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Secrets of the Canyon: A Memoir of the Vanishing Era of Trading Posts
Paperback
Publisher: Milton & Hugo
Published: Jun 5 2026
Pages: 326
Weight: 1.29
Height: 0.89 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
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. Their stone walls began to collapse and crumble, eventually returning to Mother Earth.
Knowing that her parents' history was buried in the ashes of her beloved Na-ah-tee Canyon Trading Post, the author feared their story might not ever be told. So with pure passion, she sifted through the rubble and sorted through the memories, brushing away decades of dust and debris. Gradually, she, the daughter of an old Indian trader put pen to paper and uncovered a forgotten world. Breathing life back into a story that might have otherwise faded into obscurity.
This is their story. This is her story too.
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