A Century of Indian Traders and Trading Posts

Within the next few years, because of the expanding population, miles of super highways connecting the reservation land with metropolitan centers, and pseudo-entrepreneurs in the realm of Indian art, Indian trading posts and traders will soon become as extinct as the Dodo Bird! Many of the posts have already crumbled into dust. Indian pottery, rugs and jewelry are no longer in the souvenir area of trade, but now command premium prices. Some Indian artisans take their own prized works directly to New York or Europe. But what of the men, who, a hundred years ago made this all possible? Arizona contains a treasure of Americana in its trading posts and the history of the men who established them. The few posts that remain should be preserved as monuments for future generations, and the history of the men who established them should be remembered. History extols the bravery and enterprise of the pioneers, railroaders, trappers, cowboys and forty-niners, but little has been written about the romance and spoken legends of the Indian traders of the Southwest. Most of what has been written has not shown the trader in a favorable light, but rather as some sort of villain. Actually, most of these adventurous and intrepid men, through patience and privation, established a changing custom in our country. These were the men who preferred the establishment of commerce with the Indians, rather than conquest. Perhaps the bad reputation of the trader was established hundreds of years before the "modern" trader came into existence. There was in central Mexico, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, an Aztec trading clan called Pucheca. It was the responsibility of the Pucheca to open all commerce and trade routes of the Empire; they served as advance intelligence agents and spread the Aztec religion. If trade with the Pucheca was denied or made difficult, it was a provocation for war. Later, in the mid-fifteen hundreds, this same debasing attitude was brought into our own Southwest by the Spaniards. In their never ending search for riches, and in quest of the Indian men and women wear more bracelets than all other types of jewelry combined. Bracelets are the keystone pieces in most private collections. UPPER LEFT: Yei figure on a matched set by master silversmith Art Lewis. Courtesy Jewel Box Vault Collection. UPPER RIGHT & LOWER LEFT: Turquoise, coral and Hopi overlay classics from the Jewel Box Vault Collection, and the Elaine Boutelierre Collection. BELOW: A classical old Navajo bracelet from the collection of Joan Midyette. PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARKOW

April, 1967 the Hubbell Trading Post at Ganado became a National Historic Site. The National Park Service operates it as a trading post to the Navajos instead of an impersonal museum. Visitors see an actual center of trading activities. Guides are also on hand to take them through the bull pen, rug room, barns, warehouse and family home.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Bola ties are one of the newer art forms in Indian jewelry. Many of the outstanding bola ties in contemporary collections were originally made as pins and pendant medallions and converted. These classic bola tie art forms are from the Jewel Box Vault Collection. MARKOW PHOTO Shakespeare, as well as numerous other tomes of the day, were found among their possessions even in the most isolated posts.

mythical Cibola, the Spanish explorers demanded slaves and provisions from the regional Indians. When their demands became excessive, and the Indians were unable to fulfill their needs, the Spanish retribution was swift and devastating.

Juan Lorenzo's father, James Lawrence Hubbell, a Presbyterian Yankee from Connecticut, served in the Mexican-American War in the 1840s, and following his discharge, decided to stay in the Southwest. He married beautiful Julianita Gutierrez, whose family came originally from Toledo, Spain, and since 1739, by the grace of the King, held the Pajarito Land Grant.

And so this merciless manner of "trade" continued in the Southwest until 1852, when the Utah Legislature passed a law prohibiting slavery in the territory, and demanding tighter, more humane regulations, regarding the treatment of Indians.

Their son, Juan Lorenzo, spoke Spanish before he spoke English. He was privately tutored until he was twelve years old, and then, as a concession to his Protestant Father, was enrolled in Farley's Presbyterian School in Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory.

It was in the late 1860s that the new breed of trader began to emerge. Those who believed in the dignity of man, and that the Indian was entitled to equality and respect. These were men and women who fell in love with the land and the people and wanted to establish permanent roots in the Southwest. Of course, there were many who still believed in exploitation and outright thievery, but they have no place in the history of the "modern" trader.

