Memoirs of Roger Max Zimmerman Volume 1 Family

By Roger Zimmerman

This volume covers the family aspects of growing up in a trading post near the Navajo Reservation, attending schools in Gallup, NM, graduating from high school at New Mexico Military Institute, and completing education at the University of Colorado (CU). A 52-year marriage was started at CU, and the volume describes the family and career transitions that included living in Boulder, Co, Las Cruces, NM, and Albuquerque, NM. A Golden Anniversary trip was taken to Spain and Portugal before wife Betty became ill and passed away. Highlights with sons Paul and Mike and grandchildren Matt and Jackie are presented.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roger Zimmerman
• Release date: Feb 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9781735959658

Book preview

MEMOIRS OF

ROGER MAX ZIMMERMAN

VOLUME 1: FAMILY

by

Roger Zimmerman

Smashwords Edition

Published on Smashwords by:

Roger Zimmerman

Memoirs of Roger Max Zimmerman

Volume 1: Family

Copyright 2021 by Roger Zimmerman

ISBN 978-1-7359596-5-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020922418

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

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• • •

About the Cover

The cover shows four mountains that represent places that have greatly influenced my life. Four were selected to recognize the sacred mountains that represent the thinking, knowledge, and the way of life for the Navajo Indians, who were the dominant culture in my early years. The Navajos use these mountains to understand stories of the past, present, and to deal with the future. I find that the mountains I have selected represent things that were part of my past and hopefully these interpretations will be useful to those in the future who might be interested in engineering, education, and some history related happenings around the turn of the Twenty First Century. The Navajos selected the four mountains along geographical directions to indicate foundations for their ways of life. The Sacred mountains were Blanca Peak near Ft. Garland, CO (East), Mt. Taylor near Grants, NM (South), San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff AZ (West) and Mt. Hesperus near Durango, CO (North). I have selected Hosta Butte, near Mariano Lake, NM (West), the Flatirons near Boulder, CO (North), the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces, NM (South) and South Sandia Peak near Albuquerque, NM (East).

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION VOLUME 1

OUR STORY ON TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF ADJUSTING TO THE WILD WEST

Migration to New Mexico

Life in McGaffey

Becoming Indian Traders

Adjusting to Zuni

Learning to Be an Indian Trader

Observations of the Zunis

Return to Michigan

Move to Mariano Lake

Trading with the Navajos

Responding to a National Emergency

Some Observations of the Navajos

Raising a Child at Mariano Lake

Settling in Gallup

Postscript

SON OF AN INDIAN TRADER

Introduction

Mariano Lake Trading Post Location

My Dad the Trader

Childhood Reflections

Shaping My Character

Health Issues

Witnessing Trading Practices

Water Problems

Some Navajo Customs

Schooling

Dealing with Isolation

Playmates

Fishing

Guns

Pets

Demise of Indian Trading Post Functions

Summary

References

A BOY FROM THE INSTITUTE (2012)

Introduction

Adjustment to Change

Dealing with Change

Authority

Confidence

Teamwork

Some Realizations after NMMI

MEMORIES OF 52 YEARS OF MARRIAGE OF ROGER AND BETTY ZIMMERMAN

Foreword

Introduction

Early Years in Boulder, Colorado (1956 – 1964)

The Las Cruces Years (1964 – 1979)

The Albuquerque Years (1979 – 2008)

Pets

Reflections

Closure

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION IN PORTUGAL AND SPAIN FOR ROGER AND BETTY ZIMMERMAN (May 24 – June 14, 2006)

50th Wedding Anniversary Trip

Interesting Encounters

Reflections

APPENDIX

Obituary for Betty Zimmerman

Pilgrimage to Ireland

Matt and Jackies’ Trip to Disneyland

Sharing Skiing Experiences with My Grandson

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MEMOIRS OF ROGER MAX ZIMMERMAN

