Adams] SHONTO: ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 37 



What happened at Shonto after the departure of the Kayenta 

 people centuries ago is not clear. At some subsequent time there 

 was a certain amount of marginal penetration south of the San 

 Juan by bands of Southern Paiute, some of whom were farmers 

 along the river itself. Escalante and Dominguez (1776), traversing 

 the area in the vicinity of Kaibito in 1776, met both Paiute and 

 Ilavasupai ; the latter were frequently encountered in the region until 

 a century later. A few Paiute families remained around Navajo 

 Mountain and elsewhere along the lower San Juan as late as a gen- 

 eration ago, and have given their name to such features as Paiute 

 Canyon, Paiute Mesa and Paiute Farms (north of Oljeto) . At what 

 date the Shoshoneans and Yumans entered, and what their numbers 

 were, cannot be determined, as archeological evidence of them has not 

 come to light. It is doubtful if they ever represented a significant 

 occupation. 



NAVAHO SETTLEMENT 



No one knows when or why the Navaho first moved westward 

 beyond Canyon de Chelly. As early as 1700, a European work on 

 native America (De I'Isle, 1700) indicates "Apaches de Navaio" lo- 

 cated northwest of the Hopi, and possibly even beyond the Colorado 

 River. In 1706 their territory is described as extending "as far west 

 as the Moqui [Hopi]" (Cuervo y Valdez, 1706). Beyond Hopi, how- 

 ever, Escalante met only Paiutes and Havasupai ("Cosninas") on his 

 journey of 1776 from the vicinity of Navajo Mountain to Oraibi. 

 He found the Hopi in regular intercourse with the Navaho to the 

 east, but not to the west or north. Escalante had been stationed for 

 many years in Santa Fe and undoubtedly knew a Navaho when he 

 saw one, and there is no reason to suppose that he failed to identify 

 correctly the aboriginal groups that he encountered. 



Several documents mention Navahos in the Hopi area between 1776 

 and 1781 (letters between Anza, Croix and Galvez translated in 

 Thomas, 1932, pp. 142-148, 221-239). A map published in 1775 (Jef- 

 ferys, 1775, map 5), probably copied from De I'Isle, again shows 

 "Apaches de Navajo" northwest of Moqui. From that time onward 

 for 80 years there is no mention of Navahos anywhere north or 

 west of the Hopi. In 1859 a United States scouting party from Fort 

 Defiance penetrated Marsh Pass as far as the eastern limits of 

 the present Shonto area (Van Valkenburgh and McPhee, 1938, p. 

 16). The party, on its return journey, found no Navaho habitation 

 on Black Mesa except at its extreme eastern edge. 



Within a very few years, however. Mormon pioneers pushing south 

 into the Kanab area began meeting groups of Navahos not only 

 west of the Hopi but west of the Colorado River. Sporadic warfare 

 ensued until in 1871 an agreement was reached setting a boundary 



635893—63 4 



