DCHP-1 Online

rancherie [< rancheria, q.v.] B.C.

• 1a n. a village or settlement of Indians, especially the settled part of an Indian reserve.

  See also: ranch ((2)) ((n.)) (def. 1 and note)  

  • 1858  (1937)  We then came to . . . a beautiful valley of some thousand acres, on which was situated a large Rancharee of Indians. . . .
  • 1872  "I'd take a dozen Injuns straight out of the rancherie, an' make a better government out of 'em than they've got up thar."
  • 1929  To the west is the wretched-looking rancherie where there are three score Indians--mostly squaws and children, for the men are away hunting and getting ready for the trapping season by this time.
  • 1963  So here I was, having come up the Cariboo Road with horses I had bought at the Indian rancherie at Clinton.

• 1b n. Hist. a settlement of other non-whites, specifically Kanakas.

  See also: Kanaka  

  • 1947  A small rancherie, known as Kanaka Ranch, adjoined Viewfield farm toward the west. . . . This was the home of a small colony of Kanakas.
  • 1958  By a civil servant's error, Kanakas with Indian wives living at the "Kanaka rancherie" on Coal Harbor and working at the inlet mills were allowed to pre-empt and improve a part of the Morton-Brighouse-Hailstone land [in 1868].

• 2 n. among Coast Indians, a long rectangular communal dwelling, built of cedar, housing several families, and used at times for ceremonial affairs.

  See also: plank house (and picture)  ranch-house ((2)) (def. 1)  

  • 1885  Here night overtook us when opposite an Indian village, composed of several large rancheries, and a few hundred Indians.
  • 1963  [Caption] Elliott's "Haidah Rancherie" shows the type of dwelling used . . . before "booze, bullets and bacteria" devastated the indigenous peoples.