The Alsea Indian Tribe lived on the west coast of the United States of America, and little is known of them.
Unlike the Native Americans who lived on the Northeast coast, the Northwest Indians did not experience much European attention, with the exception of the Conquistadors, throughout the development of the country.
The Alsea Indian Tribe had passed its Golden Age prior to the Americans making contact.
History
The Alsea lived on the western coast of Oregon, around what is now Alsea Bay at the mouth of the Alsea River.
Their origin story says that the Yaquina, Alsea, Yachats, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw people are all one tribe and speak the same language. Today, however, the Yakonan language branch is divided into Alsean and Siuslawan.
The Alsean people (Yaquina/Alsea/Yachats) all practiced forehead flattening (by slight pressure applied to a baby’s cradleboard) until about 1860.
The Alsea signed the 1855 Coast Treaty, agreeing to share their homelands with other Tribes when the Siletz Reservation was to be established, the treaty was not being ratified by the U.S. Senate, and the appropriations never arrived. The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians represented Tillamook, Yaquina, Alsea, Coquille, Tututni, and Chetco aboriginal title compensation claims in the 1940s–50s.
The lawsuit “Alsea Band of Tillamooks et al vs the United States”. The Confederate tribes of Siletz Indians won that case, and some compensation was received in about 1959.
Like many Native Americans in the climate, the Alsea Indian Tribe was a hunter/gatherer society. They often hunted sea lions and salmon, which were common in the area.
They also flattened the heads of infants, which was common in the area. When their people died, they placed them in canoes that were on isolated land.
Very little is known about the Alsea religion. It is thought to be similar to that of the Coos.
Alsea shamans promoted good salmon runs, and the Alsea appealed to animal spirits and powers in nature for aid.