• North Fork Rancheria Of Mono Indians- Casino
• North Fork Rancheria Of Mono Indians
• North Fork Mono Tribe
• North Fork Mono Rancheria

Tribal Organization: North Fork Rancheria Band of Mono Indians

Madera, CA

The underlying casino controversy, though, goes back many more years, with the North Fork Rancheria formally applying in 2005 to have the Madera County land taken into trust by the Interior.

The North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians plan to build a casino, a 200-room resort hotel, restaurants, an entertainment lounge, retail space and banquet/meeting rooms near Madera, California.

The tribe began their pursuit of this project in 2003 when they signed a development and management agreement with Station Casinos, who will oversee construction and manage the casino operations.

The proposed site is a 305-acre parcel on Avenue 17 just west of the intersection with State Route 99. It is on unincorporated area between Madera and Chowchilla and within the Tribe's ancestral lands.

Construction of the North Fork Rancheria Resort Hotel & Casino Project has not began pending final resolutions to legal issues. A gaming compact between the tribe and the state was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Aug. 31, 2012 and approved by the state assembly May 2, 2013. The state senate approved it June 27,2013 and Gov. Brown signed their legislation a week later. A lawsuit was decided March 14, 2014 by a Madera County judge who ruled state process authorizing the casino was constitutional.

In November 2014 a ballot referendum on off-reservation gaming (Proposition 48) was rejected by voters. This effectively stopped construction of this project. A legal challenge was started to determine if the referendum could nullify the tribe's gaming compact with the state.

In November 2015, a U.S. District Court judge ordered Gov. Jerry Brown and the North fork Rancheria to return to gaming negotiations. When that failed a mediator was assigned who decided in favor of the tribe. The state was given till April 11th to agree to the compact, otherwise the tribe could take the compact to the U.S. Interior Department for approval.

In July 2016 the Interior Department gave federal approval to the gaming compact.

Several lawsuits to stop construction are still pending. In the meantime the tribe has no construction timeline. However, it is considering several construction phases during the legal processing. They may begin with ground preparations and a smaller casino until the legal status allows for full-scale construction.

News & Updates

News Articles

Madera casino lawsuit moves to U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

January 10, 2020

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will hear a case Feb 11 against the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians and its plans to build a casino in Madera County, California. This is case appealed from a district court that ruled in favor of the tribe over an opposition group of nearby private businesses and casino interests. The central issue was whether the U.S. Department of Interior followed proper procedures in approving the tribe's application for the Madera casino.

Since 2003 the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians has pursued plans to build a resort hotel and casino on ancestral land between Chowchilla and Madera, California. The location is a short distance from three other casinos which will be financially impacted by the new casino. These are Club One Casino in Fresno, Table Mountain Casino in Friant, and Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino in Coarsegold.

Tribal leaders of the Mono Indians expect a favorable ruling from the Appeals Court, which will remove the last legal roadblock before starting construction.

Federal court ruling allows casino on North Fork Rancheria

July 23, 2018

The U.S. District Court has ruled in favor of a proposed gaming facility that would be tribal owned in Madera County.

The North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians have been trying to operate gaming on 300 acres of their land. Previously it was approved by the Department of the Interior. Shortly after the approval, a lawsuit was set against the Department and the tribe. Against the casino facility is The Deuce Lounge and the Club One Casino.

The opposing side to the tribe argued that it was not clear who had the right to give permission for the tribe to operate their casino on that land. Part of their case involved the Administrative Procedures Act. They believed that the Department of the Interior was not within their authority to approve the land use.

They also argued that the location of the North Fork tribe's casino would hurt their businesses. Deuce Lounge is located in Goshen. Fresno is the location for Club One.

The North Fork casino would also be classified as a Class II gaming facility. They would also be allowed to offer blackjack, poker, and baccarat. Games where players bet against each other and not the house. Games like slot machines would not be allowed.

Lawsuits to prevent the North Fork from moving forward with casino plans started nearly 13 years ago. This was when an application was submitted to have land placed into trust for the tribe. At that time the tribe knew they had interested in developing a Class III casino. A gaming compact was agreed upon between the governor and the tribe in 2012. Then it became part of Assembly Bill 277. It was signed the following year by the governor. In 2014 the gaming compact was set to go into effect. However, it was sent to the voters to decide and it failed.

The request to begin negations again happened early in 2015. However, the request was denied since a large number of voters rejected the compact.

Another lawsuit was filed. This time by the tribe seeking the state to come to an agreement. After 60 days had passed, and no new agreement could be reached mediation had to take place. In mediation the offer from the North Fork tribe was accepted.

