Cahto People

The Cahto (also spelled Kato, especially in anthropological and linguistic contexts) are an indigenous Californian group of Native Americans. Today most descendants are enrolled as the federally recognized tribe, the Cahto Indian Tribe of the Laytonville Rancheria, and a small group of Cahto are enrolled in the Round Valley Indian Tribes of the Round Valley Reservation.

Name

''Cahto (Kato)'' means loosely "People of the Lake" or "Lake People," and may derive from the Northern Pomo word for "lake", which referred to an important Cahto village site, called Djilbi. Therefore the Cahto are sometimes referred to as the ''Kaipomo'' or Kato people.
The Cahto (Kato) called themselves Tlokyhan, or "Grass People." Today they use Kooʾyoohaangn or Cahto Tribe as tribal designation.

Reservation

The tribe controls the Laytonville Rancheria (), also known as the Cahto Rancheria, a federal Indian reservation of Cahto and Pomo people. The rancheria is large and located west of Laytonville in Mendocino County. It was founded in 1906.Pritzker 118 The reservation's population is about 188.

Cahto Flag

The Cahto flag, representing their sovereign nation, features a stylized bear claw outlined in white and centered on a black pictograph representing the Cahto ancestral lake home. The pictograph is centered on a red field surrounded with a white and red border. The Words "CAHTO TRIBE" is written in white block letters above the lake pictograph. The bear claw is placed to indicate the importance of the bear as one of their most important tribal totems. The lake symbol denotes their ancestral lands, the color red indicates the blood of their people, white is for the purit