**DESERT INTRODUCTION**

Leaving the deserts, canyons, and mountains of Mars and returning to
Earth, we can turn our focus to deserts on our own planet. There are 20
major deserts on Earth, spread over the six continents. They cover
nearly 15% of the Earth's surface; an area about the size of South
America. No matter where they are located, all the deserts share one
characteristic; they are very dry. Scientists define a desert as an area
that receives less than 10 inches (25cm) of rainfall during a year and
has a very high rate of evaporation, usually due to the high
temperatures and/or strong winds.

Why would people live in a desert area? Perhaps it is a matter of
choice; perhaps it is necessity. Today, we will look at three distinct
desert cultures and consider how the people developed them and the
lifestyle they lead, as well as their adaptations. As we study desert
culture, the following present day problem must be considered.

Increased desertification is threatening to add an additional 15 million
acres of desert each year. This is due to several conditions:
salination; the overuse of groundwater reserves; stripping of vegetation
for fuel, lumber, and by overgrazing; and over---cultivating without
crop rotation to replenish soil nutrients. Scientists are worried that
this may also be affecting the earth's atmosphere and overall ecology.
It will take a great deal of time, money, and dedication to improve
these conditions.

Concern for the earth's deserts gives us the opportunity to study the
history and culture of three deserts and their people. The San Bushmen
of Africa's Kalahari Desert, the Aborigines of the central region of
Australia, and the Native Americans of the Mojave Desert will be
introduced.

**KALAHARI DESERT SAN BUSHMEN**

![](media/image1.jpeg){width="3.1013888888888888in"
height="3.7583333333333333in"}

The word "Kalahari" comes from a Tswana word meaning "the great thirst."
The desert, itself, covers 70% of Botswana and extends south into South
Africa, west into Namibia, and north into Angola and Zambia.

More a semi---arid zone than a true desert, one of the essential
features of this region is a geological formation known as a \"pan,\" a
round mostly hard, gray clay formation. Pans are hollow shallows which
gleam in the sunlight from the salt in them; these salt deposits are
important to the animals in the area. During the rainy season in March
and April, large migrating herds of animals come for the water
![](media/image3.jpeg){width="3.75in" height="3.3986111111111112in"}that
collects in the pans. During this rainy season, the Okavango delta, a
significant wetland system north of the Kahalari, attracts an incredible
number of birds; including cranes, egrets, herons, and a variety of
raptors. The wildlife and the land\'s scenic beauty make this part of
Africa a popular wilderness destination for tourists.

In this region also live the San Bushmen, who comprise an endangered
tribe of people, protected by the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, founded
in 1961. The Reserve is meant to provide a homeland for these people in
their natural environment, the only place they seem able to survive.

Early African tribes that moved south into the Kalahari over a thousand
years ago discovered a group of unusually small people whose average
height was under five feet, and whose skin had a yellowish tinge.
Archaeologists believe that these Bushmen have been living in this area
for 20,000 to 30,000 years, based on the rock art found. As successful
hunter---gathers, the Bushmen taught the newcomers their practices, and
it is felt that they successfully co-existed until the arrival of
Europeans into southern Africa in the 17th century.

The tribe first encountered Europeans when Dutch explorers and travelers
to east Asia stopped near the Cape of Good Hope, where the bushmen lived
at that time. The threat of being taken as slaves drove central and east
coast tribes farther southward. Hostilities grew, and the remaining
former herders and farmers moved into the Kalahari Desert.

Early Boer settlers in the area killed about 200,000 people in 200
years. The Europeans shot and drove away the wild game on which the
Bushmen depended, and they retaliated by stealing and killing the
imported livestock. Consequently, this was a war the Bushmen could never
win. In 1802, a famine also weakened the tribes in southern Africa, and
there was increased warring among tribes. In 1869, the last band of
Bushmen was attacked and decimated. By the beginning of the 20th
century, very few Bushmen remained.

In the 1800\'s, a Botswana leader named Khama appealed to England for
help. On March 31, 1885, Great Britain put "Bechuanaland" under its
protection but, in 1910, when the Union of South Africa was formed, the
protectorate was not included. In spite of British authority expanding
with advisory councils and standardization of tribal rules from 1920
through 1960, it was not until June 1964 that Britain accepted
Botswana's proposal for democratic self-government. A 1965 Constitution
led to the first elections and to independence in September 1966.

