Canyon de Chelly National Monument ( ) was established on April 1, 1931, as a unit of the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

. Located in northeastern

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, it is within the boundaries of the

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation (), also known as Navajoland, is an Indian reservation of Navajo people in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah. The seat of government is located in ...

and lies in the

Four Corners Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. Most of the Four Corners regio ...

region. Reflecting one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes of North America, it preserves ruins of the indigenous tribes that lived in the area, from the

Ancestral Puebloans The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as Ancestral Pueblo peoples or the Basketmaker-Pueblo culture, were an ancient Native American culture of Pueblo peoples spanning the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southe ...

to the

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

. The monument covers 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 '' The Chuska Mountains () are an elongate range on the southwest Colorado Plateau and within the Navajo Nation whose highest elevations approach 10,000 feet. The range is about 80 by 15 km (50 by 10 miles). It trends north-northwest and is c ...

just to the east of the monument. None of the land is federally owned. Canyon de Chelly is one of the most visited national monuments in the United States.

Etymology

The name ''Chelly'' is a Spanish borrowing of the

word'' '' (or ''Tsegi''), which means "rock canyon" (literally "inside the rock" < ''tsé'' "rock" + ''-yiʼ'' "inside of, within"). The Navajo pronunciation is . The Spanish pronunciation of ''de Chelly'' was adapted into English, apparently modeled on a French-like

spelling pronunciation A spelling pronunciation is the pronunciation of a word according to its spelling when this differs from a longstanding standard or traditional pronunciation. Words that are spelled with letters that were never pronounced or that were not pronoun ...

, and is now .

History

Canyon de Chelly is thought to have been sporadically occupied by Hopi Indians from ''circa'' 1300 to the early 1700s, when the Navajo then moved into the canyon from places in northern New Mexico. From that time forward it has served as a home for

Navajo people The Navajo or Diné are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Navajo language, Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Din ...

before it was invaded by forces led by future

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

governor Lt.

Antonio Narbona Antonio Pascual Narbona (1773 – 20 March 1830) was a Spanish soldier from Mobile, British Florida now in Alabama, who fought Native American people in the northern part of New Spain (now the southwestern United States) around the turn of the ...

in 1805, during which time 115 Navajos were slain and 33 taken captive. In 1863, Col.

Kit Carson Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman, fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent and United States Army, U.S. Army officer. He became an American frontier legend in his own lifetime ...

sent troops through the canyon, killing 23 Navajo, seizing 200 sheep, and destroying

hogan A hogan ( or ; from Navajo ' ) is the primary, traditional dwelling of the Navajo people. Other traditional structures include the summer shelter, the underground home, and the sweat house. A hogan can be round, cone-shaped, multi-sided, or squ ...

s, as well as peach orchards and other crops. The resulting demoralization led to the surrender of the Navajos and their removal to

Bosque Redondo Fort Sumner was a military fort in New Mexico Territory charged with the internment of Navajo and Mescalero Apache populations from 1863 to 1868 at nearby Bosque Redondo. History On October 31, 1862, Congress authorized the construction of ...

, New Mexico.

Description

Canyon de Chelly is entirely owned by the Navajo Tribal Trust of the Navajo Nation. It is the only National Park Service unit that is owned and cooperatively managed in this manner. About 40 Navajo families live in the park. 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. This trail has reopened from 2 August 2024 to 29 September 2024 without a fee; it will again reopen seasonally in April 2025, with exact times & fees to be determined. The park's distinctive

geologic Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth s ...

feature, Spider Rock, is a sandstone spire that rises 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 Grandmother Spider Grandmother (Hopi ''Kokyangwuti'', Navajo ''Na'ashjé'ii Asdzáá'') is an important figure in the mythology, oral traditions and folklore of many Native American cultures, especially in the Southwestern United States. Southwest Hopi m ...

. 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. Deep within the park is Mummy Cave. It features structures that have been built at various times in history. Private Navajo-owned companies offer tours of the canyon floor by horseback, hiking or four-wheel drive vehicle. The companies can be contacted directly for prices and arrangements. No entrance fee is charged to enter the park, apart from any charges imposed by tour companies. Commercial air tours are to be banned starting June 2025, barring legal challenges to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Park Service Dec. 2024 Air Tour Management Plan decision. Accommodations for visitors are located in the vicinity of the canyon, on the road leading to Chinle, which is the nearest town. The National Monument was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on August 25, 1970.

Climate

According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Canyon de Chelly has a

cold semi-arid climate Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Canyon de Chelly was on July 2, 2002, July 14, 2003, and June 21, 2016, while the coldest temperature recorded was on January 2, 1919.

Gallery

File:Canyon de Chelly1.jpg, White House Ruin File:CACH-Antelope House 633e9c5e611443dcacce1ce649285c35.jpg, Antelope House Ruin File:Massacre Cave Overlook 3 (cropped).jpg, Massacre Cave File:Mummy Cave with snow.jpg, Snow at the canyon, with Mummy Cave in the background File:A094, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona, USA, cliff dwelling, 2004.jpg, First Ruin File:Ancient ruins in the Cañon de Chelle 10055u.jpg, White House Ruin,

Timothy H. O'Sullivan Timothy H. O'Sullivan ( – January 14, 1882) was an American photographer widely known for his work related to the American Civil War and the Western United States. Biography O'Sullivan was born , either in Ireland, moving to New York City tw ...

, 1873 File:CACHmap1 relief.png, Park map

References

External links

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''Canyon de Chelly''
(poem by

Simon Ortiz Simon J. Ortiz (born May 27, 1941) is a Native American writer, poet, and enrolled member of the Pueblo of Acoma. Ortiz is one of the key figures in the second wave of what has been called the Native American Renaissance. Ortiz's commitment t ...

, 1977) Accessed 2013 January 15 {{DEFAULTSORT:Canyon De Chelly National Monument 1931 establishments in Arizona Archaeological museums in Arizona Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona Arizona placenames of Native American origin Cliff dwellings Former populated places in Arizona Geography of the Navajo Nation Historic American Buildings Survey in Arizona Museums in Apache County, Arizona National Park Service national monuments in Arizona Native American history of Arizona Native American museums in Arizona Protected areas established in 1931 Protected areas of Apache County, Arizona Former populated places in Apache County, Arizona Canyons and gorges of Arizona National Register of Historic Places in Apache County, Arizona Populated places on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona