Marshall Knoles
President
Jeff Ferris
Acting President
Leland McPherson
Treasurer
40th Annual
Southwest All-INdiAN PowWow
T. M. Knoles Jr. Andy Wolf
Harry Biller Noel Miller
Howard Taft Sr. Ralph Barney
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for all Pow Wow performances are on sale at the Flagstaff
Chamber of Commerce, 101 West Santa Fe, until the
morning of July 4 when the ticket office will open in front of
the grandstand at the Pow Wow grounds at City Park. All
grandstand and box seats are reserved. Tickets for bleacher
seats go on sale two hours before each event.
Sponsored by Pow Wow. Inco. Flagstaff. Arizona
Pow Wow, Inc., Box 426, Flagstaff, Arizona 86001, is a nonprofit
organization, the sole function of which is the staging of
the annual Southwest All-Indian Pow Wow in Flagstaff over
the Fourth of July. Members of its Board of Directors serve
without pay. The President is elected from the Board for a
two-year term. Pow Wow Magazine is an official publication
of Pow Wow, Inc., and is published annually on or about May
15. Pow Wow Magazine is printed by Northland Press, Flagstaff.
All material herein was prepared by Pow Wow, Inc.,
unless otherwise indicated.
Sturgeon Cromer Roy Smith
Don Clark Mike Flournoy
Bill Hoyt Earl Caniford
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_ PARADE ROUTE
The Pow Wow Parade starts promptly at 11 a.m. each day of the Pow Wow, forming
at Santa Fe avenue (U.S. 66) at Sitgreaves street, and following the route
shown on the map above. It is a brilliant spectacle with ceremonial dance teams
performing at many points along the two-mile route; rodeo performers and brightly-
dressed Indian beauties on horseback; the top All-Indian bands in the region;
and scores of Navajo families, displaying their finest jewelry, rugs and blankets,
riding in traditional, horse-drawn wagons. Only Indians participate in the parade;
non-Indians are not allowed to perform in any Pow Wow event.
The rodeo performances begin at 1:30 p.m. each day in the Pow Wow grounds
arena at City Park (see map above). Indians, and only Indians, compete for
thousands of dollars in cash prizes, as well as coveted silver Pow Wow belt
buckles, in the full range of rodeo events, as well as in wagon races, wild horse
and colt scrambles and other Pow Wow specialties. The rodeo is an amateur
affair, however, giving working Indian cowboys a chance to perform, and thus
providing more fun and more unscheduled thrills for spectators. The annual Pow
Wow Beauty and Baby Contests are also held during the afternoon rodeo sessions.
Beginning at deep dusk each night of the Pow Wow, huge, pinelog bonfires flare
in the hushed Pow Wow arena and the colorful, spectacular ceremonial dances get
underway. Dancers from more than a dozen Indian tribes - from the Northwest,
the Plains, and the Southwest - perform authentic rituals, some of which were
ancient when Columbus set sail for the New World, in the flickering firelight.
For a breathless time, the night is filled with whirling, prancing color, pulsing
drum beats, hypnotic chanting and wild, savage shouts as the dancers and singers
once again reaffirm age-old tribal traditions.
The vanguard of thousands of Indians begins to arrive in Flagstaff days before
the Pow Wow starts, and the Pow Wow encampment, one of the most interesting
sights in the West, grows around the Pow Wow grounds and up the pine-forested
slopes of Mars Hill. The scene is one of bewildering variety as the old and new
ways of Indian life are blended around smoldering campfires. Nearer the Pow
Wow grounds proper, many of the Indian visitors set up booths to show their
unique arts and crafts work to potential buyers, Indian and non-Indian alike. The
encampment is both a meeting place and a market place for many Indian peoples.
PowWow
IS
INdiANS
Just when Indians first powwowed at Flagstaff is
obscured by the misty distances of time. The how and
why of the Southwest All-Indian Pow Wow, now in
its 40th year, are much easier to explain.
For Flagstaff is located in the very heart of Indian
country. More than 100,000 Indians-Navajo, Hopi,
Apache, Hualapai, Havasupai, Yavapai and otherslive
in the immediate area, most of them on reservations
sprawling in all directions around the city.
Flagstaff is, and has been for centuries, a place
where Indians gather. The towering San Francisco
Peaks just to the north, which today are prominent
landmarks for tens of thousands of travelers, have
been landmarks and much more to the Indians for
Eagle Dancers entrance crowd
countless generations. The graceful summits play an
important role in the ages-old legends and religious
beliefs of many of these peoples. To the Hopi, for
instance, they are the home of the kachinas, those
mysterious, spiritual beings who guide Hopi destinies;
to the Navajo, the Peaks are one of the four sacred
mountain massifs that traditionally have marked the
boundaries of their beautiful and beloved land.
Flagstaff has been regarded as a «good place," too,
because there is water there flowing from clear
springs fed by high mountain snows. Water, in the
arid Southwest, means a meeting place and friends.
Thus the Southwest All-Indian Pow Wow is largely
the Indians' own idea, although the annual celebration
has now grown to such proportions that it is
staged for the Indians by a non-profit corporation,
Pow Wow, Inc., whose directors are all civic-minded
white residents of Flagstaff.
Indians were reportedly on hand for the Fourth of
July celebration in 1876 when a party of Californiabound
emigrants camped near a spring in what today
is City Park and cut and trimmed a tall Ponderosa
pine to fly the American flag to mark the nation's
birthday. The flagstaff remained standing for years
and gave the fledgling community its name.
Through the years, there were other July 4 celebrations,
and by the 1920s, when the Elks Lodge was
sponsoring what was called «The Days of '49," so
many Indians were coming to town for the occasion
that the idea of putting on an all-Indian show came
naturally to a number of Flagstaff citizens. Late in
the summer of 1928, they tried it, inviting all the
Indians in the surrounding area to attend the event
and join in the free barbeques, games, contests and
dances. It proved to be a great success with Indians
and whites alike, and the following year, 1929, it was
moved to the Fourth of July weekend and given the
general pattern that Pow Wows have had ever since.
During the early years of the Pow Wow, the program
involved mainly Indian games and contests,
favorites being wild horse racing, chicken pulls and
tugs-of-war in which the Mohave women were usually
the heavyweights. Everyone in town pitched in to
help prepare lusty meals of beef, mutton, potatoes and
beans for the Indians who, in turn, provided the entertainment
for the white man-games in the afternoon,
a few rituals in the evening and dancing all
night.
It very soon developed into the West's biggest allIndian
show and, in 1934, Pow Wow Inc., was fonned
to handle the increasingly complex planning and
coordination required to assure that each Pow Wow
would be an enjoyable occasion for Indians and
whites alike. While white directors run the show, they
do so in consultation with Indian chiefs and headmen
with whom they meet both fonnally and informally
during the Pow Wow itself.
The sheer numbers of people at the Pow Wow- in
recent years it has drawn up to 10,000 Indians and
90,000 non-Indians to Flagstaff-gradually neccesitated
some changes in the program, and suggestions
by Indian leaders brought others. In place of meals,
Indians participating were issued flour, meat, coffee,
sugar, beans and-a favorite-watermelons, as well as
hay for their horses and soda pop for their youngsters.
Much of this is still done.
The afternoon games became a full-fledged allIndian
rodeo, today a fast-moving show which includes
not only the regular rodeo events, but wagon races,
wild horse scrambles (and colt scrambles for the
Indian children) , barrel races and Indian beauty and
baby contests.
Old Glory opens the rodeos
Kiowas pause during parade
The City Park campground was turned over to the
Indians for Pow Wow, and there they camp in colorful
confusion, eating, sleeping, singing, dancing, meeting
friends from other tribes, and trading or selling
their distinctive arts and crafts.
The Night Ceremonials were expanded into a
particularly impressive program and top tribal teams
from all over the West were, and are invited to perfonn
in the firelight of this most spectacular Pow Wow
event. The all-night dancing, spontaneous and infonnal,
is still part of the Pow Wow scene, however.
This year's Pow Wow, like Pow Wows of the past,
presents a broad panorama of the Indians of the West
-almost 40 tribes will be represented either as participants
or as spectators. The annual celebration is
one of the very few places in the United States where
the character and customs, the ways of life of so
many different groups can be seen at one time and in
one place.
The Flagstaff visitor can learn a lot about Indians
at the Pow Wow, and knowledge goes hand in hand
with understanding. This is one of the main things
the Pow Wow is all about.
