"B02 North Porch of Hubbell Home" by U.S. National Park Service , public domain
Hubbell Trading PostNational Historic Site - Arizona |
Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site is on Highway 191, north of Chambers, with an exhibit center in Ganado, Arizona.
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Map of the U.S. National Park System. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Map of the U.S. National Park System with Unified Regions. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Map of the U.S. National Heritage Areas. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
Apache and Navaja County Map of Arizona Surface Management Responsibility. Published by Arizona State Land Department and U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Statewide Map of Arizona Surface Management Responsibility. Published by Arizona State Land Department and U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Map of Recreation and Historic Sites on Federal, State and Tribal Land in Arizona. Published by visitarizona.com.
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https://www.nps.gov/hutr/index.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubbell_Trading_Post_National_Historic_Site
Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site is on Highway 191, north of Chambers, with an exhibit center in Ganado, Arizona.
Wóshdę́ę́, please come in where the squeaky wooden floors greet your entry into the oldest operating Trading Post on the Navajo Nation. As your eyes adjust to the dim light in the "bullpen", you'll find you've just entered a mercantile. Hubbell's in Ganado has been selling goods and trading Native American Art since 1878. Discover Hubbell Trading Post NHS, sheep, rugs, jewelry and so much more...
Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site is located at mile post 446.3 on AZ state route 264. Visitors traveling on I-40 can take U.S. Highway 191 North to Ganado and drive west on Hwy. 264. If you are traveling from Gallup, New Mexico, you may take U.S. Highway 491 North to U.S. Highway 264 west toward Ganado, through Window Rock,Arizona. When you are driving south from Chinle, Arizona on Hwy. 191 you will drive east when you reach Hwy. 264.
Hubbell Trading Post NHS Visitor Center
The visitor center is located east of the trading post. Interpretive exhibits on Hubbell family, the Long Walk, weaving, and a children's trading post are located inside. Ask for brochures and other informational leaflets. Guided tour tickets for the Hubbell Home are available. An interactive video, and viewing of 1-2 minutes snapshots of different videos that are for sell at the trading post are all available inside.
From East: drive 1/2 mile west of junction Hwy 364-191, entrance is on left-hand side. From West: drive 5 miles east on Hwy 191, drive over bridge, turn immediately to right after the bridge. We share entrance road with the Mormon Church (landmark).
Navajo-Churro ewe with lambs
Spring lambs with their Navajo-Churro ewe.
Each spring Navajo-Churro ewes give birth to their lambs at Hubbell Trading Post.
Front of Trading Post
Steer skull greets visitors.
Above the entry way into the trading post, there is a sun-bleached steer skull.
Hubbell Family Home
Inside the Hubbell Family home, looking south.
Thousands of visitors have visited the Hubbell Family home in the past 50 years.
Hubbell Trading Post bullpen
Bullpen inside the trading post.
Thousands of visitors and community members walk through the bullpen of the trading post.
Interpretive exhibits inside the Visitor Center
Interpretive exhibit has Mr. JL Hubbell holding his grand daughter LaCharles.
New interpretive exhibits on the family, trading post, and weaving.
2011 SCPN-NAU Student Projects
In spring 2011, the SCPN-NAU School of Communication collaboration began with a multimedia studies course focused on documenting park resources and resource projects. The class was taught by NAU professors Laura Camden and Peter Friederici.
2011 Student Projects
The Colorado Plateau
The Colorado Plateau is centered on the four corners area of the Southwest, and includes much of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico.
Hazy Fajada Butte, Chaco Culture National Monument
NPS Geodiversity Atlas—Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, Arizona
Each park-specific page in the NPS Geodiversity Atlas provides basic information on the significant geologic features and processes occurring in the park. [Site Under Development]
trading post entrance
Vegetation Characterization and Mapping on the Southern Colorado Plateau
Vegetation mapping is a tool used by botanists, ecologists, and land managers to better understand the abundance, diversity, and distribution of different vegetation types across a landscape.
Vegetation plots used for the classification and mapping of El Malpais NM
Climate Change on the Southern Colorado Plateau
The combination of high. elevation and a semi-arid climate makes the Colorado Plateau particularly vulnerable to climate change. Climate models predict that over the next 100 years, the Southwest will become warmer and even more arid, with more extreme droughts than the region has experienced in the recent past.
