Mescalero
Mescalero or Mescalero Apache is an Apache tribe of Southern Athabaskan–speaking Native Americans. The tribe is federally recognized as the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Apache Reservation, located in south-central New Mexico.
In the 19th century, the Mescalero opened their reservation to other Apache tribes, such as the Mimbreno and the Chiricahua. Some Lipan Apache also joined the reservation. Their descendants are enrolled in the Mescalero Apache Tribe.
Reservation
Originally established on May 27, 1873, by executive order of President Ulysses S. Grant, the reservation was first located near Fort Stanton. The present reservation was established in 1883. It has a land area of 1,862.463 km2, almost entirely in Otero County. The reservation lies on the eastern flank of the Sacramento Mountains and borders the Lincoln National Forest. A small, unpopulated section is in Lincoln County just southwest of Ruidoso. U.S. Route 70 is the major highway through the reservation.Given that the Mescalero Tribal lands in the Lincoln National Forest are scenic, much of the tribal economy is in hospitality and tourism. The trades and ranching also contribute to their growing economy. With a growing technology sector their Native Innovation Centers and multi state University Consortiums will soon provide a robust research and development sector to their economy.
The Mescalero Department of Resource Management and Land Development celebrated 60 years of success in 2022 on the 20th anniversary of their two premier tourist destination resorts. The Mescalero designed, developed and own the Inn of the Mountain Gods Casino and Golf Resort within the Lincoln National Forest, which sits on Lake Mescalero fed by Carrizo Creek. The Mescalero designed, developed, own and operate Ski Apache Resort in the Sierra Blanca Mountains. This is the southernmost large ski resort in New Mexico.
The Mescalero ownership and management of these facilities including all of the Alpine Sports including equestrian center and zip lines requires effective resource management. They reflect the entrepreneurial vision and resilience of the Mescalero Tribe. These resorts are premier destination tourism spots according to New Mexico, US, North American and global travel guides. Native American heritage combined with one-of-a kind resorts that features hand made cultural accessories to high tech operations. The mountains and foothills are forested with pines; resource and commercial development are managed carefully by the Mescalero Apache Tribal Council. The Mescalero Apache developed a cultural center near the tribal headquarters on U.S. Route 70 in the reservation's largest community of Mescalero. On display are tribal artifacts and important historical information. The tribe also operates another, larger museum on the western flank of the Sacramento Mountains in Dog Canyon, south of Alamogordo.
New museums and exhibits are being planned to fully capture the Mescalero Space Innovation integration capabilities through partnerships with the New Mexico Space Consortium, Spaceport America, NASA, other commercial space companies, the Intl Institute for Homeland Security Defense and US military partners the Mescalero Apache Space Innovation and Integration Centers.
The ski area is situated adjacent to the massive peak of Sierra Blanca a mountain. It is the southernmost alpine peak in the continental United States, and is part of the Sacramento Mountains. Using the EPA's Level III Ecoregion System, derived from Omernik, this mountain is included in the Arizona/New Mexico Mountains, which are south of the Southern Rocky Mountains of northern New Mexico. Sierra Blanca Peak, located on the reservation, is sacred ground for the Mescalero Apache Tribe. They do not allow access without a permit.
Tribal government
The Mescalero Apache Tribe holds elections for the office of president every two years. The eight tribal council members also are elected for two years. Strong woman leadership is welcomed and encouraged in the Mescalero Apache Tribal Council. Election for the council is held every year, when one half of the members are up for re-election. The Apache nation of over 64,000 coordinate with each other through tribal meetings. The tribe comprised over 12,468 with 8,652 according to the United States Census.In 1959, the tribe elected Virginia Klinekole as its first woman president. She later was elected to the tribal council, serving on it until 1986. The tribe repeatedly re-elected Wendell Chino as president; he served a total of 43 years, until his death on November 4, 1998.
Soon after Chino's death, the late Sara Misquez was elected as president. Chino's son, Mark Chino, also has been elected and served as president.
In 2022, Eddie Martinez was sworn in as the new president of the Mescalero Apache tribe. Leadership from Holloman Airforce Base attended the tribal council ceremony for the newly elected president, officers, and Tribal Council. Kelton Starr, retired Army veteran and Tribal Defense Liaison maintained coordination with the Defense Research Labs and US military bases in New Mexico. The new leadership was focused on building on past successes and accelerating economic development projects with a new focus on Native Innovation and the “Made-in-Native-America” campaign. Martinez was appointed chair of the Native American Regional Commission to accelerate economic security, development, and defense projects that benefit the Mescalero Apache Tribe and all Native American and other Indigenous peoples.
In 2024, Thora Walsh Padilla serves as the tribe's president alongside Vice President Duane Duffy.
