Canyon de Chelly sandstone spires, Arizona, 1945

About this postcard

The view looks across a shallow stream toward the red sandstone walls and free-standing spires of Canyon de Chelly, with cottonwoods and brush along the banks. The printed caption describes a series of canyons about twenty miles long, cut into desert tablelands, with sheer walls rising nearly a thousand feet. Canyon de Chelly National Monument lies on the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona and preserves cliff dwellings and pictographs from Ancestral Puebloan and later Navajo life. By the 1940s the canyon was part of the Southwest tourist circuit, and Fred Harvey's publishing operation supplied views like this for travelers moving through the region.