BvBETSEY BRUNERSun Staff .RePQrter '

'rwooffidalS with the National Park Serviee

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AGREEMENTS ment, they will have six for her- safety, their prop- life living with- yourmonths to move out of erty and animals!" mother, at Wupatki,'andfrom Page Al .

. '- -the monument." ;'L'he family has copies of wjll fa~ea significantAlso,fa~ily can stay Chung iand StlitlqadeIi flie·necess~ry,keys.; incppvehierice whenj her

with Smith, who is 85. said the locked gate.'be- ),"04r staff worked very 'existmg~lifetime use.au-"If they want to just fore themaintenance yarcld6sely with, Anthony' to thorization 'terminates,"

live in her house with. on the-road that leads to make sure-that works for said a letter from South-her, that is allowed," Smith's home was -re- .them:' Strickfaden said. west- Paril{s "and Monu-Chung said. "We have quested by Anthony Davis, In an agreement signed .merits Association, whichtold them that. The only Smith's grandson. JSept..7, 1994, Helen .and approved the sxpenditurething is when she passes '''He was worried-about Apthony'pavis, Smith'soffunds to'\vard compen-on that they nolonger,unauthortzed~~cce'$:s" to.' daughter: and son - in; law, $(J.fion:'"It.is our' unGer - .have rights to that area. Stella's house:' hef.said. signed papers authoriz-· ,<standIng thrlt Hie Nation-According to the agree- "They have had concern.', lng'an exchange oftheir at Park Ser~i'ice has been

......Claims of "customaryuse assisting you-with findingof-areas in.themonument ajhome site. suitable tofor the purchase of land .yon and your .family,"for the family in Doney , '!'he Davis, fa roily diet, in .Park. ". -:» fact; obtai1TEp'lfOpeJ;t,Y.:i:n..."we also" undersfand: D()ney Park,'; vvhere~Jihey'

that you have spent your still live. <'-- .' _d'-..o

A''R I Z 0 N

l-~a:=:=:::nySun

On a nice.day last fall,a young Navajo, An-thony (Tony) Davis,

walked across his ancestralland in Wupatkr NationalMonument, with his sights,set on a two-room stonehouse on a bluff about aquarter mile from the mod-ern visitor center. '

Although cautioned by hismother Helen and others to stayclear of the house, he was on aquest to document t1ie historyof his family, the descendants ofPeshlakai Etsidi, an itilluential .,headman among his people andDavis' great - great - grandfather,

The house holds the body ofhis great-grandfather, Clyde.Peshlakai, who served as actingcaretaker of the monument inthe 1930S and '40s. ' ,. After his death in 1970, his

remains were left ins-ide thestone home, which should P-?tbe visited by the living, accord-ing to Navajo burial traditions.. However, for Davis, 32,the

visit was vital to his efforts, todocument his family's landclaims in the area. .'

"I see it like strength:' saidDavis; who shot video and' .photos. "To me, he exists t~ me ~- my great - grandfather exists- :to me. Iwent up there to pray: . :'I got this quest, we need your •help: My grandmother Stella, :actually did a prayer out there, :too. Istood outside; we can't go -:inside the house!' :

Davis is one of a new genera - .;tion of Navajo who are well- ::.educated and finding more way~ :to pursue issues that concern :their people. •

I MANY CLAIMS ON LAND :~Claims to land r-ights in the :

Wupatki area, located 26 miles •north of Flagstaff ana, accessed :via HighwaySo, go back in oral •history to before the Long Walk ~of 1864, Davis said; :

See'ROOTS. A8 •

Arizona. Daily Sun-« Slm/lay, Apm3, 2~",

ROOT,S' . , ;"fromPageAf

'.On that infamousjourn~y, Peshlakad~:tsid~

. ;:was just a DO},and oneof thousands of Navajo

, who ~er,~ forcibly sent ', ·by the' tJ:S. Airily to a"igrim res';rvation il1 ~e!Mexico caned Bosque "Redondo., f' ,

The beaut:y of the red~rocks and the .9raw· of a, *

land fertile ertQughto' :c'

grow the three "sis~eis;'"- maize,cIimtiing beans

'and SQuash - drew Pesh-lakaiEtsidi and his .fafnily

.. back to Wupatki after 'they were :released tramthe reservation in NewMexico .. ,' ,

This 'is also the land Qfancient Wupatki, a~epicstory of the Southwestspanning at le~stc:f,9'0@"

, years to the presen~, and .distinguished by farfl.l-ingsubsistence, pottery

, technology, villages andpueblos. . <,

, Marty,people thUOligh'" the years have put cLaii!1s

on the land, inelud- ~..,•. 'fug cattle ranchers wh~

coveted the.rich grazing"-:'lands from.the 188()s to

_ the ]1)l1esen:t....-=~--"'--

Iamescita Peshl?kai,whose grandmother is"K~therine PeshJakai,th.i'!

