Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

Hubbell Trading Post 

National Historic Site

An Administrative History

Albert Manchester

and

Ann Manchester

1993

National Park Service 

Division of History 

Southwest Cultural Resources Center 

Santa Fe, New Mexico 

Professional Papers No. 46 

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover

List of Figures

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Executive Summary

Introduction

Location, Access, and Public Facilities 

Utility Systems 

Economic Trends 

On Avoiding A Gaffe 

The Navajo Language 

Physical Descriptions of the Historic Site 

History of the Site to 1957 

Chapter I: Hubbell Trading Post, July, 1957

The Birth of an Idea 

Chapter II: Legislative History

Ned Danson Looks for Help 

Barry Goldwater, Carl Hayden and Stewart L. Udall Made Early Trips to Ganado 

The National Park Service Goes to Work 

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History

Roman Hubbell Dies 

The National Advisory Board of the National Park Service Joins the Act 

Robert Utley's Special Report of Hubbell Trading Post, Ganado, Arizona, for the 

National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings 

S. 1871 and H.R. 7279 

Opposition Arises to the Hubbell Trading Post Legislation 

Inventories and Appraisals 

Hubbell Trading Post in Limbo 

The Origin of the Live Trading Post Concept 

Success 

Chapter III: Land Acquisition

Hubbell Hill 

The National Park Service Moves to Hubbell Trading Post 

The Case of the Silk Rug 

Chapter IV: The National Park Service Finds an Operator for the Trading Post

The Rise and Fall of the Trading Post as an Important Institution 

The NPS Looks for an Operator for the Trading Post 

John Cook Asks for Southwest Parks and Monuments Association 

Enter Southwest Parks and Monuments Association 

SPMA Searches for its Role at Hubbell Trading Post 

The Third and Final Plan for SPMA at Hubbell Trading Post 

Chapter V: Traders and Trading

Bill Young, SPMA's First Trader at Hubbell Trading Post, 1967-1978 

What It takes to be an Indian Trader 

Wool and Mohair and Pinon Nuts and Livestock 

Alan R. Grieve, Trader/Manager, 1978-1981 

Why John Young was not Chosen to Succeed his Father as Trader/Manager 

Changes in Trading Practices During Alan Grieve's Tenure as Trader/Manager 

Al Grieve Resigns 

Billy Gene Malone, Trader/Manager, 1981 to Present 

Conflicts 

Chapter VI: The Trading Post

Finances, Organization, and Some Veteran Employees 

Finances 

SPMA's Employees at the Trading Post 

Long-Term Employees at the Trading Post 

The Chain of Command at the Trading Post 

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History

SPMA Employees Who are not Clerks 

Friday Kinlicheenie, Retired SPMA Employee 

Chapter VII: Cultural Resources I

Building Roster 

Trading Post and Wareroom Extension (HB-1 and HB-9) 

Hubbell Residence (HB-2) 

Barn (HB-3) 

Manager's Residence (HB-4) 

Stone Residence (HB-5) 

Guest Hogan (HB-6) 

Bread Oven (HB-7) 

Adobe Utility Building (HB-8) 

Corrals, Pens and Sheds (HB-10) 

Hogan-in-the-Lane (HB-11) 

Site Offices and Visitor Center, Rest Rooms, Library (Old School and Chapter 

House Complex) (HB-12, HB-13, HB-14) 

Proposed Research Studies 

Pertinent Studies On File At The Historic Site 

Chapter VIII: Cultural Resources II

The Museum Collection 

Two Notable Artists Who Stayed at Hubbell Trading Post 

Elbridge Ayer Burbank 

Maynard Dixon 

Collection Management Plan (1975) 

The Collection 

History 

Archeology 

Ethnology 

Library Management 

Natural History 

Acquisition 

Restrictions on Museum Collection 

Some Disparate Issues Concerning The Museum Collection 

Recommended Action Concerning the Museum Collection 

The Curators of Hubbell Trading Post 

Chapter IX: Cultural Resources III

Indian Culture 9500 B.C. to 5500 B. C 

Paleo-Indian Period, 9500 B.C. to 5500 B.C 

Desert Culture Period, 5500 B.C. to 0 A.D 

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Anasazi Period, A.D. 0 to A.D. 1300 

The Navajo 

Some Archeological Sites Within the Boundaries of Hubbell Trading Post 

Conclusion 

Pertinent Research Studies on File at Hubbell Trading Post (listed chronologically) 

Suggested Further Research 

Chapter X: Cultural Resources IV

The Land 

Farmlands 

The Alfalfa Farm 

Who Will Do the Farming for the NPS 

Irrigation at Hubbell Trading Post 

Farmland Research 

Chapter XI: Special Events and Public Relations

Dedication Ceremony 

The Blessing Way After Lightning Struck a Tree at Hubbell Trading Post 

Daughters of the American Colonists 

On the Road: Shows, Fairs, Exhibits, Galleries 

Conclusion 

Chapter XII: Interpretation of the Site

Interpretive Objectives (1980) 

Intercultural Relations - Exchange of Cultures 

The Origin of Hubbell Trading Post's Annual Chicken Report 

Cultural Interpretation 

Chapter XIII: Planning for the Site

Management Objectives 

The Kitchen Conference 

Planning Documents for Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site 

Master Plan for Hubbell Trading Post 

National Historic Site, 1966 

Master Plan, 1972 

Statement for Management, December, 1975 

Resources Management Plan, 1979 

Assessment of Alternatives for Development Concept Plans, March, 1979 

Development Concept Plan, August, 1980 

Resources Management Plan, 1981 

Resources Management Plan and Environmental Assessment, Approved January, 

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1982 

Statement for Management, 1986 

Resources Management Plan, 1988 

Conclusion 

Chapter XIV: Maintenance and Stabilization

Stabilization Projects 

The Mid-1970s Barn Debacle 

Other Stabilization Projects 

Threats to the Site (Of Fire, Flood, Prairie Dogs, and the Plague) 

Roads and Bridges 

Chapter XV: Continuing Policy and Administrative Issues

Employee Housing 

Security for the Museum Collection and the Trading Post 

The NPS and SPMA at the Historic Site 

The Friends of Hubbell Trading Post 

Irrigation and Erosion 

An Island in the Middle of the Vast Navajo Reservation 

Chapter XVI: Hubbell Trading Post's Superintendents (1967-1991)

John Cook 1966-1969 

Wescoat Wolfe 1969 

Bernard G. Tracy 1969-1971 

Kevin McKibbin 1971-1974 

Thomas G. Vaughan 1974-1978 

Juin Crosse 1978-1980 

Luis Edward Gastellum 1981-1984 

Charles Barry Cooper 1984-1986 

Douglas C. McChristian 1986-1987 

Charles D. Wyatt 1987 to present 

Acting Superintendents 

Bibliographic Essay

Bibliography

Appendix A: Public Law 89-148

Appendix B: Memorandum of Agreement between NPS and SPMA

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Appendix C: Memorandum of Understanding between NPS and University of 

Arizona

Appendix D: Memorandum of Agreement between HTPNHS and the Friends of 

HTPNHS, Inc

Appendix E: Land Description

Appendix F: Staffing Table

Appendix G: Annual Gross Sales of SPMA at HTPNHS

Appendix H: Annual Operating Budget Amounts at HTPNHS

Appendix I: Visitor Use by Year 1968 to March, 1991

Index (omitted from on-line edition)

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure

1. Vicinity of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site

2. Map of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site

3. Photograph shows wareroom, the curator's office and storage area, and in the 

background, the barn

4. Hubbell Trading Post as seen from the top of Hubbell Hill looking across the Pueblo 

Colorado Wash

5. John Lorenzo Hubbell in 1908. This is one of the famous "Redheads" done by E. A. 

Burbank

6. John Lorenzo Hubbell holds one end of a rug. A Navajo woman, probably the weaver, 

holds the other end

7. Navajo wagons at Hubbell Trading Post circa 1910

8. The original east-west road through Ganado ran right past the front of Hubbell Trading 

Post

9. The trading post Bullpen in 1949

10. Roman and Dorothy Hubbell

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11. Dr. Edward B. Danson in the backyard of his home in Sedona, Arizona

12. Trader Bill Young examines a Navajo rug with Roberta Tso

13. Loading wool to take to town

14. Weighing wool at Hubbell Trading Post

15. Putting sheep into the corral—the horseman is Friday Kinlicheenie

16. Al Grieve, Trader/Manager at Hubbell Trading Post NHS

17. Bill Malone, Trader/Manager of Hubbell Trading Post NHS

18. Helen Kirk, weaver, in 1984

19. Silversmith Ben Davis at work in the Visitor Center

20. Early morning at Hubbell Trading Post

21. The Hubbell home

22. The interior of the Hubbell home, the hall, looking north to the front door

23. Hubbell Residence

24. The Barn, HB-3

25. Manager's Residence (Ranger's Residence), HB-4

26. Stone Residence (Bunkhouse), HB-5

27. Guest Hogan

28. The Guest Hogan

29. The massive fireplace in the Guest Hogan

30. The Bread Oven, HB-7

31. The Adobe Utility Building, HB-8

32. The corrals, pens and sheds, HB-10

33. The Hogan-in-the-Lane, HB-11

34. Visitor Center and Site Office, HB-12

35. The Restrooms, HB-13

36. The Library

37. The Hubbell home as it appeared on August 18, 1909

38. Some of the museum collection

39. Archeological sites at Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site

40. A corner of Wide Reed Ruin

41. Laying inka to cover HUTR 10

42. Dedication Ceremony, September 7, 1967

43. Friday Kinlicheenie doing a Blessing Way ceremony

44. One of two structures at the historic site

45. The Pueblo Colorado Wash in flood

46. Erosion along the Pueblo Colorado Wash

47. Creating gab ions in the Pueblo Colorado Wash

48. Employee housing at Hubbell Trading Post NHS

49. Interior of the trading post

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50. Sitsiji hózhóodoo shikéédéé' hózhóodoo

51. John Cook

52. Bernard G. Tracy

53. Kevin McKibbin

54. Thomas G. Vaughan

55. Juin Crosse

56. Barry Cooper

57. Douglas C. McChristian

58. Charles D. Wyatt 

DEDICATION

Tribute to a "Lady"

The death of Dorothy Hubbell on April 30, 1993, truly marked the passing of an era. 

Within the pages of this document one will catch only glimpses of her wit, business 

acumen, tenacity, and style. She truly left her mark — every bit a Lady!!

— John Cook, Regional Director, Southwest Region

"We are not dealing with a normal situation at Hubbell Trading Post. It is an 

island in the middle of the vast Navajo Reservation so that every move we 

make is complicated.... Everything we touch has an angle to it, most of them 

without precedent." [1]

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Acknowledgements)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Edward M. Chamberlin, Curator of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, deserves special thanks 

and recognition here. The project would not have been as complete as it is without his help and 

thoughtfulness. And we want to thank Charles Wyatt, Superintendent at Hubbell Trading Post, and the 

rest of his staff for their time, ideas, and memories. We want to thank, too, the staff of Southwest Parks 

and Monuments Association for loaning us space and their files on Hubbell Trading Post, with special 

thanks to Bill Malone and his kind staff at the trading post. Dr. Edward B. Danson gave us the better part 

of a day in order to recount, among other things, how the idea of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic 

Site was born. Dorothy S. Hubbell graciously answered our many questions, and at the end of our 

interview still had enough patience to share her birthday cake with us.

The Passing of Friday Kinlicheenie

Friday Kinlicheenie played an important and colorful role at Hubbell Trading Post during most of the 

time it has been a national historic site. He first went to work at the trading post in 1915. He retired when 

at last he could no longer work. Friday Kinlicheenie died on June 21, 1992, and he is buried at 

Cornfields next to his grandfather.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Executive Summary)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The movement to bring Hubbell Trading Post into the National Park System started in 1957. Hubbell 

Trading Post National Historic Site was established by Act of Congress on August 28, 1965. Public Law 

89-148 authorized the purchase of the "site and remaining structures of the Hubbell Trading Post at 

Ganado, Arizona, including the contents of cultural and historic value, together with such additional land 

and interests in land...needed to preserve and protect the post and its environs for the benefit and 

enjoyment of the public. "During the 1965 Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs hearings 

concerning the proposed establishment of the old trading post as a national historic site, it was indicated 

that "arrangements should be worked out to have it operated along lines close to those that were in effect 

when it was an active post." 

The trading post, as a national historic site, is still operated as a trading post, although the actual running 

of the business end of the site is under the direction of Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, 

which employs a Trader/Manager, Bill Malone, and many full-and part-time clerks. This arrangement, 

unique in the Park System, is governed by a cooperative agreement. Tourists visit the site, but so do 

Navajo who come to trade their arts and crafts and buy groceries. This is a real-and active-trading post, 

not specifically a museum. 

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Figure 1. Vicinity of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

As an important point of fact, the trading post was an active trading post when the Park System stepped 

in to manage the site. Dating from the mid-1870s, it was the oldest trading post still in operation on the 

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Navajo Reservation, and it was the oldest business still operating in northern Arizona. When the NPS 

and SPMA came in the 1960s to manage the site and run the business, the trading post was owned and 

operated by Dorothy Hubbell, the daughter-in-law of its founder, John Lorenzo Hubbell. When the NPS 

and SPMA took over, there was a change of administration, that's all. 

Full title to the property was acquired in 1968. There are 160 acres of land acquired in fee simple, of 

which approximately 110 acres are potentially irrigable. The trading post was also a farm; the fields have 

lain largely unused since about 1964. (There are problems with the dam at the reservoir, Ganado Lake, 

about two miles from the historic site; irrigation water has not been able to be moved through the 

ditches, which are becoming filled with weeds and drifting sand.) In order for Hubbell Trading Post to 

regain historical accuracy, farming should be reintroduced. 

The cultural resources of the historic site are surprising and significant. Management has to be concerned 

with the maintenance of a complex of structures built between the last decades of the nineteenth century 

and the first few decades of the twentieth century. There are a number of archeological sites within the 

boundaries of the historic site, and these archeological sites are evidence of human habitation here for 

thousands of years. One archeological site, Wide Reed Ruin, is of considerable significance all by itself. 

Virtually no attempts are made to interpret for the public the thousands of years of Indian habitation 

here. The museum collection, all of which was acquired with the historic site, is one of the richest in the 

Southwest. The collection consists of ancient and modern Indian arts and crafts, modern objets d'art, old 

farm implements and frontier tools, antique firearms, household furnishings from the late nineteenth 

century to the early decades of this century, and just an incredible assortment of household odds and 

ends and business paraphernalia that has been found at the site. A full-time curator and assistant are on 

duty at Hubbell Trading Post to maintain and catalog the thousands of artifacts. 

Management and development decisions at the historic site must comply with the provisions of the 

Antiquities Act of 1906, the National Park Service Organic Act of 1916, the Historic Sites Act of 1935, 

the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (as amended), the National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969, Executive Order 11593 of May 13, 1971, the Historical and Archeological Data Preservation Act 

of 1974, the Archeological Resources Protection Act (P.L. 96-95) of 1979, and P.L. 89-148 authorizing 

the area, as well as the congressional hearings of 1966 during which Director George Hartzog committed 

the Park Service to running a live trading post. 

The mission of the Park Service at the historic site is of course the protection and preservation of the site, 

but, and this is unique in the Park System, the site is also intended to perpetuate, for as long as possible, 

the trading post business as an example of that kind of business. This is the only trading post owned by 

the American people. It is important to note that although this historic site has museum-like aspects, it is 

not a museum, and for the most part is not a site intended to be "frozen in time." This may be our only 

historic site that is intended to go on evolving, a real business that will change as the Navajo themselves 

change. 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site is in Apache County, Arizona; which is the most 

northeasterly of Arizona's counties, and it is entirely surrounded by the Navajo Nation.

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Figure 2. Map of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

(click on above map for an enlargement)

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Introduction)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

INTRODUCTION

Hubbell Trading Post is not a "destination" for most of the people who arrive there. The authors' first trip 

to the trading post, in October of 1981, is probably fairly representative of most of the visits there. We 

were on a trip to the Grand Canyon. Before starting for home (Santa Fe) we decided to look at our maps 

to see if there might be something of interest to see along the way. And there, just west of a town called 

Ganado, we found a little red square with an arrow pointing at it and the words Hubbell Trading Post 

National Hist. Site.

Figure 3. The authors first visited the historic site in October, 1981. The only photo they 

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Introduction)

took that day shows part of the wareroom, the curator's office and storage area, and, in the 

background, the barn. A Manchester photograph.

We had heard of the place, but we had never been there. If we drove through Cameron and Moenkopi, 

we noted, and took 264 easterly toward Gallup, we would be on a road with orange dashes paralleling it. 

Instead of having to escort hundreds of tractor-trailer rigs along 140, then, we would be able to drive at 

least part of the way back home on a "scenic route." So our first trip to Hubbell Trading Post was simply 

a why-not? decision based on the hope that driving that way would be more interesting than getting back 

on I-40. 

Ever since starting work on this administrative history we have been trying to recall what that 1981 visit 

meant to us. We've probed the wells of memory in hopes of finding there something that might benefit 

the people who will be using this work. We entered the trading post that day. We recall seeing the 

baskets on the ceiling. We didn't buy anything. Then, unlike the majority of visitors, we took advantage 

of the tour through the house. We saw more baskets on the ceiling there, dark rooms, and old furniture. 

Back outside, near the bread oven, we recall looking at the garden. Cornstalks stood in the weak sun, 

brown leaves rustling in the wind.

Trader Bill Malone was there, but we don't remember seeing him. We can't recall the guide who took us 

through the home; and we can't remember exactly what we were supposed to have learned about Indian 

traders and trading posts, although ever since that day, whenever the subject came up, our notion of what 

a trading post is like would be whatever we could remember of Hubbell Trading Post. So we must have 

learned something, we must have been somehow subtly impressed, in spite of the fact that we couldn't 

have been there much more than an hour. We took one black and white photograph and then drove away. 

Nine years later to the month, driving the same green Chevy pickup but this time approaching Ganado 

from the east, we went to Hubbell Trading Post to start work on this administrative history. We 

researched and wrote for over a year. We came to know Dorothy Hubbell, Ned Danson, and other people 

who were instrumental in bringing Hubbell Trading Post into the Park System. Doing our research, we 

returned to the trading post several times. We realized after a while that the post seems to have an aura 

all its own, and we think we know the source of that aura. 

Hubbell Trading Post is not just an old trading post; it is a window to a very rich world. A world of 

traders and trading posts, of military campaigns against Indians, the campaigns and marauding of those 

Indians against the people history brought upon them. Hubbell Trading Post was one of the focal points 

during a collision of conflicting cultures. And the site has been occupied by man probably since man first 

walked into the area thousands of years ago and found water here; he has left dwellings, artifacts and 

burials here. The place is rich in the lore of arts and crafts. Significant people lived here, worked here, 

passed by here. Although small in area, Hubbell Trading Post is undoubtedly one of the richest cultural 

resources owned by the American people. 

During our research we learned that one of the trading post's superintendents reportedly complained that 

he felt like the manager of a grocery store. Surely he missed what Hubbell Trading Post is all about. 

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When you do business with Bill Malone you are taking part in a tradition that goes back, now, 115 years; 

Bill is the most recent link in an unbroken chain that you can follow right back to the mid-1870s. In the 

West, that spells Tradition. 

Location, Access, and Public Facilities

Hubbell Trading Post is located about a half mile to the west of what can be considered the center of 

Ganado, Arizona. Ganado is up in the northeastern corner of Arizona in the Navajo Nation, 53 miles 

northwest of Gallup, New Mexico, 190 miles west of Albuquerque, and 156 miles east of Flagstaff, 

Arizona. Ganado is 35 miles north of Chambers, Arizona, which is on I-40. US 191 and Arizona 264 

cross in Ganado. 

If you are driving from the east, it is recommended that you take US 666 north out of Gallup and then 

Arizona 264 west toward Window Rock, Arizona. The nearest rail connection is at Gallup, and there are 

commercial airports at Gallup and at Winslow, Arizona (124 miles). Rental cars are available in 

connection with airline transportation. 

Advertised lodging is unavailable at this time in Ganado. The historic site has a VIP trailer, but if 

promised lodging there suddenly becomes unavailable to you (and this seems to be a chancy matter on 

the best of days), it is recommended that you stop over in Window Rock at the Navajo Nation Inn. 

However, the citizens of Ganado and the historic site are aware that limited housing is available on the 

Presbyterian Hospital grounds. The hospital, now called Sage Memorial Hospital and operated by the 

Navajo Nation Health Foundation, is in fact a complex of buildings that has grown up during the past 

seventy years. The hospital land, like the land at the historic site, is not part of the Navajo Reservation. 

The hospital maintains "cottages " for visiting medical people and others who are there on business. If 

the cottages are not occupied, the hospital will rent them to anybody else. 

Ganado is 6300 feet above sea level. This is high-desert country, the Colorado Plateau. The landscape is 

open, vistas large. Summer days are dry and warm, summer evenings cool. Scattered rainfall---

sometimes short-lived, violent storms---are part of many summer afternoons. Annual precipitation is 

about fifteen inches. Winter days are dry and sunny, warm in the sun, cold in the shade. Winter nights 

can be quite cold, the temperature dropping below zero Fahrenheit. There is a year round temperature 

differential between day and night of about thirty degrees. Spring, when almost daily winds blow dust 

and grit, can seem like the worst season of the year. Winds are generally westerly. Last frost is about 

mid-May, first frost mid-October. 

About 1500 people, primarily Navajo, live in the vicinity of Ganado, which, like every other town on the 

reservation, is not an incorporated town with city or town limits. There are little or no zoning restrictions 

on the reservation; there is the danger that something truly unsightly could be built next to the historic 

site. 

Ganado has limited tourist services. There is a post office here, a small grocery, two restaurants, two gas 

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stations, a substation of the Navajo Police, and a volunteer fire department with an ambulance. There are 

no supermarkets here, but besides Hubbell Trading Post there is the Round Top Trading Post. 

Possibilities for any kind of shopping are exceedingly limited. Many NPS employees make weekly 

expeditions to Gallup for supplies. 

Ganado has five churches, Catholic, Mormon, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Full Gospel. The local public 

schools include all grades from preschool through high school. The Navajo Community College offers 

about fifteen courses at Ganado, including (if there are enough students) classes in the Navajo language. 

Ganado is one of the 110 "Chapters" of the Navajo Nation and has its own chapter house, the Navajo 

equivalent of a town hall. Navajo chapters were established allover the reservation in the 1920s as units 

of agricultural extension services. They came to be meeting places to discuss issues and over the decades 

developed into a form of local government. Generally speaking, total consensus is required before the 

Navajo will move on an issue; for the impatient Anglo new to the Navajo Nation, "progress" on an issue 

can seem slow, now and then unattainable. NPS employees must learn to work closely with the local 

chapter in reference to mutual concerns. 

The Navajo Reservation encompasses about 25,000 square miles, and approximately 165,000 people are 

scattered across this land. Individual Navajo do not "own" the land on which they live, farm, graze their 

cattle, and gather firewood. Use of a given area or resource is allowed by permit from the Navajo Nation 

government. 

Window Rock, Arizona, is the seat of government for the Navajo Tribe. The Tribal Council meets there 

four times a year and the Bureau of Indian Affairs has its offices there. Window Rock has developed into 

a considerable community. There are two supermarkets in town as well as a string of the familiar fast 

food places one might drive by on the road into almost any American town. No liquor, wine, or beer is 

sold legally on the reservation. 

Utility Systems

The site's water supply, sewage, and electrical power is provided and maintained by the Navajo Tribal 

Authority. Telephone services and cable TV are provided by the Navajo Communications Company. 

Economic Trends

The nearest major employment centers are Phoenix and Albuquerque, many miles from the Navajo 

Nation. Flagstaff and Gallup provide a more limited employment opportunity. Unemployment figures for 

the Navajo are high, reportedly over forty percent. Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site has been 

authorized to use the "Contiguous to the Area" hiring authority for temporary positions and selected 

continuing positions. Other than that, there is no written policy regarding the hiring of the Navajo. We 

are guided by the usual equal opportunity laws, etc., plus just old common sense." [2]

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Development on the nearby Navajo and the Hopi Reservations includes mining, coal-fired powerplants, 

roads, tourism, and recreational facilities. 

On Avoiding A Gaffe

Social customs and personal conduct among the Navajo cam seem "foreign" to a visiting run-of- the-mill 

American. The following points were worked up by Terry Nichols in 1982 when she was Supervisory 

Park Ranger at Hubbell Trading Post. [3] This is an adaptation of her work. 

1. To be outgoing and loud may be considered overly aggressive conduct. On the other 

hand, Navajo may expect such behavior from their American cousins and they may not be 

totally outraged or frightened by it. 

2. To be reserved, quiet, gentle, not outspoken is considered the Navajo way. Older people 

are deferred to, treated with respect, not ignored. 

3. Do not be derogatory about Navajo customs, politics, police. On the other hand, if you 

are a knowledgeable "foreigner" with some authority--an Indian trader, for example--your 

opinions may be considered. Most Navajo feel their way of life is perfectly adequate. 

4. Many traditional Navajo were taught when they were small that white people are not to 

be trusted. Such Navajo may remain--understandably--aloof and cautious until they can 

see, possibly after years of observation, that you may be as worthwhile a person as you 

seem to be. Terry Nichols said that she was at Hubbell Trading Post for a couple of years 

before some Navajo accepted her. [4] 

5. Do not assume that a Navajo will know all about the National Park Service. Chances are 

they don't know anything about it.

6. To the Navajo, you are a visitor who will very likely be here just a short time. They will 

be pleased if you come to understand something of their approach to life. 

7. Trying to learn a little Navajo is one way to bridge the culture gap. If nothing else, it 

may give the Navajo a chance for a chuckle or two. Terry Nichols recounted how when 

she tried to say that a particular hill was high, she suggested instead that it was pregnant, 

which was surprising news to her listeners. [5]

8. At social gatherings, with food and drink available, if one is quiet and reserved, smiling, 

opportunities for some sort of communication should arise. 

Except for dedicated readers of Tony Hillerman's novels, few people know very much about Navajo 

social mores. The Navajo, however, get a chance to see other Americans every night on TV, and such 

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exposure would tend to make even the strongest people cautious.

Figure 4. Hubbell Trading Post as seen from the top of Hubbell Hill and looking across the 

Pueblo Colorado Wash. The date is May, 1966. The bridge seen to the left was removed in 

the mid-1970s. Photographers Bill Brown and John Cook, NPS photo, HUTR Neg. 186.

The Navajo language

The Navajo language is described as complex and difficult to learn. Few NPS employees have become 

fluent in the language. Navajo has few points of reference for people who grew up speaking and studying 

European languages only. 

Physical Description of the Historic Site

Hubbell Trading Post is situated on 160 acres of land, about 110 acres of which are irrigable. The land 

can be irrigated through a series of ditches planned and built by J. L. Hubbell, and will be irrigated as 

soon as the dam at Ganado Lake is repaired and the ditches are cleaned out and repaired. John Cook, 

Hubbell Trading Post's first superintendent, recalls seeing water in all the ditches. [6] The farmland rises 

gently north to south and is terraced to hold the water at many levels. Dorothy Hubbell described how 

her husband Roman would spend days in the fields with a transit, trying to level the land for proper 

irrigation and farming. [7]

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The visitor comes to the complex of buildings at the end of the entrance road. The imposing collection of 

buildings are all of adobe or rock construction and date from the late nineteenth century to the 19405: 

home, trading post, wareroom, wareroom extension, barn, manager's residence, guest hogan, chicken 

coop, bread oven, bunkhouse, hogan-in-the-lane, visitor center, root cellar, corrals, sheds. 

To the left along the entrance road, close to where the entrance road meets the highway, lie the employee 

living quarters, a group of mobile homes and the superintendent's "modular" home. 

The Pueblo Colorado Wash, a broad, deep streambed, cuts the north side of the land. During local storms 

the wash may flood, and in the past it has caused erosion along its banks and some destruction to Wide 

Reed Ruin, an Anasazi (ancient Indian) pueblo ruin of surprising significance. Because of the availability 

of water in the midst of a vast and generally dry landscape, the site has been used and occupied for 

thousands of years. Indian burials and collections of potsherds and lithics have been found in several 

places on the historic site. Except for the lack of farming, the trading post looks much as it did in, say, 

1920 or 1930, and a lot of effort is expended in keeping it that way. 

History of the Site to 1957

In an oft-quoted statement made in 1907, John Lorenzo Hubbell said: "The first duty of an Indian trader, 

in my belief is to look after the material welfare of his neighbors; to advise them to produce that which 

their natural inclinations and talent best adapt them; to treat them honestly and insist upon getting the 

same treatment from them; ...to find a market for their products and vigilantly watch that they keep 

improving in the production of same, and advise them which commands the best price. This does not 

mean that the trader should forget that he is to see that he makes a fair profit for himself, for whatever 

would injure him would naturally injure those with whom he comes in contact." 

This business philosophy kept the Hubbell family in business from the mid-1870s until 1967, and this is 

still the general aim of the traders who now operate the business under the auspices of Southwest Parks 

and Monuments Association. 

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Figure 5. John Lorenzo Hubbell in 1908. This is one of the famous "Red Heads" done by 

E. A. Burbank. There are many Redheads at the site, most of them portraits of Indians, and 

they are conte-crayon drawings on paper. NPS photo, HUTR Neg. 1901.

Hubbell was born in Pajarito, New Mexico, near Albuquerque, in November of 1853. His parents were 

James Lawrence Hubbell, from Connecticut, and Julianita Gutierrez, of New Mexico. John Lorenzo 

went to Santa Fe to attend Fraley's Presbyterian Academy, and then he took a clerking job in the post 

office in Albuquerque. After about a year in the post office, he set off on his own for the Utah Territory. 

Hubbell was a clerk for a time at a Mormon trading post at Kanab, Utah. While there, in 1872 he was 

reportedly seriously wounded in a fight at Panguitch, Utah. Hearsay tells us that the incident may have 

been about a woman who was the wife of another man, and the "fight" may have been nothing more than 

John Lorenzo getting plugged as he was exiting a bedroom by way of a window. However that may be, a 

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real fight or wounds for the sake of dalliance, the lively young man thought it better to ride out of town. 

He headed south, which is important for the rest of the story. 

Legend tells us, too, that some Paiute Indians picked up the wounded John Lorenzo and took care of him 

until he had regained mobility. We next find him working as an interpreter at Fort Defiance, Arizona, 

and then as a clerk at the trading post at Fort Wingate, New Mexico. With some clerking and trading 

post experience under his belt, John Lorenzo went to Ganado Lake in 1876 and opened his first trading 

post at what was then called the Hardison place. He operated there until he bought the Leonard Trading 

Post in 1878. The original Leonard buildings were out in front of the present home and trading post. The 

Leonard buildings were razed in the 1920s. 

J.L. Hubbell had a partner in the early years, C.N. Cotton, and during the years of this partnership Cotton 

assumed much of the day-to-day operation of the trading post while Hubbell pursued a political career. 

John Lorenzo was sheriff of Apache County and he was a territorial senator during the years before 

Arizona became a state. His political ambition ended when he was defeated in an expensive race for the 

U.S. Senate. 

In the 1890s, long before the disastrous political race for the Senate (1914), Hubbell became sole owner 

of the trading post, and he concentrated more of his time on expanding the operations. Cotton moved to 

Gallup, New Mexico, where he opened a warehouse; he provided wholesale merchandise for Hubbell 

and other Indian traders, and he became very important in the marketing of rugs and blankets in many 

parts of the United States C.N. Cotton is a considerable study all by himself. 

J.L. Hubbell was married to Una Rubi (1861-1913) of Cebolleta, New Mexico, in 1879. They had four 

children: Adela (1880-1938), Barbara (1881-1965), Lorenzo (1883-1942), and Roman (1891-1957). 

Hubbell's developed into one of the most successful and influential of the trading posts. During the early 

decades of the business the Hubbells branched out considerably. A truly detailed study of all of their 

enterprises has never been made. Many boxes of business correspondence receipts, ledgers are in the 

hands of the University of Arizona. The Hubbells bought out or opened trading posts in other areas. 

They did freighting, for themselves and others. Apparently they even opened a used car business. J.L. 

Hubbell was a businessman right down to his bone marrow. As he became more influential, people came 

to know him as "Don" Lorenzo, the Don being a Spanish term of respect.

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Figure 6. John Lorenzo Hubbell holds one end of a rug. A Navajo woman, probably the 

weaver, holds the other end. This Ben Wittick photograph from probably the 1890s shows 

the north end of the trading post. NPS photo, HUTR Neg. RP-312.

It seems likely that his concern for his Navajo neighbors and customers did surpass the necessity of a 

purely business relationship. He had true friends among the Navajo. He was of use to them, and of 

course he needed them. (A trader who was a cheat, who was of no use to the Navajo, would not last 

long.) 

The relationship between the Navajo and the trading post continues to this day. The trading post is still a 

place for them to buy supplies and to trade crafts. Now that it is a historic site, it brings people and 

money to the area. 

The trading post as it is now could not exist without the support of the Navajo. The trading post needs 

their crafts. Hubbell Trading Post is considered something of an economic asset in the area, and it is in 

the interest of the tribal council delegates and the Ganado governing body, and the administrators of the 

trading post, to remain on good terms, and to exchange ideas and discuss mutual problems. 

Don Lorenzo's influence on the local culture was considerable. Many Navajo rugs look the way they do 

simply because Hubbell advised the weavers as to which designs would sell, which others might not. The 

"Ganado Red" is a style associated with Hubbell Trading Post. He advised them on farming matters, and 

the farm at the trading post set an example. J.L. Hubbell tried to keep pace with some modern 

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developments. He was a strong, intelligent businessman with a large dose of compassion running 

through him, a man whose sensibilities allowed him to find room for another culture; he was perfectly 

fluent in Navajo. He was also a frontiersman, so his talents lay in many directions. There aren't many 

specialists on a frontier. 

The Hubbells were appreciative and acquisitive. They came to own one of the largest collections of art 

and artifacts in the Southwest, most of which is still at the trading post. J.L. Hubbell was famous for his 

hospitality. Ganado has always been one of the crossroads of the Navajo Nation The trading post has 

been a shopping place for Navajo and a stopping place for travelers for over a hundred years. 

One traveler who stayed at the trading post in 1917 was Donald Scott, who would later become an 

authority on the Old West and the director of Harvard University's Peabody Museum. [8] In 1958, when 

he was driving back from California, Scott took the opportunity to revisit the Hopi and Navajo country. 

In a June 9, 1958, letter to the then director of the Peabody Museum, J. O. Brew, Donald Scott described 

the experience: 

"...again I was deeply impressed by [Hubbell Trading Post's] historic associations 

As you know it stands head and shoulders above all other trading posts, and while its trade 

has fallen off in these later days it still stands as a unique monument of the early days of 

the Indian trader and the Navajo economy. It was founded in 1874 by John Lorenzo 

Hubbell, a man of such character that his reputation soon spread through all the Navajo 

country. 

The great business in wool, pinon nuts and other goods traded for his commercial stock 

lead [sic] to the building of a striking adobe compound of warehouses and stores. Because 

of the danger in an unsettled land, the group of buildings has partly the aspect of a fort. In 

a way its character is half way between the forts of fur trading days, such as Laramie and 

Bridger, and the more peaceful posts of today.

I had a long talk with Mrs. Ramon [sic] Hubbell in the dining hall where Roosevelt Taft 

and a great many other celebrities have eaten in days gone by. The family which made the 

name Hubbell, like that of Morgan a synonym for honesty and power, has now reached its 

end. Don Lorenzo's older son, Lorenzo, whom you knew, succeeded his father and 

established himself as far west as Winslow. On his death the younger son, Ramon, took 

over. It is his widow who is now managing the post, and I found her a woman of 

exceptional character and charm. 

Mrs. Ramon feels she must dispose of the property.... It seems to me that some way should 

be found to perpetuate the post. Its physical character--the great adobe compound, 

warehouses, stores and patios--and its historic associations are a unique reminder of a 

colorful and important period in our relations with the native tribes. Much as I wish other 

monuments of the past preserved, there are many covered bridges, many historic houses 

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and churches, but this trading post is unique as I am sure you would testify. 

When I first saw Ganado it was a picturesque spot surrounded by the camp-fires of 

Navajos who had come by horseback or in farm wagons from near and far to trade. The 

warehouses were bursting with wool and Don Lorenzo, quiet but powerful, made a deep 

impression on me. The Navajo are still there in this cedar-dotted, good grazing land.... [9] 

Figure 7. Navajo wagons at Hubbell Trading Post circa 1910. Some Navajo would trek in 

from considerable distances, camp overnight. Hubbell Hill rises in the background. Copy 

of photo from Huntington Library, San Marino, California. HUTR Neg. RP-200.

The Hubbells started farming their land very early in the twentieth century. A system of irrigation 

ditches was developed for their own land and to get water from Ganado Lake. J.L. Hubbell was a 

dynamic and interested man. Trader, politician, farmer, patron of the arts. Builder of a unique trading 

post and business empire. But after his death it all slowly faded away until by the early 1950s only the 

trading post in Ganado remained. Dorothy and Roman Hubbell lived there and ran the trading post. By 

1957, Roman Hubbell, who used to cut such a dashing figure in his boots and riding britches, [10] was 

confined to a wheelchair. Without Roman to help her, Dorothy was beginning to find the trading post 

operation to be just a little more than she could comfortably handle. [11]

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 1)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER I:

HUBBELL TRADING POST, JULY, 1957

The Birth of an Idea

"I am sending you, under separate cover, the pen used by President Johnson in signing the Hubbell 

Trading Post bill. This is something you deserve." So wrote Morris K. Udall, Congressman from 

Arizona, in a letter dated September 20, 1965, to Dr. Edward B. Danson, Director of the Museum of 

Northern Arizona. Morris Udall was referring to the eight years of extraordinary dedication on Danson's 

part in keeping the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site movement alive in Congress and in the 

minds of many private citizens in the face of persistent opposition. Ned Danson still has the pen--as well 

as the satisfaction of being the prime mover during the long effort to save the old trading post for the 

American people.

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Figure 8. Photograph taken February 11, 1958, by K. Wing and C. Steen. The original eastwest road through Ganado ran right past the front of Hubbell Trading Post. The state road 

was straightened and now runs across the far northeast comer of the site property. NPS 

photo, HUTR Neg. 1.

On a July day in 1957, Ned Danson, then Assistant Director of the Museum of Northern Arizona, and 

Dr. Harold Colton, the Museum's director, drove over to Ganado from their offices in Flagstaff. [1] They 

were going to visit with Dorothy and Roman Hubbell at Hubbell Trading Post, their main purpose to 

arrange for the loan of artwork for an exhibit at the Museum. They were interested in borrowing some of 

the red conte crayon sketches by E.A. Burbank. These sketches, the so-called "Redheads," are portraits 

of many Native Americans including local Navajo and other citizens of Ganado, and also a profile of J.L. 

Hubbell. Burbank was one of the habitues among the artists who had accepted Don Lorenzo's hospitality. 

Dozens of the Redheads line the walls of the Hubbell home. 

For Ned Danson, that drive in 1957 to Hubbell Trading Post was a trip through time as well as space; he 

had been to Ganado before, way back in June of 1926, the year his parents decided to take the train from 

their home in Cincinnati, Ohio, and tour the West with their two daughters and their ten-year-old son, 

Ned. [2] The real western adventure started when the Super Chief rolled into Las Vegas, New Mexico, 

where the Danson family was met by one of the monumental Packard Eight touring cars of the Indian 

Detours. [3] The cars were chauffeured by men wearing flannel shirts and ten-gallon hats, and young 

women dressed in Navajo-style blouses and wearing silver and turquoise jewelry rode along as guides. 

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The Packard rumbled out of Las Vegas on a dusty road and up and over Glorieta Pass and down into 

Santa Fe, the guide answering the tourists' questions as they drove along. The Ohio family stayed over in 

Santa Fe to see a rodeo before boarding the train once again. Their next stop was Gallup. They were met 

by another touring car. The dudes in the chauffeured car rolled off into the north for a tour of the Indian 

reservations. 

The impressions gained on those early tours have remained a part of Ned Danson. He still remembers 

how the long hood of the Packard would swing back and forth through what looked like empty space as 

the automobile climbed narrow mountain roads. The West was a vivid place for a boy to be and the 

1920s was a good time to be there. Plenty of windows to the old West remained open. A boy could still 

meet the folks who had settled the country and he could see some of the Indians who had survived that 

settlement. Pioneers and colorful Indians were on hand to greet the Kodak-toting tourists who bounced 

into town and encampment in their newfangled machines. 

Settlements in the West and away from the railroads were still usually without satisfactory tourist 

accommodations. (One early motorist, struggling through Wyoming, came upon a one-room "hotel" 

fashioned out of old railroad ties. [4] For some, the so-called accommodations were so disgusting that 

they often preferred to sleep under the big sky [5] ) However, if evening happened to catch up with you 

as you pulled into Ganado, Arizona, you could probably find free room and board at Hubbell Trading 

Post. Don Lorenzo was well known for his hospitality, and it was very likely you wouldn't be the only 

guest there. As Dorothy Hubbell has pointed out, they were never sure how many people they would 

have for dinner. [6]

The Danson family stayed at least one night at Hubbell Trading Post. Dorothy Hubbell could have been 

there. Don Lorenzo and Roman Hubbell could have been there. Ned Danson doesn't recall seeing them. 

What he does remember about the trading post of 1926 was that he shared a spare bedroom with his 

parents. He slept on a cot, his mother and father in a big brass bed. 

And now it was 1957. Ned Danson had become Dr. Edward B. Danson. He was forty-one, married, and 

had children of his own. During the intervening years he had studied history at Cornell and anthropology 

at the University of Arizona. His doctorate in anthropology is from Harvard. Prior to his appointment to 

the Museum, he taught two years at the University of Colorado, at Boulder, and six years at the 

University of Arizona. But what made a man of him, he enjoys relating, were the two years he served 

aboard the schooner Yankee. [7]

A world map with the Yankee's 1933-1935 circumnavigation traced on it is attached to an exterior wall 

next to the door of Danson's study in Sedona, Arizona. The Yankee sailed south out of Gloucester, 

Massachusetts. Through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific with the trade winds-the Galapagos, 

Pitcairn Island, Tahiti. Then across the Indian Ocean to Africa. Durban, Capetown, and around into the 

Atlantic. St. Helena, Ascension Island, Bermuda. And home. Eighteen months of clambering through the 

rigging of a tall schooner in all kinds of weather. Danson was just seventeen when he sailed out of 

Gloucester in 1933. Indeed, if a boy is so created that he can be molded into a man, a little time at sea is 

a surefire way to push the process along. 

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But if a lot of water had rolled under some bridges--and a tall ship--for Ned Danson since 1926, the same 

was not apparent for Hubbell Trading Post. Well, the pickups and automobiles parked outside the trading 

post now outnumbered the horses and wagons that prevailed in 1926, but the same fortress-like buildings 

still hunkered on the earth as if having survived their own colorful pioneer era, they were now prepared 

to wait out eternity. Hubbell Trading Post still maintains its aura of timelessness. 

Figure 9. The trading post Bullpen in 1949, clerk Pete Balcomb waiting on Slim Tahe 

(Hastin Besh'ii'aahe Biye), the man in the leather jacket who is facing the camera. Except 

for a change of products on the shelves, the Bullpen still looks like this. Mullarky Photo 

Studio, Gallup, New Mexico. HUTR Neg. RP-188.

The lives and affairs of man are more transitory. Don Lorenzo had died in 1930. Dorothy Hubbell was 

just fifty-eight. But husband Roman Hubbell was now confined to a wheelchair. He had suffered a slight 

stroke in 1953, and then a series of small strokes had left him gradually paralyzed on his right side. [8] 

Hubbell Trading Post, Inc., a business empire that had once included several other trading posts, 

ranchlands, farming, and an automobile touring company, Roman Hubbell Navajo Tours, similar in 

intention to the Indian Detours, had been reduced to Hubbell Trading Post itself and was in bankruptcy. 

Roman Hubbell, by all accounts a charming man who could handle passing tourists with ease and 

consideration, had never been the trader his legendary father was. And now he was desperately ill. 

Dorothy Hubbell was carrying on as best she could, running the trading post and caring for Roman, but it 

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had become too much for her. 

The meeting between Harold Colton, Ned Danson, and the Hubbells took place around the middle of 

July, 1957. Once the arrangements for the loan of Burbank's Redheads had been concluded, Roman 

looked at Dorothy and said, "Should we say something?" She nodded and said "Yes." [9] As the 

Hubbells explained to Colton and Danson, with Roman ill, they were just no longer able to continue 

running the trading post. One of the Hubbell boys, Roman, Jr., had been killed during World War II. The 

other Hubbell son, John, was an instructor of Spanish at the University of Vermont. Although John 

showed up at the trading post during summer vacations to help out where he could, he had no intention 

of becoming an Indian trader. LaCharles Eckel, a niece of the Hubbells who had done a lot of her 

growing up at the trading post, now lived in Denver and was married and had children of her own. Her 

family responsibilities would keep her away from the trading post. 

And so Hubbell Trading Post, founded over seventy-five years before by Juan Lorenzo Hubbell, was for 

sale. The Hubbells had already entertained offers. But what the Hubbells wanted to know from Dr. 

Colton was whether there would be any way for the Museum of Northern Arizona to acquire and 

preserve the property. 

No, Dr. Colton said, the Museum could not acquire the trading post. He went on to explain that they 

were a private scientific institution dedicated to the study of geology, biology, anthropology, art and 

atmospherics. A trading post in the middle of the Navajo Nation would not fall within their purview. Dr. 

Colton was one of the founders of the Museum. He knew as well as anybody could just what the 

Museum would be able to absorb. And on that negative note, Harold Colton and Ned Danson started 

back to Flagstaff. 

As Dorothy Hubbell explained later, her decision to approach the Museum of Northern Arizona was 

inspired to a great extent by what had happened to the Richard Wetherill property at Kayenta, another 

trading post. The Wetherills were a well-known family in the Four Corners region, ranchers in 

southwestern Colorado, who came to prominence in the late nineteenth century as the "discoverers" of 

the ruins at Mesa Verde. [10] Theirs were the first "digs" in many Anasazi ruins all over the Four 

Corners area. At the same time they became involved in trading posts on the Navajo Reservation, and 

their interests in trading posts lasted for decades after they gave up exploring and archeology. Over the 

years the Wetherills amassed an enormous collection of ancient and modem Indian artifacts. 

Dorothy Hubbell first met the Wetherills when she was still a newcomer to the country. "I was greatly 

impressed by the number [of artifacts] they had," Dorothy related. "And I was interested because it was 

new to me then, too. Then they died and it was only their son, Ben, alive. And then Ben moved away. 

The place was sold, everything was gone. Everything was gone. Nothing was collected, put into a 

collection where it could be studied. It was gone. I thought, well, now, what would happen to Ganado 

[Hubbell Trading Post] if I sold to somebody?" [11] 

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Figure 10. Roman and Dorothy Hubbell. The date is probably the late 1940s HUTR Neg. 

R28#8.

The Hubbells were approached by at least three different parties who were interested in the property. 

Dorothy: "And this one man to whom I talked, I said, What would you do with these things?' I was 

pointing to the walls 'Oh,' he said, 'I would just sell them. I'd put in a liquor store'." Dorothy was 

appalled. Well, in any case, the Navajo would never have permitted a liquor store to become part of the 

trading post, but--could she stand to see so many of the beautiful things contained in the Hubbell 

homestead sold off! To just anybody? Would the Hubbell property have to suffer the same fate as the 

Wetherill's? Dorothy: "That let me know that some people might just disperse the things that we had. 

And I had lived with them long enough that they seemed important to me." [12]

Dorothy had lived with them since 1920. Born Dorothy Elizabeth Smith in Indiana, Dorothy came west 

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in 1920 to be teacher to the Hubbell children. Roman's wife had died during the influenza epidemic that 

spread across much of the world just after World War I. Seven months later--to the utter consternation of 

her parents--Dorothy was married to Roman and became stepmother to her pupils. [13]

The Hubbells, too, had gathered an impressive collection of Indian artifacts and modern art: floors 

covered with Navajo rugs, walls hung with artwork and Indian baskets, baskets from many Indian tribes 

of the Southwest nailed to the ceilings between the vigas, pottery from all of the southwestern tribes. The 

furniture was mostly period Victorian, and like many a bourgeois turn-of-the-century home, there 

seemed to be an excessive amount of everything. A traveler, marooned in 1907 by a time warp, would 

have felt right at home at Hubbell Trading Post in 1957. As Ned Danson suggested, "It was a 

hodgepodge of things...." [14]

Hodgepodge, to be sure, but in many respects valuable. Apart from the historical and ethnological value 

of the contents of the trading post, a way of life had been--to an almost incredible degree--preserved 

there. For Dorothy Hubbell, that way of life was still tangible. (Several times while being interviewed for 

this administrative history, when people from her past were mentioned, she would pause, as if caught 

unawares, and say, "And now they're all gone." Seventy years had slipped away.)

Dorothy was determined to see Hubbell Trading Post preserved: "It was important enough that I didn't 

want to see it dissipated." But with Roman's health so frail and business slow.... If the Museum of 

Northern Arizona couldn't take the old trading post, an eventual sale to disinterested strangers would be 

its inevitable fate.

During the two-hour drive back to Flagstaff, Danson and Colton continued to mull over the Hubbell's 

offer and their precarious situation. But as far as they could see, there was nothing in the Museum's 

mandate that would allow them to pursue such an exotic acquisition. Ned Danson, however, had recently 

become a member of the National Park Service Advisory Board. As he drove through the late afternoon, 

he was at last inspired by the notion that Hubbell Trading Post might be a candidate for the National 

Park System. He put the idea to Dr. Colton, who agreed that the idea had merit. Danson decided that the 

next time he went to Washington for a Board meeting he would put Hubbell Trading Post on the table 

for discussion. [15]

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 2)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER II:

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

Ned Danson Looks for Help

By all accounts the exhibit of Burbank's Redheads was a success and the drawings were returned to 

Hubbell Trading Post on September 21, 1957. During the exhibit, sometime in August, NPS Regional 

Archeologist Charlie Steen happened to be at the Museum of Northern Arizona, and while Steen was 

there Ned Danson took advantage of the opportunity to tell him about the availability of Hubbell Trading 

Post as a possible NPS acquisition. [1]

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Figure 11. Dr. Edward B. Danson in the backyard of his home in Sedona, Arizona, on 

April 18, 1991, the day the authors interviewed him for this history. A Manchester photo.

Steen recorded some details about the trading post so that he could report to the Regional Director, but 

he also advised Danson that chances were probably pretty slim that an appropriation could be pried out 

of Congress to buy an old trading post in Navajo country. Furthermore, Steen continued, the Park 

Service could not take it upon itself to explore for prospective sites, parks, or monuments. Steen didn't 

know of a written directive that prohibited a Park Service search for new areas, but any investigations the 

NPS might make in reference to a prospective acquisition were always made only at the request of a 

member of Congress. Danson mentioned that he was considering writing to his Congressman about 

Hubbell Trading Post; Steen encouraged him to do so. Steen explained that if one of the Arizona 

Congressmen was sufficiently interested in the site, he could ask the Park Service to appraise the land 

and buildings and also make an assessment of the trading post to see if its historical value was sufficient 

to qualify it for some kind of preservation with federal money. [2]

Ned Danson wrote several letters to Arizona Congressmen. Representative Stewart L. Udall asked his 

administrative assistant in Washington to present a proposal to NPS Director Conrad Wirth immediately. 

[3] Senator Carl Hayden forwarded Ned Danson's letter to Director Wirth and asked him to "give serious 

consideration to taking [Hubbell Trading Post] over as a National Monument." [4] Senator Barry 

Goldwater asked Director Wirth to "institute studies leading up to a determination of the advisability of 

creating a national monument where the Hubbell Trading Post stands in Ganado, Arizona." [5]

Ned Danson was not shy about spreading his enthusiasm. But unknown to him at the time, interest in the 

old trading post for all the Congressmen went back many years. 

Barry Goldwater, Carl Hayden and Stewart L. Udall Made Early Trips to Ganado. [6]

It was probably Barry Goldwater's mother's interest in her adopted state (she had moved to Arizona from 

the Midwest for her health) that nurtured his own love for Arizona. For as far back as Goldwater could 

remember, his mother would take her children on motor tours around the state, and that was long before 

it was common practice for most motorists to risk the machines in the hinterland. As Goldwater recalled, 

roads could be so rough and tires so flimsy that the travelers might have to change tires four or five times 

in a hundred miles ("We could change those tires with our eyes closed."). Travel as arduous as that takes 

courage and a strong sense of adventure, the very stuff or pioneers---and dedicated early motorists.

Goldwater was seven years old in 1916 when he accompanied his mother on an automobile trek through 

Hopi and Navajo lands. He regards that trip as among the most wonderful experiences he's had. The 

Goldwaters stopped off in Ganado for several days. Barry Goldwater met Don Lorenzo, remembers him 

as being "very kindly," and he got to know Don Lorenzo's children. Goldwater saw the Redheads "...

done by an artist who devoted his art to Indian faces, a Mr. Burbank, from California...."

