The word is of Spanish derivation and in its many spellings has been accepted as the name of the Indians of the San Gorgonio Pass area, the Colorado Desert, and the San Jacinto Range. Accepted pronunciation of the word is ka-we'-a. In a letter to the Los Angeles Star in 1852, "Perfecto" Hugo Reid, a Scotsman who had married a Gabrieleño Indian and had consequently become greatly interested in the Indians and their customs, said, "The Cahuillas were named by the Spanish missionaries, thus misnamed as a tribal name, the word Cahuilla signifying -master" (Thompson & West 1880 p. 87). In his 1852 report on the Indians of Southern California, Benjamin "Benito" D. Wilson added to Reid's explanation: "A great part of the neophytes at San Gabriel ... were Cahuillas. Their name means 'master,' in our language, or, as some of them render it, 'the great nation'" (Caughey 1952 p. 9). In 1864, judge Benjamin Hayes agreed with the two meanings as given by Davis and repeated them (1929 p. 275), while Helen Hunt Jackson of Ramona fame said, changing the second meaning slightly, Cahuilla "means 'master' or 'powerful nation'" (1907 p. 138). In 1916 (p. 36), Kroeber said, "The name, ever since Reid ... has been said to mean 'master,' but [I have] never found an Indian to corroborate this." By 1925 he had found that "Indians of all tribes regard the designation as of Spanish origin." He stressed that the Cahuilla of southern California should not be confused with the Yokuts Kawia tribe on the Kaweah River, whose name seems to be a coincidence. "The Yokuts say Kâ'wia or Gâ'wia, while Cahuilla is pronounced Kawi'a. The Cahuilla are called Yuhikit-om or Kwimkuch-um ('easterners') by the Luiseño, Tamikoch-em by the Cupeño, Kitanemunum by the Serrano proper, Kwitaneum-um by the Chemehuevi, Hakwicha by the Mohave, and a dialectic equivalent of Hakwicha by the other Yuman tribes that know them" (1925 p. 693). William Duncan Strong said, "The spelling Coahuilla ... was customary at one time, but the pronunciation is ca- There is no connection with the state of Coahuila in Mexico" (1972 p. 36 n. 107). Strong found that all three divisions of the Cahuilla---Pass, Desert, and Mountain---employ the term îvîat in referring to their own language. A person who speaks this language is called îvilyûkalet, and the collective term for those speaking the language is îvîatim, or 'the Cahuilla-speakers" speaking people.' Thus the proper term to be applied generally to all the Cahuilla would be îvîatim, a proper name for the group . . .11 (1972 p. 36). Nevertheless, in what seems to be a classic example of "if you can't fight 'em, join 'em," Gudde reported (1974 p. 46) that Rupert Costo, a Cahuilla Indian, said the name Cahuilla means "leader." Many spellings of the word have been recorded. The earliest appeared in Lieut. Jose Maria Estudillo's diary of the 1823-24 Romero-Estudillo Expedition (Bean and Mason 1962 pp. 36-38) as Cohahahuilla, Cohahuillas, and Cahahaguilla. In 1849, Lieut. E.O.C. Ord reported seeing Carvilla Indians (1849 p. 123). On January 5, 1852, it was spelled Kah-we'ah on the unratified Treaty of Temecula and Cahuiya in the San Diego Herald's January 10, 1852, story of the signing of the treaty 'Parker 1967 pp. 6, 8, 9, 11, 14). In 1856, D.R. Jones, Assistant Adjutant General in the 35th Congress, referred to the Cawilla Indians. Clarence King (1875 p. 22) referred to the Desert Cahuilla as the Kaweah. Other spellings listed by Bancroft (1875 p. 457) are: Cahuillos, Coahuillas, Cohuillas, Cawios, Cahuillas. Elliott Coues (1900 p. 224 n. 31) listed: Coahuilas, Caguilla, Caqulla, Cahnillo, Cahuualchitz, Cah-weel-os, Cah-willa, Cavio, Caweo, Cohuilla, Cowela, Cowilla, Kahweaks, Kah-we-as, Kahweyahs, Kauvuya, Kavayos, Koahualla. The 1857 Britton and Rey's map showed Couvilla Valley north of the San Jacinto Mountains. In 1900, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names issued a Decision that the word was to be spelled Coahuila. This spelling was without doubt decreed in good faith so as to eliminate chaos; however, it had become the custom in Riverside County to spell it Coahuilla north of the San Jacinto Mountains, while the spelling of Cahuilla had been used since at least 1888 in the southwestern San Jacinto Mountains. Despite the Decision of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, still another spelling, Kahwea, was used in 1950 on a bronze plaque, dedicated on October 1 of that year and placed on the old Wolf Adobe near Temecula to commemorate the 1852 signing of the Treaty of Temecula (Parker 1967 p. 17). Finally, in 1963, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names reversed its 1900 Decision and issued a new Decision (List No. 6301) that the official spelling is Cahuilla. Other spellings cited by the Board at that time as ones not to be used were: Cahillas, Coahilla, Coahuilla, Cohuila, Cohuilla, Kawia, and Coahuila. Long before the word was standardized by government decree, or even thought of for that matter, two other names had been given to the Indians of the San Jacinto Mountains. Father Pedro Font, Chaplain of the second Anza Expedition in 1775-76, called the Indians of Cahuilla (now Anza) Valley the Jecuiche, while the ones he saw in Bautista Canyon he called the Jeniguechi, saying the latter "are very similar in all respects to the Jecuiches" (Bolton 1930 pp. 143, 163).
