The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians of the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation is a federally recognized tribe of the Cahuilla, located in Riverside County, California, United States.[3] The Cahuilla inhabited the Coachella Valley desert and surrounding mountains between 5000 BCE and 500 CE. With the establishment of the reservations, the Cahuilla were officially divided into 10 sovereign nations, including the Agua Caliente Band.[4]
Reservation
Agua Caliente Reservation in 1928Agua Caliente Band signage in downtown Palm SpringsLocation of Agua Caliente Reservation
The Agua Caliente Indian Reservation was founded on May 15, 1876[5] through Executive Order signed by President Ulysses S. Grant covering 31,610 acres (12,790 ha). In 1877 and 1907 the Reservation was extended, to cover 32,000 acres (13,000 ha) of land.[6]
The tribe's headquarters is located in Palm Springs, California. They ratified their constitution and bylaws in 1957,[5] gaining federal recognition. For many years the band was headed by Chairman Richard M. Milanovich until his death on March 11, 2012. Their current tribal council is as follows:[7]
Agua Caliente is one of three reservations where speakers of the "Pass" dialect of the Cahuilla were located, the other two being the Morongo Indian Reservation and Augustine Indian Reservation. Pass Cahuilla is a dialect of Cahuilla found within the Cupan branch of Takic languages, part of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Though revitalization efforts are underway, all dialects of Cahuilla are technically considered to be extinct as they are no longer spoken at home, and children are no longer learning them as a primary language.[8] The last native speaker of Pass Cahuilla died in 2008.
Programs and economic development
Tribal programs and family services
Tribal Family Services was established in 2003 to support social and educational programs for tribal members. Other services include cultural preservation, child development, and scholarships.[9]
The Jane Augustine Patencio Cemetery provides burial services. (Palm Springs artist Carl Eytel is one of the few non-Indians buried in the cemetery.)
The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum in Palm Springs was founded by the tribe in 1991. It houses permanent collections and archives, a research library, and changing exhibits, as well as hosting an annual film festival.[10]
Spa resort and casinos
Image of Agua Caliente Casino parking garage in downtown Palm Springs
The tribe owns three major casinos. The first two are the Spa Resort Casino (now Agua Caliente Palm Springs) in downtown Palm Springs, California at the original hot springs[11] and the Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa in Rancho Mirage, California. The resort at Rancho Mirage also includes a hotel, fitness center and spa, the Canyons Lounge, and seven different restaurants.[12] The Spa Resort Casino, opened in 2003, features gaming, the Cascade Lounge, and four restaurants.[13] The hotel in Downtown Palm Springs closed in 2014.[14]
Ground was broken on the third Agua Caliente casino on November 4, 2019.[15] It is located in Cathedral City, California and opened on November 25, 2020.[16] The tribe annexed 13 acres of land to build the casino.[17] The tribe is the only one in California to own more than one casino.[18]
Indian Canyons
Tahquitz Canyon southwest of downtown Palm Springs is accessible for hiking and guided tours.[19] The Indian Canyons (consisting of Palm Canyon, Murray Canyon, and Andreas Canyon) also accessible for hiking, horseback riding, and tours, are south of Palm Springs.[20]
Golf courses
The tribe also maintains two golf courses in Indian Canyon which are open to the public.[21]
Proposed downtown Palm Springs arena
In June 2019, it was announced that the tribe and entertainment company Oak View Group planned to build a privately funded arena on tribal land in downtown Palm Springs with the intent of the arena serving as the home ice for the expansion Seattle Kraken's American Hockey Leagueaffiliate.[22] The arena was planned to begin construction in February 2020, but was suspended in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. By September 2020, OVG's negotiations with the tribe had come to a halt and the agreement was ended. The Oak View Group chose to build their arena elsewhere.[23]
Golden Checkerboard, a book about legal issues related to the checkerboard-patterned division of Palm Springs real estate, wherein the tribe retains ownership of alternating "squares" of the region, including Palm Springs and surrounding cities.
Bibliography
Bean, Lowell John; Schafer, Jerry; Vane, Sylvia Brakke (1995). Archaeological, Ethnographic and Enthnohistoric Investigations at Tahquitz Canyon, Palm Springs, California. Menlo Park, California: Cultural Systems Research. OCLC35045166.
Eargle Jr., Dolan H. California Indian Country: The Land and the People. San Francisco: Tree Company Press, 1992. ISBN0-937401-20-X.
Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN978-0-19-513877-1.
Agua Caliente Band of Mission Indians (1952). The Story of the Palm Spring Reservation. Palm Springs, CA: Agua Caliente Band of Indians. OCLC17733446.
Agua Caliente Band of Mission Indians (1962). 1962 Progress Report. Long Beach, CA: Technicomm, Inc. : Imperial Press. p. 64. OCLC14933990.
Agua Caliente Band of Mission Indians, Tribal Council (c. 1960). "All that glitters is not gold" : an interim report from the Agua Caliente Tribal Council. p. 23.
Berman, Burt. From squatter to conservator: effects of federal policy on the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and their land, 1850-1974. p. 83. A senior thesis in the Social Sciences Division, Dept. of Interdisciplinary and General studies, University of California, Berkeley. [WorldCat note]. OCLC810236228, 14691345.
Bowes, Ronald Wayne (1973). The Press-Enterprise Investigation of the Palm Springs Indians Land Affair in 1967-68: one newspaper's protection of minority rights. Fullerton, CA: California State University. p. 108. Masters Thesis. OCLC9158475, 14156105.
Patencio, (Chief) Francisco; Hemerdinger, Bill (illustrations) (1971). Hudson, Roy F. (ed.). Desert Hours with Chief Patencio. Palm Springs, CA: Desert Museum. p. 38. LCCE99 C155 P3
Patencio, (Chief) Francisco; as told to Margaret Boynton (1943). Stories and Legends of the Palm Springs Indians. Los Angeles, CA: Times-Mirror. p. 132. LCCN44018350.
Prather, Bonnie Gean; Schnarr, Jimmy; Schnarr, Dennis E. (1964). Palm Springs Cahuilla Indians. Bloomington, CA: San Bernardino County Museum. p. 20. OCLC5896878. Notes on archaeological investigation of the Indio area.
Przeklasa Jr., Terence Robert (2011). The band, the bureau, and the business interests: the Mission Indian Federation and the fight for the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation. Fullerton, CA: California State University (Masters thesis). p. 141. OCLC767861063.
Wolfe Fischer, Virginia (1995). Footprints Through the Palms. p. 36. OCLC40422476. The stories herein are legend, or lore, as such stories are often called. They have been gathered from talks with both older and younger citizens who store these wonderful memories of the 'way it was', to be shared with those who care. This is a tribute to what was, lest it be lost. [Author's note]
