text:
The WORLD'S GREATEST
Coconino County is the second largest in the United States, 140
miles wide and 180 miles long. 'Within its borders are the second largest
volcanic field, and the most extensive stand of yellow pine on the
North American continent.
There are more than 40 fresh water lakes in the county, and all
or parts of the Kaibab, Coconino, Prescott and Sitgreaves National
Forests. Flagstaff, the County Seat, boasts the purest water in America,
testing 99.52 per cent.
U. S. Highways 66 and 89 offer the motorist beautiful scenic allyear
travel to this great wonderland.
Part or all of the Navajo, Hayasupai, Piute, Hopi and Hualapai
Indian Reservations lay inside the county's borders, offering the visitor
a chance to see more different Indians and their Ceremonies and Arts
and Crafts, than any other spot on the map of the Nation.
The main industries of Coconino County are lumbering, stock raising
(sheep and cattle), Indian trading, mining, resorts and farming.
The Santa Fe Railroad and motor transportation companies enter
the county frQm east and west, north and south. There are modern
hotels, auto courts and restaurant accomodations wherever the traveller
desires to stop.
White Horse Lake, Willia1ns
G'rand Canyon of Arizona
Bill Williams Mountain
Mormon Lake
Betatakin Ruins, Shonto
Golf Course, Williams
See America First by Visiting
(In Utah, but reached only through Coconino County)
Hunting: Buffalo, elk, deer, rabbit, turkey, quail, duck,
geese, dove, band tailed pigeon, squirrel, and bear in season.
Fishing in all lakes and streams in season. A new snow
sports raea was opened in the winter of 1938-39 at Hart
Prairie near Flagstaff. There are many fine recreational
and camping sites maintained in the National F'orests. A
new auto trailer camp site was recently completed near Flagstaff.
There are many guest ranches in the desert, canyons
and forests of the county, as well as lake resorts.
WONDERLAND Coconino County
Moencopi Pueblo, Tuba City
The Highway into Oak Creek
from the North
Oak Creek Canyon from
Schnebly Hill
Wupatki, Wupatki National
Lake Mary
Rainbow Natural Bridge,
Rainbow Natural Bridge
-Photos by Carson Studio
Every Square Mile of Coconino County Offers Something
New and Interesting to See
Ice Caves
Bubbling Spring
Meteor Crater
Old Lee's Ferry
Mt. Elden
Navajo Canyon
Oak Creek Canyon
Black Falls
Grand Falls
Moencopi Village
Tuba City
Moencopi Canyon
Moen Ave
Lake Mary
Sycamore Canyon
J. D. Dam
Fish Hatchery
Aubrey Cliffs
Lowell Observatory
Newberry Mesa
'White Natural Bridge
Pumpkin Patch
The Gap
Cave Mountain
Spring Valley
Wildcat Peak
Houserock Valley
Shiprock Valley
San Francisco Mts.-Highest in Arizona
Volcanic Craters
Bottomless Pit
Wilson Pueblo
Elden Pueblo Ruins
Bill Williams Mountain
Colorado River
Dinosaur Canyon
Coconino Caverns
Colorado River Bridge
Painted Desert
Petrified Forest (Cameron)
Old Wolf Post
Mormon Lake
Cataract Canyon
Gray Mountain
Shadow Mountain
Little Colorado Canyon
Museum of Northern Arizona
Two Guns
White Mesa
Elephants' Feet
Volcanic Dike
Inscription Rocks
Mountain Parks
Mormon Ridge
Navajo Mountain
State-Owned Buffalo Herd
Paria Plateau
February 4 and 5-Snow Sports
May-Golf Tournaments, Flagstaff and Williams
July 2, 3 and 4-Southwest Indian Pow-Wow
August-American Legion Auto Races
April to December-Special Exhibits of the Museum
of Northern Arizona
Williams, the Gateway to the Grand Canyon, was
named in honor of Old Bill Williams, the most
famous of all Rocky Mountain trappers. N ear the
city are to be found Elephant Park, White Horse
Lake, Wild Life Preserve, Kendrick Mountain, Bill
Williams Mountain, Garland Prairie, and many other
noted points of interest.
For further information on Coconino County write
the chambers of commerce at Flagstaff and Williams.
. ---------------------------.-.--.--~----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------
General Information
Tickets for all six performances of the Southwest AllIndian
Pow-Wow will be on sale June 1st, 1939. They may
be ordered direct from Pow--Wow, Inc., by mail, or purchased
at local stores and the Chamber of Commerce. Tickets will
be available at the Pow-Wow General Offices at the City
Park on and after July 1. The ticket office will be open from
9 a. m. until 10 p. m. during the days of the celebration.
First Aid Station
A first aid station in the south end of the grandstand
will be maintained through the -courtesy and cooperation of
the American Red Cross, Department of Health of the State
of Arizona, and the Department of Health of Coconino
County. At least one doctor and a nurse will be in attendance
at all times. An ambulance will be available through
the courtesy of VV. L. Compton, of the Flagstaff Undertaking
Parlor. Any person injured on or about the grounds where
the Celebration is held should apply for treatment immediately.
The Pow-Wow Celebration has proved to be a mecca for
amateur movie and camera fans. They are welcome. Bring
plenty of film. All general subjects are free. No charge of
any kind is made, with the exception that where the photographer
desires special poses of Indians he should with all due
respect make arrangements with the Indians concerned. The
Indians attending the Pow-Wow are a friendly, kindly people.
There will be no trouble such as cameras being seized and
films exposed to light as happens at some pueblos and at
some celebrations on Indian Reservations. The photographer
has but to observe the general rules of courtesy and he can
shoot unusual subjects to his heart's content. Indeed, the
Pow-Wow Celebration offers almost unlimited and more opportunity
for color, scenery and Indian subjects than can be
obtained elsewhere.
The grandstand is close in to the track, overlooking everything
taking place in the arena. With the fast films obtainable
now pictures can be made at the Pow-Wow shows at
night as well as during the afternoon. However, certain
rules regarding the making of pictures at the six performances
must be enforced. No flash bulbs or extra lighting
facilities in or from the grandstand will be permitted. Because
of the danger to unauthorized persons in the arena
during the Rodeo, absolutely no photographer will be permitted
inside the track anywhere. No press photographer
or news reel cameraman will be allowed inside the prohibited
space unless he has proper credentials, and any such arrangements
should be made well in advance of the celebration so
as to assure a spot from which such news shots can be made.
Surreptitiously taken recordings of chants and songs at
the Pow-V\T ow have been made. But when such recordings
are manufactured without permission or arrangement with
the Indians concerned they are illegally so, if they are on
the regular programs. Pow-vVow, Inc., has, and intends to
protect the rights of the Indians when such recordings are
made. Permission for the making of recordings of the
chants may be obtained if such requests are from bona fide
institutions and if the Indians concerned are compensated.
Page Two
In addition to regular Pow-Wow police, city and county
officers will be on the grounds at all times. Police officers
will be available at the Pow-Wow General Offices located
under the grandstand. The telephone numbers of the law
enforcement authorities al~e:
Pow-Wow Police (City Park) ... ........... ... ......... _.. ........... 111
Sheriff's Office, Coconino County. . ... .. _.. .......................... 39
Chief of Police, City of Flagstaff. ................. _.. ............. 15
Indian Village
Several hundred acres of the Coconino National Forest
adjoining the City Park have been set aside for the Indians
visiting the Pow-V\T ow to camp in. vVater and firewood are
free. Roads have been constructed to open up larger areas
of the pine forest for use of the Indians. One must actually
walk through the Indian Village to reahze the great number
of Indians who are camped in the forest setting. Visitors
are welcomed by the Indians. Some of them usually have
handiwork of their tribe for sale. EspeCIally the Navajos
who bring blankets and silver jewelry; the Hopi with baskets,
pottery and blankets; the San Domingo bring great
strands of turquoise beads for sale to both lndianl" and
whites; the Apaches have baskets and trays; the Zun j an('
Laguna offer fine hand made silver jewelry for sa!e. To the
man who desires to buy such products direct from tile Indian,
and invariably the seller is the actual maker, the Pow-vVow
Indian Village is a golden opportunity.
The social dances in the village, on ground especially set
aside, are free and whites may not only watch them but
join in.
Downtown Parades
The Pow-Wow is exclusively the Indian's Celebration, and
his "show." Many whites ask to join in the downtown pa ~ ades,
but there is a strict rule that no whites shall be permitted
to take part in the Pow-Wow programs or parades
in any manner displacing Indian participation. Please do
not ask to be permitted in the parades. Absolutely no whites
will be allowed to enter the parades.
General Offices
During the days of the celebration the general offices
of the Pow-Wow organization will be located under the
grandstand at the City Park. The executive department is
divided into sections, each with a member of the Pow-Wow
Board of Directors in charge. Before the celebration opens
business may be transacted in the city at the offices of the
business men who make up the Board of Directors, or with
Gladwell Richardson, the program manager.
Sale of Programs
The official Souvenir Program will be sold on newsstands
before and after the celebration in July. During Pow-Wow
week programs will be available at the City Park and on
the streets in downtown Flagstaff. The program will be
mailed postage prepaid anywhere in the United States on
receipt of 25c. Such mail orders · should be sent to PowWow,
Inc., Flagstaff, Arizona.
(Continued on Page 32)
Southwest All-Indian pow-wow
Published Annually by Pow-Wow, Inc.
10th Annual Southwest All-Indian
Table of Contents
General Infor mation ...................................................................... 2
Pr oclamation by the Mayor, City of Flagstaff ...................... 4
Gr eetings by t he Governor of Ar izona .................................... 5
Tenth Annual Indian Pow-Wow ................................................ 6
The Pow-\V ow Programs ...................................................... 7, 8, 9
'Round the W orId ............................................................................ 10
By J. Howard Pyle
The Pow-Wow Indian Rodeo ...................................................... 13
Modern Hopi Pottery .................................................................... 14
By T. J. Tormey, Ph.D.
This is the Land of the N avajos .............................................. 15
Tribes at the Pow-Wow ................................................................ 17
The Story of the Pow-Wow ........................................................ 18
Navajo Indian Traders ................................................................ 21
Blue Water Canyon ........................................................................ 22
By Melvin T. Hutchinson
Tenth Annual Hopi Craftsman .................................................. 23
Donors of Special Prizes .............................................................. 31
Boulder Dam and the Navajos ................................................... .41
The Greatest of Them All? ....................................................... .46
The Navajo Tribal Fair ................................................................ 51
Underwriters of the Pow-Vv' ow .................................................. 52
Unless Otherwise Stated All Photos Used Throughout
the Program are by P ow-Wow, Inc. Advertising Rates for
the 1940 Pow-vVow Program May be Had on Application.
Copyright 1939, by Pow-Wow, Inc.
Board of Directors
DAN B. MILLECAM .............................. ·· .. ·· .... ······ .............. President
LEIGHTON CRESS .. . .... ... . .. ......... ....... ..... .... ...... Secretary-Treasurer
T. M. KNOLES, JR ................................................................. Member
H. L. HUFFER ......... ...................................... ·· ....................... Member
JOHN ·G. BABBITT ........................................... ·.···· ............... Member
HENRY C. MCQUATTERS ...................................................... Member
VAUGHN W ALLACE ............................................. ~ ................ M ember
GLADWELL (TONEY) RICHARDSON .......... ...... Program Manager
Rodeo Officials
Arena Director
Carl Beck, Supt., Western Shoshone Res ........... Owyhee, Nev.
Head Field Judge
Ed Ford ............................................ ···· ...... · .. · .. Crownpoint, N. M.
Supervisor, Land Management District 15
Riding Judges
Marcus Chukno, Navajo Tribe ................... ......... Leupp, Arizona
Leon Wilson, Pima Tribe ................................ Phoenix, Arizona
Harry Stevens, Maricopa Tribe ........................ Laveen, Arizona
Race Horse Judges
Lee Bradley, Navajo Tribe ............................ Kayenta, Arizona
Leon Sundust, Maricopa Tribe ........................ Laveen, Arizona
Ralph Roanhorse, Kiowa Tribe ........................ Anadarko, Okla.
Dead Line Judge
Frank Bradley, Navajo Tr ibe ........................ Kayenta, Arizona
Tie Judge
Frank Beecher , Hualapai Tribe ........ Peach Springs, Arizona
Chute Boss
Foster Mar shal, Havasupai Tribe .................... Supai, Arizona
Corral Boss
Bob Curley, Navajo Tribe ................................ Redlake, Arizona
Jerry Malone, Navajo Tribe .............................. Leupp, Arizona
Ben Jackson, Tonto Apache Tribe ............ Cottonwood, Arizona
Parade Boss
"Tommy" Thomasson, Supt. Canoncito Res ... Canoncito, N. M.
Indian Interpreters on Public Address System
Apache-Coles Russell, Apache Tribe ........ Camp Verde, Ariz.
Navajo-Arthur Bowman, Navajo Tribe ........ Tohatchi, N. M.
Havasupai/Hualapai-Elmer Watahomogie, Hava8upai
Tribe .................................................... Grand Canyon, Arizona
Hopi-Harry Keyopa, Hopi Tribe .............. Tuba City, Arizona
Piute/Ute-Stanley Bullet, Piute Tribe .... Moccasin, Arizona
Other Tribal Interpreters Will Be Added If the Indians
Request Them.
The photo used on the cover of the Souvenir Program
was posed by Chief Joe Sekakaku.
~ The first printing of this program was done by THE
COCONINO SUN, Flagstaff, Arizona.
Page Four
Office of the Mayor
Flagstaff is the scene of the annual Southwest All-Indian Pow-Wow
Celebration and Rodeo attended by twelve to fifteen thousand Indians
of many tribes who participate in this, their own celebration, and
This outstanding exclusively Indian event, bringing many Indian
tribes together, and whites as interested spectators, tends to promote
a common interest, and good will and friendship, and
Thousands of people interested in the Indians' welfare, Indian sports,
culture and lore attend this great celebration from year to year, and
The business men of the City of Flagstaff are hosts to the Indians
of the West, and the continuance of this unique All-Indian Celebration
depends largely upon the assistance and cooperation of our
The undersigned Mayor of Flagstaff, through the authority vested
in me, do hereby proclaim a period of public celebration and exhort
the people of Flagstaff to do everything possible to express their
hospitality to the Indian and white visitors at the Pow-Wow Celebration.
