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Show Dean Begay watches with interest as Sylvan Jack measures for new shoes. Pres. Jack has been in trading post business since he was 19. Pres. Jack catches a ride with one of his trading post customers. i A Friend Of The Indians By STEPHEN I W. GIBSON Church News Staff Writer ? PINON, ARIZ. For 32 years Sylvan Jack has been a of the Indians. He has also been their postmaster, banker, grocer, interpreter, pawn broker, gas station attendant, shoe salesman and he is now their branch president. Pres. Jack owns and operates a trading post in Pinon, Ariz. Pinon is located near the middle of the Navajo Indian Reservation, far from bright lights, smog or city noise. It is also far from supermarkets, theaters and civilization as most Americans know it. We have found it lonely at times but there is always something to do at the the traders on the reservation are Church members. On an average day up to 200 Indians come to the trading post. Not all of the customers are shopping for can goods, dry goods, pop or hundreds of other iti ms for sale in the store. Many of them who live close by like to come to the store just to browse. Others come to pawn jewelry or rifles until they get their checks. Pres. Jack would rather-le- t them leave their jewelry for a few days and give them the money trading post, Pres. Jack said. The Indians, many who walk or drive borse-drawwagons for miles to get to the trading post, depend on the post operator for almost all their necessities. In years past they have come to me when they have been sick and I have diagnosed their problems. They have come to me with letters that need to be read or written. They even come to me when one of their family members dies, Pres. Jack said. His trading post outwardly looks like a general store with two gas pumps outside and several Indians standing around visiting. Inside the visitor can see the walk-isafe which holds Indian rugs, jewelry and a few rifles. Pres. Jack is usually in the store waiting on the customers or talking over their problems with them. Because of tribal laws, traders don't go out among the Indians and barter over the prices of the handicrafts they make. These days the Indians bring their rugs, baskets, wool and hides here to the store to do their trading, he said. When asked about the common idea that Indian trading post operators pull fast deals on the Indians, Pres. Jack replied, There is hardly an Indian that cant outtrade a white man. He said most of the traders he knows are honest. In fact, most of the traders I know are Mormons, he added. Pres. Jack estimated that 75 per cent of they need for necessities, than he would turn them away. Pres. Jack started learning Navajo language while working in a trading post at 19. Navajo is a very difficult language to learn. No one really masters it, he said. Most of the children on the reservation speak English and many read and write it. according to the trader, but the old people still speak Navajo. He feels his Pinon, Ariz. location is better than the trading post he owned for 11 years in Rock Point, N.M. "Here we have a paved road and are just 120 miles from Holbrook, Ariz. At Rock Point we were two days travel on dirt roads, from Farmington, N.M., Pres. Jack said. at the Pinon Average attendance Branch numbers close to 50, said Pres. Jack. The members meet in a small con- verted garage, but hope to start meeting in a bgger building soon. Pres. Dale T. Tingey, Southwest Indian Mission, said Pres. Jack and most of the other Mormon traders are a big help to the missionary effort on the reservation. n n WEEKENDING SEPTEMBER 13, 1969 The trading post operator also sells gasoline to his customers. i ;; , f j j, 4 J f |