Current Status
Today Palm Springs and the surrounding areas are experiencing rapid development. The Agua Caliente Band of the Cahuilla is an important player in the local economy, operating an array of business enterprises, including land leasing, hotel and casino operations, and banking.
The Agua Caliente Indian Reservation occupies 126.706 km2 (48.921 sq mi) in the Palm Springs area, including parts of the cities of Palm Springs, Cathedral City, and Rancho Mirage. The total population living on its territory was 21,358 persons as of the 2000 census, although few of these are registered tribal members.
The Morongo Band of Mission Indians, also considered part of the Cahuilla nation, operates the Morongo Casino Resort and Spa, as well as the Hadley Fruit Orchards in Cabazon. The Morongo Casino is one of the largest Indian casinos in the United States. The Morongo Indian Reservation is located in northern Riverside County. The cities of Banning and Cabazon both extend partially onto reservation land. The reservation has a land area of 127.083 km2 (49.067 sq mi), with a resident population of 954, the majority of Native American heritage.
Smaller bands of Cahuilla are located in Southern California: the Augustine Band in Coachella; the Cabazon Band in Indio; the Cabazon Reservations in Indio, Coachella and Mecca; the Cahuilla Band in Anza; the Los Coyotes Band in Warner Springs; the Ramona Indian Reservation in Pine Meadow; Santa Rosa Indian Reservation in Pinyon; the Twentynine Palms Band in Twentynine Palms, Indio and Coachella; the Torres-Martinez Band in La Quinta, Coachella, Thermal, Mecca and Oasis; and the Mission Creek Reservation in Desert Hot Springs.
Extinct Cahuilla tribes (known as the Las Palmas bands of Cahuilla) in the early 20th century resided in the Palm Desert area (between Cathedral City and La Quinta). This was before land developers and US Armed Forces purchased what was tribal land from the Montoya family in present-day Indian Wells and from the San Cayetano band in Rancho Mirage. The number of these tribes' descendants is unknown. The Montoya family, who claim partial Cahuilla descent, are influential in local economics and city politics.
The ethnic composition of the Cahuilla descendants is like that of many other Americans: mixed with European (especially Anglo/Irish-American and Spanish), African American, Asian-American (from historic interaction with Chinese railroad workers and Filipino farm laborers), and other tribal groups, mainly Apache migrant workers from Arizona. Some Cahuilla families continue to intermarry with local populations; others try to marry within Native American tribes.
Read more about this topic: Cahuilla People
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