At seventeen, his formal education complete, Juan Lorenzo invested in a saddle horse and outfit, and set forth for the virgin land of the Utah Territory. Working at jobs as clerk, interpreter, and guide, Hubbell traveled in a giant circle, northwest into Utah, southwest to Lee's Ferry on the Colorado River, then south and east across the Hopi and Navajo reservations. Eventually Juan Lorenzo wandered into the valley of the Pueblo Colorado Wash. Surrounded by sage brush and sand dunes, the wash was an oasis of grass, green rushes and cottonwood trees. It was here, amidst the people of Chief Ganado (Many Cattle), that Juan Lorenzo Hubbell built his first trading post . . . he was just twenty-four years old.

The "modern" trader believed that for him to prosper, the Indian must prosper. He encouraged the weaving of fine rugs and blankets, taught the Indians methods of cross-breeding cattle and sheep in order to improve their herds, and created a market for . . . and universal appreciation of . . . Indian arts and crafts.

Indian trading posts, besides being a center for trade, became the local meeting place, post office and bank. The trader acted as ambassador to and for the Indians, explaining white man's Because of the confusion in names with Pueblo, Colorado, and the Pueblo Colorado Wash of Arizona, the area was named Ganado by Hubbell, in honor of the Navajo Chief. A pleasant, but isolated area, Ganado was located 20 miles west of Fort Defiance.

laws and culture, and respecting the laws and culture of the Indian. Many times when the threat of the military or imprisonment failed, it was the Indian trader who was able to negotiate a peaceful settlement with hostiles.

Other posts opened in the area, but within 10 years Hubbell and his partner, Clinton N. Cotton, bought them all out. At the peak of his career, Hubbell would control an empire which held exclusive trade rights with one-seventh of the entire Navajo tribe. He would make and give away a fortune, become a sheriff, a legislator, and the first United States Senator for the State of Arizona.

The successful trader learned the Indian language, religion, strong traditional beliefs and taboos, acted as mortician, advisor, confidant, diplomat, and sometimes married into the tribe. It took a great deal of finesse on the part of the trader Probably the most important aspect of Hubbell's career, is the fact that he and Cotton were the first traders to bring Mexican silversmiths to the reservation to teach the Indians how to make silver jewelry. A few Navajos, who had been imprisoned in New Mexico, had picked up some of the art . . . but now the traders brought skilled technicians to teach them a trade.

to persuade the Indians to trust the white man's medicine, and still respect and remain on good terms with the Indian medicine man.

There were no newspapers or advertising agents on the reservations to spread the word of the virtues or advantages of dealing with a particular trader. News was passed by word of mouth, and if a trader couldn't be trusted or tried to cheat Hubbell and Cotton were the first traders to encourage the weaving of better rugs and blankets, with more intricate designs and colors; and were the first to send illustrated pamphlets to the East in order to create a more splendid market for Indian arts and crafts.

the Indians, he was soon out of business. The learning period was long and tedious. Money, alone, couldn't have been the answer of why these men and women stayed and made their homes among the Indians.

As late as 1900, in an area that encompassed over sixteen million acres, there were only 25 Navajos, out of approximately 20,000, who could speak or understand English. The only In the years that followed, Hubbell would be celebrated for his hospitality, and at his Ganado Trading Post, would entertain Presidents, artists, archeologists, ethnologists, writers and army officers.

transportation over the desolate area was on foot or horseback. Summers were hot and dry, and winters were bitter on the high plateau of the reservation. Paydays came twice a year . . . in the spring when the Indians sheared their sheep and brought in wool and rugs, and in the fall when they brought their cattle out of the hills for market. This was no place for the adventurer who was looking for a quick buck or an easy mark.