The people of the Southwest All-Indian Pow Wow,
though they share a common heritage, the tragedy
of conquest and the basic problems of enforced contact
with an alien culture, are nonetheless peoples of
infinite variety.
In recent years, the number of tribes represented
in the various Pow Wow events alone has averaged
30, and at some Pow Wows more than 40 have been
counted. They come from the Great Plains, the northern
Rockies, the Pacific Northwest, California, the
Great Basin and, of course, the Southwest.
In numbers of individual Indians at the Pow Wow,
recently yearly estimates have ranged between 8,000
and 10,000 coming and going - far more, it may be
noted, than General Custer saw, let alone dreamed of,
in the Valley of the Little Big Horn.
Certainly most of the Indians come from Arizona,
the state with the largest Indian population in the nation,
running well ahead of Oklahoma in second place,
and New Mexico in third. Arizona's 14 tribes include
both the nation's largest and fastest-growing group,
the Navajo, and one of the smallest, most static tribes,
the Havasupai who have never numbered more than
Cheyennes come in all sizes
TIiE PEoplES
OfTIiE
PowWow
300 since the white man first visited their home in remote
Havasupai Canyon, a tributary of Grand Canyon,
in the 17th Century.
The current estimate is that more than 100,000
Navajo live on their vast reservation which begins just
a few miles north and east of Flagstaff and sprawls
eastward across Arizona and well into New Mexico.
Though they are increasingly assimilating the white
man's ways, and particularly his political and economic
institutions, many Navajo still follow more
traditional patterns of life. Originally nomadic, the
Navajo speak the Athabascan language of Canada
and are believed to have migrated southward with
their close relatives, the Apache, aniving in the Southwest
sometime between A.D. 1200 and 1500.
The first Spanish in the area knew them as fierce
warriors, given to raiding their pueblo neighbors. But
today they are peaceful, their warlike activities ended
by a treaty with the U.S. government signed 100 years
ago this year at Ft. Summer, N.M., where some 8,000
were held in captivity for four years after Col. Kit
Carson's effective punitive campaign in 1863-64.
The Navajos are famed as weavers and silversmiths.
Indian beauty from the Plains
Their dress is more trader than traditional - the women
in brightly-colored velveteen blouses and satin
skirts popularized by white traders in the 19th Century,
the men in store-bought cowboy and work shirts,
denim pants, boots and tall-crowned, wide-brimmed
hats. On the reservation, where most Navajo still live
in the traditional hogans, silver-and-turquoise jewelry,
and sheep, cattle and horses are significant measures of
wealth.
The Hopi, who speak an Uto-Aztecan language, are
another northern Arizona tribe very much in evidence
at the Pow Wow. About 4,000 live in eleven villages
on and around the three Hopi Mesas in the middle
of the Navajo Reservation.
Like other pueblo peoples to the east and in the
Rio Grande valley, they are deeply religious and have
an elaborate ceremonial calendar which starts in December
with the Soyal Dance and runs through late
July to the Niman, or Home Dance. During the summer,
these colorful, strangely-stirring rituals draw
thousands to the Hopi villages to watch masked dancers
impersonate the Kachinas, supernatural beings who
are the Hopi's messengers to his gods.
The Hopi have a long tradition and almost certainly
are direct descendants of the ancient Anaszi peoples
who lived in northern Arizona and northwestern New
Mexico 1,500 years ago and more. Some aspects of
their life have changed little from ancient days and
to visit a Hopi village today is to journey back through
time.
The Hopi are renowned as artists and craftsmen, and
their pottery, basketry, silver work and their skillfully
hand-carved dolls are in great demand.
The Apache, who live on the San Carlos and Fort
Apache Reservations southeast of Flagstaff and under
the Mogollon (pronounced Mug-ee-own) or Tonto
Rim, may be the happiest people of the Pow Wow.
They are the jokesters and they love to laugh. Like
their cousins, the Navajo, the came to the Southwest
from the north and subsisted here in small wandering
bands hunting and raiding the sedentary pueblos and
later the Spanish settlements to the south. rhey were
one of the last tribes to be subdued by the military
power of the United States.
Today, the Apache are farmers, and to a greater
degree, cattle ranchers, an activity for which their
extensive reservations are better suited than most Indian
lands.
Their ceremonial life is not as elaborate as other
tribes, though their dances are among the most popular
performed at the Pow Wow. The Mountain Spirits
Dance, sometimes called the Crown Dance or, erroneously,
the Devil Dance, is their principal cere-
Cochiti Pueblo Deer Dancers
Tall, stately Crow parade
The Apache clown clowning
monial and is performed by hooded dancers in strange
headdresses who represent friendly Apache deities. It
is given during the four-day ritual at which young
Apache maidens are initiated into womanhood. The
dancers' wooden swords symbolically fight the forces
of evil. One of the dancers is a clown, typical of many
Indian group dances, who alternately tantalizes and
torments spectators at the dance.
The Havasupai and the Hualapai, the latter living
on an extensive reservation west of Flagstaff and principally
concerned with grazing and lumbering, round
out the list of northern Arizona tribes at the Pow Wow.
From central and southern Arizona, there are the
Pima (River Dwellers) and Papago (Bean People)
Indians who are Uto-Aztecan speakers, and the small
Maricopa tribe who have largely adopted Pima economy
and borrowed Pima crafts. These groups live
on the deserts in and south of the Gila River valley and
close to the largest Anglo population centers of the
state. Most of them today dress in modern western
styles, have become Christianized and engage in irrigation
farming. They, too, have long traditions and
are descendants of the ancient Hohokam who built
huge irrigation systems in the Salt and Gila River
valleys 2,000 years ago.
Along the lower Colorado River and the western
border of Arizona, the Mohave, Chemehuevi, Yuma
and Cocopa, the latter numbering less than 100 people,
live on the Ft. Mohave and Colorado River Reservations
and in communities along the river in California.
The Paiute, living in the remote Arizona Strip
country north of the Grand Canyon, and the Yavapai,
some of whom live with the Apache and others on
small reservations in the Verde Valley south of Flagstaff,
complete the Pow Wow roster of Arizona tribes.
The Indians of the New Mexico pueblos are a large
contingent at the Pow Wow, and are particularly well
represented at the night ceremonial dances. · Their
culture is quite similar to that of the Hopi, though
their language is different. In fact, three basic languages
are spoken in the Rio Grande drainage-Zuni,
Keresan and Tanoan, with the latter having three
variations, tiwa, tewa, and towa. The Zuni language is
unique and differs from other American Indian languages
as much as Chinese differs from English.
POWWOW5
Pueblo groups at the Pow Wow include the Zuni,
Jemez, San Juan, San Ildefonso, Laguna, Cochiti, Taos,
Acoma, Isleta, Santo Domingo, and Santa Clara Indians.
The Kachina cult is also important in the pueblo
ceremonials which, though similar from pueblo to
pueblo, are usually given a distinctive twist by each
separate group. Public social dances are characterized
by highly-formalized, almost stately movements
Parader watches spectators
by the colorfully-dressed dancers, with the rhythm
supplied by a drum and a chorus of ~hanters. .
The Rio Grande Indians have roots m the prehIstoric
cultures of northern Arizona and the so-called
Four Corners region of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and
New Mexico, and the rise of their compact villages
dates from the general, unexplained exodus of these
ancient pepoles from the area to the south and east
in the last half of the 13th Century.
The Plains Indians, the other large group at the Pow
Wow, are probably the most familiar to the average
Pow Wow visitor as they have provided the Indian
stereotype for the white man in history books, western
stories, movies and on television. They are generally
larger and taller than Indians of the Southwest, and
have sharper, more aquiline features.
PEoplES ...
Plains groups are represented at the Pow Wow by
such well-known tribes as the Cheyenne, Sioux, Crow,
Blackfoot, and Pawnee of the High Plains, and the
Kiowa, Cherokee, Chickshaw, Choctaw, Creek and
others from the southern Plains and the Indian country
in and around Oklahoma. The Cherokee, Chickasaw,
Choctaw and Creek are descendants of the "five civilized
tribes" that lived in the present-day states of
Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia in colonial times and
were forcibly relocated west of the Mississippi in the
1820s and 1830s. The Cherokee speak an Iroquoian
tongue, while the language stock of the other tribes
of the group is M uskhogean. The high Plains tribes
speak either a Siouan or an Algonkian language.
The Plains tribes have many dances in common -
War Dances, Lance and Shield Dances, Scalp Dances
and others, and often one tribe will perform the dances
of another. Most of the dances are characterized by
wild physical movement, fast-beating tom-toms and
fierce, exhuberant whooping and shouting.
