Akimel O’odham - Pee Posh OUR COMMUNITY OUR FUTURE Governor Lieutenant Governor William Rhodes Jennifer Allison-Ray ANew Direction CONTENTS www.gric.nsn.us | FALL 2007 4 Community Profi le 13 Tribal Government + Executive Offi ce 5 History + Legislative Offi ce + Judicial Offi ce + Pre-History + Early Contact 16 Community Portfolio + 19th and 20th Centuries 9 Water Settlement 17 Tribal Enterprises 10 Tribal Culture 23 Tribal Community 27 Tribal Districts View of Sacaton Mountains from Olberg Gila River farms - District 2, Blackwater Bridge District 2 A MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR We welcome you to experience the rug- ged, awe-inspiring vistas of the South- west and the rich heritage of the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee-Posh (Mari- copa). Historically, the strength of our culture has been the community spirit, industriousness, and maintaining our traditions and languages. Today, we con- tinue to face the challenge of preserving these core values while also meeting the demands of a rapidly changing world. Throughout Gila River’s history, our tribe has made innumerable contribu- tions and will continue to play an inte- gral role in the decades ahead. Governor William R. Rhodes 5 COMMUNITYFACTSHEET COMMUNITY PROFILE The Gila River Indian Community is located on 372,000 acres in south-central Arizona, south of Phoenix, Tempe, and Chandler. The reservation was established by an act of Congress in 1859. The Tribal administrative offi ces and departments are located in Sacaton, and serve residents throughout the seven community districts. The Gila River casinos are both owned and managed by the Gila River Indian Com- munity. All profi ts from gaming are utilized by the community to expand the tribe’s economic development, to provide additional social services to community mem- bers and for tribal operations. TRIBAL SEAL The Gila River Indian Community, located in central Arizona, affi liates its people and its government with this tribal seal. The seal symbolizes the Gila River bringing life to the Desert. The seal is illustrative of the Community’s farming history. The irrigation system is representative of those developed by their ancient descendants, the Hu Hu Kam. From the blue skies overhead, to the majestic mountain backdrop, the seal repre- sents the indigenous people of the area, Akimel O’odham, the “river people.” TRIBAL FLAG The Gila River Indian Community, located in south central Arizona, affi liates its peo- ple and its government with this tribal seal. The seal symbolizes the Gila River bringing life to the Sonoran Desert. The seal is illustrative of the Community’s farm. FOUNDED: 1859 TRIBAL MEMBERS: 19,000 COUNTY: Pinal County ON-RESERVATION RESIDENTS: 13,000 ACREAGE: 373,00 (nearly 600 sq miles) divided into seven districts ELEVATION: 1,280 FEET LANGUAGES: O’ohdam (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) EXECUTIVE BRANCH: An elected Governor and Lieutenant Governor LEGISLATIVE BRANCH: An elected 17-member tribal council CAPITAL: Sacaton (30 miles south of Phoenix) LOCATION: The northern border of the Gila River Indian Community is located on the southern boundary of the City of Phoenix, with the reservation paralleling the course of the Gila River. Primary access is via I-10, as well as numerous state and U.S. highways 4 COMMUNITYHISTORY First there was the river and the land-the Gila Riv- er that wound westward PreHistory across south-central Ari- zona and the surprisingly fertile Sonoran Desert. Some 6,000 years ago, various cultural groups collectively labeled the Archaic peoples, who lived by hunting and gath- ering along the river’s banks and adjoining up land terrain, wandered into this realm. 5 COMMUNITYHISTORY Circa 300 B.C., these early inhabitants were joined enabling them to settle into large population centers. by peoples from central Mexico, transformed by con- Here their arts fl ourished, including production of fi ne cepts and technology introduced from the south. pottery and jewelry, the latter worked with imported From this merger arose the Hohokam (or Huhukam) shell and other materials. During the Hohokam’s “Clas- people-our ancestors-who conducted trade over sic Period” (circaA.D.1150-1450), this lifestyle appar- great distances and became superb farmers. Fed by ently supported between 50,000 and 60,000 people, waters of the Gila River, they constructed some 500 with some villages holding several thousand residents miles of large canals (on average 10 feet deep and and containing large public buildings (formed largely of 30 feet wide!) linked to smaller ditches, so watering adobe), religious centers and sunken clay courts where thousands of acres of farmland. an exciting, ritualistic ball game was played. But around FED BY WATERS OF THE GILA RIVER, THEY CONSTRUCTED SOME 