Park Archives: Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site

It is 1885. You have traveled by wagon for days. You enter the valley of the Pueblo Colorado Wash, known as Lók'aah niteel, Wide Reeds. As you approach Hubbell Trading Post you see others have arrived to trade. Navajo friends greet one another. You are here to trade a rug for goods that you will need for the winter.

See the rustic door? It opens to a store filled with wonderful products. Walk in and you'll feel like you've stepped back in time. See the gate? Within are animals, corrals, wagons, and a barn.

Today you have traveled by vehicle for a few hours. Hubbell Trading Post is still here and operating! The door and gate invite you. Welcome.

In the late-1800s the number of trading posts grew across the Southwest. Traders provided supplies and helped local tribes whose lives had been changed drastically by the U.S. government. John Lorenzo Hubbell's contribution and influence as an Indian trader was significant. For over 50 years he was known for his neighborly friendship, honest business dealings, and wise counsel to American Indians. Explorers, artists, writers, scientists, even President Theodore Roosevelt enjoyed the atmosphere of this trading post and ranch and the hospitality of the Hubbell family.

Starting Out Hubbell was born in 1853, in Pajarito, New Mexico Territory, son of James Lawrence Hubbell from Connecticut and Julianita Gutierriez of Spanish descent. Young Hubbell learned the ways and language of the Navajo while employed as a clerk and Spanish interpreter at forts and trading posts. He married Lina Rubi of Cebolleta, New Mexico Territory in 1879, and they had four children: Adela, Barbara, John Lorenzo Jr., and Roman.

Aftermath of the Long Walk Hubbell—Don Lorenzo to local Hispanics, Naakaii Sani (Old Mexican) or Nak'ee sinili (Eyeglasses) to the Navajo—began trading here in 1876, at a critical time for the Navajo. Hubbell came to Ganado as the Navajo struggled to adjust to reservation life following the brutal ordeal of the 1864 Long Walk to Hwééldi, Bosque Redondo (Fort Sumner), in New Mexico Territory, and their four-year imprisonment. They returned home in 1868 to their destroyed homesteads—hogans, herds, and crops gone. Because of this devastation, trading for food and products became important.

Trader and Friend After the Long Walk, local tribes gathered at the post, where Hubbell was merchant and liaison to the outside world. He translated and wrote letters, settled quarrels, and explained government policy. When a smallpox epidemic swept the reservation in 1886, he opened his home as a hospital. "Out here in this country," said Hubbell, "the Indian trader is everything from merchant to father confessor, justice of the peace, judge, jury, court of appeals, chief medicine man, and de facto czar of the domain over which he presides."

Hubbell died in 1930 and was buried on the hill overlooking the trading post. Hubbell Trading Post stayed in the family until 1967, when Dorothy Hubbell, Roman's wife, sold it to the National Park Service to be preserved as a national historic site. Today, as in 1876, American Indians bring handcrafted rugs, jewelry, pottery, and baskets to the trader. Locals buy groceries and share stories. Are you enchanted by a Navajo rug, a silver necklace, pottery, or a Hopi basket? Don't hesitate; take home a beautiful example of American Indian artwork.

I give you something of value, and you give are something that we agree is of equal value.

Trading is a custom that has been practiced by Southwestern ancestral people for hundreds of years. In the early 1800s white traders traveled by wagon, bringing goods to exchange for commodities with local people. In 1868, with the establishment of the Navajo Reservation, the U.S. government set up rules to regulate trading businesses. Itinerant traders were encouraged to get licenses and open permanent trading posts.

Hubbell worked at his first store two miles upstream from Ganado. In 1876 he bought William Leonard's business in this location and opened Hubbell Trading Post.

Cash flow in the stores was almost non-existent, requiring traders to give customers credit. Debts to the businesses were paid off annually when the customer's commodities became available: piñon nuts, wool, firewood, livestock, and produce. When traders discovered the artistic skills of local tribes, they began accepting handmade rugs, jewelry, carvings, baskets, and pottery in trade. Today trade is conducted with currency, but the ancient principle of trading thrives.

Weaving was a common and desired skill among the Spanish, Mexicans, and Pueblo Indians. Navajo learned the skill and surpassed their teachers, becoming famous and respected for their excellent weaving techniques, skill, and creativity.

The entire business of wool—raising and herding sheep and shearing, carding, spinning, dyeing, and weaving—provided the Navajo with a needed economic boost.

