50 Years Ago: Nakai drums up publicity for centennial year

Navajo Tribal Chairman Raymond Nakai wants 1968 to be recognized by the federal government as the “Year of the Navajo.”

He announced plans this week to seek a congressional resolution recognizing the Navajo Tribe and the Navajo people for all they have accomplished in the hundred years since the signing of the Treaty of 1868. He’s gotten U.S. Sen. Joseph Montoya, D-N.M., on board to propose legislation to go before Congress early in 1968 and he has been in contact with other government officials like President Lyndon B. Johnson to get on board with the plan as well.

The idea, he said, is to get as many government officials as possible to agree to participate in at least some of the activities being planned in 1968 so the tribe will get national publicity and hopefully get a lot of Americans interested in coming to the reservation in the summer of 1868 to join in the festivities.

“I want everyone in the United States talking about the Navajos in 1968,” Nakai said. Montoya agreed, releasing a statement saying it was fitting that the United States should pay tribute to the Navajos at this time. “They have a future as bright as their living heritage,” he said.

Nakai also announced that the tribe has asked the U.S. Postal Service to be part of the celebration by issuing a commemorative Navajo centennial stamp. In other news, as the weather got colder and most of the reservation was still coping with massive amounts of snow, Nakai issued a statement in connection with a tragedy that was reported to have occurred this week in Tuba City when an elderly woman and a young girl died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

The cause of the poisoning, said Indian Health Service officials, was the family’s decision to burn charcoal briquets in their pickup camper to stay warm. The deceased were identified in an article on the front page of the Times as Widow Manybeads, 70, and her granddaughter, Cornelia Maaybeads, 14.

Three other members of the Manybeads family, including the girl’s parents, were hospitalized. The Times reported that the family was believed to have been en route between camps when they parked their camper in the Black Mesa area to spend the night. To provide heat during the night, they filled a can with charcoal briquets, lighted them and placed them in the enclosed camper. IHS officials said the three survivors were lucky because when they were found by relatives in the morning, all were unconscious.

Dr. John Muth, head of the IHS in Tuba City, warned others about burning charcoal in an enclosed space. “It’s as lethal,” he said, “as going to sleep in a garage with the car engine running.” While he said this was a first for him, he recalled a situation several years ago when four persons died in a hogan from burning charcoal briquets to keep warm.

The Times reported this week that at least eight persons had died as a result of the snowstorms that have been hitting this area in the last two weeks. The victims included:

• A crippled sheepherder found dead in a snowdrift near Teec Nos Pos, Arizona (name unknown).

• An infant at Big Arrows near Lupton, Arizona. (name not released yet).

• An infant at Tolani Lake, Arizona (name not released yet).

• Frank Tsosie and Harry Tsosie, brothers found dead five miles south of Inscription House, Arizona.

• Dan Tacheni, who lives in the Low Mountain, Arizona, area.

• Ambrose Leslie, 30, at Big Arrows.

• Lilly Crookedfinger, 50, at Cow Springs, Arizona.

Livestock losses were expected to be in the thousands. One family alone lost 45 head of sheep and tribal rangers said whole herds of sheep may have died throughout the reservation.

Chapters were still sending in pleas for food to help stranded families. One such request came from Albert Tsosie in Hardrock, Arizona, and within a couple of hours two two-ton trucks loads with food was on the way to that area. Tribal officials were reporting that trucks from all over the country were coming in daily carrying food and supplies.

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