In the court order, the tribe was voted in favor that they could operate a Class III casino without a compact with the state. This occurred in 2016. The order was issued by the secretary of the Interior under Secretarial Procedures.

The next lawsuit was then to determine if the Department of the Interior acted within their rights by granting the permission. Opposition argued that the this was not investigated.

Ultimately the courts sided with the tribe and closed the case to any further lawsuits.

North Fork Rancheria's casino plan wins another step forward

April 13, 2018

A recent ruling by the federal appellate court has moved plans forward for the proposed casino for the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians. The casino would be developed four miles north of Madera and off of Highway 99.

On April 10 the Circuit Court panel in Washington, D.C. decided that a ruling made by a lower court should be upheld. In that lawsuit the Interior Department was challenged over a decision to approve land be taken into trust for the tribe. The court sided with the tribe ruling that the department acted within the proper authority.

Stand Up For California was the group of organizations and residents that opposed the casino project. A petition was circulated to stop it from being developed. The issue for the lawsuit by the group was due to the land being taken into trust illegally. One reason was that the proposed casino site property was not considered tribal land. North Fork is located nearly 35 miles from the proposed site.

However, it was decided by the federal appellate court that the land was lawfully taken into trust by the Interior Department. The North Fork tribe was within their right to move forward with their casino project. It was decided by the panel that the previous court ruling was consistent with the law.

When completed, the $250 million casino will operate 40 table games and 2,000 slot machines. In time, there will also be multiple restaurants and a hotel added.

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The Mono/ˈmoʊnoʊ/ are a Native American people who traditionally live in the central Sierra Nevada, the Eastern Sierra (generally south of Bridgeport), the Mono Basin, and adjacent areas of the Great Basin. They are often grouped under the historical label 'Paiute' together with the Northern Paiute and Southern Paiute - but these three groups, although related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, do not form a single, unique, unified group of Great Basin tribes.

Today, many of the tribal citizens and descendants of the Mono tribe inhabit the town of North Fork (thus the label 'Northfork Mono') in Madera County. People of the Mono tribe are also spread across California in: the Owens River Valley; the San Joaquin Valley and foothills areas, especially Fresno County; and in the San Francisco Bay Area.

• 2Culture and geography

Tribal groups[edit]

The 'Mono' lived on both sides of the Sierra Nevada and are divided into two regional tribal/dialect groups, roughly based on the Sierra crest:

• Eastern Mono live on the California-Nevada border on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada in the Owens Valley (Mono: Payahǖǖnadǖ/Payahuunadu - 'place/land of flowing water') along the Owens River (Wakopee) and south to Owens Lake (Pacheta) are also known as the 'Owens Valley Paiute'^[1]

• Western Mono on the west side in the south-central foothills of the Sierra Nevada near Mono Lake as well as in the Mono Basin have been known throughout recorded history as 'Mono', 'Mona,' 'Monache,' or 'Northfork Mono,' as labeled by E.W. Gifford, an ethnographer studying people in the vicinity of the San Joaquin River in the 1910s.^[2]

Historically and in most textbooks to this day, the 'Mono bands' are either called Owens Valley Paiute (and generally counted as Northern Paiute) or Mono/Monache - but both form a common ethnic group, the 'Mono'.

Culture and geography[edit]

The current tribal name 'Mono' is a Yokutsanloanword from the tribe's western neighbors, the Yokuts, who however hereby designated the southernmost Northern Paiute band living around Mono Lake as monachie/monoache ('fly people') because fly larvae was their chief food staple and trading article.^[3] and not the 'Mono'. This 'Kucadikadi Northern Paiute Band', whose autonym Kutsavidökadö/Kutzadika'a means 'eaters of the brine fly pupae', are also known as Mono Lake Paiute or Mono Basin Paiute, a holdover from early anthropological literature, and are often confused with the non-Northern Paiute ethnic group of the 'Mono'.^[4]

The 'Eastern Mono' referred to themselves as Numa/Nuumu or Nüümü ('People') in their Mono language dialect and to their kin to the west as Panan witü / Pana witü ('western place' People); the 'Western Mono' called themselves Nyyhmy/Nimi or Nim/Nium ('People'); a full blooded 'Western Mono' person was called cawu h nyyhmy.^[5]

Eastern Mono (Owens Valley Paiute)[edit]

The misnamed Owens Valley Paiute or Eastern Mono live on the California-Nevada border, they formerly ranged on the eastern side of the southern Sierra Nevada across the Owens Valley^[7] along the Owens Rivers from Long Valley on the north to Owens Lake on the south, and from the crest of the Sierra Nevada on the west to the White and Inyo Mountains including the Fish Lake and Deep Springs Valleys on the east. They were predominantly sedentary and settled in fixed settlements along rivers or springs (or artificial canals). The more intensive arable farming by means of partly artificial irrigation enabled them to build up food reserves and thus, in contrast to the 'Western Mono bands', to feed larger groups. The Sedentism is also reflected in their socio-political organization in different 'districts' (each with communistic hunting and seed rights, political unity, and a number of villages), whose name mostly ended with 'patü/witü', meaning 'place' or 'land'; each 'district' was under the command of a headman or pohenaby.

