"By the mid-1800s, the Chemehuevi were living with the Mojave Indians near the present-day Fort Mojave Indian Reservation, and in 1865, both the Chemehuevi and Mojave were encouraged to move to the newly established Colorado River Indian Reservation in Arizona," the court docket reads.
"In 1867, however, hostilities broke out between the Chemehuevi and Mojave tribes and this caused the Chemehuevi to settle for the short time in the western Mojave Desert. Eventually, the Chemehuevi returned to the Fort Mojave Reservation and many who moved to the Colorado River Indian Reservation moved back to the Chemehuevi Valley in 1875. This mass exodus was necessitated due to crop failure, forced enrollment in schools, and discouragement of their culture and religion by the dominant culture. They asked the federal government to set aside lands for their use in the Chemehuevi Valley, according to the court documentation.
By an order dated Feb. 2, 1907, the Secretary of the Interior withdrew certain lands for the Chemehuevi on the California side of the Colorado River as the eastern boundary of the Chemehuevi Indian Reservation. In 1927, the Metropolitan Water District ("MWD") of southern California obtained rights to build canals, roads, and dams through tribal lands, according to the court docket.
The Act of Aug. 30, 1935, authorized the construction of the Parker Dam and Reservoir Project and in 1939, Interior Department Solicitor Nathan R. Margold concluded that the Chemehuevi Indians were entitled to payment for certain lands to be flooded for the Parker Reservoir (Lake Havasu), and that the MWD , for whose benefit the Parker Dams and Reservoir was being constructed, was the entity required to pay compensation for the taking pursuant to a contract between the federal government and the MWD dated February 10, 1933, according to the docket.
The docket goes on state: "The Act of July 8, 1940 (54 Stat. 744) provided for the acquisition of certain lands of the Chemehuevi Tribe and Fort Mojave Tribe for the Parker Dam and Reservoir Project. The Chemehuevi lands taken pursuant to the 1940 Act amount to 7,716.14 acres. Of this total, tribal lands constituted 7,136.53 acres and allotted lands constituted 639.59 acres. The net taking was approximately 19.7% of the overall reservation that was established in 1907. The Project destroyed thousands of acres of crop lands and caused many families to move back to the Colorado River Indian Reservation.
Payment was paid to the Federal Government by the MWD in the amount of $107,000.00, plus $1,069.00 for improvements, for inundating tribal and allotted lands for the Parker Dam and Reservoir. The federal government promised that the compensation would be paid to the Chemehuevi Tribe. But the funds were not released to the tribe until 20 years later because, according the federal government, there was no recognizable Chemehuevi governing body, according to the court docket filed by attorneys representing the Chemehuevi Tribe.
No accounting has been made by the federal government for the funds since 1940. From the early 1940's, a persistent desire for recognition and self-determination fueled the struggle of the Chemehuevi people to achieve federal recognition of the Chemehuevi Tribe. The tribe's federal recognition was reinstated on June 5, 1970, the docket claims.
And so, the Chemehuevi Tribe has battled many wars in keeping its agricultural ventures thriving in their little area of California, situated right on a narrow, fast-flowing, scenic river, and despite having a very hard time during some periods, they remain strong and vibrant. They are not giving up their water rights and also refuse to keep seeing money go down the river if they can secure a foothold in this legal war and keep from having this case dismissed.
The 33-page complaint docket of the water rights lost by the Chemehuevi Tribe is complex. But some of the major points include that the government is required by its trust obligations to provide the tribe with an audit and full accounting of 21 miles of shoreline along the Colorado River, along with associated assets, improvements "and riparian rights for thirty-three (33) years. No such accounting has yet been provided by the government to the tribe."
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