Navajo Agency

Report of Special Agent Walter O. Marmon on the Indians of the Navajo reservation Navajo agency New Mexico and Apache County Arizona March April and May 1891.

Name of Indian tribe occupying the Navajo reservation: ¹ Navajo.

The unallotted area of this reservation is 8,205,440 acres or 12,821 square miles. The outboundaries and some portions of the reservation have been surveyed and subdivided. It was established altered or changed by treaty of June 1 1863 (15 U. S. Stats. p. 667) and executive orders October 29 1878 January 6 1880 and two of May 17 1881. (1769600 acres in Arizona and 967680 acres in Utah were added to this reservation by executive order of May 17 1881 and 16080 acres in New Mexico restored to public domain but again reserved by executive order April 21 1886.)

Indian population June 1 1890: 17,204 including roaming Navajos and children of school age hid away.

The Navajo agency is in New Mexico but the reservation extends into Arizona as well as into Utah. It is convenient therefore to give some particulars as to the reservation as a whole under Arizona. ²

“There is little need to ask what we will do with the Navajos if they lose their reservation. ‘How shall we locate them then’ you inquire. Under the ground instead of on top of it is the only reasonable answer I can frame. Unless mines are found in it the Navajo reservation will probably never sustain as many white men as it now sustains Indians. If good mineral deposits should be found in the Carrizo and Tuincha Mountains where prospectors have recently sought for them the Navajos will of course lose their lands and herds in a very few years and become vagabonds.

“Of the Navajos it can be said that they are neither too proud nor too lazy to work but are willing to earn money at any sort of labor they can find when the Atlantic and Pacific railroad was built through this country 10 years ago much of the grading was done by Navajo laborers and white men working on the line with them have told me that they liked them as companions ‘on the job’; that (unlike Chinamen) they kept up prices and were agreeable fellows to work with. We have employed them at Fort Wingate in making adobes digging excavations etc. and have strange to say found them more satisfactory laborers than the Zuni Indians. Before the Indians who once camped around here were compelled to go on their reservation they performed all manner of domestic services for us. I have often seen a stalwart warrior work all day at a washtub for $1 and when he was in no real need of the money and intended perhaps to devote it to no higher purpose than staking it on a game of monte. Many of them are inclined to be provident. I believe if they knew how to bank or accumulate money they would do it; but apart from the increase of their herds it is difficult for them to amass property. One way they have is in covering their persons bridles saddles etc. with silver ornaments. This is done not so mach for purposes of adornment as for a means of accumulating what Mr. Wenamick calls ‘portable property ‘. One provident Indian silversmith has now deposited in my safe $165. They are said to be inclined to steal from one another and it is necessary that portable property should be kept well in sight. For myself I must say I have never bad a Navajo steal anything from me though I have given them every chance to do so. As you know the Navajos are well to do self-sustaining and prosperous. I have rarely known one to beg.

“There is no notable physical deterioration as yet among the Navajos. Their general health and power of resisting disease seems to me as good now as when I first came among them 11 years ago.

“Consumption and scrofula those worst enemies of reservation Indians have not yet troubled the Navajos.”

Navajo Reservation

The Navajo Indians claim that they came from the north to this region before the advent of the Spaniards at a time when the ancestors of the modern village Indians yet occupied many of the cliff buildings. The names of the bands or clans are as follows: “Man that went armed” “Black sheep” “Close to stream” “Big water” “Meeting of the water” “Blackwood” “Leaves” “Red bank” “Band that escaped “.-D. L. Shipley United States Indian agent.

The Navajos have inhabited the mountains and plateaus of Arizona and New Mexico between the San Juan and Little Colorado rivers ever since they were discovered. By their contact with the progressive Pueblos the Navajos have acquired many useful arts among them spinning and weaving. Their blankets woven in looms are of great excellence and bring prices ranging from $25 to $100. They cultivate the soil raising large quantities of corn squashes and melons. Colonel Baker United States army in 1859 estimated their farms at 20000 acres; their agent’s report for 1875 places the cultivated lands at 6000 acres. Their principal wealth is now in horses sheep and goats having acquired them at an early day and fostered their growth so that they now count their horses by the thousand and their sheep by hundreds of thousands. Notwithstanding the excellence of their manufactures their houses are rude affairs called by the Spaniards jackals and by themselves hogans being small conical huts of poles covered with branches in the summer and in winter with earth. Like the Apaches they made incessant war on the Mexicans who made many unsuccessful attempts to subjugate them. The expeditions against them on the part of the United States by Doniphan in 1846 Wilkes in 1817 Newby in 1848 and Washington in 1849 were practically failures. Colonel Sumner established Fort Defiance in 1851 but was forced to retreat and all other attempts to subdue them were defeated until the winter campaign of 1863 when Colonel Kit Carson killed thousands of them and compelled the remainder to remove to the Bosque Redondo on the Pecos River where 7000 were held prisoners by the government for several years. In 1868 a treaty was made with them under which they were removed to Fort Wingate and the following year they went back to their old home around Fort Defiance and the Canyon De Chelly where a reservation of 5200 square miles was assigned them. They came back reduced in numbers and subsisting on the bounty of the government; no stock save a few broken down sore backed horses a few sheep and goats not to exceed 10000 in all; the unhappy remnant of the once most powerful tribe of the southwest only thankful for the boon of being allowed once more to return to the land of their forefathers. A count made in 1877 put their number at 11768 3000 of whom were said to come directly under the civilizing influences of the agency. In 1877 although they produced largely they were dependent upon the government for two-thirds of their subsistence. In 1890 11012 (enumerated) Navajos lived on that portion of the Navajo reservation in Arizona 5109 in New Mexico and 993 in Utah or roaming. They are entirely self-sustaining. They are a forcible illustration of the success of the Indian as a herder.

