c o m m u n i t y s t e w a r d s o f n a t u r e

IN EARLY SUMMER 2015, desert patina and tempered FROM TOP: Road widening construction in 1950s by the city of Palm Springs created bulldozers and backhoes with soft hues of mesquite, the need for a water collection ring; the Tribe’s recent work to ensure the Hot Mineral lumbered onto the 18-acre cottonwood, creosote, and Spring’s collection ring lasts well into the future; the completed project, with the new A Spring parcel of Agua Caliente Indian other local flora. Plaques ring in place. Reservation land abutting the describing the elements of Awakening corner of Indian Canyon Drive the natural world bequeathed and Tahquitz Canyon Way to the Agua Caliente — and began demolishing the desert plants, animals, Ancient waters and Tribal visionaries pump new life Spa Hotel to make room for a minerals, and the like — will cultural campus emblematic dot the campus, providing into downtown Palm Springs. of the area’s First People’s a glimpse into the Tribe’s eternal ties to the land. cosmology and culture. BY MONA M. DE CRINIS “The Spa Hotel was built Meandering between the in 1960 by outside people new Agua Caliente Cultural who designed it like they Museum and luxurious day wanted,” says Agua Caliente spa, the Oasis Trail will inspire Band of Cahuilla Indians Tribal exploration as it sets off from Chairman Jeff L. Grubbe. the corner of Tahquitz Canyon While he acknowledges the Way and Indian Canyon Drive, significance of the midcentury ultimately leading to the aesthetic in modernism- Spa Resort Casino. Grubbe hungry Palm Springs, he adds that future plans for the observes that the style, adjacent space also include with its white columns and retail shops and hotel and exaggerated pomp, never casino expansions. really represented the Tribe, “Obviously, everything nor was it a fitting symbol doesn’t have to be all about of the spring that has been casinos — we want to share the heart of Tribal life for our culture and have more thousands of years. businesses for locals to shop “It’s where our creation and eat at. This village is the story is based,” Grubbe says. start of all that.” “It’s one of the most important Pulsating along the

pieces of land we have, so for periphery of the construction ANDERSON KATE us to have the ability to start over from scratch and build something that reflects us as a people — our history and culture and traditions and how we got here — is very special to us.” The initial phase of the 5.8-acre cultural center, expected to be completed in 2020, will feature a plaza, gardens, a bathhouse and day spa, walking paths, and a museum. Every square inch, notes Grubbe, will reflect the Agua Caliente people and honor the homeland they have stewarded for millennia. The design vision embraces indigenous plants, The bathhouse, located at the flowing water, and a color site of the Agua Caliente Hot palette plucked from the Mineral Spring, circa 1920. rocks, sand, and sky and lifted from canyon walls ablaze in PALM SPRINGS HISTORICAL SOCIETY PALM KATE ANDERSON (ALL) KATE

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the Coachella Valley aquifer to get the spa portion of the The new Agua Caliente Cultural — the desert’s main source of development up and running.” MINERAL MAKEUP Center, expected to open in drinking water. The project’s multiyear pace Uncover some of the science behind the Agua Caliente Hot Mineral 2020, will feature a museum, an The Hot Mineral Spring reflects the Tribe’s overarching Spring’s healing waters.* outdoor oasis trail and gathering also remains untouched by respect for the Hot Mineral plaza, and a bathhouse and BICARBONATE: 6 day spa at the site of the Tribe’s other water sources. There are Spring and surrounding land. CALCIUM: 3 revered Hot Mineral Spring. no traces of the radioactive They have gone beyond CARBONATE: 48 hydrogen isotope tritium, a the usual requirements, in CHLORIDE: 25 byproduct of nuclear fission, terms of federal and state HYDROGEN-ION ACTIVITY: 9 which affirms that Agua environmental protection MAGNESIUM: 2 Caliente spring water has not policies, because of the site’s seen the surface, nor mixed cultural significance. POTASSIUM: 2 with water that has breached The development SODIUM: 72 the ground, since at least encountered additional delays SULFATE (SULFUR): 40

