Cahuillas honor the Blue Frog with new exhibit

By: Judith Salkin

Long before the first settlers ever set foot in the Coachella Valley, the First People called it home.

The Panik (paa-nick) people lived in the area of Palm Springs now called Andreas Canyon, while the Kauisik (ka-we-sek) people lived by the hot springs that would eventually become the heart of the city.

In 1876, the two communities merged to form the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.
According to Cahuilla tradition, the hot springs was the dwelling place of the Mukatem - sacred beings who taught the shamans of the tribe how to use the mineral waters to heal others.
The Blue Frog was one of these sacred beings.

The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum's new exhibit, "The Dream of the Blue Frog (Wahaatukicnikic Tetaya)," uses Cahuilla legends like these to remind us of the importance of the ancient hot springs. It also offers a history of the famous site and how it interrelates to the development of Palm Springs.

The exhibit - featuring photographs, diagrams and the words of the Cahuilla people and early settlers - opens Wednesday with a free reception at the museum.

"The museum has always wanted to do a history of the hot springs," museum archivist Jon Fletcher said. "No one knows the whole story of the shared history."

The idea was to present an exhibit that would tell the story from "the First People to the present," Fletcher said.

Today, the original hot spring is covered, and through some elaborate plumbing, now feeds the soaking baths and spa at the Spa Hotel at the corner of Indian Canyon Drive and Tahquitz Canyon Way.

"It's right in the middle of downtown," Fletcher said.

"It has historical prominence and people have been drawn to the area because of the hot spring."