Canyon de Chelly National Monument

Canyon de Chelly National Monument
IUCN Category III (Natural Monument)
Location	Apache County, Arizona, USA
Nearest city	Chinle, Arizona
Coordinates	36°08′01″N 109°28′10″W / 36.13361, -109.46944
Area	83,840 acres (339.28 km²)
Established	April 1, 1931
Visitors	881,783 (in 2004)
Governing body	National Park Service

Canyon de Chelly National Monument was established April 1, 1931, as a unit of the National Park Service and is located in northeastern Arizona within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation. The monument covers 131 square miles (339 km²) and encompasses the floors and rims of the three major canyons: de Chelly, del Muerto, and Monument. These canyons were cut by streams with headwaters in the Chuska mountains just to the east of the monument.

Its 83,840 acres (339 km²), all Navajo Tribal Trust Land, preserves artifacts of the early indigenous tribes that lived in the area, including the Ancient Pueblo Peoples (also called Anasazi) and Navajo.

False-color Landsat 7 image of the canyon (more information)

Canyon de Chelly is unique among National Park service units, as it consists entirely of Navajo Tribal Trust Land that remains home to the canyon community. Access to the canyon floor is restricted, and visitors are allowed to travel in the canyons only when accompanied by a park ranger or an authorized Navajo guide. The only exception to this rule is the White House Ruin Trail. Most park visitors arrive by automobile and view Canyon de Chelly from the rim, following both North Rim Drive and South Rim Drive. Ancient ruins and geologic structures are visible, but in the distance, from turnoffs on each of these routes. Tours of the canyon floor can be booked at the visitor center. There is no fee to see the canyon.

The National Monument was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 25, 1970.

Satellite image of northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico, including the Four Corners Monument (FC). Some higher elevations have a dust of snow. Labeled natural features are the Chuska mountains (CM), the Carrizo Mountains (C), Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park (MV), Black Mesa, Arizona (B), Canyon de Chelly National Monument (CdC), and the Defiance Uplift (D). Labeled towns are Farmington, New Mexico (F), Gallup, New Mexico (G), Window Rock, Arizona (WR), and Kayenta, Arizona (K).

A spectacular geologic feature is Spider Rock, a sandstone spire that rises 800 feet (240 m) from the canyon floor at the junction of Canyon de Chelly and Monument Canyon. Spider Rock can be seen from South Rim Drive. It has served as the scene of a number of television commercials.

According to traditional Navajo beliefs the taller of the two spires is the home of spider woman.^[1]

[edit] Name

The name Chelly (or Chelley) is a Spanish borrowing of the Navajo word Tséyiʼ, which meaning "canyon" (literally "inside the rock" < tsé "rock" + -yiʼ "inside of, within"). The Navajo pronunciation is IPA: [tséɣiʔ]. The Spanish pronunciation of de Chelly [detʃeʝi] was adapted into English, apparently through modelling after a French-like spelling pronunciation, and is now pronounced /dəˈʃeɪ/ ("dəshā'").

White House Ruins (photo courtesy of USGS)

Spider Rock

Canyon de Chelly, 1904, Edward S. Curtis photograph

Canyon de Chelly, 1941, Ansel Adams photograph

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Canyon de Chelly

• Ancient Pueblo Peoples
• Mesa Verde National Park

[edit] External links

• National Park Service: Canyon de Chelly National Monument
• National Park Service Geology Fieldnotes
• Canyon de Chelly Video

[edit] References

• Grant, Campbell. "Canyon de Chelly: Its People and Rock Art". University of Arizona Press, 1983. ISBN 0-8165-0523-3.

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