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As far as Barry Goldwater is concerned, Hubbell Trading Post was "...superior to any other Post we ever 

visited, and it still is to this day. Hubbell's remains "...a lot like when I first saw it." The old trading post 

made a "deep impression" on the future Senator. "Even after [Lorenzo Hubbell's] death, we would go to 

the post, stay there, and enjoy the whole area." "Always in my mind that was just the way a Navajo post 

should look." He was so impressed by Burbank's Redheads that in later years he acquired a few from the 

trading post.

Ned Danson had found one enthusiastic supporter, but in Senator Carl Hayden he would find another. 

Born in what is now Tempe, Arizona, in 1877, Senator Hayden was already a member of Congress when 

in 1915 he made his first trip to Ganado: "I...found Don Lorenzo Hubbell actively engaged as a Navajo 

Indian trader. I was told that he was the son of an American pioneer whose wife came from a prominent 

Spanish family in New Mexico. Don Lorenzo was then recognized as the most successful of all the 

traders in the Navajo country." [7]

And yet another traveler to Hubbell's was Stewart L. Udall, who was only ten years old when he 

accompanied his father there during an early 1930 political campaign (his father was a judge). Udall's 

grandfather and Lorenzo Hubbell had become political enemies during the 1880s but they resolved their 

differences in the late 1920s when Lorenzo was dying. As Udall remembers that early visit, he found the 

old trading post "redolent of the 19th century." He never forgot the place. [8]

So all of the Congressmen had visited Hubbell Trading Post way back when. Two of them had known 

Don Lorenzo. They had seen Hubbell's in the heyday of trading posts when it was an important element 

in the culture and economy of the Navajo. During the following years, their continued support would 

prove vital for the success of the Hubbell Trading Post national historic site movement. 

Sometime during August, 1957, while on another visit to Ganado, Ned Danson explained his National 

Park Service idea to Dorothy Hubbell. As far as she was concerned it was the best solution she had 

heard. On September 27, Danson wrote to Mrs. Hubbell to advise her that he had received favorable 

responses from Senators Hayden and Goldwater and Representative Udall. Danson continued: "This is 

just the beginning of the process of getting the Park Service to approve the acquisition, and I am sure you 

understand that this will take some time. However, I feel a good start has been made and I am 

optimistic." [9]

A good start. Optimistic. But it will take some time. Yes, it would take some time...

The National Park Service Goes to Work-Roman Hubbell Dies

Ben H. Thompson, NPS Acting Director, replied to the Congressmen to advise them that Hubbell 

Trading Post would be investigated during the National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings then 

underway. However, funds for the work were limited and he was not certain as to when the survey would 

be completed; but he did feel that Hubbell's would be among those places considered to determine 

whether or not it was "nationally important and suitable for national monument purposes." [10] Also, the 

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NPS Regional Office in Santa Fe was ordered to forward whatever data on the old trading post that 

might be readily available. The NPS would be concentrating their attention on western sites, and it was 

hoped that the "broad aspects" of the survey would be completed by the end of the 1958 fiscal year. [11]

Efforts for the hoped-for disposal of Hubbell Trading Post to the NPS had hardly gotten under way when 

Roman Hubbell died, in October of 1957, aged only sixty-five years. He was the last of the original 

Hubbell clan. Dorothy was left to maintain the trading post as best she could. And in Washington the 

mill wheels of procedure started to turn ever so slowly. 

And Ned Danson was hedging his bet. Aware of the economy drive in Congress, and at the suggestion of 

Dr. Colton, Danson wrote to Philip Merkle, of the Arizona Republic, to see if there might not be enough 

people in Arizona and possibly outside the state to contribute enough money to buy the trading post. 

Also, Dorothy received a letter from Dr. Hopkins, retired professor of journalism, who thought that the 

trading post should be preserved intact as a museum of Arizoniana, and he was sure that possibly the 

Heard Museum--or a foundation of public spirited citizens-could be induced to help with the matter. 

Many people who were interested in Hubbell Trading Post were also determined to preserve it intact.

The National Advisory Board of the National Park Service Joins the Act

At the next Board meeting of the Advisory Board of the NPS, in the spring of 1958, Ned Danson put 

Hubbell Trading Post on the table for discussion. The Board members were receptive to the proposal but 

decided not to act on it because, as yet, the Park Service had not completed its survey of the site. 

Dorothy Hubbell was advised that chances were good that Hubbell Trading Post would eventually be 

included in the Park System. [12] In the meantime, the Southwest Regional Office of the NPS would be 

putting together a study of Hubbell Trading Post, and Robert M. Utley, Regional Historian, was in 

charge of--and doing most of the work on---the project.

Robert Utley's Special Report of Hubbell Trading Post, Ganado, Arizona, for The 

National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings

While Dorothy Hubbell waited and Ned Danson talked and wrote, Robert M. Utley, Regional Historian, 

went to work on the Hubbell Trading Post study, completed by January, 1959. His job was to "...come up 

with...an analysis of Hubbell's role as an Indian trader and his influence on the Navajo, but also with an 

analysis of the role and influence of the Navajo trading post as a reservation institution and the role and 

influence of Indian traders throughout the West." [13] This "study" developed into a 108-page document 

that has since been a good starting point for many studies about the trading post (including this one). 

Complete with maps and photos, the report was forwarded to Park Service headquarters, Washington, D.

C., where, in February, 1959, an 18-page unsigned critique of it was issued.

In order to shorten the 18-page critique to a long paragraph, it should be enough to say that the Branch of 

History, National Park Service, Washington, D.C., was not enthusiastic about Hubbell Trading Post 

becoming a national monument. Don Lorenzo's influence on political, economic, and cultural affairs 

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was, they thought, restricted to only a part of the Navajo Reservation, nor did they feel that Bob Utley 

had demonstrated that Navajo Indian traders were of national significance. The Branch of History 

reviewed four other letters and documents in reference to Hubbell Trading Post, but Utley's was the 

report they most relied on, and they thought an important weakness was its lack of a complete list of the 

ethnological and cultural objects he said were at the trading post. (At that time there was no complete list 

of the thousands of artifacts, nor would there be a complete list for a long time to come.) They knew 

Burbank's artworks were important, but they thought, too, that the Smithsonian would be a good place 

for that part of the collection. Not only was the trading post not of national significance, as far as they 

could see, Hubbell's was only important as far as part of the reservation was concerned. Hubbell Trading 

Post possessed no exceptional value for commemorating the cultural, political, military, or economic 

history of the United States; none of the members of the family had any important significance in the 

history of the United States; the trading post did not appear to have any association with important 

events which are symbolic of any great idea or ideals of the American people; the buildings at the trading 

post did not constitute notable works of a master builder, designer, or architect whose individual genius 

reflected his age; nor were the archeological sites of major significance. It was admitted, however, that 

the structures there were over fifty years old. And had integrity and original workmanship. It was 

decided that the trading post did not possess that exceptional value commemorating or illustrating the 

history of the United States necessary to give it an evaluation of national significance. The 

recommendation of the Branch of History was "that the State of Arizona or some suitable regional 

agency consider steps that may be taken to preserve the Hubbell Trading Post." [14]

So Hubbell Trading Post was good enough for the State of Arizona but not good enough to become a 

unit of the National Park Service, at least as far as the Branch of History was concerned. In the 

meantime, everybody who was interested in the trading post project knew that Dorothy Hubbell would 

have a hard time working the post alone, and efforts were made to see if money could possibly be raised 

by the people of Arizona in order to buy it. [15] Or some "suitable agency" might be found that would 

find the trading post worth preserving, The Navajo Tribe considered the purchase, but they decided that 

Dorothy Hubbell's asking price was too high. [16]

Although Bob Utley's report failed to win over his counterparts in Washington, he still cherishes those 

days when he was doing research at Hubbell Trading Post. Utley: "I have warm memories of Dorothy 

Hubbell.... With a research assistant, I spent several days as a guest in her home, occupying the Burbankbedecked bedroom on the left as you enter the front door. She presided in regal splendor over the big 

table in the dining room, in much the same fashion, I have thought, that Don Lorenzo himself presided 

over the same table. She tricked me into a boast that one should keep an open mind toward all forms of 

food and refuse nothing that had not been at least tried; she presented me with a can full of chocolate 

covered grasshoppers, which I could not bring myself to sample. ...I spent several days there...to go 

through the Hubbell papers, which were thrown into barrels in the barn and were well sprinkled with 

evidence of the passage of rats and other influences antithetical to the professional preservation of 

archival material." [17]

But as it turned out, Bob Utley's intrepid explorations and investigations--even through rat droppings--

were not in vain. As soon as Ned Danson heard that Utley's report was available, he requested a copy 

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from SWRO; [18] if Hubbell Trading post was going to be put on the table for discussion at the April 

meeting of the National Park Service Advisory Board, Ned wanted all of the other members to read it. 

[19] Something swayed the Board in the direction of Hubbell Trading Post; on the 22nd of April they 

recommended that Hubbell Trading Post be classified as of exceptional value under the terms of the 

Historic Sites Act. They went on to recommend that the trading post be included in the National Park 

System: "The Hubbell Trading Post includes in its present make-up many intangible elements of feeling 

and association with important parts of American heritage. The Spanish element, the American element 

and the American Indian element are well represented. In addition the examples of western art preserved 

at the Post are significant Americana and part of the story of trading post life. This Post expresses a 

period of history as does no other known trading post, and its function as an acculturating agent 

continues to this day among the Navajo and Hopi Indians which tribes it has served since its founding in 

1876.

"Further, the Advisory Board recognizes that this Post is now available for preservation and that its loss 

would forever impoverish our understanding of a major phase of our heritage." [20]

Ned Danson wrote to Dorothy Hubbell to advise her of the Board's direction and to tell her that although 

there had been opposition in Washington, most of it seemed to be based on ignorance. [21] Dorothy was 

delighted with the Advisory Board's approval. Although Park Service personnel had been stopping by 

the trading post all year, she had begun to think that nothing would come of the idea. And Bob Utley had 

forwarded a copy of his report to her; and she found it "truly comprehensive" and it "raised my hopes 

considerably." [22] 

Although the Branch of History was unmoved by Bob Utley's efforts, his report must have scored 

favorably with the people who counted. Today, over thirty years after it was written, and after a lot more 

research has been done on the subjects it delves into, the report is still a valuable source of information 

about the trading post and the Navajo. It was an important step in bringing the trading post into the 

National Park System. 

S. 1871 and H.R. 7279

On May 7, 1959, Senator Carl Hayden introduced S.1871 to authorize the establishment of the trading 

post as a national historic site. [23] However, a necessary report from the Secretary of the Interior 

arrived too late for the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs to act on the matter, but Senator 

Hayden would urge early consideration of it after Congress convened in January. [24] 

Congressman Stewart L. Udall introduced H.R. 7279 on May 20, 1959, for the establishment of the 

trading post as an historic site, but neither the House nor the Senate Committee on Interior Affairs held 

hearings on the bill. 

The report that Carl Hayden said was needed for the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs was from 

the Office of the Secretary of the Interior and is a two-page description of Hubbell Trading Post. It 

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mentions, too, that the owners of the trading post would be willing to part with the post for $300,000, 

and the assessed 1957 valuation of the real property, if noted, was $9,957. [25] This $9,957 amount, a 

figure for tax purposes, would become in the future a weapon for those opposing the Hubbell Trading 

Post bills.

H.R. 7279 passed successfully through the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee during the first 

weeks of 1960. Everybody interested in the project felt something had to be done quickly; the general 

perception of Dorothy Hubbell's financial foundation was that it was shaky. Rumors had circulated that 

she was selling off some of the better artwork, which was not true; she hoped to deliver the trading post 

intact, including its rich contents, to the American people. Potential buyers of art, hearing the rumors, 

would stop by "almost every day" to see what they could buy. Dorothy told them all that nothing was for 

sale. [26]

Her gasoline sales had been cut in half when the road was moved away from the trading post to the 

northeast corner of the Hubbell land. And now the El Paso Gas Company was putting in a gas station just 

off her property. That would further reduce her dwindling sales of gasoline. However, Standard Oil had 

proposed to her that she lease some land in that distant corner to them for a gas station. Although she 

needed the income, she was afraid that the presence of the gasoline station on her property might spoil 

her chances of ever selling the entire property to the government. [27] But just how long could she wait 

for Congress to dance through its complicated routine? Ned Danson did his best to keep her informed of 

progress.

Opposition Arises to the Hubbell Trading Post Legislation

On March 4, 1960, Stewart Udall wrote to Ned Danson to advise him of some opposition to Hubbell 

Trading Post that was arising. [28] In a publication called Human Events. [29] Udall's legislation was 

described as a boondoggle that would cost the taxpayers thousands of dollars. And what would the 

government get for its money? "In return for its $600,000 now and more later, the government would get 

the Trading Post, 160 acres, and a collection of Southwestern art and Indian relics in a nearly 

uninhabited area of northeastern Arizona, 80 miles from the nearest town of any size, 200 miles from the 

nearest city." [30]

The owners of the property would sell for $300,000 (the other $300,000 was intended for development). 

Representative H.R. Gross (R. Iowa) suggested that the owners of the trading post would no doubt be 

willing to sell for that amount. The 1957 assessed valuation was $9,957!

The letter went on to say that citizens should make a "PUBLIC PROTEST from now until election---

when 'pork barrel' congressmen can be replaced by men willing to work for fiscal sanity." [31]

Representative Gross had objected to the passage of the bill on the consent calendar; and now it appeared 

that Stewart Udall would have to secure the cooperation of Speaker Rayburn in order to have the bill 

brought up on a special calendar. This would not be the last time for the proponents of the Hubbell 

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Trading Post legislation to hear from Representative Harold Royce Gross. [32]

H.R. 7279 came before the House on March 21, 1960. It was defeated by a vote of 208 to 171. Some 

excerpts from the debate:

Mr. Gross: "How much is the land around this trading post worth?"

Mr. Udall: "I do not know about that, but the real property, the buildings, is assessed at 

$9,000. As I say, however, property is assessed at 10 percent."

Mr. Gross: "With a few paintings and an ethnological collection, the price has gone up to 

$300,000. On top of that, the bill calls for $294,000 for redevelopment...and...$23,000 for 

federal management for this thing in the first year... I say to you again that if you vote for 

this proposition you are approving an expenditure of more than half a million dollars to 

bail out an estate in the wilds of northeast Arizona. I want no part of it."

***

Mr. O'Hara: "Mr. Speaker, I must answer to my constituents. I find here in report No. 1250 

that the assessed valuation of the real property in 1957 was $9,957, and that the owner 

graciously had expressed a willingness to sell the property for $300,000. There may be an 

answer, but it will have to be a pretty good answer or I cannot look my constituents in the 

face if I vote for this."

Mr. Udall: "We discussed this matter.... I made two points: The first is that real property 

valuations for tax purposes in my State are about 10 percent.... But the real value of this 

trading post lies in the collection of Indian artifacts, art work, Indian blankets, and so 

forth."

Mr. O'Hara: "Allowing, as the gentleman states, the appraised value is one-tenth of the real 

value there still is a discrepancy of over $200,000, which has been explained very casually 

and with nothing on which to hang our hats."

***

Mr. Gross: "Has an appraisal been made of the Indian collection involved?"

Mr. Udall: "None has been made. There is to be an appraisal before purchase."

Mr. Gross: "Yes, but you want to spend, under the terms of this bill, $300,000 for the 

property without an appraisal of the collection."

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Mr. Udall: "No, my colleague does not understand. The $300,000 is a limit. It will be 

appraised at fair market value, and that will be the price."

Mr. Dowdy: "This is obviously an attempt to bail out the owners of a worthless property at 

the expense of the American taxpayer." [33] 

H.R. 7279 took some heavy bashing on March 21, 1960. Its companion bill in the Senate passed, and the 

Senate bill would now be introduced in the House. Both Barry Goldwater and Carl Hayden felt that they 

could get the bill through the House, but everybody now saw the necessity of having an independent 

appraisal done on all of the art and ethnological material at the trading post. [34] If the Congressmen 

needed something on which to hang their hats, they should have it.

Inventories and Appraisals

As Stewart Udall tried to point out, the true value of Hubbell Trading Post lay in its art and artifacts. 

Senator Goldwater and NPS Director Conrad Wirth suggested to Ned Danson that he have the trading 

post inventoried and appraised.

A "Rough Inventory of Ethnological and Art Collections-Hubbell Trading Post" had been done on the 

5th of March, 1958. This room-by-room inventory does not include all of the artifacts and art at the 

trading post (a storeroom is described as "full of stuff"), nor does it attempt to put a dollar value on 

anything. It doesn't look like an inventory that might impress lowa's Representative Gross. 

In order to get something on paper as quickly as possible, Ned Danson and Charlie Steen, with the 

assistance of Dorothy Hubbell, inventoried the trading post on the 19th of April, 1960. It was as 

complete an inventory as they could make in one day, and it was done by class of item, not by room. One 

has but to see the trading post in order to appreciate what a hard day that must have been. This inventory 

was sent to Carl Hayden to supplement the rough inventory he already had. Along with it went an 

inventory that Mrs. Hubbell had prepared some time before. [35]

In order to get the contents of the trading post appraised, Ned Danson enlisted the best men he knew, 

Clay Lockett, a dealer in Indian art who had a shop in Tucson, and Ivan Rosecrist, owner and operator of 

Rosecrist's Art Gallery in Tucson. The men would work without pay. They had no connections with 

either the Park Service or the Museum of Northern Arizona. William V. O'Brien, of O'Brien's 

Emporium, Scottsdale, would assist Mr. Rosecrist; and Tom Bahti, of Tucson, would assist Mr. Lockett. 

[36] The four men from Tucson, plus Ned Danson and his secretary (who would help with note taking), 

arrived at the trading post on the 20th of June, 1960. Mrs. Hubbell put them up in her bedrooms in the 

Hubbell home and in the Guest Hogan. [37] They worked for four days. [38]

The appraisals were ready by December. The total value for both the art and ethnological collection 

came to $111,536. This appraisal did not include the books, the house furnishings, nor the gun 

collection. If all of the other odds and ends around the post were to be included, the total value for 

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personal property at Hubbell Trading Post was estimated to be about $120,000. [39] 

They were now armed with accurate appraisals of the art and ethnological collection. That was all well 

and good, but would that stop Representative Gross from carping about that $9,957 assessed valuation of 

the trading post real estate? In order to go forward fully prepared, thought Hillary A. Tolson, Acting 

Director of the Park Service, they should also obtain appraisals of the land and buildings at the trading 

post. Carl Hayden agreed and he so informed the Park Service. (Land and buildings appraised at 

$169,000.) In the meantime, he had activated another bill for Hubbell Trading Post, this one S.522. [40] 

The bill passed the Senate, but again its companion bill foundered in the House. The same thing 

happened in 1962.

Hubbell Trading Post in Limbo

The Hubbell Trading Post bill remained in a state of limbo in the House. By 1963, even the apparently 

indefatigable Ned Danson revealed signs of discouragement: "I do not have the time or desire to work 

again on a 'lost cause,' but if all of you feel that there is a chance to add Hubbell Trading Post to the 

National Park System, I shall be happy to do what I can to get the information that will help you assure 

passage of the new Bill." [41] He had been asked by the Secretary of the Interior to institute a study of 

trading posts to see if there might be another one with the history and integrity to equal Hubbell's. He 

knew there was none. But he would see to the study anyway. It had been over five years since he had 

taken up the lance in favor of Hubbell Trading Post.... when it was claimed that Hubbell Trading Post 

was the best example of a trading post that still existed. Representative Gross said prove it, do your 

homework. In this case, it was up to Robert Utley, Regional Historian, to do the homework. Photographs 

and other information were duly gathered and sent on to Congress. It compared about a dozen of the old 

trading posts with Hubbell's, and discussed why, if any at all were to be preserved, the one to be saved 

should be the J.L. Hubbell Trading Post. [42]

In January of 1963, Carl Hayden introduced yet another Hubbell Trading Post bill, this one S.104. A new 

Arizona Representative, George F. Senner, Jr., introduced the companion bill in the House (H.R.3209). 

Meanwhile, back at the trading post, Dorothy Hubbell traded indefatigably on. "I have been reading the 

newspaper notices and see that Representative Gross is most antagonistic. But, in all fairness, as I read 

the Congressional Record I find that he opposes most everything, and his comments have given me 

many a chuckle." [43] She had not lost her sense of humor (although the National Park Service would 

one day give her cause to do so). In spite of many good efforts, Hubbell Trading Post remained in limbo 

in Congress. 

By 1965, the bills in favor of Hubbell Trading Post had become Senator Hayden's S.1137 and 

Representative Senner's H.R. 4901. Hearings were scheduled before the Committee on Interior and 

Insular affairs for the 21st of June, 1965.

The Origin of the Live Trading Post Concept

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Like many other Park Service personnel, Director George Hartzog was apparently somewhat less than 

excited with the idea that Hubbell Trading Post should become a national historic site. "...he did not 

really want it. For a long time he didn't want it. Then I took him along, there one day and I think he and 

Mrs. Hubbell sort of got along." [44] So Dorothy Hubbell managed to charm even the Director of the 

National Park Service. And whatever else George Hartzog saw there, or heard there, or felt about the 

post would have a lasting impact on the old trading post; and what he decided about the future of 

Hubbell Trading Post, should it become a national historic site, was revealed on the morning of June 21, 

1965, just before he and Ned Danson and Robert Utley were to appear before the Committee on Insular 

Affairs. [45]

Danson and Utley met with George Hartzog in the Director's office. Hartzog asked Robert Utley how he 

proposed to interpret the trading post. Utley: "I responded with a rather conventional approach of 

recreating a static exhibit, with period merchandise on the shelves and other features recalling the 

appearance of the various rooms in Don Lorenzo's time." [46]

The Director's reaction appalled Bob Utley. "Hartzog erupted vehemently that he would not countenance 

another goddamned dead embalmed historic site, that it must be a living trading post." [47] Besides 

being appalled, Bob Utley was shocked; all of the backup material they had been gathering for the 

hearing had been prepared with the idea that they would be offering the trading post as another museumlike historic site. 

Utley, who at the time was Chief Historian, tried to argue Hartzog out of the idea. Where would they 

find an experienced trader? The Navajo would never allow themselves to be on display in front of gangs 

of tourists. But Hartzog had made up his mind, "and that, in emphatic and colorful language, was 

that." [48] And then Bob Utley was "stunned" when Ned Danson gleefully agreed with George Hartzog. 

Utley was outnumbered and outranked. Utley: "So we marched over to the hearings and George nailed 

us firmly to [the living trading post] approach in his testimony." [49] 

An important excerpt from the House of Representatives Hearings before the Committee on Interior and 

Insular Affairs (Subcommittee on National Parks and Recreation) in reference to H.R. 3320 to authorize 

the establishment of the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, in the State of Arizona, and for 

other purposes: 

Mr. O'Brien [to George Hartzog]: "I would like to ask one question. Throughout all the 

statements, including yours, you emphasize the uniqueness of this particular place. We are 

all aware, however, that there are other trading posts scattered around, some going to pot. 

Would it be the idea of the Department this would be selected not only because it is a good 

layout and historical but as a sort of a symbol of the trading post? We will not be having in 

the years ahead a whole string of former trading posts coming into being as historical 

sites? I do not want to close any doors in the future but I can see where sometimes there is 

a chain reaction. This would be a symbol of the trading post and a good one. There are 

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plans that you know of in the future for setting up other places in that area?"

Mr. Hartzog: "Sir, this is what we consider to be, after surveying all of them, the best 

existing operating trading post. We would hope in our management to maintain it as an 

operating trading post. The operating trading post is fast becoming a thing of the past. Our 

study of it indicates that within a relatively few years there will be no more of them 

because of the competition from supermarkets, improved modes of transportation, 

changing tastes and what not. So that we believe that as an operating trading post this will 

be the only one. 

However, in the very next bill that is before this Committee for consideration it involves 

Fort Union as a trading post to commemorate a somewhat different aspect of the 

interpretation of westward history. This is the one near the confluence of the Missouri and 

the Yellowstone Rivers. There are no buildings there. This is a site and we would not 

propose an operating trading post there. 

This, Mr. Chairman, as I have mentioned in my appearances before this Committee, I 

believe is perhaps one of the more neglected aspects of our American history and its 

interpretation by the National Park Service in telling the story of the great midcontinent 

and what happened in terms of its settlement in this period prior to the passage of the 

frontier in 1890."

Mr. O'Brien: "Mr. Hartzog, I was not attempting to throw a roadblock in the way of the 

next bill or establishment, where desirable, of some other part of the country for historic 

site. I was thinking mainly in terms of let us say Arizona. We are not going to have every 

trading post set up?"

Mr. Hartzog: "No."

Mr. O'Brien: "You are going to maintain it and operate the trading post?"

Mr. Hartzog: "That is what we hope to do."

That's what George Hartzog hoped to do. Operate the trading post. Following this excerpt is some 

conjecture about who the Park Service would get to run the trading post, but the portion of the testimony 

quoted here is the part that committed the Park Service to a "live" trading post. 

Bob Utley has stated that George Hartzog had been thinking about the "living history" concept for some 

time and that Hubbell Trading Post gave him a chance to create a place that was not just a "dead 

embalmed historic site." Utley thinks, too, that Hubbell Trading Post may have given impetus to the 

living history program throughout the Park Service. The idea appeared to work so well at Hubbell 

Trading Post that "... [Hartzog] plunged the Park Service into quagmires of 'living history'." [50] To that 

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extent, then, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site has historic significance within the Park 

Service itself. As for Bob Utley, he fought back against much of the living history program, feeling that 

"...it perpetuated all manner of inappropriate excesses on our interpretation of historic properties. [But] I 

have to concede that Hubbell Trading Post is the one place where it has really worked perfectly." [51]

But if June 21, 1965, turned out to be a lucky day for Hubbell Trading Post, it turned out to be a hard one 

for Robert M. Utley, Chief Historian for the National Park Service. He had seen a lot of the art and 

artifacts at the trading post, and when it came his turn to testify before the Subcommittee to tell the 

Congressmen about the richness of the collection at the trading post, he was met by some sharp questions 

from Senator Clinton Anderson, of New Mexico. It became apparent that the "expert" on Indian art and 

artifacts at the Hearings was Clinton Anderson, not Robert Utley. Utley was "subjected...to awful 

humiliation." [52] The day was not without its casualty.

Success

Hubbell Trading Post passed successfully out of committee with unanimous approval. And just at this 

time a movement was going forward to have former President Herbert Hoover's birthplace set aside as a 

national historic site. A Grant Wood painting from 1931 shows a modest wood-frame house that is 

painted white. It is a two-story, rectangular house with a small front porch, its long side, the front, facing 

a narrow, tree-lined road. A one-story addition extends from the back of the house, and there is what 

looks like a privy and then a shed just out back. Behind the shed is a red barn. A narrow stream below a 

steep bank meanders by one side of the yard. White towels hang still on the clothesline behind the shed 

and chickens peck around over by the barn. A tall, slender young man stands in the yard waving toward 

the viewer. A late afternoon sun slants the shadows long toward the southeast. If one can trust the state 

of trees, it is probably early autumn. The viewer looks down on the house, so possibly Grant Wood 

painted it from the top of a hill. As luck would have it, this bucolic scene is at West Branch, Iowa. 

Herbert Clark Hoover had the grace to be born there, and Representative Harold Gross was mighty 

interested that the native son's old house should become a national historic site. The boys from Arizona 

were content that he should have his way. Opposition to Hubbell Trading Post in the House was 

neutralized. The Hubbell Trading Post bill passed by a voice vote in the House on July 13, 1965. [53]

But just as the road was cleared through the House, Senator Clinton P. Anderson, of New Mexico, raised 

unneighborly objections to the trading post in the Senate. The $169,000 for 160 acres and some "pretty 

ramshackle" buildings seemed to him a steep price. [54] As Bob Utley had discovered, Senator Anderson 

knew a lot more than the average senator might about Indian arts and crafts and trading posts. And rumor 

had it that either Anderson himself or a friend of his had been taken advantage of in the purchase of an 

Indian blanket collection. [55] Morris Udall wrote to Senator Anderson to explain that the art and 

artifacts were indeed of considerable value, [56] and a dealer in Indian arts and crafts in Albuquerque by 

the name of M. L. Woodward wrote to Senator Anderson to advise him that Dorothy Hubbell could 

realize far more money if she were to break up the collection. Woodward went on to explain that he 

knew the men who had appraised the collection and he assured the Senator that they were competent and 

reliable. [57] Possibly this assurance from somebody in his own state swayed the Senator. Whatever the 

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case, the bill, H.R. 3320, passed the Senate Interior and Insular Affairs Committee on August 12, 1965. 

The bill was voted on favorably in the Senate on August 17, 1965, and President Lyndon B. Johnson 

signed the matter into law on August 28, 1965. Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site is authorized 

by Public Law 89-148. A total of $952,000 was authorized for the purchase of the land, the buildings, the 

contents of the buildings, and for development of the new historic site.

President Johnson gave the pen with which the bill was signed to Arizona's Representative Morris K. 

Udall. Udall wondered what he should do with the pen. In a letter to Ned Danson he said, "I was even 

thinking that maybe I might give it to you because it was your push and initiative that kept me from 

getting discouraged and giving up." [58] Ned Danson was spending six weeks in Europe, but Watson 

Smith, the Acting Director of the Museum of Northern Arizona, wrote to Morris Udall to tell him how 

satisfied he was that the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site was at last a fact. Ned Danson 

would be back in Flagstaff about the 16th of September, and Mr. Udall would surely hear from him 

shortly after his return. [59] Ned Danson wrote to Carl Hayden on the 17th of September, 1965. "It has 

taken eight years of work, but I think future generations will thank you and all involved." [60] 

It still remained for the Park Service to negotiate a settlement with the Hubbell family.

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Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER III:

LAND ACQUISITION

Southerners were opposed to the homestead bill. They contended that its primary purpose was to 

promote the emigration of free-state settlers into the territories. However, on May 20, 1862, while the 

Southerners were otherwise hotly engaged, the Homestead Law was passed. The law allowed any person 

who was the head of a family, or twenty-one years old, whether a citizen of the United States or an alien 

who had declared his intention of becoming a citizen, to take control of 160 acres (a quarter section) of 

unappropriated land. After living on the land for five years and "improving" it, the homesteader could 

receive title to the land for a cost of $1.25 per acre. In other words, the land was virtually free. [1]

And that is why Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site contains 160 acres; the land was originally 

claimed under the Homestead Law. It was many years, however, before Hubbell gained a clear title to it. 

The Navajo Reservation surrounded him before he had a chance to officially "prove up." 

When J.L. Hubbell bought the Leonard Trading Post in 1878 and filed a claim under the Homestead 

Law, he was still outside the Navajo Reservation (although there were plenty of Navajo in the area to 

guarantee customers). The original Navajo treaty land of 1868 was a rectangle of land in the northeast 

corner of Arizona and the northwest corner of New Mexico, a piece of land almost evenly divided 

between the territories. The reservation was expanded by executive order on January 6, 1880; Hubbell's 

acreage became engulfed by Navajo land, and he was in some danger of losing his land and his trading 

license. [2]

There followed years of effort to gain clear title to the homestead. Hubbell made trips to Phoenix to the 

United States Land Office, and to Washington, D.C., where hearings on the matter were held. Hubbell 

finally prevailed. The patent for his land, Homestead Certificate No. 154, Application No. 811, was 

issued on October 17, 1917. The patent is "Recorded at the request of J.L. Hubbell September 4, 1924 

Book 3 Patents page 324, Records of Apache County, Ariz." His claim to 160 acres was "duly 

established and duly consummated, in conformity to laws, for the south half of the southwest quarter of 

section twenty-seven, the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section thirty-three and the 

northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section thirty-four in Township twenty-seven north of 

range twenty-six east of the Gila and Salt Rivers, Meridian, Arizona...." [3] Take half a quarter section, 

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then add two quarters from the quarters of two other sections, and you wind up with a full quarter 

section. It makes sense just as long as you understand the rectangular survey system, which is also 

known as the government survey system, the means by which all of the West, except Texas, was 

surveyed. [4] A section is one square mile.

Hubbell's Patent Number 603857 was issued in lieu of Patent No. 2655, dated July 14, 1908, which had 

been cancelled because of an error in the description. The new patent was given under the hand of, 

among other people, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, who presumably took time out 

from a war to consider the matter. [5]

It is granted in the patent that the land is "subject to any vested and accrued water rights for mining, 

agriculture, manufacturing, or other purpose, and the rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection 

with such water rights, as may be recognized and acknowledged by local customs, laws, and decisions of 

courts; and there is reserved from the land hereby granted, a right of way thereon for ditches or canals 

constructed by the authority of the United States." [6]

For many years, then, the Hubbell land was legally Navajo land. That J.L. Hubbell had the determination 

to eventually get clear title to the land is certainly a clue to at least part of the character of the man. [7]

Hubbell Hill

The land of the historic site is shaped rather like two rectangles, one balanced precariously on top of the 

other, one end of the top rectangle extended too far to the east. A topographical map of the area shows a 

hill rising in the northwest corner of the top rectangle, just on the other side of the Pueblo Colorado 

Wash. And there, at the top of the cone-shaped hill, which is known as Hubbell Hill, and just north and 

outside of the historic site property, are buried some of the key players in the history of Hubbell Trading 

Post.

Hubbell's wife, Lina, has a tall monument over her grave. The graves of J.L. Hubbell and his friend 

Ganado Mucho are there but unmarked. Daughters Barbara and Adela lie in unmarked graves. Roman 

Hubbell's small headstone looks as though it could have been carved right down at the trading post (it 

was carved by a local Navajo man), and the most recent headstone up there was placed over the grave of 

LaCharles Eckel, who died in 1983.

Although the burial site is important to the historic site, the administrators of the historic site have no 

control over what might happen to that area or to the monuments. When Dorothy Hubbell was still living 

there, it was noted that a bit of Roman's headstone had been chipped away. A car had been seen parked 

at the base of the hill. When Dorothy asked the owners of the car if they knew anything about the 

vandalism, one of them broke down and admitted that because Roman had been a good person to them 

when he was alive, they thought they would use a piece of his headstone in a ceremony. [8]

According to Dorothy Hubbell, the Hubbells were always under the impression that the top of the hill 

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was included in their land. [9] If indeed this is what they believed, they were wrong. The most recent 

surveys, on behalf of the National Park Service, are deemed accurate. By means of a possible land trade, 

the National Park Service hopes to gain control over the top of Hubbell Hill. Negotiations for even so 

small a trade could be long and tedious. "I would hope that someday we could arrange through either 

exchange of land use or maybe even some exchange of property to have Hubbell Hill within the 

Monument." [10] This has been under consideration ever since the National Park Service took over at 

Hubbell Trading Post.

The National Park Service Moves to Hubbell Trading Post

John Cook, now Regional Director of the Park Service's Southwest Region, was Assistant 

Superintendent of Canyon de Chelly when one day in the fall of 1965, while having lunch at home, he 

received a call from Regional Director Dan Beard. Dan Beard offered Cook the superintendency of the 

new national historic site just an hour's drive down the road, Hubbell Trading Post. As Cook said to his 

wife after talking to Dan Beard, "He made a mistake, he said it was a promotion, but I'm sure it's a 

lateral, but I think we'll take it." [11]

He took the promotion (lateral though it was) and went down and visited with Mrs. Hubbell. The Cook 

family moved to Hubbell Trading Post in 1966 and rented the Manager's Residence from Mrs. Hubbell. 

(They paid for the rent out of their own pockets.) Cook put a desk and a set of file drawers in what is 

now the Jewelry Room, over in the corner where postcards are sold, the northeast corner of the trading 

post. The government rented the space from Mrs. Hubbell. That corner was the first location of the 

National Park Service office at the trading post. (The office tended to move around during the following 

years, to the Guest Hogan, the Manager's Residence, into what is now the Curator's office, until it came 

to rest on the west side of the Visitor Center.)

John Cook wanted to get this historic site off to a good start. He applied for Wescoat Wolfe, who would 

be the site's first historian; and he hired a seasonal ranger to assist those travelers who were stopping by 

who had heard that the trading post was a national historic site; the post did not yet belong to the United 

States, and he didn't want Mrs. Hubbell to be overly burdened by bunches of tourists. In the meantime, 

appraisals and inventories went forward, all of which were intended for use in the negotiations with the 

Hubbell family: Dorothy Hubbell, John Hubbell, and LaCharles Eckel, granddaughter of Lorenzo 

Hubbell.

Those were interesting and exciting days for the Cook family. Mrs. Hubbell invited the Cooks to have 

dinner with her on the occasion of Kayci Cook's fourth birthday. John and Dani Cook were scared to 

death at the elegant table with all of that fine china, worrying about what their daughter might-or might 

not-do. John Cook: I've never seen my daughter behave so well. We did not enjoy the dinner, my wife 

and I, but Lady [12] , and my daughter Kayci had a marvelous time." [13]

The Cooks began to learn about the area and Mrs. Hubbell passed on some of the history of the post to 

them. It was during this time that Mrs. Hubbell told John Cook that her late husband, Roman, had 

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promised to a "long-time Navajo compadre and friend," [14] Friday Kinlicheenie, that he would have a 

job forever. John Cook: "I made a commitment to Mrs. Hubbell that once we acquired [the trading post] 

that we would in fact see that Friday continued to work. We began with Friday coming back and planting 

corn in the area in front of the home." [15]

As interesting and exciting as life at the trading post might have been (the Cooks were there for a year 

before the government came to own it), John Cook also had a job to do. And part of his job was to assist 

in coming to terms with the Hubbell family on a settlement figure for the trading post. It was during the 

negotiations that the episode of the silk rug came very close to destroying the deal...after so many years 

of effort by so many people.

The Case of the Silk Rug

It seems likely that only two silk Navajo rugs were ever made, and those two are just alike. One of them 

is in the museum at the University of Colorado, Boulder, the other is with Dorothy Hubbell at her home 

in Sun City. During negotiations for the trading post, a controversy over Dorothy's rug came very close 

to ending those negotiations forever.

Many years ago, J.L. Hubbell bought some spools of silk. He hired a good weaver to make two identical 

rugs. He presented one of the rugs to Mrs. C.N. Cotton, the other he gave to his wife. Mrs. Cotton's rug is 

the one in Boulder; Dorothy has Lina's rug. That silk rug was one of the things that Dorothy wanted to 

take with her when she left the homestead for good. It was one of the tangible items she felt she needed 

to help her keep in touch with the past. [16]

John Cook and Bill Fields, who at that time was with the Regional Office of Land Acquisition, were 

authorized to negotiate with the Hubbells for the sale of the trading post and the land and the thousands 

of artifacts that filled the house and other buildings. The men had arranged for the appraisals. Along with 

some other items, the silk rug was not appraised. In other words, the rug was not for sale and had not 

been considered in the negotiations.

The National Park Service men came within $50,000 of an agreement. At that point, however, they 

needed further authorization. They called the Regional Director. Unfortunately, the authority was 

reserved for the Washington Land and Water Rights Division people, who decided to send in a lands 

expert to wind up negotiations. As John Cook enjoys recalling, the expert would, "by golly, show us 

whippersnappers how to negotiate." The man indicated to Cook and Fields that if the parties couldn't 

come to an agreement, why, the old trading post would just have to be condemned. [17] Dorothy Hubbell 

put the lands expert up in her guest hogan, and she even had a telephone installed so that he could stay in 

touch with Washington. The crisis was reached one evening in the living room. [18]

John Cook was present, and so were Dorothy Hubbell and LaCharles Eckel. The itinerant lands expert 

brought up the subject of the silk rug. He thought the rug should be included in the sale. But since the 

rug hadn't been part of the appraisal, Dorothy said, the government, if they truly needed the rug, would 

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have to pay extra for it. And it was at that point that the lands expert decided to throw his condemnation 

clincher onto the table for everybody's consideration. Up until then, Dorothy maintains, she was not 

aware that the lands expert was there to bring negotiations to a conclusion. [19]

Dorothy was stunned by the condemnation threat: "And I said to him, all right, that's it. I went to the 

door with him.... When he went to the door I said, 'I don't care whether you ever come back again.' I 

never said that to anybody in all my life. I was really worked up." [20] For once, Dorothy had lost her 

sense of humor, but anybody who has met her can well imagine that she could get "worked up" over 

what she perceives as ungentlemanly behavior. She went so far as to suggest that, henceforth, while she 

still owned the trading post, John Cook would be the only National Park Service person allowed on the 

land. [21] In any case, with the lands expert heading down the road, she was sure the deal with the Park 

Service was off. But she didn't care. There was just so much she could stand.

But Dorothy wasn't the only person around the post who was worked up. John Cook called the Regional 

Director and laid out the mess for his consideration. Negotiations continued.

Dorothy Hubbell: "l liked John [Cook] very much, and his family. I was very pleased with him." [22] 

And she knew the men who appraised the art and artifacts. They were the same people who had come 

with Ned Danson when the trading post and its contents were appraised for Congress. She trusted them. 

She trusted John Cook. 

John Cook: "Subsequently, Mrs. Hubbell got not only the difference between what she and Bill and I had 

kind of come near agreement to, but she got some additional funds because I was so angry I upped the 

ante and told the Director that it was going to cost him even more than she agreed to." [23]

Anybody who knew anything at all about the contents of the trading post knew that the Hubbells were 

not paid enough for it. [24] People who were in the business of buying and selling Indian arts and crafts 

or Southwestern art knew that if the collection had been broken up and sold piece by piece it would have 

made a lot more money for Dorothy and John Hubbell and LaCharles Eckel. It was only because of 

Dorothy Hubbell's vision, determination, and patience that the collection came to the American people 

intact. Future generations of Americans have Dorothy Hubbell to thank for that. The 160 acres are now 

owned by the federal government in fee simple, the highest form of land ownership. Dorothy Hubbell 

moved out of the trading post just as soon as she knew when the trading post was going to be dedicated 

as a national historic site. She went to Scottsdale, where she stayed for two years, and then she moved to 

Sun City, Arizona, where she lived until her death on April 30, 1993.

The National Park Service didn't get the 160 acres all at once. A few acres-3.07 acres where the Visitor 

Center is located-had been given to the Navajo Tribal Council in the 1920s for the construction of a day 

school. The school building was used for years as such by the Navajo, but later it served other functions: 

the offices of the local chapter, the Boy Scouts, the Navajo Police. The federal government acquired that 

bit of land, and the Visitor Center and site offices were moved there. The plot is required by the Navajo 

to be used for educational purposes, hence the Visitor Center. A small frame house and a hogan that 

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were on the school site were removed in the 1980s because they were not considered historically 

significant. Also, the Hubbells had retained 5.57 acres in the northeast corner of the homestead as a 

scenic easement. The federal government bought that acreage from them in 1980. Since the early 1980s, 

then, and except for the road easement (0.836 acres) in the far northeast corner of the land where Arizona 

264 cuts across, the federal government has owned all of the 160 acres of the original homestead. So 

except for the top of Hubbell Hill, the Hubbell burying ground, the question of land ownership at 

Hubbell Trading Post is settled. [25]

But besides settling with the Hubbells in 1966, it still remained for the National Park Service to figure 

out just how in the world they were going to run a "live" trading post and not a "dead" museum. In all of 

its fifty years, the Park Service had never dreamed that one day it would have to manage a trading post. 

Never mind, John Cook figured he had just the man for the job.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 4)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER IV:

THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE FINDS AN OPERATOR FOR THE TRADING 

POST

The raison d'etre of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site is the trading post itself: the grocery 

store (bullpen), the rug room, the trader's office (jewelry room). Everything else there, every employee at 

Hubbell Trading Post, is on hand to support the trading post. And although the trading post remains 

seemingly suspended in time, it is not; this is an evolving business operation that will try, as far as 

trading posts can, to keep pace with the changing times.

The National Park Service manages many old buildings and museums all over the country for the 

American people, places where the past has been moth-balled for posterity. Indeed, many of the "cultural 

resources" of Hubbell Trading Post--buildings and their contents---are being preserved, and this includes 

everything in the trading post (the store) that is not for sale. But this is the only trading post owned by 

the United States government and it was established by Congress as a national historic site with the 

understanding that it would remain a bona fide business operation, a live, evolving trading post. This is 

not the sort of "living history" one might encounter at, say, Appomattox Court House, where the 

characters in period costume that one met purported to be existing on or about April 9, 1865. No, 

Hubbell Trading Post is "live" in the true sense of the word; a customer can buy a rug, a silver and 

turquoise ring, and a can of beans and a loaf of bread.

The business end of Hubbell Trading Post is operated by Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, 

and for them, too, Hubbell Trading Post is an extraordinary enterprise. [1] The National Park Service 

maintains the milieu and the aura of the old trading post; SPMA is obligated to run the trading post---as 

far as is practicable---along the lines of a traditional trading post, helping to interpret the trading post era 

for the NPS. SPMA has its own employees to handle the job, and all of them are under the direction of 

the Trader/Manager, Bill Malone, who has presided at Hubbell Trading Post since May of 1981.

But as logical as the present association of the NPS and SPMA may seem at Hubbell Trading Post, there 

was nothing inevitable about it.

The Rise and Fall of the Trading Post as an Important Institution

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The classic Indian trading posts have been compared to the old fashioned country stores of rural 

American society. Although there are some obvious differences between the two institutions, there is 

some validity in the comparison; in the days before country people could travel long distances in a short 

time to do their shopping, one local store---or on the reservation one trading post---would probably be 

the only commercial outlet available to a group of people in a given vicinity. Like the country stores, the 

trading posts had their captive customers. The main differences between the two institutions were some 

of the products that were bought and sold and traded, and the degree to which trading posts and the 

stores served their customers. The trading posts were, almost universally, much more important to the 

people they served than were the country stores to rural Anglo customers. The trading posts proved to be 

significant acculturating institutions; the good Indian traders served their clientele in many extraordinary 

ways. 

Hubbell Trading Post is the oldest trading post still in business in the Navajo Nation and is also the 

oldest continuously operated business in northern Arizona. The Navajo returned to their land from exile 

at Bosque Redondo in 1868, a few years after their roundup by Kit Carson's command. [2] A trading 

post, operated by William Leonard, was opened for business at Hubbell Trading Post's present location 

in the early 1870s. When Leonard went into business there were just a few other trading posts scattered 

about the countryside. [3]

Juan Lorenzo Hubbell drifted into the country in the early 1870s from his home at Pajarito (now 

encompassed by Albuquerque), New Mexico. After adventures in other areas, he bought Leonard's adobe 

buildings and land in 1878 and became the trader for the Navajo in and around Ganado. He was twentyfive years old. [4]

During the following sixty years trading posts popped up all over the Navajo Nation wherever an 

entrepreneur thought there were enough citizens to support a business. Sometimes the trading posts 

prospered, but a lot depended on the trader himself. If the trader was a wise businessman and at the same 

time considerate of his clientele---as was Lorenzo Hubbell---he might succeed. If not, the place probably 

had no chance of success. In any case, by 1930 there were about 300 trading posts scattered across the 

Navajo Nation. However, because of its location, volume of business, and the influence Don Lorenzo 

had on Navajo arts and crafts, Hubbell Trading Post was always one of the more important and 

influential of the trading posts. And because of the traders who have worked at Hubbell's for the past 

twenty-five years, it continues to be an important institution. 

World War II is a pivotal point in the history of the Navajo. They learned a lot about the rest of the 

United States and some other parts of the world. And many of them went to work for wages They started 

drifting away from their traditional subsistence way of life of raising sheep and cattle and farming on 

family plots. They bought cars and pickups, and now they could drive right by the local trading post, if 

they didn't particularly like that trader, and go on to the next trading post---or right on into town---to do 

their trading and shopping. Money and motor vehicles rendered a virtual revolution in their society, as 

they had, decades earlier, for the majority of the people in the United States. [5]

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Today, there are only a few old-fashioned trading posts left in the Navajo Nation. Many of the old 

trading posts are now "convenience" stores. The commercial outlets continue to evolve as the Navajo 

become more integrated with the rest of American society, and convenience stores and supermarkets that 

would be recognized as such by any American are more commonplace every year on the reservation.

The NPS Looks for an Operator for the Trading Post

In 1967, then, the National Park Service set out to continue the operation of a business that was already 

becoming an anachronism. Committed to running a "live" trading post, the NPS thrashed about for some 

way to successfully implement the idea. The prospects for doing so seemed daunting. Good traders were 

in short supply even in those days on the reservation. It was suggested that the Babbitt Brothers 

(diversified retailers in Flagstaff with experience in Indian trading) might run the trading post. They 

weren't interested. The association of Indian traders could get together and agree to run the store for the 

National Park Service. No, they weren't interested, either. The Director of the National Park Service, 

George Hartzog, wanted the Fred Harvey Company involved. They were big, they had the money to 

back up any commitment, and they had been dealing in Indian arts and crafts for decades.

Well, a decision would have to be made soon about the operation of the trading post, because the 

National Park Service was about to inherit a growing concern that included the sale of groceries and 

Indian arts and crafts. They would be handling pawn, and they would be housing a laundromat. And 

Dorothy Hubbell, who had been patiently and bravely "holding the fort" at Hubbell's since 1957, was 

ready to move to town as soon as an operator could be brought in and introduced to her customers. 

Near the end of July, 1966, the head of the Fred Harvey Company's arts and crafts department (this could 

have been T. Bowman or Joe Ernst) arrived at Ganado to size up the trading post as a possible business 

venture. Dorothy Hubbell and John Cook were on hand to show him around and answer his questions. [6]

During the man's survey of the trading post, it became clear to Mrs. Hubbell and John Cook just what 

Fred Harvey had planned for the trading post. Fred Harvey would turn it into an arts and crafts outlet and 

purchasing point, the more prized pieces to be sent to their Grand Canyon store where they could 

command higher prices. As the Fred Harvey man disclosed some of their plans, John Cook became 

increasingly disappointed and thoughtful. The bullpen, the canned peaches and tomatoes, the bottles of 

soda pop, the wool, the pinon nuts---it would all become a memory. What the Fred Harvey Company had 

planned for the trading post would kill the atmosphere of a true trading post. [7]

John Cook Asks for Southwest Parks and Monuments Association

Deciding it was time for immediate and direct action, Cook drove to the National Park Service regional 

office in Santa Fe. With visions in his mind of Hubbell Trading Post filled with tourist trinkets---rubber 

tomahawks and tom-toms---John Cook tackled Assistant Regional Director George Miller. He told 

Miller that what the Harvey Company wanted to do would fail. The National Park Service could wind up 

with a "trading post" little different from the tourist shops along US 66 (SEE LIVE RATTLESNAKES 

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AND BUY REAL MOCCASINS). The place would be an embarrassment, the trading post, as a bona 

fide trading post, ruined forever." [8]

If Fred Harvey wasn't the solution, did Cook have a better idea? Yes. They could try to get Southwest 

Parks and Monuments Association [9] to take over the operation of the trading post. SPMA could 

continue to run the place as a genuine trading post. Cook knew an old-time trader. Maybe he could be 

talked into managing the store for SPMA.

George Miller considered John Cook's ideas for a moment and then telephoned George Hartzog in 

Washington. He told Hartzog what Cook had in mind. Then John Cook got on the line. He explained that 

the Fred Harvey Company, in spite of all their experience, were not going to be good for Hubbell 

Trading Post. SPMA, with the right man on the premises, could probably do a better job. He had to 

admit, however, that neither SPMA nor the trader he had in mind were yet aware of his plan.

A naturally audacious man, Hartzog told Cook to take the idea and run with it. And, Hartzog continued, 

if the arrangement turned out to be a success, John Cook would earn everybody's thanks and 

congratulations. But if the plan should fail, Cook's career might "fail" at the same time.... [10]

It takes about four hours to drive from Santa Fe to Ganado. John Cook had plenty of time to think about 

what he would do next.

Enter Southwest Parks and Monuments Association

What Cook did next was call his old friend Dr. Edward B. Danson of the Museum of Northern Arizona. 

The ubiquitous Ned Danson was not only Director of the Museum and a member of the National Park 

Service's Advisory Board, he was also on the Board of Directors of Southwest Parks and Monuments 

Association! Danson was delighted with the scheme and promised to throw his weight behind it.

The problem they faced was one of timing. Matters would have to be arranged so that there would be a 

simultaneous transfer of the site to the government of the United States and a transfer of the contents of 

the store to the operator of the trading post. The trader John Cook had in mind for SPMA was a neighbor 

of his at Canyon de Chelly, Bill Young, who was then managing the Thunderbird Trading Post there.

The Southwest Parks and Monuments Association offices were in Globe, Arizona, in 1966. Founded in 

1938 to help the National Park Service interpret monuments, sites and parks, the Association also 

supports scientific research in the parks by granting money to individuals and institutions. The 

Association, a nonprofit organization, operates in nine states and serves over forty areas within the 

National Park System. Most of the books and other items one sees for sale in these forty areas originate 

with SPMA, and SPMA provides most of the free interpretive material at those sites, parks, and 

monuments. SPMA aids the National Park Service in ways too numerous to discuss here, projects that 

cannot be included in the regular budget of the NPS. [11]

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In 1966 the Executive Director of SPMA was Earl Jackson, and neither he nor anybody else with the 

Association knew any more about running a trading post than did the innocent employees of the National 

Park Service. On August 3, 1966, John Cook followed up a lengthy phone conversation to Earl Jackson 

with a detailed written explanation of what faced SPMA should they agree to assume the responsibility 

of operating the trading post. It would be necessary, he wrote for SPMA to take over the store when the 

NPS assumed responsibility for the care of the land and buildings. It would be important to hire a good 

Indian trader; an inexperienced concessioner would soon "make a shambles of the operation." The 

purchase price of the contents of the store would cost SPMA (approximately):

1- Merchandise Inventory: $13,671 (at cost)

 Rugs 6,456 (at cost)

 Pawn: 1,800 (amount loaned on items)

 Accounts Receivable 7,132

$29,059

2- Trader/Manager's salary $8,000 (annually, plus housing)

 Clerks (two) 7,000 (annually without housing)

3- A good used mobile home for the trader $4,000 - 5,000

It was thought that SPMA would have an initial investment of about $40,000 to acquire the contents of 

the store and to get the operation off to a running start. Income should quickly start paying the salaries of 

the employees. In order to insure a smooth transition, the Trader/Manager would have to be on the 

premises for at least two weeks prior to Dorothy Hubbell's departure.

