Chalon people

Recent work suggests that Chalon may be transitional between the northern and southern groups of Ohlone languages.

Initial studies in the early twentieth century placed them in the portion of the Salinas Valley that surrounds the modern town of Soledad, as well as in the adjacent lower Arroyo Seco area to the west and Chalon Creek are to the east.

[2] In contrast, a late twentieth century study gives the Spanish-contact period Chalon people the rugged Coast Range valleys centered farther to the east, including upper Chalon Creek, the San Benito River east of the Salinas Valley, and the small creeks around San Benito Mountain.

[citation needed] Chalon territory was bordered by the Mutsun (another Ohone division) to the east, Rumsen (another Ohlone division) to the north, Esselen in the Salinas Valley to the west, Salinan to the south, and Yokuts in the San Joaquin Valley to the east.

Most went to work on the farms and ranches of west-central California, while many with Yokuts ancestry moved east into the San Joaquin Valley.