Done at the City Hall on this, the 10th day of June, A. D. 1939.
A. G. PILCHER, Mayor
C. T. PULLIAM, City Clerk
F. A. CHIAPPETrI
Members, City Council
;::~:g;~ATSF7l0M TIlE GOVE:R!lOR OF ARIZONA TO
.J.oO.JV, OF TJiE SOUTIn~'EST
Deal' Fl'iends:
Pow Wow. It is nc" pl
. easU!>e to lVelcome You to another
W. e ' /{E:I.I.'Y
SE:CRE: r "Ry
Page Five
The 10th Annual Indian Pow-Wow
WHEN THE Indian participants
from tribes scattered over the
entire west gather for the 1939
Pow-W ow celebration, nine momentous
V I years will be behind them. At the ini-
\ tial celebration, when the annual Flagstaff
July affair was given over exclusively
to the Indians, less than one thousand
attended. Last year there were
approximately 10,000 Indians at the
celebration. Not less than 12,000 (this
figure based on the percentage of yearly
increase) are expected on July 4, 1939.
Not since the old days when the army
rounded them up tribe
by tribe have so many
Indians gathered in one
group as will be seen
at the Pow-Wow Celebration.
The extent to which
the Indians have interested
themselves in a
show that is strictly .
their own, although financed
and managed
by a small board of
white directors without
pay, is shown by
the high rate of increasing
The merchants of the
City of Flagstaff act
as hosts to the Reservation
Indians, donating
several thousand
dollars to provide them
with two big meals
each day of the celebration.
Only about
70 % of the I n d ian
guests camp in the forest
park. The rest stay
at local hotels, auto
courts and p r i vat e
camp grounds, eating
their meals at downtown
The wagons in the
parades are N a v a j 0
owned. The N a v a j 0
come from forty to
more than one hundred
miles. The Havasupai
ride their horses
a c r 0 s s the Coconino
Plateau from the i r
homes at Grand Canyon
and from Havasupai
Canyon. Some
of the Hualapai, Mojave,
Piute and Tonto
Apache Indians will
ride across the open
country driving rope
stock and spare mounts
to the Pow-Wow. Near-
Page Six
ly all other tribes, especially Indians
attending from New Mexico, Colorado,
Utah, California, Montana, Nevada and
other states, bring their rope horses
and race horses by truck or trailer.
200 Indian cowboys take part in the
rodeo contests. Less than one thousand
are engaged as performers on the night
programs, which this year will mean
that about 11,000 Indians will come
solely as spectators enjoying themselves
on a vacation visiting friends in their
own tribe, and of other tribes.
The setting at Flagstaff, with the
background of the San Francisco Peaks,
the highest in Arizona, is an ideal one
for the greatest of all Indian Celebrations
in America. Water and fire wood
is plentiful for the campers. The stately
pine forest, with a clear lake on
one side, provides scenery for this
great encampment symbolic of the Indian
lore and woodcraft so popularly
imagined and sought for by the public
in general.
No whites take part in any way in the
six Pow-Wow programs. They are
(Continued on Page 24)
"Play,time in the Hogan"
-Photo by Milton Snow .
Sunday, July 2, 1939
Parade begins to assemble at Railroad Underpass
on Santa Fe Avenue.
Downtown Parade. Starts at the Underpass on Santa
Fe A venue, follows Santa Fe Avenue to Agassiz,
along Agassiz to Aspen Avenue, and continues along
Aspen back to the City Park. First Section of the
parade will be led by the Moencopi Hopi Indian Concert
Band, Tuba City; Section Section will be led
by the Hualapai Indian Band, Peach Springs; and
the Third Section will be led by the N avaj 0 Indian
School Band from Leupp. Important Indian Chiefs
will head the parade each day.
America's Only ALL-INDIAN Rodeo
Music by the Indian Bands
(1) Grand entry of Indian cowboy contestants and
race horses in the Arena.
(2) Indian Girls' Beauty Contest. (To select the
"Rodeo Queen.")
(3) Saddle Broncho Riding Contest (First Section).
(4) Calf Tying Contest (First Section).
(5) One-mile Bareback Cow Pony Race.
(6) Saddle Broncho Riding Contest (Second Sec-tion)
(7) Calf Tying Contest (Second Section).
(8) One-Mile "Free-for-All" Horse Race.
(9) Bulldogging.
(10) Bareback Broncho Riding Contest (First Sec-tion)
(11) Half-Mile Bareback Cowpony Race.
(12) Team Roping.
(13) Trick and Fancy Roping-Chief Stanley, Cherokee
(14) Bareback Broncho Riding Contest (Second
(15) Half-l\1ile "Free-for-All" Horse Race.
(16) Wild Cow Milking Contest.
(17) Exhibition Broncho Ride by a Navajo Girl,
Opal Balloo.
(18) Cowboys' Relay Race. (String of Three Horses,
IV2 Miles).
(19) One-Mile Horse Race between Havasupai and
Hualapai Tribes.
(20) Chuck Wagon Race.
(21) Steer Riding Contest.
(22) Exhibition Steer Ride, Navajo Girl, Opal Balloo
(23) Mule Race.
(24) Wild Horse Race.
(25) Blanket Race, War Bonnet Race, Potato Contest,
Moccasin Race, Tug-of-War, Bed Race,
and other events will be added with these as
time during the Rodeo program allows.
Night Ceremonial Program
Music by Various Indian Bands During the Program
(1) Overture by the Moencopi Hopi Indian Concert
Band, Tuba City.
(2) War Dance-Kiowa.
(3) War Chant-Mounted Navajo Indians.
(4) Peace Dance-Crow.
(5) Victory Dance-Hopi.
(6) Spear Dance-Zuni.
(7) Devil Dance-Tonto Apache.
(8) Black Ant Dance-Navajo from Lukachukai.
(9) Round Dance~Apaclle.
(10) Dog Feast Dance-Kiowa.
(11) "From the Hills"-Song by Elizabeth Davis,
(12) Rainbow Dance-Zuni.
(13) Burning Pitch Ceremony-Navajo.
(14) Corn Dance-Hopi.
(15) Crow Dance-Crow.
(16) Quail Dance-Piute.
(17) Harvest Dance-Havasupai.
(18) Porcupine Hoop Dance-Jemez.
(19) "The Water Carrier's Song"-Two Zuni Girls.
(20) Black Crow Dance-Zia.
(21) Reed Dance-Piute.
(22) Rain Dance-Havasupai.
(23) Sunflower Dance-Hualapai.
(24) Long .A:rrow Dance-Jemez.
(25) Fire Dance-Navajo.
In addition there will be special numbers by
members of the Hopi Indian Band.
Several Indian social dances in the Village. (Until
sunrise) .
Page Seven
Monday, July 3, 1939
Grand Council. Meeting of the Indian advisory committee
for breakfast and discussion of the 1940 PowWow
Celebration, in the Main Mess Tent. Members
of the Grand Council include Indian Chiefs, members
of Tribal Councils, Indian Leaders, Head Men,
and specially elected representatives from Indian
communities desiring a voice in planning the events
of the 1940 celebration.
Assembling of all units of the parade beginning at
the Railroad Underpass and extending to the City
Downtown Parade, following the same- course and
led by the bands as on the preceding day.
All-Indian Rodeo at City Park
Music by Various Indian Bands
(1) Grand entry parade of Indian Cowboy contest-ants
and race horses into the Arena.
(2) Saddle Broncho Riding Contest (First Section).
(3) Calf Tying Contest (First Section).
(4) One-Mile Bareback Cowpony Race.
. (5) Saddle Broncho Riding Contest (Second Sec-tion)
(6) Better Indian Babies Contest.
(7) Calf Tying Contest (Second Section).
(8) One-Mile "Free-for-All" Horse Race.
(9) Bulldogging.
(10) Bareback Broncho Riding Contest. (First Sec-tion)
(11) Half-Mile Bareback Cowpony Race.
(12) Team Roping.
(13) Trick and Fancy Roping by Chief Stanley,
Cherokee Indian.
(14) Bareback Broncho Riding Contest (Second Sec-tion)
(15) Half-Mile "Free-for-All" Horse Race.
(16) Wild Cow Milking Contest.
(17) Exhibition Broncho Riding by Navajo Girl,
Opal Balloo.
(18) Cowboys Relay Race. (String of three horses,
I1j2 Miles).
(19) One-Mile Horse Race between Havasupai and
Hualapai Tribes.
Page Eight
(20) Chuck Wagon Race.
(21) Steer Riding Contest.
(22) Exhibition Steer Ride by Navajo Girl, Opal
(23) Boys' Calf Race.
(24) Wild Horse Race.
(25) Indian Games, as intermissions during the
rodeo will permit.
Night Ceremonial Program
Music by the Indian Bands During Program
(1) Overture by the Moencopi Hopi Indian Concert
Band, Tuba City.
(2) Badger Dance-Hopi.
(3) Specialty Dance-Kiowa.
(4) War God Chant-Mounted Navajos.
(5) Bull Buffalo Dance-Crow.
(6) Blackbird Dance-Zuni.
(7) Cliff Dwellers' Dance-Apache.
(8) Sun Dance-Lukachukai Navajo.
(9) War Dance-Apache.
(10) Eagle Dance-Kiowa.
(11) "The Herder," sung by Elizabeth Davis, in
(12) Pottery Dance-Zuni.
(13) Feather Dance-Navajo.
(14) Melon Planting Dance-Hopi.
(15) Tree Dance-Crow.
(16) Grass Dance-Piute.
(17) Peach Dance-Havasupai.
(18) "Pottery Making," song by Two Zuni Girls.
(19) Fancy Dance-Jemez.
(20) Drum Dance-Santa Ana.
(21) Singing Coyote Dance-Piute.
(22) Seed Dance-Havasupai.
(23) Cactus Dance-Hualapai.
(24) Spotted Crow Dance-Jemez.
(25) Arrow Swallowing Fire Dance-Navajo.
Until Sunrise, Indian Social Dances in the Indian
Tuesday, July 4, 1939
Parade assembles at railrO'ad underpass O'n Santa
Fe Avenue.
DO'wntO'wn parade starts frO'm the RailrO'ad Underpass
O'ver the same rO'ute fO'llO'wed the previO'us days.
The three main sectiO'ns are led by the same bands
as O'n the first day O'f the PO'W-WO'w.
All-Indian Rodeo At City Park
Music by the Indian Bands
(1) Grand entry O'f Indian CO'wbO'y CO'ntestants and
Race HO'rses in the Arena.
(2) Indian WO'men's HO'rse Race, 112 Mile.
(3) Saddle BrO'nchO' Riding CO'ntest (First SectiO'n).
(4) Calf Tying CO'ntest (First SectiO'n).
(5) One-Mile Bareback CO'wpO'ny Race.
(6) Saddle BrO'nchO' Riding CO'ntest (SecO'nd Sec-tiO'n)
(7) Calf Tying CO'ntest (SecO'nd SectiO'n).
(8) One-Mile "Free-fO'r-All" HO'rse Race.
(9) BulldO'gging.
(10) Bareback BrO'nchO' Riding CO'ntest. (First Sec-tiO'n)
(11) Half-Mile Bareback CO'wpO'ny Race.
(12) Team RO'ping.
(13) Trick and Fancy RO'ping, by Chief Stanley,
CherO'kee Indian.
(14) Bareback BrO'nchO' Riding CO'ntest (SecO'nd Sec-tiO'n)
(15) Half-Mile "Free-fO'r-All" HO'rse Race.
(16) Wild CO'W Milking Contest.
(17) ExhibitiO'n BrO'ncho Ride by NavajO' Girl, Opal
(18) CO'wbO'ys' Relay Race. (String O'f three hO'rses,
11;2 Miles).
(19) One-Mile HO'rse Race between Havasupai and
Hualapai Tribes.
(20) NavajO' Chicken Pull.
(21) Steer Riding CO'ntest.
(22) ExhibitiO'n Steer Ride by NavajO' Girl, Opal
(23) Belled Calf CO'ntest.
(24) Wild HO'rse Race.
(25) WO'men's Tug-O'f-War, and other Indian games
and cO'ntests will be held as time during the
rO'deO' permits.
Night Ceremonial Program
Music by the Indian Bands
(1) Overture by the MO'encO'pi HO'pi Indian CO'ncert
Band, Tuba City.
(2) Weaver Dance-HO'Pi.
(3) Chicken Dance-KiO'wa.
(4) HO't Dance-CrO'w.
(5) Deer Dance-Zuni.
(6) CO'manche Dance-HO'Pi.
(7) Rain Dance-Apache.
(8) Chant at the Water HO'le-MO'unted NavajO'
(9) Bead Dance-Lukachukai NavajO'.
(10) Hunting Dance-KiO'wa.
(11) "The Weaver," Native SO'ng sung by Elizabeth
(12) DO'll Dance-Zuni.
(13) GrO'wing Yucca CeremO'ny-NavajO'.
(14) Thunder Dance-Apache.
. (15) Owl Dance-CrO'w.
(16) Crane Dance-Piute.
(17) The Twin GO'ds Dance-Havasupai.
(18) HO'rse Tail Dance-Jemez.
(19) "The Bead Song"-TwO' Zuni Girls.
(20) Hunchback Dance-Lukachukai NavajO'.
(21) Sun Dance-Piute.
(22) PinO'n Dance-Havasupai.
(23) ArrO'w Makers' Dance-Hualapai.
(24) Rattle Dance-Jemez.
(25) Mud Dance-NavajO'.
Until Sunrise, Indian SO'cial Dances in the Village.
(The fO'regO'ing prO'grams are all subject to' additiO'ns
and changes).
Page Nine
SUDDENL Y, everything was quiet!
