Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians
The Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians of California is a federally recognized tribe of indigenous people of California, affiliated with the Chukchansi subgroup of the Foothills Yokuts. The Picayune Rancheria, founded in 1912 and located in Coarsegold, California, covers 160 acres (1 km2) in Madera County and serves as the tribal land.
Photo of Chukchansi woman
The Yokuts are an ethnic group of Native Americans native to central California. Before European contact, the Yokuts consisted of up to 60 tribes speaking several related languages. Yokuts is both plural and singular; Yokut, while common, is erroneous. 'Yokut' should only be used when referring specifically to the Tachi Yokut Tribe of Lemoore. Some of their descendants prefer to refer to themselves by their respective tribal names; they reject the term Yokuts, saying that it is an exonym invented by English-speaking settlers and historians. Conventional sub-groupings include the Foothill Yokuts, Northern Valley Yokuts, and Southern Valley Yokuts.
Chukchansi Yokuts woman, photo by Edward Curtis, 1924
A Chukchansi (then spelled "Chuckachancy") family near Oakhurst, California. ca.1920
Mariposa Indian Encampment Yosemite Valley California, by Albert Bierstadt
Chukchansi (then spelled "Chuck Chance") in Coarsegold, California. ca.1900