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Show NAVAJO COUNTRY REBORN 153 The oldAneth Trading Post stood at the mouth ofMcElmo Creek. Photograph courtesy of the Library of the State Historical Society of Colorado. at least as much right as the whites. When the tension led to a shooting or a killing, the settlers first blamed the Navajos. Then they called for cavalry and insisted that the Navajos be returned by force to the reservation south of the river. In many cases, the settlers' complaints were based on nothing more than greed. The San Juan area must have been a hard place to live for both settlers and Indians. In spite of the seeming friendship between Mitchell and the Navajos, arguments and even shootings were common. Very few of the original settlers made a home on McElmo Creek. In 1880, shortly after Bluff was founded, about half of the town's residents left, and those who stayed asked the Mormon church twice if they could give up the town entirely. Another town at Montezuma Creek fared no better. Haashkeneinii Biye' One of Mitchell's sons, Ernest, was killed in 1881. He and James Merrick died while prospecting in Monument Valley, and Navajos were blamed for the killings. Haashkeneinii Biye', the only son of Haashkeneinii, told the story this way: . . . [Merrick and Mitchell] came into our country, found father's mine, took some samples, and got out again without being seen. Later they came back for more samples. On their |
