Description: Free Range + Free Thought
If we cannot live here, we want to go into those mountains and die. We do not want any other home .
~ Cupeño Captain Cecilio Blacktooth (as translated by Celsa Apapas)
The original name is Cupa . With the arrival of Spanish explorers in 1795 it became Agua Caliente . The first American to claim it in 1844 called it Warner Springs . Bearfoot Manuella Cibimoat called the village home until May 12, 1903, when her people were evicted after a lengthy legal battle. To her credit, the ninety-one-year-old Cupeño woman did not go peacefully.