The Campo Indian Reservation is home to the Campo Band of Diegueño Mission Indians, also known as the Campo Kumeyaay Nation, a federally recognized tribe of

Kumeyaay people The Kumeyaay, also known as Tipai-Ipai or by their historical Spanish name Diegueño, is a tribe of Indigenous peoples of the Americas who live at the northern border of Baja California in Mexico and the southern border of California in the Unit ...

in the southern

Laguna Mountains The Laguna Mountains are a mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges System in eastern San Diego County, southern California. The mountains run in a northwest/southeast alignment for approximately . The mountains have long been inhabited by the i ...

, in eastern San Diego County, California. The reservation was founded in 1893 and is . The reservation can be found "in the southeastern

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the f ...

atop the

". Originally the location was set on 710 acres in 1893. Eighty additional acres were added in the winter of 1907, and another 13,610 acres were added in 1911. "All land on Campo is tribal-owned land; there are presently no allotments or assignments". The Campo Valley was known as Meelqsh G'tay (or big open meadow) in Kumeyaay language, and was known by its

Hispanicized Hispanicization ( es, hispanización) refers to the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by Hispanic culture or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-Hispanic becomes Hispanic. Hispanicization is il ...

name as "Milguatay".

History

Pre-Contact The sovereign land of the Kumeyaay Nation ranged from the Northern outskirts of modern San Diego county to the western borders of the imperial valley and the northern tip of Baja California, Mexico. There were many clans of the Kumeyaay nation, one being the Campo or ''Meelqsh G'tay''. The multiple clans would join when in combat with neighboring threats. Post-Contact The Campo and their neighboring clans resisted the Spanish missionaries and soldiers. Notably, the Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala, founded in 1769, proved to be troubling for the tribe and many revolts broke out. "The most famous of these was the attack and destruction of the San Diego Mission in 1775". After the Mexican Revolution, the new Mexican government enforced a secularization of the Mission system. Most of the Missions became ranches where most Indian tribes of the region were forced to labor. In response multiple Indian revolts and raids in the region brought destruction to many of the Ranchos. "By 1842, the Ranchos had been abandoned and the warriors were attacking the last stronghold, the City of San Diego", however the city was not destroyed. The Mexican–American War intersects with the Kumeyaay when US forces made their way into San Diego. Although the Kumeyaay "offered allegiance", they were directed by US forces to stay out of the conflict. This interaction thus led to an agreed upon distinction of land in the Treaty of Santa Ysabel. However, this treaty was "voted down and placed under seal by the Senate of the United States". Through a combination of military conflicts, raid suppression, and migration brought by the gold rush: "population of Indians in California dropped by 90% from 1850 to 1860". And soon after 1870, the land of the Kumeyaay would begin to be divided and set into sections, thus defining the later reservations. "Further additions were taken into trust over the next 25 years including the first portion of the Campo Indian Reservation in 1893". Modern Era In time the Treaty of Santa Ysabel, and many others of its kind, were revealed to have been kept in secrecy. In 1927, supporters of the Mission Indian Federation, a Riverside County organization in the support of Native rights, came in conflict with the Bureau of Indian Affairs "police resulting in shootings and deaths on the Campo Indian Reservation". Later periods of the twentieth century proved to bring minor justices to the Campo Indian Reservation, including "1960s public assistance and food programs", the Self Determination Act of 1975, and by 1978, "the Campo people designated the area near the Crestwood freeway off-ramp as an area for economic development". Since then the tribe has developed a casino and built a wind farm.

Government

The Campo Band is headquartered in Campo, California. They ratified their tribal constitution on July 13, 1975, which established a governing council consisting of all band members aged 18 or over. The democratically elected Executive Committee currently includes: * Chairperson: Marcus W. Cuero * Vice Chairperson: Kerm Shipp * Treasurer: Annah Ceballos * Secretary: Johnathan Mesa * Committee Member: Steven M. Cuero * Committee Member: Ronnie Lee Cuero * Committee Member: Ronny Paipa

Services

In 1990, the Campo Band created the Campo Environmental Protection Agency (CEPA), which protects the environment and public health in the face of commercial development. The tribe also has the Campo Indian Education Center and Campo Tribal Training Program."Campo Band of Kumeyaay Indians."
''Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association.'' Retrieved 12 Aug 2013. The Campo Kumeyaay Nation receives health services from the Southern Indian Health Council.