The Indians of the Plains today live in widelyvaried
situations both on and off reservations. Their
economic condition ranges from outright poverty to
conSl'd erab 'I e wea1_t~l-d., and' gent-a_an u11y., JlU-hC,..;.y., a"~'\':'.0.- 1it~:: :_;:_; \,"..v.~ _
!!~~i've than Southwestern tribes.
Feathers, bells and beads
But like all the Indians of the West, their way of
life is' gradually coming closer to that of the whi~e
man. In some cases, the adoption of Anglo ways IS
done willingly, in others reluctantly. In either case,
there is bound to be a certain amount of cultural
friction and distress.
To resolve this friction and distress has been the
historical function of a "powwow" since the earliest
colonial times. The late anthropologist Clark Wissler
defined it thusly:
"A powwow, then, refers to an Indian commu~ty
in action, trying to solve its current problems. Durmg
the periods of friction with the whites . . . ~ and)
whenever a peace proposal was made to a vlliage,
a powwow was called. There woul~ be spea~ing and
discussion interspersed with praymg, dancmg and
singing. These might be continued, ~or days until, a
decision was reached ... Any CrISIS or any major
difficulty would be met in the same way. Sometim.es
this procedure was called a council, but whatever ItS
name, it was basic in Indian government.H
T~E Pow Wow by DAY ...
Thousands line Flagstaff streets for the Pow Wow parades
Indian beauty greets crowds
Zuni maidens draw applause
The All-Indian Pow Wow parades, which step off
promptly at 11 a.m. each day from West Santa Fe
avenue, are undoubtedly the Southwest's biggest,
most colorful free shows.
At each Pow Wow, up to 90,000 persons line Flagstaff's
streets to watch this brilliant, restlessly-moving
panorama of the American Indian wind through the
downtown area in a kaleidoscopic preview of things
to come. The Pow Wow parades set the pattern and
program for the rest of each day's events.
Indian dance teams, brightly painted and garbed in
ceremonial costumes, appear at intervals in the line of
march, pausing frequently at intersections and other
vantage points along the route to give spectators a
sample of the rituals they will perfonn that night in
the firelit Pow Wow arena, and, incidently, to provide
photographers with their very best chance for pictures.
Indian cowboys, tough and happy-go-lucky, ride
easily astride sleek Indian ponies, proudly wearing the
Pow Wow number under which they will compete for
thousands of dollars in prize money that afternoon
at the Pow Wow rodeo.
Indian beauties and Indian sages, chieftains and
headmen, some on horseback and some in open cars
as befits their status among their people, pass in review.
Marching music alternates with the insistent beat
of tom-toms and the wild chants and shouts of the
dancers, the martial tempo being provided by a halfdozen
of the finest all-Indian brass bands in the West.
Interspersed through the parade are scores of traditional
Navajo wagons with Navajo women, gaudy in
velveteen blouses and satin skirts, impassively reining
the horses while tall-hatted men keep casual hands on
brake handles, and smiling, dark-eyed children peek
at the crowds from beneath the canvas covers of
wagon boxes laden with hay bales and watermelons.
Each passing year, the number of these colorful
TI-IE RodEOS
wagons is less as new highways are built on the reservation,
making the modern pickup truck a more feasible
and more popular means of transportation. But
many wagons still come to the Pow Wow, some from
remote, roadless areas hundreds of miles from Flagstaff,
Wagons making the longest trek are awarded
cash prizes.
After the parade and a quick lunch, the action
moves to the Pow Wow arena at City Park where,
starting at 1:30 p.m. daily, more than 300 Indian Cowboys
ride, rope and "rassle" in the Pow Wow rodeo.
Colt scramble means action
What goes up must come down!
Regular rodeo events - bareback and saddle bronc
riding, bulldogging, bull riding, calf roping and team
tying - are part of each afternoon program. But the
fast-paced schedule also includes such unusual Pow
Wow events as wagon races, wild horse races, wild
cow milking contests, colt scrambles for the youngsters
and, particularly popular, barrel races for young
Indian girls.
In addition to cash, the top Indian rodeo winners
also receive highly-prized silver Pow Wow belt buckles,
a coveted mark of achievement among Indian
rodeo hands.
During the rodeo sessions, too, the most beautiful
Indian child and the most beautiful Indian maiden
at the Pow Wow are chosen - by the applause vote
of the assembled crowd.
As many of the rodeo competitors are amateurs who
try their hand at bronc riding or roping only at occasional
reservation rodeos and once a year at the
Pow Wow, the Pow Wow rodeo has been aptly described
as being "unsurpassed in the unexpected."
There has never been a Pow Wow rodeo go-round
without at least a half-dozen hilarious unscheduled
events.
Thus, the Pow Wow rodeo spectator is advised to
watch closely. What's happening in the Pow Wow
arena on a Pow Wow afternoon is not always on the
program.
TIiE Pow Wow by NiqIiT ...
Huge bonfires light dancers in ages-old rituals
The Plains dances are lively
CEREMONiAls
As the sun's last rays glint on the summit of the
12,600-foot San Francisco Peaks, hushed crowds
gather in the darknening Pow Wow arena at Flagstaffs
City Park. The evening air is pleasantly cool, but
charged with an electric expectancy.
Then, as· night obliterates the final shadows of the
July dusk, huge, pinelog fires are set ablaze to pierce
the darkness and provide an eerie, flickering backdrop
against which dancers from more than a dozen
American Indian tribes perform the authentic rituals
of their peoples.
The Night Ceremonials are easily the most dramatic
and impressive of all Pow Wow events. The brilliant,
flashing color of feathered or spangled
costumes, the now-soft-now-frenzied sounds of pulsing
drums and chanting voices, the rhythmic jingling and
clattering of bells and rattles, the pungent odor of
pinewood smoke are not of the everyday world. The
fires crackle, and occasionally a great log breaks,
sending a shower of sparks starward and briefly
lighting the painted, impassive faces of hundreds of
Indians who are also watching the spectacle just
beyond the edge of the firelight.
Some 20 different dances are performed each night
and, because each dance is seldom repeated, more
than 50 ceremonials are put on during the three nights
of the Pow Wow.
Each program opens with a ceremonial blessing
followed by the "Gathering of the Tribes," a panoramic
profusion of color, motion and sound. A typical
program might include the San Juan Deer Dance,
Kiowa Blackfoot Society Dance, Navajo Com, Feather
Fire and Yei Bei Chei Dances, the Taos War
Dance, the Zuni children's Willow Basket Dance,
Jemez Eagle Dance, Cochiti Dog Dance, Hopi Butterfly
Dance, Laguna Buffalo Dance, Cheyenne Scalp
Dance, Crow Lance and Shield Dance and Apache
Crown and War Dance. A wild, brilliant all-tribes
Round Dance climaxes the evening.
Interspersed with the dances are performances by
well-known Indian singers who carry the legends and
traditions of their peoples in their memories and thus
preserve them for succeeding generations. Indian
songs may often sound strange to the white man, but
they have meaning and the careful listener can find
great beauty in many of them.
Some dances have deep religious significance for
the Indians. Others have a social function and are
danced at celebrations or to promote courtships or
reaffirm tribal unity. Still others are frankly comic, for
the Indian has a finely-developed sense of humor and
... by FiREliG~T
thoroughly enjoys exhibiting his talent for mImIcry
and caricature by spoofing himself, other Indians, and
the white man.
Indian dancing is characterized by a straight back
and a bent knee, the dancer bending slightly at the
waist. Footwork is often complicated, head movements
subtle, though arms are seldom used.
Watching the Pow Wow Ceremonials, members of
the audience should remember that some the rituals
are of religious importance to the Indians, and should
respect this fact. This is a major reason why flash
photographs are not allowed during the Ceremonials,
along with the fact that the flare of flashbulbs may disturb
others who are enjoying the dances.
The Apache-Pow Wow highlight
H opis in the Butterfly Dance
Treasure trove of Hopi artistry
Museum of Northern Arizona
July 4-7. 1968
ThE Hopi
For 35 years now, the Museum of Northern Arizona's
annual Hopi Craftsman Show has had much to
do with the preservation of the unique artistic and
cultural heritage of the Hopi people.
The swelling tides of modem civilization have long
washed the remote, rocky mesas where less than 4,000
members of this ancient Indian people dwell, slowly
eroding the traditional Hopi way of life so that arts
and crafts skillfully fashioned in the timeless styles
become a bit more scarce each passing year.