CAHUILLA was a stock-raising community in Cahuilla (now Anza) Valley, once the home of a large group of Mountain Cahuilla, in the San Jacinto Mountains dating from San Diego County days. The 1893-94 History and Directory of Riverside County (Bynon 1893 1. p. 115) listed it as ". . . in the mountains twenty-two miles southeast of San Jacinto. Has a store and post office. The settlers are prosperous and much fine stock and honey are exported." At the March 22, 1893, meeting of the Riverside County Board of Commissioners, Cahuilla was designated as one of the original 40 election precincts of the new county (Minutes). The 1896 Riverside County Great Register listed 26 voters in the precinct. The community is now called Anza (see).
CAHUILLA CREEK is an intermittent stream about 17 miles long that flows generally southwestward through Cahuilla Indian reservation. hence the name, to Wilson Creek. It was first shown on the 1901 U.S. Geological Survey San Jacinto Quadrangle as "Coahuila Creek." It has also been called Cahillas Creek, Coahuilla Creek, and Cohuilla Creek.
CAHUILLA INDIAN RESERVATION was originally called Coahuila Reservation on December 27, 1875, when 3,200 acres in Cahuilla Valley in the San Jacinto Mountains were set aside by Executive Order "for the permanent use and occupancy of the Mission Indians." In the years since then, land has been added, bringing the gross acreage up to 18,272.38 as of September 30, 1978 (BIA 1983 p. 22). The reservation centers around the old Cahuilla town of paui, which "appears to have become an important town of the Cahuillas about 1875" [ Strong 1972 p, 146).
CAHUILLA MOUNTAIN was named in honor of the Cahuilla Indians. The name was spelled "Coahuila" on the 1901 U.S. Geological Survey San Jacinto Quadrangle, the first map on which the. mountain had been shown. The mountain is about three miles long and 1.5 miles wide with elevations above 5,600 feet and is north-northeast and southsouthwest trending. Before the 1963 Decision of the Board on Geographic Names had standardized the name of Cahuilla, the mountain had been known variously as Cahuilla Peak, Coahilla Peak, Coahuilla Mountain, Cohuila Mountain, and Cohuilla Mountain. According to Sparkman (1908 p. 191), it was called Taakwi by the Luiseño Indians. Strong (1972 p. 147) found that it was the western boundary of the mountainous country inhabited by the Mountain Cahuillas.
CAHUILLA POST OFFICE, named for its location in Cahuilla Valley in the San Jacinto Mountains, was established in what was then San Diego County on April 12, 1888, with Robert S. Campbell as first Postmaster, As postmasters changed, the location of the office changed. On December 4, 1889, Francis M. Casner became postmaster and the office was moved two miles northeast. After coming into Riverside County, Francis M. Hopkins (1893), James R. Spence (1902), and Frances E. Parks (1903) served as postmasters until the office was discontinued on August 31, 1903, mail being sent to Aguanga after that date. On August 31, 1909, it was reestablished with Nellie Swayne as postmaster and continued under John B. Largo (1911), William L. Shawk (1914), Hartwell W. Gardner (1918), and finally Lewis F. Lawhon (1918) until it was again discontinued with mail being sent to Aguanga after March 15, 1919. Once more, on August 7, 1919, the office was reactivated with Eugene W. Hawkins as postmaster, but was discontinued on April 1, 1921, with mail being sent to Bautiste (see) after that date. It was reestablished for the last time on October 31, 1924, by Mrs. Bertha C. Lightwald, who continued to operate it until September 16, 1926. At that time the name was changed to Anza, the office was moved four miles east, and Mrs. Lightwald continued to serve as postmaster under the new name (Records of Appointments). The wandering post office seems to have been administered by at least half of the families in Cahuilla Valley during its 46 years. Postal Route Maps could not keep up with the changes, showing only three locations: 14 miles east of Radec, 34 miles northeast of Temecula, and 12 miles northeast of Aguanga (Salley 1977 p. 31).
