welcome
PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
The ancestral village of the Mikćapdo was located on Little Butte Creek, less than 4 miles south of downtown Chico. The people of Mechoopda survived based on strategies, technologies and knowledge associated with a “hunting and gathering” economy. Today, the Mechoopda Indian Tribe is a federally recognized tribe comprised of 560 Tribal Members and governed by a Tribal Council elected by the General Membership.
We welcome you to learn more about our people, history and culture.
“You have to know
who you are.”
—Henry Azbill (1899 –1973) MECHOOPDA MAIDU
Tribal Member Services
Tribal Owned Businesses
MECHOOPDA INDIAN TRIBE
HISTORY & CULTURE
HISTORY
Mechoopda was a village community formerly located on Little Butte Creek, about 3 ½ miles south of today’s downtown Chico. The people of Mechoopda spoke a language related to Maidu, one of the more than 175 languages and dialects once spoken in native California. Mechoopda oral tradition does not include a story of migration, but rather makes reference to the beginnings of this world at a place known as Tadoiko, a few miles south of the village...READ MORE
CULTURE
Mechoopda oral literature is replete with myths recounting the origin of nearly every aspect of life in the world, including the establishment of culture. The creation of the first man and women, the gift of the first food (acorn), and even the occurrence of the first death, provided orientation for navigating the endless pitfalls life in this world entails. Standing like ideological bookends, Kodoyampeh (Earth Maker) and Coyote expressed the dichotomous....READ MORE