At first the Navajo wove blankets to wear and trade with other tribes. But traders believed that quality—and better prices—demanded new styles and designs, and rugs gradually replaced blankets.

Before the 1800s blankets were made of naturally colored wool—white, brown, black, tan, or mixtures. In the 1870s new synthetic dyes produced vividly colored yarn, and weavers experimented with wild patterns. Hubbell encouraged the Navajo to weave designs from old rug patterns that he favored, with colors that included gray, black, white, and red. His legacy includes a distinctive style known as Ganado Red.

Today Navajo weaving is world-famous. Rugs and tapestries are bought and sold as investments, gifts, and home decor, and passed through generations to tell stories about The People, Diné.

The infamous Long Walk ended for the Navajo in 1868. A new way of life began on Navajoland with the presence of Indian agents, teachers, and missionaries who came to the reservation with their own ideas in mind, including acculturation of the Navajo into white culture.:

Hubbell and other traders who set up posts on the reservation were different. They didn't impose their beliefs, values, and systems onto an established native culture but sought a balance, one that profited their businesses, while respecting Navajo traditions.

Traders who arrived and stayed became friends of the community by learning local customs and languages and attending cultural events.

The trader was often the only contact the Navajo had with the world beyond their reservation. Over time the Navajo learned about and accepted white culture. This was, in part, because a trusted trader provided the local community with fair trade and a fair price. Today the Navajo are bicultural. They live in a modern American society while valuing and practicing their Navajo traditions.

BEFORE 1300
Ancestors of today's Southwestern people trade food, products, and ideas. They build complex structures with plazas and kivas, including Wide Reed Ruin (near today's Ganado).

1540s-1600
First Spanish, then Mexicans and Americans explore and colonize the Southwest. Don Juan de Oñate introduces plants, animals, and Hispanic colonists.

1776
Escalante-Dominguez expedition crosses Arizona and Utah seeking a route from New Mexico Territory to California.

1803-1806
Louisiana Purchase doubles size of the nation; Meriwether Lewis and William Clark expedition explores route to Pacific Ocean; leads to opening of the frontier.

1846-1848
U.S.-Mexican War; Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends war, U.S. gains land from Texas to California; gold discovered in California.

1851
U.S. Army builds Fort Defiance in the heart of Navajo country to stop Navajo raids.

1860
Force of 1,000 Navajo led by Chiefs Manuelito and Barboncito attack Fort Defiance; U.S. military retaliates.

1861-1865
U.S. Civil War; Homestead Act opens western land to settlers; Arizona Territory designated.

1864-1868 LONG WALK
Over 8,500 Navajo exiled by U.S. army at Bosque Redondo (Fort Sumner), New Mexico Territory; they return home to destroyed hogans and livestock; U.S. government creates Navajo Reservation.

1872-1878
Navajo Chief Totsonii Hastiin, Ganado Mucho, invites Hubbell to Lók'aah niteel, Ganado Valley, predicting "he will do good business;" Hubbell, age 23, buys William Leonard's trading post; expands post and ranch.

1879-1880s
Fred Harvey Company contracts with Santa Fe Railroad to build quality hotels, eateries, and gift shops at railroad stops; Harvey, like Hubbell, employs Navajo to demonstrate weaving and crafts; Hubbell and trader J.B. Moore market Navajo rugs, attracting business from Eastern cities.

1883-1886
U.S. post office opens at Hubbell Trading Post; John Lorenzo Jr. born to Hubbell and wife Lina Rubi, 1883; smallpox epidemic kills thousands of local people; Hubbell cares for sick and dying.

1890s
Hubbell builds home and ranch buildings; son Roman born, 1891; artist Elbridge Ayer Burbank sketches local natives, including Bílii Láni, Chief Many Horses; Navajo Chiefs Ganado Mucho and Manuelito die.

1897-EARLY 1900s
Navajo blankets using red yarn gain popularity; Hubbell begins Ganado Valley irrigation project, builds canals and Ganado Lake; dam completed (valley residents use irrigation system into the 1960s).

1915-1917
Hubbell starts freight and stage company; is granted the 160-acre homestead; his property is one of the few private inholdings on the Navajo Reservation.

1920s-1924
Oil discovered on reservation; Navajo communities organized into local chapters; American Indians granted U.S. citizenship. (Arizona tribes not allowed to vote until 1948.)

