KAIBETO MEMORIES

<p>Kaibeto Memories</p><p>ELIZABETH ANNE JONES DEWVEALL</p><p>A trader's daughter remembers growing up</p><p>on the Navajo Reservation at Kaibeto Trading Post</p><p>in remote northern Arizona</p><p>1936 - 1960</p><p>TRADERS TO THE NAVAJO</p><p>RALPH AND JULIA JONES parents of author Elizabeth Anne Jones</p><p>Dewveall operated the Kaibeto Trading Post on the Navajo Reservation for</p><p>28 years from 1934 to 1962 in remote northern Arizona. Theirs was a time</p><p>when roads in the area were more like paths in the sand over rocky ridges-</p><p>-snow-covered in winter and across washes that could and did become</p><p>flash floods without warning. The</p><p>Native population was transitioning</p><p>from horseback and wagon travel</p><p>to pickups. The post's role was to</p><p>provide goods that were needed by</p><p>the local population to supplement</p><p>the meager resources this harsh</p><p>land could provide. Canned fruits</p><p>and meats were important articles</p><p>as were tobacco knives and</p><p>ammunition. The Natives traded</p><p>sheep hides wool woven blankets</p><p>and turquoise-laden silver jewelry for</p><p>goods from the post. Their jewelry</p><p>often was provided as collateral</p><p>pawn to pay for purchases. Ralph</p><p>and Julia and daughter Elizabeth Anne were often the only people of their</p><p>white-person race in the entire region.</p><p>It was in this environment that this book's author Elizabeth Anne lived</p><p>her childhood years. Her playmates were often from the local population.</p><p>In her later childhood years her school times were spent in distant Leupp</p><p>or Winslow Arizona but coming back to what she calls affectionately it is</p><p>believed the Rez for holidays and summer vacations.</p><p>Told as an adult in the year 2020 while living at Mesa Arizona Elizabeth</p><p>Anne points out her purpose in recording her story is more for it to be</p><p>her parents' story for there is scant recorded material about their lives at</p><p>Kaibeto Trading Post and how they operated this out-of-the-way and nowhistoric</p><p>post for many years as a life-hub for a receptive Native population.</p>