Secrets of the Canyon : A Memoir of the Vanishing Era of Trading Posts
Author: Linda McGee
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BOOK DETAILS
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
Subgenre: Native American,
Pages: 326
Trim Size: 6x9
eBook ISBN: 9798892856805
Paperback ISBN: 9798892856782
Hardback ISBN: 9798892856799
Secrets of the Canyon : A Memoir of the Vanishing Era of Trading Posts
Author: Linda McGee
BOOK DETAILS
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
Subgenre: Native American,
Pages: 326
Trim Size: 6x9
eBook ISBN: 9798892856805
Paperback ISBN: 9798892856782
Hardback ISBN: 9798892856799
About The Book
Countless movies, books, and documentaries have been created about Native Americans and the 1800s era of the Southwest. But little is known about the isolated and obscure lives of the old Indian traders and the remote trading posts of the mid-20th century. To preserve that fading world, the author tells this story through a nonlinear memoir format.
It was a unique lifestyle and an eccentric business-an undertaking that required a rare breed to figure out. Their "cross to bear" was not just learning the Navajo language; they had to learn through trial and error, at the cost of their own mistakes. How much wool and how many lambs were too much or too little? Even the old, seasoned traders hadn't mastered the secrets of wool and lamb seasons. But they all agreed on one thing: the life of isolation and quiet solitude was not a challenge, it was one of the rewards.
By the early 1980's the culture of the reservation had shifted toward a more modern era. The old trading posts, in every hidden corner of the Navajo reservation, were neglected,
unkempt and eventually abandoned. Their stone walls began to collapse and crumble, eventually returning to Mother Earth.
Knowing that her parents' history was buried in the ashes of her beloved Na-ah-tee Canyon Trading Post, the author feared their story might not ever be told. So with pure passion, she sifted through the rubble and sorted through the memories, brushing away decades of dust and debris. Gradually, she, the daughter of an old Indian trader put pen to paper and uncovered a forgotten world. Breathing life back into a story that might have otherwise faded into obscurity.
This is their story. This is her story too.
About The Author
Linda McGee, a recipient of the Golden Scribe Seal of Literary Excellence, was born in New Mexico and raised in Arizona. She’s the daughter of Charles and Marian McGee who were among the last of the original Indian traders.
Her childhood unfolded in remote trading posts on the Navajo Reservation, where the land listened and In the end, time just didn’t matter. It was a world shaped by silence, distance, and the quiet rhythms of a people deeply rooted in tradition.
In these pages, she reveals a tragic turning point in her family’s life, after which her parents were, for a time, lost to themselves, until they found solace and a fragile harmony among the Diné, the Navajo people.
Few can imagine the world she knew: sacred ceremonies held in hushed reverence with medicine men whose presence spoke beyond words, and moments of mystery that asked only to be felt, not explained.
Secrets of the Canyon is told through the eyes of an eight-year-old girl living within that fleeting, fragile magic. The trading posts have vanished now, and the era has nearly slipped into silence, but its spirit persists.
And within these pages, it breathes again.
About The Book
Countless movies, books, and documentaries have been created about Native Americans and the 1800s era of the Southwest. But little is known about the isolated and obscure lives of the old Indian traders and the remote trading posts of the mid-20th century. To preserve that fading world, the author tells this story through a nonlinear memoir format.
It was a unique lifestyle and an eccentric business-an undertaking that required a rare breed to figure out. Their "cross to bear" was not just learning the Navajo language; they had to learn through trial and error, at the cost of their own mistakes. How much wool and how many lambs were too much or too little? Even the old, seasoned traders hadn't mastered the secrets of wool and lamb seasons. But they all agreed on one thing: the life of isolation and quiet solitude was not a challenge, it was one of the rewards.
By the early 1980's the culture of the reservation had shifted toward a more modern era. The old trading posts, in every hidden corner of the Navajo reservation, were neglected,
unkempt and eventually abandoned. Their stone walls began to collapse and crumble, eventually returning to Mother Earth.
Knowing that her parents' history was buried in the ashes of her beloved Na-ah-tee Canyon Trading Post, the author feared their story might not ever be told. So with pure passion, she sifted through the rubble and sorted through the memories, brushing away decades of dust and debris. Gradually, she, the daughter of an old Indian trader put pen to paper and uncovered a forgotten world. Breathing life back into a story that might have otherwise faded into obscurity.
This is their story. This is her story too.
About The Author
Linda McGee, a recipient of the Golden Scribe Seal of Literary Excellence, was born in New Mexico and raised in Arizona. She’s the daughter of Charles and Marian McGee who were among the last of the original Indian traders.
Her childhood unfolded in remote trading posts on the Navajo Reservation, where the land listened and In the end, time just didn’t matter. It was a world shaped by silence, distance, and the quiet rhythms of a people deeply rooted in tradition.
In these pages, she reveals a tragic turning point in her family’s life, after which her parents were, for a time, lost to themselves, until they found solace and a fragile harmony among the Diné, the Navajo people.
Few can imagine the world she knew: sacred ceremonies held in hushed reverence with medicine men whose presence spoke beyond words, and moments of mystery that asked only to be felt, not explained.
Secrets of the Canyon is told through the eyes of an eight-year-old girl living within that fleeting, fragile magic. The trading posts have vanished now, and the era has nearly slipped into silence, but its spirit persists.
And within these pages, it breathes again.
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