Tecopa (c. 1815–1904) was a Native American leader; his name means wildcat. Tecopa was a leader of the Southern

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

tribe of the

Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three languages do not form a single subgroup and th ...

in the Ash Meadows and Pahrump areas. In the 1840s Tecopa and his warriors engaged the expedition of

Kit Carson Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman, fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent and United States Army, U.S. Army officer. He became an American frontier legend in his own lifetime ...

and

John C. Fremont John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

in a three-day battle at Resting Springs. Later on in life Tecopa tried to maintain peaceful relations with the white settlers to the region and was known as a peacemaker. Tecopa usually wore a bright red band suit with gold braid and a silk top hat. Whenever these clothes wore out they were replaced by the local white miners out of gratitude for Tecopa's help in maintaining peaceful relations with the Paiute.
Tecopa is buried with his son and grandson at the Chief Tecopa Cemetery in the

Pahrump Valley Pahrump Valley is a Mojave Desert valley west of Las Vegas and the Spring Mountains massif in southern Nye County, Nevada, and eastern San Bernardino County, California. Pahrump, Nevada, is in the valley's center and the Tecopa and Chicago Valley ...

, Nevada. The

Census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

Tecopa, California Tecopa is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Mojave Desert in southeast Inyo County, California, United States. Originally occupied by the Koso and Chemehuevi Indians, Pioneers began populating what would become the CDP in the late 19th ce ...

was named after Tecopa by J. B. Osbourne who was the operator of a mining camp at the location. In November 1971, Nevada Governor Mike O'Callaghan called Tecopa a leader of vision and courage and dedicated a state memorial to him at the Chief's gravesite. of land were deeded to

Nye County Nye County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,591. Its county seat is Tonopah. At , Nye is Nevada's largest county by area and the third-largest county in the contiguous United States, beh ...

and became Tecopa Park.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tecopa (Paiute leader) Native American leaders 1810s births 1904 deaths