Juan Lorenzo did everything with great abandon and flair. The interior of his first post at Ganado, called the "bull-pen," was classic! A large wooden box of Arbuckle Coffee (the favorite brand of the Indians); sacks of flour and sugar stacked side by side; horse collars, bridles and harnesses hanging from the ceiling; treadle sewing machines and coffee grinders; bolts of bright velvet, cotton and calico; black felt hats with high, undented crowns and wide brims (that the Navajo wears squarely on his head); canned goods, peaches and tomatoes the spring when the Indians sheared their sheep and brought in wool and rugs, and in the fall when they brought their cattle out of the hills for market. This was no place for the adventurer who was looking for a quick buck or an easy mark.

side by side; horse collars, bridles and harnesses hanging from the ceiling; treadle sewing machines and coffee grinders; bolts of bright velvet, cotton and calico; black felt hats with high, undented crowns and wide brims (that the Navajo wears squarely on his head); canned goods, peaches and tomatoes Juan Lorenzo Hubbell and Thomas Varker Keam, completely diverse in appearance and background, might well share the honor of "Father of the Modern Trader!" They were both incurable romantics; believed whole-heartedly in just treatwere a favorite . . . but the flowered cans of Carnation evaporated milk . . . that contained milk instead of flowers, ment for the Indians; were outraged by greed and corruption; and were avid readers . . . the complete works of William

remained a mystery to the Indians; boots, saddles and Levi's, the mainstay of the traders' wares.

It was said that most traders of the time kept at least one gun handy behind the counter. At Hubbell's, two loaded revolvers were held in readiness; one on each side of the bull-pen. There is no record of them ever having been used.

This is the only trading post that has been dedicated as a National Historic Monument. Stewart Udall, while Secretary of the Interior, conducted the arrangements for the 150 acre site to be purchased, and with many of the original structures, it is now part of the National Park Service. Hubbell's original counters and desks are still used today, and tourists keep the historic post self-supporting.

Handsome, blonde, blue-eyed, Thomas Keam was born in Cornwall, England, in 1846. While still a boy, as midshipman in the English mercantile marine, he sailed for Australia and sometime later turned up in San Francisco, finished with the sea forever. Adventuring through the Southwest, in 1865, Keam signed up with the First New Mexico Volunteer Cavalry. It was here he was to encounter his first glimpse of corruption by agents of the Government posts supplying goods to the Indians.

Keam's talent for leadership, his intelligence and keen sense of fair play, were soon in evidence and he was immediately appointed a second lieutenant in the First New Mexico Volunteers. Within the next year, when he was just twenty years old, Keam was assigned as company commander; thrown in the brig for three months for "seditious conduct" (he was unable to hide his contempt for his commanding officer, Major E. H. Bergmann, and became very vocal in his criticism of Bergmann's treatment of the Indians); was released and placed in charge of E Troop at Fort Stanton; and by the time he was mustered out, the same year, was post adjutant.

Later Keam acted as ex-officio clerk and interpreter, in both Spanish and Navajo, for the Indian Agency at Fort Defiance. It was in his role as interpreter, that Keam met Pueblo Agent W. F. M. Arny whom he regarded as a pompous, pious, Bible-spewing hypocrite, whose only desire was to feather his own nest at the expense of the Indians.

The battle between the two men went on for years. In attempting to expose Arny, Keam was viciously attacked as, among other things, a "squaw man." Both he and his brother William had, by tribal ritual and custom, married Navajo women. Although Keam's charges were eventually proven, the slanderous accusations of Arny were still on record thousands of miles away in Washington, D.C., and prevented Keam from having the career he so desperately wanted, that of Indian Agent.

In 1875, with his brother and their Navajo wives, Keam opened a trading post approximately 30 miles west of Ganado, in an area now known as Keams Canyon. He was considered a great friend of the Indians and held in high respect. His business flourished and Keam's Trading Post grew into a hacienda of fifteen stone structures, servicing about two thousand Indians.

