Secrets of the Canyon: A Memoir of the Vanishing Era of Trading Posts

Countless movies, books, and documentaries have been created about Native Americans and the 1800s era of the Southwest. But little is known about the isolated and obscure lives of the old Indian traders and the remote trading posts of the mid-20th century. To preserve that fading world, the author tells this story through a nonlinear memoir format. It was a unique lifestyle and an eccentric business-an undertaking that required a rare breed to figure out. Their "cross to bear" was not just learning the Navajo language; they had to learn through trial and error, at the cost of their own mistakes. How much wool and how many lambs were too much or too little? Even the old, seasoned traders hadn't mastered the secrets of wool and lamb seasons. But they all agreed on one thing: the life of isolation and quiet solitude was not a challenge, it was one of the rewards. By the early 1980's the culture of the reservation had shifted toward a more modern era.The old trading posts, in every hidden corner of the Navajo reservation, were neglected, unkempt and eventually abandoned.