Even the half spent sighs of sheltering
pines were lost in the hush
as the bronzed bodies stiffened in silence,
and smoldering ceremonial fires revealed
stoic wonder in thousands of piercing
black eyes. Stranger things may have
happened, but not to these people. In
another moment they were watching the
voicing of words that were circling the
world with this greeting for the peoples
of thirteen foreign countries and the
whole of the Americas . . .
"The National Broadcasting Company,
through Station KT AR in Phoenix,
Arizona, invites you to attend America's
Greatest All-Indian gathering, the
Annual Flagstaff Indian Pow-Wow Celebration.
"Here, more than ten thousand American
Indians, representing thirty-odd
tribes, have gathered for that famous
and traditional ceremony . . . smoking
the pipe of peace. During the next few
days these Indians will participate in a
continuous round of native contests, climaxed
each evening by sacred and
spectacular Indian ceremonials.
"The Place of this colorful meeting
is Flagstaff, Arizona .. . . to the N avajo,
the place of "Many Houses" . . . to
the Hopi, the place of tIS no w-C I a d
Peaks" . . . to the Havasupai, the place
of the "Peaks That Were Covered By
Water!" Certainly there could be no
more perfect setting for this great Nahshi,
as it is called by the Navajo Indians.
"At the moment we are looking upon
a magnificent array of breath-taking
costumes; headdresses and painted warriors
impressively displayed against a
moonlight bathed background of ancient
Indian dwellings nestled beneath Arizona's
even more ancient snow-covered
mountains. In this striking cavalcade
of American Indians we are given an
opportunity to review pages of the past
that would not be complete without ceremonial
dancers in full regalia...
bareback riders from many tribes . . .
wiry Indian mustangs and race horses,
the pick of the Southwest's far-flung
ranges . . . Indians in holiday dress
made distinctive by priceless strands of
roughly-cut blue-green turquoise and
hand-made jewelry of native silver.
'.'These are the stalwart and justly
proud descendents of the first Americans
who ruled this continent from
ocean to ocean for untold centuries before
the coming of the first European."
Then our microphones were forgotten
as the ' thousands who had curiously
Page Ten
watched the beginning of the world-wide
radio broadcast were chilled by the
blood-curdling whoops that came from
the hideously painted faces of a hardriding
band of horsemen who managed
to pull their excited ponies inside the
dancing light of the ceremonial ring.
Round and round they went and faster
and faster, the terrific pace finally carrying
the leader of the party out into
the darkness of the night to be followed
by rider after rider until all that
remained was the echoes of those shrieking
yells and hammering hoof beats.
Action of a different kind took place
immediately, however! The Kiowa
Eagle Dancers appeared and soon the
chant of a prayer-song to the Great
Spirit was filling the air with new
meaning. The bravest of the Kiowa·
warriors were asking to be made as
swift as the eagle in flight, as courageous
as the eagle in battle, and as
keen-eyed as this monarch of the skies.
Not to be outdone by the fervence of
other t:ribesmen, the Yaquis of Old Mexico
responded with Montezuma's War
Dance which is said to have originated
at the time the Spanish first brought
cattle into Old Mexico. The costumes
and action of this typical war preparation
c ere m 0 n y left no doubt in our
minds concerning the seriousness of the
ritual side of th8 Indian's life.
Every emotion he knows is a part
of some traditional dance or chant. How
thoroughly we realized this in the presence
of the Arapaho's Ghost Dance
which we saw done with such fidelity
we were left almost speechless by the
magic power of Indian symbolism.
(Continued on Page 40)
When New Radio Broadcasting History Was Made
When the National Broadcasting Company made arrangements to give a world
wide broadcast of the Pow-Wow Celebration Program, J. Howard Pyle, Program
Director; Andy Anderson, Chief Announcer and Chief Technician; and Harold
Haughawout, Technician, all of Station KTAR, Phoenix, were sent to do the job.
Above, during a moment of the first Pow-Wow Broadcast, Mr. Pyle and Chief
Taptuka, famous Hopi baritone, featu'red on the Pow-Wow night programs.
Navajo Sun Dance
At one time in their history nearly every
Indian tribe in America held a Sun Dance on
special occasions. The ceremony appears to
have spread from the Great Plains tribes to
their neighbors. The Sun Dance as adopted by
the Navajo did not enjoy great favor. It was
abandoned after a few short years, according
to their legends. The Sun Dance as shown at
the Pow-Wow is a revival by the Navajos of
Red Lake. The chants used in the ceremony relate
some of the adventures of the Hero Twins
during the search for their father, The Sun.
I t is something on the order of a War Dance,
but is not so held in importance by the Navajo.
Costumes consist of old style Navajo trousers
and shirt; headdresses of eagle or hawk feathers,
silver jewelry, spears, war clubs, and shield of
skin painted yellow in the center with a border
of blue and red.
Navajo Mounted Chanters
Their numbers are "Chant At The Water
Hole,': "Tall War God Chant" and "Sunset
Chant." The costumes are buckskin fringed
trousers, velveteen shirt, handkerchief band
around head to which feathers may be attached,
and spears. '
The white horse is greatly desired by the
Navajo. Frequently the chanters all ride bareback
into the arena mounted on white horses.
When black or bay horses are used, the chant
leader always rides a white horse.
Santa Ana
Water Drum Dance
This ceremony was originated many years
ago by a medicine man from Santa Ana Pueblo.
It is strictly a healing ritual, and is patterned
after the Navajo Yeibetchi. It is an adaption
from the Navajo, except that no masks are worn.
It is sometimes called the "Pot-Drum Dance" as
the name comes from the Navajo water drum
held and beaten by the dance group leader who
stands facing the dancers during the entire ceremony.
The dance is held at the Pow-Wow by Chic
Sandoval, who obtains permission of the Santa
Ana medicine man to use the ceremony.
Hopi Hoop Dance
This Hoop dance is the public portion of a
prayer for agility and strength by growing
youths. Keeping perfect time to the beat of an
enormous log drum and the chanters, the dancers
pass the willow hoops over various limbs, and
finally over their bodies. They leap in and out
of the hoops, whirl them in the air, and otherwise
execute a well-timed rhythmic gyration.
The signs of the hoop on the body are painted
in white, blue, red and black.
The general costume consists of red moccasins,
woolen belt, rattles, rain sash and porcupine
bristle top-knot.
The Hoop dance may be given during the dedication
of a new kiva, or important social affair.
The Pow-Wow Indian Rodeo
liT URN 'em out mean!" say the Indian
cowboys, and turning them
out mean is about the easiest
thing the corral and chute bosses can do.
The pitching bronchos and the cattle
used come from the Reservations; all
Indian owned stock. The Indian cowboys
are not professional rodeo hands.
They but do at the Pow-Wow Rodeo
those things they have learned, and do
every day in carrying on their range
work. Their records compared with
that of the professionals is very good.
The stock used almost takes the r odeo
show away from the cowboys. The timer's
whistle does not halt the pitching
bronchos, as with trained rodeo stock.
Barriers and high wooden fences and
hazing, fails to bother the bulls, cows,
calves and steers used in the roping,
riding and bulldogging events.
The pitching bronchos ridden at the
Pow-W ow are grueons, sabinos, blacks,
bays, pintos and paints. Of a hundred
head forty will be stallions. The "bronchos"-
and that is a misnomer-are of
the biting, sunfishing, cartwheel-turning,
leaping, high kicking, bawling, dodging
kind. After watching the show one
also might add the barrier jumping
type. Some of them try to get up into
the grandstand with the spectatJrs.
Several have been known to join the
musicians in the band stand. Barriers
mean little to these mean bronchos. It
takes a reinforced catch pen to hold
The bronchos enter the riding chutes
well enough, for they have been driven
through them many times to the feeding
grounds. (Many of them are so
wild and mean their feed must be dropped
on the ground. They will not eat
out of a nose bag or a feed box.) But
on the afternoons of the rodeo when
they get into the chutes to find the side
opening gates closed, then the fun starts.
The chutes have been built unusually
high, yet some of the critters manage
to get fore-feet over the sides or ends.
Saddling is a very tough job, requiring
an extra large crew, with cinch hooks
Results Of The 1938 Pow-Wow Rodeo
1. Earl Paya, Havasupai tribe ................... ....... ........ , .......... ................. Supai, Arizona
2. Herman Bowman, Navajo tribe ........................... ............. Tohatchi, New Mexico
3. Claude Susanyatame, Hualapai tr-ibe ........... ................. Peach Springs, Arizona
1. Henry Stevens, Maricopa tribe .................. ..................................... Laveen, Arizona
2. Hansen Mott, Apache tribe ........... ...... ......... .... ....... ................... Scottsdale, Arizona
3. Leon Sundust, Maricopa tribe ..... ................................................... Laveen, Arizona
Time: 3 calf average, 25 2/5 seconds
Herman Riggs, Navajo tribe ............................................................ Leupp, Arizona
~fI~~ :;~~,s'N~::tj°t?·~~~~.~~~~~~.·.·~~.·.·~~.·~.·~~.·.·.·.· ............................ ~ ....................................................... t~~~', !~~~~~~
1. Raymond Arviso", Navajo t ribe .................................... Crownpoint, New Mexico
2. Fred Riggs, Navajo t?"ibe .................. ................................................ Leupp, Arizona
3. Billy John, Navajo tr ibe .................................................................... Leupp, Arizona
1. Lorenzo Sinyella and Lewis Sinyella, Havasupai tribe ............ Supai, Arizona
2. Jackson Jones and Jack Jones, Havasupai t'ribe ........ Grand Canyon, Arizona
3. Jack Jones and Bill Wescogame, Havasupai tribe .............. ...... Supai, Arizona
Time: 3 steer average, 23 4/10 seconds
Winner: Wayne Freeland, Navajo tribe ........................ Crownpoint, New Mexico
1. Leon Sundust, Maricopa t·ribe .................................................... Laveen, Arizona
2. Benjamin Arviso, Navajo t-ribe .......................................... Tohatchi, New Mexico
3. Jim Keith, Diegueno tribe .................................................... EI Centro, California
Time: 3 steer average 17 2/5 seconds
(Leon Sundust, on July 2nd pulled his steer down in 8 seconds flat)
1. Bill Doka, Apache tribe ............................................................ Scottsdale, Arizona
2. Clyde Pioche, Navajo tribe ............................................. Lake Valley, New Mexico
3. Jack Jones, H avasupai t1·ibe ............................................ Grand Canyon, Arizona
4. Paul Arviso, Navajo tribe .............................................. Crownpoint, New Mexico
and special equipment to do it properly
and speedily.
The side opening chutes have · the
gates turned the wrong way, that is it
has been necessary to rearrange them
to open opposite from toward the center
of the grandstand. The gate tenders
must be quick about their work. The
first spot of light showing sends the
bronchos toward it in a mighty whirling
leap. The broncho's fore-feet hit the
ground; whether he is out of the chute
or not the tough time the cowboy on
him has to maintain his seat starts
right then and there with a vengeance.
No other rodeo has to hire so many
pick-up-men, chute and corral handlers,
catch-pen men, and men who otherwise
have nothing more to do than just seeing
to the safety measures to prevent
as few injuries of Indian cowboys as
Said one pick-up man, "I never seen
such blasted ornery an' mean hosses.
Pick-up man tries to come alongside 'em
an' they dodges the other way. They
buck all the time even when it looks
like they've quit an' gone to runnin'!"
The Pow-Wow Rodeo is perhaps the
nearest thing to the old time rodeo
shows of yesteryear. Certainly its most
thrilling aspects are the stock used, the
enthusiastic spirit of the Indian cowboys,
and the speed with which events
are r un off.
And the Indian cowboys who enter
the rodeo contests ARE cowboys. All
too frequently for the peace of mind
of the rodeo officials a dusky cowboy
strides up to the entry man. He wants
in the rodeo. What event does he desire?
"What event?" the Indian asks, astonished.
"Gimme the works!"
The "works" he gets-the entire list
of contests. There are few of them who
cannot team tie, wrap up a calf, bulldog
a steer, ride a bull, top off a bareback
broncho, or stay in the saddle on
the back of the meanest of the stallions,
with equal skill. The average number
of events entered by one Indian cowboy
is usually four. Which means that
IF the rodeo organization entered only
100 cowboys, there would still be 400
individual events in the arena each afternoon.
Last year 180 Indian cowboys
took part in the rodeo. 100 more were
regretfully turned away because there
was no more stock to be had on such
short notice. For the 1939 rodeo show
the Pow-Wow organization hopes to be
able to accept all ' contestants who come
to the Celebration.
The first year a full rodeo was held
(Continued on page 39)
Page Thirteen
The archaeologist is interested
in the pottery
of the Southwest
because it is one of the
best means of reconstructing
the history of early
man. He can pick up a
pottery sherd and state
with considerable authority
that it was originally
made about 850 A. D.,
900 A. D., or some similar
date. The archaeologist
uses such terms to describe
pottery as Coconino
Gray, Deadman's Blackon-
White, Rio de F lag
Brown, Sunset Red, Tusayan
Cor rug ate d or
Deadman's Fugitive Red.
By T. J. TORMEY, Ph.D.
clay, it will turn yellow
or buff in an oxidizing atmosphere
and a considerable
amount of iron in the
clay will fire red. Buff,
yellow, red, orange, and
black constitute most of
the color decorations on
The purchaser of pottery
today will be interested
to know that mu~h
of the ancient pottery was
Hopi Potter and Weav er at Museum of Northern Arizona.Photo
Courtesy Museum of No'rthern Arizona
.The pig men t s are
ground on a stone palette
and mixed with water to
form a paste. A fibre is
used to apply the mixed
pigments to the surface
of the vessel. The patterns
are predetermined.
Sections are blocked out,
outlined, and then filled
in with pigment. Note
the complexity of the design
on the next piece of
Hopi pottery you pick up
and then imagine yourself
produced by the same doing the job free hand.
methods now in use. The so-called Hopi
pottery is especially well made, is durable,
is useful, and is attractive.
Undecorated pottery (not commonly
offered for sale in curio stores) is now
made on all of the three Hopi mesas.
This pottery is used for ordinary domestic
purposes. The finest painted pottery
comes from the east mesa. While these
potters are spoken of as Hopis, actually
they are a group of Tanoan Indians
who have lived with the Hopis so long
that they can be differentiated only by
their language differences.
