The Heritage of the Desert (Kaibab Band- Southern Paiute and Navajo)

The Heritage of the Desert was Zane Grey's first novel of the Old West and launched his career.  It is the story of John Hare, a young man from the East, who comes to the wildlands along Utah and Arizona's border to regain his health.  Over time, he grows strong and falls in love with the beautiful Mescal, a woman of Spanish and Navajo descent.  Unfortunately, Mescal is promised to a violent Mormon man as a polygamist wife. The story revolves around her adopted father's commitment to his son and vow to not take up guns.  John tries to help, but will he succeed?

You can read all of The Heritage of the Desert online by clicking:

HERE

Kaibab Band, Southern Paiute Tribe

One secondary character in the novel is a Native American simply called Piute.  He is a friend to both Mescal and John working as a shepherd for Mescal's adopted father, August Naab.  He also has an amazing understanding of the skills needed to live in the harsh landscape in and near the Grand Canyon. 

Much like the Apache, the Southern Piute Indian tribes have always been a loose confederation of bands with a similar ethnic heritage.  Always small in numbers, they historically have lacked political clout.  As a result, they fell victim to the Indian termination policies of the federal government in the 1950s.  They were stripped of their health and educational benefits, federal tax protection, and agricultural assistance. These rights were finally restored in 1980, but not before 75 percent of their members had died.  Almost all of the elderly passed taking much of the tribe's cultural heritage to the grave.  

The Heritage of the Desert was largely set below the Vermillion Cliffs north of the Colorado River.  These were the traditional lands of the Kaibab Band of the Southern Piute Tribe who still lived in the area when Zane Grey visited.  Though the character,"Piute", is not identified as a member of the Kaibab Band, it is safe to assume the obvious relationship.

(Note: Zane Grey spelled the tribe's name as "Piute" which was and still is a less common alternative spelling.)

The Navajo

Navajo people drift in and out of The Heritage of the Desert playing minor roles. However, the old Navajo chief, Eschtah, is an important supporting character.  He is the grandfather of Mescal who is half-Spanish.  His purpose seems to be as an interpreter clarifying the challenges his granddaughter faces as a young woman with Navajo roots being raised in a white world.  Consider the following exchange between Mescal's step-father, August Naab, and the old chief.  Mescal has run away into the desert and Naab goes to Eschtah's village to ask for help finding her.  The old chief responds:

"The Navajo will find her if she is not as the grain of drifting sand. But is the White Prophet wise in his years? Let the Flower of the Desert take root in the soil of her forefathers.”

“Eschtah's wisdom is great, but he thinks only of Indian blood. Mescal is half white, and her ways have been the ways of the white man. Nor does Eschtah think of the white man's love.”

“The desert has called. Where is the White Prophet's vision? White blood and red blood will not mix. The Indian's blood pales in the white man's stream; or it burns red for the sun and the waste and the wild. Eschtah's forefathers, sleeping here in the silence, have called the Desert Flower.”