Published In
Oregon Historical Quarterly
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 2023
Subjects
Sea otter -- Effect of human beings on -- Northwest Coast of North America -- History, Indians of North America -- Hunting, Marine mammal remains (Archaeology) -- Oregon
Abstract
Most accounts of the extirpation of sea otters from the Oregon coast focus on the well-documented international maritime fur trade of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The historical record shows, however, that sea otters persisted much later. The final extirpation in Oregon occurred as a result of household-scale hunting by Native Americans and Euro-American settlers, from the mid-nineteenth century until around 1910. Especially on the south coast, a cottage industry of sea otter hunting flourished for decades — a pattern similar to the neighboring states of Washington and California. This article summarizes this long-ignored history, drawing from the archival record of local historical societies, late nineteenth century newspapers, reminiscences of settlers, and other contemporary materials.
Rights
This is the publisher's final PDF article as it appears in Oregon Historical Quarterly. Copyright © 2023, Oregon Historical Society. Reproduced by permission.
This article is part of a special issue of the Oregon Historical Quarterly featuring authors exploring sea otters in Oregon, a species that has been absent from Oregon waters for more than a hundred years.
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/41734
Citation Details
La Follette, C., Ravalli, R., Hatch, P., Deur, D., & Jones, R.T. (2023). The Invisible Slaughter: Local Sea Otter Hunters on the Oregon Coast. Oregon Historical Quarterly 124(3), 298-323. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/907891.