Sanders () is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in

Apache County Apache County is a county in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. Shaped in a long rectangle running north to south, as of the 2020 census, its population was 66,021. The county seat is St. Johns. Most of the county is occupie ...

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 ...

, United States. Sanders is located at the junction of

U.S. Route 191 U.S. Route 191 (US 191) is a north–south highway in the Western United States and a spur of parent route U.S. Route 91 that has two segments. The southern segment runs for from Douglas, Arizona on the Mexican border to the southern part o ...

and

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...

. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 575.

History

Sanders' English name either comes from C.W. Sanders, a railroad office engineer, or Art Saunders, who had a

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...

nearby. The railroad station was named ''Cheto'' to avoid confusion with another station named Sanders already on the line. Sanders is located near

and the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

. Old

Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The high ...

runs near the town and some sections of the highway still exist. Sanders is surrounded by the Nahata Dziil and (north of the town) Houck chapters 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 ...

. The latter is made up of local Navajos from the area and relocated Navajo refugees from the Navajo/Hopi land dispute. That dispute relocated hundreds of Navajos to the Sanders area from the western Navajo Nation, mainly around the Hopi partitioned land. The area was mostly ranchland until the U.S. government bought it and added it to the Navajo Nation in 1981.

Geography

Sanders is located at Exit 339 on

. Via I-40 it is west to Chambers, west to Holbrook, and east to

Gallup, New Mexico Gallup is a city in McKinley County, New Mexico, United States, with a population of 21,899 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A substantial percentage of its population is Native Americans in the United States, Native American, wi ...

leads south to St. Johns. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the Sanders CDP has a total area of , all land. Sanders is located on the southern edge of the

Defiance Plateau The Defiance Plateau, part of the geologic Defiance Uplift, is an approximately 75-mile (121 km) long, mostly north-trending plateau of Apache County, Arizona, with its east and southeast perimeter, as parts of San Juan and McKinley Countie ...

, adjacent to the

Puerco River The Puerco River or Rio Puerco is a tributary of the Little Colorado River in northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona. It flows through arid terrain, including the Painted Desert. Name The Puerco River is sometimes called Rio Puerco ...

with Puerco Ridge visible to the south. The vegetation of the surrounding region includes

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

, pinón pine and a variety of native plants such as

prickly pear cactus ''Opuntia'', commonly called the prickly pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae, many known for their flavorful fruit and showy flowers. Cacti are native to the Americas, and are well adapted to arid climat ...

and

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia (plant), Artemisia''. The best-known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrush is native to the western half of North Amer ...

. Wildlife seen in the area include

pronghorn The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American ante ...

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...

, elk, mountain lions, black bears,

Mexican gray wolves The Mexican wolf (''Canis lupus baileyi''), also known as the ''lobo mexicano'' (or, simply, ''lobo'') is a subspecies of gray wolf (''C. lupus'') native to eastern and southeastern Arizona and western and southern New Mexico (in the United Stat ...

, coyotes and turkeys.

Climate

Sanders has a cold

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''BSk'') with cold winters and hot summers.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 630 people, 200 households, and 151 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 242 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP was 71.4%

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

, 22.7%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.2%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.5% Asian, 0.2% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, 0.8% some other race, and 4.3% from two or more races. 3.8% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 200 households, of which 48.5% had children under the age of 18, 44.5% were headed by married couples living together, 25.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.5% were non-families. Individuals made up 21.0% of all households, and 4.5% were 65 years of age or older, living alone. The average household size was 3.15, and the average family size was 3.71. In the CDP, the age distribution of the population was 37.1% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 24.0% from 25 to 44, 21.3 from 45 to 64, and 7.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26.8 years. For every 100 females, there were 84.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.0 males. For the period 2007–11, the estimated median annual income for a household in the CDP was $23,816, and the median income for a family was $24,375. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the CDP was $6,741. About 36.6% of families and 33.1% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

Education

Education in the community is organized by

Sanders Unified School District Sanders Unified School District is a school district in the community of Sanders in Apache County in the US state of Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, s ...

. Sanders Elementary School provides education from

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

to grade 5 with Sanders Middle School operating from grades 6 to 8. Valley High School provides high school education. The elementary and middle school are on federal land, while the high school is on reservation land.

Infrastructure

Health

Sanders is served by the Nahata Dziil Health Clinic which opened in 2015. It is part of the Tséhootsooí Medical Center, located in Fort Defiance, Arizona. Sanders Clinic, which is part of the St. Michael's Clinic, also serves the area.

Transportation

Sanders is located directly off of

which runs east to west, and

which runs from south to north of the town.

Public transportation

Public transportation is provided by the

Navajo Transit System The Navajo Transit System (NTS) is a public transportation system that serves and operates on the Navajo Nation. The system currently operates 17 routes throughout the Navajo Nation and within Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.Bigwater, Lee. (2014). N ...

which runs a local weekday bus route from the Nahata Dziil Chapter House to

Window Rock Window Rock, known in Navajo language, Navajo as Tségháhoodzání (), is a city and census-designated place that serves as the capital of the Navajo Nation, the largest List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States, Nativ ...

References

External links

Sanders Unified School District

Sanders profile, Zip 86512
{{authority control Census-designated places in Apache County, Arizona Census-designated places in Arizona Populated places established in 1868 Navajo Nation