Barona Valley Ranch Resort and Casino. The resort is in the hills of the Barona Indian Reservation in Lakeside, about a half hour east of downtown San Diego, and consists of 2,000 slots, video poker and keno machines, an off-track betting hall, a poker room, a bingo hall and 70 table games. The resort includes a hotel with 400 guest rooms and suites. Barona Resort & Casino, San Diego. Southern California has a variety of hotels and casinos to offer, but only Barona Resort & Casino San Diego delivers the rejuvenation and exhilaration you’re looking for, through our luxury resort day spa to Barona golf course, and casino gaming. Southern California Gaming Casino. If you want to play in the best casino in Southern California, start gaming with us today. Our wide selection of machine gaming and table games is one of the largest in San Diego county. Our gaming casino also offers a wide variety of exceptional restaurants so you can find exactly what you’re looking for.

The Coronado Islands (Islas Coronado or Islas Coronados; English: Islands of the Coronation(s)) are a group of four islands off the northwest coast of the Mexicanstate of Baja California. Battered by the wind and waves, they are largely barren and uninhabited except for a small military detachment and a few lighthouse keepers. The islands lie between 15 and 19 miles south of the entrance to San Diego bay, but only 8 miles from the Mexican mainland.

The Coronado Islands[edit]

The Coronado Islands are a Mexican wildlife refuge; visitors may anchor, scuba, and snorkel, but trips ashore are not allowed.

• North Coronado has no bay but boats can anchor on a jetty on the eastern side.
  • Location: 32°26.45′N117°17.85′W / 32.44083°N 117.29750°W^[1]
  • Size: 460,000 m² (4,951,399 sq ft)
  • Height: 153 m (502 ft)
  • Length: 800 m (2,625 ft)
• Pilón de Azúcar (Pile of Sugar) is very difficult to land on. It has little vegetation but flocks of birds nest here.
  • Location: 32°25.45′N117°15.75′W / 32.42417°N 117.26250°W^[1]
  • Size: 70,000 m² (753,474 sq ft)
  • Height: 33 m (108 ft)
• Central Coronado has a rocky peak with a heap of cactus and scrubs near the summit.
  • Location: 32°25.05′N117°15.63′W / 32.41750°N 117.26050°W^[1]
  • Size: 140,000 m² (1,506,947 sq ft)
  • Height: 32 m (105 ft)
• South Coronado has the only bay of the islands, called 'Puerto Cueva' ('Cave Port'). There is a lighthouse at each end of the island.
  • Location: 32°24.5′N117°14.75′W / 32.4083°N 117.24583°W^[1]
  • Size: 1.83 km² (1 sq mi)
  • Height: 220 m (722 ft)
  • Length: 3,200 m (10,499 ft)
  • Width: 800 m (2,625 ft)

History[edit]

The Coronado Islands are part of the municipality of Tijuana, Baja California, as ruled in the books of the Baja Californian Government, published on December 20, 1959:

Article 7 - the state of Baja California is divided and understood as the following municipalities .... Tijuana.

c) The Municipality of Tijuana is made up of ..... in addition; The Coronado Islands correspond to the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Tijuana, which lie on the extremes of the municipality to the Pacific Ocean.

In September 1542 Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo described them as islas desiertas (desert islands). In 1602 the priest for Sebastián Vizcaíno called them Los Cuatro Coronados (the four crowned ones) to honour four martyrs. Although they have been called a dozen other names (later fisherman upon seeing floating coffins, ghostly faces and shrouded bodies amid the rocks dubbed them: Old Stone Face, The Sarcophagi, Dead Man's Island, and Corpus Christi) they also have been provocatively called The Sentries of San Diego Bay even though they belong to Mexico.

In the 1920s and 1930s, during Prohibition in the United States, the cove on the Northeast side of South Coronado Island was used as a meeting place for alcohol smugglers. Since it was the time before radar, and as foggy nights are common, the large number of boats frequently resulted in collisions. There was so much traffic that a famous casino flourished there until well into the Depression. Only the stone foundation remains though the name Smugglers Cove, and more rarely Casino Cove, adorn modern maps.

