[Summer 2001] 

The first line of monoliths in Monument Valley are called “Harry’s Picket Fence,” in honor of Harry Goulding who called the impossibly beautiful valley home for more than 40 years. In 1921, Harry moved there with his new wife Leone—he called her “Mike” because, when he wrote her love letters before they were married, he had difficulty spelling her name. “‘Mike,” he said, “was a lot easier to spell.” The name stuck, and so did the Goulding's, who built a trading post, then opened the valley to movie making, and eventually, to tourism as well. 

After her husband Harry was gone and the trading post sold, first to Knox College of Illinois and later the LaFont trading family, Mike, who had returned to live out her life there, regaled long-time Goulding operations manager Ronnie Biard with the story of how Hollywood first came to Monument Valley. It was 1937, near the end of the Depression and times were hard on the Navajo Reservation. Armed with their last $60, she and Harry packed their bedrolls in an old pickup and headed west. They made it just past Flagstaff the first night and camped alongside the road. When they arrived in Los Angeles, Harry sought out the office of John Ford. While Mike waited in the truck, knitting, Harry went inside and asked to see the famous director. 

“Do you have an appointment?” his secretary asked. Harry allowed that he didn’t. “Well you need an appointment to see Mr. Ford,” she said firmly. Harry asked for an appointment and was curtly informed, “He’s not available.” 

Harry explained that in Monument Valley, where he lived, when someone wanted to see another person, they just went on in and did that. The secretary, looking down her nose, told Harry it might be several days before Mr. Ford would be available. Harry returned to the truck, and without a word to Mike, picked up his bedroll and went back inside. 

“What’s that?” asked the secretary. 

“My bedroll,” said Harry. “I’ll just wait here until Mr. Ford can see me. I don’t mind waiting.” He sat down on a bench and spread out some pictures of Monument Valley taken by the famous photographer Joseph Munch. 

The secretary, miffed, called the location manager for assistance. He hustled over, intent on removing Harry from the premises. Then he saw the pictures. “What’s that?” he asked, awed. “Monument Valley,” replied Harry. “Where I live. That’s what I wanted to talk to Mr. Ford about.” 

Ten days later a crew and cast, equipped by Babbits in Flagstaff, were on location in Monument Valley. The picture they made was “Stage Coach,” starring John Wayne. It went on to win an Academy Award. Wayne went on to become a star. And Monument Valley went into history as one of the most picturesque locations for filming western movies. 

In all his movies, John Ford paid the Navajo SAG Union wages for their film time. This lifted them from the depression, restored food to their tables, pride to their families. One of the Navajo, Hosteen Begay, who had been in several of Ford’s movies, sent the director a sheepskin. “It was a big honor,” says Ronnie Biard, relating this story. “Ford realized it, and that sheepskin became one of his most treasured possessions. The family still has it today.” 

Another story Mike relayed to Baird involves an old ship’s sail and a mahogany mast pole. “When he visited in California,” Baird says, “Harry fell in love with sailboats. When times were good, and he could afford it, he bought one and brought it back here.” Now, there was no water within 300 miles. (Lake Powell did not exist then.) Harry set the boat up alongside the trading post. When eventually the bottom rotted out, Harry and some friends took the hull out into the desert and had a burning ceremony. Harry kept the sail and the mast, though, both of which are still at the post today.

There is another story about why the cedar poles in the post storage room are wrapped in rope. Mike liked to wear cardigan sweaters. Her sleeves would catch on the cedar poles. So Mike had the poles wrapped in rope—which is still there today—to protect her sweaters. 

Then there is the story about how the Goulding’s came to establish a trading post in the middle of the Navajo Reservation. Harry Goulding had been a federal sheep inspector, living in Mancos, Colo. His territory did not cover Monument Valley, but he knew of it. The land was known then as the Paiute Strip. The Paiutes were primarily farmers, and petitioned Congress to move them to a more agrarian area. Congress agreed, moved them up by Navajo Mountain. 

In 1921, the “strip” was opened to homesteading. Harry had kept on top of the situation, and when the land became available (640 acres), he and his new bride Mike bought it. For $320. They arrived accompanied by a herd of sheep, their belongings stuffed in an old truck and a soft-topped Buick, and set up an old Army tent as their home and trading post. Seven years later, two trappers helped them put up the building which housed the trading post on the ground floor and their living quarters above. Later, they added cabins to accommodate the movie crews, but the first, including John Wayne, slept in tents, just like the Goulding’s did, and took showers under a bucket of strategically splashed water. 

It took a while for Harry Goulding, a sheepherder who at 6’4” was known as Ban ez, or “tall sheep” by the Navajo, and Mike to become established. Initially, they were not welcomed with open arms. But time and evidence of their sincere desire to help the native peoples, or “Dineh,” turned the situation around. They became an integral part of the Navajo community. Only when his health began to fail, did Harry agree to sell the trading post. After he was gone, his widow Mike returned, a guest now of the LaFont family. She helped restore the old post and home to its original condition, contributing many artifacts from her own collection. 

Goulding’s Trading Post today is a conglomeration of original buildings, movie props and reconstruction. The original eight guest cabins are still there, now part of the 62-room lodge. The original restaurant, once a movie prop where all meals were served “family style,” was torn down to make a building—standing on the same spot—which now meets health inspection codes. The cabin, once an old potato shed, used by the character played by John Wayne in the movie Yellow Ribbon is now filled with movie memorabilia. 

There are more stories, some official, many more told by those whose culture and tradition is based on storytelling. To hear and experience them, you will have to visit Goulding’s. The old trading post may be gone, but the majesty of the valley, now a Navajo Tribal Park, is still awe-inspiring. Take one of the tours, visit a weaver in her hogan, see dancers sway and spin to haunting Navajo music, watch a lone rider pause at sunset on a blood red cliff. Celebrate Monument Valley with “Earth Spirit,” a 20-minute multimedia presentation in Goulding Lodge’s theater. Rent one of the old movies (available at the lodge) and play it on the VCR in your room. 

Leave the drapes open. You can look out the window and see the scenes captured in film. And if your imagination is working, you’ll hear the war whoops and thunder of horses and maybe a stagecoach, as history streaks past towering red monoliths.