Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-05-16
COCOpAHS OF CALIFORNIA
Traditions Of the Strange Tribe
of Indians.
Their History as Given by a"Whtte
Mar Kept Thirty Years in
Captivity.-Held to Satisfy
a Superstition.

lFpo <tibthNFf 1851 '
| strange wild region, ;hat strip Of DESERT
100 miles Wild by 500 long, lying between
fhe Sierra Madre mountains on the west
and the Colorado river and Guf OF Cali
forri,s on the east. Locked In the gran
tie bosofns Of the sun-baked hills or
buried in It's unfathomabie sands Is The
| history OF q certain stage OF civilizations
that heurished there before the pilgrims
set foot on Plymouth rock. Now IL is
nothing but q t~reeless, trackless, water
less waste OF sand and barren noun
tains, a grewsome level Of gray death,
whose mysteries are being slowly
solved by a few hardy prospectors-
Nothing but gold will temps any man
who knows about the Cocopah couutry
TO go there and risk his life.
A few weeks ago two prospectors ar
rived in San Diego, Cal. from an iso-
lated part OF the Cocopah desert and re-
ported having found a ruined temple
half buried In the sand. One OF them.
John Loop OF Pomona, q young man or
scientific bent. brought with min TO surs-
port the story OF the recent fnd pieces
Of ancient pottery and stone carvings,
on which the tracings followed no pat
tern known to man. According to the
prospectors' statement, the ruins above
the sand consisted Of immense c~ylindri-
cal stone columns, arranged in the form
of a paraiieIogram, covering an area or
265 by 400 feet. On the east side was a
group OF columns. which. they con-
cluded, must have been the entrance.
Here they shoveled away the sand ana
uncovered a broad flight Of stone steps.
The columns at the entrance were In ~
modified form OF the letter = ana carved
90 represent huge ratt1esnakes. The en-
tire Enclosure was filed with a drifting
sand, only tn ends OF the columns
showing above the surface. Near py
was a huge stone image OF a turtle Two
exploring parties have tried TO reach the
place, but each OF them has been driven
back-once by the intolerabie neat ana
thirst and again by n terrible sand
storm.
Story OF n White Stranger.
There arrived I'm San Diego recently
three prospectors. Two were Mexicans
named Jose Rodriguez and Juan Romeo"
The name OF the third was not learned.
lie remained in the city W days and
then returned to the desert. His name
Is not known to his two companions.
but they know that he Is an Americans
From the two Mexicans, who are above
the average OF their class In intelligence.
Il was learned that he IL a man with a.
history, conversant with the traditions
OF the Cocopah Indians, who ere PROP
ably the remnants OF the lost civliiz-
alton which once inhabited the desc
late region and to which their descend
ants still cling. In preference TO inc
fruitful country on this side OF the
mountains. The Mexicans knew that
he had been with the Indians for years,
but had not inquired into his history.
On this trip they had been joined by the
stranger, who volunteered 10 show them
some valuable mineral property with
the understanding that they were To-
share equally in the results. he 10 ac-
them to this city, where they
were TO conduct negotiations for the
sale OF the properly or enlist capital la
its development. IL was on this trip
that he told them his history.
He said he had lived with the Cocopah
indian for nearly thirty years. When
a good sized boy he crossed the plains
with his parents In an immigrant train
While at Fort Yuma he had gone bath
ing In the river and had been seized by
the Indians, carried away and held cap
s,y~ nxssn~sr s~r ~~a.ar y 49, N~.r-
htrr. We wns never VT treated, was az
ways given the beat I'm the camp and on
long marches his captors would deny
themselves food and water in orSer that
he might not suffer. 3
Tradition of the C~ocopabs.
As he grew to manhood ne learned
that the tattoo marks, which had been
pricked upon his breast and arms by his
father, correspondent with a tradition of
the Cocopahs that n great calamity
would befall them II he were allowed to-
depart before a certain time. Finally as
he became reconciled, the surveillance
was somewhat relaxed. though he al
ways understood that any attempt OLE
his part to leave the tribe would be met
with violence. When he had grown to
be "A mar he had no desire to go away;
In fact. he had become one of them In
dress manner and speech. The chief
men were greatly pleased at this and
chose for him a wife from one OF the
highest families I'm the tribe. 1t was
from his wife's Observation-Disclosures
who had been nearly one hundred years
ago the wife Of a renowned chief that
he learned more Of the tradition.
She told him that many years ego,
long before she or her father or her
grandfather was born. there was a ira
dition that a man marked as he was
had come from the south and visited
them. Then they had fields, orchards,
cattle and cities. This was long before
the coming of the padres-ages before.
The stranger, after learning all about
them, had departed. but returned with
q great many warriors, laid waste their
fields, orchards and gardens, destroyed
their cities, killed all the men who did
not escape into the mountains, and car
ried off the women and girls. Then one
of the wisest old men cautioned the
small remnant of the tribe to watch for
a man with marks on his kin similar
TO those of the chief from the south.
and when found he should be held cap
tive for so MANI moons: then the dead
Cocopahs oul rest easy and the living
would prosper. II allowed to depart
the lands OF the tribe ould again be
invaded and no one left to tell the story.
History OF the stone Turtle.
This tradition had been handed down
for generations, and when the little
white boy, bathing In the yellow waters
of the Colorado nearly thirty years be-
fore, was seen by several Cocopahs to
bear the marks for which they had been
watching and waiting for centuries they
carried him to their desert Businesses.
The old squaw said there was a big
stone turtle in the Santa Catarlna VAL