Approximately 33,000 San Bushmen live in the Kalahari Reserve, with some
19,000 living in Namibia, and others scattered throughout southern
Africa.

For those living in the Reserve, their life style is that of the nomadic
hunter---gatherers. They camp in one place for as long as the area will
sustain them and, then, move to another area. They plan their moves so
as to arrive when the wild plants are ready to harvest. Using digging
sticks, the women gather the available melons, bulbs, roots, tubers,
nuts, fruits, and leafy vegetables.

Water is obtained in resourceful ways: from the plants, from the stomach
contents of animals they have killed, and from depressions in logs. When
possible, the Bushmen store water in ostrich eggshells, which they bury
in the ground for use during droughts.

The men hunt giraffes, wildebeest, antelope, and other animals using
bows with poison---tipped arrows and spears. Clothing is made from
animal skins. They wear short leather aprons, skin sandals, and beads.
Shelters are usually structures made of branches covered with grasses or
caves.

The San Bushmen are skilled at rock engraving. Scholars continue to
study the petroglyphs on the walls of some of their caves. The San have
become experts at mixing berries and plants to make paints, poisons, and
medicinal remedies. They know how to innoculate themselves against snake
bites, and they have a substance they put into their campfires to ward
off lions.

Very little is known about the religious beliefs of the San. Their
religion seems complex, with several gods. There is a large oral
mythology of fabled beasts and legends of transformation.

In summary, the San Bushmen of the Kalahari have survived the extremes
of their environment through hundreds of years of resourceful
adaptation. It is hoped that their skills will allow them to continue to
survive in an ever-changing world.

> **AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL PEOPLE**

The continent \"Down Under\", Australia, has five deserts and, together,
they cover more than one---third of the land mass or 890,000 sq. mi.
(2.3 million km). The Great Sandy, Victoria, and Simpson Deserts are
sandy with a high barometric pressure system; while the Gibson and
Stuart are stony and are in the mountain\'s rain shadow.

![](media/image4.jpeg){width="3.4347222222222222in" height="2.79375in"}

Australia separated from Antarctica about 40 million years ago and
consequently its plants and animals evolved in isolation, developing
into unique flora and fauna. Among the plants are: acacia, eucalyptus,
saltbush, spinifex grass, and bottlebrush, which the natives soaked in
water for a sugary drink. The animal species include: blue---tongued
lizard, dingo, kangaroo, rabbit-eared bandicoot, koalas, wombats,
cockatoos, galahs; and the primitive and very unique egg laying mammals,
the platypus and echidna.

The worldwide symbol for Australia is Uluru, or Ayers Rock. A geological
upheaval occurred 600 million years ago when the world's southern
continents collided, forming \"Gondwana\" and causing a thousand---mile
range of mountains to rise. Over the eons, the mountains wore down into
piles of rubble. Some of the heaps fused to form three geological
features: Mount Connor, the Olgas, and Uluru.

![](media/image5.jpeg){width="3.420138888888889in"
height="1.4458333333333333in"}

Brick red in color, Uluru is shaped like a loaf of bread, being round at
the ends and slightly humped in the middle. Many groups of indigenous
peoples, or \"Aborigines\", came to the rock for more than 20,000 years
for its freshwater springs. In the Aborigine folklore, the creation of
Uluru is told in the story of the Mulga Seed Men, the Carpet Snakes, and
the Marsupial Rats. According to the folktale, the horrific fighting
among these created the ridges and gullies on the face of the Rock. To
this day, the native people tell this story to their children to remind
them of the importance of social commitments and the danger of breaking
them.

It is theorized that the Aboriginal people came to Australia from
Southeast Asia and the islands to the north, with small sea voyages of
perhaps 50 miles at a time until they reached Australia. This was,
perhaps, the first time mankind had ever colonized by sea. (North and
South America were probably not inhabited at this time, the Pleistocene
era.) As the oceans rose and took over the coastal land, the people
moved southward in all directions. By 20,000 B.C., they had reached
present-day Sydney Harbor. By the time James Cook, and, later, the First
Fleet arrived, there were probably 300,000 Aborigines throughout
Australia, most living along the coasts where there was more rain and
food.