Culture and language
The Mescalero language is a Southern Athabaskan language which is a subfamily of the Athabaskan and Dené–Yeniseian families. Mescalero is part of the southwestern branch of this subfamily; it is very closely related to Chiricahua, and more distantly related to Western Apache. These are considered the three dialects of Apachean. Although Navajo is a related Southern Athabaskan language, its language and culture are considered distinct from those of the Apache.The Mescalero Apache were primarily a nomadic mountain people. They were innovative warriors, stealthy, fierce, precise and tactical. Their capabilities are forever recognized as superior military tactics. Modern defense industrial base utilizes this irregular warfare precision and “brand” in naming the most superior military aircraft i.e. the Boeing Manufactured Apache helicopter, the Sikorsky Blackhawk etc. after the Native Americans.
They traveled east on the arid plains to hunt the buffalo and south into the desert for gathering Mescal Agave. Spanish colonists associated them with this plant and named them Mescalero Apache. The Mescalero Apache, along with the other Apache groups, lived by traditional hunting and gathering. The Mescalero Apache culture protected the ecology and were able to utilize their resources very effectively.
The Mescalero Apache relied on hunting and gathering for subsistence. Men led the hunting parties for buffalo, antelope, and deer. Women accompanied men and dressed the meat and skins and would also participate in the hunting of small game such as rabbits. Women would gather Mescal Agave in groups of 4–10 people, mainly consisting of female friends and family members and usually several men. Men would also take an active role in the processing of mescal.
Family descent was matrilineal, but men's heritage would be remembered especially if there was a famous warrior in his lineage. Extended families consisted of grandparents, unmarried children, and their remarried daughters' nuclear families. The Mescalero also practiced matrilocal residence patterns. When a woman married, the couple would move into a new tipi or wickiup close to her parents' home.
Origin of name
The Mescalero's autonym, or name for themselves, is Shis-Inday or Mashgaléńde / Mashgaléneí. The Navajo, another Athabascan-speaking tribe, call the Mescalero Naashgalí Dineʼé. Like other Apache peoples they often identify simply as Ndé / Nndéí / Ndéne / Ndéńde. Neighboring Apache bands called the Mescalero Nadahéndé, because the mescal agave was a staple food source for them. In times of need and hunger, they depended on stored mescal for survival. They adopted and identify today also as Naa'dahéńdé / Naa’dańde. Since 1550 Spanish colonists referred to them as the Mescalero.Mescalero Apache bands were often referred to by European colonists and settlers by different names, some related to their geographic territory. They were recorded in documents by a wide number of names: Apaches de Cuartelejo, Apaches del Río Grande, Apachi, Faraones, Mezcaleros, Natage, Natahene, Querechos, Teyas, Tularosa Apaches, and Vaqueros. They were also distinguished as Sierra Blanca Apaches, Sacramento Mountains Apaches, Guadalupe Mountains Apaches, Limpia Mountains Apaches. according to their homelands in northern or southern Mescalero territory.
Tribal territory
Originally the different Mescalero bands and local groups ranged in an area between the Rio Grande in the west and the eastern and southern edge of the Llano Estacado and the southern Texas Panhandle in Texas in the east; from present-day Santa Fe in the northwest and the Texas Panhandle in the northeast, down to the Big Bend of Texas and what became the Mexican provinces of Chihuahua and Coahuila to the south. The diverse landscape of this area has high mountains up to 12,000 feet, as well as watered and sheltered valleys, surrounded by arid semi-deserts and deserts, deep canyons and open plains. The Mescalero Apache Reservation is located at geographical coordinates.Mescalero identity is filled with legends of the past. For instance, four mountains represent the direction of everyday life for the Mescalero Apache people: those being Sierra Blanca Peak, El Capitan within the Guadalupe Mountains, Three Sisters Mountain and Oscura Mountain Peak. Moreover, their forefathers spoke of a creator giving them life on White Mountain. It was there that White Painted Woman gave birth to two sons, Child of Water and Killer of Enemies
Since each band of Mescalero had the right to use the resources of deer and plants of the neighboring groups, the different bands felt at home in any area of their wide tribal territory. The Mescalero or Mashgalé-õde bands often ranged widely for hunting, gathering, warring and raiding. They called their home Indeislun Nakah or today Mashgalé-ne bikéyaa.
When many Mescalero bands were displaced by the enemy Comanche from the Southern Plains in northern and central Texas between 1700 and 1750, they took refuge in the mountains of New Mexico, western Texas, and Coahuila and Chihuahua in Mexico. Some southern Mescalero bands, together with Lipan, lived in the Bolsón de Mapimí, moving between the Nazas River, the Conchos River and the Rio Grande to the north.