Elizabeth Anne Jones Dewveall
Kaibeto MemoriesELIZABETH ANNE JONES DEWVEALLA trader’s daughter remembers growing upon the Navajo Reservation at Kaibeto Trading Postin remote northern Arizona1936 - 1960TRADERS TO THE NAVAJORALPH AND JULIA JONES, parents of author Elizabeth Anne JonesDewveall, operated the Kaibeto Trading Post on the Navajo Reservation for28 years, from 1934 to 1962, in remote northern Arizona. Theirs was a timewhen roads in the area were more like paths in the sand, over rocky ridges--snow-covered in winter, and across washes that could and did becomeflash floods without warning. TheNative population was transitioningfrom horseback and wagon travelto pickups. The post’s role was toprovide goods that were needed bythe local population to supplementthe meager resources this harshland could provide. Canned fruitsand meats were important articles,as were tobacco, knives, andammunition. The Natives tradedsheep hides, wool, woven blankets,and turquoise-laden silver jewelry forgoods from the post. Their jewelryoften was provided as collateral,'pawn', to pay for purchases. Ralphand Julia and daughter Elizabeth Anne were often the only people of their'white-person' race in the entire region.It was in this environment that this book’s author Elizabeth Anne livedher childhood years. Her playmates were often from the local population.In her later childhood years her school times were spent in distant Leuppor Winslow, Arizona, but coming back to what she calls, affectionately it isbelieved, the 'Rez' for holidays and summer vacations.Told as an adult in the year 2020 while living at Mesa, Arizona, ElizabethAnne points out her purpose in recording her story is more for it to beher parents’ story, for there is scant recorded material about their lives atKaibeto Trading Post and how they operated this out-of-the-way and nowhistoricpost for many years as a life-hub for a receptive Native population.