That the Hopis, however, are holding their own is
evident from the fact that these long-practiced arts
and skills have not disappeared beneath the Hood.
There are still many exquisite examples of classic Hopi
arts and crafts being produced today in the eleven
Hopi villages a hundred and more miles north and
east of Flagstaff. The Museum and its people, and the
Hopi Craftsman Show, have had a hand in this happy
situation.
Again this year, the Hopi Craftsman Show is being
held in conjunction with the annual Southwest AllIndian
Pow Wow. And again, between 1,500 and
2,000 distinctive items will be on view and on sale
from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily from Thursdey, July 4,
through Sunday, July 7.
Everyone is welcome. There is no admission charge,
and no obligation to buy any of the items in the exhibit.
They may be purchased, however, at prices
set by the Hopi artisans who made them and who receive
their asking price in return. Thus the Museum,
in staging the show, merely provides a showcase and
a market place for fine Hopi arts and crafts. Experts
knowledgeable in Hopi styles and techniques judge
each item in the show to further encourage the craftsmen
to maintain the traditionally high quality of their
work.
At the Hopi Craftsman Show, the Museum's cloistered
patio is crowded with the finest basketry, pottery,
weaving and embroidery that the best of the
Hopi artisans have turned out in the past year. In the
Museum itself and its special exhibits room, colorful
hand-carved and hand-painted kachina dolls, shaped
from the root of cottonwood, cover the walls in brilliant
profusion. Display cases and tables are laden
with the delicate, distinctive jewelry of the renowned
Hopi silversmiths.
On the north side of the patio, with the 12,600-foot
San Francisco Peaks as a backdrop, well-known Hopi
craftsmen provide visitors with actual demonstrations
of the traditional skills of their people, skills that
were old before the white man discovered the New
World. Just outside the patio is "Piki House," where
rolled, wafer-thin "piki" bread, made from Hopi corn
meal batter, is cooked on a Hat stone grill, an unusual
"snack" for visitors.
CRAfTSMAN S~OW
The ancient art of making 'piki' bread
In late May and through most of June, members of
the Museum staff visit the Hopi villages to collect
fine examples of art and craftsmanship for the Hopi
Show.
Artisans on each of the three Hopi Mesas specialize
in particular fonns. The wo~en of First Mesa on the
east, for instance, are best known for their beautifully
decorated pottery made, as in ancient times, without
the potter's wheel from coils of tempered clay shaped,
smoothed, painted and finally hardened in the intense
heat of open brush-and-dung fires. Heavy, coiled
baskets of yucca fibre with grass cores are the
specialty of Second Mesa, while Third Mesa to the
west is noted for its gaudily-colored wicker basketry.
The men are the weavers of fabric, carve the fascinating
kachina dolls, fashion the silver-and-turquoise
jewelry and embroider such items as the bright red,
green, black and white sashes.
Hopi arts and crafts have great time depth. Basketry
has been a Hopi craft since before A.D. 300, and
pottery since about A.D. 600. By 900, the Hopis were
weaving with cotton and, after sheep were introduced
into the Southwest by the Spanish ConqUistadores,
applied their centuries-old techniques to wool. Silversmithing,
newest of the Hopi arts, was introduced
less than a century ago by the neighboring Zuni of
western New Mexico.
Many of the items have been created specially for
the Hopi Craftsman Show which stirs artistic competition
both among the Hopi villages and individual
Hopi craftsmen. The show also has never failed to
stir admiration in the visitor, profeSSional collectors
or laymen alike, for the unique artistry of the Hopi.
A Hopi silversmith at work
.' ~ . .
:t ~ 0
. .
NAVAjO CENTENNiAl 1868-1968
Soldiers stand guard over Navajo families in captivity at Bosque Redondo
LONG WAY FROM T~E 'LONG WAlk'
Time does not have the urgency for the American
Indian that it has for the white man. Theirs is a far
less insistent, less strident approach to life. Years, if
they are remembered at all, are remembered usually
because they mark the occurrence of some event of
great significance or deep, emotional impact.
One hundred years ago this year, such an event occurred
in the lives of the Navajo that has been engraved
in the collective memory of The People, as
they proudly call themselves.
For 1868 was the year of the last "long walk," the
year the Navajo made the more-than-300-mile trek
back from Ft. Sumner, New Mexico Territory, to their
ruggedly-beautiful homeland and its four sacred
mountains after four long years of hated, humiliating
captivity.
On March 4, 1864, some 2,400 Navajo, rounded up
in a punitive campaign by Col. Christopher (Kit)
Carson and his New Mexico Volunteers, made the
first "long walk" from Ft. Defiance, in what is now
Northeastern Arizona, to Ft. Summer, or Bosque Redondo
as it is also called, far southeast of Santa Fe.
By April, another 3,500 had made the march, and
eventually some 8,000 of The People, captured by
Carson's troopers or forced to surrender by the syste-matic
devastation of their homes, crops and flocks,
were under military guard and living on government
rations. Only a few Navajo in the most remote areas
held out through the relentless, methodical military
conquest.
The Bosque Redondo, literally "round forest," was
somthing of a hell for the Navajo. The government
planned to have them settle there, plant crops, live
peaceably and make it their new home. But The People
have a long tradition of freedom and were restless,
crops would not grow in the arid, semi-sterile soil,
grass for grazing was scarce and, above all, they were
terribly homesick for their own beloved land. Their
exile on the banks of the Pecos River was a period of
great suffering and privation.
On June 1, 1868,29 Navajo headmen and 10 Army
officers signed a Treaty of Peace between the Navajo
and the U.S. government - a treaty subsequently
ratified by the u.S. Senate and proclaimed on Aug.
12, 1868 by President Andrew Johnson. The People
were allowed to go home - a final "long walk" back to
a scorched land, denuded of flocks, plagued by a
drought, but still the most sacred land to all Navajo.
Bosque Redondo ~nd the "long walk" were traumatic
experiences for the Navajo, together a major
calamity in the history of a people who, before and
since, have known many hardships at the hands of
both man and nature. To a great degree, Bosque Redondo
and the "long walk" are to the Navajo what
the Civil War and the Reconstruction are to the people
of the American South.
Back "home," The People had to start all over
again, and there was widespread economic distress.
Many Navajo families were forced to subsist for long
periods on rations doled out by the government at Ft,
Defiance and other reservation centers. Eventually,
some degree of stability returned, bringing a brief
era of relative prosperity and population growth. Still,
exploitation by the expanding white population on the
perimeter of their homeland, ignorance of or indifference
to Navajo culture and customs, and often even
outright corruption in the white administration of
Navajo affairs continued to be the lot of The People
well into the present century.
The struggles with the white man for land through
the years has been a major source of discouragement
and rancor. The Treaty of 1868 restricted The People
to some 3,500,000 acres, a far smaller area than they
had formerly roamed. And though this has grown to
about 15,000,000 acres today, some of their choicest
lands have been taken away, largely for railroads or
white ranching operations, and Navajo rights to use
others have been cast in doubt and subjected to complex
litigation.
Only within the past four decades has the government
adopted a generally sympathetic policy toward
the Navajo and actively tried to make The People
self-supporting on the vast, overpopulated, comparatively
unproductive reservation. And even here, serious
mistakes have been made, with some well-intentioned
projects carried out with so little understanding of
Navajo ways that they have hindered, rather than
helped Navajo progress.
Still The People have come a long way, and can
point with justifiable pride to many solid accomplishments.
Today, the number of Navajo has grown to an estimated
100,000, making them the largest single American
Indian group with a population that almost equals
that of all the other reservation tribes together. Their
reservation, slightly larger than the combined areas of
Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, is
the largest Indian reserve in the nation. Nearly inacces-
Mute evidence Kit Carson was here
sible in 1868, in this Navajo Centennial year it is
criss-crossed with paved, all-weather highways, dotted
with modem schools and hospitals, recreational community
centers and even a modest, but growing system
of tribal parks.
The tribe has also gained considerable control over
its own destiny, too, as the result of the Indian Reorganization
Act of 1934 and other forward-looking
legislation. Its affairs are now largely in the hands of
a tribal chairman and a 74-member Tribal Council
which sets policies for a wide and expanding range of
activities, including education, health, welfare and
commercial and industrial development. There is a
system of tribal courts and an efficient, well-trained
Navajo Police force. Hundreds of Navajo youngsters
are attending major colleges and universities on tribal
scholarships; Navajos have distinguished themselves
in many fields, including medicine and the fine arts;
there are now Navajo members of the Legislatures of
both Arizona and New Mexico.