John Cook also advised Earl Jackson that the gross income for the trading post for 1965 was:

Gasoline: $ 3,982

Merchandise: 63,663

Rugs, skins, mohair, etc: 14,385

Hogan rental: 161

Laundromat: 1,500

Gross $83,691

Cook went on to explain that it was the intention of the NPS to eliminate the sale of gasoline and to do 

away with the laundromat (the laundromat was a business operated by others, the space rented or leased 

from Dorothy Hubbell). And rental of the hogan would cease. Furthermore, and so SPMA could be 

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aware of recent developments, the Navajo Tribe, just that year, had implemented a new cooperative 

program for the disposal of skins and wool and mohair; the role of the trader for those products would 

probably be greatly reduced. Cook's educated guess for an estimated gross income at the trading post 

from merchandise and rugs in the future would be $75,000. Operating expenses (merchandise, rugs, 

salaries) should be about $66,000. So SPMA could expect an estimated net profit of around $9,000 in its 

first year as Indian traders. [12]

For SPMA to take over a trading post in the Navajo Nation was in fact a blockbuster proposal. Although 

SPMA operated all over the Southwest, the risk at any one outlet was negligible. Accustomed to dealing 

with just hundreds of books and a few hundred dollars, the Association was now being asked to step into 

an exotic business for which none of their employees or board members had any expertise. Founded "to 

aid and promote the educational and scientific activities of the National Park Service," operating a 

trading post for the NPS could seem at first blush to be stretching the point a bit.

With the facts and figures of Cook's proposal occupying his thoughts, Earl Jackson drove up to Ganado 

on August 12th---at the request of the NPS's George Miller---to sit in on a meeting at Hubbell Trading 

Post. Present at the meeting were John Cook and Tom Kornelis of the NPS, T. Bowman and Joe Ernst 

from the Fred Harvey Company, LaCharles Eckel, and Dorothy and John Hubbell. The discussion was 

generated mainly by questions the Fred Harvey men put to the Hubbells in reference to details about the 

business. [13]

In order to keep the SPMA board members informed of developments, Jackson sent out a memorandum 

to them on August 15. He had learned at the August 12 meeting that most of the trading post's clientele 

were now local Navajo who would, as soon as the NPS discontinued the sale of perishable foods and the 

operation of the laundromat, go elsewhere for such services and supplies. If he had to judge solely by 

what he had learned at the meeting, Jackson could not envision how the NPS ever hoped to continue the 

business operation as a true old-time Navajo trading post. 

Continuing with his memorandum, Jackson explained that what he could envision as a possible 

development at the trading post would be a "so-called" trading post, an outlet for rugs, jewelry, and other 

arts and crafts. The customers would be the same tourists who were now passing rough Ganado on their 

way to Canyon de Chelly and the Grand Canyon [roads in the area were being improved]. Such an artsand-crafts store would operate in a "carefully preserved museum-like background," which should have a 

"tremendous appeal for a great many visitors. Unfortunately, it seemed likely that only a "sprinkling" of 

Navajo would continue to visit the store.

Jackson went on to say that by converting some savings and part of a checking account, SPMA should 

have enough money to buy the store inventory and a trailer house, and there might even be enough left 

over to provide some operating capital. From his point of view, then, it looked as though SPMA could 

buy into the operation without having to take out any loans. In any case, he wanted to point out that 

"Association money is not earned just to 'sit on' so it can draw interest, but is to serve NPS needs. 

Operation of a 'trading post' style Indian arts-and-crafts store would perfectly fit life-interpretation as we 

find it in numerous NPS historic areas...." [14]

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(In an August 8th memorandum to the board members, which was based on his conversation with John 

Cook and Cook's written proposal, Earl Jackson had pointed out that SPMA was not organized to operate 

a trading post and lacked the experience to do so. The venture would be a "terrific" business risk. But he 

did want to help the NPS if they were asked to do so.) In concluding his August 15th memorandum, 

Jackson said, "If we are requested to take over the inventory and temporary running of the trading post, I 

will figure it is because the NPS needs for us to. Looking at it as a contribution to the Service and not as 

a money-maker, my recommendation to you, on the basis of present knowledge, would be for an 

affirmative vote." Because the governing board of the Fred Harvey Company would be making a 

decision on the matter within ten days, Earl Jackson requested that the SPMA board members respond 

with their decisions within that same period of time.

SPMA Searches for its Role at Hubbell Trading Post

The Board of Directors of SPMA voted in favor of assisting the NPS at Hubbell Trading Post, but 

precisely what they were going to do there went through some changes during the next few months. In 

an August 15th letter to Earl Jackson (in response to Jackson's August 8th memorandum to the board 

members), Ned Danson said that one of the best ways of achieving the potential of Hubbell Trading Post 

would be to run it as long as possible as a trading post, to "give the tourist the actual atmosphere of a 

post in operation."

At first, however, the NPS wanted the Fred Harvey Company, under a special use permit, to liquidate the 

stock at the trading post within four or five months after the government assumed control there. As soon 

as the store was "as bare inside as the proverbial widow's cupboard," [15] SPMA would take over the 

post under the direction of its Trader/Manager. SPMA would have the problem of going into business 

without any stock whatsoever, but on the other hand they would not have to worry about handling 

gasoline, dealing with laundromat customers, buying and selling groceries, or working with pawn and 

accounts receivable. They might lose several thousand dollars that first year, but they would then be in a 

position to insure that the integrity of the old trading post would be retained. Their insistence on quality 

would help the NPS create a successful operation. At the end of about four years, if the trading post 

appeared to be running smoothly, the NPS could set about "in the usual way" to find a concessioner to 

take over. And SPMA would have done its duty. (Just how one assured the "integrity" of a trading post 

by eliminating the goods and services the Navajo wanted was not explained.) Earl Jackson sent out 

ballots to the board members for their vote on the plan.

By January 2, 1967, the plan was changed. The NPS had decided that it would be preferable if SPMA 

would operate the trading post on an indefinite basis. That is, there should be no concessioner in the 

future. If SPMA agreed to this idea, they could take over the trading post as soon as the Fred Harvey 

Company had liquidated the stock. They would have to acquire the pawn in order to maintain good 

relations with the local Navajo but that would not cost over $2,000. 

As Jackson told the board members, he preferred this new plan. As he foresaw the matter, after a few 

"lean" or "in-the-hole" years, SPMA would have a chance to recoup their losses and possibly even make 

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some money for the Association. [16] The Board of Directors of SPMA, Dan Beard, Reg Manning, Emil 

Haury, Edwin McKee, and Edward Danson (with Danson exercising his proxy to cast Mr. Woodin's 

vote) voted in favor of taking over the trading post on an indefinite basis.

The Third and Final Plan for SPMA at Hubbell Trading Post

On the 16th of January, 1967, John Cook was back in George Miller's office at the Southwest Regional 

Office. At about 3:40 p.m., after some discussion between George Miller and Cook, Miller called Mr. 

Allen, of SPMA. He explained to Mr. Allen that the fate of Hubbell Trading Post was again under 

discussion. And what the NPS now had in mind was this: the Fred Harvey Company should step out of 

the picture entirely. SPMA would then negotiate directly with the Hubbell interests for the merchandise 

inventory. Mrs. Hubbell was going to carry on a partial liquidation of the stock, and she would try to 

close out the pawn. SPMA would not have to take over the accounts receivable, although they might, as 

an accommodation to Dorothy Hubbell, act as her collecting agent. 

Jackson got off yet another memorandum to the board members. With this most recent idea from the 

NPS, Jackson wrote, SPMA would not have to start out with those bare shelves he had described earlier. 

The continuity of the trading post should not suffer. And with any luck at all, they might even be able to 

break even on the deal, suffer no losses whatsoever on their investment. John Cook would recruit the 

Trader/Manager for SPMA, and the clerk John Cook proposed was already employed at the trading post 

(Jackson had met her and was "well impressed"). Finally, Jackson said that although he had at first 

thought that mainly Indian wares, rugs and jewelry, would be on sale at the post, " sober reflection" was 

convincing everybody that some canned goods should be stacked on the shelves so that the trading post 

would look "real." The board members agreed to the arrangement. [17]

On January 30, 1967, John Cook wrote to Dorothy Hubbell to advise her officially that Southwest Parks 

and Monuments Association was the party approved by the National Park Service to handle the trading 

post operation. (Fred Whitteborg, Vice President in charge of Western Operations for the Fred Harvey 

Company, had assured George Miller that as long as SPMA thought they could handle the takeover, 

they, the Fred Harvey Company, were willing to step aside.) On that same day he wrote to Earl Jackson 

to advise him of the official approval of SPMA by the National Park Service. An inventory of the salable 

assets at Hubbell Trading Post was started on January 30 and was completed on the evening of January 

31.

In his report of February 1, 1967, to NPS Director George Hartzog, Dan Beard said that the sale of 

perishable groceries would cease after April and "the sale of canned goods will be continued for a while, 

but these sales items will be phased out in the near future." The general plan for the trading post, Dan 

Beard went on to explain, was for the NPS to have "an operating trading post handling high-class Indian 

artifacts and related items only." (It's interesting to note how few of those becoming associated with 

Hubbell Trading post were particularly interested in selling groceries. But a trading post without 

anything in it that the local citizens could use for their own consumption was no more real than the 

"trading posts" along US 66.)

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After approximately 100 sheets of inventory had been gathered and worked through, the final figure for 

pawn, merchandise, and equipment (pop vendor, safe, gasoline pump, meat cooler case, etc.) added up to 

$24,985.91. A check for $10,000 was issued on February 10, 1967, to J.L. Hubbell Trading Post, Inc., 

the balance plus six percent interest to be paid on or before January 31, 1968. With the delivery by John 

Cook of this check to Dorothy Hubbell, Southwest Parks and Monuments Association was officially in 

business as traders to the Navajo.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 5)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER V:

TRADERS AND TRADING

According to at least one Hubbell Trading Post superintendent, it is the continuity of experienced traders 

who have worked there who are responsible for the success of Hubbell Trading Post since the NPS and 

SPMA took over. [1] Ten superintendents served at Hubbell Trading Post during its first twenty-five 

years as a national historic site. Although all of those men and one woman arrived in Ganado with 

varying degrees of experience, only one of them had ever held a superintendent's position, all the rest 

had a job to learn. 

On the other hand, all of the three traders who have been employed at Hubbell Trading Post were already 

very experienced in their profession before they got there. As one of the traders mentioned, coming to 

work at Hubbell Trading Post was for him like "walking out the back door of the store and coming in 

again through the front door." [2]

The man John Cook would recruit for SPMA for the job of Trader/Manager at Hubbell Trading Post was 

Bill Young, a neighbor of his at Canyon de Chelly, who was then managing the Thunderbird Trading 

Post there. 

Bill Young, SPMA's First Trader at Hubbell Trading Post, 1967-1978

Bill Young was one of the last of the truly old-time Indian Traders. He was born William S. Young in 

1902 in Winslow, Arizona. His first trading post job was in 1920 at a Richardson family trading post in 

Leupp, Arizona (they were well-known traders). He spent the next six years at either the trading post in 

Leupp or the one at Cameron. He was married in 1921 to Freeda Richardson. Although only nineteen 

when married, Bill had been working since he was thirteen, right after his father, a railroad worker, died. 

In 1928, Bill bought out the Red Lake Trading Post at Tolani Lakes and traded there for fourteen years. 

By that time he was fluent in the Navajo language. He claimed that it took him about six months to learn 

"trader Navajo" but that he needed another five years to become conversationally fluent in the language. 

In 1942, Bill Young moved to the Belmont Ordnance Depot (Fort Wingate, New Mexico) to be trader to 

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the Navajo employees there, and there he remained for the next fourteen years. After a brief stint as the 

owner of a market in Flagstaff, Bill returned to the Navajo Nation and became trader at the Thunderbird 

Trading Post, Chinle, Arizona, where he remained until he accepted the position at Hubbell Trading 

Post. By all accounts Bill Young was a most fortunate choice. Dedicated to preserving and encouraging 

fine arts-and-crafts work, he continued that same long tradition of Hubbell Trading Post. Bill Young was 

an archetypical trader who bridged the gap from pre-World War II trading into modern times. Bill retired 

in 1978. He died on May 23, 1990. [3]

Figure 12. Trader Bill Young examines a Navajo rug with Roberta Tso in May of 1972. 

Bill, one of the last of the truly old-time Indian traders, served at Hubbell Trading Post 

NHS from 1967-1978. NPS photo by Fred Mang, Jr. HUTR Neg. Pl-182.

What It Takes to be an Indian Trader

While Bill Young was still trader at Hubbell Trading Post, there was already concern that a satisfactory 

replacement might not be available. According to the experts, [4] it just isn't possible to bring in a trainee 

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and hope to turn him or her into a successful Indian trader. As Bill Malone said, the "charisma" might 

just not be present. If one is to judge by the careers of the men who have served at Hubbell Trading Post, 

apprenticing to become an Indian trader could take years. Unless one is a Navajo, one must learn a 

language with no relationship to European tongues, and one must adjust to a people who to a great extent 

still regard life from a different point of view than do most Americans. Although the Navajo language is 

becoming less of a necessity, it is still considered a requirement for the Trader/Manager at Hubbell 

Trading Post, and it is used there every day. 

Besides having the proper charisma (an elusive attribute!), the trader must know the grocery business, 

and not many so-called traders these days do so. Although groceries are a small percentage of the 

business at Hubbell Trading Post, they are a part of any real trading post. Tourists may buy a few snacks, 

but Navajo who come in to trade arts and crafts will often pick up some groceries as part of the deal. 

They may trade a rug for some cash, pay off part of their account, and also carry out a few bags of 

groceries. That kind of a transaction is truly what a trading post is all about. For the trading post to keep 

its aura of a true trading post, it is absolutely crucial for the grocery department to be maintained; and 

every attempt should be made to remain competitive in the grocery business, at least in Ganado. All of 

the Trader/Managers at Hubbell had "thrown a lot of flour over the counter" before they came to Hubbell 

Trading Post.

A trader must know how to buy, sell, and trade for Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni jewelry, both old and new, 

expensive and not so expensive. The trader has to be able to recognize pottery, antique and modern, from 

most of the tribes of the Southwest. And he must be able to price old or new baskets from tribes all over 

the Southwest. For one person to be able to do this would seem to call for a lot of esoteric knowledge in 

one head. And that's exactly the case, and that's why a good trader is not created in a few months. The 

three men who have been Trader/Managers at Hubbell Trading Post all entered the business when they 

were young and all of them had spent a number of years as traders before they were hired by SPMA. 

Hubbell Trading Post's reputation rests on the fine quality of its arts and crafts. Many of the items there 

are of museum quality and some are valued in the thousands of dollars. 

But Hubbell Trading Post was always famous for its Navajo rugs. Hubbell's was partly responsible for 

putting Indian rugs on floors all over the United States, and the "Ganado Red" is well known and easily 

recognizable by anybody who knows Navajo rugs and blankets. Some other rug styles originated in the 

area, Klagetoh, Wide Ruins, and Chinle, rug designs that say "Indian rug" to people who know little 

about the craft.

Hubbell Trading Post is still well known for its rugs. Rugs valued at thousands of dollars circulate 

through the trading post. The trader must understand the quality of a fine rug as soon as he sees it, and he 

must be able to discern between rugs from several parts of the Navajo

Nation as well as rugs from other tribes, or even imitation Navajo rugs. A good selection of antique rugs 

is also in the rug room, and the trader must know the era in which it originated, where it probably came 

from, and its present market value. The trader makes snap decisions involving thousands of dollars, but 

of course his decisions are based on decades of experience, some of it in the school of hard knocks. What 

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the trader has to know about arts and crafts would take more space than we have here.

The trader at Hubbell Trading Post must be able to deal effectively with an extraordinarily wide range of 

people, customers and artists. In the very long tradition of the trading post, he is obliged to pay fair price 

for a job well done. Artists all across the Four Corners area know this, and many will pass by other 

trading posts without stopping in order to sell at Ganado. And buyers are aware that if the product is at 

Hubbell Trading Post it is guaranteed to be of high quality.

The old-time traders served their customers in many ways far beyond what is necessary today. To a great 

extent it was up to the traders to interpret the white man's world for them. Traders like J.L. Hubbell and 

his sons, who knew the Navajo language and understood the people and their needs, would read and 

write letters for them, give them advice, intercede for them in the face of legal difficulties, be their 

pawnbroker and banker, give them medical attention, and act as art director. And because of the Navajo 

attitude toward death, some traders were occasionally called upon to bury the dead.

Today, the Navajo can communicate with the white man's world just as well as can most other 

Americans. But if for whatever reason a Navajo does have a problem, there are tribal social agencies 

available to offer help and advice. However, Bill Malone mentions that at a few Navajo funerals he has 

been called upon to shoot the deceased's horse, so the extension of extraordinary service to the 

community has not ended for this particular trader. [5]

Wool and Mohair and Pinon Nuts and Livestock

All of the old-time traders bought skins and wool and mohair, and pinon nuts when available, and many 

of them dealt in sheep and cattle. All of this is also among the skills required of a true Indian trader, and 

all of the men who have been Trader/Managers at Hubbell Trading Post had or have the experience to 

buy and sell these commodities.

Just now there seems to be little trading going on for raw products. Reportedly the past several seasons 

have been too dry for pinon nuts, which in the best of times is not necessarily an annual crop (the 1991 

crop was reportedly a good one). But even if there are plenty of pinon nuts available, it is apparently 

difficult to buy them at a low enough price in order to make money on the resale in town. The people 

who gather the nuts would just as soon take them to town themselves. On the other hand, it would seem 

that it is no longer a particularly economical venture for the Navajo to invest time and money in a pinon 

nut gathering expedition. In a weekend a family may gather twenty to twenty-five pounds, and that's a 

weekend of scrambling around on hands and knees. A few years ago the buyers tried to buy the pinon 

nuts at only twenty-five cents a pound, and of course at that rate the Navajo simply couldn't afford to go 

after them. With their recent scarcity, however, the price for pinon nuts has risen to five and six dollars a 

pound. And pinon nuts are a product the Navajo themselves use, so the trader does like to have some on 

hand in the grocery store. If they are available, some will be bought. [6] 

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Figure 13. Loading wool to take to town. This scene was in June of 1982 when Trader Al 

Grieve started to buy wool. NPS photo by Theresa Nichols. HUTR Neg. R19#2.

Hubbell Trading Post always bought wool. Travelers in the old days recall that in season the warehouse 

would be almost bursting with wool. Packing and weighing wool is hard work, and apparently it was 

always easy to lose money if the work wasn't done correctly. If he didn't know what he was doing, the 

trader could be cheated. And if the trader didn't have time to do all the weighing himself, he needed 

somebody he could trust to do the work. 

When Roman Hubbell became ill, Dorothy had to cut back on the buying of wool and skins and mohair 

and sheep. And then, for almost ten years, she had to keep the trading post alive in hopes that the 

National Park Service would take over. She had quite enough to do during that period without the added 

work of the wool and mohair, etc. It was all she could do just to maintain the trading post as a viable 

business so that the NPS would have something to take over. 

And, as we have noted, the Navajo Tribe is itself now dealing in many such commodities on a 

cooperative basis. These days, little wool is being moved by traders. For one thing, sheep and wool and 

skins are less a part of Navajo life than they were two or three decades ago; there isn't as much wool as 

there once was for a trader to buy. 

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Figure 14. Weighing wool at Hubbell Trading Post. Trader Al Grieve with Paul Dokev in 

the wareroom in May, 1981. HUTR Neg. R13#31.

Bill Young bought sheep and wool and mohair, but his dealings with these raw materials could never 

have been a significant part of his operation. In any case, these items cannot be separated out of his profit 

and loss statements on file at SPMA. Very probably Bill bought these products because he always had 

done so, and buying them was good for interpretive reasons, or to please Navajo customers. 

What we do know for certain is that Bill Young was not buying livestock and raw products "very 

aggressively" when AI Grieve took over as Trader/Manager. [7] Grieve mentions that Assistant Trader/ 

Manager John Young (Bill Young's son) had no interest in dealing in the products, and one can imagine 

that Bill Young had himself gotten beyond the point where he wanted to handle them. 

We know, too, that Al Grieve started buying wool and mohair. He says he bought a lot of it and did not 

lose any money on the deal. Well, he didn't make very much on it either, and therein lies the conflict for 

the Trader/Manager. Just how much time is he going to devote to a product that is not particularly 

profitable? 

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Figure 15. Putting sheep into the corral in the evening on September 26, 1969. The 

horseman is Friday Kinlicheenie. NPS photo by David Brugge. Old snapshot copied by the 

authors.

It does seem likely that because of modern prejudices the trading post might not---probably should not---

deal in skins and livestock. Surely such an operation would be repugnant to a great many visitors no 

matter how accurate the scene might be. Sheep were not being purchased when Bill Malone came mainly 

because the corrals were in such disrepair that they wouldn't hold them and sheep have not been brought 

since. [8] In order to have livestock in premises, one superintendent, Kevin McKibbin, imported retired 

mules from the Grand Canyon. The animals deserve a retirement home, and at Hubbell they had a reason 

to go on living which they could do in relative luxury. Wild horses from federal lands can be removed to 

the trading post. There are many ways of getting livestock to Hubbell Trading Post NHS without having 

exploited animals there. On the other hand, wool and mohair are a part of the trading post scene that can 

be continued without fear of offending a lot of people.

Al Grieve started buying wool because it was something he wanted to do, trying as he did to recreate the 

life and times of an old-fashioned trading post. Life at a trading post, especially a farm/trading post like 

Hubbell's, would follow the seasons. In season, a trader bought wool and mohair. Al Grieve, together 

with Superintendent Juin Crosse, tried to determine what the Hubbell family would have been doing at 

any given time of the year. [9]

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Bill Malone bought and sold wool and mohair during his first three or four years as Trader at Hubbell 

Trading Post. [10] He says the operation was "marginal." As he describes the business, the buyer must 

first contract with the source in order to get the wool. Then the trader might encounter a wool dealer who 

will offer the trader only five cents more per pound than the trader has paid for it. The sack may have 

cost the trader four or five dollars, and the sack will hold about 180 pounds, and so the profit on one sack 

may be only about $9.00, less the cost of the sack if he happens to lose it. But of course weighing and 

packing the wool takes time, and it can be a dirty business, and if the trader hires somebody to do the job 

for him he must pay that person at least the minimum wage. And then hope the worker is weighing the 

wool correctly. Once the wool is packed, it must be driven into Gallup, a further expenditure of time and 

money.

In the old days, Bill went on to explain, the person who was bringing in the wool might be paying off a 

grocery bill, and if the trader was making a profit of twenty to thirty percent on the groceries, he could 

make a profit on the entire deal. But most of the people in today's market who are selling wool will 

generally want to be paid cash for it, they won't want to take trade. So, Bill doesn't mind explaining, if 

you're not using the wool in a grocery account, you may lose money on it. And so he phased wool and 

mohair out of his operation. [11]

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Figure 16. Al Grieve, Trader/Manager at Hubbell Trading Post, 1978-1981. One of the 

NPS superintendents who was at the site during those years described At Grieve as an 

"outstanding" trader. The photo is from May, 1981. HUTR Neg. R13#17.

Alan R. Grieve, Trader/Manager, 1978-1981

One ex-superintendent who was at Hubbell Trading Post when Alan Grieve was Trader/Manager there 

said that Al was an "outstanding" trader. [12] Grieve was the youngest of the three traders who have 

worked for SPMA at the trading post, and by all accounts it was he who changed the direction of the 

trading practices to what they are today. Those who have seen him in action say that he is a creative, 

imaginative trader.

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Al Grieve moved to the Navajo Reservation in 1966 from his home in Albuquerque when he married a 

Navajo girl. By 1969 he was living in a sheep camp, herding sheep, gathering wood, hauling water. He 

was not, however, making very much money, and so he set out to make some by buying and selling arts 

and crafts, a skill he had learned while still in high school. Grieve spent his summers working for an oldtime trader who would buy anything as long as he felt he could take it down the road and turn it over 

with a gain of a few dollars, or a trade for something he presumed to be of more value.

In 1971, Al Grieve went into business at the Standing Rock Trading Post, which he operated until 1977 

with his mother as his partner. During all of that time he was learning Navajo from his customers and his 

wife and her family. Standing Rock was a rather typical old-time, over-the-counter trading post, which to 

a great extent was the reason for its demise. The Grieves were just leasing the trading post, which, like 

Hubbell Trading Post, had old wooden floors, wooden warerooms, and the wind and dust would seep in 

around the old windows. When the Public Health service insisted that the post be upgraded in order to 

comply with modern notions of sanitation, the Grieves decided they just did not want to go to the 

expense of repairing an old building that did not belong to them.

By 1978, then, Al Grieve had almost ten years experience in operating a real trading post and buying and 

selling Indian arts and crafts. He was fluent in Navajo. When Bill Young decided to hang up his trading 

boots, Al Grieve was working over in Gallup at Little Bear's Enterprises, running their pawn department, 

buying and selling crafts, and visiting crafts shows for them in many parts of the country. He had made 

many buying trips across the Indian reservations. People knew him out there where his skills were noted. 

One day when he was working at Little Bear's Enterprises, a National Park Service employee by the 

name of Art White drifted in and insisted they go to lunch, he had something important he wanted to 

discuss with him. That "something" turned out to be an offer to take over at Hubbell Trading Post as 

Trader/Manager, an offer Al Grieve accepted. [13]

Why John Young was not Chosen to Succeed his Father as Trader/Manager

John Young, Bill Young's son, went to work at Hubbell Trading Post in 1968 as assistant to his father 

with the approval of SPMA's Earl Jackson. Apparently it was hoped---by the Youngs---that John Young 

would take over as Trader/Manager when his father retired. However, even as early as 1974, when Bill 

Young first considered retirement, there was controversy within the Park Service and Southwest Parks 

and Monuments as to whether or not John would succeed to his father's position. At a May 14, 1974, 

meeting at the Southwest Regional Office in Santa Fe it was decided unanimously that John Young 

would not be acceptable as Trader/Manager of Hubbell Trading Post.

John Young's problem seems to have been one of indecisiveness. He couldn't take control, and the 

general opinion of him was that he lived in his father's shadow. In his later years, Bill Young would 

spend winter months in a warmer part of Arizona. Reportedly, John Young ran up enormous phone bills 

as he called Bill for advice. [14] In 1972, after Bill Young was away from the trading post for a month 

because of ill health, Bill admitted to Earl Jackson that it took a while for them to get back on their feet, 

that things had "slowed down substantially" at the shop. And at that point John Young had been on the 

job for about four years. Furthermore, John Young reportedly had little grasp of the Navajo language.

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Although he was passed over for the Trader/Manager position when Al Grieve was hired, John Young 

did stay on at the trading post as an assistant. Unfortunately, resentments festered between Mr. and Mrs. 

Young and Al Grieve. So many problems cropped up because of the Young's presence in the store that 

John Young was asked to resign, with a month's pay, effective July 1, 1979. [15]

Changes in Trading Practices During Alan Grieve's Tenure as Trader/Manager

When Bill Young started as Trader at Hubbell Trading post he would generally buy low and sell high, 

with a two hundred or three hundred percent markup. That was how traders had operated when he 

entered the business in 1920, and for the most part that was how he continued to conduct business at 

Hubbell Trading Post. He did, however, have a fine appreciation for the arts and crafts, and his 

knowledge and experience sustained Hubbell Trading Post during its formative years as a national 

historic site. Another basic point about Bill and John Young's methods was that the men seldom went on 

buying trips around the Navajo Nation. Many arts and crafts people came to them, but the Youngs did 

not necessarily get to see all of the developments in arts and crafts, nor did they know all of the better 

artists and crafts people.

Al Grieve's modus operandi was to go on the road on occasional buying trips, a practice he'd followed 

during all of his years as a trader. As Grieve pointed out, Hubbell Trading Post is not on every crafts 

person's route into town, so many of them never did pass by the trading post. By going on the road, then, 

Grieve was able to bring a wider range of crafts into the trading post, rugs from different areas. Hopi 

jewelry, sand paintings from what he considered to be better sources. He would also go into Gallup to 

see what he could discover there, and he would go to other trading posts, carrying with him what he 

considered to be surplus crafts from Hubbell Trading Post and he would trade for crafts he didn't have. 

Ganado Red and Wide Ruins and Klagetoh rugs, which would just drift into Hubbell Trading Post, could 

be traded for Two Gray Hills and Teec Nos Pos rugs, only few of which would have been found in the 

trading post before Al Grieve got there.

So Al Grieve can be credited with expanding the variety of the arts and crafts to be found at Hubbell 

Trading Post. Another change in the operation of the trading post was to start paying higher prices to the 

artists for their work and also to have less of a markup. The rationale behind this change of business 

philosophy was that if the artists were paid more they would continue to bring their work to Hubbell 

Trading Post, and with less of a markup on the items for sale more of the crafts could be turned over. It 

was hoped that these changes would help perpetuate the Indian arts and crafts business, which to a great 

extent is what Hubbell Trading Post as a national historic site was intended to do.

This change in business philosophy worked. Business increased by over $250,000 the first two years Al 

Grieve was on the job. [16] However, there was no drastic change in the operation of the trading post 

when Al Grieve arrived to take over, just a change in emphasis in certain areas of the operation. That 

same can be said for the present operation. Hubbell Trading Post just tries to keep pace with the 

changing times, but still continue as a real trading post.

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Al Grieve Resigns

Al Grieve contends that he is both a cowboy and a trader, and this conflict within himself eventually led 

to his resignation as Trader/Manager. He started leasing land for cattle raising even while he was at 

Hubbell Trading Post, and he enjoyed the work so much that he decided to go into it on a full-time basis. 

He leased a ranch near Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, and moved there with his family in 1981. Although 

he still ranches, he is also doing some trading, buying and selling arts and crafts, keeping in touch with 

the industry. Although he now thinks of himself as more of a cowboy than an Indian trader, he still 

enjoys trading.

Billy Gene Malone, Trader/Manager, 1981 to Present

Back in 1961, when Bill Malone took a job as a clerk in Al Frick's store in Lupton, Arizona, out on US 

66 just west of Gallup, he had no idea that he was starting down the road of a long career as a trader. He 

had just been released from the Army, where he had been trained as an electronics specialist, but the 

clerking job in Lupton was the best he could find around Gallup. As far as he's concerned, it was 

probably the smartest move he ever made. 

By the end of the year Bill was managing the store in Lupton, but in 1962 he took a job at the trading 

post at Pinon, which at that time was still an old-time, over-the-counter bullpen operation where about 

"999 out of 1,000" [17] of the customers were non-English-speaking Navajo. The Pinon Trading Post 

sold groceries on credit, bought rugs, sheep, wool, mohair, pinon nuts, took pawn, and was in most 

respects a classic, old-fashioned trading post. Pinon lies west of Chinle, close to the Hopi Reservation 

but still in Navajo country. Bill speaks Navajo; he can carry on conversations with his customers on any 

subject they care to choose. He is married to a Navajo woman from Lupton, and they have five children 

and a growing number of grandchildren.

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Figure 17. Bill Malone, Trader/Manager of Hubbell Trading Post NHS. Bill went to work 

at Hubbell Trading Post in 1981. He continues the trading post's long tradition of fair 

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dealing and handling only quality arts and crafts. A Manchester photograph, May 9, 1991.

In 1981 when AL Grieve was leaving Hubbell Trading Post, the ubiquitous and determined Art White 

stopped by the Pinon Trading Post to see if Trader Malone could be talked into applying for the position. 

No, Bill wasn't especially interested. He had been aware of the job back when Bill Young retired. After 

all, he and his family were pretty well settled in Pinon. They liked it there. But the more Bill thought 

about it, the more he thought that it wouldn't hurt just to drive down and take a look... Eight or ten other 

applicants were on hand when Bill arrived at Hubbell Trading Post. As he recalls, they were to be 

advised of the results of the interview in about two weeks. However, only fifteen minutes after Bill was 

interviewed, he was called back into the room and offered the position of Trader/Manager. By 1981, 

good Indian traders could have been included on the endangered species list; the people who interviewed 

Bill Malone would have known that.

Conflicts

One day in the spring of 1991 a young Navajo woman approached Bill Malone in the bullpen and 

exchanged greetings with him. She told Bill that she was taking some children on a field trip. She would 

need gasoline. She had some craftwork with her that she wanted to exchange for just a bit of credit. If 

Bill would do that for her, she could make the trip. Bill didn't hesitate.

An old-time trader would often keep a great deal of what was going on at the trading post in his head. 

Deals were struck suddenly, and maybe it was just too time consuming to make a record of it. Such an 

operation would drive a modern merchandiser mad. But of course an old-time trading post was 

absolutely nothing like a modern store where most of the pricing is done half a continent away, where all 

the sales are recorded by a computerized cash register.

There has always been a lot of give and take at a trading post. Al Grieve mentions that when he would 

sell an expensive rug, he might include in the deal---for free---a book on how to care for the rug. The 

trader is always trying to treat his customers fairly and possibly without the interference of computerized 

pricing and an up-to-the-minute inventory check.

It may well be that it is impossible to run a traditional trading post from downtown. The distant 

accountant, trying to balance his figures, is going to wonder what happened to a six-pack of Coca Cola 

that was given away and forgotten, a book that was thrown into a deal, a little cash exchanged for arts 

and crafts, the transactions not recorded because the trader was too busy to do so. The accountant has a 

right to know what is going on, but it may be impossible for a trader to deal in the traditional way and 

still be completely responsible to a distant office where modern technology is trying very efficiently to 

account for every penny. 

This is indeed a conflict for the trader as well as the SPMA. They are working on the problem, but it 

does seem likely that a trading post cannot be run at long distance and that it must be operated to a great 

extent on old-fashioned trust if it is to maintain the aura of an old-fashioned trading post. And an old 

trading post was operated on guesswork, snap decisions, and personal whimsy. If Hubbell Trading Post 

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ever enters the modern merchandising world, it may no longer be a trading post, and SPMA will no 

longer need a bona fide trader to run it. To what extent should Hubbell Trading Post devote itself to 

making money, and how much time should be devoted to "interpretation?" Buying and selling wool and 

mohair is hard work, time consuming, and not particularly profitable. But that's what trading posts did.

No real trading post was simply an arts-and-crafts store. Without the groceries, the trading post is no 

longer a trading post. And some tourist-related items are encroaching on the grocery area. It's difficult to 

imagine many Navajo customers being interested in Taos drums or tee shirts and caps with Hubbell 

Trading Post printed on them. To the objective but interested observer, the tourist items may appear out 

of place in the bullpen. This is a sensitive issue that probably needs some study.

Finally, Hubbell Trading Post was always a farm as well as a trading post. J.L. Hubbell spent thousands 

of dollars creating an irrigation system that worked. [18] When John Cook was superintendent there he 

saw water in every ditch. [19] Since then, because of the leaky dam, the reservoir known as Ganado 

Lake has been drained. Ganado Lake was the source of irrigation water on the Hubbell land. And now 

the ditches are dry and deteriorating, filling in with drifting sand. It will take more thousands of dollars 

to restore the irrigation system once the dam is repaired or replaced.

When the dam is finally repaired, and the ditches to the Hubbell land repaired, and the ditches on the 

historic site repaired, then farming can start up again. SPMA and the NPS can cooperate in funding this 

aspect of the interpretation program of Hubbell Trading Post.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 6)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER VI:

FINANCES, ORGANIZATION, AND SOME EMPLOYEES

Finances

It may be recalled that in John Cook's August 3, 1966, memorandum to Earl Jackson he suggested that 

SPMA might make a profit of $9,000 during its first year in operation. In order to discover what profits 

were actually realized, the Statement of Income and Expense for the year ending December 31, 1968, is 

now included, Hubbell Trading Post's first full year under the direction of SPMA.

SALES 

Rugs $46,618.15

Jewelry 16,955.67

Curios 3,213.73

Publications, slides $ 4,686.00

"Regular trading post 

business" 50,797.00

TOTAL $122,270.55

COST OF GOODS $77,703.96 [1]

There were, of course, expenses: salaries, travel, depreciation, etc., but the net profit from the operation 

for 1968 was $19.231.68, and net overall gain $21,124.29.

So instead of the lean or in-the-hole years feared by Earl Jackson, SPMA was already turning a notable 

profit. But of course they had one of the most experienced traders in the Southwest running the operation 

for them. At the time, it was estimated that the trading post was serving between 700 and 800 Navajo, 

who comprised about 95% of the people who shopped there. [2] Profits at Hubbell Trading Post 

continued to grow as the historic site was discovered by more and more tourists. And as the years rolled 

on, more and more tourists were on the move. The percentage of Navajo visitors to the post dropped as 

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thousands of people from all over the United States and other countries passed through Ganado. 

The income from Hubbell Trading Post came to represent a very large part of SPMA's total profit for any 

year. The percentage has dropped off a bit as SPMA's sales at other parks, monuments, and sites have 

grown, but the income from Hubbell Trading Post still represents the largest part of the total sales of 

SPMA from all of their outlets, and it should be noted that SPMA has outlets at over 40 parks, 

monuments, and sites. As business at Hubbell Trading Post grew, SPMA itself grew considerably. A 

brief look at Hubbell Trading Post's financial data for 1990:

SALES 

Rugs $ 604,550

Jewelry 266,619

Theme related 670,024

Groceries 225,908

TOTAL $1,767,101

COST OF GOODS 

Rugs 381,860

Jewelry 167,372

Theme related 394,074

Groceries 190,849

TOTAL $1,134,155

NET PROFIT $ 632,946

Total sales revenue for SPMA for the year ending September 30,1990, was $5,626,915, and that included 

Hubbell Trading Post, SPMA's wholesale warehouse, the Tucson bookstore, and all of the other areas. 

Total sales revenue for SPMA, less Hubbell Trading Post's contribution, was $3,859,814. [3] One can 

see immediately how significant a role Hubbell Trading Post plays in the success of SPMA with its 

$1,767,101 in gross sales. Compared to Hubbell Trading Post's contribution, the income from almost any 

other of SPMA's outlets is minuscule.

SPMA'S Employees at The Trading Post

SPMA maintains fifteen full- or part-time employees working at Hubbell NHS year-round, and during 

the summer five extra part-time employees may be hired. [4] This may seem like a large crew, and at 

first one can be struck by the number of clerks on duty at the same time. However, there is often a large 

number of customers milling about, especially in the rug room and the jewelry room, and it should be 

remembered that much of the merchandise is extremely valuable--and vulnerable. Although thefts from 

the store are a rare occurrence, they have happened. For example, at one point during a busy summer 

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day, a small rug was "carelessly" put down by one of the windows on the north side of the rug room. A 

little later it disappeared out the window, lost forever. And it should be remembered, too, that there are 

many items of historical value in the store that are not for sale. A lot of care is needed in the three rooms, 

and during a summer day when most of the clerks are occupied with customers, the Trader/Manager 

needs all the people who are on duty with him. Depending on the season, one will find between four and 

eight people working in the store. 

Long-Term Employees at The Trading Post

Some of the employees at the trading post have been there for many years: Lorene Dalgai, 20 years; 

Helen Kirk, 16 years; Evelyn Curley, 16 years; Mary Lee Begay, 15 years; Colina Yazzie, 11 years; and 

Irene Boloz, 10 years. [5] There are several other fairly long-term employees. All of these people add up 

to a lot of experience and competence. (In 1967 Bill Young operated with just an assistant, Brad Stipp, 

and Rex and Eloise Begay, clerks.) [6]

Figure 18. Helen Kirk, weaver, in 1984. SPMA employs weavers and a silversmith to 

work in the Visitor Center. This is part of the interpretation program. NPS photo by 

Wilson Hunter, HUTR Neg. R5#12.

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Figure 19. Silversmith Ben Davis at work in the Visitor Center on 25 August, 1990. The 

weavers first came to work at the trading post, followed by a silversmith. Before working 

in the Visitor Center, they set up shop in the wareroom. NPS photo by Edward M. 

Chamberlin, HUTR Neg. R327#21.

The Chain Of Command At The Trading Post

When the Trader/Manager is not on duty, responsibility at the trading post is in the hands of Assistant 

Trader/Manager Colina Yazzie. If both Bill Malone and Colina Yazzie are absent, Lorene Dalgai is in 

charge. [7]

SPMA Employees Who Are Not Clerks

The trading post has a bookkeeper, and there are three weavers and a silversmith. The silversmith and 

the weavers, who may not all be on duty at the same time, will generally be found at the NPS Visitor 

Center where they are part of the interpretation program. 

Friday Kinlicheenie, Retired SPMA Employee

Until recently, Friday Kinlicheenie was an integral and colorful member of Hubbell Trading Post's 

personnel. He was the trading post's gardener and took care of the kitchen garden. He was a medicine 

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man, accustomed to doing an occasional Blessing Way for the trading post buildings or local citizens; 

and when lightning struck a tree at the post in the 1970s he helped perform a ceremony to clear the 

property of spiritual evil, much to the astonishment and delight of visiting tourists. [8] When skunks 

plundered his corn patch, he would stay up all night to defend the garden with a stick, which, when he 

went into the trading post in the morning to announce some success, also astonished the tourists. [9] 

Nobody seems to know exactly how old Friday is, although a good guess would place him at this time in 

his 95th or 96th year. He was born about seven or eight miles west of Ganado at a place called 

Cornfields, born probably in the month of February, and he came to work at the trading post in about 

1915. In those early days he did chores around the place, sweeping out, chopping wood, packing and 

unpacking merchandise, he would also help carry mail to Chinle and St. Michael's. Kinlicheenie was 

already a fixture at the store when Dorothy Hubbell rolled into the yard in 1920.

Friday Kinlicheenie was still working at the trading post when Dorothy Hubbell decided to sell. Roman 

Hubbell and Friday Kinlicheenie were long-time compadres, and Dorothy Hubbell explained to John 

Cook that Roman had told Friday that he could have a job at the trading post forever. John cook made a 

commitment to Mrs. Hubbell that he would see to it that Friday would have a job at the trading post for 

as long as he wanted one there.

And so Friday continued on at the trading post, paid by SPMA, his main duty that of planting corn and 

caring for the garden that visitors see just to the front of the house. Friday spent more years at the trading 

post than did anybody else. He just grew too old to continue working. One can imagine that his spirit 

remains. [10]

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 7)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER VII:

CULTURAL RESOURCES I

Building Roster

Figure 20. Early morning at Hubbell Trading Post, December, 1984. This photo shows the 

northeast corner of the trading post building, HB-1. The door to the right leads into the 

jewelry room, the door on the left into the bullpen (grocery area). The wareroom extension 

is the second door on the left, the curator's office and storage area, HB-9, is the third door 

on the left. The barn, HB-3, is the two-story building in the background. NPS photo by E. 

Bauer, HUTR Neg. R75#26.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 7)

Trading Post and Wareroom Extension

HB-1 and HB-9: This is the building the visitors see as they approach the site on the entrance road. The 

store, rug room, trader's office (jewelry room), and wareroom are located in HB-1; the Curator's office, 

storage and work area, and darkroom are in HB-9 (HB-9 was also the location of the laundromat). HB-1 

was built in probably in four phases. According to at dendrochronological report, [1] the office (jewelry 

room now) and the rug room were probably constructed in 1883. The vigas (beams) [2] were harvested 

in the summer of 1883, so it seems likely the building was under construction at that time. The grocery 

store and wareroom were added in 1889, according to the same dendrochronological report (and family 

memory). The wareroom extension (Curator's office) was under construction in 1930 at the time of Don 

Lorenzo's death but was completed at a later date and housed the laundromat, which burned out in 1966.

Construction: HB-1: Sandstone and mortar walls, plastered and painted on the interior. Board and viga

ceiling, earthen roof over the boards, now covered by a modern tar roof (re-roofed in spring, 1991). 

Stone parapets surround roof. Wood over earth floor. This was the nucleus of the present trading post 

complex. The north and west walls of this section underwent considerable renovation in 1970. The walls 

were bulging, and it was decided to do some tearing out and rebuilding. [3]

Construction: HB-9: A limestone and adobe mortar addition at the south end of HB-1. Board and viga

ceiling, earth roof, later covered by tarpaper built-up roof. Concrete floor, interior walls plastered and 

painted. The walls and at least part of the roof were in place at the time of Don Lorenzo's death. 

Although this structure now houses the Curator, plans are being made to convert this area to a museum 

as soon as a permanent curatorial building can be constructed (probably close to the staff living 

quarters). Many artifacts, historical objects, and objects d'art are stored here because there isn't anyplace 

to display them. [4]

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 8)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER VIII:

CULTURAL RESOURCE II

The Museum Collection

Many of the meals at the trading post must have been extraordinary and entertaining events, gatherings 

of some of the brighter lights of America. Conversations could have ranged from art or agriculture to the 

price of wool to how many rounds of .30-06 ammunition Teddy Roosevelt needed to put down a fullgrowth rhino (nine). [1]

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Figure 37. The Hubbell home as it appeared on August 18, 1909. The decor has changed 

considerably since then, but this photo gives a good idea as to the richness of the museum 

collection at the site. Photo by Charles Drake, Courtesy of Museum of Northern Arizona. 

HUTR Neg. RP-14.

When visitors to Ganado came to the trading post looking for bed and board they got it free of charge. 

Dorothy Hubbell said they never knew how many people might be there for supper, and there were times 

when they could have had as many as forty. J.L. Hubbell was a big man in many respects, and he 

counted among his guests and friends Theodore Roosevelt, the All-American President, who knew his 

way around in some of the darker corners of the map. 

When Dorothy Hubbell asked Don Lorenzo why he was willing to take in so many nonpaying guests, he 

explained to her that he had decided free room and board at the trading post would cause him less trouble 

than if he were to accept payment. For example, should a guest need hot water or a towel, either he, Don 

Lorenzo, or a member of his family or one of his employees would have to do the fetching. Hubbell did 

not consider himself an innkeeper. If his guests didn't have to pay, they took what they got (which 

apparently was plenty) and were well satisfied to get it. [2] Among the many who drifted into Ganado 

and put up at the trading post were some of America's finest artists. 

Plying the Indian hinterland for inspiration, the artists, writers, and photographers stayed at the trading 

post for a little R&R. A few of them, such as Elbridge Ayer Burbank, stayed over more than once and 

for lengthy periods of time. Although nobody knows which of the artists first left behind an example of 

his work as a sign of appreciation for Hubbell's kindness, it became something of a tradition for them to 

do so. A few of the artists became habitues around the post; they left behind a considerable body of their 

work. A visitor is struck by the amount and quality of the art hanging there. J.L. Hubbell's hospitality and 

the many signs of appreciation left behind by the artists has turned into a rich legacy for the American 

people. Much of the art is of exceptional quality and is at the same time a valuable record of the Indians' 

way of life and many of their rites. There was so much artwork and so many artifacts of various kinds 

that during the original inventory a storeroom was described as being "full of stuff."

Two Notable Artists Who Stayed At Hubbell Trading Post

Elbridge Ayer Burbank

It was Burbank's Redheads that drew Ned Danson to Hubbell Trading Post that fateful day in 1957. The 

Redheads are conte-crayon sketches of Native Americans and Ganado citizens the artist met while he 

was staying with the Hubbells, and among the Redheads is a sketch of J.L. Hubbell. Burbank was born in 

1858. He studied at the Chicago Art Academy and in Germany. His work was exhibited in many 

American cities and even in Paris. In 1895, Edward Ayer, an uncle who was a museum president, 

commissioned Burbank to paint some Indian portraits, a project that developed into an important career. 

Burbank visited about 128 tribes in order to paint their people, and he did approximately 1200 works in 

oil, watercolor, and crayon. Among the great chiefs he painted are Geronimo, Chief Joseph, Rain-in-theFace, and Sitting Bull. In many cases Burbank's portraits may be the only pictures of the subjects that 

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still exist. E.A. Burbank was an artist of the first rank; his work is of importance to American history and 

culture.

Burbank first appeared at Hubbell Trading Post in 1905. He returned "frequently" and remained once for 

ten months. The historic site owns nearly 300 of his works. A collection of Redheads hangs in the home 

as do several oils. His artwork, including large oils, can be found even in the trading post. Some of his 

works are in curatorial storage. Burbank's works are in the collections of museums and galleries in other 

parts of the country, including the Newberry Library in Chicago and the Smithsonian. He died in poverty 

and obscurity in San Francisco in 1949.

Maynard Dixon

Lafayette Maynard Dixon, born in California in 1875, died in Tucson in 1946. Maynard Dixon was 

another frequent visitor to Hubbell Trading Post and became one of Don Lorenzo's close friends. He is 

considered one of the premier painters of desert scenes, and he was one of the most successful (in 

monetary terms) of the artists working in the Southwest. Hubbell Trading Post owns two oils, one large 

watercolor, a smaller watercolor, and two pencil sketches. [3]

Although Maynard Dixon and Burbank are the only two artists singled out here for special mention, the 

art collection at the trading post is considered to be remarkable, including as it does some of the well 

known artists of their day. One brief tour through the house hardly does justice to the artwork there. But 

the artwork is but part of the collection.

The Collection Management Plan (1975) states: "A beautifully restored and stabilized Hubbell Home 

without its furnishings would be nothing but an empty shell, useless for interpretive purposes and 

without meaning to the visitor. The furnishings are especially important at Hubbell Trading Post because 

they are all original objects that belonged to the Hubbell family. What is important about the site is the 

story of the trading post and the way of life of a particular trading post manager; it is essential to have 

original objects to tell this story." [4]

Indeed, an important point to keep in mind about this museum collection is that all of it to belonged to 

the Hubbells. There are at least 180,000 items in the total collection, about 115,000 of them at the 

Southwest Regional Office and the Western Archeological Conservation Center, and 65,000 objects at 

the trading post. The University of Arizona has 572 boxes of business papers and documents, 252 linear 

feet, but those 572 boxes represent just one item on the complete inventory. 

Cataloguing of the collection is now complete, but much of the cataloguing remains to be computerized. 

[5] David Brugge, who at the time was curator for the Navajo Lands Group, was the first person to do 

curatorial work at the trading post. His Furnishing Plans for the Hubbell Home, July, 1973, is a fine 

document that Hubbell's curators still refer to. [6] But the home wasn't the only building–or place–on the 

property to contain valuable artifacts and other objects of interest. The Hubbells were intelligent and 

interested people, and they were acquisitive. Very little was thrown away, and much of what was tossed 

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out wound up in a trash heap, the bottles and cans, the broken toys, old automobile parts, pieces of 

harness, anything considered to have no value whatsoever. (Could they ever have imagined people who 

would come and find all that moldy debris to be of interest?)

Collection Management Plan (1975)

When a team from Harpers Ferry arrived in Ganado in 1975 to prepare the National Park Service’s first 

collection management plan, they found museum specimens all over the property, in the blacksmith 

shop, corrals, closets and drawers in the house, on the porches of the home, even in the maintenance 

man’s office. Valuable items were stored with apparent carelessness. Before and after photos in the 1975 

Collection Management Plan will show what the team did in an attempt to sort of tidy up the place. 

There just hadn’t been enough time or people to properly catalogue and protect everything.

Tom Vaughan became the superintendent in 1974: "I realized that what we had at Hubbell Trading post 

was kind of a disaster. And this is not to diminish Dave Brugge’s work there for several years because he 

did a wonderful job of salvage history and salvage ethnology and doing what he could. But basically the 

Park Service’s curatorial system was in disarray and under funded and understaffed.... Before I got there 

we literally had a basket fall off the [ceiling] and come down around the head of one of the guides taking 

people through. Our best storage area was a burned-out room (the old laundromat, HB-9). J. L.’s 

alligator travelling bag was out in the barn where the mules and the horses were walking on it... One of 

the richest and most diverse collections in the Southwest Region of the Park Service, and it was just...a 

crying shame." [7]

Tom had an opportunity to visit Harpers Ferry. He was escorted through the Division Conservation by 

Arthur Allen, Chief, Division of Museum Services. When Tom got back to Hubbell Trading Post he took 

a close look at the state of his own museum collection. He called Art Allen: "Has there ever been a 

collection management plan that takes a look at what is, compares it to what ought to be, and lays out 

what needs to be done to get you where you need to go?" [8] Art said no, but there ought to be. Tom "I 

think it was only six months later we had done the work on site and we had...the first collection 

management plan ever do Park Service in hand. It's historic just for the speed in which it was done." [9]

And that was how the Park Service came to have its first collection management plan. Although Hubbell 

Trading Post's collection management plan is now outdated, it is still in use and the curators are still 

working from ideas it generated.

