CANYON LANDS

In "Canyon Lands" two mid-19th century Navajo braves, wearing silver and feathered regalia, post against the rugged beauty of their homeland. Until Kit Carson's troops forced them onto reservations in the 1860s, nomadic Navajos roamed freely about the canyon lands of New Mexico and Arizona. They easily adopted the customs of some other Native peoples, including the peaceful Pueblo, who taught them to weave and raise corn. However, the Navajo often fought with other tribes, Spanish colonists and later American settlers in the area. Warriors such as these in "Canyon Lands" raided settlements for horses and sheep, especially during the years between the Mexican and Civil Wars. After Carson's successful 1863 attack on their stronghold at Arizona's Canyon de Chelly, the Navajo surrendered to reservation life and peacefully took up herding and silversmithing.