The Navaho reservation comprises an extensive area in the extreme
northeastern part of Arizona and the northwestern corner of New Mexico
(plate LXXXII). The total area is over 11,000 square miles, of which
about 650 square miles are in New Mexico; but it would be difficult to
find a region of equal size and with an equal population where so large
a proportion of the land is so nearly worthless. This condition has had
an important effect on the people and their arts, and especially on
their houses.
The region may be roughly characterized as a vast sandy plain, arid
in the extreme; or rather as two such plains, separated by a chain of
mountains running northwest and southeast. In the southern part of the
reservation this mountain range is known as the Choiskai mountains,
and here the top is flat and mesa-like in character, dotted with little
lakes and covered with giant pines, which in the summer give it a
park-like aspect. The general elevation of this plateau is a little less
than 9,000 feet above the sea and about 3,000 feet above the valleys or
plains east and west of it.
The continuation of the range to the northwest, separated from the
Choiskai only by a high pass, closed in winter by deep snow, is known as
the Tunicha mountains. The summit here is a sharp ridge with pronounced
slopes and is from 9,000 to 9,400 feet high. On the west there are
numerous small streams, which, rising near the summit, course down the
steep slopes and finally discharge through Canyon Chelly into the great
Chinlee valley, which is the western of the two valleys referred to
above. The eastern slope is more pronounced than the western, and its
streams are so small and insignificant that they are hardly worthy of
mention.
Still farther to the northwest, and not separated from the Tunicha
except by a drawing in or narrowing of the mountain mass, with no
depression of the summit, is another part of the same range, which bears
a separate name. It is known as the Lukachukai mountains. Here something
of the range character is lost, and the uplift becomes a confused mass,
a single great pile, with a maximum altitude of over 9,400 feet.
Northwest of this point the range breaks down into Chinlee valley, but
directly to the north is another uplift, called the Carriso mountains.
It is a single mass, separated from the range proper by a comparatively
low area of less than 7,000 feet altitude, while the Carriso itself is
over 9,400 feet above the sea.
The western and northwestern parts of the reservation might also
be classed as mountainous. Here there is a great mesa or elevated
table-land, cut and gashed by innumerable canyons and gorges, and with
a general elevation of 7,500 to 8,000 feet. Throughout nearly its whole
extent it is impassable to wagons.
The valleys to which reference has been made are the Chinlee on the west
and the Chaco on the east of the principal mountain range described.
Both run nearly due north, and the former has a fall of about 2,000 feet
from the divide, near the southern reservation line, to the northern
boundary, a distance of about 85 miles. Chaco valley heads farther south
and discharges into San Juan river within the reservation. It has less
fall than the Chinlee. Both valleys are shown on the maps as occupied by
rivers, but the rivers materialize only after heavy rains; at all other
times there is only a dry, sandy channel. Chaco “river,” which heads
in the continental divide, carries more water than the Chelly, which
occupies Chinlee valley, and is more often found to contain a little
water. The valleys have a general altitude of 5,000 to 6,000 feet above
the sea.
The base of the mountain range has an average breadth of only 12
or 15 miles, and it is a pronounced impediment to east-and-west
communication. It is probably on this account that the Navaho are
divided into two principal bands, under different leaders. Those of one
band seldom travel in the territory of the other. The Navaho of the
west, formerly commanded by old Ganamucho (now deceased), have all the
advantages in regard to location, and on the whole are a finer body of
men than those of the east.
On the west the mountains break down into Chinlee valley by a gradual
slope--near the summit quite steep, then running out into table-lands
and long foothills. This region is perhaps the most desirable on the
reservation, and is thickly inhabited. On the east the mountains descend
by almost a single slope to the edge of the approximately flat Chaco
valley. In a few rods the traveler passes from the comparatively fertile
mountain region into the flat, extremely arid valley country, and in 50
or 60 miles’ travel after leaving the mountains he will not find wood
enough to make his camp fire, nor, unless he moves rapidly, water enough
to carry his horses over the intervening distance.
Throughout the whole region great scarcity of water prevails; in the
large valleys during most of the year there is none, and it is only in
the mountain districts that there is a permanent supply; but there life
is almost impossible during the winter. This condition has had much
to do with the migratory habits of the people, or rather with their
frequent moving from place to place; for they are not a nomadic people
as the term is usually employed. This is one of the reasons why the
Navaho have no fixed habitations.
San Juan river forms a short section of the northeastern boundary of
the Navaho country, and this is practically the only perennial stream to
which they have access. It is of little use to them, however, as there
are no tributaries from the southern or reservation side, other than the
Chaco and Chelly “rivers,” which are really merely drainage channels and
are dry during most of the year. The eastern slope of the mountain range
gives rise to no streams, and the foot of the range on that side is as
dry and waterless as the valley itself. One may travel for 20 miles over
this valley and not find a drop of water. Except at Sulphur springs,
warm volcanic springs about 30 miles south of the San Juan, the ordinary
traveler will not find sufficient water between the foot of the
mountains and the river, a distance of over 50 miles. Such is the
character of Chaco valley. But the Indians know of a few holes and
pockets in this region which yield a scanty supply of water during
parts of the year, and somewhere in the vicinity of these pockets will
be found a hogán or two.