In 1884 Keam offered the facilities of the post to the Secretary of the Interior for use as an Indian Industrial School, and in 1889 the United States Government purchased the property. Keam then moved two and a half miles down the canyon and built a new post. William's wife was happy, but after the birth of their second child, Thomas Keam's wife left him to return to her hogan in the north.

Keam never remarried, but opened his quarters to writers, artists, photographers and ethnologists. J. J. Moro's sun-drenched watercolors still survive leaving a record of the atmosphere and inhabitants of Keams Canyon in 1887.

Another of Keam's protégés, enthnologist Alexander Stephen, stayed on at the trading post, at Keam's expense, for fifteen years. It was from Stephen's notes that Cosmos Mindeleff prepared the introductory chapter of Hopi traditionary history for the 8th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. Stewart Culin, in The American Anthropologist (N.S., Vol. VII), observed that after Stephen's death, "Mr. Keam preserved Stephen's numerous valuable manuscripts with jealous care, and erected a monument on his grave in Keams Canyon."

Keam's last trader's license was issued in 1898, and in 1903 he sold his remaining property to his dear and cherished friend, Juan Lorenzo Hubbell. Thomas Keam had lived in the canyon for 28 years. With the advent of better highways and the onrush of new settlers, he began to feel the pressure of civilization closing in on him, and decided to visit his family home in England. He had intended to stay just for a visit, but on November 30, 1904, he suffered a fatal heart attack and never saw his beloved Navajoland again.

"Red Lake Trading Post"

Another kindred spirit and friend of Hubbell and Keam, was Samuel E. Day. Day and his wife settled and built their trading post at Chinle, just a few miles from Canyon De Chelly. Because there was an abundance of water, and it was a short distance from a forested area, the post was built of logs and remains today a beautiful oasis. Hubbell and Day and their wives, after living to a ripe old age, were buried on the reservation, in the land they loved, among their Indian friends.

Many trading posts were established along routes of travel and near water. In 1873 Jacob Hamblin, following Brigham Young's instructions, was sent to find a wagon route from Kanab to the San Francisco Forest in Arizona Territory. Having been active in exploring these areas for more than twenty years before the assignment, Hamblin had no trouble blazing a trail from Kanab to a point just north of the present town of Flagstaff. This trail is essentially the same route as U.S. Highway 89, which we travel today.

Hamblin's trail marked the western perimeter of Navajo and Hopi land and within the next half century many trading posts were established along this route. Among the more famous were Lee's Ferry (originally called Lonely Dell), the Gap, Cedar Ridge, Bitter Springs (named for the undrinkable water), Red Lake Trading Post at Tonalea, Tuba Trading Post (perhaps the most colorful of all) and Sacred Mountain Trading Post.

Hoping to establish better relations and greater understanding between the Mormons and the Hopis, Hamblin persuaded the elderly Hopi, Tuba (sometimes spelled Tuvi) and his wife, to join him on his return trip to Utah. During the year that followed the Indians were welcomed in the rustic Mormon settlements of Salt Lake City, Kanab, St. George, Harrisburg and Washington. They marveled at the site and sound of three hundred spindles drawing out endless strands of thread at the mill in Washington. No attempt was made to conceal the rougher or harder aspects of Mormon life and the Hopis were favorably impressed.

In September, 1871, Tuba and his wife were returned to Oraibi, on the Hopi reservation. In 1875, the James S. Brown party, the first Mormons in the area, settled about 50 miles northwest of Oraibi, and named their little community Tuba City in honor of the gracious Hopi.

The first trading post in Tuba City was established by C. H. Algert. Both the town and the post flourished and grew until 1902, when the Federal Government appropriated $45,000 from Congress to divide among the families in exchange for their land. Within a year the land became part of the Navajo reservation, and Algert sold his rights to the trading post to the Babbitt brothers.

