Zorro A. Bradley

“ Little by little the Navajos became acquainted with the world outside the reservation and learned its ways and advantages. Today their prospects for a better life are brighter. Oil, gas, coal, timber, and uranium deposits on their lands are being developed for the benefit of all the Navajos. Children are more eager to attend school, and many Navajos are now leaving the reservation to put their education to work at jobs in the larger community. The Navajo people are beginning to find a place within the Nation. ”

“ The Navajos, a unique people in many ways, are far from being “vanishing” Americans. Vigorous and growing in numbers, they have only recently begun to understand their potential. While they are making rapid strides to join the world around them, they are keenly aware of their own heritage and what it can contribute to the larger culture of America. ”

“ New techniques for making a living, learned from working with construction crews, and new possessions brought by the railroad, started the people toward the modern world.
One vexing problem that has confronted the Navajos since their days at Fort Sumner is the lack of adequate grazing land to support an expanding population. The reservation boundaries have been enlarged many times over the years, but now there is no space for further expansion. Today the tribe numbers over 120,000 members, and tribal lands cannot support that large a population nor the uncontrolled grazing that it causes. ”

“ Many tribesmen remained free and continued to raid settlements. On April 9, 1864, the very day that the Governor of New Mexico had set aside to celebrate the end of the Navajo war, a band of Navajos stole 40 head of cattle from Laguna Pueblo, 140 miles southwest of Canyon de Chelly. Those who surrendered endured extreme hardship at Fort Sumner from disease, crop failure, famine, and their sense of exile from their homeland. After 4 years, the several thousand reservation Navajos were broken in body and spirit, while their still-free tribesmen continued their troublesome guerrilla activities. ”

“ The old way of life is gradually being replaced. In 1924, Congress granted citizenship rights to all Indians in recognition of their service during World War I when their men enlisted by the hundreds, even though exempt from the draft. After 1923 Navajo tribal business became less of a haphazard affair. A tribal council, 43 made up of elected delegates, began to handle contacts with the world beyond the reservation. Little or no work was done to remedy undesirable conditions on the reservation until the public works program of the 1930’s, when a good many schools and hospitals were built. ”

“ The early farmers were accomplished makers of baskets, and for this reason archeologists commonly call them Basketmakers. Instead of pottery they used baskets for many utilitarian purposes: carrying sacks, burden baskets, food containers, cooking pots, water carriers, storage containers, and even “coffins.” Sometimes plain, often decorated, they are the most impressive surviving artifact of the culture which produced them. More baskets made by these early people have been found in Canyon de Chelly caves than in any other locality. ”

“ Originally the Navajos did not live in the canyon, but only passed through it on their yearly migrations. Today some live here permanently, and their hogans are scattered along the sandy canyon floor, almost hidden by the thick growth of willows and cottonwoods and detectable only by a column of smoke slowly rising from a cook fire or by the barking of dogs. Occasionally one may catch a glimpse of a brightly dressed woman working around the hogan or of black-hatted men trotting their horses between the nearby trading post, cornfields, or peach orchards. ”

“ Hunters, gatherers, and farmers, the Navajos changed their way of life sharply when they acquired horses and sheep from the Spanish after the Pueblo Rebellion of 1680. Horses made the Navajos highly mobile and increased their ability to raid the alluring towns along the Rio Grande and then vanish into mountain and canyon hideouts. Sheep gradually changed the basis of their economy, converting them from hunters and raiders to the pastoral herders they are today. ”

“ The people who lived at Canyon de Chelly in prehistoric times are today called the Anasazi, a Navajo word meaning “old people.” These people were the ancestors of modern Pueblo Indians, and they lived in the vicinity of northern Arizona and New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, and southeastern Utah from about the beginning of the Christian era to the end of the 13th century. ”

“ The loom used in Navajo weaving is a native American device, similar to that of the ancient Pueblo people. It has changed little over the centuries. Men usually construct the loom and women do the weaving.
In spite of three centuries of work by Christian missionaries, the Navajos have clung to their native religion. Their religious leaders are medicine men, or healers, and their rites are intended primarily to secure and maintain good health. ”

