PROFANE DOLLARS:
DISCOURSES ABOUT
SNOWMAKING ON THE
SAN FRANCISCO PEAKS
OPHIR SEFIHA AND PAT LAUDERDALE
Arizona State University, USA
ABSTRACT
This research examines media, interview and legal-historical documentation surround-
ing the current proposal to manufacture snow using reclaimed water at the Snowbowl
ski area located on the San Francisco Peaks mountains near Flagstaff, Arizona. The
proposal has drawn sharp protest from both American Indian Nations who call the
area sacred, and environmentalists who question the safety of the reclaimed water. We
examine the process by which local coalitions attempt to define environmental, spirit-
ual, and economic values that will resonate with others. These highly mediated activi-
ties create contested territory whereby groups attempt to package and frame specific
definitions of these values. This debate exposes hegemonic assumptions that aid us
in deconstructing conflicting understandings of colonialism, racism, and other issues
that typically go unacknowledged. Weber’s discussion of rationality and commensu-
rability is employed for understanding why sacred justice claims continue to be largely
ignored. This research indicates that not only is this a case of epistemological incom-
patibility, but an active attempt to discredit and disenfranchise a specific group. Two
interwoven themes emerged from our analysis: ‘Indians as Greedy’ and ‘Indians as
Hypocrites’. These themes are also found in the legal history of sacred site protec-
tion in the United States. We argue the fundamental lack of acknowledgement of Indian
cosmology persists via a dichotomous conception of religion and civic society, which
also suggests a separation of dominant forms of civic decision-making.
KEY WORDS
American Indian; civic decision-making; colonialism; racism; sacred site protection;
water; Weber
SOCIAL & LEGAL STUDIES Copyright © 2008 SAGE Publications
Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC,
www.sagepublications.com
0964 6639, Vol. 17(4), 491–511
DOI: 10.1177/0964663908097082
492
SOCIAL & LEGAL STUDIES 17(4)
INTRODUCTION
INMANYways, the city of Flagstaff is what Sherman Alexie (1995) calls a
border town. Situated just 60 miles southwest of the Navajo reservation
in northern Arizona, its population of 52,848 is comprised of 10 percent
self-identified American Indians including members from all Arizona Indian
nations as well as many from surrounding states (2000 United States Census).
For many Indians, Flagstaff occupies an in-between status, one that offers
many accessible conveniences usually not found on the reservation, in addition
to a large concentration of American Indians who call Flagstaff home. Similar
to many border towns spread across the periphery of the Navajo and Hopi
reservations, Flagstaff shares a painful history of racism, classism and violence
against American Indian and other minority populations that accompanies
these injustices. Since the earliest contacts with European decedents its original
inhabitants have figured prominently in the history of this mountain town.
The sense of collective and individual histories formed from the nexus of
these actions cannot be understated in its importance to the current debate. As
history informs, it also shapes what is viewed as appropriate and possible. As
this current conflict highlights, what is important to some is largely irrelevant,
or worse, forgotten by others.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
The debate regarding the manufacturing of snow at the Snowbowl ski area
can be viewed as the current manifestation of a long and contentious history
of land, water, and sovereignty claims throughout the southwestern United
States. Requests to limit tourists to the sacred Rainbow Bridge rock forma-
tion near Grand Canyon as well as the struggle to close the White Vulcan
pumice mine on the eastern slopes of the San Francisco Peaks represent recent
attempts by American Indians to preserve their historically sacred sites.
Dominating the skyline in all directions and rising over 12,000 feet, the
Peaks are the sacred mountains of the west. Navajos refer to the mountains
as Doko’oo’sliid, ‘Shining On Top’, and they represent a key boundary
marker and a place where medicine men collect herbs for healing ceremonies.
To the Hopi, the Peaks are Nuvatukaovi, ‘The Place of Snow on the Very Top’,
home for half of the year to the ancestral kachina spirits who live among the
clouds around the summit. Considered sacred by 13 regional tribal nations,
this area represents one of four spiritual geographic points that bound the
ancestral homelands of many native peoples of the southwest.
