Journey of Navajo Oshley: An Autobiography and Life History

Book: Journey of Navajo Oshley: An Autobiography and Life History , by Robert Mcpherson, ISBN10: 087421291X, ISBN13: 9780874212914, Utah State University Press, May 2000, Paperback

Navajo Oshley's oral memoir is set on the northern frontier of Navajo land, principally in the San Juan River basin in southeastern Utah and northeastern Arizona. Born sometime between 1879 and 1893, he tells of his early life near Dennehotso, southeast of Monument Valley, and of his travels, before there were roads or many towns, north along Comb Ridge and across the San Juan to Blue Mountain. A sheepherder, he cared for the herds of his extended family and was drawn to jobs in a growing livestock industry. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Anglos and Navajos expanded their use and settlement of lands north of the San Juan. Grazing lands and the Anglo wage economy drew Navajos across the river, while the complex history of the Dine pushed them north and west. Ak'e Nidzin, who came to be known as Navajo Oshley, was an early arrival. He camped on the future site of the area's largest town, Blanding, Utah, and was an early settler in the adjacent Native community of Westwater, eventually moving into town and becoming one of its most recognized residents.

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Finally the publication of a 1978 interview with Oshley (1882-1988), who recounts his life as a Navajo in the Four Corners area of the US. Along with daily life-ways, he discusses Navajo relations with neighboring tribes and the area Mormons. Photographs intersperse the narrative, and a long introduction sets the historical and biographical context. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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