In July 1869 in accordance with one of the stipulations of the treaty of 1808 a survey was made establishing the boundaries of the original Navajo reservation 61 miles east and west by 81 north and south the north boundary being the north line of Arizona and New Mexico the reservation lying almost equally in the above named territories. At the same time the valleys were laid off into townships and subdivided into sections preparatory to locating the Indians on lands in severalty in compliance with another section of the treaty.

In November of 1809 a count was made of the tribe in order to distribute among them 30000 head of sheep and 2000 goats. Due notice was given months before and the tribe was present. The Indians were all put in a large corral and counted as they went in. A few herders holding the small herds that they then had bunched on the surrounding hills were not in the corral. The result of this count showed that there were less than 9000 Navajos all told making a fair allowance for all who had failed to come in. At that time everything favored getting a full count; rations were being issued to them every 4 days; they had but little stock and in addition to the issue of sheep and goats there were also 2 years annuities to be given out. The season of the year was favorable the weather fine and they were all anxious to get the sheep and goats and annuities. Once since there was another issue of 12000 sheep. Whatever they now have of livestock more than that number is due to their own care and labor.

The Original reservation which comprised about 5000 square miles in 1869 has been increased from time to time until now it aggregates 12821 square miles; besides Navajo’s in fact occupy the greater portion of the Moqui reservation containing another 5000 square miles. Even this scope of country is not sufficient. Navajo settlements can be found from the Big Colorado River on the west to within 20 miles of the Rio Grande on the east from the San Juan River on the north to the Dahl and Gallinas Mountains on the south an area of country fully 250 miles east and west by 200 miles north and south. Over this immense area they tend their herds and on portions of it raise their crops and are as peaceable and honest as the majority of the people who surround them.

Topography And Resources

Fort Defiance the agency for the Navajos is situated in Arizona 6 miles north of the south boundary of the reservation. A never failing stream of water flows through Canyon Bonita and through the agency lands and forms a junction with Black River about 1 mile south from the agency. The soil in this locality is very rich and produces all kinds of grain and vegetables in great profusion. A number of Indians are settled in the vicinity of the agency and do a little farming very crude and with no system. Black River valley lying just east of the agency is a narrow fertile tract 25 or 30 miles long. It could be made very productive and has sufficient arable land to furnish farms for fully 100 families. Black River would furnish sufficient water for irrigation if properly stored and saved. Small grains wheat rye and barley fall sowed would do well; also corn and vegetables and some kinds of fruits. There is not a fruit tree at the agency. Even a few cottonwood trees planted by the troops while there have been used up or have died from ill use. North of the agency in the vicinity of Washington pass and west of the Tunitcha Mountains there are streams abounding in fish and containing sufficient water to irrigate all the arable land in that section. A few families are settled along these streams and do a little farming raising the finest quality of wheat corn beans pumpkins squashes and melon.

This section is finely timbered pine oak piñon cedar and aspen being in abundance. This could be made a farming as well as a grazing country. Sixty miles north of the agency and south of the Carrizo and west of the Tunitcha. Mountains is another fine valley the Lu-ka-chu-ki through which rums the Lu-ka-chu-kai or Carrizo creek. A number of families are settled along this river who raise wheat corn and vegetables. There are several peach orchards. In this section many of the Indians have built good stone houses and more are anxious to follow the example set them. They complain that they can not get lumber for roofs doors and windows. This valley is over 30 miles long. The river running through it empties into the De Chelly or into the Chinlee River. There is a store on this stream near Round Rock. The traders there say they will buy 200000 pounds of wool this season. Thirty miles east at Sa-lee is located another store where the traders expect to buy 25000 pounds of wool this year outside of the pelt and hide trade. The Carrizo country lying to the north is broken and mountainous. This range runs east and west with numerous small streams and valleys both to the north and south where some farming is clone but it is principally a grazing country.