In their Centennial year, the Navajo are consciously
renewing their ties to their long heritage, recognizing
the distance they have come since the "long
walk," and dedicating themselves, in the words of
Tribal Chairman Raymond Nakai, to "a continuing
effort to bring greater progress in the future for all
The People that each Navajo may live his life in our
ways, a life bountiful with the bleSSings sacred to us."
One of the most interesting features of a Southwest
All-Indian Pow Wow is the big encampment -
thousands of Indians living in tents, tepees, trailers
or what have you among the cool pines on the sunrise
slopes of Mars Hill, just west of the Pow Wow
grounds.
The first Indians are ip town as much as a week
ahead of the start of the three-day celebration and as
the Pow Wow approaches, more and more arrive
in a swelling tide. Some travel in the traditional rubber-
tired, horse-drawn wagons that through the years
have proven so practical in the remote, roadless areas
of the nearby Navajo Reservation. But most travel
by car, or more often in pickup trucks, a favorite
modern form of transportation for most Indian families
today.
The contrast is typical of the huge encampment
Pow Wow encampment a busy shopping center
PowWow
ENCAMPMENT
where the Pow Wow visitor has an unparalleled opportunity
to see for himself how the Indian has blended
the old culture with the new, and how he is faring
in his struggle to find the best of two vastly-different
worlds.
Visitors are welcome in the encampment as they
would be in a home, for the Indians not only live
here, but many of them have brought the finest arts
and crafts they have produced over the past year to
the Pow Wow, and they are eager to do a brisk trade
with other Indians and non-Indians alike.
Along the road in front of the Pow Wow grounds,
many Indians erect temporary booths, with lumber
provided by the Pow Wow, to display their handicrafts
for sale or barter. Bargaining with an Indian
artisan can be a fascinating experience, but it may
take a while. The Indian has a different concept of
,
Indians buy Indian wares
time than the white man, and is seldom in a hurry.
During the Pow Wow itself, this unique trading
center takes on the aspect of a busy oriental bazaar.
It serves a Pow Wow function too, for it provides a
major market outlet for the fine jewelry, paintings,
basketry, pottery and weaving of many of the best
Indian craftsmen. Artisans from various tribes carry
on a friendly, but nevertheless keen competition for
the favor of buyers, red-skinned and white. The Indians
themselves are eager shoppers for there are
items available of high value to the Indian that are
not turned out on the white man's mechanized assembly
lines.
By the night before the Pow Wow, Indians have
crowded into every available space in the encampment
and have overflowed into the City Park area
east of the Pow Wow grounds. Every family unit
will have its cooking fire, with steaming coffee perpetually
bubbling in a smoke-smudged pot. The smoke
from a thousand campfires is a pungent perfume in
the air.
At any time of the day or night, there is something
of interest to observe at the encampment. Indian
children are especially delightful, and like children
'Window Shoppers' Pow Wow style
everywhere love the excitement of a big celebration.
The Pow Wow for them is watermelons and soda
pop, carnival rides and dancing - a rare treat coming
all at once.
During the day, there are many interesting scenes
to photograph, and the visitor may find that the Indians
often have cameras, too, and are not above
snapping the unsuspecting visitor. The height of
achievement for the Indian shutterbug is to take a
picture of a tourist taking a picture of an Indian.
The gathering of Indians at the Pow Wow encampment
has many aspects of an Anglo family reunion, a
Boy Scout Jamboree or an organizational convention.
Indians like to have fun just like anybody else. Many
old friendships are renewed, and new ties formed. Indian
boy meets Indian girl, and Indian grandmother
meets Indian grandchild. Brother meets brother again.
Family reunions are warm and frequent at the Pow
Wow, old arguments are settled and common problems
reviewed.
Far into the night, the Indians visit together, talk,
eat and perhaps chant and dance around their campfire.
The sound of their singing echos across the
town. And it is a happy sound.
The present patrons of Indian arts and crafts, in
the Southwest at least, are an oddly-assorted lot.
In the main it is the tourist, with his consistent demand
for the authentic and the exotic, who has kept
Indian artisans working with traditional techniques
and materials. The trader, a far less numerous breed,
has helped immensely, too, by encouraging the Indian,
by creating a market for the unique products
of his mind and hands, and by providing the economic
wherewithal that allows him to pursue the old, individualistic
ways in a new, mass-production world.
The anthropologist and ethnologist for whom Indian
arts and crafts are subjects for scholarly research,
the museum curator concerned with displaying and
preserving distinctive culture forms, and the art connoisseur
have all also played a part.
The Indians of the Southwest, and most importantly
the Navajo, Hopi and the pueblo peoples who live in
the Rio Grande drainage of New Mexico, are probably
the most artistic Indians in America. In no other area
have the aesthetic aspects of Indian life been so highly
developed or so thoroughly cultivated.
The potter's wheel was unknown in the New World,
yet Southwestern pottery was a high art nearly 1,000
years ago. The advent of the white man's glass and
metal containers led to considerable degeneration, yet
today, with the 20th Century revival of interest in
Indian crafts, pottery is being made that compares in
quality with the ancient ware.
Pottery is almost exclusively a pueblo product now,
and most groups produce their own distinctive type.
Acoma pots, for instance, are intricately painted, geometrical
designs of black-on-white; bowls and jars
from Tesuque are gray with gaudy modern colors, even
blues and oranges; Hopi pottery is usually pale yellow
with black designs often taken from the pottery
of their prehistoric forebears, the Anasazi. A new
type of pottery, with dull black designs on a highlypolished
black surface, has become increasingly popular
since the 1920s and has brought fame to a potter
INdiAN ARTS
Hopi woman works on coiled basket
Brilliant
rugs and
blankets
have made
Navajo
weavers
famous
Jewelry a favorite decoration
named Maria of San Ildefonso Pueblo and her followers
there and at Santa Clara Pueblo.
Basketry, which predates pottery in the Southwest,
has almost become a lost art. Only the Hopi among
the pueblo peoples, and to a lesser degree the Apache
and Pima of Arizona still make baskets. The Hopi, in
particular, are noted for their coiled and wicker basket
work.
Weaving was also a prehistoric art. In the pueblos,
wea ving is done by the men, and the finest contemprary
examples come from Zuni and the Hopi villages.
The best-known weavers, however, are the Navajo
women whose colorful rugs and blankets are known
throughout the world and who have turned their craft
into a major industry for their tribe.
The nomadic Navajo probably learned weaving
from the nearby pueblos in the early 1700s, and made
it their specialty after the Spanish introduced sheep
into the Southwest. During the 19th Century, the
Navajo produced unusually fine blankets from yam
obtained by unraveling a Spanish woolen trade cloth
known as bayeta. These now-rare rugs today are valuable
collector's items.
The introduction of vegetable dyes in the early
1800s, a switch to rugs rather than blankets and ponchos
in the 1870s, and the advent of brilliant, inexpensive
aniline dyes in the 1880s led to the modem
era of Navajo weaving. The early blankets and ponchos
Kachina dolls-there are more than 200 kinds
were simple, usually in two colors and with two broad
stripes as decoration. Today's weaving is far more
colorful and complex. Although the stylized designs
usually have no particular meaning, certain designs
such as "Two Gray Hills," or design elements such as
the "pinon bug" are given names to identify them. In
modern days, more bizarre designs, some irreverent
and even commercial, but including copies of Navajo
sand paintings, occasionally appear.
Silversmithing is a relatively new Southwestern Indian
craft, though the prehistoric residents had a long
tradition of making jewelry from turquoise, imported
olivella shells and other materials. The art of working
silver apparently reached the Navajo from Mexico
about the middle of the last century. They, in tum,
passed it on to the Zuni from whence it spread to the
Hopi and other pueblo peoples.
At first, the silver came from American coins and
the even purer Mexican pesos. Early designs were
simple, the pieces often massive. By 1890, Southwestern
silversmiths had learned to inlay turquoise and
other stones, and designs, often taken from mythology,
became more complex.
Within the past 30 years, techniques have been
further refined so that some of today's Southwestern
Indian silverwork, with its intricate mosaic patterns,
can rank with the masterpieces of the jeweler's art,
ANATOMY
of A
PowWow
Early Thursday morning, July 4, some 100 red men
and white sit down together in a small banquet room
not far from downtown Flagstaff to find out something
about what each has learned of the other over
the past year.
The unusual gathering is a major event of the annual
Southwest All-Indian Pow Wow, although it passes
unnoticed by most of the thousands who come to
Flagstaff over the Fourth of July holiday to watch this
oldest and largest of American Indian celebrations.
