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Navajo Springs, Arizona is a community located on the Navajo Nation, near to Holbrook, Arizona. The community is almost exclusively Native American, and a permit is required from the Navajo Nation for off-road travel in that area. During the time of the Old West, this area was frequented by notable western characters, such as Commodore Perry Owens. Navajo Springs was a stopping place for travelers to water their horses and themselves. The Beale Wagon Road, a precursor of the transcontinental railroad built through the area in 1882 as well as the "mother road", highway 66, (now interstate 40) ran through Navajo Springs. The Arizona territorial government was organized here, later a monument at the springs was erected to commemorate the event. At the insistence of the Santa Fe Railway company, all Navajos were forcibly removed away from the Navajo Springs area and by the 1930's, all allotted lands within the area were extinguished and the lands forcibly vacated. But by the late 1980's, the lands were once again occuppied by Navajos, this time by Navajo "refugees" from the Navajo-Hopi land dispute.
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