INTRODUCTION VOLUME 1

This document is the first of 5 that have been prepared as memoirs for Roger Max Zimmerman. The collection includes: Family, Academic Life, Yucca Mountain Project, Above Ground Activities, and Volunteer Activities. This document on Family has 5 major chapters and three short stories. The first section, Our Story on Trials and Tribulations of Adjusting to the Wild West, is about my parents’ experiences in coming to New Mexico in 1930 and becoming Indian Traders. They grew up on farms and graduated from the same high school, Waldron, MI. Dad came west first and Mom followed, and they were married just before Dad’s first job ended in 1930, and then they moved to Zuni, NM to learn to be Indian Traders. They then moved to near the Navajo Reservation and Dad became owner of a Trading Post. That was my first home. This chapter, which was written for their 60th wedding anniversary in 1990, tells of their experiences in this new environment, and of raising a son there. The second chapter is a story about me being the Son of An Indian Trader. It was drafted in 2010. It provides childhood reflections and discusses how the environment helped shape my character. I witnessed Navajo customs and trading practices. I dealt with isolation from classmates and reminisced about some fishing and hunting experiences.

The third chapter, A Boy from the Institute, first drafted in 2011, discusses my experiences in my last two years of high school, where I was a cadet at New Mexico Military Institute. I discuss dealing with adapting to changes to my way of life and responding to the demands of a military type authority. I learned some features of giving and receiving authority. The process gave me self-confidence and illustrated the strengths of teamwork.

The last two chapters are about my long marriage to Betty Nielsen. The first, which was written in 2008, is titled, Memories of 52 Years of Marriage of Betty and Roger Zimmerman, and discusses our early 8 years in Boulder, Co, the 15 years at Las Cruces, and our 29 years together in Albuquerque. The years in Las Cruces were career building years (Volume 2). I was busy with university activities and Betty, with homemaker as her primary activity, got active in university faculty women’s club and PEO activities. The Albuquerque years were our empty nest years as Paul was away at Colorado State University and Mike decided to get married while attending NMSU. After our first year in Albuquerque, where I worked for Rockwell International and got to develop a testing program for the Space Shuttle, I joined Sandia National Laboratories and had a challenging career there. We purchased a cabin on a stream near Mora, NM in 1980. That was the start of over 40 years of cabin-based diversions for our family.

The last chapter is about our 50th Anniversary trip to Spain and Portugal in 2006. I tried to express the enjoyment that we had on that marvelous occasion. During our long marriage, we had some fun experiences, and I wrote about some of them in three short stories that are included in the Appendix. Topics are: Sharing Skiing Experiences with my Grandson (1989), Matt and Jackie’s Trip to Disneyland (1990), and Betty’s and my experiences in a Pilgrimage to Ireland (1989). The second story about the trip to Disneyland was my attempt to write about the trip as Jackie might have seen it.

OUR STORY ON TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF ADJUSTING TO THE WILD WEST

MIGRATION TO NEW MEXICO

This is the story of the experiences that we, Pauline and Ellsworth W. (Zim) Zimmerman, had in making our adjustments to a new life in New Mexico. This chapter is written where both of us will be telling our parts of the story. We both grew up in southern Michigan and lived on farms. We went to the same high school and have known each other since that time. Life in Michigan was farm and family oriented. With one exception, our parents and all our brothers and sisters, uncles; aunts, and cousins lived there. The farms that we lived on were generally small, 80 acres or less, and could not support more than one family. In Zim’s case, his oldest brother Orville had gone out west for health reasons and his other brother Oakley was in line for the family farm. His sister Marie had married a farmer. In Pauline’s case, her two brothers Max and Edward were inclined towards the Kelley family farm. This situation led to the migration of Zim to New Mexico in August of 1929 to work as a bookkeeper in the community store that Orville managed at McGaffey, New Mexico.

Before discussing New Mexico, let us establish a reference for life in Michigan. The family farms were carefully laid out within sections, one mile on a side. In the center of the sections were woods consisting primarily of walnut, elm, and maple trees. The fields were cleared for such crops as wheat, corn, oats, and soybeans. The family dwellings consisted of a house, barn, silo, and various sheds and outhouses. There were as many as eight families to a section, so neighbors were close and usually some of the neighbors were relatives. The local population was generally white and small communities were located about every four to eight miles. Roads defined each section so traveling in and around the region was easy.

The land was gently rolling, and the only hills were the nearby Irish Hills, which were 300 to 400 ft. undulations that were heavily wooded. Wild animals consisted of deer, foxes, raccoons, rabbits, and squirrels. Farm animals consisted of dairy cattle, horses, chickens, and sometimes sheep. Much of the social life was built around churches and schools. Recreation consisted of baseball for men, basketball for men and women, and dances when farm chores permitted. Neither of us had been beyond 200 miles from home before our trips west. Chicago was as far west as either of us had been.

