Mike Goulding's Treasure House

Mike Goulding's Treasure House in Monument Valley

Text by Susan Bayer Ward Photographs by Richard Maack Leone “Mike” Goulding was “19 or 20, somewhere along there” when she first came to Monument Valley in 1923 with her new husband, sheepherder and Indian trader Harry Goulding. I ask her how she reacted when Harry brought her to this isolated desert populated with red rock monoliths. It must have been breathtaking.

“It was. Oh, but I always felt like I was coming home. I never did feel like a stranger here.” The eyes of the lean and ladylike 86-year-old sparkle at the memory. And so began the story of Monument Valley’s legendary duo. It’s a saga of two hardworking and imaginative people who befriended the Navajo, established a thriv-ing trading post, helped the Seventh Day Adventists set up a hospital, and enticed filmmaker John Ford into the valley to make some of his most memorable Westerns. And they opened up this wild, stunning wonderland to tourists. Harry died in 1981 in Page, where they’d gone to live after giving up the trad-ing post in the mid-1960s because of his ill health. Prior to settling in Page, the Gouldings had lived in Sun City. Today Goulding’s Monument Valley Trading Post and Lodge is an attractive, comfortable, well-accoutred hostelry - the only accommodation within the valley.

But, it is still redolent with the look and ambience of the old trading-post era. Booked solid during the spring, summer, and fall months - more sparsely visited in the midst of winter Goulding's has been, for decades, the place to stay if you want to tour Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park and the spot from which to forge out to see mysterious Anasazi ruins and some of Nature's most fascinating and mesmerizing landscapes.

Recently two things have come about which make this one-of-a-kind lodge even more of a mecca for adventuresome lovers of history, Indian lore, classic Westerns, and intriguing geography: Mike Goulding returned after many years, and the original stone trading post was gutted and furnished the way it was when Harry and Mike traded flour and coffee for Navajo rugs. They lived one flight up in a homey little nook that had a swinging door through which the Navajo would pass at all hours when in need of advice, a truck to ferry the sick to a distant hospital, or a compassionate hand to bury the dead.

In a first-floor addition, built in 1944 as part of the set of The Harvey Girls, film paraphernalia, mementos, and an array of black-and-white photos commemorate the days when John Ford movies began to imprint the colossal images of the valley on the minds of generations of filmgoers. Mike Goulding is delighted that rooms have been added to the lodge and the old ones spiffed up. Furthermore, she wasn't a bit nostalgic when the old dining room was torn down the one built for She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and a more spacious one constructed in its stead.

There's also a new gift shop (the old one, until recently, operated out of the trading post) and a swimming pool.

In addition, at the foot of Big Rock Door Mesa, upon which Harry and Mike perched their trading post and eventually the first eight guest rooms, now stand a grocery, a car wash, a laundromat, and a gas station, convenient for tourists who have no other such amenities in the area, and a joy to the local Navajo who otherwise have to make the trek to Mexican Hat (24 miles to the north) or Kayenta (28 miles to the south).

The wooing of John Ford heralded a good time that sprang out of misery. It was the late 1930s, and the Great Depression had hit both Indians and traders hard. The Navajo were starving, and few tourists came to pour money into empty coffers or enjoy Harry Goulding's "front yard." In truth, few had even heard of the spectacular panorama of Monument Valley.

But, when Harry learned about some new Western movies that were in the works, he and Mike set out for Hollywood carrying a stack of striking Monument Valley pictures many by celebrated photographer Josef Muench. They were down to their last $60. Harry was determined to convince some filmmaker to shoot a picture in Monument Valley even though in those days movies were usually shot in a studio, not on location. Filming in Monument Valley would certainly provide work for the Navajo, and the outside world would finally get a glimpse of the valley's dramatic vistas, thus luring tourists. The year was 1938. When they arrived at United Artists' studios, Harry went inside. Mike waited outside in the car.

I'd heard the oft-told story about Harry storming the studio, being rebuffed, and patiently allowing as how he wouldn't leave until he saw someone in charge. He'd brought along a bedroll, he said, and he'd just make use of it until someone was free. He had plenty of time. Finally Harry returned to the car, "with this look on his face," Mike recalls. Could you tell things had worked out?

"Yeah. Sure. 'Let's go home quick,' he said."

Harry had attracted the attention of the frustrated location director for a new film who had gone into the reception area to toss him out. Then he saw the photos craftily displayed under Harry's arm faced outward. The rest is history. Soon, Ford was called in and Harry was asked if he could in three days service the cast and some 100 technicians who would show up in the valley to shoot key portions of the film.

Harry Goulding, penniless but thrilled, said, "Of course."

