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Cow Creek Band of Umpqua - Oregon (U.S.)

Native American

image by Donald Healy, 2 January 2008

The band
The flag

See also:

The Band

map image by Peter Orenski based on input from Don Healy

Cow Creek Band of Umpqua - Oregon

Only in 1982 did the Cow Creek Umpqua receive federal recognition as an Indian Nation. They had been initially recognized as a result of the Treaty of 1853. But in 1956 they officially disappeared as a recognized Nation. Since being re-recognized, a fight that took almost sixty years, the Cow Creek Umpqua Nation as returned to the banks of Cow Creek in southwestern Oregon. Today they run a bingo parlor, a hotel/casino complex, and several other businesses just to the northwest of Crater Lake National Park.

Unlike many Tribes in the Pacific Northwest, the Umpqua are not a Salish speaking people. They are a Takelma-speaking people inhabiting the lands drained by the Umpqua River between the Cascade Mountains to the east and the coastal mountains in the west.

The Flag

The Cow Creek band employ a flag of light blue bearing a full color representation of their tribal seal in the center. The seal is round and is dominated by a naturally colored bald eagle holding a fish in its talons. The eagle, here, as with other northwestern Tribes, represents the strength of the Umpqua people and their skill as fishermen. The fish recalls the vital roll played by fish as a primary food source for centuries for the Native population. Behind the eagle are the green slopes of the Cascade Mountains and coastal range. The mountains identify the traditional homelands of the Umpqua.

Surrounding the seal is a band of light blue edged in black. Across the top of the band appears the legend "Cow Creek Band of" while the bottom bears "Umpqua Tribe of Indians". These two combine to form the official name of the Tribe.

Below the seal are two dates. 1853 recalls the treaty that initially recognized the sovereignty of the Cow Creek Band, while 1982 celebrates the restoration of the status as a federally recognized Tribe that had been lost in 1956. On either side of the two years is a pair of flowering sprigs of Huckleberry. The huckleberry is one of the most common fruits in the Cascade region and has long been a major food source for the Umpqua.

© Donald Healy 2008
information provided by Peter Orenski, 2 January 2008