The quarries from which the potter's
clay comes are centuries old. Uusually
two types of clay are collected, a hard
light gray clay used for building the
body of the vessel and a finer white clay
often used for an outer coating or slip.
Once the clay lumps are gathered,
they are broken up and ground into a
fine powder. The clay is powdered on a
metate (grinding stone) with a mano
(hand stone). When the powder stage
is reached, the clay is sifted. The usual
procedure for sifting is to choose a spot
where a gentle breeze is blowing and
drop the powder from shoulder height
to a cloth spread on the ground. The
finely ground powder is collected for
use, while the coarser material is reground.
The finely powdered clay is mixed
with water and thoroughly kneaded to
a doughlike consistency. It is then
placed in a pot and covered with a damp
cloth to be used as needed.
In making a piece of pottery, a quan-
Page Fourteen
tity of clay sufficient to form a base
is taken from the supply and placed in
a basket or large pottery sherd in front
of the potter. The lump of clay is
moulded into a base, usually a very shallow
disk shaped piece.
When the base dries slightly, it is
often taken from its support and placed
directly on the ground. A thin gourd
or wood scraper is used to remove excess
clay and to thin and smooth the
walls. Another mass of clay is taken
from the stored supply and shaped into
a rope of less than one-half inch in diameter.
The end of the rope of clay
is pinched to a point on the rim of the
base and by progressive pinching is
coiled spirally upward to form the body
of the vessel. The gourd or wooden
scraper is again employed after the vessel
dries slightly.
Corrugated pottery is -accomplished at
this stage by scraping only the inside
of the vessel and leaving the outside
with pinched or indented coils. If the
scraper is used both inside and outside
the vessel, another coating of very fine
clay mixed to the consistency of heavy
cream may be applied to the scraped
surface with a rag. After drying slightly,
the surface is polished vigorously
with a fine grained, smooth surfaced
After another period of drying the
potter is ready to paint the design.
Much effort is expended preparing the
pigments for the designs. The organic
shade which is used carbonizes to a deep
black when fired. If there is iron in the
After painting, the vessel is dried
in the shade for several days. The
vQssel with its fellows is fired. The
slow firing of the Hopi pottery does
much to insure its durability. The fire
is started with wood, allowed to burn
down to coals, dried sheep manure is
piled on the coals, and the inverted
pottery car e full y stacked above it.
Chunks of fuel are then built around
and over the pottery. Firing is a difficu
lt task r equiring care so that vessels
a re not broken or discolored by "smudge
Most curio stores in Arizona sell Hopi
pottery. Beautiful examples of the
modern work can be seen at the Museum
of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff
and may be purchased there during
Hopi Arts and Crafts week, the first
week in July. A Hopi woman potter,
chosen becaus2 of her skill, will be making
pottery there during the week. She
learned her trade from her mother by
watching and working year after year.
She is a master craftsman.
You will wish to have some Hopi pottery
for your home. I ts deep red,
o:'ange, and yellow will add a decorative
note. If you wish to buy a big bowl
for serving those Sunday evening salads,
the dealer or the Museum will gladly
tell you how to make the bowl hold
water. There are a large variety of
shapes and sizes in Hopi pottery. We
think you will like it.
This Is The Land Of The Navajos
WHEN you think of Navajo Indians, your first thoughts
are probably of rugs and weaving, which have made
their culture famous throughout the world.
But now, and for several years, the Navajos have had
more important problems than weaving-practical problems
of keeping the grass growing on their ranges to restore N ature's
balance between soil, water and vegetation, and preserving
the land for their children. Generally, the problems
of the Navajos are about the same as the problem of western
farmers and range men whose grass-lands and ranges are
not covered with the same amount of grass as in former
This is the N avajoland in northern Arizona, northwestern
New Mexico, and southern Utah, where 16 million acres
of canyons, mesas, plateaus, valleys and mountains form
a big segment of the drainage of the Colorado River and its
branches. The Navajoland lies mostly betwen the San Juan
River on the north, the Colorado River on the northwest,
the Little Colorado River on the southwest and south, and
the Chaco wash on the east. The Little Colorado and the
Colorado Rivers meet along the western boundary just a
little north and east of the Grand Canyon.
The Navajo people are very much like other people who
have lived in an almost unlimited rugged country. They
first adapted themselves to life by hunting and farming.
Later, they had small -flocks of sheep which they raised for
their own use, subsistence flocks. For a few years they
lived successfully, satisfying their immediate needs with
their small flocks and little farming areas.
Then they began to raise their sheep commercially, increasing
the number of sheep. At the same time the Nava-jo
population increased from eight thousand to fifty thousand
people. The Navajo found themselves face to face with
grass and other land resources getting worse and worse.
In 1868, when the eight thousand Navajos were returned
to their homeland, they had only a small handful of sheep.
But as their population increased, and their number of sheep
increased, they overgrazed their land. Without the protection
of grass, the land began to blow and wash away.
Gullies or arroyos started. The land resources generally
dwindled. The Indian traders, the coming of the railroad,
and the development of the western country by the white
people encouraged the Navajo to increase their livestock
hold :, especially sheep, from the small subsistence flocks
to big commercial-sized flocks. When they had only a few
stock, they were distributed evenly with each family owning
a few sheep. Today thousands of Navajos have no sheep
or only a few, while some Navajos have four or five thousand
head. The N avajoland now has about 800 thousand
sheep and goats, 25 thousand cattle, and 50 thousand horses.
This concentration of sheep damaged their land in several
ways. The tremendous increase in sheep over the years
grazed the ranges too heavily to let the grass thrive. But
that was not all. The Navajos did not handle their stock
in ways that would make the best use of the grass. One
reason was that the supply of water was poorly distributed.
Formerly, when many families had only 50 to 150 sheep,
the job of handling the sheep was done by the children and
women. In caring for their sheep, the women and children,
doing the job of men, drove their sheep to and from the
hogans and the watering places and feeding areas, over the
same ground day after day. The continuous trampling of
many hooves destroyed
acres of grass already
The water on the Navajoland
has not only been
poorly distributed, but it
is also scarce because of
the low rainfall. With
much of the grass land
overgrazed, and the vegetation
practically denuded
to the extent arroyos dug
crooked ways down slopes
and across valleys, more
and more of the water
from the low rainfall was
The rainfall ranges
f rom the low point of
7 inches a year in Western
Navajoland, most of
this descending in torrential
rains, to 20 inches
in the eastern-central portion
where the mountains
are. The land of the
Navajos at best has a
very delicate natural balance
of soil, water and
vegetation like most of
the south-western range
country. This balance is
now upset to the extent
that even the Navajos
Sheep on the high, bare wall of Navajo Canyon n ear Inscription House Lodge Trading Post (Continued on page 40)
Page Fifteen
r;~;+;~;;~-~;~~:~:~ :~~~ ;=::::::~;::;~:=~:T;;:::;:::;~~;;;;:;;-I
·I,t NAVAJO RUGS 3Ild SILVER !!t + Bayetas .
•+ ++ • ++ +
+ +
•+ ++ ++ • i
Two Grey Hills
Pillow Tops
i Saddle Blankets
Concho Belts
Pins and Brooches
Squash Blossom
Wampum Strings
Petrified Wood
i •
i 1
i+ +•
: Next Door to Post Office. Flagstaff, Arizona :
T We Have Our Own Trading Posts on the Navajo and Hopi Reservations at !
+ + ...................................................... - ........................................... c". •••• .,... .................................................................. 0 ............................................................................................ .
! .............................................................................................................. .
i t I DOC WILLIAMS !
t Saddle & Curio Shop f
• f SADDLES CHAPS
i+ BRIDLES COWBOY BOOTS
++ + We Have Made Western Stock Saddles and Hand-
T Tooled Leather Goods for Westerners for More •
I+ Than 40 Years! ;. i A Complete Line of Indian Handicraft and I i !
i Culios from Surrounding Reservations + t Carri~d in Stock. :
! Navajo Rugs Pottery ~:~:.;:
T Baskets Silver Jewelry
i Petrified Wood Gems Bead Work
, Chimayos Table Runners !
! Moccasins Wampum Necklaces
++ • ++ ++ ++ •+ +
Iiatchina Dolls a Specialty
Visitors Welcome
Store Located on U. S. Highway 66
Flagstaff, Arizona
............................................. -............................................................... .
Page Sixteen
Heap Big Prize!
The Doc Williams Saddle Trophy is the hardest fought for prize at
the Pow-Wow Rodeo. The fastest bareback cowpony at the Celebration,
determined by three days of elimination races, is awarded the
Trophy Saddle on July 4 .
A Few Tribes At The Pow-Wow
Henry Chee Dodge, Last Of The Navajo War Chiefs
ESTIMATED today at 50,000 the Navajo tribe is the
largest in the United States. It also occupies the
largest Indian Reservation in America, over 16,000,000
acres, consisting principally of high plateaus, canyons, and
desert areas. These "Bedouins of North America" are stock
raisers, owning thousands of cattle and horses. And sheep
and goats number slightly more than one million. The
women are noted weavers, producing the famous Navajo
fabric, miscalled a "rug," of native design and color.
The great Navajo country lies largely north of the Santa
Fe railroad in Arizona, but does touch into Utah and extends
well into western New Mexico. It is governed by a
single agency, at Window Rock, Arizona. The present superintendent
is E. R. Fryer. The Navajo Tribal Council, with
headquarters at the agency, is headed by J. C. Morgan, an
educated Indian recently elected to office.
Navajo products are: Wool, hides, furs, pinons, rugs,
silver, jewelry set with turquoise, sheep, goats, cattle, some
mineral and timber leases and a small amount of curios and
novelties. Their business amounts to several million dollars
a year which is carried on largely by licensed traders doing
business over the far fiung areas of their great domain.
Their ceremonials expand from a one night healing chant
to nine day elaborate rituals. Some of them are: Endih
(Squaw dance), Mud dance, Yeibetchi, the five mountain
chants (Fire dances), Hail chant and Bead chant. Lesser
known "dances" are, the Red Ant dance, Sun dance, Buffalo
dance, Salt dance, and the Devil Chasing chants. Of legerdemain
their most noted tricks consist of the Cactus, Arrow
Swallowing, Producing Rat, Growing Yucao and the Burning
Pitch ceremonies.
Pottery and baskets, once made by them, are now almost
entirely confined to a very few potters and basket weavers
in the region of Navajo Mountain. All are for ceremonial
use exclusively. Most Navajo buy the wedding basket, which
is used in all ceremonies, of Piute manufacture. The one
type of ·pottery still made has a rounded bowl with a high,
narrow top. This is used as a water drum and to cook
ceremonial meal in and other ingrediants for the healing
rites. The Navajo call themselves "Deneh", or, The People.
The count of the entire tribe of the Havasupai is 201.
They are of Yuman stock, were known to the Spaniards as
Cosninos, and are today called Cohonino by the Navajo.
Their name, which is derived from three others, Haah, Vasu
and Pai, means "People of the Blue Water." Their canyon,
Havasu, or Cataract Canyon, is often called "The Land of
Sky Blue Water." This derives from the meaning of their
name and from the fact that there is to be found blue water
where they live.
Not all the Havasupai live down in the beautiful canyon.
There is a small village of them near Grand Canyon
village in the national park, where baskets are made for
sale to tourists. Some of them live in the south towards
Peach Springs with the Hualapai.
The main industries of the Havasupai are stock raising
and farming. They are a friendly people, although often
(Continued on page 36)
Chief Watahomogie of the Havasupai
Page Seventeen
The Story Of The Pow-Wow
THE word celebration
i s ambiguous. Indians
were holding
gatherings like the PowWow
(sports and ceremonial
events) at least 2,000
years before white men
came to the shores of the
new world. They held
celebrations during colonial
times and in the southern
United States before
the Indians were gathered
together and forced to emigrate
to the then wilderness
of the Indian territory
(0 k I a hom a) on a
larger scale than in New
The Pow-Wow is not
the oldest Indian celebration
nor the only one in
There is one celebration
in Oklahoma called a "reunion"
by the related Choctaw
and Chickasa Indians
attending that has been
taking place three to four
days during the first week
of July on Blue river near
Tishomingo, since at least
1845. The total number
of Indians attending this
celebration has va r i e d
from 200 to 1,000 since
1900. The largest family
assisting with this reunion
celebration are descend-ants
.' of John Colbert, a
famous chief and once governor of the
Chickasa Nation.
Nearer to the Pow-Wow is the Gallup,
New Mexico, Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial.
The 1939 show will be its 19th
consecutive. There are many others, all
established for a good many years. The
Crow Tribal Fair, Crown Agency, Montana;
the Anadarko, Oklahoma, American
Indian Exposition; the Moencopi
Hopi Fair, Tuba City, Arizona; the
Apache, Arizona, and the Mescallero
Fair, New Mexico. One of the few established
in recent years is the Navajo
Tribal Fair at Window Rock, Arizona.
The roots of the Pow-Wow begin far
in the past. Indians were an integral
part of the first celebr ation ever held
at what is now Flagstaff, but for almost
fifty years whites recognized only their
participation, not the need of a celebration
strictly for them.
The first known celebration at Flagstaff
of which there is record was a one
day affair July 4, 1876. It was from this
celebration Flagstaff acquired its name.
Page Eighteen
POW-WOW Program Manager
Gladwell "Toney" Richardson
Previous to that time the city was known
by either one of two names-those of
local springs used as watering places
by travellers - Leroux and Antelope
A party of immigrants travelling by
slow wagon train reached Ant e lop e
spring July 3, 1876. Deciding to lay
over to rest before going on, it was
agreed that the following day something
appropriate to celebrate the National
Independence day should be done. The
immigrants were not returning from
California as a few historians have declared.
They were travelling westward
when they made their memorable stop.
