There's an ancient trading post here. And where white capitalism went, the army and the Indian Bureau followed, to protect the dollar and eventually, fruitlessly, to missionize the heathen. The rock houses and offices of early government settlement stand empty and idle today. Today they still are the best real estate in town and yet the wind and not much else blows through them, an ironic commentary on wasted time and dubious intentions. A continuing waste of resource.
Populism comes at a price and part of that is living in recycled beer cans.
As a man whose personal hay requirements approach two tons per annum, I'm interested both in the quality and price of the product. I pull up alongside a Navajo sitting in the back of a stock trailer and ask where it's from. He knows I know that he doesn't need to explain that there's not much in the way of commercial hay production on the reservation. A tourist from New Jersey could tell you as much. Navajo rugs and blankets aren't the only reason the rez is sheep country.