
Chief
Tecopa ~ Early 1900's Photo
Original Photo provided to the
Mojave
River Valley Museum
by
Vance Gilliam
where it is still on display
( contact the museum for print availability )
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The
town of Tecopa ( from the Pauite word Tecopet which
means "wildcat" ), was
named after Chief Tecopa ( Teca-Avats ), who became most famous
as the peacekeeper of the "Ni-Wi" Pauites. Chief Tecopa
was alive prior to the Anglo-Saxon
migration into the Southern Basin region, and lived until between
1904-1906 ( there are conflicting dates in historic accounts ).
He watched the arrival of the white man, and witnessed them take
his peoples' lands as their own.
Rather than resist the arrival of the white man, Tecopa sensed
the changing times. He saw an opportunity for his people, who
had long struggled to live in one of the harshest habitable climates
in North America. Prior to the white man's arrival, Chief Tecopa
believed that his small band of tribes would one day become extinct.
He convinced the Ni-Wi to befriend the newcomers, and spent
the rest of his life working toward a cooperative future, one
that included food, warmth and shelter for his struggling people.
When Chief Tecopa died in 1904, the Pauites recited the Lords
Prayer rather than the traditional burial chants. This was in
accordance with Tecopa's final wish; he had told his people
that there was much magic in the great Chief in the sky called
God.

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