144 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 188 



Fall is the busiest and also the most prosperous period in Shonto's 

 economic year (cf. Hill, 1938, p. 17). Returning railroad workers 

 bring home large sums in cash, which are soon augmented by surplus 

 income from lamb sales at the end of September. Agricultural harvest 

 begins immediately after lamb sales, and most families are busy 

 picking, drying and storing corn for a period of 2 or 3 weeks. At 

 this time Shonto Trading Post amiually employs four or five extra 

 hands for the long overland sheep drive to the railroad. Seasonal 

 employees at Navajo National Monument are still on the job (in recent 

 years September has consistently been the heaviest travel month at the 

 monument) , but with extensive leaves for lamb sales and harvesting. 

 Seasonal employees of the school return to duty early in September. 



Fall is the time for settling accounts at the trading post. It is the 

 one period in the year when the store tries to close out all but a 

 handful of outstanding accounts, and clean the slate. Significantly, 

 this period also marks the end of the traditional Navaho year (Hill, 

 1938, p. 15). After lamb sales, credit is tightly restricted or stopped 

 altogether, since the next major income period, from wool sales, does 

 not come for over 6 months. Wool credit is usually opened about the 

 first of December. Credit against railroad unemployment benefits 

 is allowed whenever general eligibility is announced — usually in No- 

 vember or December. From October to December, Shonto lives princi- 

 pally on its accumulated cash — from lamb sales and railroad wages — 

 and on the products of its harvest. Cash sales are higher and credit 

 entries lower at the trading post than at any other time of year. 



For most families the harvest signals the end of the productive 

 year. By the time it is completed, nearly all railroad workers have 

 returned to Shonto, and seasonal and temporary employees at the 

 trading post and national monument have been laid off. Accumulaxd 

 capital is then spent until December, when wool credit and unem- 

 ployment benefits open up, and the annual cycle begins anew. 



Every 5 or 6 years the Shonto area produces a good crop of piiion 

 nuts, which provide a mid-winter source of extra income. Nuts are 

 gathered by the entire community during December and January, 

 and sold to the trading post. In 1954-55 the store bought an in- 

 credible total of 107,000 pounds of pinon nuts at 45 cents a pound, 

 for a total investment of nearly $50,000 (cf. Landgraf, 1954, p. 58). 

 About 40 percent of the crop was sold by Shonto families; the re- 

 mainder was brought in by Navahos from other communities. By 

 contrast, piiion nuts bought in the winter of 1955-56 totaled less 

 than 200 pounds. 



Of all Shonto families, the only ones that are in any sense free of 

 the seasonal economic cycle are those 4 having permanent jobs in 