I, Zim, arrived at McGaffey, New Mexico in August 1929. McGaffey was a community of 1000 to 1200 persons, primarily Mexicans and Indians that was built around a sawmill. It was located about 25 miles south and east of Gallup at an elevation of 8000 ft. altitude in the Zuni Mountains. There was a small white community associated with the store. I stayed with Orville and his wife Marie until Pauline arrived in December.

My starting salary was $125 a month. The first major purchase that I made after I arrived in the wild and woolly west was a 38 revolver, which I hung above his head on the bedstead. This kind of indicates my feelings about personal security as there was no law enforcement at McGaffey. I then started saving money to get an engagement ring, which I mailed to Pauline in November of 1929. Then in December, I had enough money to purchase a railroad ticket for Pauline, who arrived on December 31, 1929. We were married on January 7, 1930.

These are my, Pauline’s, impressions of Gallup when I arrived that New Year’s Eve. I had ridden the California Limited, a train on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. The train went from Chicago to Los Angeles. Upon arriving I noticed the high stuccoed walls of Fred Harvey’s El Navajo Hotel, which was also the train station. The massive walls made me think of a fort and that is the first thing I asked Zim Is that a Fort? He said No and we then quickly made the proper greetings of the newly engaged. Shortly afterwards I saw my first Indian and cowboy up close. I distinctly remember the Indian had a black hat with a straight brim. He had long hair that was tied in a bun over his neck. It was cold and he was wrapped in a robe. I later learned that he was a Navajo. I had seen pictures of a cowboy, but the pictures didn’t show the dirt and wear on the wrinkled clothes of the first cowboy that I saw. Also, I saw a flat roofed house with a siding that I later learned was adobe. In Michigan, all houses had pitched roofs, with metal or shingles. Sidings were wood from maple, elm, or other trees. These new dwellings seemed so strange.

We rode to McGaffey in Zim’s brother’s family car. It was an experience. First, we traveled on Highway 66, which was a through route from Chicago to Los Angeles. The road through Gallup was two lanes wide and mostly gravel in 1929 and 1930. The road from Gallup to McGaffey consisted initially of about 10 miles of Highway 66 and the remaining 15 miles was a one lane, very winding, dirt road. The road went through Fort Wingate, which I soon learned had been a fort used to fight Indians. Wow!

We were going up in elevation some 1000 to 1500 ft. through strange looking trees, pinon and cedar near the bottom and ponderosa pine near McGaffey. None of these trees were familiar. Also, I noticed that there was considerable open space between the trees and that there was not extensive ground cover in the form of bushes. There was little evidence of farms and the ones I saw were small. On this relatively steep road, one could only pass a car at certain places. There were several places where the road was on the edge of a cliff and it looked like one could very easily slide down into the dry river, which I later found was called a gully or wash. There was very little traffic in those days and when we met a car, we waited at a wide place. The locals felt that it would be easier to back down then to have to back up. This first trip up the mountain was a frightening experience. Going places in Michigan was never like that.

On January 7, 1930 we went to Gallup in the a.m. to get a marriage license and ring, then back to McGaffey to work. After the store closed at sundown, Orville and Marie took us to Gallup to be married. I had stayed with them since my arrival. The roads were bad, and we decided to have dinner before we were married so we went to Manhattan Cafe and ordered dinner. Orville inquired as to who was going to marry us and we had forgotten to get anyone. He just happened to know a Pastor at the Congregational Church, who he called and asked if he could perform a marriage that evening. He told us to come at once as he had a meeting at 8 p.m. It was now 7:45 PM. The waitress arrived with our food and we told her we were going to be married and would be right back. The ceremony was short and back to the restaurant we went and had our dinner. Then we traveled back up the mountain to our 1 room shack that consisted of a bed, a dresser, and Zim’s 38 revolver.

LIFE IN McGAFFEY

We lived in a one room shack for about 1 month and then moved to a 3-room shack; it had a living room and bedroom that was between the living room and kitchen. An outhouse was nearby. The furniture was crudely made from wood from the sawmill. We had a table, 2 home-made chairs, and orange crates for cupboards. The floor was made of wide boards with cracks in between so we did not need a dustpan. We did have Congoleum over part of the floor. The walls were of wood construction with wood siding. We had a pot-bellied stove for heat. Later we did save enough money to buy a wood stove for cooking.

