Community & Tribe
When we define community, we do not speak of geographic boundaries or lines drawn on a map. Community is our relationship with all that surrounds us. The land. The sky. The sea. And every person who touches our lives. We are all connected. This philosophy is reflected in our view of Ko-Kwel Resorts: it is a resource which benefits our community as a whole.
Community Support
Through our Tribal Community Fund, we share our profits from Ko-Kwel Casino Resort | Coos Bay with the residents of Southwestern Oregon through grants made to eligible organizations.
We also dedicate time and resources to helping our community wherever we can, whether it be through sponsoring community events, sitting on nonprofit boards, assisting our local veterans with collateral needs, or holding employee toy drives to help local children and families. We are proud that our commitment to our communities shows through all of our employees.
Tribal History
The Coquille Indian Tribe lived and prospered in the Southwest region of Oregon for centuries. With the arrival of the white man in the late 1700s, diseases such as smallpox, measles and plague decimated entire villages. Then, in the 1850s, a new form of “fever”—the discovery of gold— led to an influx of settlers whose mining despoiled the rivers and whose hostility toward Native Americans caused destruction and murder in village after village. Although a treaty negotiated in 1855 acknowledged Indian title to the Coquille lands, it was overlooked and never ratified when it reached Congress, and the Coquille were marched northward to the Coast Reservation, where overcrowding and disease took their toll. Over the years, many Coquille returned to their homelands and fought for acknowledgement of the treaty. By 1989, the Tribe was successfully restored to federal recognition and Tribal sovereignty.