Later, Algert, who spoke fluent Navajo and Hopi, would own 20 trading posts, and with his sons become a legend as one of the greatest trading families of all times. Other famous trading families that had their beginnings in Tuba City and would eventually establish trading posts throughout the Southwest were the Tanners, the C. A. Wheelers, the Foutses, the A. H. Lees and the Hunts, who were the grandparents of the McGee family.

The Babbitt brothers, Charles, David, George, William and Edward, were among the few non-Mormons, in that area, to become successful in Indian Trading Posts and they really had no intentions of ever entering the business. These adventurous, restless young men from Ohio fell in love with the new frontier, the clean uncluttered land, and were determined to stay and make their fortunes. Cattle and timber, not trading posts, were the stars in the eyes of the Babbitts.

With shrewd imagination and determination the Babbitts withstood the threat of Apache attacks, local feuds, and snowbound winters in Flagstaff, Arizona, to emerge into a thriving force that developed cattle, timber, lumber and the largest general store outside of Salt Lake City and Phoenix, the Babbitt Brothers Trading Company. It was in extending credit to the Indian traders that the Babbitts would become involved in this profitable enterprise.

In 1879, Joe Lee, Sr., a resident of Tuba City whose primary interests was buying and selling sheep and cattle, built an adobe hut that was the original Red Lake Trading Post.

George McAdams, a brother-in-law of another famous trading family, the C. D. Richardsons, went into competition with Lee and built another trading post, Cow Springs, across the Lake. The men were highly competitive and in 1885, decided to join forces. McAdams persuaded Joe Lee to work for him, and together they built a new and larger post at Red Lake.

Three years later, in 1888, the post was sold to a personable, but rather imprudent, young man named Sam Dittenhoffer. Dittenhoffer was long on ambition, but short of cash. Being attractive, well presented and articulate, he was able to buy his supplies on credit from the Babbitt Brothers Trading Company in Flagstaff.

The story goes that on one of his purchasing trips into town, he persuaded Mrs. Mathews, a local belle, to accompany him around town in his new carriage. The wronged husband promised revenge. One year later, in a poker game at the Red Lake Trading Post, Dittenhoffer was killed. The charges that the game and murder had been cleverly planned were never proved. as it was another one of Mrs. Mathews' suitors who pulled the trigger and went to jail.

Dittenhoffer was so in debt to the Babbitts at the time of his death that they were forced to take over the trading post in order to protect their investment. It was the first case of probate in Coconino County history. Charles Babbitt selected Samuel S. Preston to become a partner and manage the post. It became a profitable venture for both parties and the Babbitts financed many other posts under the same management-partner agreement.

Red Lake was a trail crossing, north to Utah and north-east to Colorado, with cattle drives going south to central and southern Arizona. Whether it was the location of the post, or typical of the times, Red Lake Trading Post became a wild and wooly hub, with gambling and fights as much a part of the atmosphere as trading.

In 1894, George McAdams returned to buy out Sam Preston, and run the post as manager-partner for the Babbitts. McAdams was a shrewd gambler and loved poker. Joe Lee recalled three cowboys, fresh from a cattle drive to Colorado, who had heard of McAdams' reputation and stopped off enroute home to play cards with him. The game lasted four days and four nights and ended only when McAdams had won every cent of their money, between forty and fifty thousand dollars.

Evidently, McAdams had a few Indian customers who would occasionally go on the warpath. To protect himself and the store, he had constructed two-inch panels that were attached by straps to the counter. The panels could be pulled up into a slot so the Indians couldn't come over the counter when there was serious trouble.

Other differences were settled in other ways, and once McAdams was challenged by Yellow Hand, the undefeated champion of the Navajos, to wrestle Navajo style. The traditional costume was a G-string and moccasins. McAdams added his own tradition, came greased from head to ankle, and promptly won the match.