The Carrizo Mountains are said to be rich in gold and silver ore and the nomad miners threaten to go in and take possession causing not a little apprehension to the Indians and the authorities. I would respectfully recommend that a commission be appointed to investigate this matter and satisfy the government whether this is a valuable Mineral country. That fact established then treat for it; but in the meantime allow no intruders even if it be necessary to quarter a company of troops there permanently.

The Chinlee valley lies about 30 miles west of the agency and is from 1 to 3 miles wide and fully 60 miles long. The climate is mild altitude about 5000 feet. The soil is very fertile and will produce every variety of grain vegetables or fruit of the most favored localities. This valley is covered with old ruins. There are probably 200 families who do a little farming in this valley. The rivers De Chelly and Chinlee which form a junction about 30 miles north from the south boundary of the reservation furnish abundance of water for all purposes of irrigation. In Canyon De Chelly are many peach orchards. These were cut down during the war but grew again from the roots stronger and better than before. Here they raise corn and melons and here the Indians from the mountain districts gather to feast on the good things the toil of the Indian husbandman provides. The trader at Pueblo Colo. stated that some years he bought 200000 bushels of corn from this valley and could have bought more if he had needed it.

The Chasid valley lies east of the Chuski and Tunitcha range about 15 miles east of the agency is from 12 to 20 miles wide has abundance of fine soil and is irrigated in the spring by the numerous streams running from the ranges just mentioned and the melting snows from the mountains. There is an unusually large rainfall for this country. This is the corn valley. In 1860 while surveying a line 12 miles north and south we were in a cornfield the whole way. This was in August and the stalks were higher than men’s heads and the ears of corn a foot or more long. The altitude is about 5000 feet. The Chuski and Tunitcha mountains with an elevation of from 7000 to 10000 feet form the western boundary. This valley extends from the south boundary of the reservation to the San Juan River on the north a distance of more than 70 miles. Numerous springs of good water are scattered through it and along the foothills on the west. The mountain summits are covered with pine timber many small lakes of clear water and abundant grass. The slopes are covered with pine cedar and oak suitable for fuel and I fence posts. In many of the small valleys coming down from the mountains are to be found farms and some peach orchards. Twenty acres of agricultural land here with irrigation and properly farmed would be sufficient for one family. What is true of this valley is also true of the Chinlee Black River Lu-ki-chu-ki Sa-lee and all the other farming localities. All these valleys are covered with old ruins and bear evidence of having at some time long past supported a dense population.

To the north and west of the agency as far as the San Juan river on the north and the Big and Little Colorado Rivers on the west lies a vast extent of broken and mountainous country cut up by deep canyons and washes with small fertile valleys and wooded tableland sandy wastes and volcanic ridges and peaks many springs and an occasional running stream. This wild section is the home of many Navajos who farm in the valleys and pasture their flocks of sheep and goats and herds of horses and cattle. Here they live from year to year in undisturbed peace very seldom visiting the agency. They seem to be prosperous; their herds are increasing. Here are found fine horses and herds of cattle. The climate is salubrious and while not a farming country in the true sense all crops grow and do well. The nearest trading stores to this section are at Round Rock on the east and at Moencopie and Blue canyon on the west. The Navajos are said to be hospitable and always glad to meet white people yet no agent has visited them. They seem to be as it were working out their own salvation as best they may. The trader at Round Rock stated that a large proportion of the wool he buys conies from this section. Away in the far northwest it is reported that rich minerals exist. In this section west of the De Chelly River garnets amethysts opals and other beautiful stones are found in great numbers. Although geologically speaking this locality is diamond bearing no diamonds have as yet been found. In the territory of Utah and just south of the Colorado River are located the famous Navajo Mountains supposed to be rich in gold and silver but jealously guarded by the Navajos and some Piutes who live in that section.

Off the Navajo reservation to the west over the greater portion of the Marini reservation southwest to the valley of the little Colorado River and beyond to the San Francisco Mountains to the west the Canyon Diablo and the Sunset Mountains on the south are many settlements of Navajos who do a little farming but who are for the most part stock raisers. A few have made permanent locations and desire to secure title to the land. The same is true of those who live south and east of the reservation in. New Mexico in the vicinity of the Alamocita 60 miles south of Laguna where there is a settlement of about 100 who have built good house and located their land. At the Canyon Cozo 15 miles northeast of Laguna about 20 families have filed on land; they have good houses have constructed a large reservoir and are living as their neighbors do. In Water canyon 10 miles north of Cubero are located 5 or 6 families; in the vicinity of San Mateo are others. North of Chaves Mariano a band numbering some 200 or 300 are anxious to locate and obtain patent for the land. At Rameh south of Fort Wingate and. east of Zuñi and in the Chaco canyon and that vicinity are settlements of Indians who farm a little and are making progress in the civilized manner of living.

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