While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Chasta. A
tribe, probably Athapascan, residing on Siletz Reservation, Oregon, in
1867, with the Skoton and Umpqua, of which latter they were then said to
have formed a part. The Chasta, Skoton, and Umpqua were distinct tribes
which concluded a treaty Nov. 18, 1854. The Chasta were divided into the
Kwilsieton and Nahelta, both residing on Rogue River. J. O. Dorsey thought
these may have been identical with Kushetunne and Nakatkhetunne of the
Tututunne. Kane, in 1859, located them near Umpqua River. In 1867 the
Chasta, the Scoton, and the Umpqua together, at Siletz agency, numbered 49
males and 74 females, total 123.
They may be identical with the Chastacosta or form a
part of the Takillua. They do not seem to have any connection with the
Shasta, who did not extend down Rogue River below Table Rock, and who were
generally bitterly at war with their Athapascan neighbors.
Chastacosta
(Shista kwŭsta, their name for
themselves, meaning unknown). A group of Athapascan villages formerly
situated along Rogue River, Oregon, mostly on its north bank from its
junction with Illinois River nearly to the mouth of Applegate Creek. The
Tututunne, who did not differ from them in customs or language, were to
the west of them; the Coquille, differing slightly in language, were north
of them; and the Gallice (Tattushtuntude), with the same customs but a
quite different dialect, to the east. The Takilma, an independent stock,
were their south neighbors, living on the south bank of Rogue River and on
its south tributaries. In the summer of 1856, after a few months of severe
fighting with the whites, 153 of them, consisting of 53 men, 61 women, 23
boys, 16 girls (Parrish in Ind. Aff. Rep. 1857, 357, 1858) were taken to
Siletz reservation, Oregon, where now there are but a few individuals
left.
It is practically certain that nearly all the
inhabitants of these villages were removed at this time. Considering the
number of the villages—33 according to Dorsey (Jour. Am. Folk-lore, iii,
234, 1890), 19 according to an aged Gallice informant—this number is
surprisingly small. The names of the villages, as given by Dorsey, usually
referring to the people (-tun, -tunne) thereof, are:
Chetuttunne
Musme
Tachikhwutme
Chunarghuttunne
Natkhwunche
Takasichekhwut
Chunsetunneta
Nishtuwekulsushtun
Talsunme
Chunsetunnetun
Sechukhtun
Tatsunye
Chushtarghasuttun
Seethltunne
Thethlkhuttunne
Chusterghutmunnetun
Senestun
Tisattunne
Chuttushshunche
Setaaye
Tsetaame
Khloshlekhwuche
Setsurgheake
Tsetutkhlalenitun
Khotltacheche
Silkhkemechetatun
Tukulitlatun
Khtalutlituuue
Sinarghutlitun
Tukwilisitunne
Kthelutlitunne
Skurgnut
Tuslatunne
Kushletata
Sukechunetunne
Mekichuntun
Surghustesthitun
The following villages may
be synonymous with ones in the list: Klothchetunne, Sekhatsatunne,
Tasunmatunne.
Chasta-Skoton.
A tribe or two tribes (Chasta and Skoton) formerly living on or near Rogue
River, Oregon, perhaps the Chastacosta or (Dorsey in Jour. Am. Folk-lore,
In, 235, 1890) the Sestikustun. There were 36 on Grande Ronde res. and 166
on Siletz reservation, Oregon, in 1875.
