Navajo Canyon Country (1954)

[Music] a America a jigsaw puzzle of checkered colors and scenes denoting many things in many [Music] places in most regions it means the Comforts of civilization of modern homes of shiny cars on smooth highways of fancy stores in noisy City Canyons but there are quiet lonely canyons in America too the Gorges of Northern Arizona and New Mexico that cut across the vast empty table lands a region that molds life into primitive Simplicity in this country of canyons and of Plains live a proud and aristocratic people the navajos an ancient race who called themselves the people [Music] since their migration from the north some 600 years ago the navajos have had their way of life shaped by the unyielding land in which they [Music] settled theirs is a land not man-made but one etched by time with wind and weather for tools the granules of desert sand driven by the wind act as Tiny drills against the face of cliffs they wear away the softer layers of rock these crevices filled with snow in the winter months as the snow freezes it expands and forces the Rocks apart to split the crevices deeper when the snow melts in the spring or after summer showers later the runoff water seeks the cracks and wears into the stone in time sections loosen and fall away and Through the Ages erosion carves the [Music] cliffs in this broken land roads are few and rough often mere Trails or a Sandy Canyon floor limiting transportation in the past to horse and wagon or to horseback but including today modern pickup trucks leading off from the roads are faint wagon tracks the only signs to tell you that there's a home out there somewhere it's hard to distinguish the houses for round and squat as beehives they melt right into the landscape the navajos do not live in villages as do other tribes but in lonely Hogans under a but or on the plains because of the isolated region homes have been built of materials at hand on the barren Plains the Hogans are often cone-shaped for here there are few tree trunks to serve as poles and the supporting framework must be simple but it can be heavily plastered with [Music] mud often the homes on the Windswept Maes may have the door protected by a vestibule a covered approach to keep out the snow and rain and the Eternal sand this door one of the two openings in any Hogan always faces to the east for the navajos are sun worshippers and on each new day they greet the Rising Sun in scrub forests of the higher elevations Hogans are built of pan logs mors together chinked with Clay between the roof is Dome shaped coated with mud in the center is the second of two openings of the Hogan the Smoke Hole originally an escape for smoke from the Open Fire Inside today it may boast a stove pipe or two Outlets from wood stoves used for both Heating and cooking inside the logs of the roof are laid one on the other to form an inverted cone below clothing hangs on wooden pegs and Extras are stored in boxes or trunks on the swept dirt floor at night are spread beds of pelts and blankets a table always placed to the right of the door serves as kitchen and in one simple log room in the winter months the Navajo family lives its daily life in summer the household moves Outdoors into a simple shelter built nearby a framework of poles enclosed by brush or perhaps only topped by a layer of branches these sun shades are set up for hot weather comfort if the family can afford a tent it is pitched nearby and Out of Doors the daily chores go [Music] on tents and shelters are used in the summer sheep camps for the navajos are Shepherds an economy determined by the dry land the first sheep were taken from the Spaniards in New Mexico in the 1600s in the centuries since then the animals have become well suited to this land of little forage and water they provide easily butchered meat for the family there are lambs to sell in the fall and wool in the spring for the Trader for then the Sheep are sheared by the women the owners of the flocks as each fleece rolls off the long fibered wool is put aside for their own fine weaving the rest is dropped into long burlap bags hung inside scaffolds it'll be packed down by stamping feet the Packer almost hidden in the depths but as more wool is added he finally emerges at the top these bags may be tightly stuffed to a weight of 300 lb or more then by pickup or wagon it is off to the trading post to be weighed and inspected by the trader and after his purchase to be reloaded with other bags for a truck ride to resale in the cities of the outside world [Music] on all the broad Navajo reservation the trading posts are the only towns they have the feel of tiny forts self-contained and squat they are grocery bank and post office the center of life in this lonely land the posts are few and operate only by government permit and bond many of them are old and their Traders have helped to build the Southwest [Music] prior to the arrival of sheep the early navajos were farmers planting their patches of fields in the dampness of Canyon Washers of these Canyon desay has forever been the garden spot of Navajo land where for Generations certain clans of the tribe have planted their summer crops from the rim they return each spring to live in k or brush Shades or even to build an occasional Hogan in a protected Cove beside the homes there are fields of corn and other crops and Tiny Orchards huddle under the cliffs the Canyon was formed by erosion of wind and water and in places the walls rise straight up for a th000 ft through eons The Cliffs were cut rising in great concave sweeps of wind chiseled [Music] Stone the modern tribe is a newcomer in this ancient land for on the canyon walls are pictures and signs drawn by those who lived here before petroglyphs primitive figures cut by early artists their only tablet the Stone Cliff walls their pin a small sharp Rock with these they etched a record of the things they saw nearby are their dwellings punched on great shelves on the North Canyon wall sit the stone houses of the really ancient ones the preo people of prehistoric times several hundred separate ruins have been left by these people records of their history forged in the centuries between 300 and 1300 ad and history has been shaped here for the more recent people the navajos for to many it was the beginning of the tragic long walk in the winter of 1863-64 the last remnants of the tribe fled to this stronghold to escape capture by Kit Carson's men sent to subdue them the people hid in the Rocky Cliffs half Frozen and hungry Warriors scal the walls using natural tow holes in the rock or use steps begun by the ancient ones and worn deep through the [Music] Centuries by these they swung up the walls and over the rim hoping for safety above only to be caught and walked 300 Frozen miles to captivity up on the Canyon Rim is a symbol of man's need in this Stern land it seems to be only a pile of stones but it has been built Slowly by generations for here a Navajo will stop before going on any Journey a twig is broken from a nearby juniper tree to be deposited on the pile then a stone is placed to hold it down Against the Wind and a silent prayer is said for safety and good luck Through The Years Navajo hands have built this ancient wishing pile and Navajo Hearts have given thanks and have made wishes that life might be easier in the harsh land that is their home this golden country of canyons and of St one colorful segment of the jigsaw that is America today