Gallery: Natural Knowledge

07/15/25
Dean Michel at the Quindaro Ruins Overlook Structure in Quindaro Bluffs, Kansas, across the river from the Western History Association Conference, where he presented his research in October 2024. Courtesy photo.
Dean Michel working in the National Archives at Riverside in Perris, California, which contains the Bureau of Indian Affairs records for the Colorado River Indian District during the late 19th and 20th centuries. The bureau includes land surveys, allotments, enrollment records, and records from local and state-level administrators. Courtesy photo.
Dean Michel presenting at the Western History Association Conference on his research titled, "'Singing Goodbye...to Everything': Parker Dam and the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe's Forced Diaspora." Courtesy photo.
The Parker Dam, which resulted in the creation of Lake Havasu, is the structure that destroyed the ancestral village and reservation of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe traditionally located in the Chemehuevi Valley. Dean Michel is an enrolled member of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, and the Parker Dam is the subject of his dissertation.
Havasu Lake, which used to be the Chemehuevi Valley that was destroyed because of Parker Dam's completion in 1938.