Quuiich

The Quuiich, or Lower Umpqua, lived along the lower Umpqua River and the coast of western Oregon. They spoke a dialect of Siuslaw, distinct from the language of the Upper Umpqua farther inland. Their river passes through forested hills to reach the Pacific, connecting inland fishing places with the estuary and its shellfish. In 1828 the American trapper Jedediah Smith's party travelled through the lower Umpqua country, where Indigenous communities were already acquainted with goods and people from the fur trade.