1930
Hubbell dies, age 77; is buried on Hubbell Hill; sons John Lorenzo Jr. and Roman carry on businesses.

1941-1945
World War II, Pacific Theater: Code Talkers send tactical messages in native languages that the Japanese can't decipher.

1942-1957
John Lorenzo Jr. dies; Roman and wife Dorothy run operations; Roman dies; Dorothy runs the business.

1950s
Uranium discovered on Navajo Reservation; commercial mining begins; Navajo Nation increases control over its natural resources.

1960s
Congress authorizes Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, 1965; Dorothy Hubbell sells property to National Park Service (NPS), 1967; trading remains important to the community.

2000-TO PRESENT
Stewardship. NPS, local tribes, and friends work to protect Hubbell Trading Post's traditional and on-going trading relationships. The site promotes arts and crafts from many tribes and is a vital part of the Navajo community.

Homestead on the High Plateau
When Hubbell started his trading post here in the 1870s, his property had no official boundary. In 1880 the Navajo Nation expanded, engulfing the trading post and ranch property, and Hubbell put in his claim for the 160-acre homestead.

Hubbell set a boundary by clearing and fencing his agricultural fields. He also used land beyond his claim, including Hubbell Hill, the reservoir, and canals that brought water to help make his ranch self-sufficient.

Today the National Park Service cares for Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site in the midst of the Navajo Nation.

The Hubbell Trading Empire
John Lorenzo Hubbell was one of the most respected traders of his day. He admired and encouraged American Indian arts and crafts and traded with Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Acoma, Pima, Tohono O'odham, and Apache. At various times he and his sons John Lorenzo Jr. and Roman owned over 30 trading posts, warehouses and wholesale houses in Gallup, New Mexico, and Winslow, Arizona, several ranches and farms, business properties in California, curio shops, and stage, freight, and mail lines.

EXPLORING BEYOND THE WALLS Start at the iron gate bearing John Lorenzo Hubbell's initials. It once separated the public trading area from the family's private space, but today the gate beckons you. Please come in and look around. Buildings and areas (below) contain notes that explain their functions.

In 1965 Congress made Hubbell Trading Post a national historic site with the understanding that it would remain a business operation, a working trading post. Hubbell Trading Post is alive in the true sense of the word. You can buy a pound of cowboy coffee or trade items like a Hopi basket, Navajo rug, or turquoise ring. Woosh Deeh.

CORRALS
Corrals held sheep by categories: ewes with lambs, yearlings, rams, aged, and market-ready. Other corrals held horses, mules, or milk cows.

SHED AND EQUIPMENT
Look at all the implements! Potato diggers, plows, a hay baler, and more—equipment needed to run a self-sufficient ranch. Freight wagons brought supplies from Gallup, New Mexico, and hauled wool to market.

HOGAN IN THE LANE
Wander past the barn and down the lane to see a traditional Navajo hogan built in the 1950s.

IRRIGATION
Hubbell built a dam and irrigation ditches to divert water from Pueblo Colorado Wash to his fields and gardens.

BARN
When completed about 1900 this two-story barn was the largest in northern Arizona.

BLACKSMITH SHOP
The blacksmith repaired farm equipment and made tools, hardware, horseshoes, and the gate with Hubbell's initials.

AGRICULTURAL FIELDS
Terraced alfalfa fields surrounded the cluster of buildings. Hubbell needed a lot of hay to feed the horses and mules that pulled his freight wagons.

CHICKEN COOP
The Hubbells raised chickens, guinea fowl, peacocks, and turkeys.

WAREROOM
This 1887 building held supplies for the trading post and items for shipping, including sheepskins and 100-pound bags of wool.

MANAGER'S RESIDENCE
The farm manager lived here in the early 1900s. (Not open to the public.)

BREAD OVEN
When the trading post was in full operation the baker provided hundreds of loaves each week, supplying bread to the family and to sell in the store.

KITCHEN GARDEN
Corn, squash, melons, beans, and chilies grow here. Daghaa Neezi (Friday Kinlicheenie), Hubbell's gardener for over 70 years, grew fruit and vegetables for the family and workers.

GATE AND PRIVACY WALL
Gates, walls, and doors kept outsiders from entering areas reserved for the Hubbell family and its business dealings.