Some 'Eastern Mono' districts:

• Panatü (Black Rock Territory, south to Taboose Creek)
• Pitama Patü or Pitana Patü ('south place' = Bishop, California, extending from the volcanic tableland and Norton Creek in the Sierra to a line running out into Owens Valley from Waucodayavi, the largest creek south of Rawson Creek.)
• Ütü’ütü witü or Anglicized to Utu Utu Gwaiti („hot place“ = Benton, California, from the warm springs, now Keough's, south to Shannon Creek)
• Kwina Patii or Kwina Patü ('north place' = Round Valley, California)
• Tovowaha Matii, Tovowahamatü or Tobowahamatü ('natural mound place' = Big Pine, California, south to Big Pine Creek in the mountains, but with fishing and seed rights along Owens River nearly to Fish Springs)
• Tuniga witü, Tunuhu witü or Tinemaha/Tinnemaha ('around the foot of the mountain place' = Fish Springs, California)
• Ozanwitü ('salt place' from the saline lake = Deep Springs Valley, they called their valley Patosabaya and themselves Patosabaya nunemu.)
• Ka’o witü ('very deep valley' = Saline Valley, was Shoshoni with a few intermarried Paiute, but was accessible to Paiute for salt)

The tribal areas of the 'Eastern Mono bands' bordered in the northwest on the areas of the hostile Southern Sierra Miwok with which it often came to conflicts, in the northeast several Northern Paiute bands migrated, in the southeast and south the Timbisha Shoshone and Western Shoshone bands, in the southwest the Tübatulabal (also: Kern River Indians) and in the west the 'Western Mono bands'.

They were also more aggressive and hostile towards neighboring Indian tribes - most recently they fought the Americans in the 'Owens Valley Indian War' (1862 to 1863) with allied Shoshone, Kawaiisu and Tübatulabal to protect their cultivated land. They usually maintained a friendly relationship with the neighboring Northern Paiute, which was strengthened by mutual marriage; many members of the 'Eastern Mono' were therefore bilingual (Eastern Mono and Northern Paiute).

Their self-designation is Numa, Nuumu, or Nüümü, meaning 'People' or Nün‘wa Paya Hup Ca’a‘ Otuu’mu—'Coyote's children living in the water ditch'.^[8]

• Big Pine Paiute Tribe of the Owens Valley, Big Pine, California (also Northern Paiute)
• Bridgeport Paiute Indian Colony of California, Bridgeport, California
• Fort Independence Indian Community of Paiute Indians, Independence, California
• Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, Lone Pine, California
• Bishop Paiute Tribe, Bishop, California (also Northern Paiute)
• Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute Tribe of the Benton Paiute Reservation, Benton, California^[9][10]

Also in the area are the Cold Springs Rancheria of Mono Indians, Chairman carole bill and the Big Sandy Rancheria of Mono Indians, Chairperson Elizabeth Kipp, in which both are also federally recognized tribes.

Western Mono (Monache or Mono Lake Paiute)[edit]

The 'Western Mono bands' in the southern Sierra Nevada foothills near Mono Lake as well as in the Mono Basin and in the San Joaquin Valley (San Joaquin River was called typici h huu' – 'important, great river'), Kings River and Kaweah River (in today's counties of Madera, Fresno and Tulare) lived mostly as typical semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers of fishing, hunting and gathering as well as agriculture. In the winter, several families descended into the river valleys and built together fixed settlements, most of which were used for several years. In summer the winter settlements were abandoned and the family groups migrated as hunters and gatherers to the more sheltered and cooler altitudes of the mountains. Therefore, these smaller groups are sometimes considered socio-politically not as bands but as local groups.

The tribal areas of the 'Western Mono' bordered the (mostly) hostile Southern Sierra Miwok in the north, the 'Eastern Mono' settled in the east, the Tübatulabal in the southeast and the Foothill Yokuts in the west.