As usual when travellers halted at the
spr ing for any length of time Indians
began to gather . They were Havasupais,
Hualapais, Navajos and Hopis. The
women of the train produced pastries
the best they could with the materials
they had along. The Indians and the
men of the company had but to go into
the surrounding pine covered mountain
slopes to bring in turkey, deer and ante-lope
to reinforce the fare
for the f e a s t on the
An ex-Hualapai scout,
undoubtedly as he claims
well past the hundred
mark, tells that during
the morning of the celebration
songs were sung
by the immigrants. Most
likely these were patriotic
numbers. There were rifle
matches between the immigrants.
The Indians contested
with bow and arrow'
A few horse races were
run between Indians, and
also between Indians and
whites. Native Indian
wrestling matches were
held. The Indians, too,
sang some of their tribal
songs. The Havasupais
gave a version of their
Thanksgiving dance.
At noon when the feast
was spread on the ground
the Indians were invited
to partake. Afterward
tobacco was passed around,
and there were a few
more games and songs to
finish out the day.
In one of the immi-
. grants' wagons was a star
spangled banner. 'When
the flag was brought out
the question of a suitable
pole would not do. A
young man of the party
more agile than most cast his eye on a
slender pine tree about forty feet high
close to the spring.
Seizing an axe he climbed the tree,
chopping off the limbs and the top. The
flag was affixed and the young man
descended. He turned, grinning, and
said : "There is our flag staff!" Through
that casual -incident the city under the
turquoise skies at the foot of the highest
mountains in Arizona received its name.
The first white men the San Francisco
Mountain region were trappers, prospectors
and traders. They immediately
contacted the Indians of the region. Into
the t r appers' camps the latter came and
(Continued on pa~e Thirty-eight)
Hopi Girls of the Hopi Buffalo
Dance.-(Photo by Cecil C. Richardson)
A Navajo Camp in the Indian Village
at the Pow-Wow.-(Photo
by Jeff Ferris)
Navajo Indian Traders
I N the early summer of 1830 Charles
and William Bent rode through the
tall grass of the far flung prairie
bordering the Arkansas river and paused
on a knoll near the juction of the Purgatorie.
Before them stretched a vast virgin
empire. The ground was scarcely
marked by the foot of man. There were
hardly any buffalo, and the mountains in
which raiding red warriors could lurk
were well placed in the distance.
The Bents sat their horses on neutral
ground of which a Comanche chief had
told them. In their minds they could see
more than the waving grass of the lonely
praIrIe. They visioned a trail stretching
more than one thousand miles eastward
to civilization as represented by
the still young United States of America.
There were other trails south and west
into then Spanish country. Northward
others entered the Indian country of
the high Rockies. On these threads of
trails extending into the far spaces,
known and unknown, they saw caravans
of Indians, trappers, hunters and wagon
trains. Perhaps also the dark lines of
troopers riding in the dust behind flapping
All these things meant trade to the
"This is the place," said William Bent.
Thus in 1830 the ground was broken
and adobe walls erected that for twenty
years was to be known as Bent's Fort
on the Arkansas, and when those same
walls crumbled to dust, "Bent's Old
Fort." On the edge of the far Indian
country Bent's Fort was the first of the
American Indian trading posts in the
great Southwest.
Some historians write that civilization
followed steel rails. But the progress
of civilization did not follow steel rails,
the American Army, the noted trail
blazers such as Fremont, the trappers
and hunters, nor yet the settlers who
scarred the fertile land with the plow
and built homes. All these things were
civiliza tion.
The traders, particularly the Indian
traders, were the trail blazers and the
fore-runners of the march of civilization
across the American continent in the
3 winners in the 1938 Better Indian
Babies Contest.
Apache Indians watching the rodeo.
(Photo by Carson Studio)
Sioux baby and mother.
Part of the line-up of papooses in
the Better Indian Babies Contest.
Navajo mother with baby cradle.
Zuni girl singers (2)
Top to ' bottom: Inscription House Lodge
T'rading Post, Tonalea; Crownpoint
Trad'ing Post, Crownpoint, New Mexico;
Redlake Trading Post, Tonalea; Tuba
Trading Post, Tuba City, and Kerley's
Trading Post, Tuba City.
wmning df the great we:::;t. Ail elsE- t ollowed
The fort-like posts went up along
the rivers and streams, on the vast
pl'airiAS and in the mountain pa~ses.
The trading posts had to be forts 'for
protection; as self-contained as possible
to make them. Behind these venturesome
men were left dim paths soon to
be trampled into dust by the people to
In Arizona and New Mexico north of
the California-Santa Fe trail the flood
tide of civilization passed by a huge
country leaving it bulging like an island
in the sea. Because of its inaccessibility,
its remoteness from nowhere, settlers
scarcely scratched the borders of the
domain that is today the province of the
The first white traders in the Navajo
country came from the Mountain Men,
in some cases men who won fame in
that band known as "Carson Men." They
traded from the pack sacks carried on
their horses and mules. At this time,
too, the army's sutler stores, and stores
on the eastern fringe of the Navajo
country, were carrying on a trade with
the Indians. During the 1860's this
vanished to nothing, but by 1868 when
the Navajos were returning to their
old homes from Bosque Redondo, a new
type of trading establishments began
to spring up. These were the first of
the permanent posts deep inside the
Navajos' country.
Where did these first traders come
from, and what manner of men were
they? In a land far across the Atlantic
there was a barracks room brawl and
an affair on the "Field of Honor" in the
gray dawn. A young officer of the
Prussian Guards makes one good thrust
and a superior officer falls to bleed his
life out on the ground. Herman Wolf
made a bad mistake in slitting this officer
with his blade of steel, one that
even the influence of his rich family
and the power of his brother, an officer
in the Prussian Guards, could not allay.
Wolf, filled with the spirit of adventurers,"'
did not propose to remain in the
homeland, a disgrace to his family. He
made a fast ride to the border of a neighboring
country, and came to America.
In the course of his wandering he joined
the band of far westerners known as
Mountain Men. From the first Wolf
was something of a mystery to the southwest.
His very silence about himself
and his family smacked of a story perhaps
better left untold. When "high
silk hats" ruined the beaver trade, Wolf
took himself alone to the uncertain,
meandering banks of the Little Colorado
river in Arizona. While the Navajo
were held prisoners at Bosque Redondo,
Wolf trapped beaver for the pittance they
would bring, and hunted gold. In 1868
he located a spot west of Winslow on
the Little Colorado river that appealed
to him. At first his trading was done
from camps, but about 1870 he established
himself in a stockade post at a
river crossing that was afterwards to
be called "Wolf's Crossing."
Wolf did not at first remain constantly
at his post. He travelled up and down
the river. The coming of the railroad
into northern Arizona in 1881 brought
his rovings to a standstill. Thereafter
he ventured seldom from his trading
post. His freight was brought from the
railroad at Canyon Diablo, only a few
miles to the south. And the railroad was
a means of bringing· somethiT'''" pl c;e
from the land across the sea to WolfRhine
Wolf was known far and wide among
(Continued on page 35)
Page Twenty-one
Blue Water Canyon BY
"SUPAIS? You blamed well right
they're good people. They're
the best people in the world!"
That statement was made in 1932 by
a veteran Grand Canyon park ranger
to my partner and me after we had visited
Havasu Canyon, isolated hermitage
of the Havasupai Indians, as a part of
a three months' exploration of northern
Arizona on foot during summer vacation
from college. There will be plenty of
Havasupais at the Pow-Wow this year
and you will find them friendly, genial
folk. They are superb cowboys and
lovers of good horses. Each year the
all-Indian rodeo at the Pow-Wow draws
the small hermit tribe out full force
from their beautiful canyon home, which
is one of the tributary canyons of Grand
Canyon and a place of intriguing enchantment,
mystery and amazing superstitions
for those willing to endure a
few hardsips to penetrate its depths.
Havasupai means Blue-water-people,
the name coming from the clear blue
river that bursts forth from scorching
sands of the canyon floor to turn the
lower half of the canyon into a place
of charm, irrigated garden plots, orchards,
thicket choked wilderness and
the most beautiful series of waterfalls
that mind can imagine.
When the spring quarter of Flagstaff
State College was over in 1932, Bill
Martin, now a mail carrier in Phoenix,
and I decided to see Havasu Canyon,
Grand Canyon from both rims and the
bottom, the great Kaibab Forest and
as much of the Navajo and Hopi reservations
as three months of walking
would permit. We outfitted at Parks,
getting two burros with pack saddles to
carry equipment and supplies. Ignorant
of the eccentric ways of burros, it took
a week to reach Grand Canyon village.
From Rowe's Well, just outside Grand
Canyon village, to the little cottonwood
grove, midway down Havasu Canyon, is
47 miles of hot, dry, rough trail. Along
this stretch there was no water fit for
human consumption, though a few seeps
the last 10 miles, from which the burros
could drink.
Pushing our burros fast because of
need for water, we reached the brink
of Havasu Canyon the second day out of
Rowe's Well. About the time we reached
the canyon rim a battered old car
overtook us, carrying two smiling Havasupai
boys, with mail and supplies.
"Hal-Io-o-o," they sang out in slow,
pleasant greeting.
Awaiting the car were eight Havasupai
horsemen with as many pack
horses and extra mounts for the two
boys. They greeted us in the same
Pa.ge Twenty-two
One of Series of Water Falls in
Havasu Canyon
soft, slow tones, grinning widely at our
raggedly packed burros. We were to
learn that the friendly "hal-Io~o-o" and
wide, genial grin are the two most pronounced
characteristics of the friendly
From the rim down descent is made
by Topocobya trail, which might well
be called "goat-slide" instead. It zigzags
sharply down an almost straight
drop of 2,800 feet over slippery rock,
sliding shale and gravel. To the left
of the trail, about a mile off under the
rim, is Topocobya Spring, hardly more
than a seep, where the Havasupais'
great herd of wild horses water and
We had trouble forcing our burros to
attempt the trail. Part way down the
pack slipped on our younger burro, tying
her up like a sack of spuds. While
we were rearranging the pack, the Indian
train overtook us. Whooping and
snapping ropes and quirts, they presented
a breath-taking picture of master
horsemanship. Sitting up straight
and carelessly at ease, fanning the tails
of their pack animals before them, they
swung around us over an almost impossible
detour and rode hell-bent-forleather
down the crazy trail. Lemuel
Payja, in charge of the packers, stopped
to express sympathy over our mishap
with the burro pack and told us of a
seep four miles further that would supply
water for burros.
The afternoon sun beat down on the
sheer walls of red and gray limestone
and we sweltered in the oven-like heat
a.s we toiled over rocks and deep, hot
sand that made up the floor of the canyon.
Two hours later we reached the
moss coated seep. The water collected
in two shallow basins about the size of
a bath tub. The burros drank, but we
could not so we soaked our parched
bodies in the water to absorb its coolness.
We made a dry camp that night.
I t took till noon next day to make
eight miles to the cottonwood clump
and the river. The deep sand became
burning hot and one burro rebelled six
times, rolling over on its back to get
its feet out of the searing hot sand.
Finally we sighted the cottonwoods.
Even the burros sensed what they meant
and hurried.
We rounded a slight bend and a musical
roar of gurgling water reached
us. After 47 miles without it, water
became the most wonderful thing in the
world. Running water! It was hard
to believe. Yet, out of the canyon
floor, that had been burning dry for
miles, water was seeping, pouring, even
gushing. Two hundred yards from its
source the river is 20 feet wide and
waist deep. While the burros drank,
Martin and I waded out to the middle
of the stream, clothes and all. Later
we took off our clothes and lay in the
soft sand of the stream bed, absorbing
the coolness of the water that rolled
over us.
From the cottonwoods the Supai village
is but a short distance. Here live
the tribe of about 200 isolated Havasupais
and here are their fine gardens
of beans, corn and melons and productive
peach orchards, figs and other
fruit. In early Flagstaff days dried
peaches from Supai were considered
great delicacies by the handful of
whites living here.
Overlooking the village are two great
rock pillars, accepted as tribal gods.
Havasupai like to speak English, the
men dress like white cowboys, but religious
beliefs and faith in tribal medicine
men are as staunch as they were
centuries ago, when legend has it they
split off from the Hualapais and went
down into the beautiful little canyon to
make their home.
In the yard of the agent in charge
was the only plot of grass. Here grazed
the only cow. Some chickens are raised,
but the Indians care little for chickens
or eggs for food.
Sings were being held night~y by
medicine men for the 19 year old son
of the chief medicine man. At sundown
medicine men gathered on each side of
the canyon and others at the bedside,
shaking gourd rattles and chanting
loudly to drive the evil spirit out of
the canyon. The sings end at dawn
(Continued on page 31)
t -
10th Annual Hopi Craftsman
7t T the Museum of Northern Ari- n. zona, during the week of July 1
to 5th, you will find a colorful
exhibit of Hopi Indian arts and crafts
in an unique setting of surprising charm.
This exhibition, known as the "Hopi
Craftsman," was organized by the Museum
in 1930, and has become an annual
affair receiving wide-spread interest.
All material is personally collected
by staff members, from individual
craftsmen on the reservation. This
necessitates two collecting trips, in the
early spring and immediately before the
The Hopi have grown to feel that this
is entirely their own exhibition and they
cooperate accordingly, by sending a
group of craftsmen to demonstrate their
various handicrafts. A weaver, an old
embroiderer, the two basket makers, a
potter, and a silversmith, each with
their crude materials and
cated on three mesas, one hundred miles
northeast of the San Francisco Mountains
across the valley of the Little
Colorado, overlooking the Painted Desert
and the blue snow capped peaks rising
against the western sky. Of the
twelve villages now inhabited, only one,
Oraibi, stands on the mesa where the
Spaniards first saw it. The inhabitants
of all the others, which were originally
located below the mesa tops, took fright
and moved. above to locations more defensible.
The present village groups are referred
to as First, Second, and Third
Mesas. Of the towns on First Mesa,
Walpi is the oldest and Sichomovi a
sort of suburb, while Hano, which is
composed of a group of Tewa people,
was admitted about 1700. Of the Second
Mesa towns, Shungopovi and Mishongnovi
are the oldest, Shipaulovi hav-ing
been established after the coming
of the Spaniards. On Third Mesa,
Oraibi is the most ancient of all the
Hopi pueblos, and Hotevilla and Bakabi
are comparatively recent.