The Collection [10]

The collection is broken down into several "disciplines."

History

1. Three-dimensional artifacts:

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Objects in this category are house furnishings, and that includes furniture, fine arts, table 

settings, linens. This would include, too, the historic furnishings in the trading post, barn, 

blacksmith shop, etc. 

There is some consideration given to reproducing items that continue to be used, that when 

the object wears out it can be replaced with something that looks like the original. 

Photographs and measurements of the contents are needed so that should any 

reproductions be needed the documentation will be on hand for the job.

2. Archival Materials: 

Business papers, personal papers, papers and documents associated with other trading 

posts in Navajo and Hopi country. Diaries and descriptions of travelers who visited the 

trading posts. Archival material related to the trading post since it became an historic site.

Acquisitions in this category should concentrate on the Dorothy and Roman Hubbell 

period, significant papers from Southwest Parks and Monuments Association.

3. Architectural Materials:

When stabilization work on historic structures results in the removal of original fabric a 

representative sample should be accessioned into the collection. If architectural, elements 

are threatened, samples will be preserved in the collection.

4. Ganado Community:

J.L. Hubbell was an important man in the community. Artifacts and documents related to 

the development of the town, the irrigation system, and the Presbyterian Mission will be 

considered.

5. Hubbell Trading Industry:

The family ran up to twenty-four different trading posts at one time or another. Efforts 

should be made to tell the story of the rest of the Hubbell business enterprises.

Archeology

Among the artificial in this classification are items collected by the Hubbell family from many sources, 

artifacts found during excavations around the historic site, and surface finds collected by archeologists, 

site personnel, and visitors. The picking up of surface finds by other than archeologists who are at the 

site to do professional work is to be discouraged. For the artifact to be of its utmost value to 

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archeologists, it should only be removed from its original place by a trained person who is prepared to 

record the important data in reference to the artifact. Once picked up by an untrained person, the object 

should not–generally speaking–be then returned to the area.

1. Three-dimensional Artifacts:

Research undertakings and many other kinds of work around the historic site may unearth 

artifacts and even human remains. All of this must be catalogued in the museum 

collection. They are National Park Service property, and their collection and storage must 

meet National Park Service guidelines, regulations, policy, and any laws pertaining to 

them, including the Archeological Resources Protection Act of 1979. Storage of artifacts 

at the site is not required, but it may be recommended in order to ensure the utmost control 

and care. Artifacts from the historic site are now stored at the site; at the Southwest 

Regional Office, the Pinon Building, in Santa Fe; and at the Western Archeological 

Conservation Center, Tucson, Arizona. Generally speaking, virtually any excavation on 

site will require an examination by, or the presence of, an archeologist. For example, when 

utility pipes were laid within the site, an archeologist was on hand to inspect the ground. 

Excavations are very likely to unearth artifacts of some kind.

2. Archival Materials:

Records associated with the archeological collection and archeological activities on the 

historic site will be retained as part of the museum collection. Such records consist of final 

reports, field notes, and catalogs, daily journals, drawings and maps, photographs and 

negatives, sound recordings, raw data sheets, instrument charts, remote sensing materials, 

collection inventories, analytical study data, conservation treatment records, and computer 

documentation of data.

There are many gaps in this category, the missing records of various kinds of work done 

on the site. Effort must be made to acquire the records of all of the archeological projects 

at Hubbell Trading Post. Such records will of course be of value during future projects. 

Ethnology

Ethnographic materials in the collection include objects that are original to the site and also some 

reproductions of historic rugs. The reproductions were done by weavers working for Southwest Parks 

and Monuments Association. For example, some of the rugs that were on the floors of the Hubbell home 

have been reproduced. The originals are in storage. Additional reproductions for use as furnishings are 

needed. The ethnographic collection at Hubbell Trading Post is probably the finest in the NPS. 

Establishing this site as an ethnological forum and acquiring comparative artifacts is appropriate. 

The Navajo rug was one of the most important elements in the operation at the trading post, and J.L. 

Hubbell was one of those most instrumental in the evolution of the Navajo rug. In an effort to establish 

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the entire story of the evolution of the modern Navajo rug, contemporary rugs donated to the historic site 

will be accepted.

Library Management

The interpretive resource (IR) library at the site is managed by the Division of Interpretation. There are 

nearly 1500 additional books catalogued into the museum collection, and they are in bookcases in the 

Hubbell home, in the trading post rug room, and stored in HB-9, museum storage. Cross referencing 

should be done, with library cards on file in the (IR) library, so the site staff will not only know what 

books are available but where they are. The books are an important part of the collection from the point 

of view of what the reasonably well-read pioneer in the hinterlands might have felt was of cultural 

importance or technical necessity. The books represent another angle from which to view the Hubbell 

family. There are several very valuable books in the collection.

Natural History

Geological specimens and mounted heads (hunting trophies) make up the majority of items in this 

category, and virtually everything was collected by the Hubbell family. Much of it is used as decoration 

in the buildings. The objects are catalogued and treated as cultural artifacts but are also cross-referenced 

under natural history. 

An inventory of zoological species found within the park boundaries should be compiled, to include 

insects and arachnids, and other invertebrates, as well as the reptiles, amphibians, fish, birds, and 

mammals found there. In most cases, each conspicuous species and form thought likely to arouse visitor 

interest may be represented by at least one properly prepared adult specimen. As a conservation and 

preservation agency, it is the responsibility of the NPS to record natural and cultural data for the property 

being managed, especially when no other local institution or agency is doing so.

Acquisitions

The historic site may acquire objects by gift, purchase, exchange, transfer, field collection, and loan. In 

accordance with NPS policy, the site will discourage any gifts with limiting conditions. Acquisition of 

objects is governed by the site's ability to manage them according to the principles outlined in Chapter V 

of the NPS Management Policies and the standards for managing museum collections in Chapter 3 of 

NPS 28, Cultural Resources Management Guidelines. Museum Objects must be acquired, accessioned, 

and catalogued in accordance with the NPS Museum Handbook, Part II, Museum Records (1984).

The site Superintendent represents the Secretary of the Interior in accepting title to and responsibility for 

museum objects; however, any object or artifact exceeding the value of $10,000 may be accepted only 

after consultation with, and the approval of, the Regional Director. The Superintendent bears ultimate 

responsibility for any acquisitions and for the proper care and management of the museum collection. 

The day-to-day care of the collection is the responsibility of the site Curator. 

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All permanent acquisitions other than field collections must be approved by the site Superintendent 

before they can be accessioned into the museum collection. All newly acquired objects and their 

documentation must be turned over to the site Curator. The site Curator prepares for the Superintendent's 

signature all instruments of conveyance and letters of thanks, or of acceptance, to lender or vendor, or 

other source of acquisition.

Restrictions on Museum Collection

The site's museum collection may be used for research, exhibits, interpretive programs, and other 

interpretive media (publications, for example), but the governing consideration in the use of museum 

objects must be the conservation of each object in question and the collection as a whole. Researchers 

and other specialists must examine objects under the conditions and procedures outlined in the Cultural 

Resource Management Guideline (NPS-28) and in the site's museum collection access policy. 

However, the following restrictions are placed on the collection according to federal law, cultural 

sensitivity, and site policy:

1. In accordance with NPS Management Policies, Chapter VIII, "Interpretation and Native 

Americans," the site will not exhibit disinterred skeletal or mummified human remains. 

Grave goods or other sacred objects will not be displayed if Native Americans who are 

culturally associated with them object to such display.

2 Photographs of Native American ceremonies will not be displayed without approval by 

in the appropriate tribe.

3. Access to museum objects by researchers must be authorized in writing by the 

Superintendent. Any researcher with approved access to museum objects shall be 

accompanied at all times by a member of the site's museum staff.

4. All endangered, threatened, or rare plants and vertebrate and invertebrate animals will 

be collected only when accidentally killed or when dead from natural causes. The 

collection of threatened, endangered, or rare plant and animal species will comply with

NPS Management Policies and will be in accordance with the provisions of the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, and will be strictly limited according to the 

applicable rules of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

5. NPS Management Policies, Chapter VI states that "Information regarding the location, 

nature, and character of archeological, historic, and ethnographic resources may be exempt 

from public disclosure."

6. Restrictions may be placed on the publication of images or manuscripts in the museum 

collection if these materials are subject to copyright, and this right has not been signed 

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over to the NPS.

Figure 38. Some of the museum collection, wagons and buggies, old farm machinery, and 

much other equipment that was inherited with the trading post, is stored outside in the 

compound between the buildings. All of the museum collection came with the purchase of 

the historic site. A Manchester photo taken October, 1991.

Some Disparate Issues Concerning the Museum Collection 

It seems to have been forgotten that a final disposition of the contents of the Hubbell home was not 

consummated until the mid-1970s. That is, although the Hubbells had not included all of the personal 

property during the sale of the trading post in the 1960s (the silk rug, for example), they had not removed 

all of the things they considered theirs when Dorothy Hubbell departed. Some of the objects left behind 

were to be donated now, but decisions had to be made as to just what that would amount to. On June 

24th and 25th of 1975, Dorothy Hubbell, LaCharles Eckel, and John Hubbell showed up at the trading 

post to decide on the fate of some of the objects the Park Service had been caring for---although it did 

not own---for the past eight years. The meeting was described by Superintendent Tom Vaughan in a 

memorandum to the General Superintendent, Navajo Lands Group, dated July 2, 1975: A "scrumptious" 

luncheon banquet was laid on by a Mrs. Freda Young on Tuesday, the 24th of June. Everybody 

understood the necessity of verifying the ownership and value of the objects in question, but Tom 

Vaughan noted that the experience was obviously "trying and depressing" for Mrs. Hubbell and Mrs. 

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Eckel.

Mrs. Eckel retained a few items, which were particularly important to her, or which she felt she would 

want to pass on to her son. The large portrait of her that hangs on the west wall of the great hall, painted 

when she was a child, was something she wanted to keep. However, she decided that the painting should 

remain on formal loan to the historic site. They had discussions about what would be most advantageous 

to them as far as tax benefits were concerned, but in most respects they agreed with the opinion 

expressed by Mrs. Hubbell that they should just get it all donated and done with. In spite of Mrs. Young's 

scrumptious luncheon, the affair was a rather melancholy one; the Hubbells were at last saying goodbye 

to the old trading post where they had spent so much of their lives.

Caring for all of the historic objects around the trading post, although surely fascinating, can also be 

trying and time consuming. The house furnishings have to be dusted, for example, and all of the cleaning 

has to be done by the curatorial staff. In order to keep up with the cleaning and all of the other 

maintenance the collection requires, as well as stay on top of cataloguing, inspections, conservation, 

administrative duties, correspondence, and other jobs that appear (removing and replacing all of the 

artifacts from the ceilings and walls of the trading post and home when those buildings were reroofed in 

1991), may require the addition of another person to the curatorial staff.

Items are stored under varying conditions, including outside, and this is the largest and most valuable 

collection under the control of the NPS in the Southwest. In order for some of the collection to be 

properly protected, the construction of a climate-controlled storage facility and curatorial offices, 

possibly near the housing area, is being considered. If this is done, it is thought that the present storage 

area and curatorial offices might be transformed into a museum where visitors can see some of the 

objects now in storage, an area which would also contribute to a more complete interpretation of the site.

For the most part, the museum collection is kept under conditions that would horrify the staff of a 

modern museum. Humidity, heat, cold, dust, and insects are subject to little more control at the trading 

post now than they were in 1967. There are thoughts, too, about attempting to create climate controlled 

atmospheres in the buildings, but that would be expensive and possibly not even practical. The issue 

remains to be studied. In the meantime, objects that are refurbished are sent back into the same 

atmosphere mat had tarnished them. It may be that is to be their destiny, but whatever the ultimate 

destiny of the museum collection, it presently remains virtually unknown to most Americans.

A thirty minute walk through the house, while being lectured by a park ranger, is hardly enough time for 

even the most observant visitor to absorb many of the paintings, and it would be a good bet that almost 

none of the visitors to the trading post take particular notice of the artwork hanging there. Much of the 

collection is hidden away. Its story needs to be told and some thought is being given to how to make the 

collection more widely known and appreciated: A traveling show that would visit museums in the far 

corners of the country, to include new and old photographs of the trading post and enough information so 

that viewers can understand what they are seeing. Articles in art magazines. Special tours through the 

trading post intended for art lovers. Some of these ideas present special dangers to the collection, but if it 

remains unknown and unappreciated, the collection will be of little use to the American people.

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Recommended Action Concerning the Museum Collection

The actions recommended for the museum collection in the 1988 Resource Management Plan remain 

current:

1. Update Collections Management Plan (1975)

2. Prepare a study of environmental conditions in the Trading Post and Home and develop 

strategies to correct the deficiencies.

3. Catalogue all objects in the collection to NPS standards.

4. Improve storage facilities and environmental controls to provide proper storage for the 

entire collection.

5. Provide on-site or contract conservation services to maintain the items in satisfactory 

condition for their preservation and intended use.

6. Photograph valuable objects in the collection, particularly items on exhibit that are 

vulnerable to theft.

7. Transfer objects to the Western Archeological Conservation Center for storage.

8. Update Maintenance manual that outlines scheduled housekeeping activities and 

establish cyclic conservation work.

The Curators of Hubbell Trading Post

The first curator to work at the site was David Brugge, Curator of the Navajo Lands Group, who did the 

original salvage curatorial work, catalogued most of the ethnological material, developed the furnishing 

plans for both the trading post and the Hubbell home, and otherwise contributed so much to helping 

make sense out of the thousands of items left behind by the Hubbell family after ninety years of their 

occupancy of the site. When Dave Brugge left to become regional curator, much work was left to be 

done with the museum collection. The SWRO has extensive files on his work. He is retired and lives in 

Albuquerque.

Hubbell Trading Post was Kent Bush's first position with the NPS and he arrived in July of 1976 from 

the Stuhr Museum, Grand Island, Nebraska, where he was the exhibits person. Kent continued 

cataloguing, implemented Dave Brugge's furnishing plans, developed a storage facility to house the 

object collection, and applied preservation and conservation methods. He recalls that he had about $1500 

for accomplishing all of this. Since 1980, when he left Hubbell Trading Post, Kent has been regional 

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curator of the Pacific Northwest Region. Kent Bush was acting superintendent for most of his last year at 

Hubbell Trading Post, taking over when Superintendent Juin Crosse was transferred to Fort McHenry.

Elizabeth Bauer was curator from 1981-1988. Contributions: She continued to catalogue and organize 

the collection, and she prepared a comprehensive report on Navajo weaving.

Edward M. Chamberlain is Hubbell Trading Post's present curator. He came to Ganado from Grand 

Canyon and has been at the site since 1989. He has nearly completed the cataloguing of the collection, 

putting vital data on computers. One of his goals for the collection is to make it better known to the 

public, and to do this he is preparing grant requests to obtain money in order to organize, he hopes, a 

traveling exhibit.

The NPS has worked for twenty-five years to organize the Hubbell family's accumulation of threequarters of a century. As Dorothy Hubbell said, collecting is a disease and all the Hubbells had it. [11]

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 9)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER IX:

CULTURAL RESOURCES III

Indian Culture 9500 B.C. to Present

Paleo-Indian Period, 9500 B.C. to 5000 B.C.

Because of the presence of water in a generally semi-arid area, it is likely that Paleo-Indians drifted 

through the vicinity of Hubbell Trading Post. No remains associated with them have yet been found at the 

site, however. Any artifacts representative of these early people could be stone objects such as projectile 

points, scrapers, perforators, bifacial knives, hammerstones, and the debris from the manufacture of these 

weapons and tools. [1]

Desert Culture Period, 5500 to 0 A.D.

No artifacts from this period have yet been found at the site. Their stone weapons and tools are not as well 

flaked as those of the Paleo-Indians. Milling stones are common at their sites (they gathered seeds and 

nuts, and near the end of this period maize agriculture was introduced). Site density and size increased 

through this period. [2]

Anasazi Period, A.D. 0 to A.D. 1300

Anasazi sites are common throughout the Four Corners area; Hubbell Trading Post has its share. This era 

is broken down into several periods:

Basketmaker II (A.D. 0-500), noted for the horticulture of maize and squash, hunting and 

gathering. The people lived in shallow pithouses and surface houses of brush and mud. 

Basketmaker III (A.D. 500-800), characterized by painted ceramics, round to oval 

pithouses, and surface storage rooms. More dependency on horticulture and less on hunting 

and gathering. Single-family sites. Hubbell Trading Post has one site from this period, 

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HUTR 10, to be discussed further below. 

Basketmaker III trended into Pueblo I, a period of expanding horticultural activity and the 

decreasing of hunting and gathering. Population increasing, multi-family villages 

established. Multi-family building units, consisting of five to fifteen rooms, often of adobe, 

and adjacent pithouses for storage, living, and working. Evidence of Pueblo I culture at 

Hubbell Trading Post.

Pueblo II period (A.D. 900-1100) is noted for increasing sizes of villages, which now 

contained kivas. Ceramics more diverse in form and decoration. New types of black-onwhite ceramics. 

Figure 39. Archeological sites at Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

Two sites with PII affiliations at Hubbell. During Pueblo III (A.D. 1100-1300) period, villages moved to 

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lower, wetter areas. Large villages near floodplains or sheltered areas, more complex and communal. 

Wide Reed Ruin at Hubbell Trading Post was a relatively large PIII site. There is another (probable) PIII 

site there, plus three others with PIII components. The general area was largely abandoned in about 1300 

due to an ongoing drought that began in the 1270s. Little evidence of Pueblo IV and Pueblo V cultures 

after 1300 east of the Hopi mesas (which are west of Ganado).

The Navajo

One thing that seems certain about the Navajo is that they drifted in from the north. That is their linguistic 

group, Athabaskan, would indicate their land of origin to be northwestern Canada. They were nomadic 

hunters and gatherers. Nobody knows for certain what pressures or goals brought them here. Nobody 

knows for certain when they first arrived in the Four Corners area. Some have suggested A.D. 1000 or 

earlier, others say they could have arrived as late as the fifteenth or early sixteenth century. 

The Spanish encountered the Navajo during Antonio de Espejo's expedition of 1582-1583. In the early 

seventeenth century the Navajo were described as "a semi-sedentary, agricultural people who moved 

away from their fields for hunting, lived in what are described as underground houses in small 

communities, traded with their Puebloan neighbors and were both friendly and hostile to them at different 

times and under different circumstances." [3] This would be a reasonably accurate description of them 

until the Anglo-Americans arrived in the mid 1800s. 

It does seem likely that when the first of the people who would be called the Navajo arrived they were 

still hunters and gatherers. In that case, then, their encounter with the Puebloan culture must have been a 

genuine culture shock. It would be fascinating to know what thoughts went through their heads when they 

stumbled into, say Chaco Canyon. The modern traveler to Chaco Canyon is still impressed by the 

magnitude of what was created there. As hunters and gatherers, the Navajo would have brought little but 

their survival skills with them, and they would have arrived in small groups. Whatever they have learned 

apart from their survival skills was acquired first from the Pueblo Indians, then the Spanish-Mexicans, 

finally from the Anglo-Americans. They learned agriculture and weaving from the Puebloans, herding 

from the Pueblo Indians and the Spanish-Mexicans, metal working from the Mexicans and the Anglo 

Americans. They have proved to be adaptable and resilient---more so than the majority of the Pueblo 

Indians---as the world as changed around them. 

The Navajo suffered great traumas during the Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American military campaigns 

against them. They in turn did some campaigning and marauding of their own as they ranged far from 

their own territory in search of captives and sheep and horses. Kit Carson's devastating campaign of the 

1860s, the resulting Long Walk to Bosque Redondo, and the exile of the Navajo there for several years in 

the hands of the U.S. Army were undoubtedly the severest blows they have suffered.

When they returned to their own lands just before 1870, they fell under the influence of the Indian Agents 

and the Indian Traders. The traders proved to be one of the most important acculturating influences in the 

history of the Navajo, and J.L. Hubbell went into business at a crucial time in their history. (There's not 

enough room here for anything even approaching a detailed study of the Navajo. The interested reader 

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should take a look at the bibliographic essay near the end of this work for suggested titles.)

Some Archeological Sites Within the Boundaries of Hubbell Trading Post

HUTR-1: This site includes the Hubbell Trading Post complex of buildings. The foundations of the 

Leonard Trading Post buildings are here (uncovered in 1987). Artifacts have been recovered while repairs 

to present structures were being conducted or utility lines dug. All such repairs or excavations have been 

monitored by archeologists. Artifacts found here are mainly of American and European manufacture, 

ceramics, food and medicine bottles, iron objects from farm implements or horse gear. Such objects are 

very similar to the artifacts recovered from the trash dump, which was northwest of the home and the 

guest hogan and just along the edge of the Pueblo Colorado Wash. The artifacts recovered at HUTR-1 are 

either still at the trading post or at the Division of Anthropology in Santa Fe. [4]

HUTR-2: This small site is located due South of the trading post at the boundary line of the historic site. 

Unidentified prehistoric sherds and lithic flakes have been recovered here in a small area on the surface 

by the irrigation ditch. The depth of the site seems to shallow and the area has been disturbed by the 

construction of the irrigation ditch, the boundary fence, as well as a nearby road. [5]

HUTR-3: Located just south of the entrance road and HUTR-5 (Wide Reed Ruin), this site was 

uncovered during excavation for a gas line that parallels the road. Three, possibly four slab-lined cists and 

five prehistoric sherds were exposed. The ceramics are Puebloan but have not been identified as to type. 

The artifacts may be associated with HUTR-5 and, if so, should not be considered a separate site. [6]

HUTR-4: The Sand Dune Site is located just west of HUTR-5 on the south bank of the Pueblo Colorado 

Wash. The area was excavated between 1978 and 1988 in order to salvage what secrets it contains before 

erosion destroys the site. An extensive study of the excavations is on file at the trading post. [7] A small 

prehistoric pithouse and slab-lined hearth were excavated in 1981. Later excavations exposed evidence of 

historic Navajo occupation of the site. Major excavation in 1987 revealed many more historic features, 

including the remains of two (probably) mid-eighteenth century hogans, as well as the remains of 

ramadas, hearths, storage pits, and a small corral or pen. Hundreds of potsherds, primarily Dinetah Utility 

Ware (A.D. 1750-1800) and lithics and pieces of groundstone were recovered. Some Pueblo I-III artifacts 

were recovered but these may be associated with HUTR-5. This site is interpreted as primarily an 

eighteenth century Navajo site of undetermined size. [8]

HUTR-5: Wide Reed Ruin is the most important archeological feature at Hubbell Trading Post. It is 

located on the south side of the Pueblo Colorado Wash, north of the entrance road and the employee 

housing area. Because of the danger of Wide Reed Ruin being lost by erosion along the banks of the 

wash, the site was excavated in the early 1970s. A comprehensive report, Wide Reed Ruin, by James E. 

Mount, is on file in the trading post's Curator's office. [9] Apparently the report, well done and 

comprehensive, is as yet unpublished.

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Figure 40. A corner of Wide Reed Ruin in December of 1971. This photograph illustrates 

some of the damage done to the site by erosion along Pueblo Colorado Wash. NPS photo 

by E. Bauer. HUTR Neg. R76#23.

One is surprised at how extensive the ruin is. This is a pentagon shaped pueblo constructed in A.D. 1276-

1277 (According to tree ring dates). Nineteen of an estimated 68 rooms have been excavated, studied and 

photographed, and then recovered for preservation. Gabions were placed in the wash in an attempt to keep 

water away from the bank. This is a Pueblo III ruin with kivas and plazas, at one time the home of a 

sizable community. [10]

HUTR-9: Pueblo I sherds and a few lithic flakes were recorded on the surface at this site, which is 

located on a low sandy loam ridge about 0.3 miles northwest of the trading post. Cultural deposits appear 

to be shallow. The site is actually just outside the historic site boundary, and not far from the Pueblo 

Colorado Wash. 

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Figure 41. Laying inka to cover HUTR 10. After examination of the archeological site, the 

area was reburied in order to preserve it. Summer, 1984. NPS photo by E. Bauer. HUTR 

Neg. R76#23

HUTR-10: Site 10 is located at the western end of the historic site and is found inside and outside the 

boundary. It was discovered on April 27, 1969. This is a Basketmaker II-Pueblo I site and covers the 

largest area of any of the archeological sites at the trading post. Several burial sites have been excavated; 

reports on these investigations are on file at the Curator's office. [11] A large number of sherds and lithics 

have been collected from or observed over an area of about 8700 square meters. Skeletal remains and 

ceramic vessels were removed from the burial sites. The site has been reburied for preservation. [12]

HUTR-11: First recorded in 1969, this Pueblo III site is located along trading post boundary line between 

HUTR-10 and HUTR-12. This is a concentrated scatter of sherds and lithics. Construction of an irrigation 

ditch may have disturbed part of this site and part of the site is suffering erosion from a tributary arroyo of 

the Pueblo Colorado Wash. [13]

HUTR-12: Another scatter of sherds, more sparse than that of HUTR-11 but covering a slightly larger 

area, this site is found along the north fence line between HUTR-9 and HUTR-11. The site has been much 

disturbed by agricultural activity but appears to cover approximately 2,600 square meters inside and 

outside the boundary line. Identified sherds found here have included Pueblo I, Navajo Utility, and Hopi. 

[14]

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HUTR-14: Extending over an area of about 1,960 square meters on a low rise south-southeast of the 

building complex, this site contains ceramic sherds from the Pueblo I-III periods. This is a dense 

concentration of sherds and lithic artifacts. An uncompleted irrigation ditch runs from the southeast 

boundary corner of the trading post site to the edge of HUTR-14. [15]

HUTR-15: This site has been disturbed by agricultural activities associated with the operation of the 

irrigation system. The Chaco Center Remote Sensing Team of the NPS detected a circular depression here 

in 1977-1978. All evidence gathered here indicates that this is a modern Navajo site and the circular 

depression may be the of a Navajo hogan. [16]

HUTR-16: This is another site that has been disturbed by agricultural activities. The period for this 

scattering of sherds and lithics is unidentified. The location of this small site is about 124 meters westsouthwest of HUTR-14 and the depth appears to be shallow. [17]

Conclusion

The 160 acres of Hubbell Trading Post contain an unusual concentration of cultural resources from 

ancient Indians to modern Indians and the Spanish-Mexican and Anglo-European cultures. In other 

words, virtually the entire history of man's occupation of the area is represented here, from Anasazi 

pueblo sites to modern structures and artwork, and modern Indian arts and crafts. [18] This is a rich---and 

valuable--collection of cultural resources to be in such a small area. When one also considers the lucrative 

ongoing business at the trading post, one begins to understand the large responsibility of the 

superintendency of this small, remote historic site. Added to this is the complexity of dealing with the 

Navajo Nation. Because all of the superintendents here were first-time superintendents, the historic site 

has been laughingly referred to (not by everybody, by any means) as a superintendents' training ground. A 

few ex-superintendents suggested that it is not a good place to train superintendents. The issues to be 

faced here are too complex and varied.

Pertinent Research Studies on File at Hubbell Trading Post (listed chronologically)

Excavation of Burial 1, Site 10: Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, Ganado, Arizona, by David 

M. Brugge. This is an unpublished report of a site discovered on April 2, 1969. There are six typed pages, 

plus four other pages to which seven photographs have been glued. The file copy appears to be a carbon 

copy. Many sherds were found and they are described. The burial was found because of erosion to the 

bank of the arroyo there. The bones are in poor condition, some missing, and most of the vessels found 

there had been broken, possibly by the pressure of the earth. The bones were salvaged and some vessels 

were reconstructed from pieces.

This is probably the earliest report from this site. (Other archeological work was done in this vicinity 

between 1971 and 1978. The site was protected by the installation of geo-web and was recovered with 

earth as an anti-erosion measure.)

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Faunal Analysis of Material Collected at the Hubbell Trading Post During May and June 1973, by Frank 

E. Bayham. Trenching was done in an area where animals used to be butchered. Quantities of bone were 

found in those places. This report, submitted by Stanley Olsen, Zoo-archeologist, of the Arizona State 

Museum, University of Arizona, to Dr. Keith Anderson, Arizona Archeological Center, National Park 

Service, in Tucson, is the result of that study. The report is a 56-page photocopy. Many of the pages are 

simply lists that describe the species of the creatures that were butchered, the part of the skeleton 

recovered, the size of the bone, the age and sex of the animal, if known, and the condition of the bone. 

The study proved that 98% of the faunal material was from domesticated animals. The study also 

discusses whether the meat was used by the Hubbells and nearby Navajo, or was sold to other Navajo. 

The report is admittedly inconclusive; other bone pits may be available so whether there was indeed more 

mutton than beef on the Hubbell menu may be a chore for future researchers to decide. 

Wide Reed Ruin, by James E. Mount. By 1972, a northern portion of Wide Reed Ruin was about to 

crumble into the invading Pueblo Colorado Wash. This study is a result of excavations on part of the site 

in order to preserve information buried there just in case a portion of the ruin should be washed away. 

James E. Mount was a part-time employee of the Arizona Archeological Center and a graduate student at 

the University of Arizona. This is a surprisingly engrossing 207-page report filled with diagrams and 

many good black-and-white photographs. Tree-ring dates indicate that the pueblo was probably built as a 

unit in about 1276. Many sherds, tools, and ceramics were uncovered. The place was thoroughly mapped 

and photographed, and then it was re-covered. Gabions have since been placed in the wash to prevent 

further erosion. It should be noted that the south end of the ruin, the side not in any danger from the wash, 

has not been excavated. The report on file is a photocopy, photographs glued to pages.

Preliminary Report on Remote Sensing of Hubbell Trading, by LouAnn Jacobson, 10 July, 1978, Remote 

Sensing Division, Southwest Cultural Resources Center, National Park Service. Aerial photographs of 

Hubbell Trading Post were made on October 10, 1977. Photo interpretation revealed some anomalies. 

They were looking for possibly undetected archeological sites. An attempt to interpret the report indicates 

that probably nothing of interest was discovered: "This project was only moderately successful in locating 

archeological features using aerial imagery. A pithouse and sherd scatter unknown to the interpreter were 

located but all other known areas with cultural material were not seen on the photos." The report is a 

seven-page photocopy with some maps and photocopies of aerial photos.

An Archeological Assessment of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, by Dan Scurlock, and 

prepared by the Center for Anthropological Studies for the National Park Service, February, 1979. A 100-

page bound work, this is a good overview of the general history of the area as well as a comprehensive 

survey of all of the people who have occupied the historic site. The bibliography will be useful to those 

who wish to do a thorough study of local Indians, the Indian traders, and many other pertinent subjects. 

An excellent reference work, and the bibliography should keep the interested reader busy for years.

Analysis of Burial #3 from Hubbell Trading Post (HUTR-10) in Northeastern Arizona, by Marilyn R. 

London and Analysis of Burial #4 from Hubbell Trading Post (HUTR-10) in Northeastern Arizona, by 

Marilyn R. London. These reports, photocopies, are in a folder labeled "HUTR Site 10, burial #2, Oct. 

'77." Ten Ektachrome transparencies of burial #2 are in the folder, but there is no report on burial #2. The 

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transparencies show some fragmented pots, and the skull of what must have been an adult.

Burial #3 consists of a child of about five years of age who died 1200 to 1300 years ago. Neither the sex 

nor the cause of death could be determined due to the deteriorated condition of the remains.

Burial #4 consists of the remains of a six-month-old infant. The condition of the burial was poor due to 

age and rodent activity.

These remains were delivered to the University of New Mexico in 1981. Both reports are dated February, 

1982.

Historic Analysis at Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, by Judith A. Habicht-Mauche and Mary 

Stiner, Southwest Archeological Consultants. Prepared for the National Park Service, Division of 

Anthropology, 1987. This is a bound book of about 150 pages that "summarizes the analysis of historic 

artifacts recovered from test excavations conducted at Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site 

(HUTR-1) between 1982 and 1987." These artifacts were recovered from trash heaps, or from trenches 

dug at the time of maintenance or stabilization projects. The objects analyzed number in the thousands 

and include almost everything one might find in a trash heap that was building between the late nineteenth 

century and the first half of the twentieth century. Even plastics that postdate World War II are discussed.

In this remarkable study one can discover what the Hubbell family ate, what they ate from and with, what 

they drank, what they played with, their medicines, the tools they used. Samples of virtually all of the 

artifacts and assorted thingamabobs used by this family have turned up. And, yes, they did eat a lot of 

mutton. The study is not without a social comment or two: "The presence of fine matched dinnerware and 

personal objects of precious and semiprecious metal indicate the Hubbell family enjoyed a relatively high 

standard of living. The volume, variety and relative quality of materials recovered from HUTR-1 contrasts 

markedly with those recovered from contemporaneous Navajo sites, illustrating the stark social and 

economic differences that separated Indian from Trader. True, but then the Navajo were a different sort of 

people, and, during most of their history the Navajo wouldn't have had much use for a gravy boat or a 

gold lipstick case with engraved initials.

Studies at the Sand Dune Site, HUTR. Including: An Evaluation of Ceramics at the Sand Dune Site, and 

Notes on Historic Material Culture at the Sand Dune Site, by Peter J. McKenna, Division of 

Anthropology, Southwest Cultural Resources Center, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 

1987. This is a bound twenty-five page study that does, as the title claims, evaluate ceramics found at the 

Sand Dune Site. The work is for those whose main interest would be the identification of potsherds, but it 

even goes on to discuss some modern glass fragments and a beer cao pull-tab found at the site.

Excavation of the Sand Dune Site (AZ.K:6:1) at Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, Ganado, 

Arizona, by Karin L. Jones, November 3, 1987. Threatening erosion along the Pueblo Colorado Wash 

prompted this excavation. This is a bound work of about fifty pages with numerous photographs and 

diagrams that describes the site, the methods used during the excavation, and the results of the 

investigation. Hundreds of artifacts were recovered.

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Suggested Further Research

The 1988 Resources Management Plan states that management needs more detailed information on the 

significance, extent, and condition of the archeological resources in order to properly care for them. It was 

felt that more precise information is needed in reference to their locations, features and bounds, and such 

information should include the foundations of the Leonard buildings, the first trading post on the site, 

which is to the north of the present home and trading post. A thorough and complete evaluation is wanted, 

one that would employ remote sensing, field investigation, documentary research, and comparative 

analysis. Such a project would enable management to provide protection and interpretation for the sites in 

the future. For example, some of the sites are located where future farming may be done. In order to work 

the area with confidence, without fear of destroying resources, management should know which portions 

of the fields should be avoided by farm machinery.

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Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER X:

CULTURAL RESOURCES IV

The Land

"My wife grew the most gorgeous flowers we've grown anywhere we've lived around that little house. 

That miserable sand grows the most gorgeous dahlias you've ever seen in your life. We had a marvelous 

little home there. We had morning glories that climbed all the way up the power pole that was next to the 

bread oven. They went all the way up to the top." [1]

Hubbell Trading Post once had about 110 acres of arable land under irrigation. John Cook can remember 

seeing water in every ditch, but the land there has not been farmed since some time in the 1960s. The 

fruit and nut trees that the Hubbells planted along the irrigation ditches are all dead or dying. Until fairly 

recently, Friday Kinlicheenie used to plant the garden that was in front of the home. He was paid to plant 

the area, and he took all of the produce home. 

The area probably looked much as it did when the Hubbells lived there. According to Dorothy Hubbell, 

plenty of vegetables were grown to feed the family and any guests; that was their source of fresh 

vegetables. In some respects this was an old-fashioned subsistence sort of farm. Friday Kinlicheenie's 

sons used to help him plant the vegetable plot. Now that Friday is no longer working the garden, nobody 

is working it. 

A request was made of SPMA in 1991 for a grant of $5,000 to hire a gardener to help make the place 

look more like it used to, that is, help "interpret" the place. The request was denied. Just at the moment 

the dam at Ganado Lake can't be used. The irrigation ditches are empty. The wind blows, the sand drifts, 

and the ditches fill with sand and weeds. As the years go by without any activity on the land, the trading 

post comes to look more and more like a moribund monument rather than the living, evolving entity it's 

supposed to be. The hard-won terraced fields are eroding, and the native vegetation is invading the land. 

And of course as the years go by it will become increasingly difficult and expensive to win back what 

took so much time and money to create. 

In reference to the "historic scene" at Hubbell Trading Post, the tone of the December, 1988, Resource 

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Management Plan is critical: "During the past twenty years park...administrators have taken inconsistent 

approaches to managing the historic scene." But in fact the 1988 plan is inconsistent and inaccurate.

Charles S. Peterson's Homestead and Farm: A History of Farming at the Hubbell Trading Post National 

Historic Site has been available since 1986. Peterson's book can be taken as the definitive study on the 

farming scene at Hubbell Trading Post. The project was funded by SPMA. It is an extremely interesting 

and almost overwhelmingly detailed account by an agricultural historian of what farming was all about 

at Hubbell Trading Post. With Peterson's book in hand, and with a thorough study of photographs, it may 

be possible to recreate any scene one wants. But which scene will it be?

The 1988 Plan states that: "The landscaping surrounding the home reflected the taste of various family 

members who resided there from 1902 until 1967. When the NPS acquired the post, one of the intended 

purposes was to continue operations in the Hubbell tradition. It was not to be 'frozen in time' for any 

particular historical period, " (page 6). But the trading post was only half trading post. The other half was 

farm. If the NPS isn't going to freeze in time the trading post operation, why do they feel it's necessary to 

freeze in time the farming operation? Surely the Hubbells wouldn't have been farming in 1934 with 

methods left over from 1904. The Hubbells themselves weren’t frozen in time. Trying to make the 

trading post land look like it did in 1934---to pick a time roughly halfway between 1902 and 1967---is 

probably an unnecessary burden for the administrators of the site, few of whom seem to have known 

anything about farming.

The 1988 Plan goes on to say that: "Without guidance, management actions will continue to be 

haphazard and alter the appearance of the Site to a greater or lesser degree," (page 6). Without guidance, 

then, it may just be safer to do nothing. If we haven't decided on a period in time in which to freeze the 

site, we just won't tamper with it at all. But surely the general aspect of the site was changing all the time 

between 1902 and 1967, plants being added or removed every year, plants and trees dying, others 

coming in as "volunteers," new people at the trading post adding their ideas. 

It may be that the original Master Plan (1966) is the original culprit: "The goal is to restore Hubbell 

Trading Post to the well documented period of the early 1900s." The next sentence: "In doing this we 

need not, and indeed must not destroy more recent structures or radically alter the older ones." (page 1) 

Benjamin Levy, in his Hubbell Trading Post: Historic Structures Report, Part II, indicates that the early 

1900s might not be as easy to document as the authors of the original Master Plan thought. In any case, it 

seems likely that what the writers of that Master Plan had in mind was the restoration of the buildings to 

some point in the early 1900s. 

One of the goals of the original Master Plan was: "To restore the atmosphere and historical context of the 

site, and to display artifacts and historic objects in such a manner to properly recreate the early day 

reservation trading post." (page 1-A). They would recreate an earlier trading post while at the same time 

operate a living trading post, which seems like a contradictory mission. One of the goals under General 

Development Analysis in the Original Master Plan, Resource Management, is to "Re-establish farming 

operation." Nothing is said about re-establishing the farming operation as (an early-1900s anachronism) 

some sort of early-century anachronism.

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This discussion may seem to be a candidate for inclusion in a chapter on planning issues, and some of 

these issues will appear there. But it would seem that when the Park Service was given a mandate to 

operate a "live" trading post they weren't ready to handle the concept. They were prepared to preserve 

and protect, maybe even to "freeze in time" a lot of things that perhaps needed some "freezing," but they 

weren't trained to operate an evolving business and operate a farm that didn't necessarily have to be 

frozen in time.

When Benjamin Levy was at Hubbell Trading Post in the late 1960s doing research for his Historic 

Structures Report: Part II, he noted that, " Today, corn is grown immediately to the west and north of 

the Hubbell home. How old a practice this is not known definitely, but available early photographs do 

not indicate the practice. They do, however, indicate that the ground was channelled for 

irrigation." (page 29). Friday Kinlicheenie planted the corn near the Hubbell home.

Dorothy Hubbell said the area was used for a flower and vegetable garden when she arrived there. When 

Mary Alice Bowlin stayed at the Hubbell home in the 1940s with "Aunty Bob" (Barbara Hubbell 

Goodman), the area was actually rather barren. However, Aunty Bob said the flower garden was so 

striking in the 1920s that it was featured in a home and garden magazine. [2] By the 1940s, Aunty Bob 

was too ill to tend the garden. 

So the garden can be corn, vegetables, or flowers. Or it could be a combination of corn, vegetables, and 

flowers. Some organic gardeners will juxtapose certain flowers with their vegetables in the hope that any 

invading bugs will be offended by the flowers. If one wants to plant flowers that will help create an 

antique looking trading post, all that is necessary is to select some "old-fashioned" flowers: cosmos, 

hollyhocks, dahlias, morning glories, petunias, marigolds, poppies, nasturtiums, sweet peas, for example. 

Roses should work reasonably well in Ganado. Many houses in Santa Fe, New Mexico, have lilacs in 

their yards, and in planting the gardens for Hubbell Trading Post one might keep Santa Fe in mind; the 

altitude and climate of Santa Fe and Ganado are similar, so most of the flowers, shrubs, vines, and trees 

that will flourish there should do well in Ganado. An old gardening book from the 1930s would be a big 

help, something like the Complete Book of Garden Magic, by Roy E. Biles; or The Wise Garden 

Encyclopedia, edited by E.L.D. Seymour. Or someone can check the Hubbell library to see if Aunty Bob 

left behind some gardening books. But whatever is done to brighten up the buildings with growing 

things, surely it doesn't have to look exactly as though Aunty Bob planned it all herself in May of 1923. 

(See bibliography for a few books on gardening found at Hubbell Trading Post NHS.)

Farmlands

Although John Cook saw water in all of the ditches in the 1960s, there was apparently little farming 

going on at the time. It was never easy to farm the Hubbell land; it's a good thing the NPS gave up the 

image of mule dragging man and plow across the fields. Farming with some relatively modern 

equipment will be just a whole lot easier. For example, where Roman tried to level the terraces with the 

aid of a transit, they can now be laser leveled to help get irrigation water into the far corners. But any 

areas that are hard to irrigate can always be turned into orchards that are watered by drip irrigation, if the 

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land is going to be used. There are plenty of modern solutions available to the future farmers at Hubbell 

Trading Post, and there are few lawns as beautiful as a field of alfalfa under a blue sky, all across the 

field pairs of the inevitable butterflies circling each other in what is probably a mating ritual. That should 

liven up the scenery around the old trading post.

Two approaches to farming at Hubbell Trading Post will be considered: A few acres can be worked as an 

interpretive device. Or very nearly all of the area formerly farmed will once again be put under 

cultivation.

The first approach may be possible now but it would require investigation with the state of Arizona and 

the Navajo to see if enough water for such a project can be pumped. In any case, all of the acreage used 

by the Hubbells will not be farmed; care will have to be taken that archeological sites in the fields are not 

damaged. Over than that, if water ever comes through the ditches again, as much as possible of the land 

will be used. If this plan can be implemented, it is probably the best approach to take. The trading post 

would then be entirely resurrected to be more or less what it was during its heyday. Farming was, by all 

accounts, important to the Hubbells, and especially to J.L. Hubbell.

The Alfalfa Farm 

The large garden down by the home was used as a kitchen garden. According to Dorothy Hubbell, that is 

where most of the vegetables they used in the home came from, and they had some fruit trees. But the 

fields south of the trading post were used mainly for growing alfalfa. It is said that the trading post was 

known as the "hay ranch," and that farms owned by the Hubbells in other areas were known as the "bean 

ranches" (Pinon Springs and Vander Wagen) and the "fruit farm" (Farmington). [3] They experimented 

with other crops at Hubbell Trading Post, but the post was primarily an alfalfa farm.

If more or less the entire 110 acres is to be farmed, alfalfa would, in the authors' opinion, remain a good 

choice from several points of view. Not only would it be historically correct, it is also a relatively easy 

crop to care for. Alfalfa came to the New World with the Spanish, but the word---alfalfa---tells us that 

the crop probably arrived in Spain with the Moors (along with a lot of other things). A field of alfalfa can 

last about five years before it has to be broken up and replanted. According to Charles S. Peterson's 

farmland study, a farmer should realize at least three cuttings per season in Ganado's climate. Alfalfa is 

irrigated again soon after each cutting, and, where the authors live, in New Mexico's Mesilla Valley, 

about every two weeks. Alfalfa discharges nitrogen; it also revitalizes depleted soil, an added bonus. 

It is the authors' experience that there always seems to be a market for alfalfa. Its main problem is that 

mown hay, caught on the ground by rain, or bales caught in the field by rain, can be ruined. It depends 

on the amount of rain, but if the hay is not yet baled, it can be turned over and dried. Soaked bales, even 

if they are not a total loss, will be diminished in value. 

Rural Mexicans (and that includes those in the Mesilla Valley) eat alfalfa. Soon after a cutting, when the 

new shoots are still just a few inches long (and still tender), they will gather the shoots and cook them in 

much the same manner as one would cook spinach. They might mix the alfalfa with beans, or bits of 

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bacon. It's not such a bad dish, and if you question the Mexicans about the appropriateness of eating 

cattle feed, they laugh and point out how big and strong their cows and horses are. Vegetarians have 

known for many years that alfalfa is packed with nutrient wonders.

Although the Hubbells planned most of the farming, they did little of the labor. They managed the farm. 

The season in Ganado runs from about the end of February to October. The Hubbells used varying 

numbers of hired people around the post, from one man at the beginning of the season, to large crews 

during harvest. Modern alfalfa farming requires few people and only intermittent attention. Irrigate as 

soon in the season as possible. Cut when ready, bale when sufficiently dry, get the bales out of the field 

and under cover. Irrigate as custom in the area dictates. During the summer rainy season, irrigating may 

be less of a chore.

The Hubbells farmed intensively until Don Lorenzo died. They sold the hay wherever they could, by the 

bale at the trading post, or in large lots for shipment to other trading posts of theirs or to other customers. 

They used the alfalfa for their own cattle at the trading post as well as for the many draft animals they 

required in their freighting business. In the early days, then, the alfalfa helped fuel the freighting end of 

their business empire. The hay produced at the trading post was an integral part of the overall Hubbell 

operation. A reenacted hay farm would be an accurate interpretation.

Don Lorenzo died at about the time transportation was becoming easier on the reservation. Better roads 

(sort of), as well as more, and more powerful, motor vehicles. The business didn't require as much hay 

by that time, and it became easy to ship in hay from places where it might be cheaper to produce. But 

they did continue the hay farming at the trading post until Dorothy, left alone to manage everything, was 

forced to give it up. Nothing has been grown in the fields since.

Who Will Do The Farming for the NPS?

It hasn't been decided, should it become possible to irrigate the land, who will do the farming. Although 

an operating farm at the trading post is almost essential for the site to be interpreted correctly, and it is 

Southwest Parks and Monuments Association's raison d'etre to help the Park Service where it can, 

SPMA is, so far, noncommittal. When the time comes, they will discuss the matter with those entitled to 

know their answer. [4]

A local Navajo farmer could work the land on shares. In the authors' neck of the woods, such 

arrangements are usually split two thirds to the farmer, one-third to the landowner, the farmer providing 

seed, fertilizer, if any, labor (which includes irrigating on schedule), as well as keeping weeds under 

control. In other words, he works---and cares for---the fields as if they were his own.

If just a few of the acres across from the Visitor Center are to be cultivated, it is unlikely that a local 

farmer would be interested. However, some thought has been given to the possibility of the Future 

Farmers of America Club at the Ganado High School working that small area. Such an arrangement 

should cost little and it would put the resource to use for a worthwhile purpose. A cooperative agreement 

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would have to be worked out. [5]

But the future of farming at Hubbell Trading Post rests with whether or not water will ever again come 

through the irrigation ditches. And if alfalfa is to be grown, the NPS should be aware that it is a thirsty 

crop (requiring about 40% more water than cotton, for example).

Irrigation at Hubbell Trading Post [6]

Legend has it that when President William McKinley was assassinated, the original Hubbell homestead 

matter was on his desk and when Theodore Roosevelt became president the signing of Hubbell's bill was 

one of his first acts. [7] What is certain is that as soon as J.L. Hubbell became aware that the land around 

the trading post was to become his under the Homestead Act, he started making plans to irrigate and 

farm his land.

In Hubbell's first irrigation effort, water was diverted from the Pueblo Colorado and brought to his land 

from over two miles away. A flood in 1911 altered the stream bed but by that time the federal 

government had stepped in and was funding the dam at Ganado Lake and the entire irrigation project. J.

L. Hubbell contributed whatever he had built and he became a member of the local water district, which 

was operated by the Indian Irrigation Service. Local Navajo had about 700 acres under cultivation and 

the Presbyterian Mission used the irrigation water for their gardens. It was never a large irrigation system 

and it was always beset by problems. Hubbell himself spent thousands of dollars on ditches and flumes 

and masonry gates.

The canal entered his land on the east and emptied into a holding pond that was actually just south of his 

property. From there, water could be diverted to various parts of his land by ditches (six laterals) that are 

still easily discernible. The irrigation system and the terraced fields are as much monuments to the 

imagination and determination of J.L. Hubbell as is the trading post. The more one learns about J.L. 

Hubbell, the more one is impressed by the multiplicity of his interests. The means were on hand at 

Hubbell Trading Post to make the trader and his family virtually self sufficient, which, because of the 

remoteness of the post, was certainly a desirable goal. Don Lorenzo rarely missed a chance to take 

control of anything within his domain.

By the 1960s, the local irrigation system was virtually a dead issue. The dam at Ganado Lake is 

defective; the reservoir is empty. The canals and ditches and headgates are in disrepair. The Bureau of 

Reclamation is working with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Navajo Nation to determine-what 

repairs are necessary; but the system is a "historic structure" and so everybody has to work within the 

limits of the Historic Preservation Act, in spite of the fact that it would probably be more practical to just 

start over again. Also, it may be that nothing will be done on the repair of the dam at Ganado Lake until 

issues are adjudicated involving water distribution of the Lower Colorado. Those matters have been in 

the courts for several years. They may well be there for several more.

As much as one would like to see the fields at the trading post covered with alfalfa, there is just nothing 

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that can be done about it at the present time. If you want to make the desert bloom, you must bring water 

to it, and water in the Southwest is becoming an increasingly complicated issue. Legend also has it that 

when J.L. Hubbell was pressing to get some federal help for the irrigation project at Ganado, Teddy 

Roosevelt stepped in and helped him cut through the red tape. Today, even a Teddy Roosevelt might be 

daunted by the red tape.

Farmland Research

Homestead And Farm: A History Of Farming At The Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, by 

Charles S. Peterson, Utah State University, prepared for Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, 

March 1, 1986. This is a magnificent book-length study that describes what must be every facet of 

farming and irrigation at Hubbell Trading Post. SPMA has chosen not to publish the book. Possibly they 

feel the work is too specific for a general audience. However, almost any NPS employee at the historic 

site would benefit from reading it; the book contains much information about J.L. Hubbell and his 

interests apart from farming. A copy is on file at the site.

Vegetation Survey on Hubbell Trading Post Site, by Kancheepuram N. Gandhi, S.M. Tracy Herbarium, 

Range Science, Texas A & M University. According to his report, Mr. Gandhi roamed about the historic 

site between the 20th of June and the 12th of July, 1986, surveying its vascular vegetation. The ten-page 

study lists by Latin classification and its common name all of the vegetation Mr. Gandhi discovered, and 

it also lists it by area so that, for example, one can know which weeds are growing in the trailer court. [8]

Soil Erosion Study, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, by The Earth Technology Corporation, 

Phoenix, Arizona. Prepared under the Supervision of Kenneth M. Euge, Principal Investigator, 

September 23, 1983. As the study explains, ever since 1978, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

questioned the safety of the Ganado Dam, water flowing in the Pueblo Colorado Wash which was 

previously directed to the reservoir is now allowed to continue downstream. Increased erosion along the 

wash has been the result. This technical 108-page study, complete with photographs and many charts, 

should satisfy almost anybody's curiosity about erosion at the historic site.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 11)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER XI:

SPECIAL EVENTS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS

A re-dedication of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site occurred April 4, 1992. Some of the 

original participants attended the ceremony. Unlike the first dedication held on September 7, 1967, 

which was punctuated by an uninvited cloudburst that drove all of the distinguished guests into the 

bullpen, the 1992 dedication activities featured blue sky.

Figure 42. Dedication Ceremony, September 7, 1967. Secretary of the Interior, Stewart L. 

Udall, talking in the bullpen. LaCharles Eckel is to his left, Dorothy Hubbell to the left of 

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Mrs. Eckel. Rain drove everybody under cover. NPS photo.

Dedication Ceremony, September 7, 1967

The invitations read: "The National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, and the Southwest 

Monuments Association request the honor of your presence at the dedication of Hubbell Trading Post 

National Historic Site, Ganado, Arizona, on Thursday, the seventh of September, nineteen hundred and 

sixty-seven at four o'clock in the afternoon; The dedicatory address will be given by the Hon. Stewart L. 

Udall, Secretary of the Interior."

Master of Ceremonies for the event was John E. Cook, then Superintendent of both Canyon de Chelly 

National Monument and Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. Cook had been living at Hubbell 

Trading Post during most of the past year. ("I went down there intentionally to get a feeling for the 

place.... I wanted to start Hubbell Trading Post right. I wanted it to be a special place in the National 

Park System." [1]

Invocation was by Reverend Glen Williamson of the Presbyterian Church, Ganado Mission.

