THE RAMAH NAVAHO 



By Clyde Kluckhohn 



East of the Zuni Indian Reservation and south of the Mormon 

 village of Ramah, N. Mex., lies the territory of the Ramah Navaho, 

 who numbered 625 in 1950. Since much has been published, both 

 in articles and monographs, on the Ramah Navaho over the years, 

 the purpose of this paper is to digest, in appropriate form, data that 

 have appeared in these specialized articles and monographs, to show 

 their interrelationships, and to add hitherto unpublished materials. 



HISTORY 



Navahos probably hunted in and roamed through the present 

 Ramah area as early as the beginning of the 18th century. They 

 farmed lands in this region from about 1840 onward. After the 

 Navaho captivity at Fort Sumner, some of the original settlers re- 

 turned and were gradually joined by relatives and by men who 

 married into the group. The founders of the Ramah band were 

 primarily Eastern Navahos born almost exclusively in three areas: 

 Mount Taylor, Chuska Mountains, and San Jose River. But there 

 were also three Chiricahua Apaches and one Walapai Indian. By, 

 roughly, 1890, the Navaho population included 23 men, 30 women, 

 and 46 children. After about 1890, no new biological families set- 

 tled in the region. Immigration was exclusively upon marriage 

 except in the case of seven children who came with immigrating 

 parents. After 1890, a Laguna Indian, a Yaqui residing at Zuni, 

 and a Zuni, married into Ramah. Two Navaho men fled perma- 

 nently to other Navaho groups after committing murder at Ramah. 

 More recently, two families have left for economic reasons ; one of these 

 is likely to return eventually to Ramah (Kluckhohn, 1956 a).^ 



The ancestors of the Ramah Navaho were in contact with Pueblo 

 Indians and with various Apache tribes centuries ago. There were 



' When all or most of the documentation for statements in a paragraph is to be found in a single source, 

 this will be cited at the conclusion of a paragraph. Citations within the body of the paragraph refer only 

 to the point Immediately preceding. 



333 



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