By 7:30 a.m., most of the chiefs and headmen of the
nearly 40 tribes at the Pow Wow are there, colorfully
dressed in the traditional garb of their peoples, to
break their fast with members of the Pow Wow board
of directors who are their hosts.
There is no peace pipe, nor is one needed, for the
Pow Wow emblem is H ohokam <turkey'
atmosphere at these breakfasts has always been one
of mutual respect and understanding.
Over the white man's traditional breakfast of bacon
and eggs, toast and steaming coffee, old and rare
friendships are renewed, new friendships form and
there is much talk.
Much of the powwowing is in the white man's
tongue, but there are lively conversations in Algonkian,
Athabascan, Kiowan, Tanoan, Uto-Aztecan or a
dozen other aboriginal languages still spoken by Indians
from the high plains of Montana, Wyoming and
the Dakotas to the high plateaus of New Mexico and
Arizona.
The breakfast marks the beginning not only of this
year's actual celebration, but of planning for next
year's show. If there have been problems, they will
be brought out and discussed. Usually, the Indian
leaders have suggestions about the Pow Wow in particular
and their relationships with the white man in
general. There are a few brief speeches, and plenty
of joke-telling. The Indian has a fine sense of humor
and likes to laugh.
This meeting of minds of two broad, varied cultures
is the essence of a Pow Wow. The 15 members of the
Pow Wow board, though ordinary white citizens of
Flagstaff with varied occupations and backgrounds,
all have one thing in common - a deep and abiding
interest in the Indian as a human being.
The board members, serving without pay, direct the
non-profit corporation which is responsible for the
Pow Wow, working with an average budget of around
$50,000 from ticket sales and rodeo entry fees. Almost
all of this budget is returned to the participating Indians
in the form of pay and travel expenses, gifts,
awards, and rodeo prize money, with the balance
going for other necessary expenses such as printing,
supplies, promotional materials and the like. The Pow
Wow is not subsidized by any governmental agency
at any level.
It is, in fact, unique as a volunteer, community
effort.
Both before and during the Pow Wow, various
clubs and organizations - Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions,
Optimists, Jaycees, Sheriff's Posse and others -- pitch
in both to promote the Pow Wow and to perform the
innumerable services and tasks that such a large complex
pageant requires. The Pow Wowettes, an organization
of nearly 100 high school girls, serve as guides
and usherettes at both rodeo and night ceremonial
performances, again on a volunteer basis.
In all, more than 500 persons from all segments
of the city are directly involved in the Pow Wow,
making the celebration truly a community event.
An incredible number of small details must be
taken care of, and coordinated to make the Pow Wow
the smoothly-timed, enjoyable event it has always been
for Indian participants and spectators alike.
To accomplish this, Pow Wow board members each
have an area of prime responsibility, although each
also helps to varying degrees in every phase of the
Pow Wow. Reports are made, and assignments accepted
at regular meetings which are held sporadically in
the summer, fall and winter, and as often as once a
week in the spring and coming up to the Pow Wow.
This year's Pow Wow president is Marshall Knoles,
a Flagstaff elementary school teacher who for the
past nine months has been teaching youngsters in
Taipeh, Formosa. Acting president during his absence,
and in charge of all the preliminary work on this
year's show, has been Coconino County Assessor Jeff
Ferris. City Clerk Leland McPherson is treasurer.
White-jacketed
Pow-Wowers
breakfast
with headmen
just before
Pow Wow
opens
Largest group of Pow Wow board members is
concerned with the rodeo which involves more than
300 Indian cowboy entrants and prize money of more
than $15,000. It includes State Sen. T. M. Knoles Jr.,
who is well into his fourth decade as a Pow Wower;
School Superintendent Sturgeon Cromer, Assistant
Don Clark, high school instructor Roy Smith and City
Public Works Director Ralph Barney.
Accountant Noel Miller, an old Pow Wow hand,
and downtown merchant Howard Taft Sr. are in
charge of the night ceremonials; attorney J. Michael
Flournoy and insurance agent Harry Biller are concerned
with traffic and crowd control and the Pow
Wowettes; appraiser Earl Caniford takes care of
tickets and seating; Andy Wolf, another three-decadeplus
Pow WOVT veteran, is the announcer at all events;
and Bill Hoyt, Northern Arizona University public
information staffer, handles publicity and public relations,
as well as the editorial chores on the Pow
Wow Magazine.
At the Pow Wow, Pow Wow board members are
on hand to serve both participants and spectators.
They can be identified by their distinctive bolo ties,
belt buckles and white denim jackets emblazoned
with the Pow Wow emblem - the stylized figure of
a turkey taken from the decoration on ancient Indian
pottery made by the now-vanished Hohokam
people of the Valley of the Sun.
TIiE
ANCiENT
ONES
The Indians were here first, of course - at least
4,000 years ago for sure, but probably even before
then.
Crude, chipped stone hand-axes, choppers and
scrapers not unlike those made by early man everywhere
in the world have been found along the Little
Colorado River north and east of Flagstaff. A certain
type of primitive projectile point, known to archaeologists
as a "Pinto" point and believed to date several
thousand years before Christ, has also been found
increasingly in recent years around Flagstaff.
Between 4,000 and 3,100 years ago by radioactive
carbon dating, an unknown people visited northern
Arizona. In caves deep in the Grand Canyon and at
Walnut Canyon just east of Flagstaff, they left behind
them toylike figurines fashioned by twisting a single,
split willow wand into the stylized form of a deer.
The animal effigies, incredibly preserved over 40
centuries, are assumed to have had a magical signifigance
for the wandering hunters who made them.
Then, for more than a thousand years, the archaeological
record is blank.
It picks up again in the earliest centuries of the
Deserted Betatakin sleeps in its silent cave
Christian era. While Rome decayed and barbaric
hordes roamed Europe, a people the Navajo call the
"Anasazi," or "The Ancient Ones," appear for the first
time in northern Arizona prehistory. Where they came
from is still an archaeological mystery.
Their earliest dwelling sites, marked by straw-lined
pits and cysts and rock-edged hearths in dry caves or
rock shelters, have been dated between A.D. 200 and
300. They hunted small game, ate roots, nuts, herbs
and berries, and made baskets - hence their designation
as "Basketmakers" in one of the archaeological
classmcations of prehistoric Southwestern cultures.
Sometime around A.D. 400, the Basketmakers learned
to make pottery. Their first pots were crude, unfired
and undecorated utility ware often molded in
baskets. Techniques continually improved, however,
and gradually developed into the magnmcent ceramic
art of the "Great Pueblo" period, roughly from A.D.
1000 to 1200, when Anasazi culture in the area
reached its zenith.
During this developmental period, the Anasazi
acquired corn, probably by trade from peoples far to
the south, and established a com-beans-and-squash
subsistence pattern still followed by traditional pueblo
peoples even today - the Hopi are an example.
They also began building surface structures, probably
for storage at first, then as dwellings. The early
"wattle and daub" construction of sticks and adobe
mortar gradually gave way to solid coursed masonry
as these pueblo structures became more complex.
Pithouses were not abandoned entirely, however,
though their use was largely for ceremonial purposes -
the "kiva" of today's modern pueblo peoples.
As agriculture flourished, prehistoric populations
grew, and villages developed into "towns," with the
ancient farmers and their families living in the huge,
communal "apartment" dwellings and "cliff houses"
of the Great Pueblo period, massive structures with
as many as five stories and hundreds of rooms.
Largest of these in Arizona, and by far the best preserved,
is Keet Seel, a classic structure of the Kayenta
branch of the Anasazi of some 200 rooms, at N a va jo
National Monument north of Flagstaff. Nearby Betatakin
ruin and Inscription House are only slightly
smaller. Late in the period, the Sinagua branch,
centered in the Flagstaff area, built the spectacular
red sandstone pueblo of more than 100 rooms at what
is now Wupatki National Monument, just north of
Flagstaff. Another massive, but unrestored Sinagua
ruin is Elden Pueblo, just at the city limits. Post A.D.
1300 structures can be seen in the Verde Valley at
Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments.
The Great Pueblo period was the peak of cultural
achievement and prosperity for the various Anasazi
branches which by this time were spread across
northern Arizona into northwestern New Mexico,
southern Utah and southwestern Colorado. They carried
on a vigorous trade among themselves and with
surrounding peoples - the Mogollon culture to the
southeast, the Hohokam to the south and the Patayan
peoples to the west. Prehistoric imports included shells
from the California coasts, parrots and copper bells
from Mexico, salt from the Verde Valley, turquoise
from New Mexico and new techniques and ideas from
everywhere.