As he and Mike returned home, United Artists wired money to Flagstaff to pay for supplies to feed and house the coming horde of filmmakers.

The motion picture was Stagecoach; the lead actor was a young John Wayne, and both actor and director, who grew to love the valley, returned again and again. Eventually, John Ford fondly dubbed Natani Nez, "Tall Leader," by the Navajo would return to direct such films as My Darling Clementine, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and The Searchers.

Many motion pictures, television shows, and commercials were subsequently shot - all or in part in the valley including Kit Carson, Billy the Kid, The Eiger Sanction, Starman, "Air Wolf' (the television series), and episodes of the soap, "Another World."

It was not until 1981 that Gerald and Roland LaFont - themselves sons of a trading-post owner - bought Harry's 640 acres from Knox College. Being "trading-post brats," as Gerald puts it, they knew what the neglected Goulding's lodge needed.

While renovating it, they attracted the interest of Mike who was still living in Page. She began to appear for short periods, then for full summers, staying on-site in her trailer. A mutual affection blossomed between the brothers and Mike, so when Gerald heard, through a friend, that she would love to move back to Monument Valley, his only question was, "When?"

But how did the museum idea come about? I ask.

"It just began it was just a natural," Gerald says. "It belonged here."

Mike Goulding couldn't be happier about the idea: a home for her irreplaceable photos, guest books, motion-picture scripts, Anasazi artifacts collected through the years, original paintings and sketches of the valley done by such eminent visitors as artist and cartoonist Jimmy Swinnerton, prized yei Navajo dolls, awards and presidential citations, original furniture, and much more.

As I accompany Mike on a tour of the old trading post, I am amazed at her memory of every detail: where tents hung

WHEN YOU GO

Getting there: The Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is located within the Navajo Indian Reservation on the Arizona-Utah border. Goulding's Monument Valley Trading Post and Lodge is in Utah just north of the Arizona border, approximately 170 miles northeast of Flagstaff, or 310 miles northeast of Phoenix. From Phoenix, drive north on Interstate 17 to Flagstaff (approximately 150 miles). From Flagstaff, follow U.S. Route 89 north until it divides just southwest of Tuba City (about 68 miles). Here take U.S. Route 160 east to Kayenta (about 82 miles). At Kayenta, pick up U.S. 163 and follow it about 23 miles to the Utah state line, then continue about one mile on to Monument Valley, Utah. Watch for the huge sign that indicates the left turn to Goulding's.

Accommodations: Goulding's is the only accommodation in Monument Valley. Open year-round, the lodge offers motel rooms with panoramic views of the valley below. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served daily in the Stagecoach Dining Room, which specializes in Navajo, Southwest, and Mexican cuisine. There is a new indoor swimming pool and an expanded gift shop. Nearby is a 50-site KOA RV park and campground that is run by Goulding's. There also is an airstrip below the mesa that can be used by small private airplanes.

What else to see and do: Half-day and all-day tours are available into the Navajo tribal park. Knowledgeable Navajo guides, operating four-wheeldrive vehicles, take visitors past some of Monument Valley's most stunning sandstone monoliths, buttes, and mesas. The full-day trip includes lunch and a drive into nearby Mystery Valley.

Additional information: Contact Goulding's Monument Valley Trading Post and Lodge, P. O. Box 1, Monument Valley, UT 84536. Telephone: (801) 727-3231.

From rafters; where she and Harry and one of their dogs, Brownie, left their footprints in wet concrete under a glass counter; the Navajo's favorite canned goods - tomatoes and grapes; even the handsome silver concho that held down a pile of dollar bills in the cash drawer.

She also told me about the pouch of Bull Durham that hung on a peg where customers dipped in a hand and helped themselves.

A sunbeam sneaks in a dirt-stained window and caresses a bare patch of stone wall while dust motes dance in its buttery light. Mike laughs and runs a hand lovingly over a cedar post.

"I've had a great life. I really have."

And now, through the museum, visitors can follow in the footsteps of that charming woman known by the nickname her husband gave her during their courtship.

"Anyway," she allows, "no one calls me Mrs. Goulding. Call me Mike."

Photo Tour: Tom Till will lead a Friends of Arizona Highways Photo Tour to Monument Valley October 1-3 to explore the wonderland's fantastically sculpted sandstone formations. To inquire about the trip and to make reservations, telephone the Friends Travel Desk (602) 271-5904.

Susan Bayer Ward, an Evanston, Illinois-based writer, fell in love with Monument Valley during her first visit in 1978 and has returned many times.

Richard Maack, a history buff whose photographic specialty is architecture and interiors, really enjoys an assignment that combines his profession and his avocation.