Other partner-managers have come and gone, but the Red Lake Trading Post, along with several others, is still owned by the Babbitt Company. It enjoys a more serious, if less hazardless, business existence today. Portions of the profits provided from the Babbitt trading posts are set aside yearly for scholarships for Indian students to enable them to attend the Navajo College in Tsaile, Arizona.Pages could be written about the Wetherill brothers and their wives especially John and Louise Wetherill. Trader, explorer, and amateur archeologist, it was John who discovered the major ruins of Betatakin, Keet Seel and Mesa Verde. Although his brother Richard was murdered by a whiskey-crazed Navajo, John and Louise continued to live and operate trading posts in the remotest section of the reservation. The hostile chief, Hoskini, was one of their closest friends.

The Navajo name for Joe Tanner was Chuska Yazzie (pro-nounced "Shush Yazzie") meaning "Little Bear." Scarcely 5'5" tall, Tanner was broad shouldered and enormously strong. He wore a full mustache, and had a superior masculine growth of hair on his arms and body. It might not be fair to say that his voice was gruff, but it could be stated positively that Joe could make himself heard. The bear is a symbol of strength and fear among the Navajo, and perhaps in the beginning they were in awe of the man, but Joe spoke the language and respected the customs and traditions of the Navajo, and in turn they received him like a brother into the tribe.

Tanner might not have been the first traveling salesman in Navajoland, but he was certainly one of the best. There were dozens of small trading posts around the reservation, but most traders' activities were confined to their own stores, much the same as merchants in town. Joe Tanner was different. He had owned a post or two in his time, but Joe didn't like being tied down - he liked to wander.

His idea of having a fine time was to travel the length and breadth of the Navajoland, gossiping around the fire at night with his Indian friends, drinking Arbuckle coffee (a Mormon, he was known to have had a cup or two of the strong, sweet brew), eating fried bread and mutton, and sleeping under the stars.

Before the Ford trucks made their marks on the reservation land, Joe Tanner could be seen almost anyplace with his horse and pack mules, loaded with coffee, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt, traveling from hogan to hogan without a care in the world.

Bill McGee feels that the luckiest day in his life was when his older sister, Stella, married Joe Tanner's son Ruel. Every summer from the time he was twelve years old, Bill would visit Stella and "Chunky" at their trading post at Aneth, Utah and after that first summer there was never a doubt in his mind that he would be anything but an Indian trader.

Many times Joe Tanner would stop by the post and take young Bill with him on his trips deep into the reservation. Almost before he was out of grammar school, Bill was talking Navajo as if he had been born to the tribe.

With the exception of two years, when he did missionary work for his church, and a short duration as salesman for Montgomery Ward, Bill McGee was able to fulfill his dream of being an Indian trader. He would bridge the gap of the old and the new, and own many of the famous posts he had visited as a child.

When Bill was still in his early twenties, he married eighteen-year-old Louise Hobson, from Mesa, Arizona. Together they went to Greasewood Trading Post to work for C. A. Wheeler, and start their life-long career.

Louise's introduction to trading post life was being informed of the death, in childbirth, of a Navajo woman. Bill was immediately summoned to build a coffin for the woman and bury her. It was part of his job if he were to be the trader!

They would be snowbound in the winter, and have to save their pennies for months at a time in order to have spending money when they made a trip into town. They were miles from a doctor and with the exception of their battery radio, cut off from news of the outside world. They didn't mind, this was the life they had chosen.

"I dearly loved the life and the people," Bill says. "In all of our years on the reservation we never had any trouble We used to bribe the children to go to school give them pants, or shirts, or shoes anything to get them to go to school."

"One of the most beautiful times for me," adds Louise, "was in the evenings You could see a long way up the canyons there were about thirty hogans you could tell just where they were when the fires were lit. And then, just after dark, someone up the canyon would start to sing then someone else at another hogan would pick it up and then another and another. Soon the entire canyon would vibrate with song. I will never forget it."

The McGees will never forget it, but unless more trading posts are set aside as national monuments, future generations will never have the pleasure of knowing what the trading posts, and the men and women who lived there, were really like.