The arts of the Hopi are extremely
varied and methods of manufacture have
remained practically unchanged since
the coming of the Spaniards, though
many of the finer skills have disappeared.
The men are the weavers, moe.casin
makers and jewelers. The women·
are the potters and basket makers.
While the villages of the three mesas
have certain arts in common, each mesa
specializes in a distinct type of work.
The manufacture of heavy undecorated
household pottery is common to all the
villages and it seems likely that decorated
pottery, though made only on First
Mesa today, was formerly made in most
of the towns. The art of textile weav-ing
is general. Basketry,
hand-fashioned equipment,
will create before your eyes
the beautiful crafts of their
people. The Museum entertains
these workers during
the five days of the exhibition
and their native costumes
and primitive methods
of manufacture lend charm
and atmosphere to the affair
-it is indeed a colorful picture
against the background
of their sacred mountains,
the ancient home of those
legendary god-like beings,
the Katchinas!
Hopi Drum and Katchina Doll Makers however, is localized in a
most peculiar way, and is
practiced on two mesas only.
The women of Second Mesa
make a heavy, coiled basket
of yucca fiber, with grass
core. A few miles to the
west, on Third Mesa, Oraibi
and its related towns make
an entirely different type of
woven wicker basket. First
Mesa, with its three towns
perched on the rock of Walpi,
does not make baskets
but manufactures practically
all the decorated Hopi pottery.
now on the market. It
is interesting to note in this
connection, that on each one
of the three mesas a different
dialect is spoken, and
the people of Hano, on the
rock of Walpi, also speak
Tewa, Rio Grande tongue
that is understood on First
Mesa, but not by the other
These exhibitions have a
four-fold object: (1) to encourage
the manufacture of
objects of artistic and commercial
value which have
fallen into disuse and are becoming
rare; (2) to stimulate
bet tel' workmanship
among all the people; (3) to
encourage the development of
new forms of art of purely
Indian design and the application
of old arts to modern
uses, and (4) to create a
wider market for Hopi goods
of the finest type.
The "Hopi Craftsman" exhibition
is a scientific experiment,
not a commercial enterprise.
Indian material is
sold for the Indians without
profit to the Museum. The
exhibition is supported by
private subscription fro m
public spirited individuals
desiring to assist the work.
The Hopi pueblos are 10-
The discoveries of modern
science prove that the Hopi
and his cultural ancestors
were skilled workers in the
civilized arts far back into
prehistoric times. His wares
were evidently in great demand
and traveled along
ancient trade routes to far
distant people, where they
are recognized today by the
In the ruined ancestral pueblos
of the Hopi are found
beautiful examples of the
-Photo Courtesy Museum of Nor the'rn Arizona (Continued on next page)
Page Twenty-three
lOt", Annual Hopi Craftsman Exhibit
(Continued from preceeding page)
potter's art and basketry. Precious fragments show that
cotton textiles of fine quality and intriciate design were woven
in color, or sized and painted. Remarkable kiva wall paintings
in brilliant polychrome have also been discovered. A
great diversity of techniques in all the arts is indicatede
From the middle of the XIIIth century, the arts of the
Pueblo people of the Southwest expanded and developed
steadily, rising to a climax immediately prior to the advent
of the Spanish conquerors. This important event definitely
checked all further development and a gradual decline ensued.
The Hopi, due to their fortunate isolation, were able to
retain their cultural traits, and live and work today very
much as they did when the first Spaniards found them
nearly four hundred years ago!
The Museum of Northern Arizona is endeavoring to encourage
and revive the ancient and beautiful arts of the
Hopi, for it is felt that the Indian has an important contribution
to make toward our mutual civilization. His art is
unique and beautiful, and purely American. He is a creator
of design and a master of abstract form. We have welcomed
the art and the folklore of all nations and they have enriched
ou~ culture, but the art of our own native American
has remained comparatively unappreciated. Certain of the
erafts have suffered severely from modern commercial methods
and are in grave danger of disappearing entirely if they are
not properly fostered while a knowledge of their technique
still remains. At the same time, it is the aim to create an
appropriate market for high class material and spread correct
information relative to its history and manufacture,
thus creating a background of intelligent interest and understanding.
The "Hopi Craftsman" exhibition is competitive, not only
between individuals, but between villages. The Indian puts
his own price on material and receives cash for his work,
which is all transported free of charge to him.
The exhibition is open to the public free, as the Museum
of Northern Arizona is a non-profit making institution.
Location: three miles north of Flagstaff on the Fort Valley
Road; Museum hours, 9 a. m. to 5 p. m. every day!
The 10th Annual Indian Pow-Wow
(Continued from page six)
welcome, and attend as interested spectators. The main idea
of the Pow-Wow is to promote friendship and goodwill between
the two races; to further a knowledge of each beneficial
to both.
On anyone day the number of white visitors at the PowWow
will be less than one fourth of the crowd. But they
come from all the 48 states of the Union, and from foreign
The Pow.:.VlTow is incorporated as a non-profit making
organization. It is not, contrary to the claim of some selfstyled
rival celebrations, commercialized. The Indian is not
being exploited in a celebration show to extort money from
the whites who attend. No financial surplus remains after
the celebration. Actually the gate receipts carry only about
one third of the cost of producing the celebration. All revenues
are used for feeding Indians, lease of Indian rodeo
stock, rodeo prize money, for wages to performers on the
night program, and in a small way to publicise the Indian
and his arts and crafts.
A glance at the night ceremonial programs will show
that more than sixty different Indian dances will be given
at the 1939 Pow-Wow. There will be Indian singers (All
Page Twenty-four
songs in the singers, own tribal tongue) on every program
also. This large number of Indian ceremonials tops anything
else in the way of variety and entrttncing, seldom seen,
Indian rituals elsewhere. These ceremonies are authentic
in every respect. To be viewed seperately and on the Reservations
of the Indians who produce them at the Pow-Wow
would require two years of travel and tiPle.
No Indian ceremony is given on the Pow-Wow program
that would be offensive to the tribe from. which it comes. In
some cases tribal councils months beforehand approve the
performance of their group putting them on. In all cases Indian
leaders are asked for permission for their ceremonies to
be shown at the Pow-Wow.
The dance ceremonial which is really the public portion of
a ritual of several days, is not given for the exclusive benefit
of the white spectators. The Indians of other tribes enjoy
the dances of their neighbors. It is a common ~ustom
among pueblo tribes to invite their friends on specIal occasions,
perhaps at the time of dedicating a new ki~a, to
visit them and show their dances. Such is the frIendly
spirit describing the interchange of tribal ceremonies at the
Through the Pow-W ow Indian Grand Council, which is
actually a controlling advisory board, the directors who
work on the Pow-VV' ow Celebration the year around, learn
the wishes of the many tribes and communities concerned.
All of them who desire may have two or more representatives
present. All the departments of the organization are discussed
and criticised. A majority of the Indians may ask
for new contests, new dances or ceremonials, or a correction
of some fault in Indian Relations, which is done. The executive
committee desires . above all else to provide, and
does so when the majority rules it, the events and the kind
of a celebration the Indians themselves want. To this extent
the Indians are cooperating fully. Having taken the
Pow-\Vow on as their show, they are not only providing the
programs but are also assuming more and more executive
authority necessary for its production.
The Indians ask that there be certain white officials connected
with the Pow-Wow Celebration. With so many tribes
participating, a good many of them hereditary enemies but
who meet at Flagstaff on neutral ground in growing friendship,
they deem it wise Indian officials of no one tribe predominate.
Only twice in ten years has there occurred a flare-up
of temperament between two different tribes. Considering
the continual wrangling ever present at white celebrations
this record speaks for itself. The tribesmen select their own
contest judges, Indians of course, and abide by their de-cisions.
(Continued on page twenty-nine)
Navajo weaver at her loom.
Navajo 1,uomen watching the night ceremonials.
The Winners of the Indian Girls Beauty Conte.st
of 1938. Left to right--Gertrude Bowman, NavaJO,
3rd; Elizabeth Da'vis, Navajo, 2nd,· and Mary Shupela,
Hopi-Tewa, 1st.
Navajo woman combing her friend's hair.
Navajo woman rider.
Navajo and his burro steed!
Winners of the Indian Girls .Beauty C0'Y!-test of 1937.
Left to -right-Gertrude S~lver, NavaJO, 1st; Bona
Fesson, Navajo, 2nd,· and Jean TaptukaJ Laguna,
This papoose has come to see his first Pow-Wow.(
Photo by Mrs. S. 1. Richardson)
Navajo Sandpainting.-(Photo by Mrs. S. I. Richardson)
The 10th Annual Indian Pow-Wow
(Continued from page twenty-four)
The Indians at the Pow-Wow are a singularly friendly
bunch. In other areas where they have cause to view white
visitors with some reluctance, especially the unthinking man
with a camera, they go out of their way to meet and talk
to them. The camera fan finds the Pow-Wow a happy hunting
ground. In some cases where special pictures are posed
for it might be well to offer some small remuneration, yet
on the whole the camera fan may (and he does !) bang
away as long and often as he likes. The Indian cowboys
won't want him out in the arena to get run over, nor the
medicine man disturbing his performance with flashlight
bulbs at night, but otherwise everything is free as the cool
air blowing through the tops of the big pine trees.
There is never a dull monment at the Pow-Wow. Indeed,
while the Indians can stand it without a wink of sleep, few
whites seldom last the exciting twenty-four hours of the dayfor
three whole days and nights! The Indians begin arriving
for the Pow-Wow all of the week before. As soon as
a few hundred camp in the forested park the social dances
are held every night. There are three of them, The Navajo
Squaw Dance (Endi), The Kiowa Dance, which was brought
to the southwest from Oklahoma by Chic Sandaval 12 years
ago, and the Apache Rain Dance.
The night of July 1 there is no sleep at all. The social
festivities end at sun-up. Very shortly long lines form at
the cooking pits for the first meal of the day. With food
disposed of, a few tons of beef, bread, potatoes, beans, melons,
onions, etc., along with barrels of coffee and tea, it is time for
the parade to form.
Out of the continual activity and milling about of massed
Indians in the encampment, riders, decorated wagons, dance
teams, small units and individuals, race horses and rodeo
contestants wind their way out of the forest to the three
main streets west of the City where every section of the
parade is put together unit by unit to be on time to follow
the Indian Bands into town at exactly noon.
The paraders are hardly back at the great encampment
before the rodeo in the arena is ready to go. By the time
the contestants have vied their skill, five thirty p. m. is at
hand, and the last general meal of the day is waiting to be
The encampment has not had time to settle down before
the night performance of ceremonials is at hand. The Indian
bleachers overflow, men, women, and children spill over
into the arena about the long line of blazing cedar wood
fires that waft an ever pleasant aroma toward the bright
The riot of color during the afternoon has now shifted
to a surprisingly even more fantastic glamorous display.
Stalwart Indian men stand aside, or sit together, wearing
red, blue, green, yellow, purple and black silk and velveteen
shirt s. Heads are adorned with high peaked sombreros and
colored neckerchiefs. About the waist will probably be at
least one silver belt. Bracelets on the arms. About the neck,
necklaces of fine old silver, wampum and turquoise beads.
N ear the firelight and just out of the dancers' way sit
Indian women, their gaily colored, voluminous dresses and
rich hued velveteen and silk plush shirts partly covered
by shawls and robes. They wear even more jewelry than the
Here and there throughout the throng of dusky faces
shining in the firelight shows an Indian dressed in buckskin,
and another in feather headdress.
There are papooses in cradles, held tightly in the mother's
arms or laid carefully across the lap. There are the wood
and buckskin cradles of the Navajo, the willow woven ones
of the Hualapai and Havasupai, the grass and willow cradles
of the Hopi, a few buckskin and beaded ones of the Apache.
Band Master
Edward Nanonka, BandmasMr of the Moencopi Hopi
Indian Concert Band, Tuba City, Arizona. Under his
direction the Hopi Band has become widely known, and
is considered the best of all Indian bands in the West to-day.
And of many more tribes constructed of hides, wood, grass
and other materials.
The Indians are at the Pow-Wow in all their holiday dress
and collection of fine old jewelry. They are happy, enjoying
themselves. They have come to celebrate, and they are
celebrating twenty-four hours of the day.
For most of them the Pow-Wow visit will be the only
time of the year they will be away from their plateau, prairie,
or canyon home.
Navajo girl in the ceremonial Beil.
Navajo mother and papoose.
Bill Lewis, of the Kiowa dance team.
Navajo woman.
Page Twenty-nine
The Pow-Wow Board of Directors
Back Row, left to right-Henry C. McQuatters; Dan B. MillecamJ President; T. M. Knoles, Jr.,· John G. Babbitt
Front Row, left to right-Leighton Cress, Secretary-Treasurer; Harold Huffer; Vaughn Wallace
'Rollnd the World
(Continued from Page 10)
Nor is the Hopi War Chant, sung by
Chief Taptuka and Jean Taptuka of
that Ancient Hopi village of Oraibi,
Arizona, any less impressive.
In fact millions will never forget the
fullness of that hour as the magic of
radio gave world-wide expression to the
Navajos' "Chant of the Tall War God";
the "Yeibetchai Prayer Dance" as done
by the children of the Navajos; the Navajos'
"Red Ant Dance;" the song of
"The Great Warrior" as sung by a
Page Thirty
little Mescalero Apache girl; the Zuni
"Water Carrier's Song"; the Hopi "Buffalo
Dance"; the Zia "Crow Dance";
the "Devil Dance" of the Apaches the
Zuni "Rainbow Dance," and the "Clown
Dance" of the Hopi.
Out of this contrasting pattern of the
American Indian at his native best
came a climax that was packed with utmost
Without a word of warning the brief
seconds of silence that followed the final
acts of the dancers and chanters were
thrillingly punctuated by the famous
Hopi Indian Band playing that allAmerican
favorite, the "Stars and
Stripes Forever." A beautiful pinto
stallion pranced toward the center of
the ceremonial ring proudly bearing perfect
reminders of America's yesterday
and today; Chief Taptuka of the Hopi
tribe, magnificently garbed in white
buckskin and feathered headdress. In
his strong right hand he gripped the
oak of a staff that carried the red,
white and blue of his flag and ours.
