The Cocopah Indian Tribe Reservation is located 13 miles south of Yuma, Ariz., and 15 miles north of San Luis, Mexico, in Yuma County along the Colorado River. The reservation’s unique geographical location borders the United States, Mexico, Arizona and California. Historical records show that the Cocopah domain once included portions of Arizona, southern California and Sonora, Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo carved the U.S.-Mexican border, dividing the Cocopah lands between the two countries in 1848. Since 1930, the Cocopah (U.S.) and the Cucupá (Mexico) people have been forced to end tribal unity.
President Woodrow Wilson signed Executive Order No. 2711 in 1917 that established the Cocopah Indian Reservation. In 1985, The Cocopah Tribe gained an additional 4,200 acres through the Cocopah Land Acquisition Bill that was signed by President Ronald Reagan, which included the North Reservation. Today the East, West and North Reservations comprise over 6,500 acres— much of which is leased as agricultural land to non-Indian farmers.
The Cocopah Indian Tribe is one of seven descendant tribes from the greater Yuman language-speaking people who occupied lands along the Colorado River. Cocopah tribal ancestors also lived along the Lower Colorado River region near the river delta and the Gulf of California.
Agriculture was – and still remains – very important to the Cocopah tribal members; they adapted to the river’s seasonal changes and relied on the lush riparian habitats near the river’s edge for food provisions. They grew grains, corn, beans and melons in the floodplains of the river. They traveled the waterways on log rafts to collect wild wheat and shellfish in estuary waters. They netted fish and collected shellfish in the delta, and they hunted deer and small game in the mesquite forests.
As time progressed and towns and farms populated the West, the construction of dams along the Colorado River slowed and eventually stopped the flow of water. These changes brought an end to Cocopah tribal members’ way of life along the river.
The Cocopah people had no written language; historical records were passed on orally or interpreted in documents written by outside visitors.
Diaries and journals kept by travelers along the Colorado River and migrants into the West documented the changes among the Cocopah people. Spanish explorer Hernando de Alarcón, a member of Coronado’s marine expedition, traveled the river in 1540 and described members of the Cocopah Indian Tribe as tall, well-built people who carried wooden maces and bows and arrows. The men wore loincloths, and the women wore willow bark skirts. The explorer and his crew were offered gifts of shells, beads, well-tanned leathers and food.
When Don Juan de Onate and Father Escobar sailed up the river, there were estimated to be about 6-7,000 Cocopah people living along the delta and the lower Colorado River. Fellow travelers such as Father Kino, Father Garces, fur trapper James O’Patte, military men and ethnographers kept colorful records from 1540-1917.
Westward expansion in the 1840s and the discovery of gold in California in 1849 brought many migrants through the area near the mouth of the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon region. The strategic importance of the river crossing was recognized by the U.S. government; the United States Army established Camp Independence in 1850 to protect the entry route through the tribes’ territories; the following year the camp was moved to the site of an old Spanish Mission that was later named Fort Yuma, which still exists today.
Throughout the mid 1800s and through the early 1900s, the Cocopah Indian Tribe effectively resisted assimilation to an established reservation and maintained its social, religious and cultural identities.
In the last half of the nineteenth century, the steamboat business began to take shape among the Cocopah people; Cocopah men were valued steamboat pilots because they were well known for their skillful river navigating.
In 1964, the Cocopah Indian Tribe founded its first Constitution and formed a five-person Tribal Council. As recently as the 1960s, a number of tribal families lived in traditional arrow weed-thatched homes, and until 1968, there were few houses and gravel roads. In the late 1970s and the 1980s, the tribe began acquiring additional land, constructing homes, installing utilities, developing an infrastructure system and initiating economic development. The octagonal Tribal Administration Building was completed in 1976. Currently, about 1,000 Cocopah tribal members live and work on or near the three reservations in Somerton, Ariz.
Departments:
The Cocopah Indian Tribe established the following departments to better assist the tribal community:
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A.D.A.P.P.
Aging and Elderly
Administration
Business Development
Cocopah Vocational Training
Community Center
Cultural Resources
Day Care
Education
Elder's Center
Enrollment
Environmental Protection Office
Finance
Grants Writer
Head Start
Human Resources
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Judicial
Man Power
Maintenance
Museum
Pesticides
Planning
Police
Prosecutor
Public Relations
Public Works
Purchasing
Social Services
Transcriber
Tribal Health Maintenance Program
Youth Home
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Business Ventures:
The Cocopah Indian Tribe has established many business ventures over the years. In 1987, the tribe opened a convenience store, a gas station, a smoke shop and the Cocopah Bingo Hall.
The Cocopah Indian Tribe currently owns and operates several business enterprises, including the Cocopah Casino, the Cocopah Bend RV and Golf Resort and the Cocopah Korner. Click on the links below to visit their websites.
