G
littering in the desert of Southern California’s Coachella Valley lies the resort destination of Palm Springs. About 100 miles east of Los Angeles, this oasis of mid-
century modern architecture, hot springs and secluded hotels became famous as a retreat for fi lm and television “royalty” during the golden age of Hollywood. But unbeknownst to most visitors, Palm Springs is Indian land. In the center of this bustling leisure town is
Section 14, the 1 square mile that is the heart of the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation. The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians who live here tell how their ancestor Ca wis ke on ca named the hot mineral spring that runs beneath this area “Sec he” (the sound of boil- ing water). As a sovereign nation, the Agua Caliente Tribe controls its lands. However, from the 1940s through the 1960s, the City of Palm Springs that governed the adjacent lands threat- ened that sovereignty, turning Section 14 into a battleground over land and race. “Section 14: The Other Palm Springs,
California”—an exhibit that was developed by the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum and is on display at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., until January 2020—conveys this struggle through stark black-and-white images mixed with vivid quotes from tribal members who lived through what at times was a fi erce fi ght. “When we honor treaty obligations, the story comes out well; when we ignore our treaty ob- ligations, ignore the grievances of the past, that is when troubles and diffi culties arise,” says David Penney, NMAI’s associate director of Museum Scholarship, Exhibitions and Public Engagement. “This is one story of such trou- bles and diffi culties—and their resolution.” Jeff Grubbe, chairman of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and NMAI Board of Trustees member, says, “Section 14 is where the Agua Caliente Tribe’s creation story began— we are the People of the Water. The exhibition at the NMAI gives us an opportunity to tell our story in our own words.”
THE CHECKERBOARD RESERVATION
As part of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico ceded lands that became the state of California. In 1852, the federal govern- ment segmented Southern California into a
The American Indian reservations in the Southern California region. The checkerboard lands of the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation are shown in red.
grid of 6-mile squares called townships, which surveyors further divided into 36 1-square- mile sections. Palm Springs straddles eight townships, and Section 14 lies adjacent to the city’s downtown. In the 1860s, the U.S. government gave the
Southern Pacifi c Railroad the odd-numbered sections of land for 10 miles on either side of the rail line. In 1876, President Ulysses S. Grant designated the even-numbered sec- tions, about 900 acres, as the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation; President Rutherford B. Hayes expanded the reservation in 1877, bringing it to about 31,000 acres. This check- erboard pattern of land ownership became the foundation for future assaults on Agua Caliente sovereignty.
GROWTH OF SECTION 14
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Agua Caliente reservation had little economic development. Some tribal members oper- ated small stores, but most families planted orchards and raised cattle and horses. In part this was because a federal statute had prohib- ited the leasing of Indian lands. Then, between 1891 and 1955, the U.S. government allowed fi ve- or 10-year leases. Yet the leases’ brevity still discouraged commercial development. During the 1940s, Palm Springs’ World
War II military base and fl ourishing tourist industry attracted minority workers and low-income families who often encountered housing discrimination.
In response, indi- SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 29
COURTESY AGUA CALIENTE BAND OF CAHUILLA INDIANS, GIS GROUP
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