These first Australians were divided into tribes which grew or shrank
with the availability of food. Each tribe of hunter/gatherers moved
within a proscribed area dictated by their hunting customs and totemism.
They did not have any notion of private property or leaders. The land
was of the greatest importance, dictating their identity, language, and
religion. They had their own stories of the Dreamtime and the landmarks
of their area. Even today, natives who have lived away from their
territory for two or three generations still identify with it.

The main food source for the early Aborigines came from the sea. Their
boats were made by cutting a long oval of bark from an eucalyptus tree
and binding both ends. A fire was kept in the bottom of the boat, on
clay, so that the fish could be cooked and eaten at sea. The fragility
of these boats suited the nomadic way of life as they were easy to carry
and just as easy to replace. The men hunted emus, kangaroo, lizards, and
geese, with spears, stone axes, and a fire stick. The women did their
vegetable/fruit collecting with digging sticks. They also gathered
turtles, insects, nuts and honey. The only semidomestic animals were the
wild, young dingos, who probably migrated with the original natives.
Water holes and rain pools were the source of water. There was no
indication of planned agriculture. There was no surplus since there was
no means of storage. There has been no evidence of property ownership,
money, or outside trade.

![](media/image6.jpeg){width="3.5034722222222223in"
height="2.4833333333333334in"}Caves or branch---grass dwellings were the
main types of shelter. Home was indicated by the hearth fire, and the
fire stick made that portable. Clothing was probably at a minimum, but
plagues of mosquitoes and flies were battled by keeping fish oil on the
body. To this was added animal grease, sand, dust, and sweat. Their
muscular development and stamina was outstanding.

Aboriginal art, religion, and music are based on the stories of the time
of the Tjukurpa, or Dreamtime. The stories tell of the land being
created by the Ancestors, who had some characteristics of animals and
some of human beings. In addition, they were able to change from animal
to human. As these Ancestors moved across the land they created the
mountains, valleys, rivers, sand dunes, and waterholes. Wherever there
was an important adventure or event, energy was left in the ground. The
native people believe that they can draw on this energy, thus making
many places, all across Australia sacred places to different tribes. As
well as telling the creation story, the Dreamtime states the laws for
human behavior, including: how to relate to other people, how to care
for the land, and even how to prepare certain foods.

The first documented European to visit Australia was William Jansz, who
had been sent by the Dutch East India Company in 1605. Dutch exploration
attempts continued through 1644 but, by then, the Company had lost
interest in the land to the south. The Aboriginal people were to be left
in relative peace from the outside world for a while yet.

However, on April 1, 1770, Captain James Cook officially took possession
of New Zealand for Great Britain and then anchored in Botany Bay on the
April 29. "I now once more hoisted English Colours, and in the name of
His Majesty King George the Third take possession of the whole
Easterncoast \... after which we fired 3 Volleys of small Arms."(3.)
Cook made two more voyages to the 'Great South Land' before he was
killed in Hawaii. (He made remarkably accurate maps, even though he did
not have the use of a chronometer until his second voyage. He had made
known to Europe more of the world than anyone else at that time.)

3\. "Captain Cook" poster. Artarmon, N.S.W., Australia, Peter Leyden
Pub. House, n.d.

Exploring with Cook was the botanist, Joseph Banks. It was his report
back to the British government that paved the way for the first penal
colony. The few Australians he observed were reported to be
"ill---armed, backward, and timid; most of them ran at the sight of a
white face; and they had no goods or property to defend." (4.)

> 4\. Hughes, Robert. [The Fatal Shore]{.underline}. New York, Knopf,
> 1986. p. 57.

A little known result of the American Revolution was the establishment
of the British colony of New South Wales. With the thirteen American
colonies closed to the shipment of convicts as indentured servants,
Great Britain realized that it had to find a new site for its convicted
felons, and that it must be across an ocean. Unrest in Ireland,
Scotland, and Wales, as well as the French Revolution, made the choosing
of a distant site increasingly important. The number of prisoners was
rising steadily. Old ships, called "hulks,\" were moored in the Thames,
and other rivers, housing the extra prisoners under terrible conditions.
Taking into consideration Cook's and Banks\' recommendation that the
east coast of Australia might be a good site for a settlement, the
government decided in August 1786 that Botany Bay, New South Wales would
be the site of a new penal colony.

