Salt River Indian Community
Salt River Indian Community (photo by J. Schallan)
If you take any exit off the 101 freeway between McKellips Road and Shea Boulevard, you may encounter one of these monuments.
What do they mean, and why are they along the freeway here?
The monument tells you that you have entered the Salt River Indian Community, home to 8,700 Native Americans who also happen to be SCC’s landlords, since our campus occupies 160 acres they have leased to the Maricopa County Community College District for 99 years, beginning in 1970.
Who are the residents of this community? How long have they lived here? What does the symbol on the monument mean?
The residents of the community comprise two distinct groups — people we call Pima and people we call Maricopa, or, in their own languauges, Akimel O’odham (or Akimel Au-Authm) and Xalychidom Piipaash, respectively.
“Akimel O’odham” means “river people.” (A related group in Southern Arizona is the Tohono O’odham, or “desert people.”) The Akimel O’odham were traditionally farmers along the Gila River south of present-day Phoenix. The first Europeans to visit the Gila River, in the 17th century, remarked on the extensive irrigated farms of the Akimel O’odham, where they grew corn, beans, and squash, as well as utilizing wild food of the desert such as mesquite pods. The Akimel were instrumental in providing provisions and a resting point for Spanish explorers and adventurers in the Southwest.
“Xalychidom Piipaash” means “people who live toward the water.” They once inhabited the area along the lower Gila and Colorado Rivers, but were pushed eastward by their enemies. In the 19th century, the Maricopa asked for, and received, both a welcome and a refuge among the Akimel O’odham.
European Americans began farming in the Gila Valley in the 1870s, and diverted the flow of the Gila River upstream of the Akimel O’odham for their own irrigation canals, compromising the farms of the Akimel downstream.
A group of Akimel O’odham and Maricopa therefore sought new lands on which to practice their farming and settled along the Salt River near the Mormon settlement of Lehi (now a part of the City of Mesa). Since the Akimel O’odham had a long history of alliance with European Americans in fighting common enemies, the European American settlers in the Salt River Valley viewed the Akimel and Maricopa who had occupied the farmlands northwest of Mesa as a group able to assist in mutual defense. It was proposed that the Akimel O’odham and Maricopa’s claims along the Salt River be formally recognized by the United States, and so by Executive Order of President Rutherford B. Hayes, on June 14, 1879, the Salt River Indian Reservation was established.
Today the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community encompasses 52,600 acres between Tempe and Mesa on the south, Scottsdale and Fountain Hills on the west and north, and the Tonto National Forest on the east. Of this, 12,000 acres are under cultivation, and 19,000 acres have been set aside as a natural preserve. Other acreage has been leased to the state of Arizona to accommodate the 101 freeway, fittingly named the Pima Freeway, and to various business concerns, including Akimel/Maricopa operations such as the Casino Arizona on McKellips Road and the Talking Stick Resort and Casino on Indian Bend Road.
The newest development on reservation land, the spring training facilities shared by Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies
– Salt River Fields at Talking Stick — opened in March of 2011.
Man in maze (photo by J. Schallan)
And, finally, what does that symbol on the monuments along the freeway mean?
It is often called “he man in the maze,” and it figures into the culture of both the Akimel O’odham and Tohono O’odham peoples, appearing often in their beautifully crafted baskets and other artworks.
The figure is Elder Brother, sometimes seen as the first, or as the creator, of the O’odham peoples. The maze may represent a cave in which we are born, out of which we must find our way to Elder Brother, who stands at the entrance.
In other stories, the figure represents each of us, standing before the maze that represents life’s many unknown twists and turns. The symbol generally stands for the course each man and woman must take, and the choices each must make along the way, to attain his or her final goal.
The Scottsdale Community College Library carries 30 titles in its extensive Southwest Indian Collection on the history and culture of the Akimel O’odham and Maricopa. Start by searching the library catalog using the term “Pima Indians.”
Also be sure to visit the website of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, at http://www.srpmic-nsn.gov/
Another resource to explore is our 24-7 Ask-a-Librarian service. This instant messaging chat service connects you directly with a Librarian who is standing by to assist.
~JS