Some 'Western Mono bands' formed bilingual bands or units with 'Foothill Yokuts' and partly took over their culture, so that today - except for one - each 'Western Mono band' are only known under its 'Yokuts' name. Even in the ethnological literature the original ethnic classification of the bands listed below is controversial; partly they are listed as 'Foothill Yokuts bands' (who adopted the 'Mono language' and culture through the immigration of the 'Western Mono' and soon became bilingual) or as 'Western Mono bands' (who would have adopted the language of the dominant 'Foothill Yokuts'). In particular, the classification of the two Kings River bands - the Michahai / Michahay and Entimbich^[11] - is difficult.

The Western Mono self-designation is Nyyhmy, Nimi, Nim or Nium, meaning 'People' or cawu h nyyhmy.

By contact with the Europeans, the following bands (or local groups) could be distinguished (from north to south):^[12]

• Northfork Mono or Nim / Nium: most isolated band of the 'Western Mono', therefore not known under a 'Yokuts' name. They lived generally along the northern shore of the San Joaquin River westward on both sides of its North Fork (and its tributaries) to Fine Gold Creek (shared territory with the Yokuts there); they established smaller settlements than the more southerly 'Western Mono Bands'.

• Wobonuch, Wobunuch, Woponunch or Wobonoch (plural: Wobenchasi): Lived in the foothills west of General Grant Grove (with the General Grant Tree) from the mouth of the North Fork Kings River into the Kings River upstream along several tributaries and including the Kings Canyon, along the Mill Flat Creek alone were two major settlements, their area includes today's Kings Canyon National Park.

• Entimbich, Endimbich, Endembich or Indimbich (Plural: Enatbicha): bilingual, probably originally a 'Kings River Yokuts Band'. Lived along the Kings River south and west of the Wobonuch, their main settlement was located in the area of today's Dunlap, California, further settlements were along Mill Creek, Rancheria Creek and White Deer Creek.

• Michahai or Michahay: bilingual, many mixed marriages with neighboring Waksachi, often regarded as a 'Kings River Yokuts band'. Lived along the Cottonwood Creek, a stream of the St. John's River, a tributary of the Kaweah River north of the municipality of Auckland, California.

• Waksachi (plural: Wakesdachi): bilingual, but basically 'Mono (Nim)'-speaking, partly adopted the culture of the neighboring Yokuts. Their tribal area was in the Long Valley south of Mill Creek and along Eshom Creek, a tributary of the North Fork Kaweah River, other settlements were along Lime Kiln Creek (also known as Dry Creek), such as 'Ash Springs' and 'Badger Camp'.

North Fork Rancheria Of Mono Indians- Casino

• Balwisha, Badwisha, Patwisha, Potwisha or Baluusha: bilingual, but basically 'Mono (Nim)'-speaking, partly adopted the culture of the neighboring Yokuts. Lived along the Kaweah River tributaries (Marble, Middle, East and South Forks) westwards to Lake Kaweah. One of their westernmost villages was located on the left bank of the Kaweah River below the confluence of its North Forks and Middle Forks near the community of Three Rivers, California (near the confluence of the Middle, East and South Forks), eastwards they had settlements upstream along the Middle and East Forks as well as Salt Creeks. The Sequoia National Park is located in their territory today, their trading partners were the Wukchumni Yokuts.

If the Entimbich and Michahai are counted as 'Kings River Yokuts' then beside the above-mentioned bands sometimes the following bands are listed:

• Posgisa, Poshgisha or Boshgesha: Lived on the southern shore of the San Joaquin River and south of the Northfork Mono along Big Sandy Creek to the headwaters of Little and Big Dry Creek; according to reports from neighboring Yokuts, there were two settlements near Auberry, California. Presumably identical with the group later called 'Auberry Band of Western Mono', whose Mono/Nim-language name was ?unaħpaahtyħ ('that which is on the other side [of the San Joaquin River]') or Unapatɨ Nɨm ('About (the San Joaquin River) People').

• Holkoma: sometimes synonymously called 'Towincheba' or 'Kokoheba', but both seems only names for single Holkoma villages. Were living in settlements along a series of confluent streams - especially the Big Creek, Burr Creek and Sycamore Creek above the mouth of the Mill Creek into the Kings River.

• Table Mountain Rancheria of California^[13]
• Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation^[14]

The two clans of the North Fork Mono Tribe are represented by the golden eagle and the coyote. Mono traditions still in practice today include fishing, hunting, acorn gathering, cooking, healing, basket making, and games. The Honorable Ron Goode is the Tribal Chairman for the North Fork Mono Tribe, which is not a federally recognized tribe. The North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians is the federally recognized tribe in North Fork and their Chairperson is Elaine Fink.

