Mission Indians - Reservations

Reservations

Most of the Indian tribes from San Luis Obispo County south to the Mexican border, and from the coast inland extending into the Coachella Valley and parts of the Mojave Desert had some interaction with the missions. In contemporary times many have an ongoing and historic association with the Catholic missions and some also occupy trust lands--Indian Reservations—identified under the Mission Indian Agency. The Mission Indian Act of 1891 formed the administrative Bureau of Indian Affairs unit which governs San Diego County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, and Santa Barbara County. There is one Chumash reservation in the last county, and more than thirty reservations in the others.

Los Angeles County, San Luis Obispo County, and Orange County do not contain any tribal trust lands. However resident tribes, including the Tongva in the first and the Juaneño-Acjachemen Nation in the last (as well as the Coastal Chumash in Santa Barbara County) continue seeking federal Tribal recognition by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Eleven of the Southern California reservations came under the early 20th century allotment programs, which broke up common tribal holdings to assign property to individual tribal members, identified on such lists as the Dawes Rolls. The most important of these include: the Agua Caliente Reservation in Palm Springs, which occupies alternate sections (approx.640 acreseach) with former railroad grant lands that form much of the city; the Morongo Reservation in the San Gorgonio Pass area; and the Pala Reservation on the site of San Antonio de Pala Asistencia (Pala Mission) of the Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in Pala. These and fifteen other reservations operate casinos today. The total acreage of the Mission group of reservations constitutes approximately 250,000 acres (1,000 km2).