Council bill would change name of U.S. Highway 491
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero Orange barrels direct traffic during construction on U.S. Highway 491 on Friday in Twin Lakes, New Mexico.
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
Orange barrels direct traffic during construction on U.S. Highway 491 on Friday in Twin Lakes, New Mexico.
WINDOW ROCK
U.S. Highway 491, the highway that was once infamously dubbed the “Devil’s Highway” when it was formerly designated as U.S. Highway 666, might get a new name.
The Navajo Nation Council drafted a bill last Thursday that would designate the highway as “Chief Manuelito Highway” after the late Diné leader Chief Manuelito. The legislation is sponsored by Navajo Nation Council Delegate Leonard Tsosie.
The delegate said the highway designation would honor the late leader and the history of the Navajo people.
“Chief Manuelito, or Hastiin Ch’il Haajiin, was a leader for the Navajo people before and after the Long Walk,” Tsosie said in a news release from the speaker’s office.
Manuelito was born in 1818 and died in 1893. He negotiated and advocated for the Navajo people to return to their homelands, which created the Treaty of 1868. Manuelito was famously quoted saying “My grandchild, education is the ladder. Tell our people to take it.”
Manuelito’s grandson, Tom Tolino, from what is now known as Coyote Canyon, New Mexico, attended the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, from 1882 to 1885. He was one of many Navajos to go to the school.
“His legacy is greatly appreciated and honored within the Navajo Nation and the highway designation will illustrate the honor, pride, and strength of the Navajo people,” Tsosie said.
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