The Moapas of 1900 KNEW the Palms!
Those Moapa Elders early in this century would NEVER have misled their children regarding the origins of plants dominating their sacred warm springs!

You can be certain that the Moapa knew their Sacred places and all the associated plants intimately! Had Palms been introduced by whites it is NOT likely they would include them in sacred traditions!

The Current "Research" is insufficient!
All official local investigations into these palms has been faulty. All rely solely on the Mendis story, and NONE include a single word of Moapa testimony! None compares prevalent riparian species, hydrology or climate of other native Palm groves to Moapa groves in a thorough and satisfactory manner. This palm was considered GUILTY of being introduced BEFORE any evidence was examined.

Meanwhile, simple math demonstrates how the Palms cannot possibly be from Coopers original homestead plantings if the Moapa were using Fruit from Warm Springs traditionally by 1923!

Try this! James Cornett PhD. curator of Palm Springs Desert Museum and author of the disputed "research" is considered an expert on W. filifera and has stated that W. filifera takes ~15 years to produce seed. (It's actually much faster in good soil with care and attention...and much slower in poor compacted alkali soils such as found at Moapa springs, by the way! Maturation may take up to 50+ years in Moapa.)

To Cooper's arrival date (1893) simply add 15 years. (=1908)  ...(assuming Cooper planted his seeds as soon as he got to Overton)... 15 years is how long it takes to produce fruit.

Then imagine if Cooper planted his first crop seeds immediately at Warm Springs, ...which incidentally was a private ranch owned by someone else...(AND WHICH INCIDENTALLY IS IMPOSSIBLE SINCE HE DIED IN 1903)...add 15 MORE years for THEM to bear fruit.

Now it would be 1923. If Cooper were responsible 1923 is the EARLIEST date fruit would have been available to Moapa tribal elders!
Yet the testimonials of living Moapa Elders indicate that the Moapa were harvesting and processing palm fruit in a traditional manner which WAS DYING OUT in the early 1920's. By the 1920's ALL Moapa traditions were DYING. They certainly weren't starting NEW ONES! Furthermore, Whites certainly did not teach the Moapas to use Palms since they considered them of little value except to view!

If you just did the math with me you can now see how the fact that palms did NOT exist in Phoenix when Cooper left or BEFORE he died, coupled with the fact that he could NOT have been responsible for the large groves at Warm Springs, leaves us with only one conclusion. Mendis could NOT have brought Palms to the Moapa valley.

We would also be required to believe that the Moapa accessed private white property around 1923, collected the fruit of a completely new plant species which they had NEVER seen before AND that they accidentally stumbled upon a method for using the fruit identical to the ancient method used by their ancient cousins, the Cahuilla, downstream about 200 miles!

Not to mention that since Cooper died in 1903, the job of collecting those first seeds in Overton and then planting them 40 miles away in Warm Springs had to go to someone else. BUT - No one has EVER come forward to take credit for the massive plantings of Palms at Warm Springs over 40 miles away from Cooper original palms.

|NEXT PAGE|

Just 1 more page...