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Show 80 E. United States 1. Indian Reservations-Little Colorado River Area. (a) Navajo Reservation. Located in the northeast corner of Arizona, the northwest corner of New Mexico and the southeast corner of Utah, this Reservation contains approximately 14,000,000 acres of land. It is an area of very high plateaus, flat-top mesas, inaccessible buttes and deep canyons. Because of this topography, about 1,500,000 acres are inaccessible even to livestock. Elevations range from approximately 2,800 feet at the mouth of the Little Colorado River to 9,000 feet along the drainage divide between the San Juan and Little Colorado Rivers. The climate is very dry, vegetation is sparse and the winters are long and extremely cold, some temperatures dropping as low as 30 degrees below zero. Summer temperatures are also extreme, ranging upwards to 100 degrees. Average annual rainfall over the whole Reservation is about eight inches, most of which falls in torrential summer rains.36 The Navajo Indians do not live in villages. Because of the poor range conditions and intermittent arable areas they are scattered over the Reservation and, in some cases, they lead a semi-nomadic existence, moving where water is available for farming and stock raising. The Navajo economy is based largely on subsistence farming, stock raising and seasonal labor off the Reservation. In addition, some of these Indians earn supplemental income as rug weavers and silversmiths.87 The Navajo tribe is increasing at the rate of 2.5% per year, and so has doubled within the last thirty years.88 The population of the Reservation itself is unclear. In 1956, 82,000 Indians were listed on the tribal rolls but 6,000 of 88Tr. 12633-12635 (Head). "Tr. 12635-12636 (Head). S8Tr. 12636 (Head). |
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Original Report: State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, City of Los Angeles, California, City of San Diego, California, and County of San Diego, California |