained a machine shop, locomotive shed, bunkhouses, bungalows, mess hall, school, and commissary. Manary Logging and its successors continued the logging operations in the area until 1937.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ci.yachats.or.us/Yachats%20History.htm |title=Camp 1 established north of Yachats |publisher=City of Yachats |access-date=June 3, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090308061353/http://www.ci.yachats.or.us/Yachats%20History.htm |archive-date=March 8, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/defaults/j67314933?locale=en|title=Pacific Spruce Corporation and subsidiaries : C.D. Johnson Lumber Company, Manary Logging Company, Pacific Spruce Northern Railway Co. : an illustrated story reprinted from the Lumber World Review|first=Bolling Arthur|last=Johnson|website=ir.library.oregonstate.edu}}</ref><ref name="Palmer">{{cite book | last=Palmer| first=Lloyd | title=Steam Towards the Sunset | year=1982 | publisher=Lincoln County Historical Society | isbn=0-911443-00-2 }}</ref>

Early in World War II, the West Shelter built by the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] (CCC) near the top of Cape Perpetua was used as an observation site and radar station for the detection of enemy submarines and aircraft.  In Yachats, foxholes and gun emplacements were installed along the ocean drive.  Military personnel were housed in a local skating rink and the Ladies Club was rented for recreation.  After the war, the [[U.S. Coast Guard]] discovered Japanese mines that had floated onto the beaches.  These were hauled out to sea and destroyed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ci.yachats.or.us/Yachats%20History.htm |title=World War II comes to the Yachats Area |publisher=City of Yachats |access-date=June 3, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090308061353/http://www.ci.yachats.or.us/Yachats%20History.htm |archive-date=March 8, 2009 }}</ref>

The Little Log Church is a historical museum displaying many artifacts relating to Yachats's past.  The church, built in 1926, was [[Cruciform|designed in the shape of a cross]].  Sir Robert Perks, who owned most of Yachats at the time, provided the property; the logs were donated as well and the work was contributed by local citizens.  The museum is now owned by the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ci.yachats.or.us/Yachats%20History.htm |title=Little Log Church built in Yachats |publisher=City of Yachats |access-date=June 3, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090308061353/http://www.ci.yachats.or.us/Yachats%20History.htm |archive-date=March 8, 2009 }}</ref>