500 MILES OF LARGE CANALS (ON AVERAGE 10 FEET DEEP AND 30 FEET WIDE!) LINKED TO SMALLER DITCHES, SO WATERING THOUSANDS OF ACRES OF FARMLAND. Transforming the desert into gardens, the Hohokam A.D.1450, for unknown reasons, the urban centers were grew cotton for clothing, rugs and other textile prod- abandoned. Perhaps there was an extended drought, or ucts, and crops of corn, melons, beans, fruits, tobacco pressures brought by the arrival of new Native peoples and other foods. They supplemented these crops with to the region -foremost the fi erce, nomadic Apache-or game, mesquite beans, agave, cactus fruit and other a loss of public faith in leadership. At any rate, the Ho- foods gathered locally from the wilds or in trade, Hokam culture dispersed 6 COMMUNITYHISTORY Early Contact The fi rst Catholic missionary to reach the Gila River, the tireless Father Kino, entered the region from Mexico in 1694. He found two related peoples (whom the Spanish collectively called Pima) occupying south-central Arizona: the Akimcl O’odham and the Tohono O’odham. The Akimel O’odham clus- tered along the banks of the Gila and Salt rivers and were-like our Hohokam ancestors-attaining culture, while the Tohono O’odham called the Papago by Americans) lived a more nomadic life- style in the desert terrain of southern Arizona. Both branches of the O’odham people survive today but our story fo- cuses on the Akimel O’odham, whose descendants compose a large part of today’s Gila River Indian Community populace. The missionaries converted many of our people to the Roman Catholic faith, and introduced new crops, cattle, horses, sheep and goats, and new tech- nologies – which were quick to adapt to our own uses. But we were largely ignored, and life largely went on little changed, during the Spanish era and in the period following Mexico’s break from Spain 1821.The situation, how- ever, took a radical turn in the next his- torical phase. 7 COMMUNITYHISTORY 19th and 20th Centuries In 1846, southern Arizona fell under the infl uence 1880 to 1920 or so, we faced mass famine and starva- of the United States following the Mexican-Ameri- tion. The federal government stepped in and doled out can War. In 1848, gold was discovered in California canned and processed food by the ton. The change in and tens of thousands of ill prepared men streamed diet proved disastrous, leading to extremely high rates across America heading toward dreams of riches. One of obesity and diabetes-a condition we still face today. of the primary routes was across southern Arizona. With almost no jobs available on the reservation, and Between 1849 and 1851, an estimated 60,000 travel- the loss of our cash crops, our people faced widespread ers arrived among our peaceful people, many starv- poverty as well. Alcoholism raised its ugly head, and ing or near death from dehydration and/or wounds infl icted in battle by the warring Apache to the east and the Yuman tribes to the west of our lands. Here “THEY ARE A NOBLE RACE. the travelers rested and ate well, enjoying our bounty THEIR STORES OF WHEAT AND of wheat, corn, beans, pumpkins, watermelon, squash, peas and other foods. Indeed, one grateful member of CORN HAVE SUPPLIED MANY the Mormon Battalion wrote in his journal in I846, en A STARVED EMIGRANT, AND route from New Mexico to California to secure that state during the Mexican American War, “They are a RESTORED HIS BROKEN noble race.” And wrote Lt. Sylvester Mowry in 1857, DOWN ANIMALS.” “Their stores of wheat and corn have supplied many a starved emigrant, and restored his broken down - LT SYLVESTER MOWRY, US ARMY animals.” We were also hospitable to other tribes as well. our people experienced the loss of certain cultural and In the 1840s (though some sources suggest this oc- artistic traditions and rituals. It was the darkest mo- curred as early as the mid 1700s), the Akimel O’odham ment in our long history. offered refuge to the Maricopa tribe, a Yuman tribal But, we proved resilient and eked out a marginal exis- people who had been driven eastward from the lower tence for several precarious decades. Conditions fi nally Colorado River area by other Yuman tribes. The Mari- began to improve in the 1930s, when the U.S. govern- copa, who called themselves the “Pee Posh,” settled ment completed Coolidge Dam on the upper Gila River, in with the Akimel O’odham, and to this day we share creating the San Carlos Reservoir. The project included the space and resources of the Gila River lands. a canal and pipe system to deliver some of this lake wa- In I854, the Gadsden Purchase offi cially made ter to our reservation, restoring a portion of our farm- southern Arizona part of a United States Territory. ing practices. This was the beginning of a long climb out In appreciation for the important role the Akimel of the economic trenches.