The major attraction is the Colorado River which flows for 17 miles through the Reservation Tamed by Davis Dam above Laughlin, it presents no threat of flooding and runs narrow and deep between channeled banks from the dam to below Needles, California. Recreational opportunities, affordable housing and desert scenery and climate make the Mojave Valley a center for tourists and retirees.

They have not been restored because a new town for 40,000 residents is planned for the site.

Today ruins of the fort and old boarding school, which was built sometime later, are visible. The intruders responded by establishing Fort Mojave as a military outpost in 1859, locating it on the east bank of the Colorado River. They defended their rugged homeland, the Basin and Range southern deserts. One hundred years later, as the American frontier was opened, the Pipe Aha Macav resisted the military wagon trains and American migrants who crossed the Colorado River on the California Trail. They also had developed trade routes that stretched to the Pacific Ocean. Prosperous farmers, when the Spaniards encountered them, the Mojaves had established villages.

Although Spirit Mountain is located northwest of the present reservation, it was once part of the tribe’s ancestral lands.Īccording to their teachings, the Colorado River was created by Mutavilya, the Mojave spirit who placed the plants and animals and instructed Pipa Aha Macav in the arts of civilization. Living along the banks of the Colorado River, the Mojave Indians are the Pipa Aha Macav – The People by the River. Crops grown include staples like cotton, alfalfa and wheat. The reservation is home to 1,120 people.Īgriculture provides the basis for the Fort Mojave economy and 15,000 acres of land are under cultivation. The present boundaries, which stretch along the banks of the Colorado River, cover 23,699 acres in Arizona and 5,582 acres in Nevada. Spirit Mountain is the earthly origin of this tribe whose reservation spans land in Arizona and Nevada.

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