Eds. Note: This story was originally published by the Canyon Echo and the San Juan County Historical Commission in July 1996 as part of the 'Life Along the San Juan River' historical series. It's being republished online with permission from the author. By Beth E. King, PhD This is the story of one of the … Continue reading The Utah Navajos Relocation in the 1950s: Life Along the San Juan River (originally pub. July 1996)

Through numerous western movies and, more recently, a multitude of commercials and advertisements, millions of people from around the world readily recognize the monoliths of Monument Valley. Despite the region's incredibly diverse topography, ranging from yawning chasms to saw-toothed, alpine mountains, it is Monument Valley’s red sandstone buttes, mesas, and pinnacles that most people consider the quintessential image of the American Southwest.

There is a narrow strip of land in southern Utah which stretches from East to West, from the Colorado border to Navajo Mountain. It is roughly bounded on the north by the San Juan River, and on the south by the Arizona state line. It is the frontier where American expansion ran aground in the muddy waters of the San Juan River. It is the northern edge of the Navajo Nation, whose boundaries have shifted as readily, and almost as often, as the sands of the river itself, since its establishment by the Treaty of 1868.

By Ellen Meloy | Our simplest perception of the San Juan River is one of physics digested by the senses: sun on water, the graceful curve of a meander, best felt through the membrane of a boat, or the rasp of water over sand as the river shifts, sorts, and reshapes its silty load.