Chemehuevi

The only tribe to migrate into California during recorded history was the little-known Chemehuevi. The Chemehuevi are a group of the Ute-Chemehuevi branch of the Shoshonean linguistic family. Their territory encompassed the Great Basin, and several Shoshonean tribes migrated westward prior to the arrival of the Spanish. Shoshonean movement into California took place through several cycles of migration, and the entrance of the Chemehuevi occurred during one of the more recent incursions. The Chemehuevi are an off-shoot of the Southern Paiute that occupied the region of southern Nevada below Las Vegas. As the Chemehuevi migrated south, they continued to differentiate from their Southern Paiute origin. The Chemehuevi language over time became unique, so it was unintelligible to other Shoshonean tribes, and their language became dissimilar from other Colorado River tribes as early as the 18th century. The Chemehuevi called themselves Nüwü, which means “the people.” The Mojave (Mohave) Indians referred to them as Tcamuweiva (Chemehuevi), and derivatives of this name became the cognomen originally recorded by early Spanish contacts.

The Chemehuevi migrated into California during the 18th century near Blythe and the Colorado River region, shifting west to the Little and Big San Bernardino Mountains. The Chemehuevi range continued south as far as the Whipple Mountains. The Chemehuevi were not present by the Colorado River below Eldorado Canyon during this time; the Yuman continued to occupy the California side of the Colorado River. The Chemehuevi occupied Chemehuevi Valley [Page 130]and later spread south along the Colorado River, occupying the region left vacant by the Halchidhoma. The greater portion of this land could not support intensive agriculture. A component of Chemehuevi territory was mountainous, and water was in scarce supply, especially in the central and northwestern regions. Springs, water holes, and other usable water sources were familiar to the Chemehuevi. They subsisted mainly on products from the desert, but farmed on a small scale when possible. The Chemehuevi subsisted in small groups in order to utilize their environment to the best potential. As the Chemehuevi moved further from their Southern Paiute origins, they began to adopt some custom and speech patterns of the Mojave. Their differentiation became more pronounced the further south the Chemehuevi progressed.

Figure 1 Chemehuevi Migration Since 1775

Between 1769 and 1774, the Spaniards established the mission system along the California coastline. In 1771, an expedition presided over by Father Francisco Garcés left Mission San Xavier del Bac near Tucson, proceeding north to the Gila River and its convergence with the Colorado River. Garcés anticipated a possible land route west to the California coast and encouraged Captain Juan Bautista de Anza to initiate a trail from Primeria Alta to California. In 1774, de Anza and Garcés crossed the Colorado Desert from Sonora to California, halting at Quechan villages encountered along their route. The following year, Anza traveled this same direction with 240 Spanish settlers headed for San Francisco Bay. Garcés sojourned in the Quechan villages and afterwards trekked north along the Colorado River. He encountered the “Chemebets” in 1775 during this journey north and noted their presence in western Arizona and eastern California. Garcés recorded that the Chemehuevi inhabited the territory between the Beneme Indians and the Colorado River as far north as the Ute Nation. It would be three quarters of a century before the next mention of the Chemehuevi would again be recorded, this time by American explorers.

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