Yes, it was Fourth of July eve, and
what a privilege it was to say so as the
National Broadcasting Company carried
our "good night" to the people of Austria,
Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark,
France, Germany, Holland, Hungary,
Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland
and the Americas.
Blue Water Canyon
Continued from page 22)
and are repeated night after night. After we left the canyon
we learned the boy had died. He was popular, a great rider
and son of the chief medicine man. A big pow-wow was
held all night. N ext morning the men and boys rode up
and down the canyon, crying out their grief. The body was
dressed in finest cowboy regalia, ornamented chaps, silk
shirt, neck 'kerchief and sombrero. Two beaded and a N avajo
silver belt were placed with him, also revolver, quirt,
spurs, four pairs of pants, a suitcase of other clothes, camera
and pictures and even the medicine and dishes he had used.
Four of the best horses were killed to accompany his spirit.
'While camped in the cottonwoods we had many visitors.
All were friendly and curious. Some of the older men, who
could not speak very good English, were content to sit on
their horses and look at us for an hour or more at a time,
grinning agreeably when we attempted conversation. Others
talked freely but chiefly asked questions. They were proud
of the beauty of their canyon and continually asking .how
we liked it and why we did not swim more in the river.
Since we rarely missed three swims a day, we did not know
what more to do to show our appreciation.
Below Supai village the canyon turns into a jungle of
underbrush, trees and wild grape and gourd vines. After a
couple of days rest we moved down into that section. Our
visitors fell off to practically none and we wondered until
told at the agency that the lower section of the canyon
is believed haunted. N ow and then a harried looking Indian
rode hurridly through the jungle to round up a stray horse,
but he never stayed long and always made his invasions
during the bright part of the day. There is too much talk
by dead people.
D nconsciously we picked the worst of all places for our
camp, almost at the vine and brush tangled mouth of Crematory
gulch, where probably more spirits gather for PowWows
than any other place. Years ago the Havasupais
cremated their dead in this gulch. Caverns in the gulch
walls are blackened by many fires.
Like the Navajos, the Havasupais fear death, believing
ghosts are hovering around. Present burial grounds are
somewhere in the lower part of the canyon, location known
only to tribesmen. If dusk overtakes a burial procession, the
body is placed in a safe niche or cave until next day. Fear
of ghosts is a fixed real one and many stories are told by
those having had experiences with ghosts. Once a mail
carr ier , several hours late, told of having to push a ghost
off his horse thr ee times before he could continue with government
business. The story was accepted by his squaw
and tribesman as reason enough for being late.
Camped where we were, between the roar of two great
waterfalls, with the rapidly running river between sucking
and gurgling, and darkness filled with eerie whistles of night
birds, we could easily imagine how such sounds could be
mistaken for ghost talk. One specie of bird had a mourn-ful
whistle that made one t hink of a lost hunter calling
again and again for his faithless dog.
The canyon is one of surprises and beauty. Little box
canyons branch out on both sides of the main canyon. The
series of waterfalls are beyond description. . One, Mooney
falls, has a straight drop of 196 feet over a cliff grotesquely
incrusted with wierd lime formations left by the heavily
impregnated blue water. There are five big falls, all
Below Mooney falls a small spring-fed stream drops into
a natural swimming pool in the river, making a fall of
about 40 feet. It is the most beautiful of any of the falls.
Water drops in a spray over moss and fern covered rocks
that hang out concave fashion. Behind the fall are recesses
in the rock, dense with ferns and moss. The base,
coated with light green moss, graduates slowly down to the
river. Different shades of green vegetation, harmonizing
with the dull red sandstone, make a delightful sight.
In this little canyon of charm, fertility and mystery, reside
the superb Havasupai horsemen whom you will see perform
in the Indian rodeo. They live in hogans of mud,
rocks and poles, similar but a little more squat than the
Navajo hogan. The women weave shallow baskets and
placques, but agriculture and horse trading are the chief
industries. Each year roundups are held and wild horses
caught and broken for riding. Many 'of these horses are
traded to the Hopis and Navajos for jewelry, rugs and
other handicraft or food products. This continual dealing
with wild horses and the fact that only two trails into the
canyon must be traveled on foot or horseback make the
Havasupais natural horsemen.
A visit to Havasu canyon is well worth the effort. From
a plane it stands out as a patch of refreshing emerald
green dropped below a great mass of rocky, barren bluffs.
To visit it, horses can be arranged for by writing the agent
at Supai. Entrance can be made by the easier trail out
of Seligman or via Topocobya trail out of Grand Canyon
village. Indians with horses will meet you at either trail
head. You'll find them friendly, eager to show you their
canyon home.
There are more Indians, 50,000 of them, residing on reservations
in Arizona than in any other state in the union.
Sacred Salt Lake
About 45 miles south of Zuni, New Mexico, there is a salt
lake that has been used by Indians of the southwest for
untold centuries. Although today almost all salt used by
the Indians can be purchased at the nearest trading post.
many of the tribes still make annual pilgrimages to this
sacred salt lake to obtain a few pounds for ceremonial use.
Donors Of Special Prizes
Gouley Burcham Brokerage Co.
Phoenix, Arizona
J. W. Lorentzen Brokerage Co.
Phoenix, Arizona
Sperry Flour
Bob Healy, Agent
Los Angeles, California
Arizona Flour Mills
Joseph T. Melczer, Pres.
Phoenix, Arizona
John W. Spaulding, Broker
Phoenix, Arizona
E. G. Sporleder, Broker
Phoenix, Arizona
Alexander-Balart Company
San Francisco, California
Doc Williams
Flagstaff, Arizona
G. C. Sullivan
Flagstaff, Arizona
Lyons-Magnus Company
San Francisco, California
Page Thirty-one
"Hopi Vista"
Car Parking
A force will be on hand to direct motorists to parking
space. This area will consist of two places, one inside the
entrance gate to the City Park and the other just south and
extending along the city limits to Santa Fe Avenue.
The Time Schedule
The advertised time of the parades, the afternoon and
night shows, is the exact moment they will begin. The programs
are so long, with so much to do during the hours
cove:ed that no loss of time whatever can be permitted. Buy
your tickets beforehand and come early if you wish to see
the entire program without missing any event. The downtown
parades have not been one minute late in five years.
Page T hirty-two
By Milton Snow
Indian maids lined up fo?" the judging of the Indiau
girls Beauty Contest
"Apache" Dance
(Photo by Carson Studio)
Kiowa Indian
PaTt of the feeding enclosure in the Indian Village
Ind1:ans watching the night ceremonial program
Chief Taptuka, noted Hopi baritone
Navajo Indian Traders
(Continued from page 21)
the Navajo Indians. His post was called by them, "Beaver
House." The last few years of life were kind to Wolf
after his wide roving of the west. Aged and infirm, his
head a mass of white, he died September 3, 1898. The
day after he was buried at Canyon Diablo, a tall, square
shouldered man of military bearing descended from a
transcontinental t r ain at Flagstaff. He announced himself
quietly as Major-General Wolf of the German army.
After the passage of more than half a century he had
finally succeeding in locating his brother-too late.
... Fred Smith, of Texas, knew Herman Wolf at Bent's
Fort and in the bands of Mountain Men. Smith in company
with Bill Mitchell and W. E. Siefert, also graduates of the
Mountain Men, traded with the Navajos from pack mules.
They ventured all over the Navajo country before the establishment
of trading posts, and cut their names with the date,
1861, in Navajo Canyon.
From Guy Smith comes a line of Indian traders, from
uncle to nephews. George and J. H. McAdams followed in
Guy Smith's footsteps, and S. 1., Hubert, and C. D. Richardson
in theirs. The first McAdams' came in search of Smith,
but never found him alive. Where Smith died is unknown.
The Navajos claimed the Piutes killed him. The Piutes placed
the blame on the Navajos. In either event it is certain that
Guy Smith lost his life beside a lonely campfire in a remote
canyon somewhere in western Navajoland.
There are practically no existing recor_ds of the hardy
Indian traders before the 1880s. They came, performed
their actions and passed from the ken of man down the sands
of time without getting their adventures on the printed page.
The doings of most of these men have become legends only.
Around the dawn of 1870 Charles Crary with a partner
named Stover established a trading post near the present site
of Ganado, Arizona. The late Don Lorenzo Hubbell, with
C. N. Cotton, bought the partners out in 1874. Also in 1870
a man whose name seems to have been forgotten entirely, established
a trading post at Tuba City. This post has passed
f rom one owner to another, and is still doing business. The
present store is owned by Babbitt Brothers Trading Company
of Flagstaff, and managed by Earl Boyer.
The establishing of a ferry at Paradise Canyon on the
Colorado river, a place later to be called Lee Ferry, brought
into existence a Mormon colony there. At a small store horses,
mules, cattle, flour, sugar, coffee and dry goods were traded
to the Navajos for furs, hides, wool and blankets. John D.
Lee is known to have operated the trading post in 1872. In
the year 1874 Jacob Hamblin, "the Leatherstocking of the
Southwest," with the help of a son carried on the post.
Also in the year 1874 Joseph Lee, a son of John D. Lee,
moved up Tokesjay Wash from Tuba City to within three or
four miles of Redlake (Tonalea) and built a small stone trading
post that did business for the next decade. Joe Lee, a
son of this man, relates that trade goods were freighted all
the way from Salt Lake City via Lee Ferey. Indian products
were in turn sent north over the same route.
Building of the permanent trading posts did not bring to
a close the itinerant traders, or those who ventured into little
known districts to spend a few months of the year trading
with the Navajos. One of these was Jonathan P. Williams,
who came early into the Indian country. With his sons, W.
S. Williams and Benj. F. Williams, who were later to settle
at fixed posts, he packed trade goods into the farther reaches
of the Indian country. . For some years, operating out of
Winslow, the Williams' set up summer trading camps at EI
Capitan, Cow Springs and at Navajo Mountain.
By the middle of the 1880s temporary trading camps were
abandoned for permanent sites, yet by 1900 a good many of
the first trading posts were deserted for more prominent places
as the Navajo population moved away from them. A few
such old trading posts that now exist only as historical sites
are Wolf Post, Blue Canyon, Tokesjay, Lee Ferry, Houck,
The Cornfields, and Willow Springs. There are many more
scattered over the great domain of the Navajo in New Mexico
and Arizona.
More than 200 Navajo trading posts are doing business
today. The traders operating them are largely men who entered
the employ of a trader as youths and "grew up" in
the business. In this category are the men who are the sons
of traders. Lorenzo Hubbell, of Oraibi and Winslow, is the
son of Don Lorenzo Hubbell. Joe Lee, operating on Black
Mountain, is the son of Joseph Lee and has been engaged in
Indian trade more than sixty years. Others are Richard
Kerley of Tuba City, and Ed Kerley of Kayenta, the sons
of John Kerley, well known Indian trader who did business
around Tuba City over thirty years. The Taylor boys of
Cow Springs trading post are the sons of John Taylor, Tonalea.
It is to be remembered that though the vast area now held
by the Navajo tribe is looked upon as having always been
occupied and owned by the tribe, that is not the case. The
Indian traders ventured into what is now the province of the
Navajo long before it was actually set aside as a reservation.
In 1868 the Navajo were given a small reservation. From
that date until the present the reservation has been gradually
extended until it includes nearly 17,000,000 acres. Each
addition to the Navajo domain took in settlers, white-owned
land and Indian traders. Some of this land was purchased
by the government, but where a trader held only a squatter's
possession he was either preempted or brought unde'r control
of the Indian Bureau.
There must be some control of Indian trading, for protection
of both Indians and honest white traders from the unscrupulous
inroads of dishonest fly-by-night traders. The
real traders would have it no other way, yet from the very
instant of the Indian traders' incorporation under control of
the Indian Bureau, the Indian trader has been "hounded"
by a succession of Indian Bureau officials, missionaries and
nosey busybodies who have come into the Navajo country
solely for the purpose of stirring up trouble.
Strange as it may seem, the history of the Navajo Indian
trader reveals few instances where the Indian has been exploited.
On the fringes of white civilization as it rolled
westward Indians were cheated and robbed. There can be
little doubt of it. However this did not occur in the Navajo
country; yet the belief persists among those who do not know
the calibre of the men who took their lives in their hands
when they entered the Navajos' domain in the old days.
The ~axim of the old traders, one that is in force today,
was: "Never lie to an Indian, never cheat an Indian, and
never promise him more than you can do-and then not do
All down through Indian trader history to the present
(Continued on page 44)
! ............................................................................................................................. !
i i
i i
; ;
~ KERLEY'S i i • t General Merchandise Curios t
~ Rare Navajo Blankets a i
i Specialty i t+ . +t
~ Located in the Heart of the i
~ Far-Famed Western Navajo i i Empire t
t KERLEY'S TRADING P'OST t
J Tuba City Arizona f
1.. ........... ,• .. 0 •.•••••• 0 ................................................................................... 0 .. ·e ................ !
Page Thirty-five
A Few Tribes At The Pow-Wow
(Continued from page 17)
a little shy in greeting and talking to whites, yet a people
of many kindly qualities. Almost the entire tribe, led by
Chief Watahomogie, attends the Pow-Wow. However they
leave a few of their people to watch the homes while the
main group is away.
The land of the Havasupai is filled with legends and
traditions. Some of the natural wonders abounding in their
canyon are believed to be gods who are there to protect them.
Every square foot of their country has a story of its own.
Before the extension of the American government westward
to include their region the Havasupai practiced cremation,
just as the Mojave Indians do today. On Crematory Point
a few ashes and bones are all that are left of this old custom.
The Havasupai own many peach trees, to which they
long ago dedicated a special ceremony, the Peach dance.
Where they obtained the first peach trees has become a
mooted question, some authorities maintaining the Spanish
left them with the Havasupai, while others insist that the
Mormon pioneers were responsible.
Most of their stock grazes on the plateau about Havasupai
Canyon. The forest there abounds with deer. The Havasupai
produce a native tanned buckskin having the entire
length of the legs and the ears and nose left on, which is
so greatly favored by Navajo medicine men many trips are
made between the tribes solely for the purpose of trading
blankets for buckskin.
