Northern California’s Elk Valley Rancheria is shooting for openings its new casino near U.S. 101, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, sometime next year. The new casino will be about two miles from the original 26-year old one, near Crescent City, about as north as you can get in the state.
Besides the off-reservation casino, phase one of the move will include a convenience store and gas station, gift shop, dining, a bar and an entertainment-bingo hall that can also be used as convention space able to accommodate 500 people. There will also be spaces for RVs and trailers.
Phase 2 calls for a hotel several years from now.
It is being assisted in its efforts by a grant of $3.2 million that was announced July 15 by Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo. The funds come from the department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA).
Raimondo said in a statement: “President Biden is committed to helping tribal communities recover and rebuild. This EDA investment in Elk Valley Rancheria will provide employment opportunities for tribal members and support economic resilience and growth.”
According to Dennis Alvord, Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development: “This project will support the construction of a gas station and convenience store on Tribal land, fostering local economic resilience and contributing to job growth.”
Marketing Manager Kurtis Shaul told the Wild Rivers Outpost “The unique thing about this building is it’s being planned for all the amenities the casino currently has.” He added, “We’ll still have about 300 slots. We will add more table games and make the poker room better. The amenities are going to be more recent—we’re building a building in 2022.”
Relocating the casino was an eight-year process. Shaul claims it was the first U.S. tribe to put an off-reservation parcel into trust.
The Del Norte County Board of Supervisors and Crescent City council supported the process.
Tribal Chairman Dale Miller said, “It was an off-reservation piece of land that belonged to the tribe that had cultural history with the tribe, but also the trust process was to be able to put a gaming facility out there closer to the highway.” He continued, “There was a lot of opposition throughout California for tribes to do that. There were organizations that wanted that not to happen.”
The “Elk” part of Elk Valley Rancheria is not symbolic. There is a herd of elk that, according to Chairman Miller, “walk right through the place.” He told Outpost, “The elk have the right of way. Most of the time they’re in the pasture there during construction. But at night or in the early morning before activity starts, they’ll walk through there. Elk certainly have the right of way.”