Our shack, which was provided by the store, was about 1 block from water that was piped down the mountain from a spring. We tied cloth sacks on the end of the hydrant so we could filter out the wigglers and pebbles. It was good, cold water.

My (Pauline) mother gave me $100 when I left Michigan and said not to spend it until I was sure that I was going to stay. After we were married, I went to Gallup and took $25.00 of the money and purchased our cooking pots and pans, table services, linens, towels, comforters and anything else I just had to have. We were able to buy a Model A Ford for $240. We paid $75 down so there went all of my mother’s $100. I was committed to stay out west.

I (Zim) found that horses were used by many to get around the village. A steam engine was used to carry lumber to the main Santa Fe rail line near Perea. The railroad was roughly cut out of the side of the mountain and the ride down to Perea was an experience. There was a handcar that was used for daily trips to Perea. Two persons put in quite an effort to make the approximately 30-mile round trip. This was how the mail was transmitted. When we got to the main Santa Fe railroad, the mail was exchanged by hand to a person on a Santa Fe train that was traveling slowly by. The railroad was the only way that we could get down the mountain during stormy periods. Most of the time, the only reason to travel from McGaffey was just to get supplies for the store.

There were five people who worked in the store: Eddy Myers, Eddie Hausner, Crompton Porter, my brother Orville and myself. I was the bookkeeper. Stanley Horbin was Superintendent of Lumber Operations and John Falles was in charge of the planing mill. Everything revolved around the mill. When it was down, things were slow and, when it was busy, we were busy in the store.

One day, I was asked to go with the Forest Ranger down the side of the mountain to look for some lost cattle. We were supposed to be gone just for the day, but a sudden snowstorm blew in early in the afternoon. We soon got lost in the blizzard, as we had no visibility. We tried to find our way home and found that we were going in circles as we discovered our tracks after we had wandered blindly for hours in the blizzard. We continued to be lost until nightfall. We were thoroughly wet, extremely cold, and just a little scared. Finally, the ranger got a fire started and we curled around the fire and slept, if you call it that, for the night. When light came, the blizzard had stopped. We could see the mountain and eventually found our way home with a lot of help from the horses. This was a frightening experience. For me (Pauline), this terrible blizzard came and Zim had not returned. All kinds of terrible things went through my mind during that lonesome and sleepless night. The next morning came and still they had not returned. We were all worried and it wasn’t until about noon that they returned. What a relief for everyone.

McGaffey was a village built around a sawmill. The depression and death of Mr. McGaffey, the owner of the mill, in an airplane crash on nearby Mt. Taylor caused the mill to close in the summer of 1930. Everybody was out of work by about July or August and most of the people had left by the late fall. Zim had tried to find a job as soon as he heard the mill was going to close but, because of the depression, he had had no luck. That fall I worked as a substitute teacher at a nearby ranch school for $70 a month and that was our only income.

BECOMING INDIAN TRADERS

Pauline recalls, one day we were sitting in our little shack. The future looked very dim as we had tried everything without success. We had no job, no money (about $70), no place to stay, and a car that was not paid for. We decided that there was nothing left to do but to start toward Michigan and live with our parents. There was a knock at the door and there stood Mr. Charles Kelsey, a very well-known Indian Trader in Zuni, where Zim had asked for a job some time earlier. At that time, Mr. Kelsey had had no openings. Mr. Kelsey said he now had an opening for a bookkeeper and asked if Zim still wanted a job. Zim said he sure did. Mr. Kelsey asked when we would be there and Zim said tonight.

The instant response was a shock to Mr. Kelsey, who rushed back to Zuni and told his help that Zim and his wife were coming tonight. The people there were in a quandary as to where they were going to house us. The only place available was the house that had been occupied by the previous bookkeeper, who had not moved his furniture out. The house was owned by Mr. Kelsey and it was decided that we would temporarily move in there. When we got there, we found a nicely furnished home with bath and electricity. I said that I had arrived in Heaven. About two or three weeks later, a truck backed up to the front door and men came in and started loading everything that was in the house. Somebody had neglected to tell us that all that beautiful furniture belonged to the previous bookkeeper.