The Flagstaff area, toward the end of the Great
Pueblo period, became a major population and trade
center, largely as the result of a singular event - the
eruption, dated at A.D. 1064-65, of Sunset Crater
northeast of Flagstaff. The black cinders and ash
strewn over the area by the volcano acted as a
natural mulch for crops and sparked an agricultural
boom, drawing Indian farmers here from many other
areas of the Southwest.
For a brief period and until most of the volcanic
W ukoki-a lonely outpost
Tuzigoot in the Verde Valley
debris eroded away, the Flagstaff area was a prehistoric
cosmopolis, with an estimated population of
over 8,000. The Hohokam from the Salt and Gila
River Valleys, for instance, established a considerable
colony in the rich "black sand" area east of the modem
city and introducing the "ball court" and a basketballlike
game once popular with the Aztecs.
Then between A.D. 1250 and 1300, something, or
several'somethings happened and the entire northern
Arizona area became virtually depopulated. Archaeologists
are still not sure just why. A drought which
began at the time probably had something to do with
the mass exodus. It has also been suggested that the
sedementary, farming peoples of the region came
under attack from hostile, but never identified peoples
from the east or north. But neither explanation seems
to fit all the available evidence.
When the Spanish arrived after 1539, they found
the small New Mexico pueblos strung along the Rio
Grande and west to Zuni, a few thousand Hopi on
their high mesas north of Flagstaff, the wandering
Navajo, and crumbling, silent ruins that bespeak a
great past.
The Peaks and the forest
WONdROUS
There are few, if any, areas of the world where the
beauty and variety of the land compares with that of
northern Arizona.
As a land of wondrous contrasts, Arizona's northland
is unsurpassed.
At Flagstaff, the ancient Pleistocene era volcano that
is the San Franscisco Peaks towers 12,600 feet to Arizona's
highest point, its upper slopes supporting an
Alpine Hora and fauna.
Just 84 miles to the north, the Grand Canyon of the
Colorado River is an awesome, mile-deep gash in the
multi-colored rocks of the Colorado Plateau, and plants
and animals typical of the searing Sonoran deserts of
northern Mexico thrive in its depths.
Monument Valley, along the northern edge of the
area, is all sand and rock, its stark monoliths sculptured
by wild winds, a vivid panorama of bright reds,
oranges, yellows and browns.
West and east of Flagstaff and southeast in a broad
belt along the 3,OOO-foot escarpment of the Mogollon
Rim, the predominant color is green from a forest
that is the largest single stand of the majestic Pondorosa
( Yellow) pine in the world. Patches of blue in
this green vista are lakes or fast-Howing streams reHecting
the sky.
Cool, quiet canyons - Oak Creek, Sycamore, Clear
Creek - cut the Mogollon Rim and have both a beauty
of their own, and a function. The streams that carved
them carry precious water from the high country to
the arid deserts to the south, for the area is Arizona's
prime watershed.
To inventory all the attractions of northern Arizona
is a major task. There are five national forests for instance
- the Kaibab, Coconino, Tonto, Sitgreaves
and Apache running roughly eastward from west of
Williams. Each contains many recreation areas, camping
and picnic grounds and facilities for boating,
hiking and other outdoor activities.
There are two national parks - Grand Canyon to
the north of Flagstaff and Painted Desert -Petrified
Forest to the east, near Holbrook.
There are 11 national monuments within a few
hours' drive of Flagstaff. Some, such as Sunset Crater
18 miles northeast, display unusual geologic features.
The quiescent volcano erupted in A.D. 1064-65. Pipe
Springs National Monument, in the Arizona Strip
country north of the Grand Canyon, is concerned with
history and preserves a pioneer Mormon outpost. The
ruins of the northland's prehistory can be seen closest
to Flagstaff at Walnut Canyon Monument just east of
the city, or at Wupatki, 40 miles to the north. At such
monuments as Navajo in Tsegi Canyon to the north,
or Canyon de Chelly to the northeast, both on the
Navajo Reservation, visitors can see both ancient and
living Indian cultures as well as two of the most
brilliantly colorful parts of northern Arizona.
But national parks, forests and monuments are just
the start.
Meteor Crater, a scar on the earth 570 feet deep
and 4150 feet from. rim to rim, is a privately-owned,
publicly-accessible wonder between Flagstaff and
Winslow known throughout the world. Because the
crater is similar to the craters of the moon, America's
astronauts get part of their scientmc training there,
as well as on the many smaller volcanic cones scattered
over the 800-square-mile San Francisco Volconic
Field.
The Grand Falls of the Little Colorado River on
the Navajo Reservation 30 miles northeast of Flagstaff
are a spectacular sight when they are Howing. The siltladen
river then is dark reddish-brown so that the falls
have been called the "Chocolate Niagara." They compare
with Niagara in height and water How as well.
The azure-green waterfalls in Havasupai Canyon, a
tributary of the Grand Canyon, are an unique experience,
and thousands have made the exciting, 11-
mile hike down into the canyon to swim or wade in
the tepid pools of terraced travertine that skirt them.
The remote lovely canyon also is the home of the some
200 members of the small Havasupai Indian tribe.
Both nature and man combined to create the north-
Awesome Grand Canyon, a northern Arizona wonder
land's newest attraction - mighty Glen Canyon Dam
on the Colorado River at Page and the graceful, steel
arch bridge that spans the sheer, 700-foot gorge just
downstream - the highest bridge of its type in the
world. Dazzling Lake Powell backs up the Colorado
and San Juan Rivers far into the canyonlands of Utah,
providing a paradise for boaters, fishermen and sightseers.
To the west of Flagstaff, and north of Kingman,
Lake Mead sparkles behind Boulder Dam and, since
the mid-1930s, has been a major mecca for vacationers
and sportsmen from all over the West.
South of Flagstaff and along the Rim, many smaller
lakes beckon the boater, fishermen and aesthete. The
Lakes Mary are just eight miles from Flagstaff and a
little farther to the southeast are Ashurst and Kinnikinick
Lakes. White Horse Lake, Cataract Lake and
other forest lakes fringe Williams to the west of Flagstaff.
The visitor to Arizona's Northland should make a
point to see the Navajo and Hopi Reservations north
, .
. \ ' ~ . ~
~;- ~ . ! - ~ ,\,;":': .' l/,:.: ,,' ,', .,',' " ' ,
World-famed Rainbow Bridge
Oak Creek Canyon (above); Lake Powell (below)
and east of Flagstaff. Much of life in the eleven Hopi
villages on their three rocky mesas is lived as it was
centuries before the white man came to the New
World. The Third Mesa village of Old Oraibi is believed
to be the oldest continuously-occupied community
in America, its origin dating back to the 12th
Century.
The Navajo Tribe has a growing system of tribal
parks scattered across their ruggedly-beautiful reservation
which is roughly the size of the state of West
Virginia. These provide picnic or camping facilities
at many unique scenic vantage points. Much of the
reservation is now accessible on all-weather roads,
most of which have been completed only in the last
10 years. Some areas can still only be reached by dirt
roads and travelers using these roads should check
on the weather before starting out, as sudden and
violent Hash Hooding can occasionally occur.
In Flagstaff itself, there are many points of interest
for the visitor.
For one thing, the city is a major center for scientific
research in a wide variety of disciplines. Its location at
an elevation of 7,000 feet, its clear air and dark night
skies, make it ideal for astronomical work, and it is
thus the site of no less than three important observatories.
The surrounding Colorado Plateau, incredibly rich
in geology and paleontology, means the city serves as
a base for much research in the earth sciences. The
mountain massif of the San Francisco Peaks, rising in
lonely grandeur, provides a perfect "micro-climate"
for meteorologists and geoyhysicists to study fundamental
atmospheric phenomena.
All seven of the Merriam "life zones" are found near
the city, from the Alpine zone on the upper Peaks to
the Lower Sonoran zone deep in Grand Canyon, and
thus biologists, zoologists, ornithologists and ecologists
find the area a natural laboratory. Flagstaff is also in
the heart of the Southwestern Indian country, both
prehistoric and modem, and is a major headquarters
for archaeologists, anthropologists and ethnologists.
Astronomical activity is carried out at world-famed
Lowell Observatory on Mars Hill on the western edge
of the city, at the u.S. Naval Observatory's Flagstaff
station, five miles to the west, and at the U.S. Geological
Survey's Astrogeology Center on McMillan Heights
in the center of the city.
