In Northern California, the Wintun Indians have acquired thousands of acres of farmland. The Jackson Rancheria Band of Miwuk Indians, also in Northern California, took into trust 1,000 contiguous acres a year ago. In Temecula, the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians recently bought a ranch surrounding one of the oldest oak trees in the United States.
In northern San Diego County, three buffalo now roam on a cattle ranch bought earlier this year by the Pala Band of Mission Indians. In Palm Springs, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians has purchased wilderness land in the surrounding mountains. In Indio, the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians is looking into buying a network of sandstone gorges it regards as sacred.
"Being able to buy a place like this and put it under tribal protection," said Cabazon tribal elder Joe Benitez, "is a side of Indian gaming most people, including elected officials, know nothing about."
The Morongo tribe says it recently purchased all of the available private property in Millard Canyon simply so that its 1,000 tribal members can traverse it with their kin and their memories.
The tribe does not intend to wipe out the previous owner's fences and dead fruit orchards.
Striding along the canyon's dirt road in alligator skin boots, Lyons, 53, said, "This canyon and everything in it, including that rusting barbed-wire fence, tells our story."
The Morongo tribe's history is not unlike that of many in Southern California with successful casinos.
When its reservation was established in 1877, it had no significant resources beyond sand and gravel. In the 1960s, tribal members were still living in dilapidated trailers, surviving on federal subsidies and fetching water from open ditches.
Non-Indians for decades used the tribe's barren homeland as a dumping ground for garbage and waste ranging from lawn trimmings to toxic chemicals.
All that changed with the advent of reservation gambling in 1983. Within 10 years, the tribe was awash in cash, having eliminated the last welfare case on its 32,000-acre reservation.
A few miles south of Millard Canyon rises the latest symbol of Morongo determination: a 23-story, $250-million casino-resort hotel expected to open next year. The complex will stand 10 stories higher than the Riverside County Administration Center and is expected to generate about $2.8 billion in economic benefits for the Inland Empire over the next five years.
