There Really is a Point Happy

Some would say that Point Happy is in the perfect spot. It is east of Palm Springs, or Eden as some would claim. And it's west of Mecca, a small agricultural town in the Coachella Valley near the Salton Sea. Blessed with palms and fresh water, Point Happy has always been an oasis in the desert. That is when it's not busy being beautiful ocean-front property. But you'll find out more about that...

Point Happy and the whole of Coachella Valley are very recent places. Geologically, the Coachella Valley has risen from the ocean since the dinosaurs last walked the earth. The Cahuilla Indians who live here, still have records of how they arrived. According to their records, they came through the San Gorgonio Pass into the Coachella Valley, lead by five leaders. These leaders split up, each settling in a different part of the valley. One of the original sites was Palm Springs, another was Point Happy. The wells that they dug into the ground here are the basis for the name of the city of Indian Wells. The wells are unique in the world, as few other native americans dug wells, and no one dug staircases twenty feet into the earth to get at the water.

Point Happy is approximately at the center of the Coachella Valley. The land is rising so fast that most of the land is either continental bedrock or sand. Point Happy is a little spit of bedrock, barely rising above the sand. Where the mountains just a mile away rise a thousand feet above the sand, Point Happy rises only 50 or 60 feet above the sand. The valley has filled with water three times in recorded history, each time the beachhead of Lake Cahuilla has stopped just short of Point Happy. The Salton Sea, its current incarnation caused by accidental flooding is far smaller than the ancient Lake Cahuilla.

The Cahuilla name for Point Happy is "Cow on Vah al ham ah", or "The sharp point of the pestle of the mortar or grinding stone". Its current name comes from an early white settler and storekeeper named Happy Lundbeck. Happy Lundbeck was considered eccentric. Considering the summer temperatures here can exceed 120 degrees and the fact that he had no air conditioning, it's not surprising. Point Happy was a watering hole along the Bradford Trail. If travelers and stage coaches did not fill up with water at Point Happy their chances of making it across the desert were not good.

Point Happy is a mythical place. According to legend, a Cahuilla named Aswitsei (Eagle Flower) was one of the original five leaders, leader of the Sewakil clan of the coyote moiety. He established the settlement near Point Happy. According to legend, when he first stopped at Point Happy he leaned on the rock and where his arm, his ribs and his hips touched the rock, they left a mark. Then he climbed to the top of it and made a small hole where he could see without being seen and he put his knees and elbows on the rock and leaned his chin on the edge of the hole to see below and again left marks where his body had touched the rock. Obviously not a man to be trifled with.

Point Happy looms large in the genesis of Arabian Horses. Eleven of the original Davenport bloodline were collected at Point Happy Ranch. One of these, Jadaan, became the horse of silent-screen heartthrob Rudolph Valentino and at its death, the best known horse in the world.

Point Happy has been the residence of the DuPont family. Bill Gates has his winter home nearby. The Point Happy name has been the inspiration for a date farm, a ranch, a school district, a shopping center, a real estate development and now it enters cyberspace with Point Happy Interactive. To visit the real Point Happy go to the intersection of Highway 111 and Washington St. in La Quinta.

Point Happy Interactive has moved! A BIG move. Point Happy Interactive is now located in beautiful Arkansas not far from the Arkansas River. Point Happy Interactive has been serving customers all over the United States. We loved our stay in the Coachella Valley, but were drawn by Arkansas's business climate and the advantage of being in the middle of America.

Write Point Happy Interactive for more information about how we can help you at P.O. Box 25955,Little Rock, AR, 72221-5955. (501)954-7336. Ask for Gordon Fisher, Your Client Assistance Specialist.

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