Chee Dodge — Witness to the Craft's Beginnings
Diné (Navajo) · Henry Chee Dodge · Leader, interpreter, patron — historical witness
The witness, not the smith
Let's be plain, because a hallmark directory owes you plainness: Chee Dodge was not a silversmith. No source describes him working silver, and he left no hallmark. The "Dodge" marks in Hougart's reference belong to Lawrence Dodge, a separate person entirely. So here is the collector's caution in one line — any piece attributed to "Chee Dodge" as its maker is unsupported by the record. If a dealer offers you one, the name on the tag is doing work the evidence can't.
What the sources do describe is a Navajo leader — "a well-known Navajo, who for many years has been a leader of his people," in Adair's words — who as a young man worked as a government interpreter, a role that put him between two worlds and gave his memory unusual reach. He lived near Crystal, Arizona, a short way from the hogan of Atsidi Sani, the man credited as the first Navajo smith. And that accident of geography is why this page exists.
The man whose word dates the craft
When John Adair set out in the early 1940s to write the founding history of Navajo and Pueblo silverwork, Chee Dodge was one of his named informants. He wasn't repeating stories — he knew Atsidi Sani personally. "When he was an old man he used to come over here and talk with me," Chee told Adair. "He was blind at that time, and I used to lead him around by a cane."
From that friendship came the testimony the whole chronology leans on. Chee reported that Atsidi Sani learned ironworking around age twenty-five, from a Mexican blacksmith in the south — which Adair worked back to roughly 1853, a date independently supported by Van Valkenburgh's and Woodward's research. Chee also stated flatly that the Navajo made no silver of their own during the Fort Sumner captivity (1864–68) — "the Navajo were locked up there just like sheep in a corral" — testimony Grey Moustache corroborated, and Bedinger repeated. Jacka (1995, p. 15) also quotes Chee Dodge: "They were locked up there like sheep in a corral." [2] His account even fixes Atsidi Sani's death at about 1918, past the age of ninety. When later scholars quote a date for the origins of Navajo silver, they are, more often than not, quoting Chee Dodge.
The patron with the first turquoise ring
He collected as well as testified. Slender Maker of Silver — whom Chee called one of the best of all Navajo smiths — made him a tobacco canteen, a bridle, and a squash-blossom strand so distinctive Adair said he'd never seen another like it, with blossoms facing inward as well as outward. And per Van Valkenburgh, the first turquoise ever set in a silver ring was made for Chee Dodge. The craft's most important design milestone has a documented first customer, and it's him.
That's why a hallmark directory keeps a page for a man with no hallmark: the marks tell you who made a piece; witnesses like Chee Dodge tell you when the making began. See our page on Fred Peshlakai for where that line ran next — and an Atsidi Sani page is coming.
References
- Adair, John. The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths (1944), pp. 5–6, 22–23, 32, 43, 51.
- Bedinger, Margery. Indian Silver: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers (1973), pp. 9, 15, 18–19, 38, 48.
- Rosnek, Carl & Stacey, Joseph. Skystone and Silver (1976), pp. 56–57.
- Hougart, Bille. Native American and Southwestern Silver Hallmarks, 5th ed. (2022) — no Chee Dodge marks; "Dodge" entries are Lawrence Dodge, unrelated.
- Branson, Oscar T. Turquoise: The Gem of the Centuries. Santa Fe: Treasure Chest Publications, 1975. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1975.
- Jacka, Lois Essary. Navajo Jewelry: A Legacy of Silver and Stone. Photographs by Jerry Jacka. Flagstaff: Northland Publishing, 1995. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1995.
- Adair, John. The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths. The Civilization of the American Indian Series. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1944. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1944.
- Woodward, Arthur. A Brief History of Navajo Silversmithing. With field notes by Richard Van Valkenburgh. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 14, 2d ed. Flagstaff: Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art, December 1946 (first edition 1938). Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1946.
From the Library: Branson, Turquoise: The Gem of the Centuries (1975)
1975 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1975, not today.
Branson's 1975 book pictured a necklace from Chee Dodge's own collection, reproduced with the permission of his daughter:
“This outstanding turquoise necklace belonged to Chee Dodge, leader of the Navajo people and Tribal Council Chairman for many years. It was carved by Leekya, famous Zuni Indian carver who used the natural contours of the stones to bring out their beauty.”
— Branson (1975), p. 59
According to Branson (1975, p. 59), the necklace's carved leaf pendant was over three inches long and its turquoise came from several localities.
From the Library: Adair, The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths (1944)
1944 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1944, not today.
Adair (1944) turned Chee Dodge's memory into a date:
“According to Chee, Atsidi Sani, who may well have been the first Navajo to work iron, learned the trade from a Mexican about eighty-five years ago. That would have been about 1853.”
— Adair (1944), p. 6 [3]
According to Adair (1944, p. 5), photographs of Navajo taken during the Fort Sumner period bore out Chee Dodge's statement that the people wore very little silver there: they showed no conchas, wrist-guards or najahe. [3]
Chee Dodge also gave Adair (1944) the name the Navajo used for a Mexican smith at Ganado:
“Chee Dodge said that a Mexican smith who worked for Hubbell at Ganado was known to the Navajo by the name of Thick Lips.”
— Adair (1944), p. 8 [3]
On the first turquoise setting, Adair (1944) recorded a different candidate and a caution:
“Although Grey Moustache said that Atsidi Chon was the first smith to set turquoise in silver, his testimony can not be taken as conclusive evidence.”
— Adair (1944), p. 13 [3]
Adair (1944) quoted Lieutenant John G. Bourke's journal from Fort Defiance in May 1881 on belts of large silver plaques:
“Of these Chi's belt had seven, besides a little one.”
— Adair (1944), p. 32 [3]
Adair (1944, p. 32) identified the Navajo in Bourke's note as Chee Dodge, then a young man employed by the government as an interpreter. [3]
From the Library: Woodward, A Brief History of Navajo Silversmithing (1946)
1946 primary source. Anything described as current here describes 1946, not today.
These are statements recorded by outside writers in 1855-1946, and Navajo elders' recollections as Richard Van Valkenburgh and Mary Russell F. Colton wrote them down; the Diné are the authority on their own history.
Henry Chee Dodge's statement to Van Valkenburgh, printed by Woodward (1946), recalled Captain Dodge's party:
“With him there was a Mexican smith who taught the Navajo around there to work iron and copper into nice things. Herrero came up to look on and learned some things.”
— Woodward (1946), p. 69 [4]
Woodward (1946) added a note on the name:
“It seems pertinent at this point to note that Henry (Chee) Dodge is not named after Captain Dodge.”
— Woodward (1946), p. 69 [4]
He went on, Woodward (1946):
“In fact I am given to understand that originally Chee Dodge's name was Dodd, not Dodge.”
— Woodward (1946), p. 69 [4]
Field Notes by Mateo James
This page follows Van Valkenburgh in saying the first turquoise ring was made for Chee Dodge. Adair's book does not mention that ring: it gives Grey Moustache's word that Atsidi Chon set the first stone, and Matilda Coxe Stevenson's report of a Navajo ring of about 1880. Adair also warned that such firsts hold only as far as an informant's knowledge goes. I show each account as its source gives it.
This profile is maintained in support of Native American silversmiths and compiled from published references. See something inaccurate, or want to add to it? Contact us.
Name-card placeholder — no authentic hallmark existed to recreate. © Turquoise Skies Inc.