“Lukachukai is more than just a name on a map;

it’s a haven for everyone who lives here.”  

Long ago, the rivers coming from the Buffalo Pass Gorge and Totsoh (Big Water) Gorge of the Lukachukai-Chuska Mountain range, flowed into a large lake right where our community is now. And every spring, on the east shore of that lake, against the mountain as far as the eye could see, grew a plant known as reed (lok’aa’) similar to that of corn. The reed grew in abundance and during the fall seasons, all-at-once the reed stalks turned to its autumn foliage of yellow-white. From a distance away, the colors of the autumn foliage along the mountain’s base, displayed a white streak that extended out of the Buffalo Pass gorge, along with the east lakeshore and against the mountain (ch’ee gai), thus the name our community was born, Lok’aa ch’eegai OR Lukachukai.

Though the lake and the plant no longer exist here, the rivers, mountains and valleys remain. And throughout the generations hence, many families, livestock, and wildlife have settled here and call it our hometown. 

Home is where the heart is and our hometown of Lukachukai always has our heart. It is the place to which we belong. The place which gives us our identity and of course solace which we should be proud of.