A $700 million Indian casino plan that would have a major impact on Vallejo hasn’t made any headlines lately. But proponents are still trying to prove in federal court that they have a right to move ahead with the project – because of the historical ties of a little-known Pomo chief to our area.

Chief Augustine, whose Pomo name was Shuk, was born in the early 1830s near Clear Lake and as a child was brought to Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma. By the mid-1840s he was head vaquero for Gen. Mariano Vallejo and his brother Salvador, herding cattle on vast stretches of land that included the future site of the city of Vallejo.