Captain Arthur Phillip was placed in charge of the expedition, and the
First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay between the 18th and 20th of January,
1788. Finding no fresh water, he moved the eleven ships to Port Jackson,
now Sydney. Between 1788 and 1868, 160,000 convicts (men and women) were
transported to Australia.

Although the local tribe had greeted the First Fleet in a friendly
manner, hostilities soon broke out. Trying to avoid any tribal warfare,
Governor Phillip's instructions stated that they should "conciliate
their affections, enjoining all our subjects to live in amity and
kindness with them." The governor stated that anyone who harmed the
natives would be punished. As the settlers began to move inland,
resistance increased, even as cholera, influenza, and smallpox germs
from the ships began to take their toll on the Australians.

As new colonies, sheep stations, and farms developed, colonists urged
the governor to drive out the Aborigines. Only one treaty was ever
signed with the natives. It was in Melbourne in 1835, purchasing 600,000
acres of land with blankets, knives, and tomahawks. This "treaty" was
never recognized by the British government. By 1838, Robert Hughes, in
[The Fatal Shore]{.underline}, reports that "probably between 2,000 and
2,500 European settlers were killed, and upwards of 20,000
Aborigines."(5. ibid. p.85) The native population dropped to about
70,000 by 1900, and some thought that the race might die out.

However, over the years, with increased medical care, food, and shelter
at church missions and government settlements, the population began to
increase, especially in the Northern Territory.

In 1931, as in the United States, native children were taken to
settlements, with schools, where they were forbidden to speak their
native language, forced to abandon their heritage, and taught to be
culturally white.

During the 1970s, many Aborigines in northern Australia moved off the
large reserves which had housed mixed tribal groups and established
communities away from the white influences. Now there are about 500 of
these outstations. Each works to re---establish the values and culture
of its tribe. Most have about 30 to 50 people at each outstation. Here,
they are able to enjoy their music with clapsticks and didjeridoos, hold
private, secret ceremonies to initiate young men into adulthood, and
attend a corroboree, an evening of singing and dancing.

Also in the 1970s, there was a new artistic development in the Northern
Territory. Students at the Papunya School, as well as seniors, were
encouraged to paint their tribe's traditional Dreamtime designs on wall
murals, using acrylic paints, which were ideal for the desert
conditions. Soon many artists were painting their Dreamings on portable
canvases, bark and wood. Being easy to transport, the paintings sold
well and brought a new source of income to the people.

Expressing their relationship to nature, as well as the creation
stories, the dots and the x-ray style of images, with a bold use of
color, became popular with Australians and tourists. In 2003, the Museum
of Contemporary Art in Sydney, working with Sotheby's auction firm, held
a sale of Aboriginal art, bringing in \$7,000,000.00. The ancient cave
paintings and rock carvings of 30,000 years ago had entered the modern
era.

> **JOHN WESLEY POWELL AND THE GRAND CANYON**

America\'s most famous red rock formation is located in Arizona, and is
the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon was sculpted by the downward movement
of the Colorado River through it, and contains towering buttes, mesas,
and valleys. Visitors to Grand Canyon National Park can view old lava
flows, hills of volcanic debris, and igneous rock.

Before construction of the Hoover and Glen Canyon Dams along the
Colorado, scientists estimated that the average flow of the river,
during a typical June month, might be around 85,000 cubic feet per
second (cfs). (Peak flows, on a number of occasions over the previous
4,000 years, might have reached over 250,000 cfs. As the primary river
of the Southwest, the river drains about 242,000 square miles of land,
from the states of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah,, New Mexico Arizona, Nevada,
and California. The headwaters are located in Rocky Mountain National
Park. It passes through the Grand Canyon, beginning at Lee's Ferry and
dropping 2,200 feet before it reaches the end of the Canyon, at the
Grand Wash Cliffs, 277 miles away. Since the building of the dams, the
river\'s flow rates have dropped to around 30,000 cfs and the water
temperature has dropped from as warm as 80 degrees F to an average 42
degrees F, which has driven native fish to endangerment or extinction,
and the introduced rainbow trout has compounded this loss. The red silt
and sediments that gave the river its color and name are trapped behind
the Glen Canyon Dam in the bottom of Lake Powell.