“ For the archeologist there are few better sources of information than formal burials, which often contain extensive offerings, and situations like those at Canyon de Chelly and Canyon del Muerto, where sites served as dwelling places for long periods of time and the steady accumulation of refuse buried layers of cultural debris. ”

“ After the Spanish reconquered New Mexico in 1692, many Pueblo families from the Rio Grande sought sanctuary with the Navajos. Some of these refugees were absorbed into the tribe, and they brought with them not only weaving, but sheep raising, pottery and basketry techniques, architectural and agricultural ideas, the clan system, and much religious lore. ”

“ Moccasins of dyed buckskin are still popular with the women at home, but modish shoes and stockings have been adopted for town wear. In winter, both men and women use commercially made blankets draped over their shoulders for protection against the cold.
Today many Navajo men take off-reservation jobs with railroads, in lumber camps, or as migratory workers following crop harvests. Sheep still play a major role in the family economy, and annual income is supplemented by the sale of rugs and, sometimes, silverwork and jewelry.
The Navajos have worn silver ornaments for many years. ”

“ The climate here is so dry that human burials are perfectly preserved as natural mummies or desiccated bodies (there being no attempt at artificial preservation by these people) , and such fragile buried objects as baskets more than a thousand years old are in good condition. ”

“ Water is scarce over much of the reservation and must be hauled in wagons or pickup trucks from as far away as 10 miles. Water is used sparingly.
The Navajos are fond of goat meat and mutton, which have almost entirely replaced the wild game of the old diet. Canned goods from the traders’ shelves have supplanted the wild plants that used to be gathered and, in some homes, have eliminated garden plots of corn and squash. At Fort Sumner the Navajos learned to roast and brew coffee and to use wheat flour. Now coffee and wheat bread are important items in their diet. ”

“ During World War II, hundreds of young Navajo men enlisted in the armed forces and other thousands went into war work. These involvements in American society demonstrated that an education was essential if Indians were to compete successfully in the outer world, and so the tribal council passed a compulsory schooling law in 1947. ”

“ Indian and Territorial affairs are other major concerns of America’s “Department of Natural Resources.” The Department works to assure the wisest choice in managing all our resources so each will make its full contribution to a better United States—now and in the future. ”

“ Circular hogans of stone, adapted from Pueblo Indian masonry construction, are sometimes built. The roofs on both types of hogans are constructed of cribbed logs and appear domed rather than flat. A feature common to every hogan is its door facing east, toward the sunrise.
A Navajo forked-pole hogan, traditionally the earliest form used by the tribe. Shaped like a tipi, it is built of heavy logs covered with soil. National Archives
Furnishings of hogans were simple and limited, but today tables, chairs, cabinets, and beds are commonly used. ”

“ As permanent homes gave them social stability and well-developed agriculture ensured adequate food, the Anasazi had leisure and sufficient security for greater activity in their arts, crafts, and ceremonials. As a consequence, trade with other peoples seems to have grown and flourished because it brought in the specialized and exotic materials needed for rituals and pleasure. Parrots were traded from Mexico for their plumage, and ornamental shells from the Gulf of California and the West Coast found their way to Anasazi settlements. ”

“ Antelope House in Canyon del Muerto is on the canyon floor under a towering, overhanging cliff.
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An Anasazi pictograph.
The famous “Burial of the Weaver” was found in a small cliff alcove not far from Antelope House. The grave was against the cliff, and a curved masonry wall in front held back the earth. Inside was the tightly flexed body of an old man lying on his left side. His hair was streaked with gray and tied back in a bob; a billet of wood served as a pillow. The body’s outer wrapping was a feather blanket made from the breast down of golden eagles. ”

“ The bones were then gathered up and dumped into one of the many storage pits that dotted the cave floor, where the archeologists found them. Among the artifacts discovered with the bones was a short, slender piece of wood, more like the shaft of an arrow than a dart, between the ribs and dried skin on the left side of an old woman.
Little clothing was worn in these early years. Men usually wore sandals and a loin cloth and women an apron like skirt. In cold weather the only additional body covering was a blanket woven from strips of fur. ”