Welcome to Hubbell Trading Post was by Wescoat S. Wolfe, Supervisory Historian at Hubbell 

Trading Post, the trading post's first resident historian. (Wolfe himself had not been in Ganado for long. 

John Cook had asked for him to be assigned to the trading post because Wolfe had a reputation for 

outstanding work. The historian and his family had come from Washington, D.C. They were put up in a 

mobile home that had been brought in for them and parked out by HB-5 The Wolfe's first evening in 

Ganado, after dinner with John Cook and his family, their daughter ran into the Manager's Residence all 

out of breath and exclaimed: "Mommy, Daddy, Indians, Indians! " Cook's daughter went out to take a 

look. When she returned she said: "There aren't any Indians out there, just Navajo." [2] Wescoat Wolfe 

was later Superintendent of Hubbell Trading Post, from 12 January, 1969 to 9 February, 1969, less than 

a month.)

Blessing Ceremony was performed by Friday Kinlicheenie, the longtime employee of the trading post, 

who is also a medicine man.

Remarks were made by the Honorable Raymond Nakaai, Chairman, Navajo Tribal Council.

Address was of course by the Honorable Stewart L. Udall, who was also one of the first people to start 

working to bring the trading post into the National Park System. At the time, Udall was the Secretary of 

the Interior.

Benediction was by the Reverend Emanuel Trockur, O.F.M.

Conducted tours of the Hubbell home and the trading post were staged between 1:00 and 3:45 P.M., 

and there were other tours, as well as refreshments, after the dedication. In spite of the rain---or because 

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of it?---the dedication was considered a success; with all those people crowded into the bullpen, surely 

some of them must have gotten to know each other.

The Blessing Way After Lightning Struck a Tree at Hubbell Trading Post [3]

Bill Young and Friday Kinlicheenie dropped by to see Superintendent Tom Vaughan not long after 

lightning struck a tree at the trading post. This was in the days when Friday was riding his horse to work; 

he fear that he would no longer be able to allow his horse to graze at the trading post, that the lightning 

could have caused impurities in the grass. Furthermore, the lightning might have polluted food in the 

houses, it might just spoil the goods on the shelves in the trading post, and the evil could possible reach 

as far as Washington, D.C. Bill Young translated for Friday.

Tom had never before had any experience with the kind of lightning that Friday was describing through 

Bill Young, but he did ask what might be done to clear up the matter. The place could need a Blessing 

Way ceremony, Friday explained. Tom told them he would consider it. Friday went on to say that all the 

local Navajo were truly concerned, that the situation would have to be put to rest with a Blessing Way.

That night one of the trading post employees drove a car into a horse, killing the horse and seriously 

injuring the rider. The next day, while a restoration crew was at work in the barn, a roof beam broke. 

Nobody in the barn was injured, but it was a close run thing. Tom Vaughan could take a hint, and by that 

time everybody at the trading post---not only the Navajo---was ready for a Blessing Way. The office was 

closed at ten o'clock the next morning. The trading post closed its doors. Visitors were told that no 

business would be conducted until after the ceremony. If the visitors cared to do so, however, they could 

participate in or watch the ceremony.

The participants went into the compound and sat in a circle on the ground. While chanting his prayers, 

the singer buried bits of turquoise at the base of the contaminated tree. Friday and one of the trading post 

weavers acted as the singer's assistants. A wedding basket with a potion; consisting of blossoms, leaves, 

and other plant parts was passed around. The wedding basket went the rounds again and this time 

everybody dipped their fingers in the potion. After the finger dunking, the participants trooped off 

through the buildings, following the chanting singer as he and his assistants put their fingers in the 

wedding basket and flicked the potion around the rooms. Hoping that the menace had been dispelled by 

the ceremony, Tom had the office and the trading post reopened and everybody went back to work. Tom 

heard a tourist from the East saying, "They'll never believe this back home." Maybe not, but if you're 

going to live and work in Ganado, you'd better maintain an open mind. Indeed, most of the people who 

have served at Hubbell Trading Post insist that while you're there you should keep your mind open and 

ready to sample some notions that are going to be brand new to you. The ways of the traditional Navajo 

will be more "foreign" to a mainstream American that is the lifestyle of say, a citizen of Germany or 

Denmark.

As Tom Vaughan recalls the incident, Bill Young contributed the wedding basket and also paid $100.00 

to the singer for his services. Tom put in a requisition for the money, hoping to repay Bill, but he was 

never able to recover it. Who knows, that particular requisition may still be floating around, looking for a 

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place to come to rest.

Figure 43. Friday Kinlicheenie doing a Blessing Way ceremony in the bullpen in May, 

1972. A niece is assisting him. NPS photo.

It has been fairly common for a Navajo singer [4] to perform a Blessing Way ceremony at one or another 

of the buildings at the trading post. Friday Kinlicheenie performed such Blessing Way rites while he was 

there. For example, on Establishment Day he went through the trading post chanting prayers while his 

assistant, in this case a niece of his, sprinkled cornmeal on the walls, thereby ensuring the safety of 

everyone and everything within those walls.

Daughters of the American Colonists

In 1965 Mrs. Emry Kopta was working with the Arizona State Society of the Daughters of the American 

Colonists. She was the author of a resolution by the Arizona chapter of that society to make the 

acquisition of Hubbell Trading Post its "National Project for 1965." The Arizona chapter of the society 

wrote all of the chapters in the other states to ask them to write their congressional delegations so that 

they might support the Hubbell bill. Nobody will ever know how many of the chapters did comply with 

the request, but the Arizona chapter did receive some replies indicating that the request had been at least 

a partial success. Nobody will ever know what effect the Society of the Daughters of the American 

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Colonists had on the eventual passing of the Hubbell Trading Post bill. [5] However, lest their effort be 

forgotten, let part of their story be recorded here.

A program to dedicate a plaque at Hubbell Trading Post was held by them at the trading post on the 16th 

of May, 1969. Ned Danson was invited to speak. He replied to their request that he would be there, that 

he would be driving down from Canyon de Chelly in the morning. He promised to make his talk short, 

and, "because everybody knows about Hubbell Trading Post," he would explain how the work to get 

Hubbell Trading Post into the Park Service was started and "about some of the funny things that 

happened in the Park Service while we were working on the problem." He would give enough of the 

historic background of the trading post to make it all "worthwhile." [6]

Because most of the members of the society were from Phoenix and Tucson, and it would be a long drive 

back for them, the program was held at 9:30 A.M. Mrs. Walter R. Stokes read a prayer, and the pledge of 

allegiance was led by Mrs. Roy V. Shrewder. Dorothy Hubbell made the welcoming address. A response 

to the welcoming address was given by Mrs. Roland M. James. Mrs. Fredrick J. Gwinner introduced 

John Cook, who was then Superintendent of the Navajo Lands Group. Ned Danson gave his address and 

then the plaque was unveiled by Mrs. LeRoy Garrigus. Introductions were by Mrs. James P. Lanehart, a 

prayer by the chaplain. [7]

On the Road: Shows, Fairs, Exhibits, Galleries

The traders at Hubbell Trading Post have never been bashful about putting their wares on the road so that 

interested citizens in other parts of the country can get a chance to admire them. Rugs and other arts and 

crafts from the trading post have been as far afield as Chicago.

During the fall of 1991, some rugs from Hubbell Trading Post NHS were displayed in the museum in 

Kent Hall at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. The exhibit was called "Contemporary Navajo 

Weaving---Hubbell Trading Post, Ganado, Arizona," and was sponsored by the Arizona Commission on 

the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. The exhibit was part of the Traveling Exhibition 

Program. Twenty-six examples of weaving from the trading post's rug room were included, mostly rugs, 

but a few saddle blankets were included. It was an attractive selection. The rugs were from Ganado, 

Klagetoh, Two Grey Hills, and Chinle, and were good examples of the fine weaving to be found in 

Hubbell Trading Post's Rug Room. The rugs were for sale, and some of them did sell. The exhibit was a 

good advertisement, although there was no indication that the trading post is part of our National Park 

System. [8]

Hubbell Trading Post's arts and crafts have been going on the road almost from the very moment that the 

NPS and SPMA took over. Hubbell Trading Post's crafts are represented at the Navajo Tribal Fair, the 

Intertribal Gallup Ceremonial, and at many other regional fairs and shows. If there is going to be an arts 

and crafts exhibit at a fair or show, Hubbell Trading Post will be there. As well as being good public 

relations for the trading post, Hubbell always comes away with its share of prizes.

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All of this off-site activity is in the best tradition of Hubbell Trading Post; J.L. Hubbell himself wasn't 

shy about advertising his rugs, and, like C.N. Cotton in Gallup, he had a catalog produced. Lorenzo 

Hubbell, the nonstop businessman, was always on the alert for dealers and other outlets for his blankets 

and rugs. He did business with the Hyde Exploring Expedition (the Wetherill brothers, who were in the 

trading business for many years after they gave up exploring for Anasazi ruins) and the Fred Harvey 

Company. The Fred Harvey Company, with its outlets along the railroads, let very few train travelers get 

across the continent without seeing an Indian rug. The Fred Harvey Alvarado Hotel, in Albuquerque, 

bought $25,000 worth of rugs when they were selling for $20.00 to $150.00. Hubbell was able to 

establish market outlets as far away as Chicago and New York. It is interesting to note that sales in those 

distant places would eventually influence what the Navajo weaver was producing; the styles that sold 

were the styles the traders encouraged their weavers to make. The modern Navajo rug is the result of 

Anglo finagling and business acumen, and Navajo whimsy and creativity.

Newspaper clippings on file at the site give some indication of past activities: Rugs from Hubbell have 

been on exhibit at the Wheelwright Museum, Santa Fe; the Kaibab Shop, Tucson. In 1976, Sadie Curtis 

wove an American flag rug; an Arizona flag rug was woven by Mary Lee Begay. Both flag rugs were 

auctioned off on December 12, 1976, at the Arizona Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona. The Arizona flag went 

for $3,750, the U.S. flag for $4,000, and the money was donated to the scholarship fund at the Navajo 

Community College, at Tsaile. [9] This sampling should suffice to indicate the extent of off-site 

activities for the trading post. However, it should be noted, too, that Hubbell Trading Post's Trader/

Managers have often volunteered their time to be judges at arts and crafts shows.

Conclusion

The Trader/Managers have been doing their share to advertise the existence of Hubbell Trading Post 

National Historic Site. Some of these trips are expensive, and money earned has not always justified the 

cost in time and money spent. [10] It's difficult to gauge to what extent such activities help to bring in 

new customers, but in the long run the trips are probably a good investment.

It is evident that the general public, even citizens of the Southwest, do not know of Hubbell Trading 

Post. The magnificent collection of art and artifacts goes largely unappreciated, unnoticed. However, if 

the present curator at the historic site has his way, the museum collection should get more coverage---

and possibly cover some ground (see Cultural Resources II, the Museum Collection).

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 12)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER XII:

INTERPRETATION OF THE SITE

During the mid-1970s a young trainee-ranger was on a tour of sites, parks, and monuments in the 

Southwest Region. The trip was part of his training, and during the tour he would inspect a place and 

then discuss his observations with the local superintendent and anybody else he cared to talk to. After the 

trainee's tour around Hubbell Trading Post, and over a cup of coffee with the site's superintendent, he 

mentioned that he was concerned about all the pickup trucks parked in front of the trading post. A visitor 

should see nothing but hitching racks for horses out there, he suggested. The pickup trucks, he noted, 

were not historically correct.

But, the superintendent pointed out, pickup trucks are how the Navajo get around these days. The only 

horses one might see parked out there would probably belong to Friday Kinlicheenie, an SPMA 

employee, because that's how he gets to work. If the trainee had wanted to see horses and wagons, he 

should have arrive fifty years earlier.

But wasn't the NPS trying to recreate an historic milieu here? If so, pickup trucks were jarring to the 

sensibilities.

The superintendent understood Hubbell Trading Post's mission in the Park Service. What you see here, 

he pointed out, is not made up. This is the real thing. This is where the Navajo have traded for the past 

century. The store hasn't changed much. It's not a museum. We're just trying to preserve and protect it. 

The business going on in the trading post is real, it is evolving, and it will cease when the Navajo no 

longer care to trade here. Then maybe we'll turn the place into a museum. We'll just have to wait and see 

about that.

But how do you interpret an ongoing business? the trainee asked.

That's a problem, the superintendent admitted. Most people, he said, including NPS employees, expect 

this place to be a museum. The trading post is unique in the Park Service. Before you can interpret it or 

plan for it, you have to understand what we're trying to do here. [1]

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Interpretive Objectives (1980) [2]

1) To operate the trading post in a traditional manner, continuing as an agent of cultural 

exchange.

2) To present the significance of Hubbell Trading Post NH, illustrating the role and 

function of the Indian Trader, the trading post, and its evolution over time.

3) To encourage community use of the site, particularly among the Navajo population.

4) To maintain the cultural scene; at the grounds, the compound, the trading post, and in 

the surrounding farmland.

5) To emphasize personal services in the interpretive program, and to encourage the 

employment of Navajos to communicate the theme of intercultural relations.

6) To perpetuate historical trading post-related crafts, especially weaving and 

silversmithing.

This prospectus supersedes that of 1967. Although generally consistent with the 1967 prospectus, the one 

for 1980 tends more to stress the exchange of cultures that occurred at Hubbell Trading Post and other 

trading posts. Where the earlier plan had stressed the Hubbell's "baronial" lifestyle, the plan for 1980 

incorporates the Navajo point of view in the interpretive program. Mr. Johnson Yazzie, Councilman of 

the Ganado Chapter, assisted in the preparation of the 1980 interpretive plan.

This plan appears to be consistent with present interpretive activities at the trading post. Except for item 

four; that is, parts of the training post will be maintained---the buildings, the artifacts---while other 

aspects of the site---business at the trading post, the farm scene (not active), the garden and other 

vegetation around the buildings---will change where there is irrigation water for the farmland, and 

somebody to grow a vegetable garden and tend to flowers and trees and shrubs around the trading post 

buildings. At the present time almost all of the land is barren, and this is neither historically correct nor 

attractive. With growing things around it, the trading post becomes a living entity rather than a dry 

monument to the past.

The following is taken verbatim from the Interpretive Prospectus Hubbell Trading Post NHS: [3]

INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS - Exchange of Cultures

A. The Role of the Typical Trader: Instrument of non-directed change.

- Supplier of Anglo goods. 

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- Distributor of Indian trade items. 

- Supplier of credit. 

- Intermediary between Navajo and government. 

- Interpreter of government regulations. 

- Employer 

- Educator 

- Promoter, host. 

- Social services - medical care - undertaker. 

- Example of Euro-American culture and value system. 

B. John Lorenzo Hubbell, Trader.

- Relationship with the Indian community: 

- Knowledge of Navajo culture. 

- Friendship with many Navajos. 

- Bicultural background (Hispanic-Anglo). 

- Philosophy of fair dealing. 

- Business acumen: 

- Development of new markets. 

- Encouragement of new crafts. 

- Introduction of new techniques. 

- Improvement of local farming techniques 

- Political activities. 

C. The Hubbell House.

- Family compound. 

- Enclave of Spanish/Anglo culture. 

- Adaptation of physical and cultural environment 

- Child Rearing. 

- Cultural Identity. 

D. The Trading Post Complex:

- Continuing Economic Center. 

- Continuing Social Center. 

- Continuing Center of Exchange. 

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- Crafts and products. 

- Ideas. 

- Medical Clinic 

- The Structures 

- Trading Post, Wareroom, Wareroom Extension. 

- Farm, Corrals, Barn, Chicken Coop, Grounds, Irrigation, System 

- Bunkhouse, Guest Hogan, Hogan-in-the-Lane. 

E. The Navajo:

- History, as related to the Site 

- Military Conquest 

- Long Walk. 

- Culture. 

- Effects of trade. 

- Continuing process of acculturation. 

Hubbell Trading Post receives over 200,000 visits a year, of which approximately one fifth are Navajo 

who come to trade. In 1967, most of the customers were either Navajo or other residents Ganado. The 

Navajo who now visit the site probably already know as much as they want to about trading posts, their 

grandparents and great grandparents traded there; it seems likely that not all of the Navajo regarded 

Indian traders as the greatest thing since the discovery of corn. Few Navajo take advantage of the tours, 

fewer still wander around the grounds. Of the thousands of tourists who show up at the trading post, it 

can be assumed that almost none of them knows anything about the Navajo, trading posts, or traders. In 

fact they may be burdened with misconceptions. Few tourists stay long; however, even the most informal 

observation of tourist activities will reveal that almost everybody gets into the trading post. Only about 

ten percent of the people go to the visitor center, the only place where they can find free brochures that 

describe the trading post. During any year, only about ten thousand people take advantage of the tour of 

the Hubbell home. In winter four tours a day are offered, two in the morning, two in the afternoon; 

during the summer, there can be as many as six tours per day. The size of a tour is limited to fifteen 

people. And, depending on the guide, the information about the Hubbell family and trading posts can be 

wildly different. Once the group has left the kitchen, where the tour ends, few people stroll around the 

grounds.

The average tourist is at the site less than an hour. With a good guide on the tour of the home, they might 

hear most of the ideas expressed in the Outline of Interpretive Themes. Otherwise, they may go away 

almost as ignorant about trading posts as when they arrived. The Visitor Center contains books and 

brochures, a display of trader artifacts, all of which were salvaged at Hubbell, and there are Navajo 

women present most days to give demonstrations of weaving. A Navajo silversmith has a workbench 

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there as well, and there is an information desk. Although it seems likely that not many visitors learn a lot 

about traders and trading posts, they can probably learn as much as they want to learn.

It has been suggested in the past that the Navajo clerks in the trading post might help with interpreting 

the site. Classes were held that were attended by NPS and SPMA employees. None of the SPMA 

employees is now learning anything about interpretation, although it seems unlikely that any of them 

would avoid a question put to them by a visitor. It is explained that the culturally induced difference of 

the Navajo prevents them from being particularly forward with visitors. In any case, it appears that 

virtually all of the tourists take the clerks to be what they are, clerks, and seldom take advantage of the 

opportunity to engage them in conversations about the rise and fall of the trading post, the Long Walk, or 

the nuances of the Navajo verb.

Kevin McKibbin said he and his staff had a lot of fun trying to liven up the post. They brought in retired 

horses and mules from the Grand Canyon so that the animals would have a place to end their days in 

relative serenity while at the same time they would help interpret the site. During its heyday, Hubbell 

Trading Post always had animals on the premises. McKibbin got the chicken coop whipped into shape. 

Three young turkeys were bought over in Gallup and they grew up to be big, white, ornery turkeys. But 

ornery or not, the turkeys were popular with the visitors. During the turkeys' third year at the post, they 

started waiting outside the kitchen door of the Hubbell home to greet the visitors as they exited the 

building after the tours. However, when a turkey attacked the woman who was guiding one of the tours, 

McKibbin decided that they had gotten to be too ornery for their own good; the turkeys went on a oneway ride back to Gallup. Besides the recalcitrant turkeys, the staff in those days had a peacock and pea 

hens strutting around the trading post. [4] McKibbin wasn't particularly concerned about whether or not 

the creatures were "historically accurate." Without changing the basic fabric of the trading post, the NPS 

staff were able to provide a colorful background for the visitors.

The Origin of Hubbell Trading Post's Annual Chicken Report

Not every superintendent has been so concerned about whether or not the trading post looked lively. 

Although the superintendent of the Navajo Lands Group kept "hinting" that Hubbell Trading Post needed 

some chickens to help make the site look a little more like it had before the National Park Service took 

over, the trading post's superintendent would take no action on the matter. (In the very early days of 

Hubbell Trading Post as a national historic site, it was part of the Navajo Lands Group.) On Christmas 

Eve, the general superintendent of the Navajo Lands Group acquired a rooster and four hens, put them in 

a box, and had the ranger from Hubbell Trading Post meet him about fifteen miles up the road. While the 

rooster and hens were being transferred to the ranger's car, the general superintendent told him what to 

do with them.

The ranger drove the birds back to Hubbell Trading Post and put them in the wareroom. He put water 

and feed into the box for them. Then he tied surveyor’s flagging tape to the box containing the roosters 

and hens, ran the tape out of the wareroom and all the way around the trading post and over to the 

superintendent's quarters, and tied that end of the tape to the superintendent's doorknob.

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Christmas dawned on a peaceful Hubbell Trading Post. The superintendent stepped outside to greet the 

day...and found flagging tape tied to his doorknob. He followed it around the trading post and into the 

wareroom, and there he discovered that he was no longer chickenless. At least one of his presents that 

morning was a surprise.

And that is how chickens came back to Hubbell Trading Post, and that is the origin of Hubbell Trading 

Post's Annual Chicken Report.

Cultural Interpretation

Some Navajo do take the tour through the house, so it is imperative that the guides have some 

knowledge of Navajo history and culture. Terry Maze, the second historian to work at Hubbell Trading 

Post, learned as much as he could about Navajo culture. He recalled that when he would take Navajo 

through on the tour, and he might comment about the Navajo in some general way, as to why they did 

this or that, or what might be their beliefs, he would be gratified to see them nodding in agreement. He 

was told that he was accurate, and that what he had to say was appropriate. He was careful to discuss the 

Navajo and their culture and beliefs without making any judgments. [5]

Terry thought that some NPS people might have problems at Hubbell Trading Post because they cannot 

appreciate or comprehend that there are other ways of life than what they are used to, or they may arrive 

there with some preconceived ideas as to what the Navajo are like. It is most important, he believes, for 

any NPS employees at Hubbell Trading Post to learn something about the Navajo culture. Although the 

NPS is trying to interpret the trading post for the visitors, interpretation here is, as it has been since the 

1870s, something of a two-way street, Anglo-Americans learning as much as they can about the Navajo 

way, the Navajo studying the Anglo-Americans and the Hispanics, culling from those cultures whatever 

they might be able to use their own. Hubbell Trading Post continues in its ancient role as an outpost 

where differing cultures come together for mutual benefit. The mission of the National Park Service and 

its partner there, Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, is to get the idea across that Hubbell 

Trading Post National Historic Site is an important living institution, not just a rug and trinket shop with 

an antique decor.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 13)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER XIII:

PLANNING FOR THE SITE

Douglas McChristian was the only superintendent of Hubbell Trading Post to arrive with prior 

experience as a superintendent. He came to Ganado after six years as the superintendent of Fort Davis 

National Historic Site. Staffing was his immediate problem. His maintenance foreman, Lawrence 

Woody, arrived the same day he did, and Woody had no experience as a foreman. They both had to learn 

about Hubbell Trading Post's chronic maintenance problems while Woody also learned his job. The 

clerk-typist position was vacant. The chief ranger announced that he would soon resign from the Park 

Service. While McChristian tried to learn about the trading post as fast as possible, his wife, Mary, 

pitched in to answer the phone, do the fling, sort out the mail, and work the information desk in the 

Visitor Center. While Doug raced through each day trying to plug developing leaks in the operation, he 

did have various plans on file to help tell him what Hubbell Trading Post was all about. They were old 

and recent documents that had been worked up over the years to tell what had happened at the historic 

site, what projects were in the works, what other projects might be planned: master plans, statements for 

management, resource management plans, studies, research projects. With all of that information on 

hand and with all of his experience, he was able to hold the place together. [1]

None of the other superintendents who have served at Hubbell Trading Post came with prior experience 

as a superintendent, and, according to the 1988 Resources Management Plan, the site "...has had a 

relatively high turnover in the top management position during its twenty years as a Park Service 

unit." (Doug McChristian stayed but one year.) The 1988 Resources Management Plan states, too, that: 

"This area has almost always served as a 'training park' for new Superintendents." [2] Which is probably 

an unfortunate statement to have in the plan, it may give rise to the notion, or perpetuate the idea, that 

Hubbell Trading Post is an easy place to train new superintendents. That is, Hubbell Trading Post is 

small, relatively unimportant, so if so-and-so makes a mistake, maybe nobody will notice. Several of the 

ex-superintendents took exception to the idea that the trading post is a good basic training camp for NPS 

superintendents. Although one can learn a great deal there, many of the lessons learned may not be 

particularly useful elsewhere. The site is a unique operation within the Park Service, and the issues to be 

faced are easily as complex as those one might come up against in a much larger park. Doug 

McChristian did say that he became more sensitive to issues involving American Indians, so his 

experience there helped him when he got to Custer Battlefield National Monument (now designated 

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Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument).

So far, the average stay for a superintendent at the trading post is about two and a half years. Testimony 

from many ex-employees there would indicate that it may take all of two years before the local Navajo 

acknowledge, more or less, your presence. Many Navajo are conservative, and they might be thinking 

that you're just not going to be around long enough to make getting to know you a worthwhile project.

The trading post business is of course one of a kind in the National Park System. Luckily, the Trader/

Manager has been there for many years. And as one ex-superintendent said, "Nobody comes to Hubbell 

Trading Post to see the "superintendent". [3] That may be so, but the superintendent's position there is an 

important one, even if it is less glamorous than the trader's job, which is managing a $2,000,000 

business. Besides a lucrative business, the superintendent has on the site many historic structures of-nowalmost incalculable value, as well as a valuable museum collection. On top of all of that, he or she may 

be in almost daily contact with Navajo officials in reference to any number of mutual problems. To be 

able to face all of these issues with confidence, a brand new superintendent could use a good PLAN. For 

example, it took one superintendent quite a while to learn why a real trading post is doing business on a 

national historic site. [4]

The National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 requires that every park, site, or monument have a 

General Management Plan. In any case, it would be next to impossible to convince Congress to release 

money to an area unless there were planning documents to show that the NPS was thinking hard about 

what they were going to do there. And if the NPS is going to continue to put rookie superintendents into 

Hubbell Trading Post, a good up-to-date plan can serve partly as a training manual.

What, then, is the NPS doing at Hubbell Trading Post?

Management Objectives [5]

1. Protect the natural and cultural remains from loss through programs of stabilization and maintenance, 

protection, and as necessary, restrictions covering the allowable types and degrees of visitor and other 

uses of the site.

2. Perpetuate the concept of a "living" trading post that continually responds to the current needs of local 

Navajos and visitors while maintaining quality of merchandise and preserving the historic appearance 

and atmosphere.

3. To enable visitors to gain insight into the park's unique cultural significance through a varied and 

balanced interpretive program that focuses on intercultural exchanges which have occurred and will 

occur among the Indians, traders, and visitors.

4. Promote the National Park Service mission of natural and historical resource conservation by 

cooperating with other Federal agencies, the Navajo Tribe, the State of Arizona and the Ganado 

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Community.

The Kitchen Conference [6]

At first Hubbell Trading Post was going to look as it did in the early 1900s. Then it would be restored to 

appear as it had in about 1920. And finally it was decided that the post would be preserved as it was 

found in 1967. The philosophy of how to handle the trading post has gone from one of restoration to 

stabilization and preservation. The controversy came to a head in the mid-1970s during the so called 

kitchen conference.

The meeting took place in the kitchen of the Hubbell home. The NPS was about to launch a restoration 

program at the trading post that would have consumed thousands of dollars ("Bicentennial bucks were 

coming down the pike.") [7] People from Santa Fe were there, as well as Tom Vaughan, the 

superintendent. The decision had been made that the buildings were going to be restored to look as they 

had in about 1920. This date seems to have been chosen because it is more or less in the middle of the 

real heyday of the trading post culture.

But as they discussed the proposals, they became increasingly uneasy about what they were going to do 

to the place. For one thing, there were important elements to some of the buildings that had been added 

after 1920. In the wareroom, for example, they would have to entirely rebuild front wall, remove the 

parapet wall, remove the rolled-paper roof, and remove fragments of the original roof before a brand new 

old-looking roof could be added. There were other problems. Windows would have to be replaced, doors 

changed. And after all of that work, they would still have buildings around the post-the Guest Hogan, for 

example-that were built long after 1920.

As part of this restoration project, they were even proposing to return the ground level around the trading 

post to what it had been in 1920. They had already done some archeological work to determine what the 

grade had been. But if they went ahead and restored the former level of the ground around the post, the 

wind would soon undo all of their effort by blowing in some more sand. Wouldn’t it? The more they 

thought about restoring the former grade level, the sillier the idea seemed. And, if everything at the post 

was supposed to be synchronized to 1920, Dorothy Hubbell’s life there with Roman would be 

extinguished. And one could easily argue that the 1957-1967 period was as important as any other at the 

trading post.

The kitchen conference ended with the decision that they would do little of the proposed restoration, that 

from that day on Hubbell Trading Post would be stabilized and preserved, but not much restoration 

would be considered. They decided at that conference that what was meant by "living history," as far as 

Hubbell Trading Post was concerned, was that the life of the place would continue on in its own natural 

course, not be redirected-or misdirected-by the National Park Service.

This was a hard decision to make in spite of the fact that the historic period at Hubbell Trading Post had 

ended so recently. It was a hard decision to make because it flew in the face of almost everything that 

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was being done at the time at other historic sites. Trying to deal with Park Service policies that were 

being made for other historic sites, where everything was preserved and protected, and probably 

synchronized to a year or an era, and then having to consider the future of Hubbell Trading Post, whose 

role and destiny would be determined by what the future might bring, required two different modes of 

thinking.

The necessity for this dual approach has no doubt led to some confusion among the ranks of the Park 

Service personnel who have worked at Hubbell Trading Post. To be able to function correctly there it is 

necessary for one to understand that the place is not frozen in time. It surely does look that way, but "...

formal 'museum-type' interpretation at the site is limited to the barest essentials needed for historical 

context and orientation." The quote is from the 1967 Interpretive Prospectus.

Being an administrator at Hubbell Trading Post would appear to be an opportunity for some creative 

work. One interesting approach was expressed by Al Grieve, the ex-trader there. Whenever a problem or 

an opportunity presented itself, he would get together with Juin Crosse, then the superintendent, and they 

would try to decide what old Don Lorenzo might have done if he were there and presented with a similar 

problem or opportunity. [8]

A layman who is studying the plans may be struck by the notion that the NPS could be missing an 

opportunity for doing some creative work at the trading post. Hold the line on the appearance of the 

buildings, to be sure; but as far as working the land, or the appearance of any plantings around the 

buildings is concerned, the administrators of the site could have a fairly free hand. After all, surely the 

trading post looked slightly different every year and from season to season. In any case, what was 

possible then may not be possible now. A landscaper could probably come up with some ideas for timesaving plantings, or a landscaping that would use little water and time. Instead of trying to proceed with 

one foot stuck in an uncertain past, it may be a better idea; since the trading post is supposed to be an 

evolving institution, to consider what might be practical and possible for today. Because of the living, 

evolving trading post concept of the original mandate, this is surely one of the few places within the Park 

System where an administrator is not necessarily stuck in the past.

Planning Documents for Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site

As has already been noted, virtually all of the planning documents now on file at Hubbell Trading Post 

are out of date. That does not mean, however, that they are of no value. Future administrators of the site 

should learn much from them about the history of the site since the National Park Service took over in 

1967. The first Master Plan was started in 1966, even before the NPS assumed control of the site.

Master Plan for Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, 1966

Obviously this document was created even before the laundromat burned out; one of the stated 

objectives on page 8 is to: "Remove Silver Coin Laundromat, now located in the Wareroom Extension."

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The fold-out maps are interesting in that they show the extent of land that Hubbell had donated for a 

Navajo day school (now the Visitor Center).

One of the stated objectives was to: "Avoid turning the site into a 'dead' museum..."

The Resource Management, page 8, is interesting because one can see what management originally 

hoped to do with the post. Much has been done; there is one item from that list that remains to be 

accomplished: "Restore agricultural activities and atmosphere, possibly by issuing special use permits to 

Navajo farmers." But a careful reading will show that the original Master Plan was well thought out and 

that management at the site has proceeded generally in that direction.

Master Plan, 1972

Apparently the Master Plan was not actually approved until 1972 after it had gone through some 

revisions.

The main change that has occurred over the years is the approach of the NPS to the handling of the site. 

Where it was once going to restore the post to look as it had in an earlier day, the NPS will now simply 

hold the line at 1967. Except for these changes in the philosophy of how to use the historic site, these 

original Master Plans remain interesting documents. Readers just have to shake themselves free of the 

idea that they have to recreate historic scenes. The buildings and their contents speak for themselves, and 

as Stewart Udall said, are "redolent of the 19th century." [9]

Statement for Management, December, 1975

This twelve-page document is mainly a description of the site. The management objectives, starting on 

page 10, are thought to reflect fairly accurately even current thinking on how to use the site and its 

resources. It was just about this time--1975--that management abandoned some restoration projects and 

decided that preservation and stabilization would be a more practical approach to the site.

Resource Management Plan, 1979

"The Resources Management Plan is a strategic planning document and a key factor in proper 

management of resources." [10]

The Resources Management Plan for 1979 outlines ideas about several hoped-for research projects in 

order "...to acquire basic data for intelligent management purposes...." [11] The National Park Service 

accepts ".., the Hubbell Trading Post of today as an end product of ninety years of development by one 

family." [12] They would retain the buildings as they had acquired them in 1967. However, to do that, it 

was thought that some research in certain areas should go ahead. For example, a guide for the 

preservation of historic structures should be implemented; research into the post 1930s period of the 

trading post was recommended in order that the Roman and Dorothy Hubbell era might be better 

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understood; and even the preparation of an administrative history was suggested because: "In less than a 

decade there have been five superintendents and the intents and purposes of 1967 have become 

obscure." [13]

Other studies were recommended, some of them now completed (the farmlands study, the 

dendrochronological report).

Assessment of Alternatives for Development Concept Plans, March, 1979

This document put forward several alternative development strategies, or packages, for consideration. 

That is, where should the picnic area and the parking areas be located. The plans are easily absorbed by 

reviewing foldout maps near the end of the text. Apparently little from the plans was implemented. A 

couple of old buildings were removed from the Visitor Center area, otherwise the historic site remains 

essentially as it was before so much effort went into the development concept plan.

Development Concept Plan, August, 1980

Public Law 89-148 authorized up to $952,000 to be appropriated for the acquisition and development of 

Hubbell Trading Post, and the Park and Recreation Act of 1978 increased that authorization by another 

$25,000. As of January 1, 1979, there was $103,680 remaining. This Development Concept Plan 

proposed some items that would support the need to raise the authorization. The proposals were 

developed by an "interdisciplinary" NPS planning team.

It is evident from the map at the end of the plan that not everything proposed has been accomplished. 

One idea, such as a large visitor parking area east of the Visitor Center, has probably been dispensed 

with. The park offices are now in the school building along with "visitor contact functions." Many of the 

problems discussed in the plan have since been solved. The maps remain useful.

Resources Management Plan, 1981

This is a short plan that outlines some areas for proposed studies: historic buildings studies for 

preservation and interpretation; farmland study (done) and restoration; Hubbell history research to 

determine extent of business operations; preservation and conservation of museum collection; erosion 

control study (done).

Some of the items in the resources management plans seem to be perennials. However, it is better to 

repeat the desire and the reason for such a study rather than to forget about it altogether. Changing 

management should be kept abreast of what studies are in progress, which have been completed, and 

they can continue to ponder the necessity for any pending plans.

Resources Management Plan and Environmental Assessment, Approved January, 1983

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Resources Management Plans are five year plans, and this one wanted to focus attention on preserving 

cultural resources and conducting basic research. Much of the proposed work was done during the 

ensuing five years: Preservation work went ahead on the corrals and shed complex, and some of the farm 

machinery was sent out for rehabilitation work. The farmlands study was completed; the ethnohistory 

and the business histories have yet to be written.

The 1983 Resources Management Plan is a 67-page document with information that would still be useful 

to management, although much of the information to be found in it is in other chapters of this work. To 

see what may have been accomplished between 1983 and 1988, a comparison of the two resources 

management plans is suggested.

Statement for Management, 1986

Prepared by Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, the statement for management tells us that all 

units of the NPS must have one. Major issues are identified, management objectives stated. The 

statement is mainly informational and remains reasonably current. (An earlier, undated Statement for 

Management was reviewed, one with an extremely interesting bibliography. It was probably from the 

1970s. The Statement for Management for 1986 contains no bibliography.)

Resources Management Plan, 1988

The emphasis during the next few years would be to continue pushing for more research, and some basic 

problems are stated. Most of the problems, such as the care and storage of the museum collection, remain 

the same today. Historic furnishings reports are needed for HB-1, HB-2, and HB-5; a history of 

Hubbell's business activities is needed, and a carrying capacity study is wanted.

Conclusion

The 1975 Resources Management Plan said that the intents and purposes of 1967, as far as how to 

handle Hubbell Trading Post was concerned, had become obscure. Since then, another five 

superintendents have come to serve at Hubbell Trading Post, all but one of them inexperienced in the 

position. Since 1975, however, it would seem that management has to a great extent returned to the letthe-place-evolve point of view that was originally intended for the site. There have been changes as 

different NPS people moved through the trading post, but not everybody has truly understood how to 

handle the site. As Tom Vaughan said in 1976: "We still don't really know how to cope with history 

that's still alive and kicking." [14]

Future administrators of the site should know that they don't always have to search the past for guidance. 

They can't run riot with personal whimsy, but they should realize that there are a lot of aspects of the 

trading post that are not frozen at some point in 1967 or before. Therein lies the challenge of this historic 

site, The trading post was not intended to be a dead museum. ("...they took the 'living' out of it and made 

it a museum.") [15] Hubbell Trading post is one place in the National Park System where an 

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administrator has a chance for at least a little controlled creativity.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 14)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER XIV:

MAINTENANCE AND STABILIZATION

The south wall of the barn looked like it was going to collapse. Kevin McKibbin, Superintendent, 

decided to have it torn out and rebuilt before the barn fell down. His solo initiative did not go unnoticed 

by SWRO, and very soon indeed McKibbin and two men from Santa Fe were sitting on the pile of stones 

that had once been part of the barn wall, scratching their heads and trying to figure out just what they 

were going to do next. The men from SWRO suggested to McKibbin that it would have been a good idea 

if he had just numbered the stones. Then the stones could have been replaced more or less in the places 

from which they had been removed. Clearly, their sensibilities were stung by McKibbin's seemingly 

cavalier attitude toward the "integrity" of the barn wall. [1]

McKibbin knew little about the stabilization of historic structures. He had seen a problem and he decided 

to fix it before a disaster might occur. But now, as far as the barn wall was concerned, there was nothing 

to be done but put it back the best way they could. To that extent, then, part of the Hubbell Trading Post 

is, as Kevin suggested, more K. McKibbin than it is J.L. Hubbell. [2] But that was not the only time that 

exigency has taken precedence over integrity at Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. Nor is the 

barn wall the only wall at the trading post that has been in danger of falling down.

When the Park Service assumed responsibility for the site, the west wall of the trading post and the 

wareroom looked like it was on the verge of falling down. John Cook got funding from the Regional 

Office. He called Charlie Voll, who was then in charge of the Ruins Stabilization Unit for the National 

Park Service. "Each rock was numbered and then photographed and then taken down and a new 

foundation put in and each rock put back according to its number in the photograph. So you have that 

whole west wall from the laundromat section to the door coming out of the bullpen...all redone. Charlie 

Voll took them down stone by stone and put them back stone by stone. That violates the dickens out of 

the Historic Preservation Act which was passed in 1966, but we didn't have all the rules and we didn't 

have all the knowledge we have today. I'm glad we did it because it will last forever It's been done right. 

We could never do it today. We did some things back then, we plastered the chicken coop because the 

rain was just washing it away. It would take six months to process the forms...today to get it done." 

When the Cooks moved down to Hubbell Trading Post in 1966 they took money out of their own 

pockets in order to paint the interior of the Manager's Residence so that it would be habitable. And they 

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painted it themselves. [3]

Like many old structures in the rural Southwest, the buildings at Hubbell Trading Post are made of local 

materials and to a great extent from the very ground they stand on. (Some of the rock may have been 

"mined" from Wide Reed Ruin.) The rock was set up with adobe mud. Adobe bricks were probably 

made on site. Clay and sand and straw was---and is--the usual recipe. Adobe mud was mixed in a pit 

with hoes and the bare feet of the workers. It seems unlikely that J.L. Hubbell was out there stomping 

around in a mud pit, but it is likely that any structures on the site were designed by him. The buildings 

are not unlike many old structures one can find in New Mexico. New Mexican's of Don Lorenzo's day 

were accustomed to do for themselves; he could have learned any of the necessary skills when he was 

young. Today, people who build with adobe refer to the material as "forgiving," the building process 

itself as "labor intensive." A strong back and the ability to endure pain are easily as important as skill.

One of the "problems" with adobe is that it is vulnerable to the effects of wind and water, a case of earth 

to earth and dust to dust. A roof leak next to a wall can be disastrous. Running water will cut through 

adobe right before your eyes. Water must be kept away from adobe. Roof integrity is absolutely 

necessary, and that wasn't easy with the materials available in remote areas in the early part of this 

century.

They started with a shallow rock foundation. Some people, although not the Hubbells, would start with a 

shallow foundation of adobe bricks. Foundations of adobe brick are still used in rural Mexico. The 

foundation didn't have to be absolutely level because the walls would be of the same material as the 

foundation, climbing right out of the ground. However, accurate levels could be fixed with a hose with 

water in it. You put one end of the hose at one intended corner, the other end of the hose in the opposite 

corner, and then you run water into the hose. The water will attain an absolutely accurate level at each 

end of the hose. You pound in a stake, put a pencil mark on it at the water level. Then you move the ends 

of the hose to the other two corners of the foundation. Yes, it was possible to make a building plumb, 

level, and square without using sophisticated equipment. As the walls went up, you did what you could 

to protect them from sudden rainstorms.

Once the walls reached a certain level, the vigas (roof beams) were set in place. Most of the beams at 

Hubbell Trading Post are large; a lot of people would have had to be on hand to raise them. The vigas in 

the trading post buildings are all ponderosa pine and come from the magnificent stand of ponderosas 

between Ganado and Window Rock. According to the dendrochronology report by William J. Robinson, 

[4] over 400 "primary" vigas were counted in the Hubbell home, the trading post, and the barn. If the 

vigas in the other structures are added, the total would increase to over 500. Considering that they were 

all cut by hand and moved by horse and wagon, the vigas alone represent an astonishing amount of work. 

The bark would be removed from the vigas-at least in the home-before they were set in place. The vigas

would be more or less evenly spaced, and then the wall would be built up to enclose them. The ceilings 

in such rural houses would be either rough-cut boards or latillas. Latilla ceilings are formed by laying 

branches side by side on top of the vigas. The chicken coop at Hubbell Trading Post has a latilla ceiling. 

Latilla ceilings were installed in homes where sawed lumber was unavailable or in cases where that was 

all the people could afford. The ceilings in the Hubbell home are made of boards. (Latilla ceilings are 

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still used in some Southwestern homes, but only because the builder was striving for a rustic effect.)

Straw and the bark that had been stripped from the vigas would then be spread across the boards, or 

latillas, and then a roof of about six inches of earth would be spread over the straw and bark. Modern 

roofs have been constructed over most of the original earthen roofs at Hubbell Trading Post.

It is easy to understand why at least a little dirt might tend to sift down through the straw and bark, and 

between the boards or latillas, and finally into the living space below. And it does. Some people would 

tack up squares of canvas to the vigas to form a solid ceiling. In the days when rusticity was not 

considered chic, many board and viga ceilings were hidden, either by canvas, or, when they became 

available, patterned metal ceilings. There is no evidence that either canvas or metal ceilings were ever 

used at Hubbell Trading Post. The ceilings in the Hubbell home were used as a place to tack up Indian 

baskets. Merchandise hung from the ceilings in the trading post. Or more baskets. Or almost anything, 

including helmets from World War I.

Local, natural materials were used in the buildings at the trading post. The building methods were 

simple. But the structures are extremely vulnerable to the elements. Wind and rain take their toll. The 

house has to be plastered periodically with more adobe mud, and every two years or so the earth on the 

barn roof must be replaced. In the August, 1991, issue of National Geographic [5] there is a photograph 

of Ailema Benally, Cultural Interpreter, leaning against a wall of the rug room. The wall is water stained, 

and up near the ceiling it looks as though the paint has quite washed away. The ceiling is water stained. 

A critical observer might think that the trading post is falling apart, that the National Park Service isn't 

doing its job. Since that photograph was made, the trading post and the Hubbell home have been 

reroofed, and that wall Ailema Benally is leaning against has been repainted.

When the NPS took over at Hubbell Trading Post, all of the buildings were in a very sad state. Repair 

work there has gone on ever since, and the repair work, as a problem at the trading post, is described as 

"chronic." There is always something that needs attention, "niggling little things." [6]

To document everything that has gone wrong, or could go wrong, would take too much space. The cyclic 

maintenance schedule first worked on when Doug McChristian was superintendent has been superseded 

by the NPS Maintenance Management System, a computerized work scheduling program wherein every 

known or anticipated maintenance activity is programmed for the year. The computerized program is 

adjusted quarterly.

However, a few of the problems for which future administrators should be on the qui vive were listed by 

the trading post's present superintendent, Charlie Wyatt, and the present maintenance mechanic, Jim 

Hodges:

HB-1: Trading Post. No special problems with this structure except an annual look to see 

if any interior replastering is required. The trading post was reroofed in 1991, so leaks here 

should not be a problem.

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HB-2: Hubbell Home Replaster exterior annually, replaster interior as needed. This 

building, too, was reroofed in 1991.

HB-3: Barn. Repair earthen roof annually, re-point stone walls as needed.

HB-4: Manager's House. Replaster exterior as needed.

HB-5: Bunkhouse. Used only as a storage area. No significant maintenance problems.

HB-6: Stone Hogan (Guest Hogan). Irrigation of the adjoining field has caused a problem 

with the walls settling. An attempt was made to solve the problem by adding a French 

drain, but his has only been marginally successful. Other than this, the walls may need repointing annually. The interior is replastered as needed.

HB-7: Bread Oven. Only occasional re-pointing of stonework.

HB-8: Generator Building (Chicken Coop). Replaster every two to three years or so.

HB-9: Curatorial Storage. The only serious "problem" with this structure is the low 

clearance in ceiling/roof space. The building is insulated with fiberglass. There is very 

little clearance between the roof and the insulation, so that crawling through the insulation 

on the way to an electrical repair job can be an experience that is irritating in more ways 

than one.

HB-10: Corrals and Sheds. Occasional replacement of boards. About every two years or so 

the canvas cover on the sheds has to be replaced.

HB-11: Hogan-in-the-Lame. Renew mud roof and re-chink exterior walls annually.

HB-12: Visitor Center and Site Offices. The ends of the vigas need re pointing every year 

or so. Otherwise, only normal upkeep.

HB-13: Restrooms. Only normal restroom maintenance.

HB-14: Root Cellar (Library). Generally speaking, only normal interior office-type 

cleaning.

It should be noted that site maintenance people are often hampered by the lack of "as constructed" 

drawings and specifications, as well as operation and maintenance manuals. The site is also hampered to 

some extent by having a small maintenance crew. The specialists who might be available at a larger park 

are absent at Hubbell Trading Post. The maintenance people at the trading post must be able to do 

electrical work, plumbing, operate heavy equipment-whatever-while at the same time have a feeling for 

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preservation. This calls for intelligent and talented people who have some insight into, for example, what 

somebody might have been thinking about while they were jury-rigging a repair job in 1937. The 

maintenance people at the trading post are faced with construction techniques and materials that now 

stretch back a hundred years. The general goal of the maintenance and stabilization is to hold the line on 

the appearance of the trading post at 1967. Generally speaking, it is very important that a repair person at 

Hubbell Trading Post not proceed unless he or she is aware of what the object under consideration 

looked like at that time. So far, the NPS has been successful in maintaining the general 1967 look and 

feel of the site for the past twenty-five years, and during that time the site has undergone some 

significant stabilization projects as well as the usual day-to-day maintenance.

Figure 44. One of the two structures at the historic site that was eliminated in the early 

1980s because they were thought to have no historic significance. This was a small woodframe residence. NPS photo circa 1965. HUTR Neg. 141.

STABlLIZATION PROJECTS

John Cook and Charlie Voll had the west wall of the trading post torn out and replaced in 1967. Kevin 

McKibbin had the south wall of the barn stabilized in the early 1970s. Those two jobs were noted earlier 

in this chapter, and another of the early projects already mentioned elsewhere was the rehabilitation of 

the Manager’s Residence in 1970 (although more work would be done on it later). The complete north 

wall of the trading post was taken down in 1970, a new concrete footing added, and men reconstructed. 

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Before and after photographs show the remarkably fine job that was done. [7]

The Mid-1970s Barn Debacle

The "horrible Hubbell barn" [8] was the subject of a lot of attention during the 1970s. The wretched 

earthen roof has been a constant source of despair as it continues to blow away, wash away, and leak. 

However, in a continuing effort to maintain the site as it appeared in 1967, the NPS has fought back 

with---sometimes apparently misguided---ingenuity. During Kevin McKibbin's day they "went through 

all kinds of things on that barn roof. We finally got it where we thought we had it fixed when we put 

foam on it and colored the foam brown and that stuff hadn't even dried when we had a wind that put it all 

out in the parking lot." [9] Well, if the foam wouldn't cling on its own, they would first tack down some 

chicken wire and then lay the foam on the chicken wire. That should hold it. And it did, for a time, but 

the winds nibbled at the foam, and when Tom Vaughan was superintendent large chunks of the "alien 

material' came plopping down in the parking lot. [10] (Almost everything falls in the parking lot because 

the winds are usually westerlies.) In 1978 the barn roof was stabilized with lightweight concrete and soil 

cement decking. However, earth still blows off the roof, and every year or so it has to be put back there.

It was mentioned in Chapter IX, Special Events and Public Relations, that a beam in the barn fell during 

the mid-1970s restoration work and came very close to causing injuries. The NPS was involved in a twoyear project on the barn, and that first year, according to Tom Vaughan, was an "unbelievable 

nightmare" [11] fraught with difficulties that included "...personnel matters, personality conflicts, poor 

communication, cultural conflicts, and perhaps even aspects of Navajo nationalism." [12]

The primary source of the troubles may have been the project supervisor, a person who, it turned lacked 

the necessary skills for the work. It was said of him that he was a highly competent art conservator who 

must have had the "...requisite broad philosophical outlook necessary for any restoration of any historic 

object," [13] but that his "...background in restoring barns was exceedingly limited." [14] He had little 

experience when it came to working with stone walls and heavy timbers, so if the workers were having 

close calls with disaster, that may be a clue as to the origin of the personality and cultural conflicts 

(many of the workers were Navajo). Other problems plagued the project. One of the Anglo workers was 

arrested by the Navajo Police when he attempted to drive a Navajo to a bootlegger. A government 

vehicle was virtually destroyed when the operators parked it at a bar---" a horrible place to be" [15] -- 

that is just outside the Navajo Reservation on the road to Gallup. A good deal of the barn nightmare 

occurred during Tom Vaughan's first year as superintendent of the trading post. As he said about the first 

year of the barn project, "God, if I'd only known then what I know now." [16] For Tom, becoming 

superintendent at Hubbell Trading Post was partly a matter of training by trauma.

One of the "cultural" problems encountered on the barn project had to do with the work schedule 

imposed by the Anglo workers. The Anglos lived far away, so they decided that a ten-days-on, four-daysoff schedule would give them plenty of time to get home for a visit. Unfortunately, after years of 

adapting to the usual white man's week of a five-days-on, two-days-off schedule, the change proved to 

be unmanageable for the Navajo, disrupting family and community activities for many of them. At the 

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end of four days off, some Navajo would not return to continue with the work. It was noted that a project 

supervisor must have "...the ability to recognize the legitimate problems inherent not only in cultural and 

social differences, but in such simple matters as the lack of telephones at workers' homes." [17]

The barn project was completed...with a new supervisor on the job.

Other Stabilization Projects [18]

1982 - Surface and groundwater drainage system installed between Trading Post and Home, with root 

cellar connection. Downspouts are tapped in. Drained in front of home and across compound to the 

Pueblo Colorado Wash west of Guest Hogan. The drainage is an attempt to preserve the shallow footings 

of the Home.

Manager's Residence was stuccoed and roofed, and insulation was added to the "ammo box" addition 

(much of the wood in this addition is from salvaged World War II boxes). Stuccoed with tinted soil 

cement, and false roof decking replaced and mineral roofing installed.

Doors and Windows of the Trading Post that were rotting with age were rehabilitated by Tony Esparza, 

a cabinetmaker of Gallup, New Mexico.

Home Porch was re-anchored to the home at roofline. The flooring was taken up, structural support 

added, and flooring replaced. Screens replaced, roofing renewed, and porch was painted.

1983 - Visitor Center Vigas. All exterior viga ends replaced.

1984 - Sheds and Corrals. Deteriorated posts and rails replaced.

Bunkhouse. West wall dismantled, foundation poured, and wall replaced in original configuration.

1985 - Bunkhouse. South wall dismantled, foundation poured, wall replaced.

1986 - Bread Oven. Brick dome reset dry over polystyrene. Stone walls re-pointed.

1988 - Barn Roof. Solid cement decking of 1978 removed. Liquid rubber membrane applied over 

lightweight concrete decking after spot repair of decking. Soil placed over membrane. That is, soil right 

out of the fields is now used. Test panels of other material are being tried out over the Blacksmith Shop. 