~1C!stWife of Glyde,re-" ' ,'members driWng past thestone house.when she wasyoung.' ,, "We qlll1iidtb a';'erf our,eyes:"sh,e S":aid."T€myhas

.' ~,to take thQsepictutes forthe fainily, to heip with the'land claim," " : "" ', ,Her'father, James, Pesh,,-lakai, a traditional teacher, 'artist and me9idne man,was born and ·raised inWupahi. "

As part ofthe extended,

, 'Archaeologists also .hadgreat interest in the area,"-

. whi€h was redolent with.terimants of ancestral .::c. !

.• pueblo people; or ~asazi,incIudirlg J1ieir ~rumbling ,buildings .

In order to preserve

. ',~Da;vi~is' working withF@rgotten People" a '

t- n()fiprofit"--t>rgawzation~de~Ga!ed tou.elping ~9m~munities ih the 'western 'N~vajo area with sanita-

~,lion,low-cost housing,"".sustainable agriculture,'safe:water, solar energy.forced nilo:cation -and.l~ddisputes~, ,<'

:tie is also w0rkirig WithDr. Lee Greer, of'La SierraUniversity in Riverside,

- G&i£. .::wbQ,isstudyingancient Anasazi DNA and.it~Fli:l.~.~ibl~rQlnHc\",.ok';.".&,,, .

daughter.and Tony's. m:oth~r, IE-adeth'e. trip

, ~th them, joining I?roes-;-Gltaaf~~he rallfj1.

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Sunday, April 3, 2011 From theFront 11i)ge, Al'iZI)IIIt'Baily Suu - azdailysull.com, , '\ .

"So, Helen arid I are&ters in away;' saidJ<nescita, as they sharefhlSa"R.e~rtfi2~~ butarffh~l ~f:kH7Rtdt1fls'"through their moth- ~' . 'ers :...Towering House .(Helen) and Tangle People'(Jamescita).

Although she and her, 'husband, Anthony S~.,live in Doney Park, Helen ~said she would like to .move back to Wupatki,where she was raised, even rums just south of the '

, though she relinquished vi-sitor center. . .that rightia 1994" ac- ;.' ' }Fdny-Datis saicl:hiscording to Park Service' grandmother was borndocuments. . in Gray Mountain.dur-

"I still want to move ing the pinon season inback;' she said. "We November, but, after her 'want to have our ani - mother died, was Jaisedinals. I still have horses:·' fr01R :2years 0n if!.Wu :?,We had to fight to 'stay patki by her grandfather,on the land, because .my Peshlakai Etsidi.;.. ,grandfather said, 'Let~' She had to move in themy elill en stay! Clyde mid -1970s, he said, 'after.Eashlakai is our gr~nd - l the family,4touse WP on "',

, ather, ami ourgrand ~ higher lantI Burned €I.ownJi

r children should Be living " The Park Service request-=---= over here!'. 1 Today, Stella's sheep

i farm is nestled in a little

lcanyon with cottonwoodsand willows, near Wukolti

d my brother and Iwilen we wereyoung, we'd go exploring through

Fhecanyon," he said. "My motherould say, 'Don't go too far!' or'on't go in some places!' " ..After leaving his job "as a civil "

engineer in Phoenix to help his~amily here, he is still exploringWupatki. . .

"I've gone out there on foot,", hesaid. "There are still a lot of emptynomesteads still existing., Theyha;yehogans, corrals \IDdareas where theyfarmed before,"

VIVID- MEMORY OF t10MEJames Peshlakai had two da1;lgh-

ters and two sons in addition toJamescita. "

One of eight children of Clydeand Katherine Peshlakai, today , ~. " -he lives with his wife, ~ae, in a. ,"J~escita said. ;'The b9fden oftne : Wupatld area'are long dead and leftNavajo Housing Authority home III .whele R,edHQuse clan.is onher-,/: ,;their ruins there. ".',,' ;;~ .Cameron. .' shoulders .,. We're stillchere, and ":"'~'. "As a littl~,kia, Iwa's realiyupseL

