150 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 188 



their territory in considerable numbers, were the Navahos ever con- 

 sidered as a substantial or profitable market by their neighbors (cf. 

 Van Valkenburgh and McPhee, 1938, p. 43; Sanders et al., 1953, 

 p. 232). 



Buckskins and, especially in the later years, blankets were the major 

 items offered for exchange by Navahos (see especially Hill, 1948, 

 pp. 376-381). In return they received agricultural products from 

 the Pueblos, bolt goods and various articles of European manufac- 

 ture from the Spaniards, and horses and guns from the Utes and, later, 

 the Mormons. Horses were an especially important item of trade 

 in the last years of the pre-reservation period (cf. Van Valkenburgh 

 and McPhee, 1938, pp. 43-44) . 



To what extent the Navahos actually became regularly dependent 

 upon their early trade relations is uncertain. Their subsistence agri- 

 cultural and livestock economy flourished largely unchecked during 

 much of the 19th century, and it seems likely that the items for 

 which they traded were chiefly in the class of luxuries, so that no 

 functional interdependence at the subsistence level developed. How- 

 ever, Dyk's (1938, pp. 49-53) narrative of "Left-Handed" in the 

 early reservation years suggests that there was widespread reliance 

 on trading with the Hopi as a source of food in hard times. 



EARLY TRADING POSTS 



The period of Navaho military exile at Bosque Redondo, 1864- 

 1868, coupled with the 10-year treaty period which followed, mark 

 a turning point in commercial relations as in many other aspects of 

 Navaho history. During these economically disastrous years a high 

 percentage of families came of necessity to rely for subsistence upon 

 rations issued by the United States Army, first at Fort Sumner and 

 later at Fort Defiance (see Underbill, 1956, pp. 178-180). A process 

 of increasing dependence upon foreign goods and manufactures was 

 set in motion, which has persisted to the present day. In its course 

 the Navahos became increasingly a stable and dependable market, 

 which pioneering American entrepreneurs were quick to exploit. 



There is no clear indication today as to when and where the first 

 permanent trading mission to the Navahos was set up. Simpson 

 recorded a White man established at the Zuni village of Pescado and 

 trading with the local Navaho j)opulation as early as 1849 (Van 

 Valkenburgh and McPhee, 1938, p. 44) . However, it is certain that 

 mstitutionalized Anglo-Navaho trade within the present reservation 

 area did not develop until some 20 years later. 



The trading-post system as it is known today appears to have 

 had its roots in two distinct historical developments (cf. Dyk, 1947, 

 p. 19). In the eastern area, beginning at Fort Defiance, it was 