Lying just 10 miles north of the town of Flagstaff, the San Francisco Peaks
mountains have been the site of numerous conflicts. The Peaks lie within the
Coconino National Forest and are thus subject to Forest Service guidelines.
Under tribal opposition the Snowbowl ski area was established in 1937 as
one of the first ski areas in the nation, existing until the early 1950s as a car
engine-powered tow rope, a single ski run and a rudimentary lodge. After
fire destroyed the original lodge in 1952 a larger one was built and from 1958
SEFIHA & LAUDERDALE: SACRED MOUNTAINS & PROFANE DOLLARS 493
to 1962 a number of additional runs were cut into the mountain and a chair-
lift was installed. The permit issued by the Forest Service limited Snowbowl’s
ability to expand its operations and with the exception of a lift upgrade and
subsequent longer runs, expansion during the mid-1950s to early 1970s was
small and piecemeal at best with the 7-mile road leading from the highway to
the ski area remaining a primitive dirt road until 1988.
The ski area remained largely provincial, catering almost exclusively to
in-state skiers. However, this was all to change when local developer M. K.
Leadbetter, who had been interested in ‘developing’ the area since the early
1970s, proposed a major expansion of the ski area and nearby slopes. His
proposal, with financial backing from a number of out-of-state investors,
would greatly expand both the skiable terrain and surrounding area with
the installation of additional ski-lifts, runs, and lodges. The most contentious
part of his proposal, however, was the proposed construction of a gated com-
munity of condominiums just below the base lodge, a golf course, swimming
pools and trout ponds. The formation of coalitions built around common
interests sprung up early in this debate with the usual collection of pro-
business groups, development interests, and unions supporting the expansion
while an assortment of environmentalists, students, and Indian Nations’ repre-
sentatives attempted to influence the city council to withhold the contentious
rezoning permit (Fink, 2002). Nearly a decade of acrimonious city council
meetings and legal and political wrangling ultimately resulted in Leadbetter
withdrawing his proposal and selling the purchased land back to the city and
federal government.
The desire to expand the ski area was soon rekindled when Northland
Recreation subsumed the operation permit in late 1977. The new owners
proposed a series of improvements to the ski area including additional lifts,
upgrading of facilities and a widening and paving of the access road. This
proposed expansion rekindled many of the anti-commercialist sentiments
from the earlier conflict. During this time, a local property owner and a coali-
tion of traditional Indian and environmental groups brought a lawsuit chal-
lenging the Forest Service’s decision to allow some expansion. Seeking relief
under the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment, Wilson v Block
(1983) claimed the proposed expansion and operation violated the Indians’
First Amendment right of free exercise of religion, the 1978 American Indian
Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) and the trust relationship between the
Federal Government and the Native Americans. The Circuit Court decision
in this case sided on nearly all counts with the defendants resulting in the
paving of the access road, an additional chair-lift and various facility upgrades.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s Snowbowl continued to operate season-
ally as a regional ski and snowboard destination.
ALL THAT’S OLD IS NEW AGAIN.
While the desire to manufacture snow at the Snowbowl ski area has been a
proposed economic venture since the early 1960s, owners cite northern
494
SOCIAL & LEGAL STUDIES 17(4)
Arizona’s prolonged drought as the reason for the current attempts. Citing
a steep reduction in annual snowfall over the past 15 years, they argue that
the ski area simply cannot remain economically viable without the manufac-
turing of snow that would allow for consistent skiing throughout the winter
season (Murray, 2006). After the nearly snowless 2000–2001 winter season
during which Snowbowl was open just four days, officials announced they
would begin looking into the feasibility of manufacturing snow using re-
claimed water purchased from the city of Flagstaff and pumped via a 14-mile
(20k) pipeline from the town to the mountain. In addition to snowmaking,
Snowbowl officials are seeking a host of facilities improvements along with
the creation of new ski runs and additional forest thinning. Citing Snowbowl’s
positive economic impact on the city of Flagstaff, officials argue that the
manufacturing of snow would benefit all residents (Murray, 2002).
For traditional Indians, the most disturbing aspect of this proposal is the
use of reclaimed wastewater to manufacture snow, which many have described
as a type of desecration of...