“ Food was once cooked in a firepit in the center of the floor, below a hole in the roof which allowed the smoke to escape, but today it is 48 prepared on stoves which increasingly are butane gas or electric models. In good weather, cooking is done outside. Iron and aluminum pots and pans have replaced homemade pottery and baskets as kitchen utensils. ”

“ Soon they will acquire new habits, new ideas, new modes of life; the old Indians will die off, and carry with them the latent longings for murdering and robbing; the young ones will take their place without these longings; and thus, little by little, they will become a contented people....
Brig. Gen. James H. Carleton defeated the Navajos and built Fort Sumner at Bosque Redondo, the Navajo’s place of exile.
In 1863, Carleton drew up plans for a 40-square-mile reservation at Fort Sumner on the Pecos River in central New Mexico. ”

“ Alexander W. Doniphan was left behind with orders to invade the Navajo country, release captives, reclaim stolen property, and either to awe or beat the Indians into submission. In August 1846 he led the first United States expedition against the Navajos. Maj. William Gilpin, with 200 men, entered the Navajo country on the north and swung south to meet Doniphan and several Navajo chiefs at Bear Springs near the town of Grants, New Mexico, later the site of Fort Wingate. The treaty signed there turned out to be little more than a scrap of paper. ”

“ Along the ledge connecting the two caves are 15 rooms, including a “tower” house; these are the best preserved of all the ruins here. Much original plaster in several colors remains on inner and outer walls throughout the village. Especially notable is the white clay plaster on the interior of the third story of the tower house and the red-painted fret design on white plaster in the large kiva of the east cave.
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A Navajo family has settled below the ruins of the ancient ones in Canyon del Muerto. ”

“ One kiva used to have holes in the floor like those used to support looms in modern Pueblo kivas. The other kiva shows evidence of six layers of plaster. Modern Zuni Indians have a ceremony every 4 years in which they replaster the smoke-stained kiva interior, and this tradition may give some idea of how long this kiva was in use. ”

“ In return, the Government promised the tribe school facilities and a reservation that included Canyon de Chelly in its total area of 3,500,000 acres. The Navajos were to stay within this reservation.
Twenty-nine Navajo chiefs and council members signed the treaty, and the Navajos began leaving Fort Sumner almost immediately, slipping away family by family. Those without horses or who had old or sick persons in their family awaited Government transportation. On June 15, a wagon train with a military escort carried the last Navajos from Fort Sumner to Fort Wingate. ”

“ Within this area they have two or more hogans and corrals, built near suitable grass, water, and wood.
In winter the family moves to the foothills or mesa tops to be near a plentiful wood supply, for winters in the Navajo country are severe. The winter hogans, or houses, are constructed with considerable care by the men. ”

“ Moccasins and leggings of dyed buckskin completed the men’s dress. When Navajo women began loom weaving, they copied the Pueblo woman’s woven cotton dress in wool and wore it with a woven belt. Dyed buckskin moccasins with wrap-around leggings were their footwear.
Navajo clothing of the 19th century, a pair of moccasins and a shirt.
After Bosque Redondo, cotton clothing in Anglo-American and Mexican styles became popular. 49 Today Navajo men wear typical western ranch and farm clothing: blue jeans, shirts, and broad-brimmed felt or straw hats. ”

“ Albert Pfeiffer led his men down Canyon del Muerto between these cliffs, destroying hogans and crops.
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When the reservation was ready, Carleton ordered Col. Christopher (Kit) Carson to take the field against the Navajos in June 1863. Carson’s force consisted of four companies of New Mexican Volunteers, two mounted and two unmounted, and 200 Ute Indians, who were guides and scouts, altogether a force of about 1,000 men. Their first operation was to reoccupy and repair the abandoned Fort Defiance, which they renamed Fort Canby in honor of General Canby. ”