The area of Twentynine Palms was settled in 1867 by a band of Chemehuevi, whose descendants formed the Twenty-Nine Palms Band. The reservation now consists of two geographically separate sections, with the main one in Indio and the other in the city of Twenty-Nine Palms. The Twenty-Nine Palms portion of the reservation occupies 402 acres adjacent to the city of Twentynine Palms but their headquarters are based on the reservation in Coachella.

A Chemehuevi Burial Ground in the city of Twentynine Palms was officially established in 1976 when an acre of land containing fifty to sixty graves, one half mile south of the intersection of Highway 62 and Adobe Road in Twentynine Palms, was conveyed to the Twentynine Palms Park and Recreation District by Congress. In 1909, fifty to sixty marked graves were reported on the site, including the grave of Old Jim Boniface, leader of the tribe, who died in 1903 at the age of ninety. Other marked graves included thirteen of fourteen children of Jim and Matilda Pine, possibly victims of smallpox, and Mrs. Waterman (tribal name: Ticup), who was beaten to death by Willie Boy after she threw his rifle and ammunition into a pond. After the Willie Boy incident, the tribe left Twentynine Palms and went to live with the Mission Creek Reservation. The State of California declared the Chemeheuvi Cemetery a Point of Historical Interest by the State of California in 1974.

In 1997, the tribe established the 29 Palms Band of Mission Indians Tribal Environmental Protection Agency, in partnership with the US Environmental Protection Agency. The tribe’s EPA manages all environmental protection programs on their reservation, including improving water quality.

In 1995, the Twenty-Nine Palms Band established the Spotlight 29 Casino in Coachella, and in 2014 the Twenty-Nine Palms Band established the Tortoise Rock Casino in Twentynine Palms.

*culled from online sources