Archives West Finding Aid

The Tillamook are a Native American tribe from coastal Oregon of the Salish linguistic group. The name "Tillamook" is a Chinook language term meaning "people of [the village] Nekelim (or Nehalem)", sometimes it is given as a Coast Salish term, meaning "Land of Many Waters". The Tillamook tribe consists of several divisions and dialects, including (from south to north): Siletz / Nachicolcho; Salmon River / Nachesne / Nestugga; Tillamook Bay; and Nehalem.

Estimated to have 2200 people at the beginning of the 18th century, the Tillamook lost population in the 19th century to infectious disease and murder by European Americans. In 1849 they were estimated to have 200 members. In 1856 they were forced to live on the Siletz Reservation with many other Tribes and Bands, the southern bands (Nestucca, Salmon River and Siletz River peoples’) territory being largely within the 1855 boundaries of the Siletz Reservation. In 1898 the northern Tillamook (Nehalem and Tillamook Bay) and the Clatsop (Tlatsop / łät'cαp), (which means "place of dried salmon", a Lower Chinook-speaking tribe abutting their territory to the north and speaking the Nehalem-dialect, reflecting intermarriage with the northern Tillamook), were the first tribes to sue the United States government for compensation for aboriginal title to land it had taken from them without a ratified treaty or compensation. They were paid a settlement in 1907. Their descendants are now considered part of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. Other Nehalem are part of the unrecognized Clatsop Nehalem Confederated Tribes.

[Information adapted from “Tillamook people” article on Wikipedia; Date Accessed: 06/21/2023]