Johnston] NAVAHO POPULATION 69 



Navalio and other Indian raiding expeditions against the American 

 settlers in the area, and partly to the natural desire of the American 

 officials to increase their familiarity with the largely imlaiown lands 

 that had so recently fallen under United States sovereignty .^- 



The records of this period, and in particular the references to the 

 population of the Navaho, reflect the absence of any systematic cover- 

 age of Navaho country. The several military reconnaissances that 

 extended into Navaho country at this time provided little more than 

 impressionistic glimpses of Navaho life and customs. The popula- 

 tion estimates that accompanied the reports of these expeditions 

 were crude approximations at best. Perhaps the most carefully com- 

 posed of these reports is that of James II. Simpson, who summarized 

 his impressions of the population of the Navaho as follows : ^^ 



In respect to the popiTlation of the Navaho Nation, it has been impossible for 

 me to arrive at anything like an approximation of it. Indeed, if the few we 

 have seen bear a proper proportion to the whole number contained in the country, 

 the extent of this population has been greatly exaggerated. But I prefer to 

 believe that, as a nation, they live much scattered, and that those through 

 whose precincts we have passed have studiously avoided us. All things con- 

 sidered, then, I would estimate the population from 8,000 to 10,000 souls : this 

 last number is Gregg's estimate. 



It is evident from the above account that the population estimates 

 of this period, derived from sporadic contacts made during expedi- 

 tions that were carried out in an atmosphere of growing hostility, are 

 little more than reasoned guesses. As the following quotations reveal, 

 the subjectivity of these early population estimates is reflected in the 

 fact that the figures given tend to increase with the increase in hos- 

 tilities between the Navaho and the American settlers and military. 



In the first of the official annual reports containing information on 

 the Navaho tribe, James S. Calhoun (1850, p. 63), Indian Agent at 

 Santa Fe, N. Mex., estimated the Navaho population at 5,000 persons. 

 Five years later, in 1854, D. Merriwether, the Governor and Superin- 

 tendent of Indian Affairs in the Territory of New Mexico, expressed 

 the opinion that the Navaho probably numbered 8,000.^'* In the year 



^ Although a few Americans, notably Kit Carson, were familiar with much of the 

 country Inhabited by the Navaho, the bulk of the earlier Spanish explorations and the 

 more recent westward movement of the wagon trains passed either to the north or south 

 of Navaho country. 



" Simpson, 1852, p. 79. The reference to "Gregg's estimate" pertains to Gregg, 1855, 

 pp. 285 £f. 



1* Merriwether, 1855. Merriwether's laudatory account of the Navaho tribe merits 

 quotation : 



"The Navajoes . . . probably number eight thousand souls, and occupy and claim a 

 country equal to 25,000 square miles. . . . The Navajo country is represented to be one 

 of the finest agricultural regions within New Mexico ; and they certainly are very far 

 in advance of any other wild tribe of Indians of this Territory in agriculture and man- 

 ufactures. . . . [They] raise an abundance of corn and wheat. . . . [And] have numer- 

 ous herds of horses and sheep, and some horned cattle and mules, and, on the whole, live 

 in a degree of comfort and plenty unknown to the other wild Indians of this section of 

 the Union." 



