American Indian Culture and Research Journal

The Colorado River weaves its course like a snake, moving south through the desert along the present-day borders of California and Arizona. Just north of the communities of Yuma and Winterhaven, the river turns abruptly west and flows toward a solitary and rocky mountain called Pilot Knob. The river swings south at a right angle, cutting a natural border between Baja California and Arizona, and continues its journey to the Sea of Cortez. Since the time of emergence when Kwikumat created the earth and Kumastamxo put the world into motion, this region of southeastern California has been the home of Quechan Indians. In the 1770s and 1780s, their lives were interrupted briefly by two expeditions of Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, the missionizing activities of Fray Francisco Garces, and the civil settlement of Alferez Santiago de Islas. The Quechan rose in a rebellion to expel Spanish soldiers, settlers, and missionaries, and after the 1780s Spain's agents never returned to resettle among the Quechan. The Indians were affected far more adversely by soldiers, settlers, miners, ranchers, farmers, and agents from the United States. Much has been written about the impact of the white invasion of Quechan in the nineteenth century in terms of war, land, and sovereignty, but little is available regarding the ill effects of the reservation on Native health or the relationship of non-Indian ranching and farming on Quechans in the early twentieth century.