The Water Carriers, Portfolio 12, Plate 435

“The reservation of 3863 square miles lies in the eastern watershed of the Little Colorado, but at no point does it extend to the river. In fact there is no perennial stream within its borders. The country is typical of the semi-arid Southwest. Broad sandy wastes are broken by rocky buttes and fantastically eroded mesas rising abruptly from the general level. Some seventy-five miles to the southwest the San Francisco mountains are visible, snow-covered in winter. High temperature prevails during the days of summer, but the nights are refreshingly cool. As the country lies at an elevation of about six thousand feet, the winter nights are fairly rigorous, but delightful, sunny days are the rule. A more healthful climate it would be difficult to find, and the harmonious pastel shades of sand, rock, and vegetation, the huge, cottony billows that float aloft on a summer’s afternoon, the glorious cloud effects at sunset, the distant ranges of lavender mountains slowly transformed into turquois as the lowering sun sinks behind them, the incredible blueness of the sky and brilliance of the stars, take hold of the heart and call one back again and again” (Curtis, The North American Indian, Volume 12, page 4-5).