The Lawful Desecration of the San Francisco Peaks

Abstract

The San Francisco Peaks sprawl across the Colorado Plateau of North Central Arizona. Its three major peaks (Fremont, Agassiz, and Humphreys) attract recreational tourists and American Indian religious practitioners alike. The Peaks became embroiled in conflict in the late 1970s after these two groups clashed over the expansion of a ski resort on Humphreys Peak. This clash, which resulted in the Court of Appeals case Wilson v. Block, called attention to the sacred nature of the Peaks for American Indians, particularly the Navajo and Hopi tribes. It marked a climax in the federal government’s long involvement in the Peaks and an even longer history of local tribes’ relationship with the Peaks. Between 1848 and 2008, the US government created and then upheld circumstances that violated the San Francisco Peaks’ sanctity for the Hopi and Navajo tribes. Its acquisition, colonization, and recreational development of the Peaks denigrated the sacred site; the courts then upheld these actions, allowing the harm to continue unchecked.