Siltcoos, Oregon

[4] The reservation was a confusing and dark place for tribal members who challenged to translate their previous lives to the different central coast environment.

[4][5] In 1875, Oregon senator John Mitchell pushed Congress to open the entire region between Siltcoos River and Yaquina Bay for white settlement.

[4] Danish immigrant, Neal Christensen, homesteaded the area known as Siltcoos in 1892, settling under the National Timber and Stone Act.

[1] He and his sons built docks and piers to enable the shipment of supplies to build the Lane line of the SP Railroad.

[8] As a result of the rail, small industry such and lumber mills[9] and fishing resorts started to flourish and the lake population grew.

By the 1910s and 1920s, the Christensens seized the opportunity and built a post office, store, and dance hall all using Scandinavian architecture with steep pitched roofs and on stilts over water.

Christensen expanded his barge business by ferrying passengers and supplies throughout the lake to historic Darling's resort, the Roosevelt Hotel, Booth Lumber mill, Ada, or his retreat that included, "floating whorehouses in front of his store".

[11][6] A 1955, article from the Siuslaw News, explained how the men's operation functioned, "During the period before the rail was built the Christensen's made money running passengers across the lakes.

They had built a narrow gauge railroad, only about 2 feet wide, from the Siuslaw River at Glenada to the North end of Woahink Lake, where Honeyman Park is now.

In 1972, after a decline in population as a result of the completion of the Oregon Coast Highway and its bridges, the Christensen's donate Siltcoos Station to Lane Community College.