The first Europeans to see the canyon were members of the exploration
party headed by explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, in late 1540.
Because it was so very difficult to gain access to the canyon, it was
not fully explored for more than three hundred years. Several
expeditions by the United States Army began about 1850, but the first
passage by an American through the Canyon was accomplished by John
Wesley Powell in 1869.

![](media/image7.jpeg){width="1.4861111111111112in"
height="1.5555555555555556in"}John Wesley Powell was a child of the
frontier, growing up on a subsistence farm in Wisconsin He showed an
early interest in geology, botany, and Native American culture. He
became a self-taught teacher in order to finance his scientific
education. While he was teaching in Illinois, the Civil War broke out,
and Powell enlisted in the Union Army, studied fortifications, and
became a friend of Ulysses S. Grant. He was in charge of the ditch
construction for the siege of Vicksburg. It was during the Battle of
Shiloh that his right arm was shattered by a miniball. Even after the
amputation, with the care of his wife, Emma Dean, he participated in the
battles of Atlanta and Franklin.

He left the service, as a major, in 1865, and accepted a position as a
professor of geology and curator of the museum at Illinois Wesleyan
University. River trips before the Civil War and a field trip with
students to the Rocky Mountains in 1867 inspired Powell to begin plans
to explore the canyons of the Colorado River. Frontiersmen and fur
trappers had navigated the upper parts of the river, but no one had ever
completed exploring the river to its mouth (now under Lake Mead). Powell
had four wooden boats built that he hoped would withstand the rumored
rapids, whirlpools, and falls. To his lead boat, the Emma Dean, he had a
captain's chair lashed to the deck and, from there, he handled the
tiller and filled his notebooks with his observations.

![](media/image8.jpeg){width="2.577777777777778in" height="4.0in"}On May
24, 1869, he and his nine recruits headed down the Green River with the
cheers of well-wishers ringing in their ears. By the time they reached
the end of their expedition, three members were dead, two boats were
smashed, and most of their provisions were lost or were unfit to eat.
The scientific expedition had changed to one of survival. Three months
and six days later, on August 30, 1869, they came out of the Grand
Canyon and were greeted by four fishermen who had been watching for
floating debris from the "ill-fated John Wesley Powell Expedition."

Among Powell's accomplishments on this first trip, was the discovery (by
an American explorer) of the last unknown river in the United States,
known as the "Dirty Devil," and the mountains it skirted, named the
Henry Mountains. With his constant climbing and careful map making, he
had shown the wide drainage of the Colorado River, and described the
river as the daughter, not the mother, of its tributaries.

Powell convinced Congress of the importance of continued research in the
West and was granted \$10,000.00 to establish the Geographical and
Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region. In the summer of 1872,
he completed a second descent of the Colorado River, returning with more
data.

Afterwards, he resigned from his university position and went to work
for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. He published his
combined findings in [The Exploration of the Colorado River and its
Canyons]{.underline}. It included information on the Native American
tribes and the observation that the nation needed a single government
agency to oversee exploring, mapping, and inventorying the river' s
natural resources.

Among his many accomplishments, Powell helped organize the United States
Geological Survey and became its second director. He set the standard
and began the huge job of drawing and publishing quality maps of the
United States, including the topographical maps used by today's hikers.
He also served as the Smithsonian's Bureau of Ethnology from 1880 until
his death in 1902. The last part of his life was spent on philosophical
and ethnographical writing. (he coined the word "Amerind" to distinguish
American Indians from the natives of India.)

His understanding of the aridity of the West was ignored by most of the
people moving to the Great Plains, where they had been assured that
"rain follows the plow." The lack of water west of the hundredth
meridian had been understood by Powell. He had stated that the West
could not be changed even if all the surface water between the Columbia
River and the Gulf of Mexico were to be used. He could not have known of
the water stored in aquifers. (The region's groundwater is projected by
some current experts to be depleted within the next one hundred years.)
Consequently, his vision and insight needs to be heeded. His proposals
for laws to protect the West were partially addressed by the creation of
the Bureau of Reclamation in 1902; his warning that there is too little
water to irrigate all the land remains largely ignored to this day.