In May 1943 the U.S. Navy's USS PC-815, commanded by L. Ron Hubbard, conducted unauthorized gunnery exercises involving the shelling of the Coronado Islands, in the belief they were uninhabited and belonged to the United States. Unfortunately for Hubbard, the islands belonged to Mexico and were occupied by the Mexican Coast Guard. The Mexican government complained and Hubbard was relieved of command.^[2]

The islands are also a popular location for yellowtail fishing for San Diego fishermen.

Flora and fauna[edit]

On the North and South Coronados there are sea dahlias, various species of cactus, wild cucumber and houseleek.

There are colonies of birds that nest on the islands and can be spotted in the nearby waters like gulls, cormorants, pelicans, storm-petrels, and alcids. The Coronado Islands have the largest known colony of the rare Scripps's murrelet.^[3] Pilón de Azúcar, better known as Middle Rock, is host to the northernmost nesting colony of brown boobies on the west coast of North America.

Ten species of reptiles and amphibians are also found on the islands. The best known is the Coronado rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus caliginis), which is a smaller subspecies than the one found on the mainland. There is also the Coronado Island gopher snake, which feeds off birds' eggs, the Coronado skink, which is found on all four islands, and the arboreal salamanders which live on the three biggest islands. Southern alligator lizards are found on the north, south and central islands.^[4]

There are two types of mammals in the islands: rabbits and mice. How they reached the islands is currently unknown.

Sea mammals are plentiful and it is not uncommon to see groups of California sea lions and seals. Middle Island is home to a small colony of northern elephant seals.

Notes[edit]

1. ^ ^abcdGoogle Earth
2. ^Miller, Russel (1988). Bare-faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard. New York: Henry Holt. pp. 106–107. ISBN1-55013-027-7.
3. ^'UCSC graduate student's research leads to environmental victory in Coronado Islands'. Ucsc.edu. 2008-12-18. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
4. ^Cunningham, John D. (1956-09-01). 'Food Habits of the San Diego Alligator Lizard'. Herpetologica. 12 (3): 225–230. JSTOR3889775.

Sources[edit]

• Oberbauer, Thomas A. (2002), 'Vegetation and Flora of Islas Los Coronados, Baja California, Mexico'(PDF), California Island Plant Distribution Patterns: Proceedings of the Fifth California Islands Symposium: 29 March to 1 April 1999, Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, pp. 212–223, archived from the original(PDF) on July 22, 2012

External links[edit]

• https://web.archive.org/web/20120722175550/http://diver.net/seahunt/maps/coronodos.htm This links to a news article about the use of one of the islands as a waypoint for illegal migration to the United States. November 2010 [1]

Coordinates: 33°21′34″N117°02′49″W / 33.35944°N 117.04694°W

The Pala Indian Reservation is located in the middle San Luis Rey River Valley in northern San Diego County, California, east of the community of Fallbrook, and has been assigned feature ID 272502.^{[clarification needed]}

Historic variant names used to describe the area include Mission Indian Reservation and Mission Indian Reserve.

Its members, the federally recognized tribe of the Pala Band of Mission Indians, are descended from both Cupeño and Luiseño peoples, who have shared territory since 1901. A total of five other federally recognized tribes of Luiseño are located in southern California.

The reservation has a land area of 52.163 km² (20.140 sq mi) and reported an official resident population of 1,573 persons in the 2000 census, about 44 percent of whom were of solely Native American heritage. Robert H. Smith is the Tribal Chairman.

Politics[edit]

The Pala Band of Mission Indians is governed by a six-member Executive Committee. Committee members elected by the General Counsel, who is composed of voters of 18 and up. Every two years in November an election is held. The tribal committee is made up of a tribal chairman, vice chairman, secretary, treasurer, and two council members. The tribe follows a constitution created in 1994, which was approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1997.^[2]

Reservation[edit]

The reservation occupies parts of four 7.5 minute topographic maps: Boucher Hill, Pala, Pechanga, and Vail Lake, California. The area consists of an area in and around Pala, California. The enrolled tribal members descend from two Indian groups: a band of the Luiseño tribe, and the Cupeño Indians, who were historically one of the smallest tribes in California. Their name for themselves was Kuupangaxwichem.The reservation also hosts a radio station, Pala Rez Radio 91.3 FM.

