Anthrop. pap. 



No 79] THE RAMAH NAVAHO — KLUCKHOHN 337 



American law and religion have had a gradual and increasing effect 

 upon such matters as inheritance custom and residence. Some of the 

 acculturation listed above began long before Fort Sumner. Other 

 aspects started effectively during that period but were intensified by- 

 relations with non-Indians at a tempo that has increased steadily ever 

 since 1870. The coming of the railroad to Fort Wingate and Gallup 

 in 1881 ushered in the period when many Ramah Navahos were thrown 

 into frequent and regular relationships with non-Indians. Both 

 Ramah and Atarque were founded in 1882, and the presence of a rail- 

 road only 40 miles away was the basis both for subsequent immigration 

 into the area and for far-reaching economic changes. The Mormons 

 have been the primary agents of acculturation for more than 70 years, 

 though others — such as the two brothers from England who purchased 

 the Ramah Trading Company in 1901 and were very friendly to the 

 Navaho — have also been of considerable importance. StiU, it is hard 

 to specify influences that are distinctively Mormon as opposed to 

 those of generalized American culture. There is one that appears 

 certain. As opposed to other Navaho areas, gambling has been 

 absent or notably infrequent at Ramah. The Ramah Navaho 

 unanimously attribute this to the acceptance by the first headman of 

 the Mormon injunction against gambling. 



Purely religious teachings do not appear to have gone very deep. 

 The early records of the Ramah Ward of the Mormon church list 

 more than 30 Navahos as baptized, though it is not certain that all of 

 these were Ramah Navahos. The records do from time to time speak 

 of as many as 10 Navahos as present at Mormon church services. 

 These numbers, however, decreased with the passage of time. This 

 shift was doubtless due in part to the linguistic difficulty. Even more, 

 it may be traced to mounting Navaho resentment over land quarrels 

 and discriminatory practices. For example, from the eighties until 

 the thirties, Navahos, even those who were professed Mormons, were 

 refused burial in the church cemetery (Telling, MS., 1952). As of 1923, 

 when I first visited Ramah, only one Navaho attended Mormon 

 services (from time to time) with anything approaching regularity. 

 A few others were nomimal Mormons but, in fact, participated almost 

 exclusively in the native Navaho religion. This situation continued 

 until the coming of Mormon missionaries from Utah in 1946 and the 

 building of a small Mormon church for Ramah Navaho in 1949 

 (Rapoport, 1954). Even in the decade following 1946, the lives of 

 only a tiny number of Ramah Navahos were other than superficially 

 affected by Mormonism. And prior to 1944 or 1945 no Ramah Na- 

 vahos were believing or practicing Christians of other denominations, 

 although a number attended Christian services while at school and in 

 some cases professed Christianity temporarily. By 1950 there were 



