Lake Cahuilla
Encyclopedia
Prehistoric Lake Cahuilla (also known as Lake LeConte and Blake Sea) was an extensive freshwater lake that filled the Coachella, Imperial, and Mexicali valleys of southeastern California and northeastern Baja California during the centuries prior to Spanish entry into the region. The Salton Sea
, now about 55 kilometres (34.2 mi) long, 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) wide, and at an elevation of 69 m (226 ft) below sea level), which was accidentally created in 1905, is a much smaller analog of its prehistoric predecessor Lake Cahuilla, that was about 180 kilometres (111.8 mi) long, 50 kilometres (31.1 mi) wide, and rising to 12 metres (39.4 ft) above sea level, drowning the present sites of the cities of Mexicali
, El Centro
, and Indio
.
Lake Cahuilla was created when the lower Colorado River
shifted its course within its delta. Instead of flowing directly south to the head of the Gulf of California
, the river's waters were diverted northwest into the Salton Basin, the base of which lay about 80 metres (262.5 ft) below sea level. Under climatic conditions similar to those of the early twentieth century, it would have taken about two decades of uninterrupted river flow to fill the basin to 12 metres (39.4 ft) above sea level (D. Weide 1976; Wilke 1978; Waters 1983; Laylander 1997). At that point, the lake would have overflowed to the south, feeding half of its waters through the Rio Hardy to the Gulf but losing the other half through evaporation. When the river shifted its course back to the south, the isolated basin would have taken more than five decades to completely dry out again.
The former presence of a large lake in the Salton Basin was remembered by the region's historic-period native inhabitants, the Cahuilla and the Kumeyaay
(Wilke 1978; Laylander 2004). By the mid-nineteenth century, Euro-American visitors, including the geologist William Phipps Blake
(1858), had recognized the lake's traces, including tufa
deposits along the maximum shoreline, beaches, and deposits of freshwater mollusk shells.
Malcolm J. Rogers
(1945), a pioneering archaeologist in the region, examined aboriginal pottery left on shoreline sites and concluded that the lake had been present between about 1000 and 1500. Subsequent studies have established that there were not one but several different high stands of the lake, both prior to 1000 and subsequent to 1500, including a stand as late as the seventeenth century, when Spanish explorers had already reached the lower Colorado River although not entering the Salton Basin (Wilke 1978; Waters 1983; Laylander 1997; Love and Dahdul 2002).
Native peoples harvested a range of resources associated with Lake Cahuilla in the otherwise-parched Colorado Desert. Prominent were freshwater fish (primarily bonytail, Gila elegans
, and razorback sucker, Xyrauchen texanus
), freshwater mussels (Anodonta dejecta)
, water birds (particularly American coot, Fulica americana
), and marsh plants (cattail, Typha
, tule, Scirpus
, and reed, Phragmites
). Researchers have disagreed as to how important the role of Lake Cahuilla resources was within native subsistence strategies, and consequently how dramatically the lake's rises and falls shaped the region's late prehistory. Some have envisioned many permanent or semi-permanent settlements on the shores, producing severe regional upheavals when their supporting resources disappeared, while other researchers have seen the lake as only a marginal area within stable regional subsistence patterns (e.g., Aschmann 1959; M. Weide 1976; Wilke 1978; Schaefer 1994; Laylander 2006).
Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in California's Imperial Valley. The lake occupies the lowest elevations of the Salton Sink in the Colorado Desert of Imperial and Riverside counties in Southern California. Like Death...
, now about 55 kilometres (34.2 mi) long, 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) wide, and at an elevation of 69 m (226 ft) below sea level), which was accidentally created in 1905, is a much smaller analog of its prehistoric predecessor Lake Cahuilla, that was about 180 kilometres (111.8 mi) long, 50 kilometres (31.1 mi) wide, and rising to 12 metres (39.4 ft) above sea level, drowning the present sites of the cities of Mexicali
Mexicali
Mexicali is the capital of the State of Baja California, seat of the Municipality of Mexicali, and 2nd largest city in Baja California. The City of Mexicali has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the population of the entire metropolitan area reaches 936,826.The city...
, El Centro
El Centro, California
El Centro is a city in and county seat of Imperial County, the largest city in the Imperial Valley and the east anchor of the Southern California Border Region, and the core urban area and principal city of the El Centro metropolitan area which encompasses all of Imperial County. El Centro is also...
, and Indio
Indio, California
Indio is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, located in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, east of Riverside, and east of Los Angeles. It is about north of Mexicali, Baja California on the U.S.-Mexican border...
.
Lake Cahuilla was created when the lower Colorado River
Colorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
shifted its course within its delta. Instead of flowing directly south to the head of the Gulf of California
Gulf of California
The Gulf of California is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland...
