The canyon has been known as Homuba among the Indians for many years.
And on that canyon there are three mineral springs. They are located
near Loma Linda. It is southeast from Loma Linda, way up in the canyon,
a distance of three miles.
Professor J. Console, an Indian friend, is the owner of the mineral
springs nowadays. In the early days the Indians called the springs
_Phal-poole_, _Phal-quapekalet_, _Hickescah-heppasca_, which means Witch
Springs, Life Springs, Sisters and Brother Springs.
Those three springs were discovered in this way. There were Indian
settlements all over that country, near the springs and around the
springs. One day three Indian children, two sisters and one brother,
went up the canyon and disappeared in those springs. The father and
mother and other relatives of the missing children followed the tracks
of the children until they came to the springs. After having tried
everything to find them, the father and mother and the relatives in
their sorrow went to the witch-doctors to see if they could help them
find the children. Then one witch-doctor said:
“Come with me and I will show you where your children are and how they
disappeared in those springs. You may not see them but you will hear
them, and you will have to be satisfied.”
So the children’s family went there and the witch-doctor stopped at the
center spring and said:
“Listen to the Great Father who is above us, the Creator of the world.
He has taken your boy and put him in this spring, so that this spring
will bring health to you and to others.”
Then the witch-doctor walked up to the spring and spoke:
“Brother, your father and mother and all the relatives are here, and
they would like to hear from you.”
Then a voice arose from the spring and said:
“I am here with my two sisters. We were placed here by our Lord, the
Creator of the world. He has given me the power to bring new life to
those who are sick. You may come and visit me and my sisters whenever
you wish. My elder sister is in the spring on the east side of me, and
my younger sister in the spring on the west side of me. But we are all
three in this one place, and if you will live together and honor the
great Lord, when you are sick if you will use these life springs, we
will help you get back your health. These springs shall be known as the
‘Two Sisters and Brother Life Springs.’”
And all the people listened. Therefore the Indians went up there and
held a great ceremony, and from then on they used the springs for
medical purposes.
Then the Catholic missionaries came to this country and established the
missions. They took the Indian children by force and made them
Catholics. And these Christians also went up to the springs and used
them for many years.
Later on the United States Government came to this country and took
these lands and gave the Indians reservations for their use. And the
Indians had to leave the springs, which originally belonged to them.
When the mission was first built at San Gabriel the priest asked an
Indian:
“Why do you Indians take your children, when they are sick, to those
springs, instead of taking them to a doctor?”
And the Indian answered:
“Father, the springs at Homuba Canyon can cure any sickness. That is why
we take our children there when they are sick, and they are healed. Our
ancestors used those springs and became healed.”
Then the priest went up to the springs to examine the water, and he took
some of the water and made the Indian carry it to the chapel, and he
blessed the water, and held Mass with it, and used it to cure the sick.
And, finally, the priest moved the mission from San Gabriel to San
Bernardino. Old San Bernardino is now known as Redlands. The mission was
established there. It is about three miles from the springs. And from
there the priest used to send the Indians to bring the waters to the
mission, using it as medicine. And he cured many sick Indians.
Now there were two Indian villages nearby, and they fought over the
possession of those springs. They went on the warpath over the Two
Sisters and Brother Life Springs. So the mission went away and settled
elsewhere, and the priest also went away.
Then our white neighbors came, as I said, and drove the Indians from our
sacred springs. That is why the Indians are dying out in Southern
California, because we must live on worthless lands far away from those
springs.
Our white neighbors may think we Indians have no religion, but that is
not so. We do believe in God who is the Creator of the world, and of the
firmament, of Indians as well as white people.... Therefore we are
brothers in God, as we are created by God.
I often hear white people say they are Americans in America, and we are
Indians. I say we are the native sons of America. We are good to our
country and to our white neighbors, and do not trouble them. When the
missions first came to this country the Indians were numerous and the
country well inhabited by the Indians. Then the Indians did not know
that the country was going to be filled with intoxicating liquor. If
they had known that, they would never have allowed the missionaries to
establish any missions in this country. For a great number of Indians
died of intoxicating liquor.
However, the United States Government made a law prohibiting the sale of
intoxicating liquor to the American Indians. But by that time it was too
late. The American Indians are nearly all gone. But maybe a few will be
saved.
It was in 1908 that special officers suppressed the liquor traffic among
the mission Indians in Southern California. The chief of these special
officers came to me and asked:
“Why is it that you are always fighting the whites?”
“Because they are all liars, thieves, and whisky peddlers,” I answered.
He looked at me and said:
“Am I a liar and a whisky peddler?”
“No,” I answered. “You do not look like one. I think you are on the
square.”
So he said to me:
“I want you to work with me on the same job.”
“What job do you mean?” said I.
“To suppress the liquor traffic among the mission Indians,” he said.
So I was deputized as Special Officer since then, and I became Chief of
Police in the Indian Service for nine Indian reservations under the
United States Government, to protect the Indians, to make transactions
for the Indians, and to help them become sober, improve their morals,
and become civilized. In 1847 if the United States Government had sent
us a man like Mr. C. T. Coggeshall, who is the superintendent of the
nine Indian reservations, the Indians would never have lost the Two
Sisters and Brother Life Springs. Mr. Coggeshall is a man with large
experience and he has done a lot of good for the Indians under his
jurisdiction.
However, I am glad that Mr. John Console owns the springs, because he is
a friend of the Indians. He helps the Indians with those springs. The
springs cure light sickness, but for serious sickness we have to use
herbs.