Lowell, founded in 1894 by the late Percival Lowell
of the historic New England family, is perhaps best
known to the general public for the fact that the planet
Pluto was discovered there in 1930.
But through the years, Lowell scientists have made
other important contributions. The observatory is particularly
renowned for its studies of the solar system
and Mars. Lowell, in fact, now operates with National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) support
a Planetary Research Center for the western
hemisphere, one of two such centers in the world
where all available data on the planets is concentrated
to facilitate research in a phase of astronomy that has
become highly active since the advent of the space
age.
Lowell operates eight major telescopes, including
the 72-inch Perkins reHector of Ohio Wesleyan and
The Ohio State Universities which is located on Anderson
Mesa, 12 miles southeast of Flagstaff.
The observatory is open to the public weekdays
from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. and, during the summer
months, holds an open house on alternate Friday
nights with lectures by Lowell staff members and
tours of its fine 24-inch refracting telescope.
The USGS Astrogeology Center's 31-inch reflector
is also on Anderson Mesa and is used primarily for
making geologic maps of the moon and in studies
of Mars and Venus. The Center is closely connected
with the nation's space program and has not only participated
in the successful Ranger, Surveyor and
Lunar Orbiter programs, but will share in the scientific
aspects of the upcoming Apollo man-on-the-moon
project. The Center's astrogeologists also instruct U.S.
astronauts in geology. Exhibits relating to the new
space age science of astrology can be viewed weekdays
from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the center's lobby.
The U.S. Naval Observatory west of Flagstaff has
two large reHecting telescopes, a 40-inch apochromatic
moved here from Washington, D.C. more than a decade
ago, and the new 61-inch astrometric reflector, an
exceptionally precise instrument used primarily to
make parallax measurements to determine the distance
of nearby stars. Visitors should contact the Naval
Observatory for hours when these telescopes may be
seen.
A major research facility in Flagstaff is the Museum
Spectacular vistas abound
La well Telescope
of Northern Arizona which operates an extensive research
center concerned with archaeology, anthropology,
ethnology, biology, botany, geology, paleontology
and many related fields. An adjunct is the
Fleishmann Atmospheric Sciences Research Center of
the State University of New York.
The Museum itself, just two miles north of downtown
Flagstaff on Ft. Valley road (U.S. 180), contains
much to interest the visitor. Comprehensive exhibits
clearly and understandably explain most of what is
known about northern Arizona, its people and its past.
In addition, the Museum's permanent art collection is
outstanding, and includes some of the finest examples
of southwestern art by major artists from all over the
world. The Museum is open to the public from 9 a.m.
to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m. on weekdays, and from
1:30 to 5 p.m. on Sundays.
For those interested in the lore of the Old West
and of the pioneers in the area, there is the Pioneers'
Historical Museum, also north on Ft. Valley road,
which is open daily during the summer.
A popular attraction with many is Buffalo Park, an
unique open air zoo with a Wild West decor where
buffalo, elk, deer and other animals indigenous to the
area can be seen. The park, located on Cedar road on
McMillan Heights, is open daily. An admission charge
helps support the facility.
NO FLASH shots are allowed during the night ceremonial
dances, a rule designed to preserve the unique
setting of the dances, and to allow maximum enjoyment
by everyone. But good stills are still possible
by using Anscochrome or hi-speed Ektachrome film
at l/50th at f.2 when the dancers are well lighted by
Hoods or fires.
MOVIES of the Parade are best taken at intersections
where the Indians normally pause briefly to dance.
You will get smoother action at 24 frames per second.
Night movies at the ceremonials are possible by using
Kodachrome Type A film at a setting of f.1.9 and 16
frames a second. Again, shoot when the dancers are
well-lighted.
CLOSE-UPS often prove far more interesting than
general scenes, particularly if they are well composed.
Watch your backgrounds. They will look better without
distracting poles, wires or signs. Exposures will
depend on the weather. A meter, or advice from an
experienced photographer will help. Remember, that
sun is bright!
PICTURE
PiCTURE
POiNTERS
H ere are a few tips from
professionals to help you
make a photographic record oj
all the exciting events at
the Pow Wow . ..
HUMAN INTEREST pictures abound in the Indian
encampment, just before and after the Parades and,
in fact, almost anytime around the Pow Wow grounds.
Often, it is polite to ask permission before taking some
shots and, if permission is granted, it is not bad taste
to pay a little something for the privilege.
RODEO ACTION generally requires faster shutter
speeds - 200th of a second or more - and a telephoto
lens will bring you some truly memorable pictures.
Remember, a strict rule requires that you stay out of
the arena itself, and this rule is for your own protection.
A Pow Wow official may be able to help you
find a good camera angle.
CAREFUL! Don't let your excitement at the Parades,
the Rodeos or the Night Ceremonials spoil your good
pictures. Remember to check your camera settings
before every shot, and be sure to roll your film to
the next frame after each shot. If in doubt, ask someone!
There are plenty of knowledgable camera enthusiasts
at the Pow Wow.
CREDITS
Cover, Cecil Richardson; Page 2, Fronske Studios; Page 4, Edc lundberg; Page 5, Sam Semoff (top); Page
6, Eric lundberg; Page 7, Wylie Smith; Page 8, Paul Sweitzer (top), Sam Semoff; Page 9, Wylie Smith;
Page 10, Eric lundberg (top, center); Page 11 . Eric lundberg; Page 12, Paul Sweitzer (bottom);
Page 13, Paul Sweitzer; Pages 14-15, Museum of Northern Arizona; Page 16, National Archives; Page 17,
Museum of Northern Arizona; Pages 18-19, Wylie Smith; Page 20, Museum •. of Northern Arizona (top);
Page 21, Museum of Northern Arizona (right); Page 28, Harry Brown (top, bottom). Skekhes by Barton
A. Wright.
JOE'S PLACE
Your favorite drinks, packaged goods
BLEDSOE'S MEN'S STORE
BOICE-BAKER FIRESTONE
The hom-e of the safe tire
TlSSAW'S ElECTRIC
KNOLES' BAKERY
DON CHRISTENSEN
Your friendly Mobil distributor
BROWN'S CREDIT JEWElERS
A little down is enough for Brown
ANDY'S LIQUOR AND SPORTING GOODS
23 N. Beaver - 120 S. Sitgreaves
ROBERT W. PROCHNOW INSURANCE
MONTE VISTA BUILDING
Downtown offices, cocktail lounge, restaurant
THE BRANDIN' IRON WESTERN STORE
The store with the ranch brands on the front
HARPER FURNITURE CO., INC.
Everything for your home
THE BOTTlE SHOP
Fine wines and liquors on U.S. 66
LUMBERJACK CAFE
ANDERSON'S TRADING CO.
Navajo rugs and j-ewelry
HOFBRAU HAUS
Fine German food, cocktail lounge
FOODTOWN SUPERMARKET
We don't fool 'em, we feed 'em
JEAN AND TROX PHOTO SUPPLY
The Houre of Sound
ROWAN'S FLAGSTAFF PHARMACY
On the money-saving corner
THE WEATHERFORD HOTEl
Flagstaff's friendly downtown hotel
MOUNTAIN STATES TElEPHONE CO.
PBSW OFFICE PRODUCTS CO·
Office aids for all trades
CLARK'S SPORTI NG GOODS
Northern Arizona's most complet-e
BERGER'S CAMERA CORRAL
Flagstaff's friendly camera shop
THE WESTERNER - WESTERN WEAR
Complete Western Wear, Tony Lama boots
AMERICAN LEGION POST NO. 3
Welcome to the Pow Wow, Legionnaires
FINE'S READY-TO-WEAR
Because you love nice things
NORTHERN ARIZONA AMUSEMENT CO.
Anything in records for Northern Arizona
RAY LARKEY CONSTRUCTION CO.
Builders of homes for successful people
THE GABLES RESTAURANT
Famous for fine food
PENNIE'S GENERAL STORE
Where you save dollars
CHAPMAN'S MARKET
Wher-e your food dollar goes further
METEOR CRATER
Greatest wonder of its kind
MOORE DRUG PRESCRIPTION PHARMACY
Your Rexall stores in F'lagstaff
CORK 'N BOTTlE
Everything for your refreshment needs
40TIi ANNUAl
SouTliwEST
All-INdiAN
Pow Wow
~l?R.ESS
~LAGSTA~~ , ARIZONA
FlAGsTAff
ARizONA
July 4,~, 6
