Johnston] NAVAHO POPULATION 105 



about 34 percent. Thus, even allowing for some variation in the age 

 groups which comprise the school-age population, it is apparent that 

 only the 1890 census produced plausible figures in this regard. This 

 finding has one important implication: While the 1890 census may 

 have been deficient in coverage, it seems to have produced somewhat 

 more adequate information on the characteristics of the population 

 enumerated. 



Only a small proportion of the 1890 census of Indians was devoted 

 to the presentation of statistical tabulations. The bulk of the report 

 consisted of summary accounts of the past history and current con- 

 dition of the several tribes. For the most part, these descriptions were 

 prepared and submitted by the respective Indian agents or agency 

 superintendents. The report on the Navajo Agency does not provide 

 clues as to the completeness of the 1890 enumeration, but it does refer 

 to "many settlements of Navajos" w^hich were located off the reserva- 

 tion in a wide area extending from the banlvs of the Colorado and 

 Little Colorado Rivers to the west, the San Francisco and Sunset 

 Mountains to the southwest and south, and in scattered localities east 

 and southeast of the reservation.^^ However, the total population of 

 these widespread Navaho groups, and the extent to which they were 

 included in the 1890 enumeration, cannot be determined from the 

 evidence at hand. 



In a brief but careful review of the figures reported on tlie basis of 

 this 1890 census, Frederick L. Hoffman (1929, p. 655) asserts that 

 the reported total of 17,204 Navahos in 1890 included some Indians 

 who were not Navahos, ". . . the facts not being accurately indicated." 

 Thus, in addition to the problem of incomplete coverage, there arises 

 the question of the number of non-Navahos who may have been er- 

 roneously classified as Navahos in this census. 



It must be concluded that the results of the 1890 census, insofar as 

 the enumeration of the Navaho Indians is concerned, are not materially 

 superior to the estimates developed by the agents at this time. How- 

 ever, the population characteristics that were recorded in connection 

 with the 1890 enumeration appear to have been relatively reliable. 



The second special census of the Indian population of the United 

 States took place in 1910, after an interval of 20 years (Bureau of the 

 Census, 1915). As in 1890, the 1910 Indian census was conducted for 

 the most part by employees of the Bureau (then Office) of Indian Af- 

 fairs. These employees, together with other non-Indians residing on 

 or near the several reservations, were again appointed as special agents 

 by the superintendent of the Office of the Census and charged with the 



^' From Bureau of the Census, 1894, p. 157. In regard to the large discrepancies in the 

 numbers of school-age Navahos reported during this period, it should be noted that the 

 figures based on the 1885 roll, the 1890 agency report, and the 1890 census were arrived at 

 independently, with no apparent effort at reconciliation. 