The Kelseys and friends went to their attics and found enough furniture to keep us going until we could buy a few pieces. We never had much but it was enough.

ADJUSTING TO ZUNI

Zuni was and is the largest Indian pueblo. It is located about 35 miles south and a little west of Gallup. Zuni had a Government Day School; a Dutch Reformed Mission, Church, and School; and a Catholic Church and School. There was a government agency about 5 miles from Zuni at a place called Black Rock, which contained the Indian agency and a small hospital. The hospital served the Indians, the missionaries, the traders, and the government people. All together there were about 500 white people in these two communities and about 2000 Zuni Indians. There was no law enforcement and no need for any.

Zuni was a nice quiet little village where we all enjoyed life as Pauline explained it. We were far enough from Gallup that travel there was an occasion. There were many social gatherings in those days, and we made many friends outside of the trading community. The Dunaways, Harrises, Holtzs, Middletons, and Snodgrasses among others became lifelong friends. In the winter the roads were bad and sometimes impassable. In these cases, we would do some trimming of our hair and mending and patching of clothes until we could get to town.

There were four trading posts in Zuni: Kelsey’s, C. G. Wallace’s, R. C. Master’s and Vanderwagen’s. Kelsey was the first trader who came there, about 1912 to 1914. He brought out a number of families from the Carolinas. One was G. Williams, who later bought a store in Zuni and then sold it to C.G. Wallace. G. Williams had gone into Gallup to buy the Navajo Chevrolet before we got to Zuni. C. G. and Mr. Kelsey became serious competitors in the trading business and no love was lost between them. George Rummage and his brother Robert came out to work for Mr. Kelsey and later both became well known Indian traders. The Masters came after the Kelsey’s. They had migrated from England and had owned a store in Ramah before coming to Zuni. The Vanderwagens, who were part of a Dutch Reformed Missionary Family, started a fourth store across from Kelsey’s in the 1930s.

When we first went to Zuni, I (Pauline) was very nervous, as all I knew about cowboys and Indians was what I had read in school. I soon found that these impressions were not true. For instance, the first week after arriving in Zuni, I was on my hands and knees cleaning the kitchen floor where I happened to look up and there stood a Zuni Indian, who had entered our home unannounced. I nearly fainted, as I was sure that I was going to be attacked immediately and possibly scalped. I had seen Indians on the street and around the store, but to find one in my home while I was alone was a different, somewhat frightening, perspective. He just stood there quietly and watched as I reacted, then he handed me a note from Zim and quietly left. I later found that his name was Hootie.

I (Pauline) had several experiences with snakes out west. I had been told about rattlesnakes and in fact I had to kill one in my yard with a hoe near my chicken pen. I should mention that I started raising chickens soon after our arrival in Zuni, much like my mother had done in Michigan. The exposure to a poisonous snake was a frightening experience unlike anything I had experienced in Michigan. Some days later, I had taken a nap and came out into the living room. There was a snake curled up in the center of my living room, in our home! I did not disturb it and immediately headed for the garage, which was connected to the kitchen. When I opened the door, there was another snake just like the one in the living room. Instead of driving to the store to get Zim to come and kill the snakes, I ran there. I later found that these were harmless bull snakes. All snakes still look like rattlesnakes to me.

LEARNING TO BE AN INDIAN TRADER

I (Zim) started to learn the Indian trading business, but first I had to learn the Zuni language, at least enough to trade with the Indians, The Zuni language was not written so I had to listen and learn the sound of each word. This was a slow and sometimes difficult process. Fellow traders would help describe the organization and structure of the language.

Memorable persons I remember working with at Kelsey’s store at different times include R. Meade Ryan; Dick White; George and Robert Rummage; Earl Presnell; Chappie White; Eddie Hausner; who came from McGaffey, Grant Hamblin; Bruce McRae; Red Bael; Merris Hall, who later Married Orville’s daughter June; and Edward (Ted) Kelley, Pauline’s brother who worked there in the middle 1930s before returning to Michigan to get married. Within about two years after we arrived, Meade Ryan went to Gallup to work at the Navajo Chevrolet for G. Williams. I was given most of Meade’s duties when he left. This included buying for the store and collecting accounts. This is really where I learned the trading business.

