158 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 188 



concrete-floored hogans (G and H on fig. 1) was built to serve as 

 tourist cabins. Later a pair of connected stone cabins (E) was added. 



Eorick put in Shonto's first electric system, generated by a small 

 gasoline plant. He also put in the first indoor plumbing and bath- 

 room. A line of sheds was built (J, K, L) to house blacksmith and 

 carpenter shops, and the premises were fenced. Finally, in deference 

 to growing automobile travel, a gasoline tank and hand pump (R) 

 were installed. 



When the Roricks bought Shonto Trading Post in 1930 it was 

 still the only White outpost anywhere in the area. Within a few years, 

 however, their site in Shonto Canyon grew into an extensive com- 

 munity center (fig. 2). In 1934 Shonto School was constructed 

 on a plot immediately adjacent to the store. An enlarged water reser- 

 voir, serving both trading post and school, was built ; a new well was 

 put in and an electric pump mstalled. Roads passable for automobiles 

 and school buses were built into the canyon from both directions. In 

 1937 Shonto was selected as headquarters site for the newly formed 

 Land Management District 2, and at that time a governmental corral, 

 dipping tanks, and horse pasture were added to the community center 

 area (fig. 2) . A district supervisor's residence was built on the school 

 grounds. The final, though temporary, addition to the conmaunity 

 center was made in 1955 when a resident missionary established his 

 trailer immediately across the canyon from the store and school. 



The economic upheavals of the 1930's and early 1940's were little 

 reflected at Shonto Trading Post mitil the end of World War II. 

 Throughout these years the Roricks continued to base their trade on 

 wool and rugs, largely ignoring newer sources of income and holding 

 credit and inventory to a minimum. Stock reduction throughout the 

 1930's brought about an enormous amount of forced selling of Navaho 

 livestock, and traders all over the reservation quickly developed what 

 was largely a new trade in lambs to augment the long established wool 

 trade. In the next two decades the annual lamb crop came to be 

 equally important with the annual wool crop in the Navaho market 

 economy. Throughout their 15-year tenure at Shonto, however, there 

 is no record that the Roricks ever bought either lambs or cattle at any 

 time. 



Shonto's trade was for a time considerably augmented by the nu- 

 merous local construction projects of the mid 1930's, but the stimulus 

 was a temporary one. The store's owners did not make any effort to 

 build up payroll credit accounts from the school or national monu- 

 ment. In later years Rorick was a partial invalid and could not 

 move around readily. In these circumstances the business sank to 

 near-marginal proportions, with minimum inventory and depending 



