Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians

Headquarters

Mailing Address: PO Box 1340, Shingle Springs, CA 95682

Physical Address: 5281 Honpie Rd, Placerville, CA 95667

Primary Location: Shingle Springs Rancheria in El Dorado County, east of Sacramento, in the heart of Nisenan (Southern Maidu) territory.

Overview

The Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians is a federally recognized, sovereign tribal government whose members aredescendants of Miwok and Southern Maidu (Nisenan) peoples from California's Sacramento Valley and Sierra foothills. The Tribe exercises self-governance through an elected Tribal Council and oversees governmental, cultural, and economicprograms that serve its citizens and surrounding communities.

The Tribe's land base is centered at the Shingle Springs Rancheria in El Dorado County, with additional trust landsincluding ancestral Nisenan territory at Verona in Sutter County. Economic enterprises such as Red Hawk Resort + Casino, the Shingle Springs Health & Wellness Center, and the Red HawkTravel Center support governmental services, housing, public safety, and cultural preservation.

Membership

The Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians has approximately 500 enrolled members, with around 140-141 citizens residingon the Shingle Springs Rancheria. Tribal citizenship is rooted in descent from the historic Miwok and Nisenan communities associated with the Sacramento-Veronaarea and the Shingle Springs Rancheria.

While the Tribe's governmental headquarters is in Shingle Springs, its membership maintains enduring ties to ancestralhomelands in the Sacramento Valley and Sierra foothills, including the village of Wollok (Verona) in Sutter County.

Brief History

The ancestors of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians lived for thousands of years in what is now Northern California,stewarding lands across the central valley, Sacramento River region, and Sierra Nevada foothills. Miwok and Nisenan communities sustained themselves through hunting, fishing, and gathering-especially acorns-within anetwork of autonomous villages connected by shared language and culture.

The arrival of Spanish, Mexican, and later American settlers, culminating in the Gold Rush of 1848-1849, broughtcatastrophic land loss, violence, and disease. Miwok and Southern Maidu (Nisenan) peoples experienced displacement,forced labor, and genocide, and by the early 1900s the Native population in California had plummeted from an estimated310,000 in 1769 to about 17,000.

In 1916, a federal census documented Miwok and Nisenan people living along the Sacramento River, then referred to as theSacramento-Verona Band of Homeless Indians. In 1920, the United States acquired a 160-acre parcel in El Dorado County for their use and occupancy, which became theShingle Springs Rancheria. Over the following decades, federal "termination" policies pushed many Native people into urban areas, but the Tribepersisted and, in partnership with the federal government, began establishing formal homesites on the Rancheria around 1970.

The Tribe's modern era has been marked by renewed assertion of sovereignty and land rights. Shingle Springs secured andexpanded federal recognition, developed governmental institutions including a Tribal Court, and opened Red Hawk Casino in2008, followed by additional enterprises and public safety departments. In 2020, the Tribe reacquired ancestral lands at Verona (Wollok) in Sutter County, and in 2025 those lands were formallytaken into trust, strengthening jurisdiction and reconnecting the Tribe to a core homeland.

Today, the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians continues to revitalize language, culture, and traditional practiceswhile expanding services, housing, and opportunities for its citizens-carrying forward Miwok and Nisenan identities thatendured despite profound historical disruption.