US 491, formerly US 666, passes through each of the 4-corner states; AZ, NM, CO, UT area. Although the number came about by usual highway number methods, many were frightened by the "sign of the beast" number 666. Tales began to circulate about it being the Devil's Highway and a higher than usual amount of deaths occurring there. Statistically it was found to be a little behind most US highways. And, as something is always forbidden, people were stealing the signs right and left. Renumbering the highway was in order.
At the dedication of the new highway name, George Blue Horse, a Navajo medicine man, performed a ceremony to remove the curse from the highway. In the Navajo language he stated, "The road itself never ends. It goes on generation to generation. The new number is a good one. The new road will be a medicine."
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