CUPENO INDIANS

THESES INDIANS ORIGINALLY LIVED ABOUT 50 MILES INLAND AND 50 MILES NORTH OF THE MEXICAN BORDER IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA . TODAY THEY MIX WITH THE LUISENO MISSION INDIANS CAHILLA INDIANS AND LOS COYOTE BAND. SEVERAL GROUPS COMBINED TO FORM CUPENO ABOUT 1000 - 1200 AD. THEY WERE RELATED TO CAHILLA CULTURE .

THEY LIVED IN TWO VILLAGES. THEY LIVED NEAR WARNER SPRINGS AND ALSO EAST OF LAKE HENSHAW. THEY MET SPANIARDS IN 1795 AND THEY TOOK CONTROL OF THEIR BY THE 19TH CENTURY. JUAN WARNER WAS A NATURALIZED AMERICAN -MEXICAN WHO HAD 45,000 ACRES OF THE LAND IN A GRANT FROM THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT IN 1844. HE DEPENDED UPON INDIANS FOR LABOR. THE INDIANS FROM CUPENO WORKED FOR HIM ON HIS RANCH. OF CATTLE. THE CUPENO CONTINUED TO LIVE AT AGUA CALIENTE AFTER AMERICAN OCCUPATION OF CALIFORNIA IN 1847. THEY BUILT AN ADOBE RANCH HOUSE AND BORN IN 1857. ACCORDING TO JULIO ORTEGA, ONE OF THE OLDEST MEMBERS OF THE CUPENO TRIBE SET ASIDE 16 MILES OF LAND AROUND THE HOT SPRINGS AS THE DOMAIN OF THE INDIANS. IN 1892 JOHN DEWEY, A GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA WANTED TO EVICT THE INDIANS FROM THE RANCH. IN 1903 THE COURT RULED AGAINST THE INDIANS AGAINST THE INDIANS. THE GOVERNMENT OFFERED THEM NEW LAND.

PRIOR TO THEIR EVICTION THE EUROPEAN CONTACT AND THE THE CUPENOS SOLD MILK , FODDER, AND SOME CRAFT WORK TO TRAVELERS ON THE SOUTHERN IMMIGRANT TRAIL AND TO PASSENGERS ON THE STAGECOACHES. THE WOMEN WASHED CLOTHES IN THE HOT SP[RINGS. THE MEN CARVED WOOD AND MANUFACTURED SADDLES FOR HORSES. IN 1903 THE CUPENO INDIANS WERE FORCED TO MOVE TO PALA ON THE SAN LUIS REY RIVER 75 MILES AWAY. MANY CUPENO BELIEVE THAT THEIR LAND WILL BE RETURNED TO THEM . THEY ARE SEEKING LEGAL RELIEF. THE CUPA SERVES AS A RALLYING POINT FOR THEIR LAND MOVEMENT OF THE CONTEMPORARY INDIANS.

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