Page 230 - WDT INTERACTIVE

Native Americans have lived on this continent for
thousands of years, and the Navajo trace their presence
in the Four Corners to about 1300. The Navajos even
returned after they were driven out by the military in
the 1860s, an ugly chapter in US history called the
Long Walk. Today Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
provides a livelihood for many Navajos who work in the
tourism and hospitality industry.
Tully noted that many Navajos move away from the
reservation to a large city, like Phoenix or Albuquerque,
for a job or education, only to return later.
“They live away for so many years, but they tend to
move back to their homeland where they were raised,”
Tully said. “They had their mind set on coming back;
they always wanted to live here and live the lifestyle that
their great ancestors lived, on the open land instead of
being squished up in one area, in a big community with
so many people.”
Known among Navajos as a grazing area, Mystery
Valley exemplifies that ideal. But Mystery Valley grazers
have suffered over the past two years because of
relentless drought. Tully noted that yucca plants dried
up and turned brown as a result, and livestock and
wild horses perished due to lack of food and water. We
came across the remains of a horse that had died in the
summer. This winter’s snow was a welcome sight, as
it may replenish the desiccated ground and revive the
dried plants.
Soon we had traveled back in time to pre-Navajo
days, as we visited the ruins of an ancient people
called Ancestral Puebloan People, or Anasazi, who
were known for their cliffside and cave dwellings. They
left behind myriad wall and cave paintings. These
people vanished as a civilization about 1300, and their
descendants probably mixed with other tribes, such as
the Hopi. No one knows for certain.
Tully drove us to two former dwellings, one the
remnants of residents built against a cliff, and the other
a dwelling built high up a cliff on a rock shelf. At one of
them images of hands and animals were painted on
a rock wall. The best example of this ancient culture
was ensconced in a perfectly formed arch alternatively
called Pine Tree Arch and Wedding Arch. Tully gave us
a boost so we could scale the slick sandstone and sit
inside the rock tube, which was about 30 yards wide
and high. And there inside the arch, perched on a shelf,
was a brick granary abandoned hundreds of years ago.

230 WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2018