Living in Zuni and being a trader was a challenge. During the depression years, we saw very little cash in the store. Some days we wouldn’t see over $10.00 in cash flow. We had to trade for what we had to sell. We bartered for alfalfa, hay, wheat, corn, wool, lambs, cattle, sheep pelts, pottery; and jewelry. One of the unique types of jewelry developed in the 1930s was tie-slides, now called bolo ties. I have a separate story about these.

In the spring, the Zunis would leave the main pueblo and scatter to their summer homes, which were located in smaller nearby villages such as Nutria, Ojo Caliente, and Teckapo, all on the Zuni reservation. There they had irrigation and could do their farming, raise gardens, and tend herds of sheep. They planted their corn by sticking a stick in the ground and placing a kernel of corn in the hole. They would step on the hole to bury the kernel. They scattered their wheat by hand. The sheep had lambs in the spring and about May, they would shear the sheep for the wool. The Zuni’s that had enough sheep could get credit from the traders during the winter and pay their bills twice a year-wool in the spring and lambs in the fall.

In the fall, around October, the Zunis would corral their sheep on given days and the trader would go to the corral and the Zunis would pull out the number of lambs that they wanted to sell. This process would be conducted at different corrals throughout the month. The Kelsey store could accumulate as many as 2000 lambs in this process. These lambs then had to be herded to Gallup by Zunis and then shipped to buyers or feeders. Some of the remaining sheep were slaughtered by the Zunis for food. Mutton was a preferred part of the Zuni diet.

During the depression, Mr. Kelsey was offered about $0.04 a lb. for lambs and $0.07 a lb. for wool. He had to ship the wool to Boston, Mass. for processing and the lambs to Colorado for feeding.

Now for my story about the tie-slides. In the fall of 1932, the mesas were blessed with a large pinon crop, which was harvested by the Zunis and also nearby Navajos, who were allowed by the Zunis to come into the reservation. The nuts were plentiful and all, Indians and traders, were recognizing prosperity. The harvest went on until a few days before Thanksgiving. At this time the biggest snowstorm for many years hit Gallup and the surrounding region. About 24 in. of snow had accumulated. Several hundred Zunis and Navajos were stranded on the mesas. We were in Gallup to meet Pauline’s mother, who had come for a visit and it was 3 days before the roads were cleared to Zuni. Even then, it took 10 hours to drive that distance. The barn at Kelsey’s was full of alfalfa hay and as soon as the Indians could get down off of the mesas, they came to Zuni with horses and wagons for supplies and hay. The alfalfa supply was used up in about three days.

Many of the sheep died during this storm. The Zunis were enterprising, and they took the vertebrae from the skeletons of the sheep and beaded them to make tie slides. They also beaded rabbit feet. With the help of the traders, a large market was formed and thousands of the slides were made and sold by the Zunis. This was a good indoor occupation for them as we were snowbound for most of that winter. When we made our trips to Gallup to take the tie slides and pick up supplies, we often had to go west and then north through eastern Arizona, a one-way distance of some 90 Miles.

The position of the traders in the Pueblo was interesting. The traders were the interface between the Indians and the outside world. Kelsey’s trading post was the Post Office thus all major communications went through the store. Trading posts were the center of economic activities that became increasingly important as the depression persisted.

Traders recognized the fine skills that the Zunis possessed and promoted the silversmithing activities and marketed the products. They benefited as did the Zunis. During the depression Mr. Kelsey gave credit to some of his good customers when he knew that they couldn’t pay that year. Most good traders, like Mr. Kelsey, did a lot of good community work.

An instance occurred in the store that can be used to illustrate the somewhat tenuous position that the traders had in the Indian community. A Zuni came into the store and for some reason started verbally abusing Mrs. Kelsey. He was quite hostile, and the older Mr. Kelsey came to her rescue. The Zuni threw Mr. Kelsey into the stove. I (Zim) and Bruce McRae witnessed this and reacted immediately. Now you must realize that Pauline and I felt very strongly about the Kelseys, almost as substitute parents, and any threat to them was like a threat to our family. I am sure the situation motivated me to be harsher than necessary when we threw the Zuni out the front door. He definitely knew that he was not wanted. Well, he got mad and went to the government officials and tried to have us thrown out of Zuni. A petition had to be circulated among the Indians to protect us. A Zuni woman had witnessed this scuffle. Afterwards she came to the store and asked for samples of hair from Bruce and me, which she took to some unknown ceremony. To this day we do not know the significance of this act or its relevance to the petition. The final result was that we were allowed to remain.

