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November 6, 1999
I left Canyon De
Chelly and Chinle the following morning (11-6), but not the Navajo Reservation. It’s
really quite large, covering all of northeastern Arizona and parts of neighboring Utah and
New Mexico. A NPS ranger told me that it’s as large as West Virginia, but I
haven’t really checked that out yet. The same ranger, who is Navajo, told me that the
Navajo Tribe is the largest in North America, and has approximately 300,000 members, with
25,000 of them living within the bounds of the reservation.
Their history here has been
stable and peaceful except for the period between the late 1700s and 1868. Beginning in
the late 1700s, the Navajo, other Indian Tribes and Spanish colonists engaged in
lengthy warfare over the land and the animals that grazed on it. During this time, the
Navajo used Canyon De Chelly as a refuge and fortress. This phase of turmoil ended
suddenly in 1846, when the U.S. Military defeated the Mexican Army and claimed for the
United States the territories that are now Arizona and New Mexico. The U.S. Military
offered the Navajo peace and friendship in order to end the decades of raiding that had
taken place. Over the next 17 years, the agreement was tested by continued conflict,
broken promises and numerous expeditions into the Navajo territory.
During the winter of 1864, Colonel Kit Carson, under orders from the territorial
commander entered the eastern end of Canyon De Chelly and pushed the Navajo toward the
canyon mouth. Most of the Navajo were either killed or captured, and those who were not
later surrendered when their food supplies ran out. They were then forced to march more
than 300 miles – called the Long Walk by the Navajo - to Fort
Sumner in the New Mexico territory for incarceration. Many died along the way, and
many more died at Fort Sumner during the four years that they were held captive. Finally,
on June 1, 1868, a peace treaty was signed between the Navajo and the United States,
allowing the Navajo to return home. The 4000 survivors did so, only to find that the U.S.
Military had destroyed their homes, livestock and crops, including the precious peach
trees that had been first planted in the canyon by the Hopi centuries before.
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photographs. |
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I stopped in
Ganado at the Hubbell
Trading Post, which is now a National Historic Site. It was established in 1878 at the
time when the Navajo were just getting resettled onto the reservation and were in
desperate need of a source of food staples, and was operated up until 1967 by the Hubbell
family. At that time it was purchased by the National Park Service, who continues to
operate it now. In the early days, it was exclusively a trading post – no money was
exchanged. The Navajo traded wool, sheep, rugs, jewelry, baskets and pottery for flour,
sugar, coffee, canned goods and tobacco. Many Navajo from the Ganado area still shop
there, although now with greenbacks, and I bought my lunch there – fruit and a
muffin. |
Overall,
I was impressed with the Navajo Nation. The reservation and its towns look a lot more
prosperous than other reservations I’ve seen. The people have meaningful jobs,
housing is nice and education (from head-start programs to college) seems to be important.
The people are also friendly – many of them have waved to me as we passed on the
highways. The only "negative" I noticed was that the highways in the reservation
have more litter than those anywhere else I’ve been on my journey. I simply cannot
understand that given the history of love and care for the earth that has been a part of
Native American culture for centuries.
I stayed the night at a motel in Chambers (no
other choice) which is along I-40, and just off the Navajo Reservation. |
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