Navaho Houses, Part 2 | Page 3

it.
The continuation of the range to the northwest, separated from the
Choiskai only by a high pass, closed in winter by deep snow, is known
as the Tunicha mountains. The summit here is a sharp ridge with
pronounced slopes and is from 9,000 to 9,400 feet high. On the west
there are numerous small streams, which, rising near the summit,
course down the steep slopes and finally discharge through Canyon
Chelly into the great Chinlee valley, which is the western of the two
valleys referred to above. The eastern slope is more pronounced than
the western, and its streams are so small and insignificant that they are
hardly worthy of mention.
Still farther to the northwest, and not separated from the Tunicha
except by a drawing in or narrowing of the mountain mass, with no
depression of the summit, is another part of the same range, which
bears a separate name. It is known as the Lukachukai mountains. Here
something of the range character is lost, and the uplift becomes a
confused mass, a single great pile, with a maximum altitude of over
9,400 feet.
Northwest of this point the range breaks down into Chinlee valley, but
directly to the north is another uplift, called the Carriso mountains. It is
a single mass, separated from the range proper by a comparatively low
area of less than 7,000 feet altitude, while the Carriso itself is over
9,400 feet above the sea.
The western and northwestern parts of the reservation might also be
classed as mountainous. Here there is a great mesa or elevated
table-land, cut and gashed by innumerable canyons and gorges, and

with a general elevation of 7,500 to 8,000 feet. Throughout nearly its
whole extent it is impassable to wagons.
The valleys to which reference has been made are the Chinlee on the
west and the Chaco on the east of the principal mountain range
described. Both run nearly due north, and the former has a fall of about
2,000 feet from the divide, near the southern reservation line, to the
northern boundary, a distance of about 85 miles. Chaco valley heads
farther south and discharges into San Juan river within the reservation.
It has less fall than the Chinlee. Both valleys are shown on the maps as
occupied by rivers, but the rivers materialize only after heavy rains; at
all other times there is only a dry, sandy channel. Chaco "river," which
heads in the continental divide, carries more water than the Chelly,
which occupies Chinlee valley, and is more often found to contain a
little water. The valleys have a general altitude of 5,000 to 6,000 feet
above the sea.
The base of the mountain range has an average breadth of only 12 or 15
miles, and it is a pronounced impediment to east-and-west
communication. It is probably on this account that the Navaho are
divided into two principal bands, under different leaders. Those of one
band seldom travel in the territory of the other. The Navaho of the west,
formerly commanded by old Ganamucho (now deceased), have all the
advantages in regard to location, and on the whole are a finer body of
men than those of the east.
On the west the mountains break down into Chinlee valley by a gradual
slope--near the summit quite steep, then running out into table-lands
and long foothills. This region is perhaps the most desirable on the
reservation, and is thickly inhabited. On the east the mountains descend
by almost a single slope to the edge of the approximately flat Chaco
valley. In a few rods the traveler passes from the comparatively fertile
mountain region into the flat, extremely arid valley country, and in 50
or 60 miles' travel after leaving the mountains he will not find wood
enough to make his camp fire, nor, unless he moves rapidly, water
enough to carry his horses over the intervening distance.
Throughout the whole region great scarcity of water prevails; in the

large valleys during most of the year there is none, and it is only in the
mountain districts that there is a permanent supply; but there life is
almost impossible during the winter. This condition has had much to do
with the migratory habits of the people, or rather with their frequent
moving from place to place; for they are not a nomadic people as the
term is usually employed. This is one of the reasons why the Navaho
have no fixed habitations.
San Juan river forms a short section of the northeastern boundary of the
Navaho country, and this is practically the only perennial stream to
which they have access. It is of little use to them, however, as there are
no tributaries from the southern or reservation side, other than the
Chaco and Chelly "rivers," which are really