INDIO

city, Riverside county, southern California, U.S., in the Coachella Valley, between Palm Springs (northwest) and the Salton Sea (southeast). Founded (1876) as Indian Wells, on the site of Palte-Wat Indian village by the Southern Pacific Railroad, it was later renamed Indio (Spanish: Indian). In the 1850s local artesian wells were utilized for irrigation and C.P. Huntington, president of the railway, successfully introduced Algerian date shoots. Indio developed as a desert spa and shipping point for agricultural produce, especially dates (a national date festival is held each February), citrus, grapes, vegetables, and cotton. After 1949 water via the All-American Canal gave added impetus to growth. The Giannini Research Institute (applied physics), and electronic and refrigeration industries were established there in the 1960s. Joshua Tree National Park is 25 mi (40 km) east. Inc. 1930. Pop. (1990) 36,793.