Reportedly these test panels are of Rhoplex and possibly other materials. The test panels are an attempt 

to find a suitable roof for the barn that will still allow it to look as it did in 1967.

The stabilization projects for Hubbell Trading Post are by no means completed. For example, plans are 

afoot to somehow rehabilitate the Guest Hogan so that it can once again be used. And all of the 

monumental but delicate structures will continue to suffer the lashing of the elements as the seasons 

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pass. There will always be work to do at Hubbell Trading Post, which still looks as it did in the early part 

of the twentieth century mainly because---in later years---the Hubbells did not have the money for any 

grand refurbishing. For the American people of today that was fortunate. Hubbell Trading Post was like 

a classic car that had gotten into seedy condition but still had all of its original parts. Keeping it going 

has been a lot of work. As Kevin McKibbin said, "Trying to maintain the integrity of the trading post and 

keep it from falling into ruins... was a challenge." [19]

Threats to the Site (Of Fire, Flood, Prairie Dogs, and the Plague)

Dani Cook was the first to see the flames coming out of the laundromat. John Cook was already in bed 

for the night, and Mrs. Cook was about to retire when she just happened to look out the window and saw 

the fire. The Ganado Fire Department was called. John and Dani Cook aroused Dorothy Hubbell and the 

three of them rescued the Burbank paintings and some other valuable items from the trading post. If it 

hadn't been for that fortunate glance out the window, the trading post could have been more badly 

damaged than it was. [20]

The fire department did manage to put out the fire, and the laundromat was put totally out of action, 

eliminating the necessity of the NPS having to evict the business when they assumed responsibility for 

the trading post. An investigation into the cause of the fire revealed that it may have been started by the 

combustion of stored dirty rags. [21]

The memory of the fire has remained as a warning of what is possible. (John Cook said that his daughter 

still has bad dreams about the fire; from her vantage point in the Manager's Residence, the flames looked 

as though they could have been threatening her.) [22] The Hubbell home, the trading post and its 

wareroom, the curatorial offices and storage, the barn, and the visitor center are now completely outfitted 

with sprinkler systems; and every building is generously supplied with fire extinguishers that are 

checked periodically. With the precautions now being taken, it doesn't seem possible that any of the 

more important structures could be a total loss in the event of fire.

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Figure 45. The Pueblo Colorado Wash in flood. Looking upstream from below Wide Reed 

Ruin on 25 April, 1973. NPS photo by Voll and McKibbin. HUTR Neg. R146#4.

In any case, as long as flammable materials are kept to a minimum in the buildings, it is not likely that a 

fire will get out of control; the beams and boards out of which the ceilings are made are so thick that it 

would probably take a long time for them to burn through, especially if the fire is at the same time being 

suppressed by the sprinkler system. The fire alarms and sprinkler system are now considered adequate, 

and the burglar alarms are also adequate (the first burglar alarms and sprinkler systems came in the 

1970s). With good systems, and with the manager's residence generally occupied, the trading post should 

be immune from a disastrous loss either by fire or burglary. But other dangers do remain, among them 

flooding.

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Figure 46. Erosion along the Pueblo Colorado Wash in May of 1973. This is the Wide 

Reed Ruin Site. NPS photo. HUTR Neg. R146#4.

It is thought that during a 100-year flood water might reach the library (root cellar) but that it would not 

likely get into the other buildings. As far as is known, flood water in the past has not reached any of the 

structures. But the Pueblo Colorado Wash, like so many nearly dry streams in the Southwest, can 

become an impressive sight in the event of heavy rains upstream. Unless one has witnessed the event, it's 

difficult to believe how quickly, and to what extent, an arroyo or stream bed in the Southwest can fill 

with fast-moving water, mud, and debris. Once seen, it's not hard to understand why people are lost in 

arroyos during summer rains. Past rains that have filled the Pueblo Colorado have caused erosion around 

the bridge pilings at the entrance to the site, destroyed parts of the Anasazi ruins along the wash, and 

destroyed gabions installed in the wash to protect the ruins from damage. Gabions installed in the 1970s 

were redone in the 1980s.

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Figure 47. Creating gabions in the Pueblo Colorado Wash in an attempt to prevent erosion, 

12 July, 1974. NPS photo by Mike Varela. HUTR Neg. R151#19.

It is thought that more work is needed in the wash to protect the ruins and the banks of the Pueblo 

Colorado. Rain in the desert can be whimsical, nothing here, a flood just over there, and often 

destructive, sometimes dangerous, but when you live in the desert you dare not ask the rain to stay away. 

And now that the fields are, except for sparse native growth, barren, heavy summer rains cause some 

erosion in the fields. An effort to recreate the terrace borders would slow down some of that runoff, and 

the remedy may be as simple as making some passes along the terrace edges with a border disc, a 

farming implement (towed by a tractor) used to separate fields that are being irrigated.

A border disc raises a border of earth, and the height of the border is determined mainly by the size of 

the equipment being used. Borders to stop rain runoff would not have to be high, but they do have to be 

fairly high in order to hold back irrigation water, which can be four to six inches deep. The Hubbell farm 

used to be entitled to 400 acre feet of irrigation water per year, but that was when they were farming the 

entire area. To visualize an acre foot of water, just think of a football field with a foot of water on it. 

Close enough. Now visualize 400 of those. But the point here is that a lot of the present erosion in the 

fields could be controlled with some simple tractor work. Trespassing animals that stripped the 

vegetation, hastening erosion, used to be more of a problem than they are now since the 13,000 feet of 

fencing around the site has been renewed.

The Navajo Reservation is "open range." Not only can this cause extra hazards along the highways, it 

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can also be something of an irritation when the site's fences are broken and sheep, goats, horses, and 

cattle get into the fields. The animals have to be chased out, the fences repaired. Wandering animals are 

part of the cultural scene on the reservation and in order not to be regarded as the neighborhood 

spoilsport, one has to put up with it. Apart from occasional large animal intruders, the site has a resident 

population of between 900 and 1200 prairie dogs.

The scampering rodents live in communities all over the site, doing their part to denude the fields. Also, 

and most ominously, the prairie dogs can carry bubonic plague, a disease transmitted by fleas. Dead 

prairie dogs should not be touched. The population fluctuates, possibly as the plague carries them off. 

Then the population tends to grow again.

Site employees help to control the size of the prairie dog population by killing some of them with a .22 

rifle (after hours, so that visitors are not offended by the activity). The dead prairie dogs are left to be 

dealt with by carrion-eating creatures and other natural elements. The prairie dog problem would be 

eliminated to a large extent if only the fields could be farmed. If the creatures are constantly being 

disturbed by people, machinery, and irrigation, they will soon move on to what in a prairie dog's eyes are 

greener pastures. 

But people themselves are a threat to the site. With the burgeoning population of the Navajo, more house 

sites are needed, and there are no zoning controls on the reservation. It will be necessary in the future to 

have sharp diplomatic skills in order to avoid what might be ugly intrusions in the vicinity of the trading 

post. The local people have to be made aware that whatever adversely effects the historic site may also 

be detrimental to the entire community.

Pot hunters could be a problem, as they are in much of the Southwest, and although the site is small 

enough so that a pot hunter might be detected quickly, they remain a potential threat. In the past, the 

Navajo have disturbed site ruins in search of Anasazi bones for use in their ceremonies. [23] Although 

certainly extremely rare, such intrusions have to be considered in a general plan for protecting the site.

Visitation has increased to the point where that in itself is something of a threat, but this of course is not 

an exclusive problem with Hubbell Trading Post. The trading post store takes most of the brunt of the 

invasion, the tours through the house being limited to fifteen people per tour, four to six tours per day. 

And not every tour has its allowed total of fifteen people. As with any site or park, the NPS has to learn 

to cope with the citizens who would see the trading post; they're the ones who are paying for it.

Roads and Bridges.

Up until the early 1980s, it was possible that there would be days when just getting from the paved 

highway into the historic site could be a memorable "interpretive experience" for visitors. When the 

entrance road dissolved into a stretch of adobe mud with ruts a foot deep, the visitors could experience 

for themselves what it was like to drive around on the reservation before its roads were paved. The road 

has been well ditched, and it was stabilized with a chemical to make it almost entirely impervious to rain 

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and snow. The parking lot was also stabilized. There are NPS personnel who regret the passing of the 

historic scene---tourists down to their trannies in the mud [24] ---- but as far as the visitors are 

concerned, that is a learning experience most of them would just as soon skip; few modern motorists 

know what to do with a vehicle that is hung up in twelve to sixteen inches of mud. The bridge at the 

entrance had a new deck installed in 1991.

The entrance road was a section of the main highway through this part of the country. If you were going 

west, you came down the road heading straight for the trading post, and there was a gasoline pump just 

outside the front door of the store if you needed fuel. Then the road turned right and went north and 

crossed a bridge over the Pueblo Colorado Wash. That bridge was removed by the NPS for safety. It was 

too expensive to maintain and its removal restricted access to the historic site. A photograph of the 

trading post taken by either Bill Brown or John Cook from Hubbell Hill in May of 1966 shows the 

simple wooden bridge with peeling white paint. When the main road bypassed Hubbell Trading Post, 

there was little real need for that extra entrance to the site.

There used to be an informal road that went along the wash after a bridge on the road to a settlement 

known as Lower Ganado was temporarily washed out. The road along the wash was never designated as 

a road, but people in the neighborhood used it for a time...until the NPS closed it, an act which caused 

some bitter feelings to erupt.

The informal road became a problem for the NPS because a bootlegger lived down at the end of it, and 

there was a lot of traffic to his house on Friday and Saturday nights. Littering along the trail to the 

bootlegger's den caused site personnel extra work, gasoline was stolen from Park Service vehicles, and 

some disorderly persons were a nuisance. The bootlegger himself didn't seem to be a danger, [25] but the 

extra traffic was a worry mainly because of the valuable museum collection. The burglar systems were 

not as good as they are today, and there were a lot of false alarms. Juin Crosse was the superintendent at 

the time, and she was living in the manager's residence with the alarm system: "We spent a lot of time at 

night out with the police searching the house..." [26] Not having control over the traffic on the historic 

site property became an intolerable situation.

Juin Crosse had meetings with the local Chapter and with Tribe administrators in Window Rock in 

reference to the unauthorized traffic. Since the bridge had been put back in, she wanted to stop the use of 

vehicle trails through site property. The county authorities agreed to maintain the main road so that the 

people who were then driving through the historic site would not really have to do so. The local Chapter 

then agreed that the NPS should have the right to close the road and that the historic site's neighbors who 

had gotten accustomed to using it should go back to driving on the county road, now that the county had 

promised to maintain it. Fences went up across the informal road the same week Juin Crosse transferred 

to Fort McHenry National Monument.

And that left Kent Bush, who became acting superintendent, with just a "whole bunch" of unhappy 

citizens who had gotten accustomed to driving through the site. [27] Until Kent got everybody together 

and sitting down and talking sense, he had to listen to threats against historic site, himself, and his 

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family. [28] Kent: "You haven’t lived until you’ve closed a road on the Res." [29] Using his own quickly 

developed and sharp diplomatic skills, Kent managed to get the community settled down. Roads, trails, 

and bridges are no longer such a critical issue at Hubbell Trading Post.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 15)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER XV:

CONTINUING POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION ISSUES

Employee Housing

When Charles Wyatt arrived at Ganado to assume the superintendency of Hubbell Trading Post NHS he 

was "surprised" by the poor quality of the employee housing. [1] Like Charlie Wyatt, Doug McChristian 

didn't have to live in one of the mobile homes---he and his wife occupied the small "modular" home that 

has been the residence of the site's superintendent--yet he found living at the historic site was "one step 

above camping out;" he could see daylight at some of the corners of the house. He admits that if he had 

known about the wretched site housing, he wouldn't have taken the assignment. McChristian thought that 

the housing situation was so poor that it had a detrimental affect on morale; that new housing would not 

only boost the morale of the people already at the park but it would also be something of an inducement 

to getting more good people to come to the remote historic site. [2]

Bill Gentless worked on maintenance at Hubbell Trading Post between 1983 and 1985. He remembers 

the mobile homes as a handyman's nightmare, castoffs from other parks which no longer wanted them. 

Everything was wearing out, the electrical systems, the plumbing ("Nothing seemed to fit anymore"). [3]

Kent Bush thought the mobile homes were a morale problem, especially for families with children: "I 

recall my trailer being nearly twenty years old. It had been moved a number of times which made it less 

than sound. Wind and dust swept right through it, and during the winter it was very hard to keep 

warm." [4]

The employee housing site is close to the park's entrance gate and is visible from it, the mobile homes 

huddled closely together and surrounded by chain link fencing. It would seem that trailer parks are 

almost impossible to make attractive and this one is no exception to the rule. Except for the Chief 

Ranger, who is historically ensconced in HB-4, everybody lives at the employee housing site; and, 

except for the superintendent in the small modular home, everybody is housed in mobile homes.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 15)

Figure 48. Employee housing at Hubbell Trading Post NHS. NPS photo by E. Bauer. 

HUTR Neg. R73#24.

Until the modular home arrived at the site, the superintendent used to have his or her personal quarters in 

HB-4. The modular home appeared in the late 1970s and was authorized, as Juin Crosse remembers, 

because it was considered moveable. That is, it came in modular sections, and apparently Congress had 

placed no restrictions on such structures. [5] Still, even the modular house has its limitations, as Charlie 

Wyatt discovered: "Coming from my own...home in South Carolina, a large three-bedroom house, to a 

smaller modular house here was quite a shock."

The employees at this site have survived for twenty-five years in what many of them consider to be 

substandard housing. The problem was partly one of timing; Hubbell Trading Post NHS just missed the 

Mission 66 Program which helped, among other things, to get adequate federal housing into many parks. 

Money has been a problem at Hubbell ever since, and now and then necessary funds have had to be 

squeezed from other parks in the area in order to cover necessities at Hubbell Trading post. [6] Until 

recently, money for housing at the site was just not available, and no amount of crabbing by past 

superintendents could break loose any cash from Congress for that purpose. A review of the interviews 

with past superintendents will reveal that virtually all of them were concerned about the housing 

situation at Hubbell, but all they could do about it was outline what needed to be done and work on the 

configuration of the housing. [7] Doug McChristian was so upset about the housing at the site that he 

considers it to be the issue to which he gave the highest priority. [8]

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 15)

When John Cook arrived at Hubbell Trading Post in 1966 with his family he moved into what is now 

called the Manager's Residence, HB-4. The Cooks painted the interior and moved in. Historian Wescoat 

Wolfe was the next NPS employee to move onto the site, and he and his family lived in a mobile home 

that was parked at the southwest corner of the compound near HB-5. Since then, everybody has lived in 

the employee mobile home park.

Plans have been worked up for site housing, bids are out, and ground will be broken soon in the open 

field just above the superintendent's modular home. Three or four three-bedroom single family houses 

will go in during the first year (three or four houses, depending on the bid price), and then it is hoped that 

five or six more houses can be built the next year. As soon as the first houses are occupied, some mobile 

homes will be moved out, and houses planned for the second phase could go in where the mobile homes 

had been. [9] The beginning of Hubbell Trading Post's second twenty-five years as a historic site seems 

like a fitting time to start the ambitious project. And, some will add, it's about time.

Security for the Museum Collection and the Trading Post

The present security system at Hubbell Trading Post NHS was installed in 1990; and it works. [10] 

Security of the museum collection has always been a primary concern at the site: what should be 

included in the collection, where it should be stored, what level of protection it requires, what might be 

discarded. And when one thinks of security there, one first thinks of night security, burglars slinking in; 

but as far as is known there has been only one night time attempt at an intrusion, and that occurred when 

Tom Vaughan was superintendent and residing in the Manager's Residence, HB-4. The year was of 

course the mid-1970s, the alarm system still rudimentary and full of bugs.

Tom says that when he first drifts off to sleep his senses plunge quickly to an almost unfathomable 

depth. On the night in question he had just gotten to sleep when his wife, Jan tried to stir him awake to 

tell him that something was going on outside. Jan told him the next morning that he slipped out of bed, 

stalked to the door and opened it and looked out, apparently saw nothing, came back to inform her that 

nothing was wrong out there, and climbed back into bed. And the next morning it was discovered that, 

well, yes, somebody had tried to break in. A window had to be replaced. And Tom had sensed nothing 

the night before; he couldn't even recall getting out of bed and peering out into the night. The burglar 

alarm had not gone off. Luckily, nothing was missing (had Tom's unconscious sortie frightened off the 

burglar?). [11]

Although the burglar alarm didn't work when somebody was trying to break in, it did work often enough 

when nobody was trying to get in. It was thought that in the late afternoons, sunlight reflecting from the 

windshield of an approaching car could strike the electric eye of a sensor and set off the alarm. A heater 

coming on, stirring the air and causing items hanging from a ceiling to swing back and forth, might set 

off the alarm. Squirrels frolicking about inside the buildings triggered the alarm. Whatever the cause, site 

personnel had to respond. During the years when the road to the bootlegger's den was still in use, and 

there was a lot of night activity on the site---and a lot of worry for NPS personnel---local police and site 

employees would have to search through the buildings with flashlights whenever the alarm sounded. All 

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 15)

of the alarms were false, and there were a lot of them. [12]

One way Tom Vaughan responded to the threat was to be involved in what was called the Northeast 

Arizona-Northwest New Mexico Crime Clinic, an informal group of law enforcement officers from 

several agencies who met periodically but at least quarterly to share ideas and experiences in reference to 

local crime. It was a way to keep track of trends in jewelry thefts and trading post robberies. [13]

Daytime losses have been the main security problem, and most of those losses have occurred at the 

trading post, a though Ned Danson feels that "some things" have been lost from the home. He 

specifically mentioned a silver necklace that was lifted from a wall. [14]

Shoplifters have been in action at the trading post. Besides the rug that probably disappeared out the 

window of the rug room, another one, a 6 X 10 rug valued at $4500, may have walked out the door 

inside a cradle board. [15] Although the couple with the cradle board aroused some suspicion, none of 

the clerks bothered to jot down the license number of their car. The weaver of the rug was asked to 

sketch the design, but the rug was never recovered. Rugs are now photographed with an instant camera 

as soon as they are purchased.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 15)

Figure 49. Interior of the trading post. This old diagram includes the location of the gasoline pump. The 

office is also the jewelry room.

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When one superintendent became concerned about daytime security at the historic site, he hired two 

detective sergeants from the Albuquerque Police Department to see if they could "rip off" the historic 

site. The police detectives were a man and a woman, the woman wearing a mohair poncho. While the 

clerks in the trading post stood around chatting with each other, the woman detective walked out with a 

sand painting. (The superintendent was the only employee at the historic site who knew the detectives 

would be there.) Later, however, when the detectives went on a tour of the house, they were unable to 

steal anything. Each time the woman detective ducked back into a room, the tour guide would also drop 

back far enough so that she could keep her eyes on the main group and the detective. The superintendent, 

Tom Vaughan, felt quite proud of the guide when, during a conference he had with the detectives in the 

rug room in reference to the security problems at the site, he was told how alert she had been on the tour.

During that conference in the rug room, the woman detective sat on a pile of rugs. Tom was sitting right 

next to her. And, while she talked to Tom she also managed to roll up a $900 rug and hide it under her 

poncho without Tom being aware of the maneuver; Tom was not so proud of his own powers of 

observation. [16] The lesson seems to be that determined shoplifters are difficult to guard against and 

site employees, both NPS and SPMA employees, have to be just as alert and imaginative as the 

shoplifters are.

If anything, the historic site's museum collection will get larger. It has been dispersed to a certain extent, 

partly for study, partly for protection. At one time, when the burned laundromat was the best storage 

area, and soot settled on the piled up museum collection, and sand and snow drifted in on it, there was 

ample reason to move some of it out to safer areas. Much of that material will be returning to the historic 

site, and certainly when a climate-controlled building is in place. (It should be noted that the historic 

structures may suffer if an attempt is made to give them a controlled atmosphere.)

Not only will the future storage building at Hubbell Trading Post NHS have to deal with artifacts that 

came from the site but have been dispersed to other storage facilities, it will also have to handle new 

acquisitions. The Scope of Collections states that the historic site will be documenting and interpreting 

material from the entire Hubbell trading empire. For example, at the Hubbell's old store in Winslow there 

are at least seven file cabinets filled with documents relating to their business, as well as a room filled 

with three dimensional artifacts. It is hoped that all of this material will find a home at Hubbell Trading 

Post; and it seems likely that material will come from other areas. The need for quality museum storage 

and adequate protection is apparent and will, if anything, increase.

Each improvement to the security system through the years has tended to make the system more "high 

tech" and, with each improvement, to bring within the circle of electronic protection yet more areas or 

another building. However, for as long as the historic site buildings were inadequately protected, this 

lack of security was as much a matter of deep concern to SPMA as it was to the NPS. As recently as 

1979, the director of SPMA regarded the burglar alarm system as a "joke." He was concerned about the 

possibility of SPMA employees violating the law should they become involved in trying to apprehend 

intruders when it was clear to him that NPS policy stated that only NPS employees with special training 

have authority within the parks to apprehend law breakers. Rather than have SPMA employees risking 

life and limb while protecting government buildings where they happen to work during the day, he 

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pleaded with the then superintendent of the historic site to push "even more vigorously" for the NPS to 

develop a security system that works. [17]

Hubbell Trading Post NHS now has the added security problems of traveling exhibits. Some of the 

collection is at last going on the road. The Arizona Commission of the Arts is funding a two-year 

traveling exhibit which will include thirty baskets, ten photographs, and several illustrations. The 

extraordinary Hubbell collection will at last come to the attention of people who might never be able to 

travel to Ganado.

The NPS and SPMA at the Historic Site

Ned Danson feels that the trading post is "probably in absolutely perfect hands." [18] Indeed, if the 

federal government had not purchased the property, Hubbell Trading Post might not exist today as 

anything at all. But with the NPS to protect the site and SPMA to operate the business, the trading post 

remains a dynamic institution. But was this partnership of the NPS and SPMA made in heaven? Not 

quite. Any partnership will have its rough spots.

The understanding and dedication of the directors of SPMA have been vital to the success of the historic 

site, and the almost priceless contribution of its expert traders has maintained the site as a living 

institution. The leadership on the SPMA side of the partnership has had more expert continuity than that 

on the NPS side. The unfortunate reputation of Hubbell Trading Post NHS as a boot camp for 

superintendents has already been discussed (Charlie Wyatt: "My observation when I got here was that it 

suffered terribly from this. Both superintendent and staff have not really had to even live with their 

mistakes or to be able to bask in the glory of their accomplishments because they're here and gone."). [19]

The trader and his staff, on the other hand, are there to stay. The present director of SPMA has been at 

his post for over ten years; his interest in the success of both the NPS and SPMA at Hubbell Trading Post 

NHS is evident in the correspondence and memorandums reviewed for this administrative history: "I 

would agree that we should always strive for improved communication and dialogue . . . But we should 

keep in mind that our Hubbell operation is an atypical one for the SPMA and probably for any 

cooperating association. We think that because of the nature of Navajo trading and a variety of other 

factors, our relationship with the NPS [at Hubbell Trading Post NHS] will always be somewhat unique. 

Most of the time this uniqueness is wonderful, but I will admit to an occasionally frustrating moment 

when dealing with the way things work on the reservation." [20]

Charlie Wyatt feels that the working relationship between the two entities is at the present very good. At 

the moment, then, he sees no reason to interfere with it. He's in charge of the historic site, and the trader 

is running his operation, but if there are any complaints about what is going on over at the trading post, 

the superintendent must direct questions and suggestions to SPMA’s director. Charlie Wyatt, who came 

to the historic site with ample experience and, therefore, confidence, has no problem with this 

arrangement. Charlie Wyatt defers to Bill Malone in reference to the trading business, Bill defers to 

Charlie as far as the operation of the historic site is concerned; and matters work out to their mutual 

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advantage. [21]

There have been differences of opinion in the past between the NPS and SPMA about activities at the 

trading post. For example, the NPS had to insist the SPMA employees not store personal belongings in 

the wareroom, that they not play a radio when they are on duty in the Visitor Center, that they park their 

personal vehicles in the employees' assigned area only. These are minor-although certainly potentially 

irritating-matters that can be worked out easily. The present director of SPMA and the present trader are 

affable gentlemen who are disposed to talking turkey when the success of Hubbell Trading Post NHS is 

at stake.

And the success of Hubbell Trading Post NHS is the raison d'etre of the partnership of the two entities 

there. A conflict could arise in reference to the interpretive sales items displayed by SPMA at the historic 

site. But all interpretive and educational sales items must be approved for both content and price, and 

only the superintendent or the chief of interpretation and resource management may approve or 

disapprove of any sales items. Craft and trade items are excluded from the approval process; other sales 

items must be submitted for approval prior to the ordering or display of such items. The business 

manager must consult with the chief of interpretation before deciding not to carry approved items. 

SPMA is obliged to keep on file for three years all reviews of items approved or disapproved, after 

which period they may be destroyed. [22] The present director of SPMA encourages the superintendent 

of Hubbell Trading Post to consult with him if there is any question about the appropriateness of any 

item offered for sale at the trading post. [23]

But when an NPS employee is trying to second guess the trader on what is, or what is not an appropriate 

sales item, he or she is treading on shaky ground. It must be kept in mind that the trading post is an 

evolving business, that what the Navajo were buying last year may not be of any interest to them this 

year. Generally speaking, the tourists do most of their buying in the rug room and the jewelry room, and 

the Navajo make most of their purchases in the bullpen. National Park Service employees should be on 

guard against the encroachment of too many tourist related items in the bullpen, but they should not be 

overly precipitate about condemning sales items there.

As was noted in Chapter VI, SPMA has done very well, financially speaking, at Hubbell Trading Post 

NHS. Why, then, if they perceived the burglar alarm system to be a joke, why didn't they replace it with 

a system they considered adequate? After all, most of the contents of the trading post belonged to them. 

Well, it is not the responsibility of SPMA to maintain the buildings at the historic site; their legislation 

would not allow them to spend money on maintenance there. SPMA's function is to help the NPS 

interpret the site.

But SPMA's financial success at the trading post may be about to pay off for the historic site as well. 

Although SPMA has been contributing a $500 discretionary fund to each site, park, or monument where 

it does business, it was decided by their Board of Directors in 1990 that each NPS location should in fact 

receive a percentage of the SPMA income from the sales of books at the individual locations. A 

controversy arose, as far as Hubbell Trading Post NHS was concerned, when the subject of the profits 

from the rest of the sales at the trading post was brought up. That is, the sales of literature at Hubbell 

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Trading Post are, to say the least, a minor part of SPMA's business there. And so it was decided in 

October of 1991, at a meeting of SPMA's Board of Directors, a meeting which took place in Ganado, 

that henceforth Hubbell Trading Post will receive a percentage of all of SPMA's sales at the site. This 

could of course amount to some thousands of dollars. [24] And so at last there should be sufficient 

"discretionary funds" available to help the historic site come alive.

The Friends of Hubbell Trading Post [25]

An agreement between Hubbell Trading Post NHS and the Friends of Hubbell Trading Post was entered 

into on the 19th of December, 1990. Basically, the Friends of Hubbell Trading Post might provide funds 

for small projects for which there is at present no money available via the NPS, nor, because their 

legislation would not allow them to fund such projects, from SPMA.

Irrigation and Erosion

The dam at Ganado Lake had been partially drained by the time Juin Crosse arrived at Hubbell Trading 

Post NHS in 1978. Apparently the floodgates had been damaged, some years before, and since then 

nothing had been done to repair the dam. Juin was concerned that the historic site would lose its 

irrigation rights, so she set about seeing what she could do to get the dam repaired. The lake did not 

belong to the historic site; Juin had to work through the tribe. But since virtually all of the decisions on 

community affairs are made by total consensus of the people involved, it proved impossible for any hard 

decisions to be made. Juin: "While we never ran into a total roadblock, people weren't totally wild about 

[repairing the dam]." [26] Juin even arranged to have divers come out to the lake to go down to see if the 

floodgates could be repaired. [27] The water was so murky they couldn't see anything. The divers had no 

success that first time. It then proved impossible to get the Navajo to allow the divers to try again. As it 

turned out, their reluctance to get the dam repaired may have had little to do with the dam itself.

When the water receded at Ganado Lake, some very lush grass grew up where the water had been. 

Because that grass was a lovely place to graze sheep, the people who owned the sheep were not as 

interested in seeing the dam repaired as were those people downstream. And, thought Juin, it may have 

been that the people responsible for the dam were related to the owners of the sheep. (Juin: 

"Interrelationships run just every which way.") [28] Whatever the case, Juin had the feeling that there 

was some foot dragging going on.

Foot dragging? Or simply the failure of the Navajo to be able to agree on what might be the best course 

for them to take as far as the dam is concerned. Whatever the case, the issue has never been resolved. 

And this issue has been a concern of every superintendent for at least the past twenty years.

Irrigation, the dam, and erosion along the Pueblo Colorado Wash are interconnected issues. Because the 

dam is broken, there is no water in the lake. Because there is no water in the lake, there is no water for 

the irrigation ditch. Also, because the dam is broken, water will run unchecked down the Pueblo 

Colorado Wash. The Pueblo Colorado Wash is trying to meander to the south, thereby causing erosion, 

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another big concern for the NPS for many years as part of Wide Reed Ruin slumped into the roiling 

waters. Unable to convince anybody to repair the dam, the NPS has resorted to heroic efforts along the 

Pueblo Colorado Wash within the boundaries of the historic site. The NPS has installed gabions.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, [29] gabion is a French word derived from the Italian 

word gabbione. A gabbione is "a cylindrical wicker basket filled with earth and stones, formerly used in 

building fortifications." [30] The word gabbione is a refinement of the Italian word gabbia, which in 

English is the word "cage." A gabion, then, is a big cage, and in the case of the gabions in the Pueblo 

Colorado Wash close to Wide Reed Ruin, the gabions are big cages fashioned of wire and filled with 

rocks. The gabions now visible in the wash are the second attempt at halting the erosion with the 

(according to some observers) unsightly intrusion.

Interestingly--assuming one is interested in precise definitions--the mass of wired rocks along the Pueblo 

Colorado Wash may in fact be a gabionade, a gabionade being "a fortification or defensive embankment 

or wall built with gabions." [31] Well, whatever it's called, the massive collection of rocks in the wash 

was the idea of an engineer who was with the Navajo Lands Group when Kevin McKibbin was 

superintendent at Hubbell Trading Post NHS (1971-1974). [32]

Kevin remembers the truckloads of rocks that were hauled in to fill the wire cages the Navajo crew were 

making down in the arroyo. Many tons of rocks went into gabions just upstream from Wide Reed Ruin 

and following the bank down just past the ruin, an impressive construction job, an enormous amount of 

work. Kevin McKibbin: "The only problem was that after two or three big flash floods, why, it was 

essentially gone. It just sank out of sight. It's there but I doubt now if it's at all evident anymore." [33] 

Having witnessed the obvious force of an arroyo out of control with floodwater, and taking into 

consideration the apparently inevitable disappearance of Wide Reed Ruin, the NPS decided, before it 

was too late, to excavate and map parts of the ruin.

Erosion along the Pueblo Colorado Wash continued to be one of the "biggest" issues [34] facing the 

superintendents. Unfortunately, during the past twenty years it has proved impossible to convince 

everybody with interest in the dam that erosion at the historic site might be a concern for all, not just the 

NPS. The present gabions, which don't seem to be sinking out of sight, were installed when Doug 

McChristian was superintendent (1986-1987). Doug: "That took what seemed like an extremely long 

time to accomplish. It was very slow going work." [35] Although the new gabions seem to be doing the 

job, their time, too, may be limited. The best solution to the erosion problem along the Pueblo Colorado 

Wash remains the repairing of the dam at Ganado Lake.

The idea has been put forward that possibly the erosion issue and the irrigation issue can be separated for 

the time being, as far as the repairing of the dam is concerned. That is, the problem of erosion below the 

dam is an issue of interest to people other than the NPS, while the irrigation issue is perceived to be 

mainly a problem for the National Park Service. If the irrigation concerns can be left out of the 

discussion for the present, the expensive repairs necessary on the ditch outside of the historic site would 

not be an immediate concern for the people contemplating that repair work once the dam is working 

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again. However, once the dam is repaired---ostensibly just to halt erosion downstream---the matter of 

water for irrigation, as well as the ditch repair problem, can resurface. [36]

In the meantime, any superintendent at Hubbell Trading Post NHS will be facing the same old erosion 

and irrigation problems that have been among the issues faced by every superintendent there for the past 

twenty years.

An Island in the Middle of the Vast Navajo Reservation

How did the Navajo react to the NPS taking over at Hubbell Trading Post?

John Cook: "There were probably several sets and levels of reactions. The ones affected the most 

[Dorothy Hubbell's regular customers], very little to no reaction. Primarily because of the fact that Mrs. 

Hubbell reassured them that, one, their lines of credit would be maintained, that things bad would not 

happen to them. Secondly, bringing Bill Young along...he was no stranger to many of the individuals. 

Then you had the reaction of some of the tribal leadership, some of whom, as we were in the era of civil 

rights and the beginning of resurgence of American Indian rights, you got some people really kind of 

objecting to traders at all. And the National Park Service, the federal government, getting involved in 

this onerous thing [trading posts] that rips off the American Indian. So you had some negative feelings 

there. And then you had the Navajo Tribe itself... Raymond Nakaai, and later Peter MacDonald...who 

felt that another national park area on or near the Reservation would create jobs and bring in money. The 

chapter people, the Ganado Chapter, they were concerned because they weren't sure what kind of 

neighbors we were going to be." [37]

But no one actively tried to stop the NPS from taking over at Hubbell Trading Post and operating it. John 

Cook feels that the change of administration at the trading post, from Dorothy Hubbell to the NPS, was 

made easier for the Navajo because he, Cook, was well known on the Reservation and also well known 

in the circles of Navajo leadership." [38] Cook hopes that the NPS screening process, when selecting site 

administrators, will help find those people who will be most compatible with the environment. He 

understands that one has to subjugate one's own culture to the dominant local culture, not necessarily to 

embrace that way of life, but at least to try to understand it. The administrators of the historic site must 

be tolerant, value cultural diversity, realize that the Navajo culture has a right to exist with the Anglo and 

Hispanic cultures that surround the Navajo Nation. And one must learn patience. [39]

Art White was superintendent of the Navajo Lands Group when Kevin McKibbin was superintendent at 

Hubbell, and Hubbell Trading Post was at that time part of the Navajo Lands Group. Kevin McKibbin: 

"Art was very involved with the Tribe. In fact that was one of the reasons he was superintendent of the 

Navajo Lands Group.... He knew how to get along with them. They knew him and liked him. He was 

very good at dealing with the Tribe and common problems between the Tribe and the National Park 

Service. He spent a lot of time with them." [40]

McKibbin: "A new superintendent has to know what the Navajo Tribe is. And he has to know that he's 

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right in the middle of them. Although he's on a National Park Service enclave, he's got to build a deal 

with them almost on a daily basis. And he's got to know...who the local chapter officers are. And from 

there he should know the chain of command right up through the Tribal Council. Know who...the 

chairman is. And he needs to know some of the people in the tribal government...the natural and cultural 

resource people, the law enforcement people, the utility people...the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority. He 

should...know how they fit into the organizational scheme of things." [41]

McKibbin: "You're still in a community but it's different. So you've got to understand that. A new 

superintendent, a lot of them, myself included, first superintendency, you come in pretty bright-eyed and 

bushy-tailed, and you're ready to take on the world...make your mark right now. [But] you've got to be 

very careful, especially in that environment. You're going to fall right flat on your face...." [42]

Tom Vaughan recalls that Art White took him around to meet the Navajo officials. Tom made every 

effort to be involved with the Tribe, attending meetings at the local chapter house, becoming secretary of 

the Ganado Volunteer Fire Department, going out annually with the Navajo Police to qualify with 

firearms. [43]

Tom feels that the superintendent must look for opportunities to be involved with the Navajo. For 

example, when a local alcoholics group received some federal money for a project but needed lumber, 

Tom remembered that the NPS had been wanting to tear down the north bridge at the historic site. He sat 

down with the group and they agreed to take out the bridge just for the material it contained, at no extra 

cost to the government. And so that is how--and when--the north bridge was dismantled and removed. 

As Tom suggested, there just is not any organizational preparation available for such a place as Hubbell 

Trading Post. In his opinion, the person who is going to be effective in the superintendency of Hubbell 

Trading Post will be somebody who enjoys working in an area of cultural diversity. [44]

Dorothy Hubbell: "Sometimes if you get somebody in who is not familiar with the area at all.... well, he 

never gets the feeling of the place." [45]

However, as Tom Vaughan suggests, a person may not be sensitive to another culture just because he or 

she is familiar with the area. [46] Juin Crosse echoes that sentiment: "Even though I was there as a child, 

I certainly felt like no authority on the culture. I did try to get some material in advance." She wanted to 

find out what some of the "dos and don'ts" were as far as the Navajo culture is concerned, but she found 

it difficult to find any good information. "You were just very lucky if you didn't shoot yourself in the 

foot by doing something really insulting to somebody." She discovered when she was working on some 

problems that it wasn't so much a matter of getting all of the Navajo to agree on an issue, it was mainly a 

matter of hoping that nobody would object. "They [the Navajo] almost never override opposition. It's 

against their way. Total consensus is their way...." [47]

Juin Crosse discovered that it was difficult to have traditional Navajo supervising one another. Juin: "It is 

absolutely against their culture to criticize." And, she noted, the "supreme insult" among the Navajo is to 

ignore a person if he or she doesn't approve of that person. Which, Juin found out, can slow down 

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progress a bit. She learned to be firm. If you cave in on an issue, the people will not respect you. [There 

seems to be a fine line here between standing up for one's rights and what could possibly be perceived as 

Anglo arrogance.] Juin thought that if one retreated on too many issues, the Navajo would not respect 

one at all. And she does not think that it is in anybody's best interest for a white person at a chapter 

meeting to just sit there and take abuse. Such abuse may occur, but if the Anglo simply accepts it, this 

may be, as far as the Navajo are concerned, a clue to that person's character. [48]

One way Juin hoped to get the dam fixed was to try to get the Navajo themselves interested in farming 

Hubbell Trading Post NHS. If they were interested in farming the land, she reasoned, they would have to 

become interested in repairing the dam and the irrigation ditch. Juin: "We put out some special use 

permits to the schools...to get them over to do some farming. I was eager to try and get them interested 

because I thought that might also stir some community interest towards getting that irrigation ditch going 

again." [49]

Ed Gastellum tried to pick up where Juin had left off with the irrigation/dam/farming issue. He worked 

with local people associated with the tribal government. The Navajo would do the farming, maintain the 

ditches, and the proceeds from the sale of the hay would be split between the Tribe and the NPS. Ed 

didn't get to the point of actually formulating an agreement. He was working on it, but the council 

delegates were involved in an election. Unfortunately, the council leadership changed, and a lot of the 

local interest in the project died. Ed: "The emphasis really died." Working with the Navajo, 

understanding their culture, adapting to the local environment, becoming a part of the community, was a 

tremendous challenge, Ed thought, but also a very positive experience. [50]

Ed remembers that when he first got to Ganado a council delegate came over to introduce himself right 

away, to welcome Ed to Ganado, to tell him that as superintendent of the historic site he was considered 

a vital part of the community. The council delegate invited Ed and his family to the chapter meeting, to 

be held that next Sunday, so that they could be introduced to the community. (John Cook: "If they invite 

you to a meeting, you're the meeting.") [51]

Ed and his family arrived at the appointed time, 12:00 noon. People from the community trickled in, and 

Ed and his family got to meet everybody, but it wasn't until four o'clock that there were sufficient people 

present to start the meeting. It was evident to Ed that the Navajo perception of time, and time over at the 

historic site, might be two different things. The fact that nothing seems to start "on time" can be a 

challenging concept for some Anglos. [52]

Terry Nichols thought that it would be a good idea for a new administrator to know something about the 

Navajo ceremonial life, the mythology." [53]

Well, however one goes about getting to know the Navajo, the majority of the people who have gone 

through the experience agree that there always seems to be a "two-year getting acquainted 

courtship." [54]

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Dorothy Hubbell, when it was suggested to her that it takes a couple of years to become a part of the 

community: "It does, it does. That's right. Because we're different. We're all different. The Navajo are 

very careful about that. They may answer you, or they may not. They may just stand. But they are 

interesting people. When you can know them as individuals, they're interesting people." [55]

Charlie Wyatt doesn't think that most past superintendents were at the historic site long enough to get 

truly acquainted with the local community. Charlie: "And they are very gentle and very kind 

people." [56]

It took Charlie Wyatt two and a half years at the historic site before he didn't have to invite himself 

places. After two and a half years, the local people started to invite Charlie; they came to understand that 

he had the good of the local community at heart. Charlie: "I'd say it would take two and a half years to 

start being effective and after that then you've got to play the cards as you see them. At least two and a 

half years before you would really be a contributing voice in the community." [57]

Tom Vaughan feels that the person who is superintendent at Hubbell Trading Post NHS should be one 

who enjoys a multi-cultural milieu. Tom does, and he came to appreciate the uniqueness of the remote 

historic site. Tom: "You really have a sense of being in another world when you step outside your door 

in August and hear drums or, even more, in December when you're standing at the front of the trading 

post seeing masked dancers coming down the entrance road. That's when you realize you're in someone 

else's land." [58]

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 15)

Figure 50. Sitsiji hozhoodoo shikeedee’ hozhoodoo. (Before me peace, behind me peace.) 

Excerpt from Navajo prayer. A Manchester photo.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 16)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER XVI:

HUBBEL TRADING POST'S SUPERINTENDENTS (1967-1993)

John Cook 1966-1969

From mule skinner to Director of the Southwest Region is the story of John Cook's career with the 

National Park Service. And when he took that job in 1953 as a mule skinner at Saguaro National 

Monument he became the third generation of Cooks to be employed by the NPS (the Cooks' daughter, 

Kayci, Chief of Interpretation at Apostle Island, is the fourth generation of the family to work for the 

NPS). By 1958 he was Administrative Officer at Chaco Canyon. After some time out for military 

service, he returned as Chief Park Ranger at Navajo National Monument, and from there he went to 

Yellowstone as a Sub-District Ranger.

Cook returned to the Southwest as Assistant Superintendent at Canyon de Chelly, then moved to Hubbell 

Trading Post (in 1966) to bring the trading post into the National Park System. He was the new national 

monument's first superintendent. He then took over the joint superintendency of Hubbell Trading Post 

and Canyon de Chelly, and from that position he became the General Superintendent of the Navajolands 

Group, which included Aztec Ruins, Chaco Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Hubbell Trading Post, El Morro, 

Wupatki, and Sunset Crater. He worked for a time in Scottsdale, Arizona, to establish the Southern 

Arizona Group, and then he left the Southwest for a time, off to San Francisco to take a Deputy Regional 

Director's job, then to Washington, D.C., as Associate Director of the National Park Service.

He returned to the Southwest in the mid-1970s to become Regional Director, but in less than two years 

he transferred to Alaska to assume the position as Alaska's first Regional Director. He left there in 1983 

to be the Superintendent at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

John Cook has been Regional Director of the Southwest Region again since 1986. His university studies 

were in business administration. Cook and his family went to Hubbell Trading Post before it was 

officially a national historic site, and they lived in what is called the Manager's Residence. He had a desk 

and a filing cabinet in what is now the jewelry room. He considers bringing Hubbell Trading Post into 

the National Park System one of the highlights of a long and varied career.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 16)

Figure 51. John Cook, Superintendent of Hubbell Trading Post NHS from 1966-1969. 

NPS photo.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Bibliographic Essay)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY

In Tony Hillerman's novel Skinwalkers Navajo policeman Jim Chee drives miles through the rainy 

boondocks to find a hogan that belongs to the Goldtooth "outfit." Once he found the place, Chee did not 

pull right up to it, dismount, and knock on the door. Among conservative Navajo, such a sudden 

approach could be considered impolite. Instead, Chee parked a little away from the house and left his car 

lights on until the front door opened and a woman appeared there making the traditional welcoming 

motion to Chee before going back inside and leaving the door slightly ajar for him. It was details like 

Chee's considerate approach to the hogan that caused Dorothy Hubbell to enjoy Hillerman's novels and 

approve of them for showing how a Navajo would correctly react to a given situation. Her own copy of 

Skinwalkers is inscribed "From Tony to Dorothy. "

The Navajo like Hillerman's books because they tend to make the Navajo "look good," although real 

Navajo policemen maintain that Hillerman makes them look too good. In any case, if one wants to do 

some light reading about the Navajo, Hillerman's novels are a good place to start. He even mentions a 

few fictitious traders, and from all accounts he gets them right. Our own Hillerman favorites are The 

People of Darkness and The Dark Wind.

In mentioning Tony Hillerman, we don't feel that we are bumbling into triviality. One of our history 

professors at the University of New Mexico always insisted that his students not forget to look into the 

novels written on their particular field of study. Hillerman writes well about the country, and apparently 

he writes well about the people who live in the country.

During the writing of this administrative history, we embarked on a reading project that we soon 

discovered could have been almost endless. Although the good books written about the traders 

themselves can be counted on one hand, the many studies devoted to the Indians who trade at Hubbell 

Trading Post are legion. Locked up as they are in the middle of the United States, the Hopi, Navajo, and 

Zuni have been studied by every anthropologist worth his or her salt and with the bus fare to get them 

into Indian Country. We won't burden the reader with the titles of all the books we looked into. Instead, 

we'll discuss only those we feel deserve to be mentioned here. Most of these books have extensive 

bibliographies should the reader's interest be roused by a particular area of study.

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Our own reading started--fortunately, we feel--with Frank McNitt's The Indian Traders. This book, a 

general history of the development of the Indian trader in the Southwest, is basic, gives the reader a good 

overview of the subject, and does include an account of the early years at Hubbell Trading Post. While 

speaking of McNitt's work, we should mention his Richard Wetherill: Anasazi. Since the Wetherills were 

traders to the Navajo, the book can be included here although its main thrust is the study of the 

Wetherills as early archeologists in the region. It’s good background reading as far as the Anasazi are 

concerned and like all of McNitt's work is entertaining as well as informative. 

At the opposite end of the pole from The Indian Traders is William Y. Adams' Shonto: A Study of the 

Role of the Trader in a Modern Navajo Community. Where McNitt is general and historical, Adams is 

modern and specific. McNitt is historian and writer, Adams a trained anthropologist who also worked in 

the trading post at Shonto as a trader. Adams writes with authority and a sense of humor about life at a 

trading post. Shonto was his doctoral dissertation. The book deserves to be read by anybody interested in 

the Navajo and their trading posts; it should be required reading for those who must know about the nittygritty of modern trading post life.

Traders to the Navajos: The Story of the Wetherills of Kayenta, by Frances Gillmor and Louisa Wade 

Wetherill, was informative but did not, as far as we are concerned, live up to its reputation. Written in 

the 1930s, it may just be starting to show its age. We found that it romanticized the role of the trader in a 

most irritating way. (Dorothy Hubbell: "They [the Wetherills] were after all just people.")

A valuable work by one of the old-time traders is Navajo Trader, by Gladwell Richardson, which has a 

forward by Barry Goldwater. Goldwater knew the Richardsons, a well-known trading family in Navajo 

country. From our point of view, the book seemed to be a good autobiographical look at the early days of 

trading post life by a literate man who knew how to whip together a good yarn. Ned Danson, who knew 

Richardson, told us that he found the book "interesting." Dorothy Hubbell admitted to having read 

Navajo Trader but would not comment beyond that, possibly because Richardson mentions a couple of 

amusing incidents that do not put the Hubbells in a totally good light. An interesting note on Gladwell 

Richardson: Starting in the 1930s and continuing up into the 1950s, Richardson wrote dozens of western 

novels, none of which--as far as we can determine--have survived. Navajo Trader was written late in 

Richardson's life and published posthumously. The book must have benefited considerably from his 

many years of practice on innumerable sagebrush sagas.

One well-recommended book that we did not find entirely useful was Joseph Schmedding's Cowboy and 

Indian Trader. That is, Schmedding was first a cowboy and then became an Indian trader, operating the 

post at Keams Canyon up into the 1920s. Just a few--but interesting--chapters have any relevancy to 

trading posts. Schmedding's raging conservatism spoils the book. As far as he is concerned, nothing was 

ever the same after the advent of "talkies" and ''highheeled pumps." He spends too much time lamenting 

the passing of the Good Old Days when men were men and women were (allegedly) too demure to 

notice.

An utterly charming book that we stumbled across is Earle R. Forrest's With a Camera in Old 

Navaholand. Forrest was a very young man in the early days of the century when he decided to 

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adventure Way Out West and be a cowboy for the summer. He carried an unwieldy camera with him. 

During that summer, Forrest loaded his camera and plates on his pony and meandered down out of 

Colorado to a trading post in the northern part of the Navajo Nation. While there, he photographed the 

trader's customers who drifted in out of the hinterland. The book is a good description of life at a very 

remote trading post of the era and is loaded with interesting photographs. Forest returned to the 

Southwest many times in the following years, continuing his photography of the country and the people. 

The photographs are good and thousands of them were willed to the Museum of Northern Arizona. This 

must be an extraordinarily valuable and interesting collection.

As far as the trading posts are concerned, books on the subject, good or bad, do not cover a wide space 

on the shelf. The last one we will mention here is by Elizabeth Campton Hegemann, Navaho Trading 

Days. This book should be reviewed if for no other reason then to study with never-ending fascination its 

380 photographs. The flavor of the era in the remote corners of the Nation is captured here This book 

does not seem to be well known; it should be.

As we mentioned earlier, books on the Indians themselves are so numerous that we will discuss only 

those that turned out to be the most useful to us. A few come recommended as standards, others we 

discovered as we poked around in libraries.

One old standby is The Navaho, by Clyde Kluckhorn and Dorothea Leighton. Originally published in 

1946 (later revised), it's dated. But good. The forward, in the 1962 edition, by Stanley A. Freed, declares 

that The Navaho is "the most useful and authoritative general ethnology on the Navajo." Not being 

students of the science, we have no way of knowing whether or not that's still true. There are some 

anachronisms in the book. These days, one doesn't often see Navajo men got up in breechcloths and 

headbands. On the other hand, some Navajo women are undoubtedly still "shrewish," shrewishness not 

being exclusively a matter of time--...--or race, for that matter.

Our understanding of the Navajo is that they are a conservative people, although not as conservative as 

their neighbors, the Hopi. In any case, The Navaho is still considered to be a good general overview of 

Navajo ways. We feel The Navaho should be read by anybody going to spend some time in the Nation. 

Having studied the book, we felt more comfortable in the Nation, more like knowledgeable neighbors 

than ignorant strangers. The authors discuss the history of the Navajo, the land they now occupy, their 

government, the supernatural, their language, their view of life, and much more. It was the one good 

general "guidebook" to the Navajo that we came across.

A book that attempts much the same thing as Kluckhorn and Leighton's The Navaho is Ruth M. 

Underhill's The Navajos. Much of this book may have been (we read elsewhere) derived from Charles A. 

Amsden's Navajo Weaving. One advantage of Underhill's book is that it is written in a very simple style 

(Dorothy Hubbell: "She talked that way."). However, the book is informative, easy to read, and still 

useful.

If indeed Ruth Underhill poked into Amsden's Navajo Weaving for information and inspiration, she 

picked the right book. Navajo Weaving is a surprise; it's as much about everything else in Navajo life as 

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it is about their weaving. Of all the background reading we did for this project, we can suggest this as 

another good choice if one doesn't have a lot of time for reading. This is probably the definitive book on 

Navajo weaving, at least up to 1934 when the book was published; Amsden carries the reader into the 

"revival" period. Although a little too prejudiced in favor of the earlier periods of Navajo weaving, we 

feel, Amsden makes many fortunate detours into other areas, basket making, silversmithing--and just 

about every other facet of Navajo life he was aware of in his day. This is an extremely valuable work. A 

logical companion book to Navajo Weaving is John Adair's The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths. Here is 

just about everything you could want to know about Navajo and Pueblo silversmithing between the years 

1880 and about 1940. The book was first published in 1944, but it has been--deservedly--republished 

several times since then. Like Navajo Weaving, The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmith is about a lot more 

than its title would lead a reader to believe. Adair's book is as entertaining as it is informative. Charles 

Amsden's and John Adair's books are classics of the genre.

An author whose several books one might look at for a sensitive view of Navajo life is Gladys A. 

Reichard. Reichard died in the 1950s. She was an instructor at Barnard College who liked to spend 

summers in Navajo country. She passed a lot of time in the Ganado area. Reichard mentions the folks at 

Hubbell Trading Post where she would go for supplies and to visit. Our own favorite among her works is 

Spider Woman, a copy of which was given to us by Dorothy Hubbell when we visited with her in Sun 

City. In Spider Woman Reichard recounts her adventures and misadventures as she undertakes to learn 

weaving from the Navajo women she's living with. She also takes part in many of the family's other 

activities, including a four-day sing. Reichard's works are valuable for their pleasing and intimate 

glimpses into the nitty-gritty of Navajo life before that way of life became exceedingly integrated with 

the surrounding white culture.

For a look at the more bellicose side of the Navajo experience, the reader can look at The Navajo Wars,

by Frank McNitt; The Long Walk, by Lynn R. Bailey; and Navajo Roundup, by Lawrence Kelly. 

