50 Years Ago: Congress wants to to flood part of rez

Navajo tribal leaders have learned that Congress plans to flood part of the Navajo Reservation and of, course, they are not happy about it.

What this all centers around is a proposal to construct two massive dams to generate hydroelectric power in the Grand Canyon area. The two dams would be at Marble Canyon and Hualapai.

Navajo officials have learned that if the Marble Canyon Dam is built, approximately 46 miles of Navajo reservation land on the eastern side of the Grand Canyon would be flooded.

Navajo Tribal Chairman Raymond Nakai told reporters that no one told the tribe the affects of building the dam. No one even asked the tribe’s consent to flood the land.

It appears that no Navajo families live on the land or if they do, procedures have been set up to move them to a different area and provide them with new and better homes.

What angered Nakai, he said, is the fact that those supporting the had been planning to get this through Congress without once telling anyone that the Navajos were being left in the dark.

Annie Wauneka, probably one of the most influential members of the Navajo tribal Council, said she was also upset because the construction of the dam would destroy many spectacular scenic views “which have survived thousands of years.”

This would render a large mass of land, she said, that are potentially among the most valuable touristy attractions on the reservation unusable.

She also pointed out that the two dams, which are estimated to cost over $850 million to build are totally unnecessary.

“We have learned that hydropower cannot possibly compete with cheaper thermo-electric plants stoked with reservation coal or with nuclear power,” she said.

She added that it didn’t make sense for the Navajos to support these dams given the recent signing of coal agreements and the fact that several major uranium companies were taking out hundreds of tons of uranium annually from lands on and near the reservation.

A fact to remember about those days. Everybody was pro-uranium. This was decades before the tribe learned about the negative sides of uranium mining so it was just looked upon as a good source of income for the tribe and a source of jobs for the Navajo people.

` In other news, we can put this is the positively suspect type of news but some area newspaper seemed to really get excited about it.

Sam Billison, who is opposing Nakai in the next election, has released poll results which shows that he has a slight lead over Nakai in the race for tribal chairman.

Billison has had people go to the chapters and do some surveys to determine if the primary election were held on that date, Billson would have a slight lead over Nakai.

In his survey, he was the top voter getter in 48 chapters and Nakai was in the lead in 40 chapters. Some 10 chapters were too close to count.

This is the second poll that Billiman has taken in the past month which showed him in the lead.

Nakai didn’t response much to the first story but this time he put out a release saying it was impossible to poll Navajos and get an accurate result.

According to his list, he was ahead in almost all of the major communities but Nakai still had the support of most of the smaller chapters,
This was the age when chapter meetings really meant something because a large portion of the chapter’s adult population attended these meetings religiously and took an active part in approving or rejecting resolutions.

Billison used the occasion to brag a little about this ability to reach any segment of the Navajo population as soon as he had a chance. What the chapter surveys showed is that Billison had a wide range of support from young Navajos.

What he didn’t take into consideration is that there were forces afoot to make sure that the administration’s viewpoint be sacked. What he wanted was to get a 20 percent stake to fund the scholarship program so he could take business courses after he steps down as tribal chairman.

And finally,the Navajo Tribe is being sued for $500,000 by attorneys representing a man who was severely disfigured in a fire that occurred that occrred in april of 1964.

Raymond Legah, 20, ws staying in the home of his uncle, Todd Manygoats. Manygoats lived in a home he leased from the Navajo Forest Products Industries.

The fire was apparently started when a gasoline line near his uncle’s residence exploded.

Legah claimed it was because the neglience of the tribe that caused the leak and the explosion.

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