Topography

There are two areas included in the reservation, found on US Geological Survey feature ID 270242. The address for the tribal government is in the portion of the reservation north of Campo and Cameron Corners. This area is shown on the US Geological Survey Campo and Cameron Corners, California 7.5-minute quadrangles. While not a true square, this part of the reservation is roughly one mile across on each side. A point suitable for finding the reservation on a map is latitude/longitude. A second, larger area of the Campo Indian Reservation is located to the east in the area around the community of Live Oak Springs. This area is shown on the US Geological Survey Live Oak Springs and Tierra del Sol, California 7.5-minute quadrangles. This portion is rectangular: about six miles (10 km) in the north–south dimension and about in the east–west dimension. Live Oak Springs is located at latitude/longitude . The south extent of the area is about north of the Mexican border.

Economic development

Muht Hei, Inc. is the tribe's corporation, which oversees Golden Acorn Casino, Campo Materials, and Kumeyaay Wind, a wind farm with 25

Gamesa Gamesa (formerly Galletera Mexicana S.A. de C.V. "Mexican Biscuit Company") is Mexico's largest manufacturer of cookies. The company also makes flour, ready to eat cereals and other related products. It is headquartered in San Nicolás de los Gar ...

turbines. The tribe owns and operates the Golden Acorn Casino, the Golden Grill Restaurant, the Del Oro Deli, and a travel center, all located in Campo. The 50 MW wind farm produces an annual power supply to bring energy to "about 30,000 homes and saves approximately 110,000 tons a year in greenhouse gas emissions". An extreme wind event in 2009 surpassed the

IEC The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC; in French: ''Commission électrotechnique internationale'') is an international standards organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and r ...

limits and caused damage, and all blades had to be replaced. A 1,000-acre project with 48-60 larger turbines (4.2 MW each, between 202 and 252 MW combined) is planned for the area, connecting to the 500 kV Sunrise Powerlink. For nearly 200 days and nights of the year, average wind speed varies between 4 and 10 m/s, producing some power.

Internet

Portions of this remote area have wireless Ethernet Internet capability for tribe members. The service is provided through the ''Tribal Digital Village'' based on the

Pala Indian Reservation The Pala Indian Reservation is located in the middle of San Luis Rey River Valley in northern San Diego County, California, east of the community of Fallbrook, California, Fallbrook, and has been assigned feature ID 272502. Historic variant names ...

, about north. This was reported in the ''San Diego Union Tribune'', ''New York Times'' and on the Community Television of Southern California program, ''California Connected''.

Education

The reservation is served by the Mountain Empire Unified School District.

Bibliography

* Eargle, Jr., Dolan H. ''California Indian Country: The Land and the People.'' San Francisco: Tree Company Press, 1992. . * Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. . * Shipek, Florence C. "History of Southern California Mission Indians." ''

Handbook of North American Indians The ''Handbook of North American Indians'' is a series of edited scholarly and reference volumes in Native American studies, published by the Smithsonian Institution beginning in 1978. Planning for the handbook series began in the late 1960s and ...

''. Volume ed. Heizer, Robert F. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978. 610–618. .

References

External links

Official Campo Kumeyaay Nation website

Golden Acorn Casino.com: Campo Tribal History

Kumeyaay.info: The Kumeyaay Tribes Guide — Tribal Bands of the Kumeyaay Nation (Diegueño)
— ''in San Diego County, California + Baja California state, México''. {{authority control Kumeyaay populated places American Indian reservations in California California Mission Indians Federally recognized tribes in the United States Laguna Mountains Native American tribes in San Diego County, California 1903 establishments in California Native American tribes in California