Newberry Mountains

Spirit Mountain is the creation site for twelve tribal nations. Mastamho, the son of the creator in Mojave tradition, emerged here to shape mankind, create the Colorado River, and send forth the tribes to their lands. Archaeological evidence confirms over 10,000 years of human presence in the region.

The creation story belongs to the Mojave and to all Yuman peoples. According to Fort Mojave tradition, the creator god Mastamho emerged from the foothills of Spirit Mountain to start the work of shaping mankind. He journeyed northward to Avikwame, the sacred mountain, and there built a house for himself and the people.

Mastamho made the people shout four times, and from these shouts came daylight, the sun, and the moon. He created the Colorado River, its plants and animals. He instructed the people how to build houses, ordained and trained medicine-men, provided food. Then came the separation: Mastamho sent forth five tribes, telling them what country to inhabit and how to live. The sixth tribe, the Mojave, he ordered to stay in the adjacent country, near the mountain where it all began.

For the Quechan, whose name means descending down the mountain, the story is one of origin and departure. They began at Spirit Mountain, then traveled down the river to their appointed lands. For the Chemehuevi, the Havasupai, the Hualapai, and the other Yuman tribes, similar accounts trace ancestry to this one mountain. Even the Hopi, whose language belongs to a different family entirely, recognize Spirit Mountain within their sacred geography.

This is not mythology in the sense of stories told for entertainment. This is cosmology, the framework within which these peoples understand reality. The mountain is not like a church. It is their church.