The Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria is a

federally recognized tribe This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

of Mattole, Bear River and

Wiyot people The Wiyot (Wiyot language, Wiyot: Wíyot, Tolowa language, Chetco-Tolowa: Wee-’at xee-she or Wee-yan’ Xee-she’, Tututni language, Euchre Creek Tututni: Wii-yat-dv-ne - "Mad River People“, Yurok language, Yurok: Weyet) are an indigenous pe ...

Humboldt County, California Humboldt County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 136,463. The county seat is Eureka. Humboldt County comprises the Eureka–Arcata–Fortuna, California Micropolitan Statistica ...

Government

The Bear River Band is headquartered in

Loleta, California Loleta (Wiyot: ''Guduwalhat'') is a census-designated place in Humboldt County, California. Loleta is located south of Fields Landing, and south of Eureka at an elevation of . The population was 783 at the 2010 census. Residents live in a cent ...

. Tribal enrollment is based on residency on the Rohnerville Rancheria from 1910 to 1960 or being a lineal descent of those residents.

Reservation and traditional territories

The Rohnerville Rancheria is a federally recognized

ranchería The Spanish word ranchería, or rancherío, refers to a small, rural settlement. In the Americas the term was applied to native villages or bunkhouses. Anglo-Americans adopted the term with both these meanings, usually to designate the resident ...

located in two separate parts. One () is at the eastern edge of

Fortuna Fortuna ( la, Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at ...

, and the other () to the southeast of Loleta, both in Humboldt County. As of the 2010 Census the population was 38. The tribe's traditional territory was along the Mattole and Bear Rivers near

Cape Mendocino Cape Mendocino (Spanish: ''Cabo Mendocino'', meaning "Cape of Mendoza"), which is located approximately north of San Francisco, is located on the Lost Coast entirely within Humboldt County, California, United States. At 124° 24' 34" W longitude ...

. Wiyot people lived along the

Little River Little River may refer to several places: Australia Streams New South Wales *Little River (Dubbo), source in the Dubbo region, a tributary of the Macquarie River * Little River (Oberon), source in the Oberon Shire, a tributary of Coxs River (Haw ...

down to the Bear River and eastward. The Mattole villages of Tcalko', Chilsheck, Selsche'ech, Tlanko, Estakana, and Sehtla were located along Bear River.

Economic development

The Bear River Band owns and operates several entities including Bear River Casino Resort, River's Edge Restaurant, the Thirsty Bear Lounge, Bear River Recreation Center, and Bear River Tobacco Traders all located in Loleta, California. The new Bear River Family Entertainment Center that includes a 10 lane bowling alley, arcade, and laser tag and tournament baseball field open to the public, located next to the Bear River Recreation Center.

Traditional culture

Mattole people differ from neighboring tribes because men traditionally tattooed their faces, instead of just women. Mattole spoke the

Mattole language Mattole, or Mattole–Bear River, is an extinct Athabaskan language once spoken by the Mattole and Bear River peoples of northern California. It is one of the four languages belonging to the ''California Athabaskan'' cluster of the Pacific Coas ...

, an

Athapaskan language Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific C ...

, while Wiyots spoke the

Wiyot language Wiyot (also Wishosk) or Soulatluk (lit. "your jaw") is an Algic languageCampbell (1997:152) spoken by the Wiyot people of Humboldt Bay, California. The language's last native speaker, Della Prince, died in 1962. Wiyot, along with its geograp ...

, an Algonquian language."Wiyot Indians."
''SDSU: California Indians and Their Reservations.'' Retrieved 25 June 2012. Subsistence practices that continue today g Tribal Marine Resource Use into the Marine Life Protection Act.'' Retrieved 25 June 2012.

References

External links

Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria
official website
Wiyot Tribe
* , Four Directions Institute * , Four Directions Institute {{DEFAULTSORT:Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria Native American tribes in California Federally recognized tribes in the United States Wiyot tribe Native Americans in Humboldt County, California