One result of climate change may be more, larger floods, like this flash flood in Glen Canyon NRA
Series: Defining the Southwest
The Southwest has a special place in the American imagination – one filled with canyon lands, cacti, roadrunners, perpetual desert heat, a glaring sun, and the unfolding of history in places like Tombstone and Santa Fe. In the American mind, the Southwest is a place without boundaries – a land with its own style and its own pace – a land that ultimately defies a single definition.
Maize agriculture is one component of a general cultural definition of the Southwest.
Series: SCPN-NAU School of Communication Collaboration
The Southern Colorado Plateau Network (SCPN) of the National Park Service has been partnering with the Northern Arizona University (NAU) School of Communication since 2011 to develop student multimedia projects that highlight resources and activities in network parks. This collaboration gives NAU students hands-on experience in creating multimedia projects and provides network parks with products that can help to promote their unique resources and scientific or educational project work.
SCPN-NAU student projects
Staff Spotlight: Vanessa Torres
Meet Vanessa Torres, Program Manager of Interpretation, Education, and Community Engagement for Lyndon B Johnson National Historical Park and Waco Mammoth National Monument. Hear her story and advice she has for youth and young adults.
Vanessa Torres enjoying a break in the Texas Bluebonnets
Find Your Park on Route 66
Route 66 and the National Park Service have always had an important historical connection. Route 66 was known as the great road west and after World War II families on vacation took to the road in great numbers to visit the many National Park Service sites in the Southwest and beyond. That connection remains very alive and present today. Take a trip down Route 66 and Find Your Park today!
A paved road with fields in the distance. On the road is a white Oklahoma Route 66 emblem.
Water Resources on the Colorado Plateau
Describes the origin, uses, threats to, and conservation of water on the Colorado Plateau.
Dark green body of water winding through red rock formations with brilliant sun overhead.
Sharing the Mysteries of Mortar
Finding the right recipe to replace crumbling joints in historic buildings can be the key to preserving them. I conducted two recent trainings to show how.
Man holding a hammer and chisel in front of an old brick building
Making an Impact: Long-Term Monitoring of Natural Resources at Intermountain Region National Parks, 2021
Across the Intermountain Region, Inventory & Monitoring Division ecologists are helping to track the effects of climate change, provide baseline information for resource management, evaluate new technologies, and inspire the next generation of park stewards. This article highlights accomplishments achieved during fiscal year 2021.
A man looks through binoculars at sunrise.
Testing Treatments for Mitigating Climate-Change Effects on Adobe Structures in the National Parks
In the US Southwest, climate change is making it harder to preserve historic adobe structures for future generations. Using adobe test walls and rainshower simulators, staff at the Desert Research Learning Center are evaluating the potential for increased erosion, and testing the effectiveness of different treatments methods to protect against it. The results will help park managers tailor their preservation methods to better protect culturally valuable resources.
American flag viewed through the remains of an adobe doorway.
The Plateau Postcard: Spring-Summer 2023
The Plateau Postcard is the official newsletter of the Southern Colorado Plateau Inventory and Monitoring Network. In this issue, we say hello to many new faces within the network and head to the field with some of this year's spectacular monitoring crews.
Pile of postcards with images of various southwest national parks on them.
A Changing Bimodal Climate Zone Means Changing Vegetation in Western National Parks
When the climate changes enough, the vegetation communities growing in any given place will also change. Under an expanded bimodal climate zone, some plant communities in western national parks are more likely to change than others. National Park Service ecologists and partners investigated the future conditions that may force some of this change. Having this information can help park managers decide whether to resist, direct, or accept the change.
Dark storm clouds and rainbow over mountains and saguaros.
Project Profile: Expand Southwest Seed Partnership for Intermountain Region Parks
The National Park Service and organizations of the Southwest Seed Partnership will implement the National Seed Strategy and associated revegetation and ecosystem restoration efforts. The project focuses on native plant development and involves collecting, producing, cleaning, testing, tracking, and storing seeds from native species.
grasses and shrubs on a hillside
Lesser Long-nosed Bat Research at Organ Pipe Cactus
Lesser long-nosed bats have been in scientific focus since the late 1900's. These unique animals face different obstacles in their changing environment, but researchers are at work in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, learning more about these bats. Through research here and throughout Central America, scientists are understanding better how to protect these animals and their environment.
