By Janet Wilcox
Last Monday Feb.6, myself, along with 25 other Stewards of
San Juan staged a quiet protest at the U of U Dine Bekaya Celebration of the
Bears Ears National Monument. We
respectfully listened to all the talks, even the ones we didn’t agree
with. Even though I have often been at
odds with Willie Greyeyes, his insights on healing were valuable. He recommended daily prayer and being in tune
with your maker. He stressed the value
of open country and sacred places for spiritual healing and the need to live in
harmony. That message speaks to me, as I
also believe in daily prayer and find peace in sacred places both indoors and
out.
By and large, most people living in rural America identify
with those concepts. However, as I watched mobocracy in action at the Jason
Chaffetz Town Hall meeting three days later, I thought how ironic it was that
Willie’s message was lost on these folks, many of whom claim to support his cause.
Harmony was the furthest thing from their minds, instead they choose to be
disrespectful. Their clamor and shouts only
fueled their narrow ideology with more
propaganda and hate.
Because of those experiences, I feel compelled to dispel
some misconceptions that have appeared on Pro-Bears Ears Monument web sites and
in articles. One is the notion that
mining is evil, and that Navajos consider it a desecration of the land, and secondly,
the assumption that hogans and sweat lodges in the Bears Ears Monument were built hundreds
of years ago. That is not the case, ironically, SUWA, Friends of Cedar Mesa and other Pro-monument web sites have used photos of hogans and
sweat houses built by Navajo uranium miners less than 80 years ago. There-in
lies the double rub.
With modern scientific breakthroughs businesses now can
more wisely extract those resources, using less invasive strategies. Mother Earth has always been generous, and ironically,
she has proven victorious even when damaged by floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanoes, mining, fires, or paint balls in the desert.
Unlike humans she has the power to revitalize, repair, and comeback
better than before. She is the Comeback Queen, and will continue to befuddle those who claim otherwise. Cottonwood mining
area in San Juan County of evidence of such a comeback.
Blue Mountain Shadows, has been publishing the history and culture of the Four Corners area since 1986. This Blanding based regional magazine has published
four issues related to uranium mining plus a small collection about oil
drilling in Mexican Hat. In addition,
Doris Vallee’s history in “Looking Back Around the Hat” also contains
historical information related to drilling. 
Times were tough in those days of the Great Depression and San
Juan County men -- Navajo and Anglo alike, were happy for any work they could
get. A daily wage was only $4 prior to 1939, but it soon raised to $15 or
more a day. This also improved wages in the agriculture community and a glimmer
of prosperity began to grow. Soon new roads were constructed. More businesses were established, and motels,
equipment, and trucking businesses were added.
Job opportunities grew and home construction expanded.
Young emphasized, however, that the “greatest influence of the uranium
industry was demonstrated by the transformation that took place in the schools”
of San Juan County. Prior to this, Navajo and Ute students were usually sent to
boarding schools by the Federal Government.
As roads improved, one-room schools were eliminated and bus routes
expanded. A new hospital was built, recreation facilities added. The positive
effects of uranium mining touched every facet of life by the 1950’s. As important as economics was to our nation
and to the State of Utah, most of the work of extraction and refining was
carried out before health and environmental costs were understood. But that is
another story to be discussed at a future time.
Archaeologist, Kathy
Huppe was the Cultural Resources Coordinator who worked with Blue Mountain
Shadows. From those interviews, three magazines were published 2001-2002.
These provided both history and insight as to what life was like for both Anglo
and Navajo miners as well as other aspects of uranium mining.
Donald C. Irwin, the archaeologist who conducted the
Cottonwood cultural resource
inventory for the project, recalled his first trip
to Cottonwood Wash and drove past the imposing mound known as Cottonwood Falls
great house. “I drove further up the canyon
and to my amazement, I learned what any citizen of Blanding, or thereabouts
knows, you can’t turn around or spit in this country without finding another
archaeological site. Everywhere I stopped, I saw the telltale flakes of stone
and broken pottery.”
Therein
lies both the beauty and the burden of San Juan County: What and how much can
actually be protected?
Some of these hardworking Navajo men included Tom Beletso,
Old Maryboy and his sons Slim John and John Bill. David Yanito, his father Addison and brother
Richard Yanito were also miners. John
Billy Atcitty, Harvey John Atcitty, John Bill Atcitty and their uncle Sam Long
John. Later Kee Mustache and Harvey John were added to the crew. There was a
lot of hard work involved in mining, mucking out, and hauling rock. But these men wanted jobs and were willing to work
hard. The Navajos working in Cottonwood, had their own vehicles, but
most of them would stay at Cottonwood year-round. It was for that reason that
it was worth the effort for them to build hogans and sweat houses. It was part of their culture and the reason
why remnants exist at these mining areas.
Huppe documented many of these structures: a hogan and a sweat house at the Laura
Mine in Upper Cottonwood, as well as another sweat lodge above the original
Cottonwood Mill location on the flats to the north. They were not built by “ancient ancestors”,
but by Navajo Uranium Miners. They like other men went where the jobs were. Hundreds of other Native Americans were employed at other sites scattered
throughout the Four Corners area. During
the summer months, there was a large Navajo population at the Cottonwood camp,
with wives and children. During the
school year, their children went to boarding schools in Shiprock.
Bradford stated, “The thing I appreciated while
working with these Navajo men at the mine, was the fact they were a pleasant
group, were hard workers, and made sure they earned their days wages. . . I had
worked with other men before and since, who come to work grouchy, and leave
grouchy. But that wasn’t the case with
the Navajo miners.”
“Harry Dutchie, a Ute, also worked with the Bradford crew,
but he rode back and forth from Westwater with the Blanding men, but was
accepted well by the Navajos. Other
mining operations also employed Navajo miners.
Robert Nat’s father worked for a Colorado operation, as did Ben Yanito
and Dan Benally.”
Though conditions at the mining camp seem primitive
compared with the conveniences of modern life, the jobs and regular pay
provided both Anglos and Native Americans an improved lifestyle. San Juan County
was finally able to build top of the line school buildings, as well as roads to
transport students and they offered teachers the best salaries in the state at
one time; however, times have changed with increased federal regulations and a
monument designation which proffers more controls and less multiple use of
public lands.
These historic hogans and
sweat houses, however, stand as witnesses that people who work together,
productively using what the earth provides, can find harmony and prosperity,
even in remote San Juan.
(Past issues of Blue Mountain Shadows can be purchased by
contacting Donna Blake bluemtshadows@gmail.com
$12 each.)
$12 each.)