In our opinion, any book by McNitt is a good choice. The Foreword in the edition of The Navajo Wars

we read was written by Robert Utley, retired NPS historian, who did much work at Hubbell Trading 

Post. We found Lynn Bailey's The Long Walk to be an easy to ready account of the military campaigns 

against the Navajo and their resulting exile to Bosque Redondo. Navajo Roundup, by Kelly, may be the 

least valuable of the works but it is an interesting look at the "selected correspondence" of the military 

involved in the capture and exile of the Navajo in the 1860s, actual correspondence being sometimes 

more revealing than a historian's interpretation of same. 

We won't discuss in detail any of the books we looked at in reference to the Hopi and the Zuni. The 

reader will have his or her hands full with books about the Navajo, which, as far as Hubbell Trading Post 

is concerned, is the main issue. However, two of the more interesting books we came across during 

research were books of photographs of the Hopi. The photographs in these books were taken in the early 

part of the century. Since then, the Hopi have become more conservative about allowing outsiders to 

photograph their rites and daily life. Possibly the more interesting of these books is The Hopi 

Photographs, Kate Cory: 1905-1912. In spite of the bulky equipment she was using, Kate Cory's 

photographs would compare favorably with photographs taken today--if the Hopi would still allow it, 

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and if some of the practices photographed by Cory had not disappeared from the Hopi way of life. 

Today, her photographs are of interest to the Hopi themselves.

A bibliographic essay on books about trading posts, Indians, and related subjects could stretch on to an 

intolerable length. Let this suffice. It will soon become apparent to the interested student that a lifetime 

could be spent covering all of the reading that can be done in these areas.

Documents, Studies, Correspondence, and Interviews

The many plans and research studies that were used in the preparation of this administrative history are 

on file at the historic site, most of them in the Curator's office. A few, such as the erosion study, were 

found at the SWRO library in Santa Fe. Most of the documents, although possibly dated, have 

information not mentioned here that might be valuable to future administrators. Virtually all of them 

proved useful in one way or another for this administrative history.

On file on the site's Curator's office is what appears to be most of the pertinent correspondence in 

reference to legislative history. Copies of the correspondence and documents found at the offices of 

SPMA, in reference to their initial involvement at Hubbell Trading Post, are now on file in the site's 

Curator's office.

Interviews Recorded For This Administrative History

Kent Bush 

John E. Cook 

Charles B. Cooper 

Juin Crosse Adams 

Edward B. Danson 

Luis Edward Gastellum 

Bill Gentless 

Alan R. Grieve 

Dorothy S. Hubbell 

Billy Gene Malone 

Terry E. Maze 

Douglas C. McChristian 

Kevin McKibbin 

Theresa Nichols 

Robert M. Utley 

Thomas G. Vaughan 

Charles D. Wyatt

The tapes and the transcriptions of those tapes are all on file at Hubbell Trading Post NHS. But many 

other people were interviewed. Various aspects of the trading post were discussed with SPMA 

employees at the trading post and during our research trip to Tucson. It would seem that a majority of the 

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NPS employees at the historic site were interviewed, although Charlie Wyatt's conversation is the only 

one of those interviews that is recorded. People other than NPS and SPMA employees were interviewed 

while were in Ganado. Trying to get objective points of view in reference to the historic site, we talked 

to at least a dozen people while were staying in hospital housing and having meals at the Sage Cafe. 

But many insights into Hubbell Trading Post came by surprise and from surprising sources. When we 

told Mary Alice Bowlin, the owner of our favorite bookstore in New Mexico, what we were working on, 

she revealed that she had stayed at Hubbell Trading Post for quite some time in the 1940s and that she 

had known many of the people who figured in its history. Her stories were valuable to us. An old friend, 

Mark MacCurdy, of Albuquerque, told us that he used to drop by Hubbell Trading Post when he was 

driving across the reservation on business. That would have been in the early 1960s, before the trading 

post became a historic site. He liked to poke around in what is now the Rug Room, investigating old 

books and documents there. The post was fascinating, he said, and he would quite forget that he was 

supposed to be there on business. Dorothy Hubbell would join him when she could, and Mark related 

that Dorothy "had a story for every happening recorded in the letters and journals."

After a time, encounters with people who had visited the trading post way back when came as less of a 

surprise to us. We concluded that in spite of what the map might indicate, all roads must eventually lead 

to Hubbell trading Post.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Bibliography)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adair, John. The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 

1973.

Adams, William Y. Shonto: A Study of the Role of the Trader in a Modem Navaho Community.

Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 188. U.S. 

Government Printing Office, 1963.

Amsden, Charles Avery. Navajo Weaving. Santa Ana, California: The Fine Arts Press, In Cooperation 

with the Southwest Museum, 1934.

Bailey, Lynn. The Long Walk (A History of the Navajo Wars, 1846-68). Pasadena, California: SocioTechnical Books, 1970.

Bakker, Elna and Richard G. Lillard. The Great Southwest, The Story of a Land and Its people. Palo 

Alto, California: American West Publishing Company, 1978.

Biles, Roy E. The Complete Book of Garden Magic. Chicago: J.G. Ferguson, Publisher, 1951.

Blomberg, Nancy J. Navajo Textiles, The William Randolph Hearst Collection. Tucson, Arizona: 

University of Arizona Press, 1988.

Correll, J. Lee and Editha L. Watson, eds. Welcome to the Land of the Navajo, A Book of Information 

About the Navajo Nation. Window Rock, Arizona: Prepared by Museum and Research Department, the 

Navajo Tribe, 1974. Fourth Edition.

Forrest, Earle, R. With A Camera In Old Navaholand. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma 

Press, 1970.

Gaede, Marnie. The Hopi Photographs, Kate Cory, 1905-1912 (Artist of Arizona). Barton Wright, 

Captions and Quotes. Marc Gaede, Photographic Reproductions. La Canada, California: Chaco Press, 

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Bibliography)

1986.

Galaty, Fillmore, W., Wellington J. Allway, Robert C. Kyle. Modem Real Estate Practices. Chicago: 

Real Estate Education Company, 1988. Eleventh Edition.

Gillmor, Frances and Louisa Wade Wetherill. Traders To the Navajos, The Story of the Wetherills of 

Kayenta. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1952.

Gilpin, Laura. The Enduring Navaho. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1988.

Hegemann, Elizabeth Campton. Navaho Trading Days. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 

1987. (Excellent photographs).

Hicks, John D. The Federal Union. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Riverside Press, 1957.

Hillerman, Tony. Listening Woman. New York: Harper & Row Publishers 1978.

_______. People of Darkness. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1980.

_______. The Dark Wind. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1982.

_______. Skinwalkers. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1986.

_______. Coyote Waits. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1990.

James, H. L. Posts and Rugs, The Story of Navajo Rugs and Their Homes, Globe, Arizona: Southwest 

Parks and Monuments, 1976.

Jameson, J. Franklin PhD. Dictionary of United States History, 1492-1899. Boston, Massachusetts: 

History Publishing Company, 1899.

Johnson, Electa. Westward Bound In The Schooner Yankee. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1936.

Kains, M.G. Five Acres and Independence. New York: Greenberg, Publisher, 1941.

Kelly, Lawrence. Navajo Roundup. Selected Correspondence of Kit Carson's Expedition Against the 

Navajo, 1863-1865. Boulder, Colorado: The Pruett Publishing Company, 1970.

Kluckhohn, Clyde and Dorothea Leighton. The Navajo. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & 

Company, Inc., 1946; Anchor Books, 1962.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Bibliography)

Manchester, Albert D. Trails Begin Where Rails End. Glendale, California: Trans-Anglo Books, 1987.

Mather, Christine and Sharon Woods. Santa Fe Style. New York: Instructional Publications, Inc., 1986.

McNitt, Frank. Richard Wetherill: Anasazi. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, Revised 

Edition, 1966.

_______. The Indian Trader. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962.

_______. Navajo Wars, Campaigns, Slave Raids, and Reprisals. Albuquerque: University of New 

Mexico Press, 1965.

Michael, Sam. Trade Token Place Names of Arizona. Mesa, Arizona: Sam Michael, 1986.

Moore, J. B. The Navajo. A reprint in its entirety of a catalogue published by J. B. Moore Indian Trader, 

of the Crystal Trading Post, New Mexico, in 1911. Albuquerque: Avanyu Publishing, Inc., 1986. (c/o 

Adobe Gallery, 413 Romero, N.W., Albuquerque, New Mexico 87104).

National Park Service, U. S. Department of the Interior. Soldier & Brave. New York: Harper & Row 

Publishers, 1963. Volume XII. Introduction by Ray Allen Billington.

New Mexico - A Guide To The Colorful State. New York: American Guide Series Hastings House. 

Compiled by Workers of the Writers' Program of the Works Project Administration in the State of New 

Mexico, 1940.

O'Kane, Walter Collins. The Hopis: Portrait of a Desert People. Norman, Oklahoma: University of 

Oklahoma Press, 1953.

Parman, Donald L. The Navajos And the New Deal, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 

1976.

Reichard, Gladys A. Spider Woman. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1934.

_______. Navajo Shepherd and Weaver. Glorieta, New Mexico: The Rio Grande Press, Inc., 1984.

Richardson, Gladwell. Navajo Trader. With a Foreword by Barry Goldwater. Tucson, Arizona: 

University of Arizona Press, 1986.

Roberts, Willow. Stokes Carson, Twentieth Century Trading on the Navajo Reservation. Albuquerque: 

University of New Mexico Press, 1987.

Roosevelt, Theodore. African Game Trails. New York: Syndicate Publishing Company, 1910.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Bibliography)

Russell, Carl P. Firearms, Traps, & Tools of the Mountain Men. Albuquerque: University of New 

Mexico Press, 1978.

Schmedding, Joseph. Cowboy and Indian Trader. Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1951.

Seymour, E.L.D., ed. The Wise Garden Encyclopedia. New York: Wm. H. Wise & Co., Inc., 1954.

The Indians. By the editors of Time-Life Books. Text by Benjamin Capps. New York: Time- Life 

Books, 1973.

Thomas, D. H. The Southwestern Indian Detours. Phoenix, Arizona: Hunter Publishing Company, 1978.

Underhill, Ruth M. The Navajos. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956.

Vogt, Evon Z. and Clyde Kluckhohn. Navaho Means People. Photographs by Leonard McCombe. 

Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1951.

Webb, William and Robert A. Weinstein. Dwellers At The Source, Southwestern Indian Photographs of 

A.C. Vroman, 1895-1904. (From the A.C. Vroman Collection at the Natural History Museum of Los 

Angeles County.) New York: Grossman Publishers, 1973.

Whitely, Peter M. Deliberate Acts, Changing Hopi Culture Through the Oraibi Spirit. Tucson, Arizona: 

University of Arizona Press, 1988.

William, Lester, L., M.D. C.N. Cotton And His Navajo Blankets. Albuquerque: Avanyu Publishing, Inc., 

1989.

Woodward, Arthur. Navajo Silver. Flagstaff, Arizona: Northland Press, 1973.

Young, Robert W. A Political History of the Navajo Tribe. Tsaile, Navajo Nation, Arizona: Navajo 

community College, 1978.

Magazines

"Fifty Years an Indian Trader," Touring Topics (December, 1930): HTP-M-7.

Pritchard, Paul C. "The Best Idea American Ever Had -The National Park Service at 75." The National 

Geographic, Vol. 180, No.2. (August, 1991):51, Ailema Benally — Hubbell Trading Post National 

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Bibliography)

Historic Site.

"The Land of the Navajo and Hopi," Sunset Magazine (May, 1987).

Videos

The Art of Navajo Weaving and The Durango Collection of Southwest Textiles. Produced by the Denver 

Museum of Natural History for Toh-Atin Gallery and The Durango Collection, 1987. Distributed by 

Interpak, 1540 E. MacArthur, Cortez, Colorado 81321.

A Weave of Time: A Navajo Family Through Four Generations. National Endowment for the 

Humanities, 209 Onate Hall, Corner Girard and Campus, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131.

Farming and Gardening Books Found at Hubbell Trading Post

Anderson, D.H. The Primer of lrrigation. The D. H. Anderson Publishing Co.: Chicago, 1903.

Bennett, I.D. The Vegetable Garden. Revised and Enlarged by Adolph Kruhm. Doubleday, Doran, & 

Co., Inc. for the National Garden Association: Garden City, New York, 1928.

Hamilton, Francis L. The Desert Garden. No publisher. 1933.

The University of Arizona College of Agriculture, Agricultural Experiment Station. Timely Hints for 

Farmers No.141. The University of Arizona: Tucson, Arizona, 1922.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Appendix A)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

PUBLIC LAW 89-148

Public Law 89-148 

89th Congress H. R. 3320 

August 28, 1965

AN ACT

79 STAT. 584.

To authorize the establishment of the Hubbell Trading Post National 

Historic Site, in the State of Arizona, and to other purposes 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 

United States of America in Congress assembled, That, for the 

purpose of establishing the Hubbell Trading Post National 

Historic Site, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to 

purchase with donated funds or funds appropriated for the 

purpose, at a price to be agreed upon between the Secretary and 

the owner or owners, not to exceed the fair market value, the 

site and remaining structures of the Hubbell Trading Post at 

Ganado, Arizona, including the contents of cultural and 

historical value, together with such additional land and interests 

in land as in his discretion are needed to preserve and protect 

the post and its invirons for the benefit and enjoyment of the 

public: Provided, That the total area so acquired shall not 

exceed one hundred and sixty acres: Provided further, That the 

amount of land retained for the purpose hereinbefore stated 

shall not be in excess of that amount of land reasonably 

required to carry out the purposes of this Act, and any excess 

Hubbell Trading 

Post National 

Historic Site, 

Ariz. 

Establishment.

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land, together with water rights, shall be offered for sale to the 

Navajo Indian Tribe at a price per acre equal to the per acre 

price paid for the total area, excluding structures and contents 

thereof. 

SEC. 2. Upon a determination by the Secretary of the Interior 

that sufficient land, structures, and other property have been 

acquired by the United States for the national historic site, as 

provided in section 1 of this Act, such property shall be 

established as the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, 

and thereafter shall be administered by the Secretary of the 

Interior in accordance with the provisions of the Act of August 

25, 1916 (39 Stat. 535), as amended. An order of the Secretary, 

constituting notice of such establishment, shall be published in 

the Federal Register.

Administration. 

16 USC 1-4. 

Publication in 

Federal Register.

SEC. 3. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated not 

more than $952,000 for the acquisition of lands and interests 

inland and the contents of the Hubbell Trading Post which are 

of cultural and historical value and for development costs in 

connection with the national historic site as provided by this 

Act.

Appropriation.

Approved August 28, 1965.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 

HOUSE REPORT No. 565 (Comm. on Interior & Insular 

Affairs). 

SENATE REPORT No. 580 (Comm. on Interior & Insular 

Affairs). 

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. III (1965): 

 July 17: Considered and passed House. 

 Aug. 16: Considered and passed Senate. 

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Appendix A)

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Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN NPS AND SPMA

SUPPLEMENTAL 

MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT 

between 

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 

and 

SOUTHWEST PARKS AND MONUMENTS ASSOCIATION 

for 

OEPRATION OF HUBBELL TRADING POST, 

HUBBELL TRADING POST NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE 

Ganado, Arizona

This SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT is made and entered into this 26th day of MARCH, 1985 by the 

Regional Director, Southwest Region, National Park Service, hereinafter referred to as the NATIONAL 

PARK SERVICE, and by the Chairman of the Board, SOUTHWEST PARKS AND MONUMENTS 

ASSOCIATION, hereinafter referred to as the ASSOCIATION.

This SUPPLEMENT is made in accordance with Section 4, "Supplemental Agreements," of the 

Agreement between the NATOINAL PARK SERVICE and SOUTHWEST PARKS AND 

MONUMENTS ASSOCIATION dated the 6th day of January 1978. it establishes guidelines under 

which the ASSOCIATION will operate Hubbell Trading Post, a feature at Hubbell Trading Post 

National Historic Site.

Hubbell Trading Post was established in 1876 by John Lorenzo Hubbell for trade with the Navajo 

Indians. The trading post was operated continuously by the Hubbell family for over ninety years. In 

1965, Hubbell Trading Post was established as a national historic site (PL89-148) with the express 

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purpose of operating a "living trading post," rather than a museum, where park visitors would be able to 

experience the ongoing traditions of Indian trading.

The National Park Service requested that Southwest Parks and Monuments Association assume the 

Hubbell Trading Post operations consistent with this mandate. Southwest Parks and Monuments 

Association assumed the trading post operations in 1967. It is in the joint interests of the 

ASSOCIATION and the NATIONAL PARK SERVICE for the ASSOCIATION to continue to operate 

the trading post, and to carry on related operational activities at Hubbell Trading Post.

Now, therefore, it is agreed,

The ASSOCIATION will:

1. Conduct the trading operations at Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site throughout the year.

2. Conduct the trading operations based on the historical traditions of Hubbell Trading Post and Indian 

trading, while allowing for a continuing evolution of its practices and operations, to ensure the 

perpetuation of an active trading post for interpretation to the public. Consistent with this activity, the 

ASSOCIATION will buy and sell a range of Indian arts and crafts, operate a general and grocery store, 

and carry on related trading activities as an integral pert of the interpretive program at Hubbell Trading 

Post National Historic Site. The interpretive mission of the trading operation shall take precedence over 

profit.

All net profits from the trading operation will, directly or indirectly, support the educational, interpretive 

and scientific research programs of the National Park Service.

3. Ensure that all Indian arts and crafts items are genuine and produced solely by Native Americans.

4. Comply with all applicable Public Health regulations related to its general and grocery store 

operations.

5. Employ such personnel as are necessary to operate the trading post, including a trader/manager and 

other supervisory personnel, and sales clerks/interpreters. These employees are essential aid to the 

interpretive intent of this "living trading post."

Employ a Navajo weaver[s] to demonstrate the art of weaving to the visiting public as an integral aid to 

the interpretive program.

6. Provide adequate insurance coverage as required by National Park Service regulations and guidelines 

set forth in NPS-32.

7. Provide the necessary personnel and materials for regular cleaning of the store, rug room, warehouse, 

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jewelry and office room.

Maintain the necessary equipment to operate the general and grocery store and to meet applicable public 

health standards.

8. Incur the cost of utilities associated with operating the trading post, the Hubbell home, and the visitor 

center as contribution to the NPS.

9. At its discretion, provide housing for ASSOCIATION personnel within the NPS housing area at the 

national historic site and ensure that such quarters are maintained according to standards set forth by the 

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE.

The NATIONAL PARK SERVICE will:

1. Maintain, and provide necessary repairs to all buildings, parts of buildings, and associated utility 

systems that the ASSOCIATION must utilize to conduct its operations.

2. Ensure that the access road, parking area, and grounds of the trading post are maintained.

3. Provide, on a reimbursable basis, trailer space (or other housing) for association housing at rates 

established for NPS employees, not to exceed six (6) spaces.

4. Provide training to ensure that ASSOCIATION personnel are qualified to provide accurate 

interpretation and information to park visitors.

5. Submit bills of collection to the ASSOCIATION monthly for all reimbursable services provided.

6. Approve pricing of interpretive and educational items offered for sale to park visitors.

The NATIONAL PARK SERVICE and the ASSOCIATION jointly will:

1. Agree on the hours of operation for the trading post.

2. Conduct periodic reviews to ensure adherence to the above standards and guidelines.

Revenue that the ASSOCIATION receives in excess of expenses will be deposited in the 

ASSOCIATION's general account and will, directly or indirectly, support the educational, interpretive, 

and scientific research programs of the NATIONAL PARK SERVICE for the benefit of park visitors.

The effective date of this agreement shall be April 4, 1985 and continue for a period of ten years. This 

agreement will automatically renew for additional ten year periods. A ninety (90) day notice of 

cancellation, with cause, maybe given by either party at any time. This SUPPLEMENT may be modified 

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by written consent of both parties.

In witness thereof, this SUPPLEMENT is hereby approved:

For NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 

Acting Regional Director

For SOUTHWEST PARKS AND 

MONUMENTS ASSOCIATION 

Chairman, 

Board of Directors

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Appendix C)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN NPS AND UNIVERSITY OF 

ARIZONA

Agreement No. MU 7029-9-0002

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING 

Between 

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 

and 

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

Article I. Background and Objectives

Authorities include, but are not limited to:

Historic Sites Act: 49 Stat. 666; 16 U.S.C. 461

National Historic Preservation Act 16 U.S.C. 470 et seq. and amendments

National Environmental Policy Act 42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.

American Indian Religious Freedom Act 42 U.S.c. 1996

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's regulations regarding "Protection of Historic 

Properties" 36 C.F.R. 800

Secretary of the Interior's "Standards and Guidelines for Archeology and Historic 

Preservation" FR 48:44716-40

The Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site was established by Act of August 28, 

1965 (79 Stat. 584, 16 U.S.C. sec. 461 note).

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Pursuant to the Act of July 1, 1955 (69 Stat. 242, 16 U.S.C. sec. 18f), the United States of 

America through the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, hereafter referred 

to as the Service, is authorized to accept donations of personal property as museum 

property.

On July 15, 1970, Dorothy S. Hubbell, Mrs. LaCharles Goodman Eckel, and Mr. John 

Lorenzo Hubbell, donated to the Service, papers and business records relating to the 

Hubbell Trading Post, hereafter referred to as the collection.

The University of Arizona, hereafter referred to as the University, desires the collection to 

be archived in its library.

The collection will be loaned by the Service to the University but title to the collection and 

all parts thereof shall remain vested in the United States.

The collection will be maintained in the special collections section in the University 

library which includes high storage standards relative to fire, theft, temperature and 

humidity.

Article II. Statements of Work

The University will have the responsibility of overseeing any projects involving the 

collection , including those funded by the National Park Service. This will include loan of 

items to either reputable museums and libraries for exhibit use or for photocopying 

(including microformats) of the collection for documentation and distribution. Any 

projects involving the collection must have the prior approval of the National Park Service.

The University is responsible for curating, organizing, and cataloging other papers that 

may be donated from heirs of Hubbell Trading Post or papers donated by Southwest Parks 

and Monuments Association in the future. These additional materials will be added to the 

materials already at the University. Any use restrictions deemed necessary by the Hubbell 

Heirs will be negotiated at the time of donation and will be approved by both the 

University and the Service.

The Service reserves the right to remove selected documents from the collection for the 

purpose of display or making copies thereof, and will have access to the collection at all 

times.

The collection will be available to the public for research, study, copying, and publication, 

but not for copyright.

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Article III. Term of Agreement

Agreement will continue in effect for 5 years from the date of the signing of this 

document. At that time the benefits that have accrued will be reassessed and it will be 

determined if the agreement will be reaffirmed or if modification is necessary.

The Collection will be inspected annually by the University and Service and the inspection 

will be documented.

This agreement may be amended at any time by mutual consent.

Article IV. Key Officials

Charles D. Wyatt, Superintendent, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site or his 

successor/s.

Patrick McCrary, Contracting Officer, Southwest Regional Office, or his successor/s.

Louis Hieb, Special Collections Librarian, University of Arizona, or his successor/s.

Article VIII. Termination

This agreement may be cancelled by either party upon 60 day written notice.

Upon termination, the subject materials shall be returned in good order to the National 

Park Service at the expense of the cancelling party.

Article IX. Required Clauses

During the performance of this agreement, the participants agree to abide by the terms of 

Executive Order 11246 on non-discrimination and will not discriminate against any person 

because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The participants will take 

affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed without regard to their race, 

color, religion, sex or national origin.

"No member or delegate to Congress, or resident Commissioner, shall be admitted to any 

share or part of this agreement, or to any benefit that may arise therefrom, but this 

provision shall not be construed to extend to this agreement if made with a corporation for 

its general benefit."

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Charles D. Wyatt, 

Superintendent, 

Hubbell Trading Post NHS 

3-1-89 

Date

Louis Hieb 

Special Collections Librarian, 

University of Arizona 

3-10-89 

Date

Patrick McCrary 

Contracting Officer, 

National Park Service, SWRO Date

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Appendix D)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN HTPNHS AND THE 

FRIENDS OF HTPNHS, INC.

MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT 

between the 

HUBBELL TRADING POST NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE 

and the 

FRIENDS OF HUBBELL TRADING POST NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE, INC.

Article I - Backround

THIS AGREEMENT is hereby entered into this 19th day of September, 1990, by and between the 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site (hereinafter referred to as the "Site") , a unit of the National 

Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior, acting in its behalf through the 

Superintendent, or his/her designee, and the Friends of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, Inc. 

(hereinafter referred to as the "Corporation") acting through the Chairperson of its Board of Trustees or 

the Board's designee.

Whereas, it is the purpose of the Natonal Park Service to preserve, protect and manage the National Park 

system for the benefit and enjoyment of the people as provided for in the Act of August 16, 1916 (16 U.S.

C. Sec. 1, et seq.); and

Whereas, the National Park service through the Secretary of the Interior has authority to accept donations 

for the purposes embraced by this Memorandum of Agreement (See 41 Stat. 917, 16 U.S.C. 6); and

Whereas, nothing in this Agreement shall affect or interfere with fulfillment of the obligations or 

exercise of the authority of the National Park and Service or any other Federal Agency;

Whereas, the Corporation is a non-profit, tax-exempt, fund raising organization established to aid and 

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directly promote management programs and objectives of the Site for which no government or other 

donated funds are available; and

Whereas, monies donated and accepted may be specified by a donor for a particular Site item or project; 

if not so designated, they will be placed in a general donation fund of the Corporation, to be used by the 

Corporation to fund projects and activities mutually agreed upon by the Site and the Corporation; and

Whereas, the National Park Service wishes to recognize and encourage the Corporation in conducting its 

fund raising effort to benefit the Site; and

Whereas, the Superintendent of the Site has been delegated the authority to approve fund raising 

activities totalling less than $250,000. Fund raising campaigns in excess of this amount will require 

higher level approval in accordance with the fund raising policies of the National Park Service and will 

be agreed upon through sub-Memoranda of Agreement and appended to this agreement.

Article II - Responsibilities of Parties

NOW THEREFORE the parties agree as follows:

(1) The Site agrees to:

(a) Recognize the Corporation as an organization suited to aid and directly promote the management 

program of the Site.

(b) Provide the Corporation a Needs Assessment, a list of critical donation needs, in priority order 

annually for its funding consideration. This does not restrict the site from submitting emergency and 

special funding requests as they arise.

(c) Designate the Superintendent or his /her designee as Site representative to the Corporation's Board of 

Trustees who will lend them every assistance possible to insure the success of the mutually agreed upon 

activities.

(d) Place all funds donated to the Site by the Corporation in special donation account and assure that they 

shall be used solely on behalf of and for benefit of the projects and activities set forth above unless 

otherwise provided by law.

(e) Make available to the Corporation such information and data as may reasonably be required and is 

generally available to inform potential donors and others about the status of plans for the projects and 

activities to benefit.

(2) The Corporation agrees to:

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(a) Be fully qualified under State and Federal law to engage in fund raising and receive philanthropic 

contributions for the purposes enumerated herein.

(b) Accomplish all activities under this Agreement in conformance with the formal fund raising policies 

of the National Park Service which are made a part of this Agreement. (See Appendix 1).

(c) Bear all costs of the fund raising activities.

(d) Donate to the Site, funds, materials or services to support the priority needs of the Site for which no 

Government or other donated funds are available.

(e) Work in collaboration with and maintain liaison with the Southwest Parks and Monuments 

Association (SPMA), a Cooperating Association for the National Park Servicer and operator of the 

trading post. The Corporation will undertake projects, services, or activities that enhance those of SPMA 

at the Site or which SPMA does not engage in at the Site. No Corporation undertaking will conflict with 

or compete with those of SPMA at the Site.

Article III - Term of Agreement

This Memorandum of Agreement shall be effective when signed by both parties and shall remain in 

effect as needed for up to three years from that date, subject to renewal by mutual agreement for a further 

period not to exceed three years.

Article IV - Key Officials

NPS: Superintendent 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site 

P. O. Box 150 

Ganado, Arizona 86505-0150

Friends: Chairperson 

Friends of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, Inc. 

P. O. Box 789 

Flagstaff, Arizona 86002

Article V - Property

The Corporation may maintain office space at Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site for the 

purpose of conducting administrative business and serving as its headquarters. The Site agrees to provide 

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what furniture and office equipment is excess to its needs for the conduct of corporation related business. 

A property receipt will be required to be signed by an appropriate official. Meeting room facilities will 

be made available by the Site for Board meetings or special activities.

The Corporation may not construct any structure or buildings on the Site or otherwise make any 

alterations to the Site's buildings or land without written permission from the National Park Service.

Upon dissolution of the Corporation, its assets shall be transferred to the United States of America for 

the benefit of the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, subject to federal law.

Article VI - Prior Approvals

Any materials prepared for public consumption, such as individual promotional activities, brochures, or 

any other form of publicity will be submitted to the Site for formal review and approval prior to its 

release.

Any agreements the Corporation proposes to enter into with third parties in furtherance of its activities 

hereunder shall be subject to approval by the Site.

The Site agrees to the extent practicable, to arrange for and conduct tours, interpretive events and 

inspections for individuals and groups at the request of the Corporation provided that such activities shall 

not, in the judgment of the Site unduly infringe upon or detract from normal visitor activities and 

services. The Corporation shall request such tours and other events through the site Superintendent in 

advance. The Superintendent shall have final decision making responsibility as to such arrangements, 

depending upon Site workloads and staff availability.

The Corporation shall apply for and abide by the terms and conditions of a special events permit for each 

such event it proposes to conduct which may interfere with visitor services and use, which may impact 

the Site's resources, and which may require site staff support. The Superintendent shall have the final 

authority over the granting of such permits.

Article VII - Reports

The Superintendent will submit annually a list of priority projects, the Site's Needs Assessment, for 

funding by the Corporation. The Corporation shall respond to the Site within sixty days regarding its 

project selections. The response will identify the Corporation's role and responsibilities in funding such 

projects and identify any actions it expects the Site to fulfill. Fund raising activities will be agreed upon 

between the Site and the Corporation. The Corporation shall keep the Site fully informed on all such 

activities. Funds received and expended by the Corporation from whatever source and for whatever 

purposes shall be accounted for under a system of accounts and financial controls meeting accepted 

professional standards for non-profit charitable organizations. The corporation shall submit to the Site 

annually, within ninety days following the end of each fiscal year, a complete financial report, 

accompanied by a written summary of activities for the year. The Superintendent or his/her designee 

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may review the records of the Corporation at any time during the term of this agreement.

Article VIII - Termination

The Site or the Corporation may terminate this Agreement by providing sixty days written notice to the 

other.

Article IX - General

All obligations of the Site hereunder are subject to the availability of funds, and to such direction and 

instructions as nay have been or are hereafter provided by Congress.

During the performance of this agreement, the participants agree to abide by the terms of Executive 

Order 11246 (Appendix 2) on nondiscrimination and will not discriminate against any person because of 

race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The participants will take affirmative action to ensure that 

applicants are employed without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, and/

or age.

No member of or delegate to Congress, or resident commissioner, shall be admitted to any share or part 

of this agreement, or to any benefit that may arise therefrom; but this provision shall not be construed to 

extend to this agreement if made with a corporation for its general benefit.

The Corporation shall indemnify, save and hold harmless and defend the Site and the National Park 

Service against all fines, claims, losses, judgments and expenses arising out of or from any omission or 

activity of the Corporation.

The Corporation shall procure and employ liability insurance once office space is acquired at the Site or 

a Site fund raising activity is engaged in, unless waived by the NPS, for any number of claims from any 

one incident, with respect to the activities of the Corporation and its employees. The Site shall be named 

as an additional insured on all such policies. All such policies shall specify that the insurer shall have no 

right of subrogation against the United States for payment of any premiums or deductibles thereunder, 

and such insurance policies shall be assumed by and credited to the account of and undertaken at the 

Corporation's sole risk.

Dated the 19th day of September, 1990.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Appendix D)

AGREED TO BY:

Superintendent, Hubbel/Trading Post National Historic Site 

Chairperson, Board of Trustees, 

Friends of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, Inc.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Appendix E)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

LAND DESCRIPTION

LAND DESCRIPTION

Beginning at the northeast corner known as Corner No. 1, whence the section corner common to 

Sections 27, 28, 33 and 34, T. 27 N., R. 26 S., G&SRM, bears S. 50°26'W., 2741.39 feet; thence N. 89°

55'W., 2640 feet to Corner No. 2; thence S. 0°03'E., 1320 feet to Corner No. 3; thence west 1320 feet to 

Corner No. 4; thence S. 0°03'E., 1320 feet to Corner No. 5; thence east 2640.66 feet to Corner No. 6; 

thence N. 0&def;03'W., 1320 feet to Corner No. 7; thence east 1320 feet to Corner No. 8; thence N. 0°

03'W.; 1318.68 feet to the point and place of beginning known as Corner No. 1.

Excepting an area donated to the United States of America commencing at the quarter corner between 

Sections 27 and 28, T. 27 N., R. 26 E., G&SRM, thence S. 27° 02' E., 1561 feet to the point of beginning 

which is the southwest corner of the tract, thence east 536 feet to the southeast corner; thence north 250 

feet to the northeast corner; thence west 536 feet to the northwest corner; thence south 2250 feet to the 

southwest corner and the point of beginning containing 3.07 acres more or less, located in the southwest 

quarter of Section 27, T. 27 N., R. 26 E. C&SRM.

And excepting the following: Beginning at the northeast corner known as Corner No., whence the 

section corner common to sections 27, 28, 33, and 34, T. 27 N., R. 26 E., G&SRM, bears S 507deg; 26' 

W., 2741.39 feet; thence N. 85° 55' W., approximately 1510 feet to the east edge of the northsouth 

access road to Hubbell Trading Post, then southerly approximately 110 feet along the easterly edge of 

said road to the north bank of Pueblo Colorado Wash, thence easterly along meandering north bank of 

Pueblo Colorado Wash to a point, said point being S. 0° 03' E., approximately 60 feet from Corner No. 1, 

being the place of beginning. This is to be surveyed and the deed is to carry a metes and bounds 

description.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Appendix E)

hutr/adhi/adhiae.htm 

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Appendix F)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

STAFFING TABLE

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Appendix G)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

ANNUAL GROSS SALES OF SPMA AT HUBBELL TRADING POST

YEAR AMOUNT

1967 CY $83,714

1968 CY $122,271

1969 CY $188,362

1970 ------

1971 FY $254,763

1972 FY $451,237

1973 FY $514,923

1974 FY $473,174

1975 FY $530,851

1976 FY $618,912

1977 FY $652,218

1978 FY $698,989

1979 FY $809,084

1980 FY $966,835

1981 FY $1,203,154

1982 FY $1,464,467

1983 FY $1,426,620

1984 FY $1,195,176

1985 FY $1,214,187

1986 FY $1,320,692

1987 FY $1,625,866

1988 FY $1,643,513

1989 FY $1,777,519

1990 FY $1,767,101

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Appendix G)

1991 FY $2,032,405

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Appendix H)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET AMOUNTS AT HUBBELL TRADING POST 

NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

Division of Programming and Budget 

August 15, 1991

Hubbell Trading Post NHS 

ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET AMOUNTS

YEAR AMOUNT

1978 158,900

1979 180,300

1980 185,600

1981 191,100

1982 219,200

1983 266,400

1984 303,400

1985 298,300

1986 288,000

1987 314,000

1988 320,600

1989 329,800

1990 342,000

1991 375,000 (est)

1992 427,000 (budget)

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Appendix H)

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Appendix I)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

VISITOR USE BY YEAR: 1968 TO MARCH, 1991

Year # of Visitors

1968 — 50,200

1969 — 50,800

1970 — 77,300

1971 — 77,200

1972 — 71,700

1973 — 72,100

1974 — 73,600

1975 — 67,700

1976 — 62,600

1977 — 71,400

1978 — 67,100

1979 — 73,500

1980 — 110,900

1981 — 169,200

1982 — 166,100

1983 — 151,900

1984 — 149,400

1985 — 125,100

1986 — 143,400

1987 — 136,600

1988 — 153,000

1989 — 177,500

1990 — 180,923

1991 to March 30, 180

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Appendix I)

*Figures from Branch of Science, Denver Service Center, Statistical Unit, Denver, Colorado 80225.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Endnotes)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

ENDNOTES

1 Letter from Daniel R. Beard, Southwest Regional Office Director, to the Director of the National Park 

Service, July 13, 1966.

INTRODUCTION

2 John Cook, interview with authors, June 17, 1991.

3 Memorandum from Terry Nichols, Supervisory Park Ranger, to Interpreters, October 30, 1982. 

Memorandum found in "Management Evaluation, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site" by 

Ronald R. Switzer, Frances Dean, and Edward D. Carlin. November 3-4, 1982. Bound, photocopied 

edition from the Curator's office at Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

4 Terry Nicholas, telephone interview with authors, February 16, 1991.

5 Ibid.

6 John Cook, interview with authors, June 17, 1991.

7 Dorothy Hubbell, interview with authors, March 27, 1991.

8 Letter from J. O. Brew to Dr. Conrad L. Wirth, July 19, 1958. On file at Curator's office, Hubbell 

Trading Post National Historic Site.

9 Letter from Donald Scott to Dr. John O. Brew, June 9, 1958. On file in Curator's office, Hubbell 

Trading Post National Historic Site.

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10 Mary Alice (Showaltor) Bowlin, of Mesilla, New Mexico. She grew up at Fort Defiance, knew the 

Hubbells well. She describes Roman as a kind, sophisticated, charming man. Interview with authors, 

November 22, 1991.

11 A more thorough look at the history of Hubbell Trading Post can be found in many places. Try Robert 

M. Utley's Study of 1959 for the Park Service, Special Report or Hubbell Trading Post; or Frank 

McNitt's The Indian Traders. Because the fifty or so boxes of papers relating to Hubbell business matters 

have not been thoroughly researched, a definitive history remains to be written. Much of the story that 

has come down to us is hearsay and legend. Because this history is supposed to deal mainly with post1957 matters, the early history of the trading post, traders, and Navajo will be discussed only enough to 

clarify issues.

CHAPTER I

1 Edward B. Danson, interview with authors, April 18, 1991.

2 Ibid.

3 The Indian Detours operated under the aegis of the Santa Fe Railway and the Harvey restaurant and 

hotel company. Tourists were driven all over the Southwest in Packard and Cadillac touring cars and 

sedans. Its heyday was the 1920s and 1930s. Little known today, the Indian Detour was an important 

instrument in opening up the Southwest to general tourism. The first trip by Indian Detour cars took 

place on the 15th of May, 1926. The Danson family risked a tour with them just a few weeks later. 

Dorothy Hubbell, in a recorded interview on March 27, 1991, said that general tourism did not start at 

Ganado until the late 1920s. In their way, the Dansons, too, were pioneers. [The authors know several 

former drivers and couriers who worked for the Indian Detours. TheyÕve written magazine articles on 

the subject, and a section of their book, Trails Begins Where Rails End, is devoted to the Indian Detours.]

4 A. L. Westgard, Tales of a Pathfinder (New York: A. L. Westgard, 1920)

5 Emily Post, By Motor To The Golden Gate (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1916), pp. 136-139.

6 Dorothy Hubbell, interview with authors, March 27, 1991.

7 The schooner Yankee was owned and operated by Irving and Electa Johnson, New Englanders who 

made several such trips with at Ieast two large sailing vessels, both called Yankee. The Johnsons are well 

known to long-time readers of National Geographic. The crews of the Yankee vessels were amateurs 

who paid for the opportunity to spend two years before the mast. The 1933-1935 voyage was the first 

and is told about in the Johnsons' book Westward Bound In The Schooner Yankee (See bibliography). A 

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young Ned Danson is included in at Ieast one of the photographs.

8 Letter from Dorothy Hubbell to Mrs. Bagwell, August 20, 1958.

9 Edward B. Danson, interview with authors, April 18, 1991.

10 Frank NcNitt, Richard Wetherill: Anasazi (Albuquerque: University Of New Mexico Press, 1966).

11 Dorothy Hubbell, interview with authors, March 27,1991.

12 Ibid.

13 Ibid.

14 Edward B. Danson, interview with authors, April 18, 1991.

15 Ibid.

CHAPTER II

1 Letter from Charlie Steen to Regional Director, Southwest Regional Office, Undated. Probably 

September, 1957. On file at Curator's office Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

2 Letter from Charlie Steen to Ned Danson, September 12, 1957. On file in CuratorÕs office, Hubbell 

Trading Post National Historic Site.

3 Letter from Steward L. Udall to Dr. Edward P. Danson, September 12, 1957. On file at Curator's 

office, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

4 Letter from Carl Hayden to Conrad Wirth, September 18, 1957. On file at CuratorÕs office, Hubbell 

Trading Post National Historic Site.

5 Letter from Barry Goldwater to Conrad Wirth, September 17, 1957. On file at CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

6 AII of the information here in reference to Barry Goldwater's early auto trips and his impressions of 

those days are contained in four letters from Barry Goldwater to the authors: January 26, 1991; February 

13, 1991; March 29, 1991; and April 12, 1991.

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7 Letter from Carl Hayden to Conrad L. Wirth, September 18, 1957.

8 Letter from Stewart L. Udall to authors, October 30, 1991.

9 Letter from Ned Danson to Dorothy Hubbell, September 27, 1957. On file at CuratorÕs office, Hubbell 

Trading Post National Historic Site.

10 Letter from Ben L. Thompson to Senator Hayden and Goldwater, September 27, 1957. On file at 

CuratorÕs office, Hubbell Trading Post.

11 Ibid.

12 Letter from Edward B. Danson to Dorothy Hubbell, May 16, 1958. On file at the CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post NHS.

13 Letter from Robert M. Utley to Dr. E. B. Danson, September 12, 1958. On file at CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post NHS.

14 Evaluation of Hubbell Trading Post, Washington, Office, NPS.

15 Letter from Stewart L. Udall to Dr. Edward B. Danson, December, 1958. On file at Curator's office, 

Hubbell Trading Post NHS.

16 Letter from Fred M. Guirey, Architect, to Earl H. Reed, Chairman, Committee on Preservation of 

Historic Buildings, December 16, 1955. On file at Curator's office, Hubbell Trading Post NHS.

17 Letter from Robert M. Utley to authors, March 20, 1991.

18 The acronym SWRO was not used in 1959. In that year, the term Region III was used. However, in 

order to avoid confusion, SWRO will be used throughout this text.

19 Letter from Edward B. Danson to Conrad Wirth, March 11, 1959. On file at CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

20 Report of the National Park Service Advisory Board, April 22, 1959. On file at CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

21 Letter from Edward B. Danson to Mrs. Roman Hubbell, May 7, 1959. On file at CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

22 Letter from Dorothy Hubbell to Edward B. Danson, May 11, 1959. On file at CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post NHS.

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23 The very first bill in reference to Hubbell Trading Post was S. 3985, introduced in 1958. Nothing 

came of it. It, too, was Carl Hayden's bill.

24 Letter from Carl Hayden to Edward B. Danson, September 21, 1959. On file at CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

25 Letter from the Secretary of the Interior to the Chairman, Committee of lnterior and Insular Affair, 

House Representatives, September 11, 1959. On file at CuratorÕs office.

26 Letter from Dorothy Hubbell to Dr. Danson, September 9, 1959. On file at CuratorÕs office, Hubbell 

Trading National Historic Site.

27 Letter from Edward B. Danson to Conrad L. Wirth, February 5, 1960. On file at CuratorÕs office, 

Trading Post National Historic Site.

28 Letter from Stewart Udall to Dr. Edward B. Danson, March 9,1960. On file at CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading National Historic Site.

29 Human Events, National Conservative Weekly, Washington, D.C. Udall does not say on what date 

the item appeared.

30 A "Letter to the Editor" in the Tucson Daily Citizen for March 10, 1960, written by Helen J. Sprague, 

Tucson, Arizona.

31 Ibid.

32 Representative Harold R. Gross would continue to figure prominently in the opposition to the Hubbell 

Trading Post legislation. He served in the House of Representatives for many years. He was born in Iowa 

in 1899, served with the First Iowa Field Artillery on the Mexican border in 1916, and he served in 

France with the U.S. Army from 1917-1919.

33 Congressional Record, March 21, 1960. On file at CuratorÕs office, Hubbell Trading Post National 

Historic Site.

34 Letter from Edward B. Danson to Carl Hayden, April 20, 1960. On file at CuratorÕs office, Hubbell 

Trading Post National Historic Site.

35 Memorandum from George W. Miller, Acting SWRO Director, to Director, April 21,1960. On file at 

CuratorÕs office, Hubbell Trading Post NHS.

36 Letter from Edward B. Danson to Barry Goldwater, May 18, 1960. On file at CuratorÕs office, 

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Endnotes)

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

37 Letter from Dorothy Hubbell to Dr. Edward B. Danson, June 10, 1960. On file at Curator's office, 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

38 Edward B. Danson, interview with authors, April 18, 1991.

39 Letter from Edward B. Danson to Barry Goldwater, December 12, 1960. On file in CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

40 Letter from Carl Hayden to Dr. Edward B. Danson, January 6, 1961. On file in CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

41 Letter from Edward B. Danson to Barry Goldwater, January 4, 1963. On file in CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

42 Letter from Robert M. Utley to Dr. E. B. Danson, February 8, 1963. On file in CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

43 Letter from Dorothy Hubbell to Dr. Edward B. Danson, May 23, 1962. On file at CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

44 Edward B. Danson, interview with authors, April 18, 1991.

45 Others who testified on behalf of the trading post were Representative John B. Baldwin, 

Representative Morris K. Udall, and Senator George F. Senner, Jr.

46 Robert M. Utley, telephone interview with authors, March 20, 1991.

47 Ibid.

48 Letter from Robert M. Utley to Thomas G. Vaughan, November 18, 1975. On file at CuratorÕs 

office, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

49 Ibid.

50 Robert M. Utley, letter to authors, March 20, 1991.

51 Robert M. Utley, telephone interview with authors, July 27, 1991.

52 Robert M. Utley, letter to authors, March 20, 1991.

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53 The Arizona Republic, Tuesday, July 13, 1965.

54 Letter from Edward B. Danson to Paul J. Fannin. Mr. Fannin was the sponsor of the most recent 

Hubbell Trading Post bill in the Senate. On file in Curator's office, Hubbell Trading Post National 

Historic Site.

55 Letter from Morris K. Udall to George Hartzog, June 26, 1965. On file in Curator's office, Hubbell 

Trading Post National Historic Site.

56 Letter from Morris K. Udall to Clinton P. Anderson, June 25, 1965. On file at CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

57 Letter from M. L. Woodward to Clinton P. Anderson, July 1, 1965. On file at CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

58 Letter from Morris K. Udall to Edward B. Danson, September 7, 1965. On file at CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

59 Letter from Watson Smith to Edward B. Danson, September 7, 1965. On file at CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

60 Letter from Edward B. Danson to Carl Hayden, September 17, 1965. On file at CuratorÕs office, 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

CHAPTER III

1 J. Franklin Jameson, Ph.D., Dictionary of United States History 1492-1899. (Boston, Massachusetts: 

History Publishing Company, 1899), Page 310; John D. Hicks, The Federal Union (Cambridge, 

Massachusetts: The Riverside Press, 1957), pp. 596-597.

2 Frank McNitt, The Indian Traders (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962).

3 Homestead Certificate No. 154. Photocopy on file at Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

4 Fillmore W. Galaty, Wellington J. Allaway, Robert C. Kyle, Modern Real Estate Practices (Chicago, 

Illinois: Real Estate Education Company, 1988. Eleventh Edition), Page 120.

5 Homestead Certificate No. 154. Photocopy on file at Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

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6 Ibid.

7 The full story of HubbellÕs efforts to gain title to his land require a great deal of space. Interested 

readers are referred to Chapter II of Charles S. PetersonÕs Homestead And Farm: A History of Farming 

At The Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site for the most comprehensive look at the subject the 

authors were able to find in one source.

8 Dorothy Hubbell, interview with authors, March 27, 1991. 

9 Ibid.

10 John Cook, interview with authors, June 17, 1991.

11 Ibid.

12 Dorothy Hubbell is referred to as "Lady" by many people. One person, Mary Alice Bowlin, of 

Mesilla, New Mexico, who knew Dorothy as far back as the 1930s, referred to her as a "lady's lady." 

Indeed, Dorothy Hubbell is an elegant and intelligent person. Park personnel feel the name was given to 

her by J.L. Hubbell when she first arrived in Ganado.

13 John Cook, interview with authors, June 17, 1991.

14 Ibid.

15 Ibid.

16 Dorothy Hubbell, interview with authors, March 27,1991. (Dorothy had expressed some interest in 

selling the rug, and the Park Service hopes to negotiate a sale. Since only two silk rugs were made, the 

one Dorothy has is an important piece of the history at Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.)

17 John Cook, interview with authors, June 17, 1991.

18 Dorothy Hubbell, interview with authors, March 27, 1991.

19 Ibid.

20 Ibid.

21 John Cook, interview with authors, June 17, 1991.

22 Dorothy Hubbell, interview with authors, March 27, 1991.

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23 John Cook, interview with authors, June 17, 1991.

24 Edward B. Danson, interview with authors, April 18, 1991.

25 The 3.07 across where the Visitor Center is now located was deeded to the United States on the 29th 

of December, 1943, "to be tested for the benefit of the Ganado Indian Day School so long as such school 

exists and hereafter for such similar purposes as the Secretary of Interior may determine pursuant to 

law." Photocopy of Deed of Conveyance on file in Superintendent's office, Hubbell Trading Post 

National Historic Site.

CHAPTER IV

1 See Appendix: Supplemental Memorandum of Agreement between National Park Service and 

Southwest Parks and Monuments Association for Operation of Hubbell Trading Post, Hubbell Trading 

Post National Historic Site.

2 Lawrence Kelly, Navajo Roundup (Boulder, Colorado: The Pruett Publishing Company, 1970).

3 Frank McNitt, The Indian Traders (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962).

4 Ibid.

5 Clyde Kluckhohn and Dorothea Leighton, The Navajo (Garden City, New York Doubleday & 

Company, Inc., 1946; Anchor Books, 1962).

6 John Cook, interview with authors, June 17, 1991.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid.

9 At this time, SPMA was called simply Southwest Monuments Association. To avoid confusion, the 

organization will be called Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, or SPMA, throughout this 

work.

10 John Cook, interview with authors, June 17, 1991.

11 SPMA's offices are now at 221 North Court, Tucson, Arizona, and its present Executive Director is T.

J Priehs.

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12 John Cook in Earl Jackson, August 3, 1966, SPMA files, Tucson, Arizona.

13 Earl Jackson to SPMA Board Members, August 15, 1966. SPMA files, Tucson, Arizona.

14 Ibid.

15 Ibid.

16 Earl Jackson to SPMA Board Members, January 18, 1967. SPMA files, Tucson, Arizona.

17 Ibid.

CHAPTER V

1 Charles D. Wyatt, interview with authors, May 8, 1991.

2 Bill Malone, interview with authors, May 9, 1991.

3 Information on Bill Young was culled from newspaper and magazine articles on file in the Curator's 

office at Hubbell Trading Post, as well as from several conversations.

4 Bill Malone and Al Grieve, traders at Hubbell Trading Post.

5 Bill Malone, interview with authors, May 9, 1991.

6 Ibid.

7 AJ Grieve, interview with authors, May 6,1991.

8 Bill Malone, interview with authors, May 9, 1991.

9 Juin Crosse Adams, telephone interview with authors, April 4, 1991.

10 Bill Malone, interview with authors, May 9, 1991.

11 Ibid.

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12 Ed Gastellum, telephone interview with authors, August 3, 1991.

13 Al Grieve, interview with authors, May 6, 1991.

14 Ibid.

15 Earl Jackson to SPMA Board of Directors, May, 1979.

16 Al Grieve, interview with authors, May 6, 1991.

17 Bill Malone, interview with authors, May 9, 1991.

18 Charles S. Peterson, Homestead And Farm: A History of Farming At The Hubbell Trading Parks 

National Historic Site (Prepared for Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, Utah State 

University, March 1, 1986)

19 John Cook, interview with authors, June 17, 1991.

CHAPTER VI

1 On file at SPMA headquarters, Tucson, Arizona.

2 Annual Report, SPMA, December 31, 1967.

3 SPMA records, Tucson, Arizona.

4 Charles D. Wyatt, letter to authors, August 15, 1991.

5 Ibid.

6 SPMA records, Tucson, Arizona.

7 Charles D. Wyatt, letter to authors, August 15, 1991

8 Thomas G. Vaughan, telephone conservation with authors, February 4, 1991.

9 Terry Nichols. telephone conversation with authors, February 16, 1991.

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10 Background for Friday Kinlicheenie was culled from several conversations, articles on file at Hubbell 

Trading Post, and from a transcript of a conservation with him that was recorded in 1970 and is on file at 

the trading post.

CHAPTER VII

1 William S. Robinson, Dendrochronology of Hubbell Trading Post and Residence (Final Report to 

Southwest Region, National Park Service. Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, The University of 

Arizona, September 30, 1979). CuratorÕs office, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

2 The Spanish word viga, used often in the Southwest, means beam, a supporting unit in a structure.

3 Reconstruction of Wall HB-1, Curator's Report, February 4, 1971. Curator's Office, Hubbell Trading 

Post National Historical Site.

