Tag: John Wetherill

Canyon Kiddies …by Harvey Leake

by stiles • August 1, 2021 • 1 Comment

The artist and cartoonist, James Swinnerton, on the right with some real canyon kiddies—Betty and Fanny Wetherill

If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it…

Discovery …by Harvey Leake

by stiles • May 31, 2021 • 5 Comments

A steep section of the Rainbow Bridge trail that the Townsends called The Limit

The Indians found it long before the white men came.—John Wetherill, commenting on the discovery of Rainbow Natural Bridge “The discovery of a natural bridge surpassing in size anything heretofore found is the news brought to this city this morning…

Finding Value in Hardships …By Harvey Leake

by stiles • March 31, 2021 • 2 Comments

Stuart Young’s photo of the expedition members just after they forded the swollen San Juan River. Back row, left to right: Byron Cummings, William Blum, Neil Judd, Edgar Lee Hewett, Dogeye Begay. Front row: Malcolm Cummings, Randolph, Donald Beauregard, and John Wetherill.

The most inaccessible, least known, and roughest portion of the Navajo Reservation is bounded by the Navajo, Colorado, San Juan, and Piute canyons. […] Buttes, mesas, and small domes predominate and are so tightly packed that the base of one…

A Satisfied Mind …By Harvey Leake

by stiles • January 31, 2021 • 4 Comments

The spiritual home of the traditional Navajos was their enduring natural surroundings rather than their temporary hogan shelters. Nede Cloey (Nii'ditt'oii) at his hogan in Tsegi Canyon

The wealthiest personIs a pauper at timesCompared to the manWith a satisfied mind —From the song “A Satisfied Mind,” by Joe “Red” Hayes and Jack Rhodes “I don’t think Mr. Harriman is very rich. He has not as much money…

Kayenta, Then and Now …By Harvey Leake

by stiles • November 30, 2020 • 10 Comments

On one of her early trips to Kayenta, Lillian Wilhelm and her friends had to revert to old ways. Elephants Feet formation in the background. “Each time a Navajo hitched his ponies to a stubborn mass of metal and towed it to its destination, he thought a white man was stupid to forget that a horse was his best friend,” wrote Lillian’s friend, Mildred Kaye Smith.

“We had spent one night at Kayenta. No one could be even that short a time in the Wetherills’ house, hearing them talk, seeing the beautiful things hanging on their walls, without catching some of the riches to be found…

Trials and Travails of a Park Ranger: John Wetherill at Navajo National Monument …By Harvey Leake

by stiles • September 30, 2020 • 6 Comments

“Whereas, a number of prehistoric cliff dwellings and pueblo ruins, situated within the Navajo Indian Reservation, Arizona, and which are new to science and wholly unexplored, and because of their isolation and size are of the very greatest ethnological, scientific…

Through the Camera’s Lens: Historic Images Tell Stories of Early Canyon Country Adventures …By Harvey Leake

by stiles • August 2, 2020 • 4 Comments

Kolb Brothers photograph of visitors to the South Rim, November, 1912

My great grandparents, John and Louisa Wetherill, left a legacy that includes thousands of historic photographs they collected down through the years and preserved to pass on to future generations. These images, along with textual records, have been invaluable in…

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