Ceremonies are performed at the Sierra Mono Museum^[15] in North Fork, California, and an annual Indian Fair Days festival takes place on the first weekend of August every year to revive many traditions and rituals for tribal kin and tourists alike to enjoy.

Language[edit]

The Mono speak the Mono language, which together with the Northern Paiute language (a dialect continuum) forms the Western Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Due to the geographical separation as well as the interaction with neighboring tribes and peoples (incorporation of loanwords and/or frequent Bilingualism) two very different dialects developed in the course of time which are difficult to understand for each other.The native language of the Mono people is referred to as 'Nim.'

Mun a hoo e boso. Mun a hoo e num. Mun a hoo to e hun noh pa teh can be translated as 'Hello to my friends. Hello to the Mono people. Hello to the people from all over.'^[16]

Today, the 'Mono language (Nim)' (including its two dialects) is critically endangered. Among about 1,300 'Western Mono (Mono or Monache) people', only about 20 active speakers and 100 half speakers speak 'Western/Western Mono' or the 'Monachi/Monache' dialect (better known as: 'Mono/Monache' or 'Mono Lake Paiute'). Of the 1,000 'Owens Valley Paiute (Eastern Mono) people' there are only 30 active speakers of the 'Eastern/Eastern Mono' or 'Owens Valley Paiute' dialect left.

Population[edit]

Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. (See Population of Native California.)Alfred L. Kroeber (1925:883) suggested that the 1770 population of the Mono was 4,000. Sherburne F. Cook (1976:192) set the population of the Western Mono alone at about 1,800.

Kroeber reported the population of the Mono in 1910 as 1,500.

Today, there are approximately 2,300 enrolled Mono Indians. The Cold Springs Mono have 275 tribal members.^[17] The Northfork Mono's enrollment is 1,800, making them one of California's largest native tribes. The Big Sandy Mono have about 495 members.^{[citation needed]} The Big Pine Band has 462 tribal members, but it is difficult to determine how many of these are Mono.^[18]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

North Fork Rancheria Of Mono Indians

1. ^'Survey of California and Other Indian Languages: Mono.'University of California. 2009–2010 (retrieved 5 May 2010)
2. ^California Indians and Their Reservations.SDSU Library and Information Access. (retrieved 24 July 2009)
3. ^Sprague, Marguerite (2003). 'Welcome to Bodie'. Bodie's Gold. Reno, Nevada: University of Nevada Press. pp. 3, 205. ISBN0-87417-628-X.
4. ^Lamb gives the Mono language name for this Northern Paiute band as Kwicathyhka' ('larvae eaters').
5. ^Sydney M. Lamb. 1957. Mono Grammar. University of California. Berkeley PhD dissertation. .pdf
6. ^Hunter-Gatherer Language Database - Languages of hunter-gatherers and their neighbors - Western Mono
7. ^Liljeblad & Fowler 1978, p. 412.
8. ^Pritzker 2000, p. 227.
9. ^Liljeblad & Fowler 1978, p. 413.
10. ^Pritzker 2000, pp. 229-230.
11. ^the Entimbich were probably originally 'Western Mono' and the Michahai / Michahay were probably 'Foothill Yokuts' - but these bands lived in the border area of the two ethnic groups and developed a new identity as a bilingual entity through marriage, adoption of the respective foreign language and partly culture, for which it was irrelevant whether they were regarded as 'Western Mono' or 'Foothill Yokuts'. It was only with the establishment of the reservations that traditional social ties were broken; today American English is the dominant language and the Entimbich identify themselves as 'Foothill Yokuts' since the 1950s.
12. ^Robert F.G. Spier: Monache: Language, Territory, and Environment
13. ^Pritzker, 159
14. ^Pritzker, 137
15. ^Sierra Mono Museum, accessed 7/9/2012
16. ^The Western Mono People: Yesterday and Today.Northfork Rancheria of Mono Indians. (retrieved 24 July 2009)
17. ^California Indians and Their Reservations.SDSU Library and Information Access. (retrieved 25 July 2009)
18. ^History and Timeline.North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians. (retrieved 25 July 2009)

References[edit]

• Cook, Sherburne F. 1976. The Conflict between the California Indian and White Civilization. University of California Press, Berkeley.
• Kroeber, A. L. 1925. Handbook of the Indians of California. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin No. 78. Washington, DC.
• Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN978-0-19-513877-1

External links[edit]

North Fork Mono Tribe

North Fork Mono Rancheria