The Navajo name for Indian Wells is Tóhahadleeh, meaning “dipping water” (from a well); the actual watering site is north of the chapter house.  Northeast of the chapter house, Brimhall Sand and Gravel has a quarry that produces gravel for road construction.

The chapter is located in the southwestern part of the Navajo Nation, approximately 40 miles north of Holbrook, Arizona and Interstate 40.  It is bordered by three chapters:  Greasewood Springs to the east, Dilkon to the west, and White Cone to the north.  The geographic landscape consists of rolling hills and mesas covered with juniper trees, shrubs, and grama grass and volcanic buttes known to the Navajos as Tse zhin bi nee or Tse zhin tah (or the Hopi Buttes) dominate the area.

Indian Wells was first settled in the 1800s.  The Indian Wells Trading Post, the Bitahochee Store, and a hospital were built in the early 1900s.  The trading post and store provided hardware, textile, groceries, and postal services.  They also served as a gathering place for the local people, where people visited with relatives and friends, receive news about events from elsewhere, socialized and occasionally took part in games.  The trading post and store both closed in the mid-1970s.

The hospital was a large, two-story white hospital that served as an outpatient clinic and was operated by the Presbyterian Church.  After the hospital was relocated to Ganado becoming a part of the Sage Memorial Hospital, the former hospital was converted to a church.

In the past, the primary source of income was farming and livestock ranching; however, with a more mobile workforce, the majority of the younger generation are employed elsewhere primarily in the border towns or in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Indian Wells Chapter was recognized as a chapter by the Navajo Tribal Council in August 1956.

THE NAVAJO NATION

Office of the President/Vice-President

Dr. Buu Nygren

President of the Navajo Nation

Honorable Richelle Montoya

Vice-President of the Navajo Nation

25th Navajo Nation Council

Honorable Cherilyn Yazzie

(Dilkon, Greasewood Springs, Indian Wells, Teesto, White Cone)