White] THE PUEBLO OF SIA, NEW MEXICO 81 
of a Sia girl for a time. According to my census of 1957, most mar- 
riages with non-Sias were with women and men of Jemez (see ‘‘Mar- 
riage with non-Sias,”’ p. 211). 
Sia has long been somewhat off the beaten track. Many of the 
parties that have toured New Mexico, such as some of the early Ameri- 
can army expeditions, have missed Sia entirely as they often confined 
their route to the Rio Grande valley and thence westward from Albu- 
querque. We have no evidence that Sia was appreciably affected by 
- the construction of the railroad, some 20 miles to the east, about 1880. 
Access to Sia was difficult even as recently as the 1930’s, for there 
was no bridge across the Jemez River at the pueblo. The only safe 
way to reach Sia, as Halseth (1924 b, p. 67) reported in 1924, was to 
go to San Ysidro, cross the bridge there, and then descend the left 
bank of the river, to the pueblo. One could cross the river at the 
pueblo when the water was low, but this was dangerous because of 
quicksand. The bridge opposite the pueblo was not built until the late 
1930’s. 
Stevenson (1894, p. 11), reporting for the late 1880’s, stated that 
‘limited intertribal relations exist [between Sia and other groups],”’ 
but that they were ‘‘principally for the purpose of traffic [trade].’’ 
But there has undoubtedly been much visiting back and forth between 
Sia and her nearest pueblo neighbors for many decades. They visit 
each other’s dances and occasionally take part in them. Pueblos help 
each other initiate members of secret societies (see my account of the 
Caiyaik initiation, p. 172), or to install a cacique. 
A few decades ago the Sia had relatively few friendly relationships 
with Anglo-Americans, but these have increased with the years and 
with improvements in transportation. A considerable number have 
Anglo-American friends in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, or elsewhere, with 
whom occasional visits are exchanged. Professional psychologists 
who visited Sia in 1942-43 found the people “not unfriendly, but they 
are shy. They do not meet strangers as easily as do the Hopi” 
(Havighurst and Neugarten, 1955, p. 10). 
Sia has had long contact with the Bureau of Indian Affairs through 
the agencies at Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Education, health, agri- 
culture, and stockraising have been the principal areas involved. The 
attitude of the Sia has been somewhat inconsistent or ambivalent. 
On the one hand, they ask for help and have some appreciation of 
assistance rendered. On the other hand, they have resisted the 
Pueblos Agency on many occasions and have complained bitterly 
because of their neglect or incompetence. On the whole, however, 
the Sia have been quite receptive and cooperative, and this attitude 
has grown stronger, we believe, in recent years. 