The population of the Hualapai tribe is 440. Their reservation
of 750,000 acres lies largely north of U. S. Highway
66, extending from Peach Springs, to and bordering on
the Colorado River. There are, however, two or three other
small units to the south and west of the main reservation.
Their name means "Pine Tree People" and they are distant
"cousins" of the Havasupai.
The women of the tribe weave fine baskets very similar
to those of the Apache. Their beadwork, which was almost
wholly learned in the schools, is equal in pattern, color and
skill to that of the Mojave. The main industry of the tribe
is stock raising, some of the Hualapai owning several hundred
head of fine, improved cattle. They do a considerable
amount of farming in and around Peach Springs. A Hualapai
rodeo and fair is held annually at Peach Springs.
In the wars against the Apache and other tribes, the
Hualapais were enlisted by the U. S. Army as scouts. The
man believed the oldest in the southwest now living, is Hualapai
Jim Mahoney, who can recall when the first white men
entered his country. He says that before he saw his first
white man he came to hunt deer in the forest where the
Pow-W ow Celebration is held.
One of the Hualapai legends tells how a warrior hero,
Pachitha'awi made the Grand Canyon. Their tribal lore is
extensive, but until recent years many of their ceremonials
were laid aside. Their most faithfully kept one has been the
Memorial Day burning of food and clothing. They use two
main healing rites which correspond to those of several
other tribes of Yuman stock.
The last census of the Hopi tribe placed the population
at 2,515. In 1882 the Congress of the United States sought
to set aside a 2,472,329 acre reservation in the center of the
Navajo country for their exclusive use, but to this the Hopi
would never agree. They claimed then, and still insist upon
Page Thirty-six
it, a slice of the southwest larger than all of the north
half of Arizona.
The Hopi country is 105 miles from Flagstaff. Moencopi,
a village once claimed by Oraibi pueblo, lying far to the
west at Tuba City, is 77 miles from Flagstaff.
The nine pueblos in Tusayan proper-a name for their
province handed down from the days of Spanish exploration
in the southwest-are located on three important mesas.
The easternmost mesa, known as first mesa, contains the
villages of vValpi, Sichumovi and Hano. On the second or
middle mesa are located the lesser known villages of Shipaulovi,
Mishongnovi and Chimopovy. On the third and far
western mesa are found Oraibi, Hotevilla and Bacabi.
Oraibi by proof of tree rings is the oldest continuously inhabited
town in North America. Bacabi is a modern offshoot
of the inter-village strife of Old Oraibi. Moencopi,
too, is a stepchild of Oraibi and was previous to 1875 a
farming community occupied only during the agriculture
season. Because of the raiding Navajos the people living
there retired to Oraibi during the dark winter months. None
of the Hopi towns except Oraibi occupies its original site.
Fearing Spanish vengeance and also because of the terrible
inroads of raiders from other tribes all the villages were
moved from the open, Jow lands to the mesa tops following
the pueblo rebellion of 1680.
The village of Hano is not Hopi, but Tewa. The Tewa
people fled persecution by the Spanish in New Mexico early
in the 18th century and sought safety among their friends
the Hopi. They were given the site of present Hano on the
steep mesa trail leading to Walpi and Sichumovi, and were
soon called the "Keepers of the Trail." Raiders had first
to overcome the Tewa warriors before being able to sack the
remaining two rich pueblos.
Perhaps the most interesting of all the Hopi pueblos,
and one very dissimiliar to all the others because of its
construction alone, is Moencopi. Here lived some 13 fam(
Continued on page 37)
"Hualapai" Jim Mahoney, 114 Years Old
(Continued from page 36)
ilies when the Mormon pioneers from Utah, venturing into
what is now Arizona, decided to found a colony at Tuba
City. The fertile farming lands coupled with the supply
of good water drew their interest. The Hopi then there,
renegades ostracized from Oraibi because of tribal political
differences and unable to return to the eastern mesas during
the winter, were hard put to exist against the inroads of the
Navajo, who had destroyed their crops in the field and killed
them off until only the 13 families l'emained. These families
were discouraged and very desperate. They were about
to retire to some other place when the Mormons arrived
to make a deal with them for land and water.
The Mormon wagon trains came in and settled. Under
the new arrangement the 13 families thrived unmolested,
being also added to by immigrants from other Hopi villages.
Dissatisfaction around Orabi and Hotevilla sent many outcasts
to Moencopi and even today it is known among Indians
as the place of "renegades." If these thrifty, hard
working, honest people are renegades then it would be a
blessing if all the southwest was peopled with them.
Moencopi holds no snake dance, not having a snake priest
or a snake clan, but it does have a continual repertoire of
ceremonies. There is in August a Moencopi Hopi fair ex~
hibit of unusual value for so small a group.
The Piute Indians (sometimes spelled Paiute) are members
of the Shoshoean family. They number approximately
3,476, residing largely on small reservations in five states,
although there are a few in nearly every state of the Mississippi
River. The Piutes were, and are, wanderers. They
are distant relatives of the Shoshone, Hopi, Comanche, Snake
and Bannock Indians. No other linguistic stock is so widely
scattered and cut up into small bands as the Piutes.
The spelling of their name "Piute" is a better, more
pronouncable contraction of the old "Paiute." Their name
comes from Pai-water, and Utes, which they were. Pai-ute
means "Water Utes"; Utes who lived near a great body of
water said to have been in Nevada.
Arizona has a population of 128 Piutes residing on their
own reservation at Moccasin. Another 32 live with the N avajo
in the region of Navajo Mountain and at Willow
Springs. California claims 356 Piutes, while Nevada has
the greatest number of all, 2,462; Utah 254, and Oregon
has 276. There are a few other Piutes scattered about in
other states as well.
The Piutes are dark, inclined to be short and stocky. They
have been, literally, pushed from pillar to post, hence their
occupying small, arid reservations so widely scattered over
the \Vest. Even in Nevada where their population reaches
the highest number there are several reservations on which
they live.
The Piutes of Moccasin are fine stockmen, obtaining most
of their income from cattle raising. Other than articles
made for their personal use they produce little in the way of
handcraft for sale to the public.
The Zuni Reservation is in McKinley and Valencia counties,
New Mexico. The main pueblo, Zuni, is 43 miles south
of Gallup. The present population numbers 2,021. Principally
agriculurists, the Zuni gain their livelihood from crops
and sheep, although silver, bead work, and pottery making
brings them a steady cash income.
The Zuni were the first of the pueblos in the southwest
to be contacted by Europeans. Here came the Negro, Estavanico,
advancing ahead of Fray Marcos de Niza, in 1539,
to meet ignoble death because of his indiscretions. Only
one of his party escaped to bear warning to the good Fray,
who mounted a high hill, probably Corn Mountain, viewed
the golden glow on the roofs in the setting sun and retreated
whence he came bearing a later discredited tale of
buildings made of gold.
The Zuni are short, heavy set people, the friendliest of
all New Mexico pueblo dwellers. Even the small children
playing in the street of the aged village will pause to smile
and wave a hand at the passing pale face. A camera in the
town will not start a riot or bring the local policeman with
an exorbitant demand for money, but it would be only common
courtesy for the tourist desiring to take pictures to ask
somebody about it. No real pale face is ever barred from
their ceremonials, but the Mexican is.
The Maricopa Indians are of Yuma stock. They live
along the course of Salt river northeast of Phoenix, Arizona,
and on the Gila river to the south. They are physically,
the largest and muscular Indians of all the southern Arizona
desert tribes. The men took to the white man's horse on
their first coming to the southwest. Perhaps this may account
for their physical condition. Certainly every last
male Maricopa is a cowboy and a good one.
The industries of the Maricopas are wood cutting, farming,
canal ditch work, cattle raising, basketry and pottery.
The men dress as the whites about them do. The women
wear loose flowing garments, skirts and shirt-waists similar
to the Apache, Hualapai and Havasupai women.
The Maricopa live among the Pima Indians. Some of
them in adobe houses like the Pima build. Yet here and
there scattered over Pimeria are to be seen grass thatched
bee-hive shaped huts. These are also the homes of the Maricopa,
who despite their long years of residence among, and
their inter-marriage with the Pima, refuse to give up completely
some of the distinct forms of their own culture.
The pottery from the hands of the Maricopa women is
often believed to be that of the Pima. Most of the so-called
Pima type pottery to be purchased in the curio stores and
tourists places abounding in Phoenix is really that of the
Maricpoa potters. The two types are diffiicult to distinguish
apart. The greater difference lies in the fact that the Maricopa
potter uses a better clay, bakes the moulded piece longer
and applies an excellent slip and a finer grade of paint
in creating the design on the finished product.
! .............................................................................................................................. .
i Two Modern Shell Stations I
Complete Lubrication ~
Check Chart System !
Sanitary Rest Rooms ~ I No.1-Santa Fe::v~:~:e~binS I ; + I No.2-At College Entrance !
•· ............................... 0 •• ., ••••••••••••••••.••••••• • ......... ·0· •• •• ............. • •• •· •• ·••••·•••·••·••· ••��••.•..••••
Page Thirty-seven
The Story Of The Pow-Wow
(Continued from page 18)
as in the old days presents were excanged and tobacco brought
out. The pipe of peace was smoked. Every tribe who then
claimed some part of the San Francisco Mountains as hunting
grounds have legendary stories to relate of the long ago
time of the arrival of the first whites.
Following the July 4, 1876 celebration and naming of
Flagstaff the next celebration actually on record is that of
the summer of 1882 when the Atlantic and Pacific railToad,
now the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, built the right-of-way
into Flagstaff. The traders then were well established in
the Indian country. The Mormons had set up settlements and
homes. Sawmills were operating about Flagstaff, as well
as stockmen who preceded them.
The celebrants of 1882 were sheep herders, cowboys, lumberjacks,
railroaders, Indian traders, Mormons, storekeepers,
saloon men, hunters, freighters and prospectors. What was
more natural than that they should invite their friends, the
Indians, to join in? The coming of the railroad meant opening
up of northern Arizona to further settlement. It brought
business, prosperity and a direct connection with civilization.
There is small wonder that immediately a time was set aside
in which to give joyful thanks to the importance of the railroad
to Flag·staff.
The Indians took part in all the games and feats of skill
during the celebration. More, they added a striking touch to
it that the white could not pToduce--their tribal ceremonies.
The lumberjacks did their stunts. The cowboys exhibited
their roping and riding skill. In both these types of events
the Indians contributed. Even in tree cutting, lopping and
log rolling, for the Indians were working in the woods
right along with the white lumberjacks. Indians were employed
by the stockmen and in the riding and roping events
of the small rodeo they competed successfully with the white
Horse racing was a very important part of the celebration.
In this the Navajos and Havasupais participated by
entering their fast horses. At that celebration the Indians
and white contestants competed on equal terms. There was
no distinction of any kind made.
The Flagstaff celebrations were always considered neutral
ground. Woe be unto the white or Indian who transgressed
this unwritten law by laying for an enemy. Tribes residing
afar might go to war with each other the following month.
Cowboys and some Indians might, as they frequently did,
fight out their differences along the rivers or on distant
ranges a few days afterward, but at the celebration no feuds
or hatreds might come to the surface.
Over the scene lay only joy-making and conviviality.
From the first the Indian broke his so-called stoic silence.
Nowhere in the west today can there be found Indians who
are more friendly, more ready to meet other Indians and
whites on the level of friendship.
In that long ago time, whether they could speak a word
of the Indian's tribal tongue or not, whites slapped them on
the back, grinned and said-because they knew no other
greeting to give the Indian-"Hello, John!" The Indian was
prompt to maintain the festive spirit of the occasion by
answering promptly, because he could speak the vowels and
believed the two words must be the white man's proper greeting-"
H ello, John!"
The whites needed the Indian as a friend in those days.
But it was a real need, whereas in so many localities of the
old west the opposite has been true, with, the truth must
be told, transgressions from both sides.
Almost all Indians could speak the English words "Hello,
John!" and it came to be a term of greeting to a friend.
Flagstaff was considered so favorably by Indians as a place
of friends that the words began to be used in some of their
chants to definitely mean Flagstaff.
p.age Thirty-eight
Many an eastern tourist in the southwest venturing into
Indian country to view a native ceremony has been shaken
to his shoes to hear the chanters shout in the middle of their
song, "Hello, John! Hello, John!" The tourist is usually at
first incredulous and thinks perhaps he did not hear right,
that a similarity of phrases or vowel sounds in the two
tongues must acount for it, only to hear within another
minute the English words very distinctly, "Hello, John!
Hello, John!"
July celebrations were held regularly after 1882. As the
city continued to grow just any ground anywhere would not
do. The celebration was shifted to an open prairie where
the Arizona State College buildings now stand . . When ground
was broken there for the first institution the celebration was
established at the far end of South San Francisco . street.
A race track was laid out and a small, wooden grandstand
Of this latter race track the Coconino Sun of August,
1889, says, "A cowboy filled with something or other was
discovered riding his horse around and around the race
track. vVhen an officer inquired where he thought he might
be going the cowboy replied that he was on his way home
to the ranch and would the law please go away as he had
a good many more miles to go."
After 1900 the annual celebration missed an occasional
year. Previous to the turn of the 20th century the celebration
bore no particular name. Everybody came to it.
Everyone was welcome to such amusements, feasts and fun
as the frontier town could afford. But after 1900 the celebration
bore such titles as Annual Rodeo, Cowboy Days,
Flagstaff Celebration, Days of '49, July 4th Celebration, and
Frontier Days.
Many fraternal organizations and civic clubs, the Elks,
(Continued on page 45)
·.··.··.·0··.··.·.··.··.··.··.··.··0··.·.··.··.··.· .......................................................................... .
Hotel Monte Vista
Flagstaff's Distinctive Hotel
Flagstaff, Arizona
FRANK E. SNIDER, Mgr.
. ......................................................................................... ~ ........................•..•..•..•..•.
Pow-Wow Indian Rodeo
(Continued from page 13)
in connection with the S
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