History / Culture[edit]

During the mission period of Spanish colonial times, Pala was the site of San Antonio de Pala Asistencia, an asistencia – an arm of the Catholic Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, downstream toward the coast. The grounds of the former asistencia include a historic cemetery.

The tribe federally recognized. The Cupeño people were evicted in 1901 from their ancestral homeland, called Kupa, on what is now called Warner's Ranch east of Pala. This event is referred to by the tribe as the 'Cupeño Trail of Tears.' The Cupeño were removed to a tract of land in the Pala Valley adjacent to the Pala Luiseño reservation that already existed there in May 1903. That tract of land was purchased pursuant to the express direction of Congress for 'such Mission Indians heretofore residing or belonging to the Rancho San Jose del Valle, or Warners Ranch, in San Diego County, California, and such other Mission Indians as may not be provided with suitable lands elsewhere, as the Secretary of the Interior may see fit to locate thereon.'^[3] The tract of land had no form of infrastructure, so the Cupeño had to sleep in the open fields. In addition, their Chinigchinich religious ties to their previous land holdings were denied to them, which hindered their spirituality. They have not been able to regain their previous homeland, Kupa.^[4]

Gaming and economic development[edit]

Traditionally a modest and sometimes poor tribe, since the late 20th century, the Pala Band has developed a large, successful casino and resort hotel: Pala Casino Resort and Spa. The tribe uses proceeds from the gaming and hospitality enterprises to fund social services and education for members, and infrastructure improvements to the reservation. The Pala branch also cultivates a 90-acre avocado grove on the southern part of the reservation. The grove provides jobs to over 40 individuals.^[5]

Outcomes of the Gaming Profits

• $1.5 million home loan program
• $300,000 scholarship fund for higher education
• Additional land for the Tribal cemetery
• Firefighter and paramedic service
• 24-hour on-site ambulance
• 24/7/365 non commercial FM station KPRI, known as 'Rez Radio 91.3'^[6]

Environmental Department[edit]

The department monitors the pollution and cleanliness of the air, water, and land specific to the Pala reservation. The U.S. provided the reservation with a grant in 1999 that enabled the tribe to observe the pollution levels of the environment. The grant contributes to the technology for the department, personnel training, and other necessities needed to manage the department. Some of the tasks that the department fulfills are commuting the Air Quality Index for the region, which describes the pollutants in the air, along with solutions and methods to combat the issue. Another aspect that the department addresses is to ensure that the water meets the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act standards in addition to the conservation of water in the reservation. In addition to environment conservation, they also work to preserve and maintain historical and cultural sites.^[7]

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Other Luiseño bands[edit]

Another major federally recognized tribe of related people, the Pauma Band of Luiseno Mission Indians resides to the southeast in the area traversed by State Route 76. A total of five other federally recognized tribes of Luiseño are located in southern California.

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See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^Pritzker 131
2. ^'Tribal Council — Pala Band of Mission Indians'. www.palatribe.com. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
3. ^32 Stat. 257 (1902)
4. ^'History and Culture — Pala Band of Mission Indians'. www.palatribe.com. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
5. ^'Economy — Pala Band of Mission Indians'. www.palatribe.com. Retrieved 2017-03-16.
6. ^'Tribal Council — Pala Band of Mission Indians'. www.palatribe.com. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
7. ^'Culture – Pala Environmental Department'. ped.palatribe.com. Retrieved 2017-03-16.

• Pala Reservation, California United States Census Bureau
• Bean, Lowell J. and Shipek, Florence C. (1978) 'Luiseño,' in 'California,' vol. 8, ed. Robert Heizer, Handbook of North American Indians (Wash., D. C.: Smithsonian Institution): 550–563.
• Bean, L. J. and Smith, Charles R., 'Cupeño,' Ibid, pp. 588–591.
• Hyer, Jose R., 2001. 'We Are Not Savages': Native Americans in Southern California and the Pala Reservation, 1840–1920 (E. Lansing: Michigan State University Press).
• Karr, Steven M., 2000. 'Water We Believed Could Never Belong to Anyone: the San Luis Rey River and the Pala Indians of Southern California,' American Indian Quarerly, 24(3): 381

External links[edit]

• Pala Band, Tribal government home page
• Howser, Huell (December 8, 2000). 'California Missions (108)'. California Missions. Chapman University Huell Howser Archive.

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