Chaco wash or river, like most of the large drainage channels of this
country, has a permanent underflow, and by digging wells in the dry,
sandy bed it is often possible to obtain a limited supply of water.
This is well known to the Navaho, and 90 per cent of the houses of this
region are located within reach of the wash, whence the supply of water
which the Navaho deems essential is procured.
On the western slope of the mountains and in the canyons and cliffs of
the high table-lands which form the western part of the reservation,
the water supply, while still scanty, is abundant as compared with
the eastern part. In the mountains themselves there are numerous small
streams, some of which carry water nearly all the year; while here and
there throughout the region are many diminutive springs almost or quite
permanent in character. Most of the little streams rise near the crest
of the mountains and, flowing westward, are collected in a deep canyon
cut in the western slope, whence the water is discharged into Chinlee
valley, and traversing its length in the so-called Rio de Chelly,
finally reaches San Juan river. But while these little streams are
fairly permanent up in the mountains, their combined flow is seldom
sufficient, except in times of flood, to reach the mouth of Canyon
Chelly and Chinlee valley. However, here, as in the Chaco, there is an
underflow, which the Indians know how to utilize and from which they
can always obtain a sufficient supply of potable water.
The whole Navaho country lies within what the geologists term the
Plateau region, and its topography is dictated by the peculiar
characteristics of that area. The soft sandstone measures, which are its
most pronounced feature, appear to lie perfectly horizontal, but in fact
the strata have a slight, although persistent dip. From this peculiarity
it comes about that each stratum extends for miles with an unbroken
sameness which is extremely monotonous to the traveler; but finally its
dip carries it under the next succeeding stratum, whose edge appears
as an escarpment or cliff, and this in turn stretches out flat and
uninteresting to the horizon. To the eye it appears an ideal country for
traveling, but only a very slight experience is necessary to reveal its
deceptiveness. Everywhere the flat mesas are cut and seamed by gorges
and narrow canyons, sometimes impassable even to a horse. Except along a
few routes which have been established here and there, wagon travel is
extremely difficult and often impossible. It is not unusual for a wagon
to travel 50 or 60 miles between two points not 20 miles distant from
each other.
The high mountain districts are characterized by a heavy growth of giant
pines, with firs and spruce in the highest parts, and many groves of
scrub oak. The pines are abundant and make excellent lumber. Going
downward they merge into piñons, useful for firewood but valueless as
timber, and these in turn give place to junipers and cedars, which are
found everywhere throughout the foothills and on the high mesa lands.
The valleys proper, and the low mesas which bound them, are generally
destitute of trees; their vegetation consists only of sagebrush and
greasewood, with a scanty growth of grass in favorable spots.
To the traveler in the valley the country appears to consist of sandy
plains bounded in the distance by rocky cliffs. When he ascends to the
higher plateaus he views a wide landscape of undulating plain studded
with wooded hills, while from the mountain summits he looks down upon
a land which appears to be everywhere cut into a network of jagged
canyons--a confused tangle of cliffs and gorges without system.
For a few weeks in early summer the table-lands are seen in their most
attractive guise. The open stretches of the mesas are carpeted with
verdure almost hidden under a profusion of flowers. The gray and dusty
sagebrush takes on a tinge of green, and even the prickly and repulsive
greasewood clothes itself with a multitude of golden blossoms. Cacti
of various kinds vie with one another in producing the most brilliant
flowers, odorless but gorgeous. But in a few weeks all this brightness
fades and the country resumes the colorless monotonous aspect which
characterizes it.
July and August and sometimes part of September comprise the rainy
season. This period is marked by sudden heavy showers of short duration,
and the sandy soil absorbs sufficient moisture to nourish the grass and
herbage for a time; but most of the water finds its way directly into
deep-cut channels and thence in heavy torrents to the deep canyons of
the San Juan and the Colorado, where it is lost. A small portion of the
rainfall and much of the snow water percolates the soil and the porous
sandstones which compose the region, and issues in small springs along
the edges of the mesas and in the little canyons; but these last only
a few months, and they fail in the time of greatest need--in the hot
summer days when the grass is dry and brittle and the whole country is
parched.
The direct dependence of the savage on nature as he finds it is
nowhere better illustrated than on the Navaho reservation. In the three
essentials of land, water, and vegetation, his country is not an ideal
one. The hard conditions under which he lives have acted directly on his
arts and industries, on his habits and customs, and also on his mind and
his mythology. In one respect only has he an advantage: he is blessed
with a climate which acts in a measure as an offset to the other
conditions and enables him to lead a life which is on the whole not
onerous.
In these dry elevated regions the heat is never oppressive in the day
and the nights are always cool. Day temperatures of 120° or more are
not uncommon in the valleys in July and August, but the humidity is so
slight that such high readings do not produce the discomfort the figures
might imply. In his calico shirt and breeches the Navaho is quite
comfortable, and in the cool of the evening and night he has but to add
a blanket, which he always has within reach. The range between the day
and night temperature in summer is often very great, but the houses are
constructed to meet these conditions; they are cool in hot weather and
warm in cold weather.
The extreme dryness of the air has another advantage from the Indian
point of view, in that it permits a certain degree of filthiness. This
seems inseparable from the Indian character, but it would be impossible
in a moist climate; even under the favorable conditions of the plateau
country many of the tribes are periodically decimated by smallpox.