Oen Edgar Noland: Four Corners Pioneer and Trader

For Native American People in the Four Corners area of Colorado and Utah, the last half of the 19th century was a tumultuous period. The Utes, who were accustomed to roaming freely among the towering peaks and rugged terrain of the Rocky Mountains, were being relegated to an area in Colorado may times smaller than what they had always considered their homeland. Across the border in Utah and beyond the San Juan River, the Navajos were fighting to retain as much of their territory as they could. Into this turbulent situation came Oen Edgar Noland, a tenderfoot, determined to provide for a new bride by supplying the Native Americans with groceries, clothing, pots and pans and household articles in exchange for wool clippings, goat hides, animal pelts and sundry native arts and crafts like blankets and jewelry. After his sister and her husband moved to Colorado, he followed and made their home in Saguache. This is the story of hi8s triumphs and travails. He gained the trust of both Utes and Navajos and was given the Navajo name "Bi'doni." He became a close friend of Chief Ignacio of the Utes who died while visiting him at his trading post. He was a prominent citizen of the small town of Mancos, serving as its mayor for a period of time and was an important business man. In a confrontation with a bootlegger, Noland was shot and blinded and lived the balance of his life without sight.