Tuba (chief)

Apparently, Tuba's brother challenged the Mexican interloper to a kind of duel, and the pair fought with bowie knives in the village plaza.

Whatever the case may be, Hopi tradition tells that at some point, Tuba became involved in an unremembered dissension at Oraibi, and left the village to "be at peace".

[6] Tuba told one Mormon that after he had settled at Moencopi, there came a time when the Hopis who lived with him "became lazy and wicked", refusing to "plant or tend the herds".

Tuba was greatly distressed about this, and as he sat brooding, he saw an old man approach with a long white beard.

The man claimed to have a message from God that the people must plant and take care of their herds or they would die in a three-year famine that was to come.

Purportedly, Tuba explained that a long time ago there were three men that had been left on the earth, and when the Hopi were in trouble, one would come to advise them.

However, these left in the middle of winter to preserve the peace after a strong contention had begun in Oraibi as to whether they were in fact those spoken of by the prophecy.

[9] It might be speculated that this contention over the Mormons is the unnamed dissension that caused Tuba to leave Oraibi and settle at Moencopi.

In any event, in early 1860, Tuba became acquainted with Mormon missionaries Thales Haskel and Marion Shelton in Oraibi, and invited them to settle in Moencopi and build a wool mill.

[10] Ten years later, in November 1870, Tuba left his home with his wife, Pulaskaninki, in company with Hamblin to spend time in southern Utah in order to learn the ways of the Mormons.

[13] Although Tuba seems to have had various disagreements with village leaders in Oraibi, he apparently retained access to one of the Hopi's sacred stones.

There, he produced what appeared to be a marble slab about 15×18 inches covered in "hieroglyphic" markings including clouds and stars.

4 produced by the U.S. government seems to uphold the existence of such a stone based on the testimony of John W. Young and Andrew S. Gibbons.

[15] Hopi tradition has it that Tuba invited the Mormons to settle near his village in order to gain protection from marauding Paiutes and Navajos.

It was sometime during this period that Tuba shared his new faith with Tom Polacca, a headman at Hano on First Mesa, who was also eventually baptized.

It is reported that Tuba "took particular pride in watching over the remains of the factory, but after his death the ruination of the building was made complete".