HUBBELL HOME
The Hubbell family home is filled with artwork, baskets, and beautiful Navajo rugs. Hubbell family members lived here until 1967. Guided tours are offered daily

TRADING POST
This store is a real trading post just like it was over 125 years ago. Local artists bring hand-crafted items to sell, and people shop for groceries and supplies. There are three rooms: the bullpen (store), jewelry room, and rug room.

BULLPEN
This cozy room was a place to socialize and trade for staples like coffee, cloth, and utensils. It is little changed since 1876, with its wooden floors, tall counters, high shelves, and iron stove. Only the merchandise is new.

JEWELRY AND RUG ROOMS
Visit the jewelry room (originally called the Trader's Office) to see jewelry, baskets, pottery, and gifts that showcase the artistic talents of Southwestern tribes. The rug room offers exquisitely woven new and historic Navajo rugs.

GUEST HOGAN
Hubbell opened his home to friends and travelers. Roman and Dorothy Hubbell built this hogan in 1934 as a tribute to his father's hospitality. Today visiting artists, researchers, and volunteers occasionally stay here.

LEONARD BUILDING
William Leonard ran a trading post here in the 1870s. The structure was removed in 1923.

HUBBELL HILL
Hubbell is buried in the family cemetery atop the cone-shaped hill. His grave is unmarked, following Navajo custom. Buried there too are his wife Lina Rubi and his best friend Bi'lii Lani (Chief Many Horses). The hill is outside of the park boundary.

PUEBLO COLORADO WASH
The streambed beyond the stone wall marks Hubbell homestead's northern boundary. Ancestors of today's Southwestern people built villages along its banks in the 1200s.

ROOT CELLAR
This cool area kept potatoes, apples, eggs, and other food fresh for months. (There is another root cellar next to the Hubbell home.)

VISITOR CENTER Start here for information, exhibits, a bookstore, and Navajo rug weaving demonstrations. Its is open daily except Thanksgiving, December 25, and January 1. Seasonal hours vary.

GUIDED HOUSE TOURS Tours of the Hubbell Home are offered daily and limited to 15 people (fee). Pay for and meet your tour at the visitor center. Group tours require advance reservations.

TIME ZONES The Navajo Reservation observes daylight-saving time, but the rest of Arizona and the Hopi Reservation do not. During that period, clocks at Hubbell Trading Post will read one hour ahead of clocks off the reservation, like at the Grand Canyon.

ACCESSIBILITY The visitor center, restrooms, and rooms in the trading post store are accessible for visitors in wheelchairs. Service animals are welcome.

SAFETY AND REGULATIONS Please follow these precautions. You are responsible for your own safety. • Watch where you walk; historic glass and nails are scattered about, and the ground can be uneven. • Watch your children. • Do not climb on fences or machinery. • Do not litter. • Pets must be leashed; they are not allowed in buildings. • Smoking is not allowed in buildings or near doorways. • Do not approach or feed animals, tame or wild. • All plants, animals, and natural and historic features are protected by federal law. • For firearms regulations check the park website. Emergencies: contact a ranger or call 911.

The contents of brochures, site bulletins and trading cards (denoted with a colored caption) can be viewed by clicking on the cover. Most modern-day brochures, however, are cover only (denoted by a white caption) due to photograph copyrights. These items are historical in scope and are intended for educational purposes only; they are not meant as an aid for travel planning. The dates under each brochure do not reflect the complete range of years that a particular brochure was issued.

cover only c1960s	1967	1975	1978	1985	1986
1987	1989	1990	1995
1996-2001		cover only 2003-2006		cover only 2010-2018

Visit Planner June 1989		Animals at Hubbell Trading Post Date Unknown		Plants at Hubbell Trading Post Date Unknown
Churro Sheep Field Guide 2008		Churro Sheep Date Unknown		The Long Walk — Hwéeldi Date Unknown
Visit Planner 1976	Traveling Among the Navajo Date Unknown		Traveling Among the Navajo 12/2005
J.L. Hubbell Et Son Comptoir (French edition) Date Unknown		J.L. Hubbell und seine Warenhandlung (German edition) Date Unknown		Caring For Your Navajo Textile Date Unknown
Trading Cards

The following visual bibliography is just a sampling of the handbooks and books which have been published for this park. NPSHistory.com does not endorse these, but are merely presenting them for informational purposes only. As most are copyrighted, we are only able to provide the covers, and not contents, of these publications.

cover only

Hubbell Trading Post
2/91

cover only

Guide to Navajo Rugs
Susan Lamb
1992

cover only

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site
David M. Brugge
1993