The Karuk Tribe has begun building a million casino near California’s northernmost community, Yreka, which will attract most of its market from Medford, Oregon.
It plans to hold a ceremonial groundbreaking on July 29 although work began in April.
“We’re excited about the Southern Oregon market,” tribal councilor Josh Saxon told the Medford Mail Tribune.
“We want to make this a destination resort where we showcase all of Southern Oregon and Northern California, the beauty they have to offer and the outdoors,” Tribal Chairman Buster Attebery told Tribune.
The casino, despite its claims to boost the economy and provide as many as 300 jobs, remains controversial.
The Rain Rock Casino is expected to open next summer. The casino is the culmination of a 10-year effort by the tribe that met with opposition from many residents in Siskiyou County. Despite that skepticism the tribe obtained agreements with the city of Yreka, the county and the California Department of Transportation in 2014 and 2015.
The tribe hopes the casino will improve the lives of its 3,700 members, 420 of who live near the city, by helping to expand health and social services, but maintains it will also boost the local economy, which has been in tatters since the timber industry went into a steep decline. Unemployment is 9.8 percent in the city and 6.9 percent in the county.
When completed in May 2017 the casino will have 500 slots, eight gaming tables and a restaurant able to seat 100. A second phase includes the addition of an 80-room hotel, additional gaming space for 300 more slots and eight gaming tables.
It is located 17 miles south of the Seven Feathers Casino Resort in Canyonville, Oregon, operated by the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe.
Business owners in the downtown area are unsure whether the casino will attract visitors their way and some fear it will actually increase unemployment and drug use.
“I don’t think it will do anything for the downtown,” said the owner of a local soap company. In her experience large corporate businesses, such as Wal-Mart, actually push out locally owned stores.
The tribe says it plans to employ local people whenever possible and pay them a “living wage.” The tribe has committed to pay for an additional police officer for Yreka as well as funds for new squad cars periodically.