the 1950s. when artifacts — some roughly 11 During the time of the 5,000 to 8,000 years old, Na Kauisik clan — one of the according to carbon-dating Sodium original clans of the Cahuilla testing — were uncovered 22.990 Sodium Indians who inhabited the area during excavation. A team Sodium, the sixth most abundant element on the planet, long before European settlers of Tribal volunteers was then commonly appears in the form of sodium chloride, or salt, discovered this desert paradise tasked with carefully sifting which increases the water’s density and a person’s buoyancy, — the Hot Mineral Spring through the upturned earth creating a “floating” sensation that contributes to an overall provided irrigation, potable in search of archaeological relaxing experience. Sodium also occurs naturally in hot water, warm baths, and healing. treasures. mineral water as the compound sodium bicarbonate, or A Cahuilla legend retold by “My sister’s been there baking soda. On its own, the element reacts vigorously with Tribal elder Francisco Patencio almost every day,” Grubbe water and can tarnish within seconds of being exposed to air. in the mid-1900s offers this continues. “We found beads, 12 colorful tale about the Hot shells, different types of Mineral Spring’s creation: jewelry — items not even Mg Magnesium from this area that indicate we 24.305 Magnesium The head man, Tu-to-meet, were trading with the coastal Discovered by British chemist Joseph Black in 1755, was tired and sick and lame, tribes — stuff that we’ve never magnesium forms approximately 2 percent of the Earth’s so he took his whó-ya-no- even seen.” crust. It is essential for the formation of bones and teeth in the hut [staff of power], which The discovery of these human body and plays a role in the functioning of more than he struck in the ground. relics at the construction site 300 enzymes that regulate many bodily functions, including He twisted it around, and dovetails beautifully into the energy and protein production. When combined with sulfates, caused the water of a spring planned cultural museum, as in the case of the Agua Caliente Hot Mineral Spring, it can to come out … He named it a project that has been help soothe and tighten skin.

Sec he, meaning the sound in the works for decades, 20 of boiling water, which is Grubbe notes. Ca zone, the Agua Caliente Hot where to place the spa facility in healing minerals such as up to the earth and on the “It’s been a long time Calcium Calcium Mineral Spring bubbles as it so it wouldn’t disturb the “ magnesium, sodium, and earth, which is never to dry coming; nothing in the valley 40.078 Essential to all living things, calcium contributes has since time immemorial, water as it comes up,” Grubbe sulfate from an underground up, never to go away, but to will compare to what we’re to strong teeth and bone growth and is also one of the eight discharging an average explains. “Everything is moved Sharing our reservoir — the result of rain be there forever and always planning to do,” he continues. elements that make up the Earth’s crust. It can be present as of 24 gallons of naturally off and back from that area, culture with the and mountain snowmelt for the sick. “Palm Springs has a great a bicarbonate compound in water, which some balneologists heated water per minute in cleared, and will be plumbed collecting over 12 centuries. downtown area, and this believe can increase circulation. protective isolation. into the spa facility itself.” community will As pressure forces the water It’s been a few years since project is going to redefine *In parts per million Even as the mechanical A cap emblazoned with the up, the temperature drops, Tribal members have been able downtown by adding to it beasts bulldozed over rocks Tribe’s logo will memorialize have a long-lasting and the water emerges at to “take the waters,” which has and offering different venues flourished, how we struggled financially lucrative to build and knocked down walls in the Hot Mineral Spring and positive effect. approximately 105 degrees. impacted some of the elders, to enjoy.” when the settlers came, and a hotel and expand the Spa June 2015, the Tribal Council protect it from potentially Results from a United Grubbe says. The global takeaway hoped how we persevered and Resort Casino. remained ever vigilant to damaging exposure. States Geological Survey study “They’re dealing with a for with this initial phase of started to flourish again,” he “But not every decision safeguard the mineral-rich Warmed by geothermal Jeff L. Grubbe, released in 2011 confirm that lot of different ailments,” he development is to provide says. “That’s why we started the Tribe makes is based on hot waters, considered the energy to an estimated Tribal Chairman the spring water comes from confides. “We also have young an engaging and informative with the spa and museum — revenue,” he says. “Sharing locus of the Agua Caliente’s temperature between 160 and its own reservoir 8,000 feet ones growing up who have snapshot of the Agua Caliente to share what we have and our culture with the community collective soul. 180 degrees Fahrenheit, these below the surface. Geological never experienced the water Band of Cahuilla Indians. present our story.” will have a long-lasting positive “We had companies and ancient waters push through studies show that the Hot and don’t understand what it “We want people to Grubbe admits that it effect. Money will come and go, experts consult with us on a 1.5-mile-long chimney, rich ” Mineral Spring is not linked to means to us, so it’s important know who we are, how we would have been more but this site will last forever.”

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