The film will soon be shown at the Smithsonian Institute and also to employees of the Department of the Interior. The Clys were among the first Navajo families to befriend Harry Goulding, who along with his wife, Mike, operated the celebrated Goulding s Trading Post in Monument Valley from 1924 to the early 1960s. Goulding grew up in Durango and Aztec. Elsie Zina Cly was Elsie Mae and John Wayne Cly s mother, who died when John Wayne Cly was 2 years old. Soon thereafter the child was taken from the Clys to be raised by a white family.
Uranium mining is a significant part of the story.
The Navajos worked the Monument Valley mines in the post-war years. Although the work was steady, the radiation dangers were lethal and miners health deteriorated. Many of them contracted lung disorders and died young. To this day, surviving mine workers are seeking medical compensation from the federal government. A documentary film directed by Jeff Spitz.