Jordan Essoe With the new Amanda Trail Bridge suspended in the background, chairs await speakers at Saturday’s dedication as a crowd of well-wishers gathers for the event. Dignitaries from local state and tribal governments and volunteers from the Yachats Trails Crew were among those on hand to celebrate the completion of the 142-foot, $434,000 span over Amanda Creek.

YACHATS — As the sun popped in and out from fluffy white clouds, grown-ups chatted and laughed, kids ran around with cookies in hand and the occasional dog padded by. The initially festive mood for Saturday’s dedication of the Amanda Trail Bridge was heavily embroidered with the somber reason for the gathering.

The new bridge — like the Amanda Trail and Amanda Creek, all on the south end of Yachats — honors Amanda De-Cuys, the blind Coos tribal member wrenched from her home by white militia during a dark chapter in Oregon’s past. Six years and $434,000 in the making, the suspension bridge was championed by Joanne Kittel, a Yachats resident known in the community for her hands-on trails advocacy.

“It’s a sacred site, a beautiful site,” said Lincoln County Commissioner Claire Hall, one of several local and state officials who spoke or attended.

“I know how hard and long the work is for a process like this,” affirmed Sen. Dick Anderson, R-Lincoln City, who serves on the advisory board for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz.

“It’s a celebration honoring all the Amandas,” said Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis.

Jordan Essoe Doug Barrett, a council member of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, lights sage at the statue of Amanda during the bridge dedication Saturday. “It heals the air, and gets rid of any negativity,” he said. He’s been bringing jewelry to the statue for years, and made the headband that currently rests on her crown. With a probe, sometimes he goes looking for the original statue that was taken by a mudslide in 2015. “I don’t think it was destroyed, I think it was buried.”

Cue the eagles

While a drone bobbed in and out of sight and a video crew broadcast the event to the Yachats Commons, a capacity crowd of 120 people assembled in the Amanda gathering area for the ceremony. Just before it began at 1 p.m., as if on cue, a trio of eagles soared overhead, visible through a gap in the towering trees.

Tribal members from Siletz, and the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians were featured guests, including an opening prayer by Robert Kentta, cultural resources director of the Siletz tribes. In brief remarks, he recalled meeting Kittel in 1995 when she and Suzanne Curtis were compiling a booklet about Yachats’ “prison camp” years. Kentta helped with the research into the work, which documents the subjugation of First Nation people on the Oregon coast.

Yachats was the site of the Alsea Sub-Agency, which has been described as “A location of atrocities” where members of tribes relocated by the U.S. government suffered and died. From 1860-75, Native Americans were rounded up and imprisoned at the sub-agency. One of them was De-Cuys, who was forced by government troops in 1864 to leave her daughter and husband and walk barefoot from Coos Bay to the camp in Yachats.

De-Cuys’ ordeal was cited by Hall in her remarks, standing on the new bridge with the other speakers. She quoted a white militiaman who was part of De-Cuys’ forced march, describing how De-Cuys tore her feet on the jagged rocks of Cape Perpetua: “… leaving blood sufficient to track her by.”

Jordan Essoe Trails advocate Joanne Kittel embraces Robert Kentta before the start of the bridge dedication. Kentta, cultural resources director of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz, was a key tribal figure in helping Kittel and Suzanne Curtis publish a 1996 booklet about Yachats’ 19th century prison camp for Native Americans.

Focusing on remembrance and healing

But while the facts of De-Cuys’ ordeal — and those of many more Native Americans — were grim and shameful, the emphasis at Saturday’s event was on remembrance, hope and healing.

“There’s been a lot of hurt up and down (the coast) in this area,” said Mark Petrie, the Coos’ tribal vice chairman. “Many of you here are finding a healing way to connect.”

Jordan Essoe **Selene Rilatos, a council member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, sang a tribal song “A woman’s song” to conclude the ceremony.**

Jesse Beers, the tribe’s cultural stewardship manager, harked back to the site’s original statue of Amanda, which was washed away by a mudslide in 2015. “We would come for healing; a lot of tears were shed on these rocks in front of Amanda.” Now, he said, the new statue is “ready for tears again.”

“This bridge shows the power of connection, of partnerships,” said Michele Holman, district ranger with Siuslaw National Forest. Her group is among the many credited with helping the 142-foot bridge materialize, including Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department, View the Future, the Yachats Trails Crew, Angell Job Corps and many more.

Under the umbrella theme “Bridging Cultures, Healing Hearts,” event speakers touched on the power of both the Amanda story and the people who have worked over decades to keep her memory alive.

“Things like this don’t happen very much,” said Holman. “It’s because of the people who were pushing to have this built.”

Jordan Essoe “It’s living history, it’s not forgotten. This bridge will exist in perpetuity,” promised Joanne Kittel at Saturday’s Amanda Trail Bridge dedication. After the ceremony, Kittel called the day a solemn and spiritual occasion that joined “two tribes that normally don’t get together” — the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, and Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.

“… a celebration of her life work…”

“We are here to celebrate the spirit of volunteerism that is so much a part of our community,” said Yachats City Councilor Greg Scott. He and his wife, Nan, contributed $50,000 towards the Amanda Bridge construction. Scott drew big applause and cheers when he singled out Kittel for special thanks: “This is as much a celebration of her life work as it is the dedication of a bridge.”

Kittel and her late husband, Norman, moved to Yachats in 1993 to begin building a home on 27 acres near Cape Perpetua. Joanne discovered the myth that First Nation peoples had enjoyed an “idyllic community” in Yachats, and has worked since then to share the historical truth. The Kittels (he died in 2011) donated two of their acres for a section of the trail, and had a conservation easement created to forever protect a spruce forest from being logged.

In the process, Kittel, a retired psychotherapist, has become an honorary tribal member of Coos tribe and the living face of Amanda.

Claire Hall **The statue commemorating Amanda De-Cuys looked over Saturday’s bridge dedication.**

Kittel put herself last on the list of speakers, and like others, regretted the absence of Coos Chief Donald “Doc” Slyter, who is recovering from surgery. Calling the dedication a “powerful celebration,” Kittel recalled the first two bridges over Amanda Creek.

With characteristic modesty, Kittel claimed no credit for herself, instead thanking “so many compassionate and competent people” who played parts in creating the new span. But her most heartfelt gratitude showed in her concluding remarks.

“There’s one more individual: that person is Amanda,” Kittel said, her voice breaking. Thanks to the trail easement that gives the state the ownership of the bridge site, Kittel said, “Your trail will never be destroyed. I thank you, Amanda, and I thank you all.”