Displaying intelligence, creativity, and enthusiasm, this self---made
man of science put his love of his country and his belief in serving the
public good foremost in his life. He died on September 23, 1902, in
Haven, Maine, and is buried in

Arlington National Cemetery.

**THE FORT MOJAVE INDIAN TRIBE**

The Mojave Desert lies between the Great Basin Desert to the north, and
the Sonoran Desert to the south, and includes part of southeastern
California and southern Nevada. The Mojave spreads over 15,000 square
miles and is called a high desert with altitudes ranging from below sea
level in Death Valley, to 4,500 feet. Various areas are covered by sandy
soil, gravel, and salt flats. Winter rainfall, in varying amounts,
produces spring wildflowers on the desert floor. The physical features
and the altitude determine the plants and animals of the various areas
of the desert. The Mojave is home to the Joshua tree, creosote bush,
bighorn sheep, coyotes, jackrabbits, and sidewinders.

![](media/image9.jpeg){width="4.440972222222222in"
height="4.1090277777777775in"}At present, the Mojave area contains over
15 reservations of Native Americans. Among these is the Fort Mojave
Indian Tribe, whose offices are in Needles, California.

![](media/image10.jpeg){width="1.957638888888889in"
height="2.8333333333333335in"}The pre-contact Mojave were known as the
"Pipa Aha Macav," "the people by the water." Evidence suggests that the
ancestors of the Mojave came to the area of the Colorado River soon
after the last ice age. For perhaps as long as 8,000 years, they
depended on crops of the cyclical spring floodwaters of the river to
irrigate their beans, corn, pumpkins and other plants native to the
area. All members of the family worked at the planting, weeding, and
harvesting. The people also fished, and trapped small animals along the
riverbank; with the hides of rabbits, beavers, etc. providing the little
clothing they required. The men made bows and arrows for hunting. Other
tools included stone knives, scrapers, choppers, hammerstones, string
and rope. Before dams and flood control, the riverbanks were lined with
groves of cottonwood, willow, and stands of arrow weed. The Mojave were
expert basket weavers, as these examples illustrate.

A Mojave house was rectangular, with a sloping roof that extended to
form a covered porch. The frame and horizontal
![](media/image11.jpeg){width="3.4166666666666665in"
height="1.9520833333333334in"}beams were made from large cottonwood
logs. Arrow weed was used for the thatch roof and the wall covering.
Some houses were filled in with mud from the river. The door and smoke
hole were the only openings, but most of the cooking was done outside.
Winter houses may have been built on excavation of a few feet in the
sand. Summerhouses may have been built nearer to the river. There is no
evidence that they used sweathouses for bathing.

Men wore willow bark breech clothes and fiber sandals if they were
traveling far. Women wore a front and back skirt made from the inner
bark of the willow, cottonwood, or mesquite tree. Body and face painting
were used as well as tattooing with a blue cactus ink. (Slaves as well
as married women were identified by chin tattoos.) One author has stated
that the Mojave believed that a person must be tattooed in order to
enter the here---after. They might, instead, go down a "rat-hole."(1)

Cremation was practiced by the Mojave to enter the spirit world. All
property and belongings of the deceased were placed on the pyre with the
body to accompany the spirit. The name of the deceased person was never
again spoken.

1.  From: Smith, Gerald A. The Mojave Indians. San

> Bernardino County Museum Assoc., 1977, p. 16.

The Mojave lived in a system of clans that they believed had been given
to them in the First Time. The clans were named for things above and
below the earth. There were 22 patrilinear clans (today there are 18)
with the children taking the name of their father's clan. However, only
the women used the clan name and were required to marry someone from
another clan. Leadership was divided among the leaders of three villages
with a hereditary chief, a manager for entertainment, war leaders and
the shamans who had curative powers.

The Mojave people were relatively healthy before the contact with the
Europeans. The shaman used singing, laying on of hands, blowing, and
conversation to try to cure his patient. Life for the shaman could be
dangerous because, if too many of his patients died, the tribe might
execute him for malpractice.

They were a very spiritual people and placed great importance in their
dreams. All aspects of their lives, war, politics, love, etc., were
dictated by this source of knowledge. Through the dreams, "sumach a'hot"
a person might be given a direction or an ability to do something better
than other tribal members. To receive a special gift, a person needed to
go through a time of fasting and other trials. These gifts were to be
used to better the tribe, as well as the individual.

