History Hike

According to a 1930 article by Lee Shippey, Massacre Canyon is a place "where the Temecula Indians massacred the Ivah tribe." In a 1931 article by the same Lee Shippey, he writes, "In Massacre Canyon the great battle of Indian tradition was fought between Temeculas and the Sobobas. Yet all along its edges were healing waters, put there, the Indians believed, by the Great Spirit for the healing of wounds and the many affliction of body which Tahquitz imposed on men." In another 1931 Times article, it is written that, "Massacre Canyon on the road near Gilman Hot Springs, was the scene of an Indian battle waged over a crop of chia, a wild grain which grows even now on nearly all mesa lands of the valley. This battle brought about the destruction of the village of I-vah. There had been a drought that year and in the Temecula Valley the chia crop had been a failure. The Temeculas, who were a tribe distinctly separate from the 7 tribes of the Hemet and Valley of Living Waters district, were warlike, and came in search of grain. They gathered in the crop belonging to the village of I-vah. The battle was on. The I-vahs were outnumbered and fled up the canyon until they reached a perpendicular wall. With their backs to this they fought till all were dead."
Written by:}Kirsten Anderberg