138 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 197 



Table 27. — Reported totals for the Navaho population — 1626-1961 ^ — Continued 



> Additional early estimates of the Navaho population are provided in Krzy wlckl, 1934, appendix II, pp. 

 492-493; Kluckhohn and Spencer, 1940; and Worcester, MS. 



The interval from 1860 to 1870 can well be termed the Navaho "time 

 of troubles." They undoubtedly suffered severe losses under the con- 

 stant harassment of the Americans and their older enemies. It is 

 impossible to determine their population at this time with any pre- 

 cision. The records indicate that as many as 9,000 Navahos made the 

 "long walk" to Fort Sunmer in 1864 and the years following. An 

 additional 1,000 may have been taken captive by the Mexicans, Hopis, 

 Paiutes and others who carried on extensive raids into Navaho 

 country in the early 1860's. Perhaps 2,000 more Navahos managed 

 to evade both the American Cavalry and their other enemies by mov- 

 ing westward beyond the Little Colorado River and into the deep 

 canyons of the upper Colorado. Additional hundreds undoubtedly 

 found refuge among the Pueblo and other Indian groups in the area. 

 However, the general disorganization that accompanied this profound 

 dislocation must have brought about both increased mortality and 

 reduced fertility. The high frequency of abortion noted among 

 Navaho women at Fort Sunmer has already been mentioned in this 

 connection. It seems plausible to conclude that when the Navaho 

 resumed their life on the reservation in 1868, they did not number 

 over 10 or 12,000. 



Since that time, their rapid and sustained population increase is 

 clearly apparent, despite the vagaries of the estimates pertaining 

 thereto. These estimates reveal a number of sudden increases which 

 are unexplained in the original sources, but which seem to reflect 



