Leonard Atkinson
Boulder Dam
Leonard moved west to help build Hoover dam in Boulder City, NV in 1931. Working as a high-scaler, he hung hundreds of feet above the river, until one day, when his equipment broke, and he fell almost 200 feet, farther than anyone else who lived to tell about it. After falling in 1934, his soon-to-be wife, Corrine, moved to Nevada to help him recover.
Nava-Hopi Trading Post
In 1936, Leonard and Corrine bought the small satellite of the famous Richardson's Trading Post in Gallup NM, the Nava-Hopi Indian Store, later rebranding it as Nava-Hopi Trading Post.
Artists
For over thirty years, Leonard and Corrine travelled throughout the Southwest trading with the likes of Harry Goulding and CG Wallace, and working in the shop with Diné silversmiths like Harrison Yazzie (pictured) and Tom Daisy. Movie moguls, heads of state, and luminary artists such as Maynard Dixon, Ansel Adams, and Fred Kabotie, were all one-time or frequent visitors and guests.
Photographer
Leonard was also an accomplished and published photographer, with images appearing in Look and Desert Magazines. A chronicler of the Southwest, Leonard was also a noted conservationist, and Native rights advocate.