County of town: Navajo County
Location of town: NE corner of county, crossroads of US-160 & US-163
County is NE portion of state one county west of NM
Location of post office: 391 US Hwy 163, Kayenta
Elevation: 1,738 m (5,700 ft)
Population: 5,189 (2010) Chapter; town about 400
"The Kayenta-Monument Valley Scenic Byway is located on the US 163. Known as the “Gateway to Monument Valley,” it begins in Kayenta, Arizona, at milepost 393.5 and continues to milepost 416.7 at the Utah border.
"Woven into the striking landscapes of Monument Valley are volcanic plugs, sandstone buttes, mesas, and spires. Located entirely within the Navajo Nation at an elevation of 5,200 feet, Monument Valley is called Tse’ Bii’ Ngzisgaii (Valley of the Rocks) by the Navajo.
"The history of the Kayenta-Monument Valley Scenic Byway is that of the American West. The Navajo presence in the region extends back hundreds of years." ~ NAVAJO NATION
Historic marker, mainly about wagons, but also conveys the atmosphere and life about this Chapter:
Into the late 1930's, few Navajos around the Kayenta area had wagons. Washes, canyons, mesas and mountain ranges in the western region of the reservation typically made road building difficult. The vast interior of the reservation remained accessible only by horseback, the riders using familiar trails. Navajos started to prosper with more and more sheep from the sale of lambs, wool and rugs. More sheep also meant more children and more material wealth increasing a demand for wagons. Additionally, the construction of bridges and roads started to increase the demand for wagons. Wagons for the Navajos meant the difference between confinement to a spring of some primary source of water or living where you wanted because with a wagon you could haul 55 gallon drums of water.
At the turn of the century, Navajos and Anglos rarely intermixed, the San Juan River constituting one of the major barriers to contact between the races. The Anglos living on the northern side of the river and the Navajos in the south. In 1904, a footbridge was complete at Farmington, New Mexico. Five years later, 1909, a wagon bridge was opened at Mexican Hat, Utah, and in 1910, at Shiprock, New Mexico. A flood destroyed all of the bridges in October 1911. The Mexican Hat and Shiprock bridges were soon rebuilt.
With the replacement of the reservation bridges in 1915, a new dirt road from Shiprock to Gallup was also completed. In 1929, the state of Arizona along with money from the Indian Service, completed a dirt road through the western region of the reservation connecting Kayenta to Shiprock, New Mexico. to the north and to Cameron, Arizona to the south. In the western region, Navajos living along this new dirt road were first to purchase new wagons.
The US Government was the major supplier of wagons from 1920 to 1930. The Navajos could buy wagons on credit at the wholesale price with a $50.00 down-payment. The price of a wagon in 1925 was $145.61, and the Indian Service introduced a reimbursable plan to pay with wagons instead of wages. Wagons were acquired first by Navajos from the eastern portion of the reservation (New Mexico) and gradually moved to the western reservation area (Tuba City through Kayenta). Even before wagons came into universal use in the western portion of the reservation, well-to-do Navajos in New Mexico were tarting to purchase automobiles. The Shiprock-Gallup highway was paved in 1927 whereas the road linking Tuba City to Shiprock wasn't paved until 1960.
In the phot gallery I will show the different homes of the Navajo during this time period: The Sweat Lodge; The Palisaded Hogan; The Forked Hogan