50 Years Ago: Solving the water problem for Navajo and Gallup

You could say that the birth of the idea for the Navajo-Gallup Water Pipeline began with a letter that was sent to Navajo Tribal Chairman Raymond Nakai on December 10, 1965.

Tribal officials had been talking to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for several years about building a pipeline from the San Juan River down south to the Window Rock area.

But the idea changed radically on the day that then Gallup Mayor Edward Munoz sent a letter suggesting that Gallup and the Navajo tribe go in together to get the pipeline built from the river to Gallup with branches going east and west onto Navajoland.

The idea made a lot of sense both to Gallup and tribal officials.

By having Gallup join the effort, the tribe could get a non-Native government putting pressure on area Congressional leaders to get behind the project. And for Gallup, it would mean a solution to a growing water shortage that city officials saw would come to a head someday and force the city to start rationing water.

Maurice McCabe, the tribe’s director of administration, was especially gung-ho about the partnership, saying that this might offer a way for the tribe and Gallup to “get together and work out this most serious problem – lack of water.”

He also pointed out that the Navajos weren’t making any headway getting Congress to fund the project which would cost as much as $80 million but with Gallup’s support, there was a good chance that the pipeline would be built and operating by the late 70s.

Of course, he was a little off.

Gallup and the tribe did get together and they did begin putting pressure on Congress to fund the project but it took more than 45 year to get Congress to approve the funding and that $80 million grew to more than $800 million by the time it was approved.

Speaking of the BIA, the move that was in the winds for several weeks, took place 50 years ago – Glenn Landbloom was removed as the BIA’s top official on the reservation.

Sam Billison, head of community services for the tribe, said Landbloom’s removalÊ “came as a complete surprise to our Navajo people,” which in itself was a surprise to many people since the Navajo Times had been hinting at the possibility for the past three weeks.

“We feel that Mr. Landbloom endeavored to act for the benefit of all Navajos and did not show any favoritism to dissatisfied political and pressure groups,” said Billison, which was another surprise since Landbloom had come under serious criticism from some members of the Navajo Tribal Council for taking sides in the battle between the Old Guard on the council and Nakai.

What Billison apparently liked was the fact that in his last year in office, Landbloom had taken steps to beef up security during he council meetings to prevent radical groups like the Navajo Rights Association) to come into the council and try to disrupt the meetings.

“Mr. Landbloom took a strong position defending the orderly legislative processes of the Navajo Tribal Council and removed the leaders of the group from the council chambers,” Billison said.

It was rumored that Graham Holmes was chosen because he was a “yes man” for Interior Secretary Stewart Udall.

This appointment was made, Billison said, without first consulting the tribal council or its advisory committee. Nakai, however, had been informed and endorsed the appointment wholeheartedly, again sparking rumors that Holmes was given the assignment to crush the power of the Old Guard in the tribal government.

Holmes, who would serve as the superintendent for the agency and later as the first area director, would later prove to be an excellent choice serving on the reservation for about 12 years.

Holmes became a major supporter of the idea of allowing the Navajo government to take over various federal programs operating on the reservation.

Another kind of crazy thing is this whole situation was the way Nakai approached the whole issue.

The belief was that if anyone benefited from having Holmes on the reservation it would be Nakai who had complained to everyone in sight that Landbloom was on the side of the Old Guard when it came to determining the future of the tribal government.

Yet, when asked by the Navajo Times several times to issue a statement on the change in superintendents, Nakai declined to give a comment.

When asked repeatedly by the Navajo Times to release a statement on Landbloom’s leaving, Nakai steadfastly refused saying that he still had not received official word from Washington that Landbloom had been replaced. This was after Landbloom came to Nakai’s office and said good-bye saying he was leaving under pressure.

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