He Stood for Us Strongly

The San Juan River was still running deep that July of 1943. The cottonwood leaves trembled slightly in the midday heat, with an occasional breeze snaking its way along the dirt road that ran beside the red rock bluffs north of the river. Ada Benally remembers shading her eyes and looking across the brown, roiling water at the approaching dust cloud that billowed above the far bank. The hum of vehicle engines stopped, the opening and closing of truck doors sounded in the distance, and the dust began to settle. Ada wondered what was happening. The sights and sounds came from a section along the river where Navajos and Utes had traditionally picked sumac berries, wild spinach, and herbs. Perhaps these people had come for that purpose. She decided to wait and see, since the river was too high, too fast, and there was no boat to take her across.' Had Ada been able to ford the river, she would have witnessed the establishment of the Saint Christopher's Mission, located two miles outside of Bluff, Utah. Ada would also later be counted as one among several hundred of the mission's future baptized members

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• Navaho Religion. A Study of Symbolism

  Open Access•Leland C Wyman•American Anthropologist•1950

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• Some Kind of Power

  Carol M Hampton, Margaret K Brady•Western Historical Quarterly•1986

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