St. Michaels

History

The St. Michaels area is referred to as in the Navajo language and translates to "area that extends out in yellow and green." The microclimate was originally referred to by its Spanish translation Ciénega Amarilla (Spanish: "yellow meadow") describing the late summer yellow flowers and grass. The area was first noted by the U.S. military in 1850 when Lt. James Harvey Simpson named it Sieneguilla de Maria, its Spanish name misheard by a non-native speaker. In the 1850s a planned ambush against local Navajos was thwarted by a man who went on to become a signatory to the Navajo Treaty of 1868. Delgadito ( ((“Tall Syphilis”)) successfully alerted Navajos preparing for a prisoner exchange with Mexican slave-holders. Construction on the Franciscan Mission began in 1896 using financing from Rev. Mother Katharine Drexel, founder of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Rev. Anselm Weber took over construction on October 11, 1897, adopting the name Saint Michaels for the area (from Navajo : "Green Meadow"). St. Michael Parish would be officially founded in 1898. In 1910, Fr. Berard Haile prepared a Navajo ethnologic dictionary at the Franciscan Mission.

Geography

St. Michaels is located on the eastern boundary of the Defiance Plateau. The community is located on the western side of the Black Creek Valley and Black Creek, a north tributary to the southwest-flowing Rio Puerco. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  148
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  90
• Western Bluebird

  Sialia mexicana Swainson, 1832 · Aves
  83
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  62
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  53
• American Kestrel

  Falco sparverius Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  46
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  44
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  41

Largest nearby schools

• Window Rock High School
  High · FORT DEFIANCE · 571 students · 18.4:1 ratio
• Tsehootsooi Primary Learning Center
  Elementary · Fort Defiance · 441 students · 19.2:1 ratio
• Tsehootsooi Intermediate Learning Center
  Middle · Fort Defiance · 355 students · 17.8:1 ratio
• Tsehootsooi Middle School
  Middle · FORT DEFIANCE · 259 students · 15.2:1 ratio
• Tsehootsooi Dine Bi'Olta
  Elementary · Window Rock · 84 students · 12:1 ratio
• Integrated Preschool
  Other · FORT DEFIANCE · 26 students · 13:1 ratio
• NATIVE - Window Rock High School
  High · FORT DEFIANCE

Most recent

• M 2.8 — 2026-02-26
  3 km NNW of Sawmill, Arizona
• M 2.6 — 2024-05-20
  11 km WNW of Ramah, New Mexico
• M 3.1 — 2021-07-04
  24 km SW of Lake Valley, New Mexico
• M 3 — 2020-09-27
  5 km S of Sawmill, Arizona
• M 2.8 — 2020-06-10
  5 km WNW of Tsaile, Arizona
• M 2.9 — 2009-10-06
  17 km NNW of Crownpoint, New Mexico