4 List of Classified Structures, Southwest Region, Undated, Curator's office, Hubbell Trading Post 

National Historic Site.

5 Ibid.

6 National Register of Historic Places, Registration Form. Southwest Regional Office

7 Benjamin Levy, Historic Structures Report, May 15, 1968.

8 Ibid.

9 A latilla ceiling is composed of tree branches 1" to 2" diameter laid side by side. This ceiling was less 

expensive than boards, or was used where sawed lumber was not available.

10 National Register of Historic Places, Registration Form. Southwest Regional Office.

11 Inventory in Barn Stabilization file, Curator's Office, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

12 Ibid.

13 Thomas G. Vaughan, telephone conversation with authors, February 4, 1991.

14 Benjamin Levy, Historic Structures Report, May 15, 1968. Curator's office, Hubbell Trading Post 

National Historic Site.

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15 lbid.

16 William Y. Adams, Shonto: A Study of the Role of the Trader in a Modem Navaho Community

(Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 188. Washington, D.C.: U.S. 

Government Printing Office, 1963). 

17 Edward B. Danson, interview with authors, Apri118, 1991.

18 Benjamin Levy, Historic Structures Report, May 15, 1968. CuratorÕs Office, Hubbell Trading Post 

National Historic Site.

19 Ibid.

20 Kevin McKibbin, telephone interview with authors, April 27, 1991.

21 Benjamin Levy, Historic Structures Report, May 15, 1968. Curator's office, Hubbell Trading Post 

National Historic Site.

22 Benjamin Levy, Historic Structures Report, May 15, 1968. Curator's office, Hubbell Trading Post 

National Historic Site.

23 lbid. 

24 National Register of Historic Places, Registration Form. Southwest Regional Office.

25 Ibid.

26 Ibid.

CHAPTER VIII

1 Theodore Roosevelt, African Game Trails (New York: Syndicate Publishing Company, 1910), Page 

213. The .30-06 was the new military cartridge.

2 Dorothy Hubbell, interview with authors, March 27, 1991.

3 Letter from Edward M. Chamberlain, Curator, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, to authors, 

July 16, 1991.

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4 Collection Management Plan, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, Prepared by Division of 

Museum Services, Harpers Ferry Center, July 22-25, 1975. Page 5.

5 Edward M. Chamberlain, Curator, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, interview with authors, 

October 23, 1991.

6 David M. Brugge, "Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, Furnishings Study, The Hubbell 

Home." (Historic Preservation Team-Denver Service Center, 1972.) Photocopy in three ring-binder on 

file at Curator's office, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

7 Thomas George Vaughan, telephone interview with authors, February 4, 1991.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid.

10 What follows is an adaptation of part of the Scope of Collection Statement for May 1990.

11 Ken Bush, telephone interview with authors, October 1, 1991. Attributed to Dorothy Hubbell.

CHAPTER IX

1 Dan Scurlock, "An Archeological Assessment of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site" (Center 

for Anthropological Studies, February, 1979. National Park Service Contract No. PX 7029-8-0680). 

Photocopied.

2 National Register of Historic Places, Registration Form. Southwest Regional Office.

3 Clyde Kluckhohn and Dorothea Leighton, The Navajo (Garden City, New York: A Doubleday Anchor 

Book, 1962, Revised Edition), pp. 33-39.

4 National Register of Historic Places, Registration Form. Southwest Regional Office.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

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7 Karin L. Jones, Excavation of The Sand Dune Site (AZ.K:6:11) at Hubbell Trading Post National 

Historic Site, Ganado, Arizona. (Prepared for the National Park Service Purchase Order No. PX-7029-7-

0730, Santa Fe New Mexico. Submitted by Southwest Archeological Consultants, Inc., Santa Fe, New 

Mexico, November 3, 1987. Bound edition on file at CuratorÕs office at Hubbell Trading Post National 

Historic Site.

8 National Register of Historic Places, Registration Form. Southwest Regional Office.

9 James E. Mount, Wide Reed Ruin (Report on file at Curator's office at Hubbell Trading Post National 

Historic Site. Unpublished edition. Typewritten/Photocopied,1974.)

10 National Register of Historic Places, Registration Form. Southwest Regional Office.

11 David Brugge, "Excavation of Burial 1, Site 10" (Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, 

Ganado, Arizona. No date). Typewritten.

12 Marilyn R. London, "Analysis of Burial #3" (Hubbell Trading Post Historic Site [HUTR-10], 

Laboratories of Physical Anthropology, University of New Mexico, February 1982). Photocopied.

13 Ibid. "Analysis of Burial #4"

14 National Register of Historic Places, Registration Form. Southwest Regional Office.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid.

17 Ibid.

18 Peter J. McKenna, Studies of the Sand Dune Site, HUTR. "An Evaluation of Ceramic, at the Grand 

Dune Site, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site" and Notes on Historic Material Culture at the 

Sand Dune Site, Hubbell Trading Post (Danson of Anthropology, Southwest Cultural Resources Center, 

National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1987.) Bound photocopied edition. On file in library at 

the National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

CHAPTER X

1 John Cook, interview with authors, June 17, 1991.

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2 Mary Alice (Showalter) Bowlin, interview with authors, November 22, 1991. Mrs. Bowlin owns and 

operates the Mesilla Book Center on the Plaza in Old Mesilla, New Mexico.

3 Charles S. Peterson, Homestead And Farm: A History of Farming At The Hubbell Trading Post 

National Historic Site (Prepared for Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, Utah State 

University, March 1, 1986).

4 Letter from T. J. Priehs, Executive Director of SPMA, to authors, November 12, 1991.

5 Letter from Charles D. Wyatt, Superintendent, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, to authors, 

December 3, 1991.

6 Most of the information in this section was culled from Charles S. Peterson's farmland study, 

Homestead And Farm: A History Farming At The Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

7 Robert M. Utley, Special Report on HUBBELL TRADING POST, Ganado, Arizona. January, 1959. 

On file in CuratorÕs office, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. Page 79.

8 The collected plant specimens from this study are catalogued into the park's museum collection. See 

accession HUTR-306.

CHAPTER XI

1 John Cook, interview with authors, June 17, 1991.

2 Ibid.

3 Thomas George Vaughan, telephone interview with authors, February 4, 1991.

4 A Navajo "Medicine man." Somebody who has studied religious rites.

5 William C. Everhart, NPS Assistant Director of Interpretation, to Edward B. Danson, May 8, 1969. 

Photocopy of letter on file at Curator's office, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

6 Edward to Danson to Mrs. Emry Kopta, April 29, 1969. Photocopy of letter on file at Curator's office, 

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

7 Hubbell Trading Post Program for May 16, 1969. On file at Curator's office, Hubbell Trading Post 

National Historic Site. Photocopy.

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8 The authors saw this exhibit.

9 Navajo Times, December 30, 1976. "Navajo Rug-Flags Sold at Auction" Other newspaper articles 

referring to events mentioned above: The Gallup New Mexico Independent, Monday, May 9, 1977. 

"Weaving on Display at NCC Exhibition." Farmington (N.M.) Daily Times, Sunday, March 6, 1977. 

"Navajo Rugs: the TraderÕs Influence." Tucson Citizen, Tucson, Arizona. Friday, November 17, 1978. 

"Trader's Life Woven with Navajo Artistry."

10 Al Grieve, interview with authors, May 6, 1991.

CHAPTER XII

1 Thomas George Vaughan, telephone interview with authors, February 4, 1991.

2 Interpretive Prospectus Hubbell Trading Post NHS, September, 1980. On file in Curator's office 

Hubbell Trading Post NH. Typewritten, unbound copy. II Interpretive Objectives, 1 through 6, page 3.

3 Ibid. A through E, pages 5 and 6.

4 Kevin McKibbin, telephone interview with authors, April 27, 1991.

5 Terry E. Maze, telephone interview with authors, March 16, 1991.

CHAPTER XIII

1 Douglas C. McChristian, telephone interview with authors, September 30, 1991.

2 The authors have heard the trading post referred to as "Hubbell Training Post."

3 Thomas George Vaughan, telephone interview with authors, February 4, 1991.

4 Ibid.

5 These objectives are listed in many plans.

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6 Thomas George Vaughan, telephone interview with authors, February 4, 1991.

7 Ibid.

8 Al Grieve, interview with authors, May 6, 1991.

9 Stewart L. Udall, letter to authors, October 30, 1991.

10 Resources Management Plan Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, Arizona, 1979 (prepared 

by Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, Navajo Lands Group, Southwest Region Office of 

Natural Resources Management and The Southwest Cultural Resources Center). Photocopied, bound 

edition. On file at Curator's office Hubbell Trading Post. Quotation from the Introduction, page 1.

11 Ibid., page 16.

12 Ibid., page 16.

13 Ibid., page 41.

14 Tom Vaughan to Earl Jackson, SPMA, memorandum of 1/27/76, on file at CuratorÕs office, Hubbell 

Trading Post National Historic Site.

15 Edward B. Danson, interview with authors, April 18, 1991.

CHAPTER XIV

1 Kevin McKibbin, telephone interview with authors, April 27, 1991.

2 Ibid.

3 John Cook, interview with authors, June 17, 1991.

4 William J. Robinson, Dendrochronology of Hubbell Trading Post Residence (Laboratory of Tree-Ring 

Research, The University of Arizona. Final Report to Southwest Region, National Park Service. 

September 30, 1979.) Unbound, photocopy edition located at the CuratorÕs Office, Hubbell Trading 

Post. First page of the Introduction.

5 National Geographic, August, 1991. Vol. 180, No. 2. Paul C. Pritchard, The Best Idea America Ever 

Had, The National Park Service at 75. Page 51. Ailema Benally, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic 

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Site.

6 Charles D. Wyatt, letter to authors, December 3, 1991.

7 Project report on file is Curator's office, Hubbell Trading Post.

8 Thomas G. Vaughan, telephone interview with authors, February 4, 1991.

9 Kevin McKibbin, telephone interview with authors, April 27, 1991.

10 Thomas G. Vaughan, telephone interview with authors, February 4, 1991.

11 Ibid.

12 Letter from David Brugge to Chief, Division of Interpretation, March 6, 1976. SWRO files.

13 Ibid.

14 Ibid.

15 Thomas G. Vaughan, telephone interview with authors, February 4, 1991.

16 Ibid.

17 Letter from David Brugge to Chief, Division of Interpretation, March 5, 1976. SWRO files.

18 Information supplied by Terry Morgart, SWRO.

19 Kevin McKibbin, telephone interview with authors, April 27, 1991.

20 John Cook, interview with authors, June 17, 1991.

21 Ibid.

22 Ibid.

23 Thomas G. Vaughan, telephone interview with authors, February 4, 1991.

24 Photographs on file at the trading post show the rutted road with cars stuck in the mud.

25 Juin Crosse, telephone interview with authors, April 14, 1991.

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26 Juin Crosse, telephone interview with authors, April 14, 1991.

27 Letter from Kent Bush to authors, March 15, 1991.

28 Ibid.

29 Kent Bush, telephone interview with authors, October 1, 1991.

CHAPTER XV

1 Charles D. Wyatt, interview with authors, May 8, 1991.

2 Douglas C. McChristian, telephone interview with authors, September 30, 1991.

3 Joseph William Gentless, telephone interview with authors, March 2, 1991.

4 Kent Bush, telephone interview with authors, October 1, 1991.

5 Juin Crosse, telephone interview with authors, April 4, 1991.

6 Ibid.

7 Luis Edward Gastellum, telephone interview with authors, August 3, 1991.

8 Douglas C. McChristian, telephone interview with authors, September 10, 1991.

9 Charles D. Wyatt, interview with authors, May 8, 1991.

10 The authors discussed with HUTR Curator Ed Chamberlin just how much information should be in 

this administrative history in reference to the security system. Not much, we decided. NPS personnel 

who have to know about the security system at the historic site must apply there for such information.

11 Thomas George Vaughan, telephone interview with authors, February 4, 1991.

12 Juin Crosse, telephone interview with authors, April 4, 1991.

13 Thomas George Vaughan, telephone interview with authors, February 4, 1991.

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14 Dr. Edward B. Danson, interview with authors, April 18, 1991.

15 Thomas George Vaughan, telephone interview with authors, February 4, 1991.

16 Thomas George Vaughan, telephone interview with authors, February 4, 1991.

17 Letter of November 27, 1979, to Superintendent, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, from 

Earl Jackson, on file at SPMA.

18 Dr. Edward B. Danson, interview with authors, April 18, 1991.

19 Charles D. Wyatt, interview with authors, May 8, 1991.

20 Tim Priehs, 6 December, 1984 memorandum to Superintendent Barry Cooper, on file at SPMA 

office, Tucson.

21 Charles D. Wyatt, interview with authors, May 8, 1991. 

22 Letter from Barry Cooper to Tim Priehs, 12 December, 1985. On file at SPMA, Tucson.

23 Letter from Tim Priehs w Barry Cooper, 20 December, 1985. On file at SPMA, Tucson.

24 The authors were unable to determine the exact percentage the Board of Directors have in mind; it 

was reported to be 3% to 5%.

25 See appendix: Memorandum of Agreement between the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site 

and the Friends of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.

26 Juin Crosse, telephone interview with authors, April 4, 1991.

27 Juin Crosse, telephone interview with authors, April 4, 1991.

28 Juin Crosse, telephone interview with authors, April 4, 1991.

29 William Morris, Editor, The American Heritage Dictionary of The English Language. (New York: 

American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc. and Houghton Mifflin Company, 1969), page 536.

30 Ibid.

31 Ibid.

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32 Kevin McKibbin, telephone interview with authors, April 27, 1991.

33 Ibid.

34 Douglas c. McChristian, telephone interview with authors, September 30, 1991.

35 Ibid.

36 Luis Edward Gastellum, telephone interview with authors, August 3, 1991.

37 John Cook, interview with authors, June 17, 1991.

38 Ibid.

39 Ibid.

40 Kevin McKibbin, telephone interview with authors, April 27, 1991.

41 Ibid.

42 Ibid.

43 Thomas George Vaughan, telephone interview with authors, February 4, 1991.

44 Ibid.

45 Dorothy Hubbell, interview with authors, March 27, 1991.

46 Thomas George Vaughan, telephone interview with authors, February 4, 1991.

47 Juin Crosse, telephone interview with authors, April 4, 1991.

48 Ibid.

49 Ibid.

50 Luis Edward Gastellum, telephone interview with authors, August 3, 1991.

51 John Cook, interview with authors, June 17, 1991.

52 Luis Edward Gastellum, telephone interview with authors, August 8, 1991.

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53 Terry Nichols, telephone interview with authors, February 16, 1991.

54 Charles, D. Wyatt, interview with authors, May 8, 1991.

55 Dorothy Hubbell, interview with authors, March 27, 1991.

56 Charles D. Wyatt, interview with authors, May 8, 1991.

57 Ibid.

58 Thomas George Vaughan, telephone interview with authors, February 4, 1991.

CHAPTER XVI

1 The authors were unable to locate Wescoat Wolfe so that he might have contributed to this 

administrative history. Others, especially Tom Vaughan, contributed the information for these brief 

biographical notes.

2 Gallup Independent, 13 September, 1969.

3 John Cook, interview with authors, June 17, 1991.

4 Luis Edward Gastellum, telephone interview with authors, March 14, 1991

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

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Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER VII:

CULTURAL RESOURCES I

Building Roster

Figure 21. The Hubbell home, HB-2, photo from 1965. The tall TV antenna has since been 

removed. NPS photo, HUTR Neg. 89.

Hubbell Residence

HB-2: Adobe walls---16" to 18" thick---on a shallow stone and mud mortar foundation. Board and viga

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ceiling, boards covered with bark and straw to keep the earth from sifting down. Adobe mud was then 

spread across the board ceiling to serve as the original roof. A later roof of rafters, boards, and mineralsurfaced rolled roofing was added above the old earthen roof (renewed in spring, 1991). Exterior walls are 

covered with adobe plaster, interior walls are plastered and painted. Flooring is tongue and groove on 2 X 

6 joists. [5]

Figure 22. The interior of the Hubbell home, the hall, looking north to the front door. The 

decor is essentially the same today. The bedrooms are off both sides of this room. National 

Park Service photo, HUTR Neg. 265.

If one is to judge by the tree-ring study, the front part of the house---the hall-living area, and the adjoining 

bedrooms---was under construction in 1900 and 1901, the southern end of the house, which initially 

consisted of a staff dining room and root cellar, may have been completed in 1897-1898. The two 

structures were joined, probably in 1910, by the addition of the present kitchen and the two rooms on 

either side of the courtyard. The residence, then, was under construction from about 1897 until about 

1910, with some modern refinements, such as electricity and running water, entering the structure in the 

1920s. There are porches at the south and north ends of the house. The interior of the house is furnished 

very much as Dorothy Hubbell left it in 1967 and looks as it might have in, say, 1920, when Dorothy 

arrived. (The contents of the house can be studied by referring to several comprehensive furnishings 

studies on file in the Curator's office.) [6]

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Figure 23. Hubbell Residence. The southern end of the house was completed in 1897-1898, 

the front section in 1900-1901. The two separate structures were joined in about 1910 with 

the addition of the kitchen and the rooms on either side of the patio. Southwestern 

architecture lends itself to such additions, which rarely seem to detract from the original 

plan.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 7)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER VII:

CULTURAL RESOURCES I

Proposed Research Studies

All of the historic structure reports are now considered out of date, and according to the most recent 

Resources Management Plan, little or no research is presently being done on building use, occupancy, or 

structural change. However, as further studies go forward in reference to the Hubbell's business matters, 

it seems likely that more information will turn up as regards the use of the structures. It is recommended 

in the Resources Management Plan that studies be made of the following structures in order to determine 

construction, use, occupancy, and structural history:

Trading Post (HB-1) 

Hubbell Residence (HB-2) 

Barn (HB-3) 

Manager's Residence (HB-4) 

Bunk House (HB-5) 

Stone Hogan (HB-6) 

Utility Building (HB-8) 

Wareroom Extension (HB-9) 

Hogan-in-the-Lane (HB-11) 

Root Cellar (now Library) (HB-14)

Pertinent Studies On File At The Historic Site

Hubbell Trading Post: Historic Structures Report: Part II, Historical Data Section, by Benjamin Levy, 

May 15, 1968. Although old, this report is one that should not be neglected. 

Dendrochronology of Hubbell Trading Post and Residence, by William J. Robinson, 30 September, 

1979. Sampling was performed between November 14th and November 23rd, 1978 and laboratory work 

commenced in December and was completed in January, 1979. The report is a ten page photocopy that 

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 7)

attempts to tell when various sections of the house and the trading post were either built or repaired. If 

one can assume that the Hubbells would not have left a lot of logs lying about the post, the report is 

probably accurate.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 16)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER XVI:

HUBBEL TRADING POST'S SUPERINTENDENTS (1967-1993)

Wescoat Wolfe 1969 [1]

Wescoat Wolfe served Hubbell Trading Post as Superintendent from January 23, 1969, to February 9, 

1969, less than a month. He came to Hubbell Trading Post to be the first historian at the site, and he 

served there under John Cook. Wolfe retired from the Rocky Mountain Regional Office as Chief of 

Interpretation.

Although Wolfe was superintendent for only a matter of weeks, he was at the historic site for quite a bit 

longer and it was at a crucial time, during the phasing out of Dorothy Hubbell's administration and the 

phasing in of the NPS administration. He worked in the trading post in civilian clothes in order to learn 

the basics of the trading post business. His presence in those early days contributed a great deal to the 

historic site's eventual success.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 7)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER VII:

CULTURAL RESOURCES I

Building Roster

Figure 24. The Barn, HB-3. The barn has been the subject of much reconstruction and 

stabilization. Construction of the barn was started in about 1893 and continued into the 

early years of the twentieth century. NPS photo by C. Steen and K. Wing, 11 February 

1958, HUTR Neg. 14.

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Barn

HB-3: "The barn of 1968 is virtually the same structure it was at the turn of the century." [7] The barn 

was begun in about 1893 and completed in the early years of this century, with the only apparent 

addition in later years being the "ribbing or lath" [8] which fills the openings in the second story. The use 

of the barn area changed over the years, however, as the blacksmith shop located there evolved into a 

shop for working on motor vehicles. It is interesting to note that to return the blacksmith shop to being 

simply a blacksmith shop---which might be the first thing one would think of to do with such an area---

would eliminate the changes brought by the early days of motoring, now no less an historic period than 

horse-and-buggy days. 

The structure is 80' by 81' on the ground floor, the second story 60' by 62'. There are stock pens, stalls, 

storage rooms, and the work areas on the first floor. The second story is a hay loft. Walls are of "rough 

rubble" set with adobe clay mortar. Earth floors. Roofs are the usual large pine vigas, latilla [9] ceilings 

over the vigas, earth spread across the latillas. 

The barn has always been a source of headaches as well as the object of much reconstruction and 

stabilization. When the site was purchased in 1967, the west wall of the barn's storeroom was apparently 

on the verge of falling out. As already discussed, it has never been possible to keep a roof on the place. 

At some point a "nonhistoric" roof was installed over the original and this consisted of "corrugated sheet 

metal, a layer of gray portland cement mixed with perlite, a weatherproof sealer, and a final layer of 

stabilized aluminate cement, which visually resembles the earth color of the original roof." [10] In spite 

of all this effort, NPS maintenance people are back to periodically spreading earth on the roof. 

Over the many years the barn became the repository for an astonishing assortment of things that the 

Hubbells thought "might come in handy," including a "banjo case, less the banjo." [11] An inventory 

taken on July 11, 1968, lists ninety-five entries, from washing machines to a "car, 1953 NM plates, not 

ancient." [12] Is this the 1940 Packard that Ned Danson remembers being out there? If so, what 

happened to it? Because the trading post was usually short of qualified curatorial people, it took years to 

properly clean out the barn. Even in the mid-1970s, "J. L.'s [Lorenzo Hubbell's] alligator traveling bag 

was out in the barn where the mules and the horses were walking on it." [13]

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 7)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER VII:

CULTURAL RESOURCES I

Building Roster

Figure 34. Visitor Center and Site Office, HB-12 was built in the 1930s to be a day school. 

It was built on land donated by the Hubbells. NPS photo by E. Bauer, October, 1984, 

HUTR Neg. R74#36.

Site Offices and Visitor Center, Rest Rooms, Library 

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(Old School and Chapter House Complex)

HB-12, HB-13, HB-14: These buildings were not originally a part of the trading post complex. The land 

where they stand (3.7 acres) was sold for a small amount of money ($1.00?) or else leased by the 

Hubbells to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1924 to be used as a school tract. 

HB-12: The present NPS office and Visitor Center was the school and chapter house until it fell into 

disuse. HB-12 was built by local Navajo in the 1930s to serve as a day school, and it was used as such 

until the early 1950s when it became the local chapter house, for which it served until the new chapter 

house was built in town. HB-12 is constructed of random ashlar stone walls, a flat, built-up roof with 

vigas projecting through the stone below the parapets. Floors are concrete. The interior was modified in 

1979 for NPS use, the Visitor Center located on the east side with its books and pamphlets, a few 

displays, and a working area for the weavers and the silversmith. The west end of the building is devoted 

to (rather cramped) offices for the superintendent and other NPS personnel. [24]

Figure 35. The Restrooms, HB-13, were converted to their present use in 1980. The 

building was formerly a pump house. NPS photo by E. Bauer, October, 1984, HUTR Neg. 

R74#34.

HB-13: This structure is now the site restrooms, and was converted to its present use in 1980, re-roofed 

in 1982. The structure was formerly a pump house. Construction style and technique are similar to 

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offices and visitor center. Before the restrooms were created, visitors had to use plastic privies. The 

restrooms are one of the most popular places in Ganado and at Hubbell Trading Post. The trading post 

and the hospital are the only places in town with public restrooms, and all the local citizens are aware of 

it. [25]

HB-14: This structure is to the northwest of HB-12, just a few steps from the offices. This was at one 

time a root cellar. It was converted within the past year or so to be the site library. This is a small stone 

structure, the south end built into the sloping land, the door facing north. Concrete floor, carpeted, with 

bookshelves around the walls, a table in the center of the room. This is a good area for (small) private 

conferences.26

Figure 36. The Library, converted from an old root cellar in 1990-1991. This is also a good place for 

private conferences. Photo from October, 1991. This is HB-14. A Manchester photo.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 7)

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 16)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER XVI:

HUBBEL TRADING POST'S SUPERINTENDENTS (1967-1993)

Bernard G. Tracy 1969-1971

Bernard G. Tracy, a native Arizonian, was Hubbell Trading Post's third superintendent, serving in that 

position from 10 August, 1969, to 6 February, 1971. He began his National Park Service career at 

Capitol Reef National Monument in 1960. He later transferred to the Navajo Lands Group where he was 

Maintenance Staff Officer until taking the position at Hubbell Trading Post. [2]

Tracy's main contribution as superintendent was the remodeling of the Manager's Residence, and he did 

an outstanding job. [3] Bernard Tracy is retired. He still lives in Arizona.

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Figure 52. Bernard G. Tracy on 12 August, 1969. He was superintendent at the historic 

site from 1969 to 1971. John Cook is the man on the right. NPS photo by David Brugge.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 7)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER VII:

CULTURAL RESOURCES I

Building Roster

Figure 25. Manager's Residence (Ranger's Residence), HB-4, on February 11, 1958, as 

seen from the barn roof. This structure has seen many uses. Today, it is used as the 

ranger's residence, so that somebody is usually in or around the trading post complex 

twenty-four hours a day. Hubbell Hill, the burial site of John Lorenzo Hubbell and others, 

rises in the background over HB-4. NPS photo by C. Steen and K. Wing, HUTR Neg. 36.

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Manager's Residence

HB-4: Dorothy Hubbell recalled that when she first arrived in Ganado this building was the laundry. She 

used it as a schoolroom. It has also served as artist's studio and quarters for visitors. Since the NPS took 

it over, it has been used as the superintendent's quarters and, at the present time, the chief ranger's 

quarters. 

The exact age of the building is in question, but it is apparent (from old photos) that it was expanded 

some time after 1931, possibly as late as the 1940s. The original section dates from at least as far back as 

the 1890s, and the older walls are of stone and adobe on a shallow foundation. The latest addition is of 

modern stud wall construction. Floors are wood, the roofs are covered with mineral-surfaced rolled 

roofing. Exterior walls have been stuccoed. The interior has been remodeled to make it a comfortable 

home, but the original floor plan has not been changed. [14]

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 7)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER VII:

CULTURAL RESOURCES I

Building Roster

Figure 33. The Hogan-in-the-Lane, HB-11, was probably built in the 1950s by Friday 

Kinlicheenie for his personal quarters. There were other hogans at the trading post, 

apparently all north of the main buildings. NPS photo, April, 1966, HUTR Neg. 171.

Hogan-in-the-Lane

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HB-11: This crude structure was built in the 1950s (according to Interview #71-Dorothy Hubbell) by 

Friday Kinlicheenie for his own quarters. It is built in the traditional Navajo style of faced logs chinked 

with mud. Roof is cribbed-log, dirt covered, the floor earthen. The place was later used as guest quarters. 

Hogans such as this were found at most trading posts; they housed visiting customers, sheepherders, and 

employees. This hogan is said to have been built to replace those that were to the north of the trading 

post, one of which appears in a photo taken by LaCharles Eckel in April of 1931. The hogan represents 

an important aspect of the trading post operation. [23] 

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 16)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER XVI:

HUBBEL TRADING POST'S SUPERINTENDENTS (1967-1993)

Kevin McKibbin 1971-1974

Kevin McKibbin arrived at Hubbell Trading Post in February of 1971 to be Acting Superintendent, 

coming from Canyon de Chelly where he had been Chief Ranger. He was Acting Superintendent until 

May, 1971, at which time he was selected to be the Superintendent. Kevin remained at Hubbell Trading 

Post as Superintendent until August of 1974.

McKibbin was no stranger to the area. Starting in 1938, he would visit the Hopi country every year with 

his mother to see the snake dances. These annual trips took them across the Navajo Nation. He recalls 

that he bought his first .22 rifle at the Hubbell Trading Post at Oraibi. He served in the military during 

the Korean War. While he was at the University of New Mexico, studying for a degree in geology, he 

took a job with an engineering firm that was doing some surveying in each Navajo community that had a 

chapter house. The tribe was rebuilding all of the chapter houses, surveying the land on which they 

stand. This experience gave Kevin a chance to visit most areas of the Navajo Nation and gain a good 

understanding of the land and the people.

After graduation from the university, he found a job at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory where he 

stayed from 1959 until 1964, at which time he entered the National Park Service at Timpanogos Cave. 

By March of 1967, McKibbin was at Navajo National Monument as Supervisory Park Ranger, but in 

March of 1968 he was transferred to Canyon de Chelly to be Chief Ranger. He remained until February 

of 1971 when he assumed the position of Acting Superintendent at Hubbell Trading Post. He was 

Superintendent at Pea Ridge National Military Park, Arkansas, from August 1974 until August 1977. 

McKibbin returned to the Southwest to become Chief of Interpretation and Protection (Chief Ranger) at 

Bandelier National Monument until he retired in January 1988.

Kevin recalls that he livened up the barnyard scene at Hubbell Trading Post by importing retired horses 

and mules from the Grand Canyon. He introduced turkeys and peacocks. Some stabilization work was 

done on a barn wall and at Wide Reed Ruin. Kevin tried to upgrade the interpretive program, and for a 

time women employees in period costumes could be seen around the trading post, a touch of living 

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history. An attempt was made to control erosion in the Colorado Wash upstream of Wide Reed Ruin by 

installing gabions. The north side of the ruin was excavated and mapped.

McKibbin is now retired and he and his wife reside in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Figure 53. Kevin McKibbin, who served first as acting superintendent and then was the 

fourth superintendent of Hubbell Trading Post NHS, 1971-1974. Friday Kinlicheenie, who 

started working at the trading post in about 1915, is shown here with Kevin. NPS Photo by 

Fred Mang, SWRO Library. NG. 74-1782-4-10.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 7)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER VII:

CULTURAL RESOURCES I

Building Roster

Figure 26. Stone Residence (Bunkhouse), HB-5, in about 1965. This structure, located in 

the southwest comer of the compound, is used today only for storage. It could possibly be 

rehabilitated as another residence, or as quarters for visiting NPS employees. NPS photo, 

HUTR Neg. 117.

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Stone Residence

HB-5: This building, located in the southwest corner of the complex, was constructed between 1913 and 

1920. The Stone Residence has served as a bunkhouse for freight-wagon and motor truck drivers, and for 

other employees. Prior to 1931, a four-truck garage extended east of the Stone Residence. It was built of 

stone and mortar, with a flat, viga-supported roof. The trucks were used in the trading post business to 

haul products back and forth across the reservation, to and from the several trading posts owned by the 

Hubbells at that time, evidence of the wide range of their business interests. The garage was damaged by 

fire in April 1931, razed between 1935 and 1951. The concrete pad of the garage remains. 

The walls of the Stone Residence are stone and mortar on a shallow foundation, the roof supported by 

vigas and covered with green mineral asphalt roofing. The building is filled with catalogued museum 

artifacts, primarily building fragments and some furniture. [15]

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 7)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER VII:

CULTURAL RESOURCES I

Building Roster

Figure 32. The corrals, pens and sheds, HB-10, are located just to the south of the barn. 

During the heyday of the trading post, this would have been a busy area. NPS photo by C. 

Steen and K. Wing, 11 February, 1958, HUTR Neg. 15.

Corrals, Pens, and Sheds

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HB-10: This part of the trading post looks substantially the same as it did in about 1915. The area does 

not now, however, give any idea of the considerable activity that must have gone on during the trading 

post's heyday. There was an employee who took care of the barn, which of course was no doubt 

necessary. Such a person would be feeding and watering animals, moving them in and out of the barn to 

corrals and pens, cleaning stalls, tending to tack and harness, hitching up animals to wagons. 

These now forlorn structures and fenced areas were vital to three aspects of the Hubbell business---sheep 

trading, the raising of domestic stock, and freighting. There are pens and runs for sheep trading, a large 

corral for domestic animals, and corrals and sheds for mules, horses, and the protection of wagons. It has 

been pointed out that unless this area of the trading post is understood, the extent of the Hubbells' 

business interests cannot be fully appreciated. Few tourists wander that far into the complex. The fenced 

areas contain old wagons and old farming equipment, everything still parked in the weather as if it had 

been out there since Dorothy Hubbell left. Old equipment, including what must be one of the old 

gasoline pumps, rests in the sheds. 

Most of the construction here was done between 1897 and 1909. The corral complex is made of vertical 

poles of irregular length, looks much as it did in 1944, and was used principally for sheep. Sheds were 

built and fell to ruin and were removed. What is left is what was standing in 1967, palisade structures of 

local timber, heavy log construction. The roof is the usual viga type construction, but here the vigas are 

covered over with canvas tarps. [22]

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 16)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER XVI:

HUBBEL TRADING POST'S SUPERINTENDENTS (1967-1993)

Thomas G. Vaughan 1974-1978

Tom Vaughan was Superintendent at Hubbell Trading Post from August, 1974, to January, 1978. He had 

been with the Park Service for about ten years before he arrived in Ganado, coming from Point Reyes 

National Seashore where he was Assistant Chief Naturalist. His interest in the Park Service began when 

he was in school and worked several seasons as a seasonal ranger at Mesa Verde. He is a native of 

Wisconsin. He has an undergraduate degree in sociology and did graduate work in anthropology. He 

feels his five years in Hawaii were very important for his success at Hubbell Trading Post. His first 

permanent position was at City of Refuge National Historic Park, then at Maui as a District Ranger at 

Haleakala National Park. His experience there as a member of a minority, as a member of a linguistic 

minority, would help him when he arrived at Hubbell Trading Post.

Some of Tom's accomplishments at the trading post: The effort of searching for period restoration was 

dropped in favor of simply trying to keep the site looking as much as possible as it did when the Park 

Service inherited the place from Dorothy Hubbell. Developing a Collection Management Plan, the first 

for the NPS, and implementing it with an on-site qualified Curator, improving storage conditions for the 

collection, and getting many thousands of dollars of project into the funding pipeline. Vaughan was 

instrumental in blocking the ascendancy of John Young to his father's position as trader, and this resulted 

in the establishment of some standards for future traders: fluency in the Navajo language, active 

marketing and the improvement of crafts, the establishment of the philosophy that the traders at 

Hubbell's should consider "how much can I sell this item for and how much of that can I pay the maker," 

rather than "how little can I buy this for and how much profit can I make." The Ganado Fire Department 

was integrated with Hubbell Trading Post, for the benefit of both. And it was established that at least one 

of the Ranger positions should require some Navajo language and cultural requirements. It was a busy 

and important three years for Hubbell Trading Post.

From October of 1977 to August of 1980 he was Superintendent of Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic 

Site; then, from August of 1980 and on into 1982 he was Chief, Branch of Conservation Laboratories, 

Division of Museum Service, Harpers Ferry. In 1982 he became a Staff Curator, Chief Curator's Staff, at 

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Harpers Ferry, a position he held until 1985. From 1985 until 1989 he was Superintendent, Chaco 

Culture NHP; and in 1989 he accepted a position as Interpretive Specialist at Anasazi Heritage Center, 

Dolores, Colorado.

Figure 54. Thomas G. Vaughan, Superintendent at Hubbell Trading Post NHS from 1974 

to 1977. NPS photo.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 7)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER VII:

CULTURAL RESOURCES I

Building Roster

Figure 27. Guest Hogan. This building, HB-6, seen just to the right of the gazebo (which 

still exists), was built during the 1930s and 1940s as a monument to J. L. Hubbell. NPS 

photo, HUTR Neg. 32.

Guest Hogan

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HB-6: The Guest Hogan, situated to the north of the main house, was built for the family by Emilio 

Limas as a memorial to J. L. Hubbell. Although the year 1934 is carved into the stone above the door, 

dated photographs indicate that the structure was probably not completed until the mid-1940s. The hogan 

is of coursed sandstone, the floors of flagstone, with a traditional hogan roof of vigas projecting radially, 

the vigas covered with boards, the boards covered with red asphalt shingles. There is a massive central 

fireplace of petrified wood, stone, and pottery and stone artifacts. The door was carved by Dorothy 

Hubbell (another example of her carving is stored with the Curator, a rendering of the Conveyance of the 

Gods, which was the symbol of the Hubbell motor touring business of the 1930s). 

It was common practice for trading posts to have guest hogans for customers who had trekked in long 

distances to do business. [16] The notion has been put forward that since Lorenzo Hubbell was noted for 

his hospitality, a guest hogan is a fitting memorial to him. 

Figure 28. The Guest Hogan as rendered by Ethel Trimmer, SWRO. The door was carved 

by Dorothy Hubbell.

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Figure 29. The massive fireplace in the Guest Hogan, as rendered by Ethel Trimmer, 

SWRO. The fireplace is made of petrified wood, stone, and pottery and stone artifacts.

The hogan is not being used for anything at the present time and is awaiting interior refurbishing. The 

structure has been the subject of stabilizing by the NPS. The walls were spreading, due apparently to a 

poor---or nonexistent?---footing. The hogan has served as site headquarters and it has been used to house 

visiting NPS employees. Ned Danson would stay there when he visited the trading post. [17] The most 

favored plan for the future use of the hogan that it should remain a guest hogan, to be used by NPS 

employees who have work in the area, or else to be maintained by SPMA and rented to visitors on a 

nightly basis (it was so rented by the Hubbells, so that idea is nothing new). [18]

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Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER VII:

CULTURAL RESOURCES I

Building Roster

Figure 31. The Adobe Utility Building, HB-8, the chicken coop, as it looked in October, 

1991, with a few resident chickens. A Manchester photo.

Adobe Utility Building (aka Chicken Coop)

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HB-8: Estimates place the date of origin of this building at between 1906 and 1909, possible as late as 

1915. Its first use was indeed as a chicken coop. It was later employed for storage and a place to house 

an electrical generator. Niches were cut into the adobe walls for nesting. The building was partitioned 

after it ceased being a chicken coop. Most reports indicate that at one time the backyard, to the west, was 

enclosed by a fence, first of rough stone, later of "faggots." The fence was gone by 1931. 

The structure is on a stone foundation, walls of adobe brick. The walls were eroding to such an extent in 

the 1970s that the building was stuccoed in order to keep it from disintegrating. [20] To that extent, then, 

the building does not appear as it did in 1967, necessity taking precedence over authenticity. Floors are 

concrete slab on south side, plank on north side. The roof is a complicated structure of vigas and thick 

latillas, a frame shed roof added over that and covered with rolled roofing. [21]

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 16)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER XVI:

HUBBEL TRADING POST'S SUPERINTENDENTS (1967-1993)

Juin Crosse 1978-1980

Juin Crosse is another of Hubbell Trading Post's Superintendents who was not a stranger to the Navajo 

Nation. Her father was a lawyer for the Bureau of Indian Services. She came to Window Rock in 1952, 

lived there for two years, and then she lived in Gallup for four years. One of her friends was the daughter 

of a trader at St. Michaels.

Juin assumed the Superintendency at Hubbell Trading Post on 29 January 1978, coming from Redwood 

National Park where she had been Administrative Officer.

Juin entered the Park Service in August, 1966, at Fire Island National Seashore as a clerk-typist. She 

then moved to Flagstaff where she did general clerical work for the Administrative Officer. When the 

office there was dissolved, she went to Phoenix and moved into procurement work. From Phoenix she 

transferred to Washington, D.C. to take part in the Management Development Plan, then on to Redwood 

National Park for three years as Administrative Officer. She was in the Park Service for twelve years 

before assuming her first Superintendency, Hubbell Trading Post.

Activities at the trading post while Juin Crosse was there: Some major work on the Hubbell home was 

accomplished, the removal of straw and mud from the inner layer of the roof in order to cut down the fire 

hazard. Part of the back of the barn was taken down and reassembled in order to help stabilize the 

building. Some work was done on the porch at the front of the house. An interpretive prospectus was 

developed. She was concerned about getting water through the irrigation ditches, although that never 

came to pass. She was instrumental in getting the old schoolhouse (the present Visitor Center and site 

offices) transferred to the Park Service.

After Hubbell Trading Post, Juin moved on to Superintendencies at Fort McHenry National Monument 

and Hampton National Historic Site. She was in that area for five years when family illness forced her to 

take a leave of absence. After a year or two away from the Park Service, she returned at a time of severe 

reductions of personnel. Not entirely pleased with where the Park Service wanted to place her, she took a 

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job with another federal agency. She retired after twenty-five years of service with the federal 

government.

Juin Crosse is now married to Mr. Elliott Adams. They spend part of the year at their home in Blowing 

Rock, North Carolina, the winter months in Florida.

Figure 55. Juin Crosse, Superintendent of Hubbell Trading Post NHS from 1978- 1980. 

NPS photo.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 7)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER VII:

CULTURAL RESOURCES I

Building Roster

Figure 30. The Bread Oven, HB-7, was an important part of the Hubbell operation until 

the 1930s. A Manchester photo taken October, 1991.

Bread Oven

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HB-7: The Bread Oven located close to the Manager's Residence is the last of a series of ovens. The first 

bread oven was built during the years 1897 to 1903. Bread was made at Hubbell Trading Post, to be sold 

there and at other posts belonging to them, until the 1930s. This last bread oven was coal-fired. About 

200 loaves would have been baked on baking days; bread was baked about three times a week. A baker 

was employed. The dough was mixed in the kitchen of the Hubbell home, also close by. 

The bread oven at the trading post is a substantial structure, 12' 5" by 14' 7". It has a stone foundation up 

to three feet above grade, brick oven structure above the stone. It once had a chimney, probably on its 

southeast corner. The cast iron door is a New Model Oven Door (patented March 4, 1902), and there are 

smaller cast iron doors, one a viewing door that at one time would have had an isinglass window, and a 

cleanout door. 

This structure was stabilized in 1986. It has been suggested---as early as Benjamin Levy's Historic 

Structures Report of 1968---that returning the oven to its original function as a bread oven (rather than 

just an object of historic interest) would tend to enhance the living trading post aspects of the site as well 

as provide an authentic sales item. [19]

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 16)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER XVI:

HUBBEL TRADING POST'S SUPERINTENDENTS (1967-1993)

Luis Edward Gastellum 1981-1984

"I left Hubbell Trading Post in May of 1984 and my enthusiasm for the area has not diminished." [4] Ed 

Gastellum was superintendent at Hubbell Trading Post from 8 January, 1981, to 28 April, 1984. He is 

presently the Assistant Superintendent for the North Cascades National Park Service Complex, but he 

remembers the trading post as a "superb" cultural resource where "so much there...talks of times past and 

yet life goes on and changes...takes place slowly, reluctantly." [5]

Ed's first permanent position with the Park Service was in 1973 at Tumacacori National Monument. 

However, his seasonal jobs with the Park Service, while he was still in school (BS from Northern 

Arizona University, social anthropology, business administration), were at Fort Washington National 

Historic Site and Oxen Hill Animal Farm in 1967; at Lake Powell National Recreation Area in 1971 and 

1972; and at Organ Pipe National Monument in 1973, just after college and prior to going to 

Tumacacori. He stayed at Tumacacori for just ten months, then moved to Yosemite for two years as 

Administrative Assistant to the Chief Ranger for the Protection Division. In 1976 he transferred to the 

Albright Training Center, Grand Canyon, for four years as Administrative Officer. He left Albright for 

the superintendency of Hubbell Trading Post. After three and a half years at the trading post, he moved 

down to Petrified Forest National Park where he was Superintendent for five years, and from Petrified 

Forest he transferred to North Cascades, where he arrived in 1989.

Some major and minor projects while Ed was at Hubbell: maintaining the historical aspect of the site 

while at the same time creating a road surface to the trading post that would not turn into a quagmire in 

the winter (before that, it was possible to see ruts a foot deep in the road); the Visitor center was 

reroofed, vigas replaced; the restroom was completed (work on it had started prior to his arrival); major 

work on the collection storage area, the Hubbell home, the Bread Oven, the covered area for the wagons 

and farm implements, and the barn; efforts to complete the cataloguing and documentation of the 

collection; rehabilitation work on the farm equipment, wagons, and farm implements; historic 

preservation work contracted for and completed; completion of some of the planning documents; 

outlining what was needed for housing. A lot of this work was done as part of the Park Restoration 

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Improvement Program.

Ed Gastellum, a native Southwesterner and a second-generation NPS employee, lived in and around the 

Navajo Reservation for thirteen years. As he said about Hubbell Trading Post as a career experience: "A 

lot happened while I was there. For me, it was a valuable experience that I will always remember with 

affection and pride." [6]

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 16)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER XVI:

HUBBEL TRADING POST'S SUPERINTENDENTS (1967-1993)

Barry Cooper 1984-1986

Barry Cooper's experience with the Park Service started when he graduated from high school and went to 

work for the park concessioner at Mesa Verde. He worked summers there all through college, plus one 

full year when he took some time off to build up his savings. His degree, in geology, is from Colorado 

State University.

A recent college graduate in 1964, he volunteered for the Peace Corps and was assigned to Chile (a 

"maturing experience," he notes) where he worked in a rural community development program, 

attempting to help people in an agrarian reform colony set up a consumer co-op where they would have a 

place to buy groceries and other items.

On his return from Chile in 1966 he went to work for the Park Service as a seasonal at Mesa Verde. In 

January of '67 he started work at Petrified Forest as a seasonal. Nine months later he went to the Albright 

Training Center, then to Kings Canyon for a year on a training assignment. The next three years were at 

Platt National Park (Chickasaw National Recreation Area), then back to Kings Canyon as a Sub-District 

Ranger for two years.

After a year at Mendocino with the California State Park System on a ranger exchange program, he 

transferred to Scotts Bluff National Monument. Cooper went to Haleakala National Park in 1978 as 

District Ranger of the Crater District, then became Chief Ranger of the park. He assumed the 

superintendency of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site in July of 1984. In June of 1986 Cooper 

moved to Aztec Ruins National Monument to become Superintendent there, and he has been there ever 

since.

What Barry Cooper feels were the main accomplishments during his tenure at Hubbell Trading Post 

NHS: He promoted the hiring of American Indians to permanent positions on the staff; four out of five 

such positions were filled by local Navajo. He initiated the first comprehensive exhibits in the Visitor 

Center. Fire detection and protection systems were installed in the Administrative/Visitor Center 

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building and the barn. There was restoration work on the bunkhouse, bread oven and many pieces of 

farm machinery; and storage conditions were improved for a portion of the museum collection.

Barry Cooper recalls Hubbell Trading Post for its unique preservation of a living cultural heritage.

Figure 56. Barry Cooper, Superintendent of Hubbell Trading Post NHS from 1984 to 

1986. NPS photo.

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Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER XVI:

HUBBEL TRADING POST'S SUPERINTENDENTS (1967-1993)

Douglas C. McChristian 1986-1987

Doug McChristian surrendered the command of Fort Davis National Historic Site to assume the 

Superintendency of Hubbell Trading Post. He moved from cavalry post to trading post. He had been 

Superintendent at Fort Davis for six years, so when he came to Ganado he was one of the most 

experienced of Hubbell Trading Post's Superintendents. And a good thing he was, because the ranks 

were pretty thin when he arrived. He had no clerk-typist. The Chief Ranger announced that he would 

resign in order to pursue a career in the movie industry. The Maintenance Foreman was a rookie. Doug's 

wife, Mary, helped out wherever she could until some people could be recruited and trained. Among the 

good people who transferred to the trading post were Rich and Cindy Simmons, and McChristian feels 

that their inclusion in the ranks of Hubbell Trading Post personnel was one of the successes of his tenure 

there.

Other accomplishments and activities during the year Doug was at the trading post: Updating the various 

cyclic funding programs. Culling and updating the Multi-Year Planning and Development Program. 

Rewriting the Resources Management Plan. A lot of effort went into trying to get the proposed employee 

housing off dead center (in his opinion, better housing is essential for the good morale of the employees 

there). Rip-rap was put into Pueblo Colorado Wash. A large portion of the stone fence around the yard of 

the Hubbell home was taken down, rebuilt, and stabilized with a concrete footing. New exhibits in the 

Visitor Center were installed (a project started by Barry Cooper). The platform on which the weavers 

work was installed. A cyclic maintenance program was organized, the cyclic cultural maintenance rehab 

program improved.

McChristian joined the Park Service at Fort Larned as a seasonal. After graduation from college in 1969 

(Fort Hays State University, Kansas), he returned to Fort Larned for another season. Then, after a series 

of temporary assignments, he assumed his first permanent position, at Fort Davis, where he became 

Supervisory Park Ranger/Park Historian. After three years at Fort Davis, he was posted to Fort Laramie 

National Historic Site as Supervisory Historian. In 1978 he transferred to the Southwest Regional Office 

to be Historian in the Interpretive Division. Doug left SWRO in 1980 to return to Fort Davis, this time as 

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Superintendent.

Doug McChristian has always been interested in military history, especially the military history of the 

1870s, so when a position that he was interested in opened up at Fort Union National Monument he 

applied and was accepted. He was stationed at Fort Union from 1987 to 1989, then he was posted to 

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, formerly Custer Battlefield National Monument, where 

he is now Supervisory Historian.

Figure 57. Douglas C. McChristian, Superintendent of Hubbell Trading Post NHS from 

1986-1987. NPS photo from 1991.

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Hubbell Trading Post NHS: An Administrative History (Chapter 16)

Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER XVI:

HUBBEL TRADING POST'S SUPERINTENDENTS (1967-1993)

Charles V. Wyatt 1987-present

Charlie Wyatt has been with the National Park Service for all of his adult life. The notion that he wanted 

to be a Park Ranger came to him "just out of the blue" while he was still a senior in high school. He now 

has thirty-four years with the Park Service and he has been Superintendent of Hubbell Trading Post 

National Historic Site since December 6, 1987.

Charlie's father was a Park Ranger at Casa Grande and Canyon de Chelly National Monuments before 

World War II. Charlie himself started to work for the Park Service seasonally when he was nineteen and 

still in college, then went to work for the Park Service as soon as he finished college, taking a position at 

Carlsbad Caverns as a Tour Leader. After fifteen months at Carlsbad, he transferred to Bandelier for 

about a year and a half, then moved to Petrified Forest as a Park Ranger. After only six months or so at 

Petrified Forest, he transferred to Lake Mead National Recreation Area for about two and a half years; he 

was first a radio dispatcher and then, at the Willow Beach Sub-District, a Sub-District Ranger. Charlie 

Wyatt was the first permanent year-round Ranger assigned to Natural Bridges, soon after Canyonlands 

National Park was established. He spent some time in the Needles District of the Canyonlands Group 

and also in the Island in the Sky District. He was the first River Ranger at Canyonlands (in charge of 

river traffic).

Charlie Wyatt's first tour of duty in administration was at Timpanogos Cave National Monument as 

Administrative Officer. After a year in Utah, he was selected to attend the Departmental Manager 

Training Course at the National Park Service headquarters. While in Washington he worked in the 

finance branch, then in the training division as the Administrative Officer. His next move was to the 

Grand Canyon to be Administrative Officer for the training center there. Returning to the East, he 

became Administrative Officer at Wolf Trap Farm Park in Virginia for two years, then moved to 

Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park as Chief Ranger for seven years, and for the 

next eight years he was at Fort Sumter. Charlie was transferred from Fort Sumter to become 

Superintendent of Hubbell Trading Post NHS, his first superintendency.

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Some of the accomplishments during Charlie Wyatt's tenure at the trading post: Work on employee 

housing has moved forward; three or four three-bedroom houses will be started in FY92. It is hoped that 

five or six more houses will go up the next year. An erosion control project along the stream was 

completed since Charlie has been at Hubbell. The Trading post, curatorial storage building, and the 

Hubbell home were reroofed. The barn was reroofed (again). The site has been almost fully 

computerized; Hubbell Trading Post has electronic access to the regional office. The storage cellar 

behind the office was converted to a library. The Guest Hogan is being restored so that it can be used by 

Park Service personnel who have work at the site. The fire suppression system was rearranged; the 

Hubbell home is now on a separate system, and the Manager’s Residence (Ranger's Residence) had 

sprinklers installed under the same contract. Charlie's future plans include an expansion of the office area.

Charlie Wyatt enjoys being Superintendent of Hubbell Trading Post. The historic site, the general area, 

and his neighbors suit him perfectly.

Figure 58. Charles D. Wyatt. Superintendent of Hubbell Trading Post NHS from 1987 to 

present. NPS photo by Edward M. Chamberlin. 25 August, 1990. HUTR Neg. R328#8.

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Hubbell Trading Post

Administrative History

CHAPTER XVI:

HUBBEL TRADING POST'S SUPERINTENDENTS (1967-1993)

Acting Superintendents

1. Kevin McKibbin: February to May, 1971, at which time he was appointed 

Superintendent.

2. Kent Bush Kent is now Regional Curator, Pacific Northwest Region. 

He was Acting Superintendent at Hubbell Trading Post 

during part of 1980. He was the first Curator there.

3. Elizabeth Bauer: May and June, 1984; and October to December, 1987. She is 

now at Mesa Verde. Her primary job at Hubbell Trading 

Post was as Curator.

4. Richard Simmons: June, July, August, September, 1987. Richard Simmons is 

still Chief Ranger at Hubbell Trading Post.

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