Hubbell Trading Post Administrative History

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.

Figure 51. John Cook, Superintendent of Hubbell Trading Post NHS from 1966-1969. NPS photo.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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]

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.