The People of the River

Most Native American people are from several nations, and so is Irvin. His mom, Eloise, was Nez Perce, a tribe from central Idaho. His father was Pima (Akimel O’otham, people of the river) in Arizona. However, Natives can only be enrolled in one tribe. Irvin was born in Idaho but his siblings and he could not be enrolled in the Nez Perce tribe. Eloise’s mother was Norwegian. There was also a French Canadian ancestor on her father side. Eloise therefore could not transmit to her children the quarter Nez Perce blood required. They turned toward Arizona.

The Gila (pronounce ‘ila) River Indian Community was officially created in 1939. It is located on a reservation of 580 square miles South of Phoenix. This area has been inhabited with Akimel O’otham for more than 2000 years. For generations, Pimas practiced agriculture by using the abundant water coming from the Gila river, the most important affluent of the Colorado river. They would grow corn, beans, squashes, melons, citrus, cotton.

The Gold Rush toward California at the 19th century brought an important population in the region. The lines around the current reservation were drawn in 1853, following the banks of the Gila River. But the families that settled upstream started diverting more and more water and soon, its level became so low that it could not support the fields of the reservation. Desert spread. Some of the Natives moved toward East, near the Salt River, an affluent of the Gila, creating a new Pima community.

The fields surrounding the Gila River became desert. The government sent supplies – fat and low-quality food. The health of the Native has been impacted forever. Suddenly sedentary, using a completely different food, the obesity rate skyrocketed. Today the tribe still has the highest diabetes rate of the world.

But this nation is full of resources. Pimas worked little by little on new irrigation projects; cotton fields, citrus and squashes are now growing again on the reservation ground. Casinos were opened and thrived. The leaders of the tribe invest the profits with a long-term vision, foreseeing that those earnings could evaporate one day, like the Gila River did. They built hospitals and state of the arc dialyses centers.

They created hotels and resorts whose architecture fit harmoniously with the desert. The members of the tribe enjoy important discounts there. The Wild Horse Pass Sheraton has become our home away from home when we come to Phoenix.
The people of the River has shown remarkable adaptability to change and long-term vision.