Adams] SHONTO : ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 45 



solidated under a single agency at Window Rock, and Tuba City 

 was relegated to a sub-agency role, though it continued for many years 

 to have the only boarding school and hospital in the western Navaho 

 country. During this period a concerted effort was made to carry 

 modern American institutions far beyond the agency, into the midst 

 of the Navaho people themselves. 



From 1934 until the beginning of World War II, the Shonto 

 country was alive with developmental activity. A whole series 

 of new roads and truck trails were laid out, opening up pre- 

 viously inaccessible areas such as Navajo Mountain. During the same 

 years, the present U.S. Highway 89 was paved between Flagstaff and 

 Salt Lake City, and the great Navajo Bridge at Marble Canyon was 

 constructed, giving the northwestern Navaho country new accessibility 

 from the outside world. 



A new approach to Shonto from the southwest was built, coming 

 across the lower Shonto Plateau from the vicinity of Cow Springs. A 

 second road was blasted out of the east canyon wall at Shonto with 

 branches leading to Betatakin and to Klethla Valley, giving direct 

 wagon access to Shonto from the east for the first time. A truck 

 trail was laid out from a point south of Shonto westward across Cow 

 Springs Canyon and the head of Navajo Canyon to Kaibito, and a 

 direct route from Shonto to Navajo Mountain was developed. The 

 formerly isolated communities of the plateau became interaccessible 

 by wagon and truck for the first time. During the same period a mag- 

 ]ieto telephone system was installed, connecting most of the trading 

 posts and newly completed schools of the region with each other and 

 with Tuba City and Flagstaff. Until its replacement in 1955, this 

 party line was believed to be the longest in America, with 41 sub- 

 scribers and over 700 miles of wire in a single circuit. 



Soil and water developments were also instituted. Deep wells were 

 put down north and south of Shonto, with the conventional wind- 

 driven pumps and ample storage tanks. Innumerable check dams 

 were built in the canyons, along with stock tanks on the mesas above. 

 Springs in Shonto Canyon were cleaned out, and the surface drainage 

 confined by planting the canyon floor with cottonwoods. Small irriga- 

 tion systems both upstream and downstream from Shonto store were 

 operated. 



The most lasting development of the Collier era was the local school 

 program. A day school at Shonto, consisting of four connected pairs 

 of hoganlike stone structures, with a staff of two White teachers, was 

 opened in 1935. It had a capacity of 70 pupils, and ran through the 

 first three grades. A bus was run daily east and west of the canyon ; 

 children received their noon meal at the school. A smaller hogantype 

 school was opened at Navajo Mountain in the same year, and other 