OBSERVATIONS OF THE ZUNIS

I (Pauline) enjoyed living in Zuni as I loved to watch the Indians at the ceremonial dances, which they had primarily on Sundays, but also other days. The Zunis raised a few turkeys and had some eagles in order to have feathers for their ceremonies. There was no law against that in those days.

The Zuni women made their own bread and baked it in adobe ovens, which were made of rock, straw, and adobe mud. The sun baked the adobe to get it very hard. When baking, the Zunis would make a fire with boughs and when the temperature was right to their touch, they would take coals from the floor of the oven and place bread in it. Out would come a beautiful golden-brown loaf.

Zuni women were known for the beautiful pots that they made and used to carry water from the Zuni river on their heads to their waffle shaped gardens. They planted such items as chili in their small waffle gardens. The women also carried sacks of flour from the trading post on their heads.

One of the interesting things was the grain harvest in the late summer. The men would take the freshly cut bundles of grain into a corral and then run horses over them to thrash the grains out. They would gather the grains up and eventually feed them to turkeys and chickens.

Much has been written about the Zunis. We found them to be friendly, but they took their time to accept you. They were very religious, with activities that centered around the sun, moon, and stars. Many have written about their religion and we will not attempt to explain or interpret it. We do have some observations about their life that impressed us.

The winter season was a busy time for religion. There was one dance and ceremony after another. The Zunis were kept up to date on current events by a caller, who had the highest house in the Pueblo. Each evening, the caller would call out in a loud voice some of the events of the next day or so. On a quiet day you could hear him at our house, which was across the river and some 1/2 mile away. A very impressive event was the Tree Swallowing ceremony, which was used in dry years as a prayer to the Rain God for needed winter snows. In this ceremony, the participants would swallow young sapling sticks that had been temporarily stuck in the ground. The saplings might be two to three feet in length. Sometimes a novice would be unable to swallow the entire stick and an old-timer would take the stick and swallow it. Those adept to the process would swallow as many as three sticks at one time.

One of the religious events was called Tesheque. This took place once a year and lasted from 3 to 7 days. During this period, the people could not carry ashes out of their home or trade in any of the stores. The priests of the village planted sacred meal, and feathers and various religious ceremonies were conducted.

Once each year the Zunis had a sacred dance called Shalako. This was the big event of the year. The purpose of the dance was to dedicate new houses that had been built for the ceremony. If everything went according to plan, there would be 7 new houses and 7 Shalako dancers. In preparation for Shalako, the Zunis would make mutton stew, bake many loaves of bread, and prepare other food to feed all visitors who came to the ceremonies. Whites, Navajos and other Pueblo Indians were all invited.

As outsiders, we were not totally aware of the religious significance of the Shalako. We knew that the Shalakos selected dancers from the village, who carried very elaborate figurines on their shoulders making them nearly 10 ft high, would come to Zuni from a sacred point and arrive near sundown on the second day of the ceremony. The Shalakos would go to the special houses and conduct sacred ceremonies and dance all night. The following morning the Shalakos would have to run a short distance as part of the ceremony, if one would fall, this was a bad omen for the house that was identified with this dancer.

As traders, we were very interested in the Shalako as this was a very busy time. One year, we at Kelsey’s, counted the sheep pelts that we had bought prior to Shalako, nearly 2000 sheep had been slaughtered. We were never able to predict the time of Shalako because the Zuni Priests selected the date for early in December based on the position of the moon. We thought that it would be much more efficient if they could schedule this event with more planning time for us.

In the spring, one of the sporting events took place. This is called the Stick Race. This is a long-distance race that can be as long as 20 miles. Each runner kicked a stick around the course. He could not touch the stick with his hands. There usually were several runners and a lot of wagering went on before the race started. Lots of Indians followed the runners on horseback to cheer on their favorite and, also, to be sure that there was no foul play or cheating. These races started in front of our house, so we got to see the beginnings. Sometimes the finish was there as well. Obviously, there was much excitement associated with the races.

One day there