John Ford's Point:
I once read; the 1939 movie Stagecoach created three icons: John Wayne, John Ford, and these 30,000 acres of land along the Utah-Arizona border—a recognized landscape; as familiar to Americans as the Grand Canyon. This iconic symbol of the American West, Monument Valley, is truly breathtaking with its open empty spaces and sandstone rock formations. It is regarded by many as the sacred heart of the Navajo Nation. According to ancient tribal beliefs, their forefathers' spirits have ascended into the afterlife to become part of the mountains, the rocks, and the streams. Their spiritual guides walk the land showing the people the path to the ancestral ways.
John Ford's Point: Film director John Ford used this peninsula in the classic 1956 western 'The Searchers,' starring John Wayne and Natalie Wood. Today, tourists can recreate an iconic image of a lone Navajo rider on a horse standing at the edge of the point for just $2.00 per person. The main summits in view are Sentinel Mesa, West Mitten Butte, Big Indian, Merrick Butte, and the Castle Rock-Stagecoach group.
The word Navajo comes from Tewa Navahu, meaning highly cultivated lands, a Pueblo Indian word for planted fields or farmlands. The Pueblo Indians gave them the name because, unlike their relatives, the Apache, the Navajos farmed and lived in settled villages. The Spanish called them the Apaches of Navajo or translated from the original Spanish phrase, the Apaches that cultivated the land. The Navajo people (also referred to as Navajo Indians, a name not used or liked by the people) call themselves 'Dine' or 'The People.'
The Dine was the largest Native American tribe on the American frontier. The tribe stretched across what is today Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. Unlike their Apache nomads, the Dine established permanent villages on the arid landscape, building structures known as Hogan's; a domed shaped shelter with a wood frame and walls constructed of sticks, clay, and tree bark. The single entrance to a Hogan spiritually faced east towards the rising sun. Today, the Navajo (as they're more commonly referred to by outsiders) have a reservation that spans into northern Arizona, northwest New Mexico, and southeast Utah: equal to the combined areas of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The Navajo population remains strong, with young people remaining close to their families and following their tribes' rich cultural heritage.
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