Adams] SHONTO : ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 51 



resulted in acceptance of a number of American values. Resistance to 

 schooling and to modern medicine lessened enormously, and schools 

 and hospitals which were once half empty have been filled to and often 

 beyond capacity in recent years. At the same time, a new class of 

 leaders emerged in Navaho society: up-to-date men who knew their 

 way around in the White world. 



The small numbers of truck owners — passenger cars are virtually 

 nonexistent in the Navaho country — on the reservation had always 

 been in an economically favored position because of bootlegging 

 opportunities. After the beginning of the war, some of them sud- 

 denly discovered a lucrative new field in wildcat labor contracting, 

 transportation, and even pirating. After World War II, at least 

 100 individuals, in all parts of the reservation, were engaged in this 

 type of enterprise, in addition to desultory bootlegging. Such activi- 

 ties have diminished in recent years along with the demand for agri- 

 cultural labor, but in their day they enabled several up-to-date Nava- 

 hos to acquire power and influence in their communities, and these 

 men now form one of the most significant elements in the Navaho 

 Tribal Council. 



The end of the war saw a sharp decline in demand for ammmii- 

 tion handlers, and agriculture has subsequently shifted to a reliance 

 on other labor sources; but as of 1965 Navahos continue as the pri- 

 mary track labor force on the Santa Fe, Union Pacific, and D. & 

 R.G.W. Railroads. Shonto community in 1955 obtained fully half 

 of its total income directly and indirectly from the Santa Fe Rail- 

 road (see "Railroad Income," pp. 133-134). In addition, improved 

 roads and the increasing number of pickup trucks in the community 

 have made Flagstaff immeasurably more accessible than before the 

 war, and nearly all Shonto families go to town at least twice a year. 

 In a normal year the community is virtually deserted over the Fourth 

 of July, date of the annual Flagstaff All-Indian Pow-Wow (a cele- 

 bration closely akin to the better-known Gallup Ceremonial). As 

 of 1956 the life and economy of Shonto are heavily geared to, and 

 dependent upon, the outside world. 



There has been a certain amount of mineral interest in the north- 

 western Navaho country since before the turn of the century, but 

 little development up to the present time. Prior to its inclusion in 

 the Navaho Reservation in 1934, there was sporadic prospecting along 

 the "Paiute Strip," between Navajo Mountain and Oljeto, and a small 

 gold deposit was actually worked for a time. Ledges of medium- 

 grade copper were also discovered in the area. A small, independ- 

 ently owned copper mine upon patented land west of Kaibito has been 

 in operation for many years. Low-grade coal deposits on Black 



