Geographic Reference

A small Navajo community located in northwestern New Mexico, on the eastern edge of the Chaco Canyon. Pueblo Pintado is one of the many chapters of the Navajo Nation, whose government system consists of five agencies (Chinle, Crownpoint, Fort Defiance, Shiprock, and Tuba City), with several local chapters within each agency. Each chapter has an administrative meeting place known as the chapter house, where the community gathers to discuss a variety of issues concerning life on the reservation. Pueblo Pintado, which in Spanish means "Painted Village," is named after one of the ancient ruin sites in the Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

A small community located in northwestern New Mexico, on the eastern side of the Navajo Reservation. Standing Rock is one of the many chapters of the Navajo Nation, whose government system consists of five agencies (Chinle, Crownpoint, Fort Defiance, Shiprock, and Tuba City), with several local chapters within each agency. Each chapter has an administrative meeting place known as the chapter house, where the community gathers to discuss a variety of issues concerning life on the reservation. Standing Rock is named Tse'ii'ahi in Navajo, which literally means "Rock Pointing Upward."

A small community located in northwestern New Mexico, on the eastern border of the Navajo Reservation. The Navajo Nation government system consists of five agencies (Chinle, Crownpoint, Fort Defiance, Shiprock, and Tuba City) with several local chapters within each agency. Each chapter has an administrative meeting place known as the chapter house, where the community gathers to discuss a variety of issues concerning life on the reservation. The Ojo Encino chapter was established in 1957 after some of the surrounding lands, which were occupied by Spanish families since the time of the Spanish conquest, were returned to the Navajo people. The Spanish name Ojo Encino means "Oak Springs," while the original Navajo name Tse'chizhi' Bito' means "Water Among Rough Rock."

Today, there are actually three Ute tribal reservations, the result of European-American settlement and the Colorado Gold Rush that began in 1859. Traditionally, the Ute ranged throughout the Four Corners and the western portion of Colorado, greatly facilitated in mobility as they gained horses from early Spanish settlers and the Plains tribes. However, beginning in 1849 a series of treaties were signed which progressively limited the lands on which the Ute could live. The final reservation boundaries were created as of the 1890s, although litigation in the 20th century restored to the Ute some portions of their traditional lands.

The Northern Ute reservation is on the Utah-Colorado border and was settled by the Whiteriver, Uintah, and Uncompaghre bands. The Southern Ute reservation is in southern Colorado and was settled by the Muache and Capote Utes. The The Ute Mountain Ute reservation is on the Colorado-New Mexico border and was settled by the Weeminuche Ute.

Acoma is both the name of a pueblo group who reside in western New Mexico and the name of the actual pueblo, also known as Sky City. Acoma Pueblo is situated on top of a high mesa top, and until a road was constructed in 1950’s from the valley floor to the top of the mesa, the only way to access the pueblo was by a steep foot path. The community of Acoma includes residential pueblo houses and ceremonial kivas. This pueblo is one of the oldest continually occupied settlements in North America.

Although the Pueblo culture is generally considered peaceful, Pueblo communities often found themselves the target of raids by their more mobile neighbors, including the Navajo, Apache, Comanche, and Ute. In addition, the Spanish first made contact with the pueblo around 1540, when Coronado was exploring the Southwest. However, it wasn’t until the second Spanish attempt to conquer this region in 1598 that tensions between Pueblo groups and the colonizers heightened. These tensions eventually led to a battle in the streets of Acoma against Vincente de Zaldivar, the nephew of the first governor of Nuevo Mexico, Don Juan de Onate. During the skirmish, Zaldivar fell to his death off the mesa. Three days later, Onateled a second attack and accomplished the massacre of between 800 to 1,000 Acoma. Onate then subjected the survivors to further penalties, including mutilation of males over the age of 25 and years of forced servitude for women and children. The historical trauma of this event is still very much alive today. In 1998, a group of Acoma cut off the heavy bronze foot of a statue dedicated to Onate in symbolic protest to the celebration of such atrocities.

A small community on the Navajo reservation, located at the foot of the eastern slope of Black Mesa in Apache County in northeast Arizona. The Navajo name for the area is Tséchʼízhí (meaning Rough Rock), the name that was also given to the town’s trading post in the late 1920s.

One of the longest mountain ranges in North America, the Rocky Mountains are located in the western United States and span from northern Alberta and British Columbia in Canada south to the state of New Mexico. The range is divided into 4 separate subranges: the Canadian Rockies; the Northern Rockies of Montana; the Middle Rockies in Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho; and the Southern Rockies that extend into Colorado and New Mexico. Each section has its own geology, rock types, and geologic formations.

Throughout the front and back ranges of the Rockies, evidence exists of human occupation by various Native American groups as early as 10,000 years ago. In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson created Rocky Mountain National Park to protect the range, its beauty, and its wildlife. In addition, the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) essentially follows along the backbone of the Rockies from the Canadian to the Mexican borders.

A high school located in Tuba City, Arizona, serving students from the surrounding rural parts of the Navajo Nation Reservation and the Hopi Reservation in Northeastern Arizona. The school, which was founded in 1935, was and still is a very small institution. The graduating classes of the first few years consisted of one alumnae each, 1986 had a record number of 29 graduating students, and the class of 2015 had six graduating students.

Located in Northern Arizona, Tuba Mesa is one of the many relatively small mesas that make up the large Colodaro Plateau. The name refers to Tuba City, one of the main communities on the Navajo Reservation, which was built on the mesa.

Short Mountain is a fictional area that Tony Hillerman describes as extremely empty and barren. It is located east of Tuba City near Black Mesa, Arizona.