About The Port

History of the Port

The history of the Port is intertwined with the City of Florence and begins with Native Americans such as the Siuslaw who lived along the banks of the Siuslaw River. Today, these people are organized under the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians. The first white visitors to the area probably arrived beginning about 1836.

The Port of Siuslaw was chartered in 1909 with an economy built on fishing, canning and lumber.

Florence was the inspiration behind Frank Herbert's "Dune". Florence and Mapleton were backdrops to Ken Kesey's "Sometimes a Great Notion".