First recorded mention of CAHUILLA VALLEY in the San Jacinto Mountains can he found in the diaries of Juan Bautista de Anza, who named it Valle del Principe, or "Valley of the Prince," on March 16, 1774. The valley floor on that date was covered by a lake, so it was named Laguna del Principe, or "Lagoon of the Prince." Father Juan Diaz, who accompanied Anza, said, "This valley is formed by two sierras of considerable elevation, well grown with pines and oaks and other trees of little importance. In it there are some springs of water, and a very large lake which I judge must be permanent. Its lands are very fertile and thickly grown with pasturage, and I think it would be possible to establish here a good-sized settlement which could exist without scarcity" (Bolton 1930 11. pp. 91, 200, 285). Anza's "lagoon" is now called Dry Lake, a descriptive name for its present condition, while his name for the valley passed into obscurity when his overland route was closed after 1781. It is not known what name the Mountain Cahuilla who lived there called the valley; however, Strong (1972 pp. 146, 147) listed at least eight towns located around the valley springs. One of these he rendered as Paukî. This name was shown as "Pow-ky" on the January 5, 1852, Treaty of Temecula when Juan Bautista (see Bautista Canyon) made his mark as "'Sahat' of Pow-ky" (Parker 1967 p. 15), thus showing he had been delegated by the people of Sahatapa (see) as well as the people of Paukî to speak for them (Strong 1972 p. 151). In 1873, the priest at Agua Mansa's San Salvador Church made a visit to "el Valle de Bautista, Cahuilla Valley" to perform baptisms and marriages [San Salvador Church Records), "Bautista," again, referring to Juan Bautista, the head man. G. Hazen Shinn (1941 p. 135) claimed that in the 1880s the valley was called "Juan Antonio's land" by the Indians in reference to another of their great men, Juan Antonio (see Sahatapa). The alternate name of Cahuilla Valley, as used by the San Salvador Church priest, was used by U.S. Deputy Surveyor M.G. Wheeler in July 1876, when he surveyed there. He mentioned two groups of Indians, one a ranchería "consisting of some 12 houses," and another group living nearby numbering "some 100 souls: [they] are peaceable, and gain their support by labor at the farmers of the country about" (RCRD Bk. 9). U.S. Deputy Surveyor William Minto also called it Cahuilla Valley in his August, 1885, field notes (RCRD Bk. 37). American settlers in the 1880s called the valley "Hamilton Plains" in honor of James (Uncle Jim) Hamilton (see Hamilton Creek), one of the earliest settlers (Bradford 1976). In 1895 and again in 1897, Barrows (1900 p. 312) called it "Coahuia valley in the San Jacinto Mountains." When the 1901 U.S. Geological Survey San Jacinto Quadrangle was issued the valley's name was spelled Coahuila in accordance with the 1900 Decision of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, not to be changed again until 1963, when the Board vacated that Decision and declared Cahuilla to be the proper spelling but that the valley's name had been changed to Anza Valley (Decision List No. 6301) in honor of Juan Bautista de Anza. In the interim, as new people moved into the area, the valley was also called "Bauptista," "Babtiste," Beautiste," and "Bautista" according to old records, some of these names coming from the changing name of the local post office (see Babtiste, Bautista).
There was also Coahuilla Valley on the Colorado Desert that had previously been called Cabezone in honor of Old, Old Chief Cabezón, was renamed Conchilla Desert by the 1897-98 U.S. Geological Survey, and finally was called Coachella Valley (see) in 1901.
From: Jane Davies Gunther. Riverside County, California, Place Names Their Origins and Their Stories. (1984)
