Farmington

In April 1974 three Navajo men, Herman Dodge Benally, John Earl Harvey and David Ignacio, were abducted, beaten and killed in Chokecherry Canyon near town by three Farmington High School students, part of a practice locals called Indian rolling. The Coalition for Navajo Liberation led marches through Farmington that summer. In 1975 the state's advisory committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights published The Farmington Report: A Conflict of Cultures, documenting discrimination in housing, employment and policing; a 2005 follow-up measured what had changed. A memorial prayer walk is held each year.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Farmington Population 30,729 Elevation 5395 ft. Until 1876 this area comprised part of the Jicarilla Apache Reservation. Anglo settle- ment quickly began at the confluence of the San Juan, Animas, and La Plata Rivers. Farmington became a ranching and farming area and, later, an important producer of oil, gas, coal, and uranium.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Aztec Ruins National Monument — 17 mi
  A Chacoan great house on the Animas River, misnamed by settlers who thought the Aztecs built it, with original roofs nine centuries old and a great kiva rebuilt whole.

More markers nearby

• Harriet Belle Amsden Sammons (1876-1954) — 6.3 mi
• Hogback — 13 mi
• Salmon Ruin — 14 mi
• City of Bloomfield — 15 mi