The Quoeech were a Native American group who lived in southern

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. When missionaries of

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first went to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

in 1855 they were contacted by Quoeech who lived at some distance from Las Vegas. Some of the Quoeech were later baptized. They were also known as the Diggers.

Identification

People who belong to the Quoeech are known as the

Quechan The Quechan (or Yuma) (Quechan: ''Kwatsáan'' 'those who descended') are a Native American tribe who live on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation on the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California just north of the Mexican border. Despite the ...

. They are alternatively known as Yuma. They are familiar a
California Indian
people of the fertile

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

valley who share a few of the traditions of th
Southwest Indians
The Quoeech used to reside at riverside hamlets. The houses built with log frameworks covered with sand, brush, or wattle and daub were among the structures they made. The word Quechan means ‘the people who descended by way of the water’.

Demography

In 1540, the population count of the Quoeech was about 4,000 before their contact with the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance peoples, Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of National and regional identity in Spain, national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex Hist ...

. The count reduced and reached around 1000 around the early 1900s. Their population was about 2000 in 1988, around two-thirds of the Quoeech used to live on or close to the reservation.

Economy

The Quoeech are mainly an

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

community. They own thousands of acres of agricultural land which they give on lease to Indian and non-Indian farmers. Their seasons include hot summer and less cold winter. The tribe own 5

trailers Trailer may refer to: a Transportation * Trailer (vehicle), an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle ** Bicycle trailer, a wheeled frame for hitching to a bicycle to tow cargo or passengers ** Full-trailer ** Semi-trailer **Horse trailer ...

and

RV park A recreational vehicle park (RV park) or caravan park is a place where people with recreational vehicles can stay overnight, or longer, in allotted spaces known as "sites" or "campsites". They are also referred to as campgrounds, though a true ...

s. They have a tribal police department and

court system A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance w ...

. The community also has 1

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

, utility company, a fish and game department, and a Seasonal

parking lot A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface ...

in Andrade, CA. Besides agricultural use, and the sand and gravel operation, the augment of its economy counts on tourism and related businesses to tourism. In accordance with the most recently collected data of the Tribal Enrollment Office, the count of population of the Quoeech is 2475.

Linguistic Affiliation

Quechan language Quechan or Kwtsaan (, Kwatsáan Iiyáa), also known as Yuma, is the native language of the Quechan people of southeastern California and southwestern Arizona in the Lower Colorado River Valley and Sonoran Desert. Despite its name, it is not rel ...

came from the

Yuman The Quechan (or Yuma) (Quechan: ''Kwatsáan'' 'those who descended') are a Native American tribe who live on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation on the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California just north of the Mexican border. Despite the ...

sub-branch of the

Hokan language family The Hokan language family is a hypothetical grouping of a dozen small language families that were spoken mainly in California, Arizona and Baja California. Etymology The name ''Hokan'' is loosely based on the word for "two" in the various Hokan ...

. But the members of the Quoeech tribe who live in the far southern parts of their area might have used a different dialect of the language.

References

Sources

*https://web.archive.org/web/20080206055823/http://www.nevadaobserver.com/Reading%20Room%20Documents/History%20of%20Las%20Vegas%20Mission%202%20(1926).htm *http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~eaglesnest/Histories/george-bean.html Native American tribes in Nevada {{Nevada-stub