The Anza Valley lies in south Riverside County with the lands to the south in San Diego County. The "Hill" (as it is called locally), as well as the desert below, has long been settled by Native Americans---the largest group, the Cahuillas, being descendants of the Shoshonean (Ute-Aztekan) people who migrated west from the Great Colorado Basin. There are numerous reservations and "rancherias" tucked away in the hills of surrounding Riverside and San Diego Counties--- notably the Cahuilla Reservation bordering Route 371 and featuring an up-to-date casino.

Before the English colonists got around to reacting to the "Tea Tax", the Spanish sought an overland route to link up their cluster of missions in Sonora, New Spain, with their newly-forged chain of outposts in Baja and Alta California.. In 1774, an exploratory expedition, led by Juan Bautista de Anza, set out from Tubac (Arizona)--- guided by an Indian escapee from the San Gabriel Mission of Alta California--- across the deserts and through the mountains all the way to Monterey.

Due to its isolation, the Cahuilla Valley attracted only a few hardy settlers--- ranchers mostly and a few miners. The Thomas family, for example, up from Hemet, or Judge Terwilliger, a refugee from the desert, Banning way---both of whose names now grace local landmarks.

According to Jane Davies Gunther (Riverside County, California, Place Names Their Origins and Their Stories., 1984), "it is not known what name the Mountain Cahuilla who lived there called their valley. Strong listed at least eight towns located around the valley springs. One of these he rendered as Paukî. 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. American settlers in the 1880s called the valley "Hamilton Plains" in honor of James (Uncle Jim) Hamilton , one of the earliest settlers. The 1893-94 History and Directory of Riverside County listed Cahuilla 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.

"On September 16, 1926, the valley's name was changed to Anza Valley 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---a wandering affair which seems to have been administered by at least half of the families in Cahuilla Valley during its 46 years."

Today, despite talk of "promising new economic development", Anza persists in its time-honored tradition of resisting colonization from below. Folks go about their business quietly in the valleys and hills around---and have to drive down off the Hill to find today's versions of the "mission" empire---be they supermercados, fast fools, strip malls or Wal-Tar-K-pots.