Adams] 



SHONTO: ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 



53 



Settlement in different parts of the community was uneven in den- 

 sity, as indicated in map 3. Heaviest population was found in the 

 lower altitudes, averaging nearly four persons per square mile in the 

 long-settled region southwest of the trading post. The recently oc- 

 cupied higher area north of the store averaged only slightly more 

 than one inhabitant per square mile. 



Distribution of Shonto's Navaho population in 1955 by age and 

 sex is shown in table 1. 



.Table 1. — Distribution of Shonto population in 1955 hy age and sex 



In addition to its Navaho residents, Shonto in 1955 had a White 

 population of 10 : the writer and his wife at Shonto Trading Post ; 2 

 unmarried women teachers at Shonto Commmiity School ; the mission- 

 ary, his wife, and 1 child at their nearby location ; and the superin- 

 tendent, his wife, and 1 child at Betatakin, 10 miles away. 



From Shonto Trading Post it is 18 miles (by truck only) to Inscrip- 

 tion House, the closest trading post outside the community ; 29 miles 

 to the nearest post office at Red Lake (P.O. Tonalea) ; 34 miles to 

 Kayenta and the nearest police patrol, permanent mission, large board- 

 ing school and guest facilities ; 54 miles to the administrative center at 

 Tuba City with its hospital, court, jail, and other facilities ; 56 miles 

 to the Hopi Village of Moencopi ; 67 miles to the nearest paved high- 

 way, U.S. 89 ; and 132 miles to Flagstaff, the nearest town and off- 

 reservation shopping center for Shonto Navahos. 



NAVAIIO LIFE 



It might be said that the fabric of modem Navaho life is woven of a 

 series of distinct threads, sometimes blending, sometimes contrasting, 

 representing culture elements of diverse origins. The individual 

 threads often do not vary much as between one Navaho community and 

 another; where present at all they are likely to be found in readily 

 recognizable form. Wliat distinguishes different communities is not 

 the character of these threads so much as the pattern into which they 

 are woven. No two communities have ever faced quite the same range 

 of external contacts in time and space ; consequently no two have, per- 

 haps, come to quite the same terms with the world aroimd them. 



635893—63 5 



