Brief Overview of the Chapter
The Manuelito Chapter is mountainous, with rocky ridges and mesas, which make pleasing scenic view for those traveling east or west through the Rio Puerco Valley. Rio Puerco runs along, many times interchanging with, the I-40 expressway and railroad tracks. White, reddish, and yellowish sandstone formations guide these man-made structures and the river from West Gallup to the New Mexico-Arizona state line. Sagebrush, pinon, juniper, and shrub grass paint the canyon lands. The higher terrain supports ponderosa and oak. There are numerous archaeological sites witnessing human habitation in this area dating back to the Anasazi. Navajo habitation is generalized to go back about three to four hundred years. As in other parts of the Navajo Reservation, early development surrounded trading. A trading post was established mid-way up the Rio Puerco Valley. Early Navajo headmen met here, eventually leading up to the local Navajo community recognition by the Navajo Tribal Council. The original meeting shelter was a railroad box car. The building of a day school and church near the trading post commenced the development of the community. Over time, there was much influenced by Mexicans and Anglos, especially by a local trader named Jesse Hampton who helped provide for the Navajo people. He even had a building constructed where they could have their meetings. It is suspected that Manuelito got its name in response to travelers asking about the famous Chief Manuelito. The chapter got certified in December of 1955. In 1969, a new chapter house was built at its current location north of the old US Route 66. Anticipated additional development did not occur mainly because the new I-40 was rerouted to the south side of the Rio Puerco, bypassing the trading post, the day school and the new chapter house. Due to abandoned buildings, the chapter was negatively called “ugly house” in Navajo. Conversely, in the last decade, it was positively renamed “beautiful house.” Land ownership status in this chapter, as is