Related articles:

Tribes are in control of immense areas in Arizona

General
CORT
Warehouse Supervisor Construction
Komatsu Equipment Co
Mechanic Health Care
Rio Salado College
PA's/Online Instructors General
CORT
WAREHOUSE/DRIVER Education
Assessment Technology, Inc
Social Studies Content Writer

Gila River Indian Community

This community is composed of two tribes — Pima and Maricopa — and its roots are traced to the prehistoric Hohokam. Centuries ago the Hohokam lived and farmed along the Gila River Basin.

The Gila River Reservation is 372,000 acres and is south of Phoenix, Tempe and Chandler off Interstate 10. It was established in 1859 and tribal offices are in Sacaton. It is home to 14,000.

The tribe has a gaming, industrial, agricultural, retail and recreational economic base.

Community and independent farming operations cultivate 37,000 acres of mostly cotton, wheat, millet, alfalfa, barley, melons, pistachios, olives, citrus, and vegetables. The operations produce more than $25 million a year.

The gaming enterprises are Vee Quiva, Wild Horse Pass and Lone Butte casinos. Adjacent to the Wild Horse Pass Casino is the 500-room Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa. The resort, 11 miles from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, offers two 18-hole golf courses and a spa with 17 treatment rooms.

Among the resort's hightlights are four pools, a 111-foot waterslide, and the Koli Equestrian Center for riding lessons, trail rides and outdoor events.

Visitors can stop by Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, a four-story pueblo built by the Hohokam in the 13th century. It is southeast of the reservation.

In February, the community offers its annual tribal fair and rodeo, and the Ira Hayes Memorial Day celebration. In March, there is the St. John's Festival and the Pima Maricopa Arts Festival in November.

Ak-Chin Community

The Ak-Chin are composed of Tohono O'odham and Pima and the community's 21,840 acres are 35 miles south of Phoenix in northwestern Pinal County.

The tribe's lands are flat and dry, and 15,000 acres are used for agriculture and are under irrigation. The remaining open land is being used for residential development and as rangeland.

The 575-member tribe operates a 109-acre industrial park near the Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway and the Southern Pacific Railroad. Major employers include the tribal government, Harrah's Casino and Ak-Chin Farms.

In 1994, the tribe entered into a management agreement with Promus/Harrah's and Harrah's opened its first Indian gaming operation with the 72,000-square-foot Harrah's Ak-Chin Casino.

The tribe runs the Ak-Chin Him-Dak Eco Museum featuring tribal crafts and photographs, the Him-Dak Anniversary Celebration in April, Fourth of July picnic and fireworks, Indian Recognition Day in September and the St. Francis Church Feast in October.

Cocopah Tribe

The Cocopah's lands cover 6,000 acres and its population is 880. The reservation is 13 miles south of Yuma along the Colorado River.

The first Europeans to visit the Cocopah arrived in the 16th century and the newcomers were greeted with garden foods. The Cocopah describe themselves as "unmaterialistic people who had trouble adjusting to the ways of the Spaniards, Anglos and Mexicans who took over their homeland."

They were a river people who traveled the waterways on tule rafts, poling them down to the mouth of the Colorado to collect wild wheat.

The tribe's major economic resource is agriculture, and it leases its land to non-Indian farmers. The tribe keeps about 2,400 acres under irrigation. It also operates the Cocopah Casino, a convenience store, a gas station and a smoke shop.

Other attractions include a tribal museum and cultural center. Near the reservation are the California dunes and Yuma historic district, golf courses and the U.S.-Mexican border communities of San Luis, Ariz., and San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora.

Folks can also fish, water ski and swim at lakes along the Colorado River.