, the river's waters were diverted northwest into the Salton Basin, the base of which lay about 80 metres (262.5 ft) below sea level. Under climatic conditions similar to those of the early twentieth century, it would have taken about two decades of uninterrupted river flow to fill the basin to 12 metres (39.4 ft) above sea level (D. Weide 1976; Wilke 1978; Waters 1983; Laylander 1997). At that point, the lake would have overflowed to the south, feeding half of its waters through the Rio Hardy to the Gulf but losing the other half through evaporation. When the river shifted its course back to the south, the isolated basin would have taken more than five decades to completely dry out again.
Kumeyaay
The Kumeyaay, also known as Tipai-Ipai, Kamia, or formerly Diegueño, are Native American people of the extreme southwestern United States and northwest Mexico. They live in the states of California in the US and Baja California in Mexico. In Spanish, the name is commonly spelled...
(Wilke 1978; Laylander 2004). By the mid-nineteenth century, Euro-American visitors, including the geologist William Phipps Blake
William Phipps Blake
William Phipps Blake was an American mineralogist and geologist. He was born in New York City, graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale in 1852, one of seven to get the newly created Ph.B. degree. He was mineralogist and geologist of the Pacific Railroad Exploring Expedition of 1853,...
(1858), had recognized the lake's traces, including tufa
Tufa
Tufa is a variety of limestone, formed by the precipitation of carbonate minerals from ambient temperature water bodies. Geothermally heated hot-springs sometimes produce similar carbonate deposits known as travertine...
deposits along the maximum shoreline, beaches, and deposits of freshwater mollusk shells.
Malcolm J. Rogers
Malcolm Jennings Rogers
This article refers to the archaeologist. For others with the name Malcolm Rogers, please see Malcolm Rogers .Malcolm Jennings Rogers was a pioneering archaeologist in southern California, Baja California, and Arizona....
(1945), a pioneering archaeologist in the region, examined aboriginal pottery left on shoreline sites and concluded that the lake had been present between about 1000 and 1500. Subsequent studies have established that there were not one but several different high stands of the lake, both prior to 1000 and subsequent to 1500, including a stand as late as the seventeenth century, when Spanish explorers had already reached the lower Colorado River although not entering the Salton Basin (Wilke 1978; Waters 1983; Laylander 1997; Love and Dahdul 2002).
Native peoples harvested a range of resources associated with Lake Cahuilla in the otherwise-parched Colorado Desert. Prominent were freshwater fish (primarily bonytail, Gila elegans
Gila (genus)
Gila is a genus of fish belonging to the family Cyprinidae, native to North America and Central America. Species of Gila are collectively referred to as western chubs. The chiselmouth is a close relative...
, and razorback sucker, Xyrauchen texanus
Razorback sucker
The razorback sucker, Xyrauchen texanus, is an endangered fresh water sucker of rivers in the Colorado River drainage of western North America.-Description:...
), freshwater mussels (Anodonta dejecta)
Unionidae
Unionidae is a family of freshwater mussels, the largest in the order Unionoida, the bivalve mollusks sometimes known as river mussels, naiads, or simply as unionids.The range of distribution for this family is world-wide...
, water birds (particularly American coot, Fulica americana
American Coot
The American Coot is a bird of the family Rallidae, inhabiting wetlands and open water bodies. Measuring in length and across the wings, adults have a short thick white bill and white frontal shield, which usually has a reddish-brown spot near the top of the bill between the eyes...
), and marsh plants (cattail, Typha
Typha
Typha is a genus of about eleven species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. The genus has a largely Northern Hemisphere distribution, but is essentially cosmopolitan, being found in a variety of wetland habitats...
, tule, Scirpus
Tule
Schoenoplectus acutus , called tule , common tule, hardstem tule, tule rush, hardstem bulrush, or viscid bulrush, is a giant species of sedge in the plant family Cyperaceae, native to freshwater marshes all over North America...
, and reed, Phragmites
Phragmites
Phragmites, the Common reed, is a large perennial grass found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Phragmites australis is sometimes regarded as the sole species of the genus Phragmites, though some botanists divide Phragmites australis into three or four species...
). Researchers have disagreed as to how important the role of Lake Cahuilla resources was within native subsistence strategies, and consequently how dramatically the lake's rises and falls shaped the region's late prehistory. Some have envisioned many permanent or semi-permanent settlements on the shores, producing severe regional upheavals when their supporting resources disappeared, while other researchers have seen the lake as only a marginal area within stable regional subsistence patterns (e.g., Aschmann 1959; M. Weide 1976; Wilke 1978; Schaefer 1994; Laylander 2006).