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By the turn of the Century, the Navajo had recovered quite well. The population on the reservation had grown from the 8,000 refugees of 1868 to 20,000, by 1900, and to 35,000, by 1935. This helps to explain why Washington kept expanding the size of the reservation during the late Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. The size of the Navajo herds increased from the 15,000 "seed" sheep and goats provided by the federal government in 1869, to 700,000 animals, in 1880, and to 1,000,000 sheep, 250,000 goats, and over 100,000 horses in 1900.
Little else had been provided to the Navajo. They viewed all wealth in terms of their herds, which they encouraged to grow. By the 1920's, the animals were doing severe damage to the fragile, arid lands of the Colorado Plateau. Nonetheless, the Navajo desire for growth and progress encouraged more breeding, which led to requests for, then demands for, and, eventually, to the usurping of more land.
During the 1930's, even expansion to new lands, as the reservation grew to completely surround Hopiland, and extensive illegal grazing on the Hopi Reservation could not supply the requirements of all these animals. At this point that the Federal Government stepped in, and attempted to greatly reduce the size of the herds with the Federal stock buyback or stock reduction program. The effects of this traumatic event has been discussed in the Hopi portion of this document.
The Navajo were much more severely impacted by the buyback program than the Hopi, since the Navajo had the vast majority of the animals in the Four Corners region at that time. The Navajo were thoroughly disgusted by such acts as the slaughter of thousands of goats, with corpses left in huge piles in the fields to rot. This went against Navajo religious beliefs that life was sacred, that animals were given to the Navajo for their care and use. Nevertheless, the Federal Government in Washington felt that it had to do something. The soils and native plants of the Plateau are still attempting to recover from the severe overgrazing of the early Twentieth Century.
In 1931, Canyon de Chelly was declared a National Monument. Chinle had begun to expand from its trading post center roots, and was growing into a real town, with a large Anglo contingent and a number of businesses. Window Rock was also growing. The Anasazi ruins near Kayenta were attracting attention. The Navajo began to adapt to still another opportunity, tourism. The isolation of Navajo life began to break down for many natives.
Then came another significant event. With US entry into World War II, the nation began to experience a manpower shortage. Many of the Navajo youths were recruited and left the reservation, most for the first time ever. Some of these entered the military, gaining distinction in combat regiments and as the famous "code-talkers," who kept the Japanese confused, and whose "code," their own native language, was never broken by the enemy. The Hopi also formed Code Talker units at this time. Many of the Hopi and Navajo took Anglo names when they entered the service and their Native names proved to be unpronounceable and to have no recognized spelling in English.
Other Navajo, knowing that there was little opportunity as sheep herders in a land where the sheep were being taken away, voluntarily moved to take jobs which were opening up in the cities around the Four Corners and in the war plants in California.
Many of these Navajo later returned to the reservation, with the ideas and concepts of business and capitalism firmly ingrained. Today, there are a number of schools scattered around the Navajo reservation, and many Navajo go away to college. The discovery of Uranium and Oil on reservation lands prompted additional interest in the business world by Navajo leaders.
Despite the new interests in business, the Navajo still love their Land. The atrocities of Canyon del Muerto and the Long Walk have given the Navajo reasons to resent the White World. Moe, the Navajo, guides travelers to Dinosaur footprints in the sandstone near Moenkopi. If you meet him, and ask about his feelings, he will say that the developers can take his traditional land, but only if they shoot him, and carry his lifeless body away. There are many Navajo who feel this way, who want things to remain just as they are. On the other hand, the Navajo leadership has become much better attuned than the leadership of many tribes to life in America in the Twentieth Century.
By 1980, there were over 110,000 Navajo, and the nation had come to recognize the need for jobs and support for its people. Today, the Navajo Nation welcomes income, jobs, and opportunities for its people.
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Contents, including illustrations, copyright T. K. Reeves, 1997.
on 3 January, 1999.
