Pala Indian Superintendency (California)

Indian Tribes Associated With This Superintendency
Cupeno Indians and Luiseno Band

History
The Pala Superintendency (Agency) was established in 1903 when the Tule River Mission Agency was divided. It had three districts under its supervision. In 1913 it was merged with the Pechanga Agency, but the following year the agency was moved to Pala.

In 1920, the Pala Superintendency, the Soboba Superintendency, and the Campo Superintendency were merged to become the Mission Agency at Riverside, California. Pala then became a subagency which operated in that capacity under the Mission Agency until 1948, when it became a part of the California Agency. At one point, the Pala Subagency had 19 reservations under its charge, among which were the Campo Reservation, the LaJolla Reservation, the Mesa Grande Reservation, the Pala Reservation, the Volcan (Santa Ysabel) Reservation, the LaPosta Reservation, the Manzanita Reservation, the Cuyapaipa Reservation, and the LaLaguna Reservation, as well as several others.

Records
Some financial and administrative records of the Pala Superintendency (Agency), abt. 1904-1921, are in the Pacific Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Laguna Niguel, California. A separate set of records for the Pala Subagency, 1922-1947, including some education and heirship records, is also in the same archives. The records of the Pala Subagency, operating under the Mission Agency, are included in the records of the Mission Agencyin the Laguna Niguel Archives of NARA.

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Pala Agency, 1907-1920, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, Roll 99, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, beginning with their microfilm number 1724317.

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1905-1907, and from 1916 thru 1920. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, Roll 335. Copies of these records are also available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their microfilm number 579745). These census rolls are also available online at Ancestry.com's subscription web site.