Shiprock - a monolith in the desert.
Shiprock is one of the most interesting and unusual rock formations in the U.S, Southwest. It is located in the Four Corners area of the Navajo Nation, a self-governing reservation with a president, vice-president and executive council. The Nation covers 27,000 square miles in Arizona, New Mexico and upper Utah. Near the monolith is the town of Shiprock. Geologically, it is the remnant of an ancient volca
Shiprock stands out in the desert like an abandoned ocean liner or ancient clipper ship, depending on how you perceive it. Its height is 1383 ft. Since the 1920s it has been a challenge to climbers. At one time it was thought to be too difficult to climb, but in 1939, a team of climbers from the Sierra Club were successful in reaching the summit. A series of serious injuries by climbers in 1970 resulted in a ban on climbing, not only at Shiprock but throughout the Navajo Nation.
White men conferred the name Shiprock. In Navajo, the name means Rock with Wings. It refers to the Navajo tradition that the people were brought from the north to their present location by a huge bird. It is a very sacred place to them.
My husband Jim and my brother-in-law George tried to visit Shiprock in 1948. They saw the Rock in the distance from the highway and decided to drive out to it. Near the rock they came to a fenced area with “Keep Out” clearly marked. George who was a daredevil decided to open the gate and go in. They were immediately approached by a Jeep full of armed military men who silently told them to leave. When they tried to ask questions, the men would not speak to them, but clearly indicated that they must turn around and go back to the highway. They were followed all the way, and watched until they drove out of sight. All of his life, Jim wondered what they had stumbled upon. He said inside the enclosure there were many buildings which seemed to be mostly underground. What were they? Was this a nuclear facility? He never found out.
Novelist Tony Hillerman wrote many mystery novels about Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police. In 1980, Tony Hillerman was made an honorary member of the Navajo people for his sensible and true depiction of life and the sacred beliefs of the Navajo. After he died in 2008, Tony’s daughter Anne took up the pen (or rather, the computer keyboard) and has written several Navajo novels, one of them entitled Rock With Wings. Anne introduced a third member to the Tribal Police team, Bernadette Manuelito, Jim Chee’s wife.