State ex rel. State Engineer v. San Juan Agricultural Water Users Ass'

BLACK, Judge.

Factual and Procedural Background *727 {1} In 1849, after years of intermittent warfare, the United States entered into a peace treaty with the Navajo Tribe (Navajo Nation). See Treaty With the Navaho , September 9, 1849, 9 Stat. 974 (Treaty of 1849). That treaty subjected the Navajo Nation and its people to the sovereignty and rule of the United States and recognized the existence and legitimacy of a territory to be dedicated to the Navajo Nation. At the time, the federal government aspired to change the existing Navajo pastoral culture into one of more traditional Eastern-style…