The Mojave could be a fierce people who were willing to defend their
land, but they were also willing to venture away from it. They became
excellent traders, going as far as the Pacific Coast to trade surplus
crops, baskets, and beautiful pottery for items they valued, such as
shells.

The people were great talkers and singers. Often the telling of one of
their myths could take up to five or six evenings. In addition to these
tales in the long song cycles, the people tell other kinds of myths,
including an origin myth, migration legends, sources of clan traditions,
and coyote and miscellaneous tales. Other forms of entertainment
included casting a pole at a rolling hoop, football races, dice games,
guessing games, and a game of tossing pumpkin rings onto a wooden pin.

In 1604, a search for silver led Don Juan Onate through the Mojave area,
but it wasn't until 1775 that contact was made with them by Fray
Francisco Garces. He found the tall, attractive people to be friendly,
and several of them traveled with him for several months. During this
time, his travels included a visit to the Havasupai Indians in the Grand
Canyon in 1776.

After contact with Jedediah Smith and James Ohio Pattie, violence flared
and there followed 20 years of warfare with the trappers from various
companies. It reached its peak when 26 Mojave were killed by trappers
from the Hudson Bay Company in 1847.

In 1850, the United States annexed the territory, and trouble with the
United States Army commenced. However, in 1854, Lt. Amie Weeks Whipple
claimed the Mojave people's friendship as he and his men surveyed and
mapped a railroad route from Ft. Smith, Arkansas to the Pacific Ocean.
The Mojave hoped that this would give them new trade opportunities. A
wagon route soon followed Whipple's survey route and a fort was built
near present-day Needles, California, to guard the river crossing.
Troubles continued, and by 1859, the cry was "Wipe out the Mojave!"
which resulted in 700 Indian fighters being sent south from San
Francisco.

The Civil War closed Fort Mojave but, by 1865, the U.S. government
created the Colorado Indian Reservation near Parker, in the southern
range of the tribe. In addition to splitting the tribe into two parts,
the 1890 transfer of the fort from the War Department to the Department
of the Interior led to the site becoming one of the industrial boarding
schools designed to eliminate native languages and culture. The adults
were taught Anglo farming methods, but had no land on which to farm.
Many went to work for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (later the Santa
Fe), mines, and riverboats. The Mojave people were now urban Indians.

In 1911, by Presidential order, The Fort Mojave Indians were granted a
reservation, made up of the old military land on the California and
Nevada sides of the river, and checkerboard land on the Arizona side,
totaling 31,300 acres. (The checkerboard layout came about because the
government had given every other section of land to the railroad.)

After a devastating flood in 1936, the tribe bought more land

outside Needles to build a new town. The leadership of the tribe changed
completely in 1957, when they approved the Fort Mojave Constitution,
which had a seven member tribal council.

Since then, the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe has fought many battles in
Congress and the courts to protect its land and assets. They took "the
long route through the legal system to prevent dissolution of
Reservation lands to secure rights to the water of the Colorado River."
(2) The tribe's water rights were stated

2\. Fort Mojave Indian Tribe. [Celebrating Change]{.underline}. Needles,
CA, 2001. /p.141.

in "Arizona vs. California," which divided the Colorado River water
among the claimants. Because Western water law uses the principle of
"first in use, first in right," the Tribe has "first call." The Tribe
has a diversion right to 132,537 acre-feet of the river water that is
not subject to any state's control. Careful planning has allowed the
Tribe to construct housing on a large scale, casinos, commercial
centers, and to continue with a large scale agri---business on
reservation land.

Other legal battles have included the threat to close a major regional
highway to make the point that the state had never acquired a Tribal
right of way, and a continuing battle against the building of a low
level nuclear waste dump on the reservation property.

Three casinos, an RV park, the Mojave Resort Golf Course, leases to
Calpine for two power sites, shopping centers, and other land uses are
among their assets. The Tribe is the largest employer in the southern
Mojave Valley, and has full tribal employment, new health care and
recreational facilities, cultural heritage preservation sites, and
educational scholarships for tribal members. With a goal of economic
self-sufficiency, the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe is looking forward to
expanding its cultural and economic opportunities.