The road to Yosemite and some of California’s most stunning natural beauty now includes a detour to an eclectic casino from an Indigenous tribe in the Sierra Nevada.
The Chicken Ranch Casino Resort, off Highway 49 in Jamestown among the foothills of Tuolumne County, is slated to celebrate a grand opening Nov. 9 after opening for reservations in July. The $325 million casino resort, owned and named after the Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians, leans into the poultry namesake, which a tribe’s spokesperson said the federal government “forced” upon them in 1908.
“Obviously, they couldn’t write down what our name was. They said you live on Chicken Ranch Road, so here’s your name: Chicken Ranch Rancheria,” tribal Chairperson Lloyd Mathiesen told SFGATE.