"We are members of the wan- -we're stillfightiPg!' , about it;' she-recalled. "I said, 'Myde ring people, descendants of the . At a birthday'party March io, 'family is from there!'They war:t toConquistadors [Spanish explorers Jamescita's sister Shalla ~ec~~d • erase !he pe~rle who lived there notof rsth and ioth centuries];' James, bavingto move from theF'ol'~g1-: too long ago. ' . ' . .Peshlakai-said. "My mother told me""hal heme nearthe'v~~;i:tQr oent~r in ~" He,r':nother, ~ae Peshlal<m, s~dwhat Peshlakai' Etsidi was telling the monument, to across the m~er _..-:her chtldren still ha:re a.bond WIthher about those shiys with those to Blac!t' Falls, w.!ric;:hhappened ~ the land of .Wup~tkl. , . .' _heads on the noses of the boats'. It's . about 1978. "',' : "These kids still have the cO~,eejust now I'm cofmec1~ingthose ships "One day we were jus.t packed up;' ti0nt~Qugh the:rr.gralldmo~~er, dwith my grandfather!' . . ~ said Shal~a:Peshlakm Gerber;,~?o ~ tc. she s:ud:. "They stilllgve their lan~.

His mother, I{atherine, is 91 and .was 7'when fQt~Ela.te :elocat~~We .'. Youean~vei+w~Yfrop1:~our;ho!?~~,, li . d' Flagstaff leaving her -drove across the river'and over the land until you.die, butif s stlllvividIS VIll",III '" ,,,, th horni d . r went' f "sheep ranch across the Little Colo - hill t~, e o~e, an ~e ~ever we..:. .. ..:?_r_y~o_u_.._~' ~~'__ ~~-'-;-_"""""_rado in the care of her daughter, back.. ' .' h nl;' Betse\~Bruner can be reached at .~."" _ or . She said p'eople think t eo y , ~ '.I _ '" _ ., ~_",u>.5ITI ' •

If YOU GO ••...WHAT: Gathering for Mother~arth 2011,fe,aturin[".i3 sunriseJ1Jn,bre"~Rtast,"afts"'''and crafts, food booths, dances, specialtributes toNavajo sheep, goats and sheep r

dogs. .WHEN: Saturday, May.? "

. WtfERE: I9tflLibei:§chool;'QlIm,eron,(, . ~" ,,'INfO: (92'8) 206-2ffi93- ' ,

WHAT: Wupatki National Moii~_menfSt;erircdriveJrails..and pueblgs.are§per troni. > 1

" sunrise tosunset Tne Visitor.'eenter is openfrom 9 am, to 5 p,m: "WHERE: 26 miles north of Flagstaff vig ."'-

,Highway 89, .AD&JISSION:$5 penp€-fsonWee !Qrchildren'16;yea(.sand unde~. '. ",c,,'

ItjFO: (928) '679·2365

See ROOTS, A9 -

Wupatld. area rich in history, culture.sterlc Wupatki represents a cui-ral crossroads,home to numerousoops of people ov~r th,oijsands otiars. inclucling the earl'l~stsettlers,Ie Sir\~gua, Cohonlna and Kayer.\ta~asall.ln adpitjontP 'bh,epee;arlYjI:mter-g(l.tberers,r;rlany@eople~~e chlleclWttpatki heme, sueh .1$fanners,nenders, ran{jt.1ersan~,:aretakeris.'

I' ~

, i

Surldny, Allril3, 20tI-

.,........ In April ••••••••• ,... Peshlakai Etsididied and was buried on a .hogan in theWupatki National'Monument, near today's visitorcenter.

1938-43 ~~~idCQurtney Jones were thesecond rangers at Wupatki,where they lived and worked.A second assignment asrangers went from 1945 to1948. Courtney Reeder Joneswrote a book about theexperience, "Letters fromWupatki."

1945,. During her'. . . sheepherding

duties in Wupatki, Katherine .Peshlakai gave birth to herson, James Peshlakai, wholives today in Cameron and ISa respected authority on.the >

Navajo Way.-1956 ~Iyde. Pesh/akai -.discovered the

blowhole, a unique geologicfeature near the Wupatki Ball- .Court.

1970 In December, .Cylde Peshlakal

dies and is buried north ofthe visitor centerln Wupatki,in a stone house that is stillstanding. .

2005 E~~ibits at thevisitor center

at Wupatki reopened after a ".redesign. New displays givevoice to the Wupatki historyof the Peshlakais and otherNative American families andtribes including the Zuni andHopi.

- Sources: Family historyrelated by James Pesklakai,family records from An-thony Davis, "Days Past"articles by Richard Mangumin Mountain Living Magazine; ,Wupatki Pueblo Trail Guide bySouthwest Parks and Monu-ments Association; Wikipe-dia; "America's Best idea n

broadcast, Rose Houk for 'KNAU; Visitor Center displayplacards at Wupatki NationalMonument, National Park .Service websites forWupatkiand Sunset Crater votcsno ;national monuments.---

A6 -Sunday, April 3, 2011