Some Cliff Dwellers of Today

Some Cliff Dwellers of Today By J. Cecil Alter, Meteorologist, U. S. Department Agriculture, Weather Bureau Stealthily the Indian lad slipped through the garden fence, his blouse bulging with cantaloupes and corn; and timing his movements so as to arrive at the clothes line as the hay men were reaching the barn, he made a grab and a run for the gate. That evening one of Bishop Kumen Jones' best shirts was missing, and likewise a dusty Ute. "Get that shirt for me or I'll give you a terrible whipping," warned the bishop next morning as the youth loafed back into town from the Indian camp up the canyon in the comfortable consciousness that his pilfering had been forgotten. Realizing the bishop's seriousness, the bronzed boy disappeared and then promptly returned with the shirt, and a request for a dime as a reward. Only a few days previously a choice heifer disappeared from the town herd, and the sign of fresh beef had subsequently been seen at an Indian domicile up Butler Wash, an event the like of which has pestered the settlers along the San Juan every little while for several years. It is in this general way that the 60 or 75 Indians on the San Juan have gained their livelihood to the especial irritation of the 12 or 15 white families in the town of Bluff and its neighborhood. These Indians off the reservation are fairly good eaters, as opportunity arises, and usually wear sufficient clothing of rather wide variety and style, yet they are decidedly poor work- ers and persist in having no visible means of support, except when caught in the act; nevertheless, they are, in effect practi- cally beyond the restraint of county, state, or national law. Many of them are actually too lazy to steal, and a few pre- tend to be too friendly with the whites, according to the bishop, who has had about as much dealing with the Indians in his forty-one years at Bluff as with the whites. "Some of them can be induced to work for us, and in this way they learn to do a great many things, and seem to develop considerable character," continued Bishop Jones. "They seem to come to like a decent meal and a clean bed, and make fairly good use of the money they earn. But a few mischievous, un- controlled boys and young men with nothing to do but get into trouble, go on a spree periodically and pillage shamefully through the settlements." "The older Indians among them will protest their own in-

**f m ■~'." ? , ■"' « The town of Bluff, Utah, and the San Juan river, viewed from the sheltering sandstone cliff wall. The original settlement in San Juan county, still coveted by the Indians. The rugged side wall of a cedar-clad canyon tributary to the San Juan, showing in the shadowy central portion, cliff dweller's crevice. Interior view of crevice in cliff wall shown in center picture, showing masonry caches or cupboards in upper right.

32 IMPROVEMENT ERA nocture, their friendliness, and their inability to manage their offspring; jrel we find these apologize™ pouncing greedily onto the plunder brought in by the marauders, eating the food with greal relish, and disporting themselves in the stolen clothing with apparent satisfaction, making no effort at restoration." The Navajo Indians on the reservation across the river to the south arc comparatively industrious at rug and basket mak- ing and at a semblance of agriculture and stock raising; and even the Utes and Piutes, who submit to the agency influence, and especially those who go through the Shiprock, New Mexico, Indian school, become clothed in new garments and new minds. The influence on them is very good, and often very great; so great and so good, indeed, that their unregistered, wandering brethren of the San Juan bottoms and canyon cliff holes, spurn it like the primitive animals shun domesticity as being an in- tolerable condition, at least in contemplation. The white settlers have made repeated efforts, and entreaties with the authorities, to have all the thieving canyon infesting, nngoverned Indians herded into the reservation, where they can be forced to acquire more desirable habits, and secure legitimate food, clothing, shelter and secure some education; and to have the few wanderlusts who are registered, better looked after. While this modern cliff dweller is a thorn in the white man's flesh, speaking contrarywise, the white man is a thorn in the soft flesh of the Indian for he is alleged to have usurped the happy hunting grounds of the Indians, according to the Red Man's traditions. Hence threats have been frequently made by these unorganized Indian families to drive the whites out of the San Juan bottoms and reclaim the town of Bluff for their own gain. Meanwhile the Indians live up in the cooler canyons, in the eaves and cliff holes, in summer; and in winter they find their way back to the San Juan river bottoms where it is warmer and rustling is more profitable. This migration is not an arduous feat, as the squaws carry most of their belongings on their backs, and ponies of doubtful ownership bring in the rest of what plunder and property may be on hand at moving time. Presumably, this is much the same migratory process of living as was followed by their predecessors of the cliffs, and undoubtedly the present day cliff dweller has much the same lack of halo, grandeur, and thrill about his general existence, as did his predecessor. Though indeed the Moqui (Moki or Oaribi) who are assumed to be the original cliff dwellers in these canyons, actually made the cliff crevices and shelves more or less habitable, which is far more than the present Utes have done. Indeed, these cliff dwellers of today are far more entitled

SOME CLIFF DWELLERS OF TODAY ss to the caressing hand of civilization than were the original In- dians who had learned by tribal traditions to care for themselves after a fashion. These Indians, with few exceptions, are simply ignorant and unrestrained without traditions or hopes of value; and being aborigines, are not within the provisions of the truant or poorhouse laws of the country or state, nor of the laws re- quiring a reasonable effort at making a legitimate livelihood. What is apparently the only avenue open for their control, is through appropriations, facilities, and determination to herd them within the regular Indian reservation and keep them within its care rigidly, regardless of the Indians' protestations of their so-called freedom to do as they wish. The archaeologist has dug around among the cadaver-car- rying cliffs for years making much more ado over a few dis- torted carcasses of a vanished generation than his compeers seem able to make over a whole canyon full of live Indians. The living cliff dweller needs the helping hand of the white man, the hand which, if necessary will thrust him forcibly into a bet- ter way, though it be greatly against his will, just as the white man does with the recalcitrant members of his own race, for their mutual good. As it is, these Indians are losing all that is interesting and worthy even in their own tribal customs and activities, and are degenerating as rapidly as human appetite and passion can deteriorate. Bishop Kumen Jones and wife, Mary Jones, of Bluff, Utah, who have dealt intimately and successfully with the Indians of the Utah- Arizona-Colo- rado-New Mexico border region for 40 years.