Cowboy and Indian trader
Joseph Schmedding; Introduction by Jack Schaefer
- Albuquerque, NM University of New Mexico Press 1974
- 364 p.
Reprint of the ed. published by Caxton Printers, Caldwell, Idaho; with new introd.
Go west, young man -- We ride to New Mexico -- History and geography -- Albuquerque -- A new hand for the Triangle Bar Triangle -- Freighting to Chaco Canyon -- Pueblo Bonito, the stupendous -- The Triangle Bar Triangle -- Navajo Indians -- The outfit -- Mormons -- Christmas -- Bill Finn -- Diversions -- Making collections in navajoland -- On the trail to Walpi -- The Hopi snake dance -- Good-by to Pueblo Bonito -- Thoreau -- Arizona-bound -- Arizona -- The end of one camping trip -- Life at a trading post -- Exit of an Indian trader.
During the early years of the twentieth century, when he was still in teens, the author of this book worked as a cowboy on the Triangle Bar Triangle Ranch at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, on the edge of the Navajo Reservation. This was the famous Wetherill ranch, located barely a stone's throw from the spectacular Anasazi ruins of Pueblo Bonito. Schmedding's absorbing account of his years as a cowboy and his later experiences at nearby Sanders and Keams Canyon trading posts in Arizona offer an authentic view of the day-to-day life of real cowboys and real Indians, mingled with fascinating glimpses of the pioneering archaeological activities of the Wetherills and the Hyde exploring expedition -- Back cover.; The author recalls his experiences as a cowboy during the early-twentieth century, describing Navajo life and the famous Wetherill archaeological investigations of Anasazi ruins