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The Hopi have long known that they had some minerals on their land, but little that would be valued by a Spanish Conquistador or a 49'er gold miner. The Hopi and Navajo had been traveling to Coal Canyon, for centuries, on the western side of the Mesa, to gather fuel for their fires. This coal eventually caught the eyes of American industry.
The Hopi Traditionalists have long feared that their home would prove to be of interest to outside exploiters. In 1961, the Progressive-led Hopi Tribal Council agreed to grant leases on the Hopi Reservation to oil and gas, and coal or minerals companies. This provided the foot-in-the-door which would lead to further insults to the Traditionalists. When the Federal judicial panel ruled, the next year, that the disputed lands surrounding the core home of the Hopi were available for “joint-use,” it set the stage for a new era on Reservation lands. The minerals in the joint-use lands were apparently now available to the outside world, with the Navajo having partial control, and the Hopi no longer having an absolute veto.
With things going from bad to worse on the joint-use lands around the mesa, the Tribal Council went ahead and staged a three-part oil and gas lease sale, which had been arranged and completed by late 1964. The Traditionalists were outraged, once more. by this betrayal by brother Hopi. Meanwhile, other mineral-related activity was proceeding, and in 1966, the Peabody Coal Company would start a mining operation on the northern edge of the Black Mesa. This mine was out of sight of and well away from the major Hopi villages and farms along the southern side of the mesa, but it still upset the majority of the Hopi.
The mine operations were to yield $500,000 per year to the Hopi nation, but were deeply opposed by the Traditionalist faction within the community. As was explained above, the Tribal Council was created, in the 1930's when the conservative majority of the Hopi population refused to vote in an election staged by Washington. For most of the time since then, there has been a bias toward the Progressive side on the Council, and continuing opposition to Council decisions by a large part of the population that believes in the old ways and religion.
The opposition to the mine exists on many levels. At the practical end, the Hopi don't believe the restoration plans of Peabody can possibly work. After many decades of excavation, when the mine workings are finished, Peabody says that they will “revitalize” the land. The Hopi think that the Land is alive, and cannot be rent asunder, than be restored, and still be as healthy as it was originally. Secondly, the mine uses water and, inevitably, disrupts the local water table. In a dry land like that around the mesa, any disruption, or use or waste of water is serious business. On a more metaphysical level, the Traditionalists have talked about the mine taking “part of the Heart of Mother Earth.”
In the case of the oil leases, oil rigs were theoretically now to be given access to well locations and pads on the Black Mesa, itself. Leases actually were let in 1964, and drilling plans were made for several wells. The leases, alone, brought in $3.2 million, for 403,000 acres in Navajo and Coconino Counties. Bidding was led by Tenneco, and Texaco. One Tenneco lease tract went for $176 per acre (in 1965 oil and gas dollars). Drilling was anticipated to take place in 1965. Before this would happen, the Traditionalists went to court to get the leasing procedures overturned.
This indicated the state of the desperation of the Traditionalists. They did not want to see deep probes drilled into their Mother Spirit, the Earth. They were the ones who, typically, had preached avoidance of any unnecessary contact with Whites. They were the ones who preached total non-cooperation with the Anglo Government. They were the ones who had gone to jail and hard labor for their resistance to American policies. They were now the ones who were going, voluntarily, into court, to bring suit, to trust in the relief and aid of the Whites. The Traditionalists had been driven to the very end of their rope. They were now to be disappointed one more time.
The suit attempted to demonstrate that the acting Tribal Council superintendent, Charles Pitrat, did not have valid authority on the Reservation to issue oil or gas leases. The Court would let the Traditionalists down. The suit was rejected, and drilling was to be allowed to proceed. Tenneco supposedly had plans to drill six or seven wells on the Black Mesa by December of 1965.
There is no record of the outcome of all these plans and legal roadblocks. There are no Tenneco wells on the Black Mesa, today, although there are several wells which were drilled by majors. Tenneco may have drawn up the plans for these wells, then turned them over to other operators, for drilling and operation, or the company may have been scared off by all the legal ruckus raised by the Traditionalists.
The continuing opposition, helps to explain the low rate of interest in the Black Mesa by oil companies since the Hopi Reservation was partitioned in 1962. The high enthusiasm by majors, and high bid prices in 1964, were probably discouraging to independents, at that time. History and politics have thus conspired to keep interest in the Black Mesa low.
In the case of the Peabody Coal Mine, the Traditionalists, in 1971, filed a lawsuit, in an attempt to get the mine closed down. Codefendants were the Department of the Interior and BIA. The Government was the target of charges of neglect of duty in obligations to defend and protect the Land and the rights of the people. Of great significance, the Traditionalists attempted to get the entire Tribal Council structure and Constitution nullified, on the basis that so many Hopi had abstained from the initial vote that created them, that the Council concept was invalid. The suit was eventually dismissed, but the concept has now been introduced in court, and may be revived at a later date, at a time when the politics of the situation is quite different.
The religious Hopi think of themselves as being responsible for the protection of their Land, their Mother. In the eyes of the Traditionalists, the fact that the Council once upon a time allowed this defiling of their sacred trust and responsibility has indicated the moral bankruptcy of the Progressive group.
As this enumeration of complaints shows, the Hopi and Navajo both have tales of woe. Reality includes hundreds of years of experience with Whites that were schemers, who continuously used hidden agendas and schemes in varied ways to steal the birthright of the Peaceful People. The Spaniards were bad with their attempts to destroy the One True Religion, but the Anglos, in this century, stole the Hopi children, attempted to do away with their clothing styles and language, and would certainly have weakened their religion, if they had been successful in their plans.
The Traditionalists oppose the Progressive-leaning Tribal Council, although even this council is very Hopi in its ways of thinking. To the Hopi, it is just as important that Whites stole the names of the Hopi Mesas as it is that Anglos stole their children. The Hopi originally numbered their three mesas from west to east, early European descriptions numbered the mesas from east to west. To the Hopi, this type of tradition is very important.
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Contents, including illustrations, copyright T. K. Reeves, 1997.
on 5 April, 1997.
