Navajo Mountain
| Navajo Mountain | ||
|---|---|---|
.jpg) Navajo Mountain as seen from Arizona State Route 98 . |
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| height | 3166 m | |
| location | Utah , USA | |
| Mountains | Rocky mountains | |
| Coordinates | ||
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| Type | Laccolith | |
The Navajo Mountain is a 3,166 m high, free-standing mountain in the southeast of the US state of Utah near the border with Arizona . The summit is 3.5 km north of the state line, while the mountain range, although mostly located in Utah, extends south across the Arizona border. The name of the mountain in the Navajo or Diné language is Naatsis'áán , which means head of the earth . The sacred mountain of the Navajo plays an important role in their mythology and an ascent of the mountain is not permitted by the tribal authorities.
geography
Navajo Mountain is located south of Lake Powell in San Juan County, formed by the Colorado River , and is of deep volcanic origin. It rises significantly above the Rainbow Plateau , a section of the Colorado Plateau , and is visible from afar. It is a landmark on the northwestern edge of the Navajo Indian Reservation and is located in the middle of an extremely sparsely populated desert region . With a distance of 60 km (as the crow flies), Page is the closest city.
geology
The mountain is a prominent, free-standing laccolith , as geology describes a plutonic body bulging upwards with a largely flat underside. It consists of magma that has solidified at a shallow depth below the surface in the earth's crust , and has at least one supply channel leading into the depths. The igneous deposits are surrounded by sedimentary rock that is exposed to weathering. Similar Lakkolites are found in several mountains on the Colorado Plateau, such as the Abajo Mountains , the Henry Mountains, and the La Sal Mountains .
history
Navajo Mountain was called Sierra Panoche on the first maps . Numerous relics of earlier residents testify to the culture of the Anasazi . Dilapidated houses and moats can still be found today on the mesas , on the walls of the canyons and in the surrounding desert. The first official records of settlement in the area come from Spanish explorers and missionaries. The Catholic clergy Anastasio Dominguez and Silvestre Velez de Escalante met some Paiute here when they had waded the Colorado River near the Navajo Mountains in 1776. In the early 19th century, San Juan Paiute and Navajo settled the mesas and rugged canyons surrounding the mountain.
The Paiute cultivated friendly relations with both the Navajo and the Ute , with these two tribes traditionally being enemies. The Paiute subsequently acted as mediators several times. In 1884, all of these tribes lost their traditional land between Navajo Mountain and Kayenta . Over the years, the Navajo have been able to annex the Paiute land to their reserve . In the 1980s, the Paiute applied to be recognized as a separate tribe.
Some people found refuge in the remote canyons around Navajo Mountain. In 1859, the Mormon Jacob Hamblin fled to the Spaneshanks camp south of the Navajo Mountains after a four-man Navajo group killed his companion, George A. Smith . Navajo leader Hashkeniini and his group of seventeen escaped Kit Carson and his soldiers and found refuge near the mountain. In 1892, Chach'osh hid on Navajo Mountain after shooting the Mormon Lot Smith near Tuba City , whom he held responsible for the death of his sheep.
In the 1880s, some white men came to Navajo Mountain. Rumor has it that Hashkeniini had a secret silver mine here, but it was not found. In 1884, US troops under Captain Thomas erected a heliograph on the summit of the Navajo Mountains.
The discovery of the nearby Rainbow Bridge sparked a dispute between archaeologists John Wetherill and Byron Cummings, on the one hand, and WB Douglass, on the other, over who had found the bridge first. In 1960 and 1981, Alexander J. Lindsay and Richard Ambler carried out excavations on behalf of Northern Arizona University at Glen Canyon and the northeastern part of the Rainbow Plateau. In 1924, S. Richardson and his son Cecil built the Rainbow Lodge and a trading post. On the other side of the mountain at War God Springs , Ben and Myri Weatherill opened a second trading post. In 1932, the Dunn family of Chilchinbito near Cottonwood Wash finally established the Navajo Mountain Trading Post . In the 1930s, the children from the area got the first school where empty boxes of explosives served as desks. In 1936 the school moved to the building of the former American Indian Rights Organization , whose most famous teacher was Lisbeth Bonnell Eubanks . In the course of its activity, the facility developed from an all-day school to a boarding school for small children and primary school students. With the help of donations, she was able to keep the school going during the Second World War . In doing so, she developed new teaching methods for bilingual students. In 1982 the children got a newly built school near Rainbow City .
Merchant SL Richardson had a road built from Red Lake to Navajo Mountain that he claimed followed an ancient Ute warfare. The street was fiercely fought by other traders and their Navajo allies from Shonto and Kayenta. In the 1930s the street was shortened and its course changed. Additional changes and the extension to Paiute Mesa followed in 1960. In 1988, the Navajo tribal government decided to partially asphalt the route.
Web links
- Navajo Nation Entrance Fees , English
- Navajo Mountain-Head of the Earth , English
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hiking and Camping Rules ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 27, 2014.
- ↑ Geology of the Navajo Mountains , accessed July 25, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d e f Utah History Encyclopedia-Navajo Mountain ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 27, 2014.
