The Chuska Mountains are sparsely populated. Nearby settlements are small, including Crystal, New Mexico, Lukachukai, Arizona, and Toadlena, New Mexico. Trading posts at Crystal and at Two Grey Hills (about 10 km east of Toadlena), are associated with distinctive patterns used in Navajo rugs. A paved road, New Mexico Highway 134, crosses the range through Narbona Pass.[citation needed] Narbona Pass was originally called Beesh Lichii'l Bigiizh (English: Copper Pass), and was the location where Navajo warriors led by Narbona decisively defeated a Mexican slaving expedition under Captain Blas de Hinojos.[1] Later it was renamed Washington Pass, after Colonel John M. Washington, who commanded a military expedition against the Navajo. Narbona was a Navajo headman killed in an encounter with Washington's troops in 1849.
- ^ Sides, Hampton (2007). Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 95. ISBN 978-1-4000-3110-8. OCLC 148836980. Retrieved 2012-08-22.