MONUMENT VALLEY: THE NAVAJO

The Mittens are two buttes which welcome visitors into the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.  The Navajo say they are the hands of a deity.

Proud, independent, self-governing, the Navajo nation is a country inside a country.  They have their own police and governing council and President.  There are only a few federal laws that would supersede Navajo law.

This beautiful new hotel on the right as you enter the park just blends into the hills.  It is appropriately named "The View".  

The Navajo have every right to be proud of The View.  It was built by Navajo and is staffed by Navajo.  The view from every room is amazing and the restaurant is five star.  Navajo fry bread!  They have a high end gift shop with beautiful jewelry...as well as a Museum below. 

How do the Navajo make money?

They receive oil and gas lease proceeds, casino dollars, they have a thriving handmade goods business, and they are shepherds and cattle ranchers.

Are the Navajo native to Monument Valley?

Historians can trace the Anasazi in the valley back before the 1300's.  But those Pueblo people disappeared and the Navajo came to the valley sometime after 1500.

The Navajo are thought to have migrated from Canada because there is an Indian tribe in Canada whose language is similar.  The Navajo language is very complex.  Just ask anyone who has tried to learn it (like Harry and Mike Goulding)...or like the enemy in WW2 who tried to break these Navajo Code Talkers'  language.

Has our government treated the Navajo badly?

1.  In 1863 when settlers to the West came into conflict with the Indians, the government stepped in to bring peace to the area by removing every man, woman, and child to a reservation 350 miles away.  

That march to Ft. Sumner, New Mexico (also called Bosque Redondo) was called "The Long Walk".  It was @gunpoint and in harsh winter weather.  Over 200 died along the way and more died in what was described as a "barren" reservation.  Brackish water made them sick, flour had bugs, and there was not enough food.  They shared space with their enemy, the Apache.

Four years later, the government reversed its position and a treaty was signed. The Navajo went home and their line was ten miles long.  They were initially given 3.5 million acres and over the years, it has increased to over 16 million acres.


2.  The Navajo counts his wealth in the number of sheep or horses and considers his livestock to be sacred like family.  When the government initiated a "scorched earth" policy against the Indians in 1863 (before they were marched away to Ft. Sumner), all their livestock was slaughtered.  

Then during the 1930's Dustbowl, it happened again when the Bureau of Indian Affairs ordered a "Navajo Livestock Reduction".

The Navajo are good shepherds and their livestock flourished on their return from Ft. Sumner.  That success led to overgrazing.  It was thought that 2/3 of the Navajo range was destroyed, followed by soil erosion.  The Bureau ordered the livestock numbers dramatically reduced (80%) and a quarter of a million animals were killed.



3.  From 1944 to 1986, there was a demand for atomic power.  This Four Corners area of the Colorado Plateau is rich in radioactive ore (uranium),  and almost 4 million tons of uranium was extracted from Navajo lands under leases with the Navajo Nation.

Today the mines are closed but the uranium contamination remains.  There are over 500 abandoned mines which polluted water supplies, causing bone cancer and impaired kidney function.  Indians constructed their hogans from the mine tailings and it is easy to imagine how the sun would bake in that contamination, causing a 15x greater incidence of stomach cancer on the reservation.

After a blast, Indians were sent in while dust was swirling..while the white men were allowed to wait.  That inhalation of radioactive particles caused lung cancer, but the Navajo were never told of the hazards or radiation effects.  They did not have a word for it in their language.  Many did not speak English and trusted the uranium companies to have their interests in mind.  In addition, they were unfairly paid below-minimum wage and also paid less than miners from off the reservation.

Finally, in October 2007, the EPA, a House Committee on Oversight/Government Reform, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Department of Energy, the Indian Health Service, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission...all coordinated a Five Year Plan to address the contamination in the Navajo Nation.  Hopefully this will bring some justice to a beleaguered people.  We certainly betrayed and took advantage of the Navajo.