The Agua Caliente band of CahuillasCenturies ago, ancestors of the Agua Caliente Cahuilla (pronounced Kaw-we-ah) Indians settled in the Palm Springs area and developed extensive and complex communities in Palm, Murray, Andreas, Tahquitz and Chino Canyons. Abundant water and hundreds of plants (Including Palm trees) and animals found throughout the area ensured stable living conditions. Crops of melons, squash, beans and corn were grown, animals were hunted, and plants and seeds were gathered for food, medicines, basketweaving etc. Many traces of these communities exist in the canyons today, including rock art, house pits and foundations, irrigation ditches, dams, reservoirs, trails, and food processing areas. The Agua Caliente are members of a large Linguistic and cultural family of Native Americans known to ethnographers as: "Uto-Aztecan Stock". The family of "Shoshonean" stock includes other nearby Aboriginal neighbors such as: The Moapa Paiutes of Southern Nevada, the Chemehuevi along the Colorado River, the Tohono O'otam (Papago) along the Southern Part of Arizona and Northern Mexico and the Pima all the way down to Chihuahua Mexico as well as many other groups. All of the Groups mentioned along with the Agua Caliente Cahuilla have been known to use the Washingtonia filifera or Desert Fan Palm; a native palm tree to the areas where these groups have traditionally lived for many centuries. Uses of these Palms in each of the mentioned groups is very similar or identical and includes basketry, food in the form of a mush type gravy and utensils and shelters. Most of the groups have at least some limited oral traditional mention of the Palm which has been handed down through the many generations. The agua Caliente bands have perhaps the most detailed oral traditions surrounding this native plant. The Agua Caliente Indians were industrious and creative
with a reputation for independence, integrity and peace,
They believed this productive land of their ancestors
would Though Palm Springs and the surrounding area was described as a
recreational oasis as early as the 1890's, the historical significance
of the three southern canyons, as well as Tahquitz Canyon, is noted
by their listing on the National Register of Historic Places, Palm
and Andreas Canyons have the most and second most palm trees in
the world, with Murray Canyon listed as fourth. Palm Canyon Tahquitz Canyon Murray Canyon Andreas Canyon
The canyons and associated resources noted above are especially sacred to the Indians today and are historically important to scientists and lovers of nature. Please enjoy the free gifts of equanimity and serenity that you may take with you. Appreciate and respect. Photos: Cover "View of Andreas Canyon"-- Rand Larson; Hawk & Murray Canyon -- George Service; Palm & Andreas Canyons - F/MCAGUA CALIENTE BAND Please click here to go back to Moapa Palms Introductory Page.
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always be theirs, but in 1876 the U.S. Federal
Government deeded in trust, to the Agua Caliente
people, 32,000 acres to be used as their homeland. At the
same time they gave to the So. California Railroad, on
either side of the railroad, ten miles of the odd sections
of land to induce them to build the railroad. Of the
reservation's 32,000 acres, some 6,700 lie within the
Palm Springs city limits. The remaining even sections
fan out across the desert and mountains in a checkerboard pattern.