A small black lesser long-nosed bat with a black face hovers above a waxy white saguaro flower.
Toad Research in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
Research at Organ Pipe Cactus has seen large monsoons, drought, and the Sonoran Desert’s impact on different species of toad. The aim of this research is to understand which species are present, as well as the geographical reach of the chytrid fungus.
A large dark green-gray Sonoran Desert toad sits in a pool of water.
Hubbell Trading Post, Arizona
Hubbell Hill
Pueblo C
olorado
Wash
Bunkhouse
Bread
Oven
Chicken Coop
Manager’s
Residence
Barn
Guest
Hogan
Gazebo
Hubbell
Home
Wareroom
Shed
Kitchen
Garden
Trading Post
NPS Offices
PA R K I N
Corral
G
Root Cellar
Blacksmith
Shop
Visitor
Center
Restrooms
To Hogan in
the Lane
Paddock
PA R K I
NG
Hubbell Trading Post
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Hubbell Trading Post
National Historic Site
The Long Walk–Hwéeldi
For centuries before the coming of European settlers, The Navajo (Diné-The People) were accustomed to roaming freely over the vast distances of the great Southwest. This is the land that their
Holy People had created for them, “Dinétah,” the land within their Four Sacred Mountains. Life
was hard, but good. They traded with neighboring Pueblo tribes, which enriched them both materially and spiritually. Mother Earth supplied them with everything they needed: clothing, medicine,
shelter, water and food.
Spaniards came in the 16th century, introducing them to horses, cattle, and sheep, their religion and
slavery. From the time of Spanish settlement to the occupation of Euro-Americans, Navajo history
was marked by missionary activity, slave - raiding, warfare, broken treaties, challenges to peace and
growing distrust from both Navajos and Euro-Americans.
When the United States took possession of the southwestern territories in 1846 after the war with
Mexico, the Euro-American inhabitants were promised protection from tribes perceived as warlike, such as the Navajo and Apache. Military posts were established within Navajo country, but the
Diné fiercely resisted the intrusion into their sacred land. The oral history of the Diné is to protect
this land that the Holy people had created for them. The Four Sacred Mountains were created for
the Diné and while within them, they are protected. In the early 1860s, American expansion continued west into Dinétah. General James H. Carleton believed gold existed within Navajo country and
he wanted to, “establish a military post in the very heart of the gold country. The people will flock into
the country (once the Navajo are removed), and will soon farm and have stock enough for the
mines…” Often, throughout history, the lure of gold was the motivation for terrifying campaigns
around the world.
In 1863, Carleton ordered Colonel
Christopher “Kit” Carson to follow the
“scorched earth” policy to destroy
Navajo subsistence, break up family units,
and round up the Navajo population. The
People fled, hiding in canyons and
mountains. Carson’s troops burned their
crops, killed livestock, and massacred
men, women, and children. Faced with
starvation and so much loss, many
Navajo surrendered during the winter of
1863 -1864. After surrendering, more than
8,000 Navajos were forced to march in
“The Long Walk,” over 300 miles to a flat,
40-square-mile wind- swept reservation
in east-central New Mexico, located on
the east bank of the Pecos River, known
as Fort Sumner or Bosque Redondo.
Routes Used on the Long Walk
EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA
Visit us at www.nps.gov/hutr
From the start, the reservation experiment was doomed; Navajos had lived for generations in dispersed
family groups and possessed no pattern of communal living on the scale imposed by the military. Pests,
drought, and hail destroyed their crops. Irrigation water from the Pecos River contained so much salt that
the land lost its productivity. Wood was scarce. Comanches raided and confiscated their livestock.
Thousands of Diné died from diseases, starvation, and exposure. They believed that their Holy People
had turn against them too. The People longed to go home.
Cage the badger and he will try to
regain his native hole.
Chain the eagle and he will
strive to gain his freedom
And though he fails,
will lift his head and
look up to the sky…
A Navajo leader, 1865
When the Navajo were first created,
four mountains and four rivers
were pointed out to us…
that was to be our country…
I think our coming here has been the cause
of much death among us.
Barboncito, Head Navajo man, 1868
In May of 1868, a federal peace commission headed by General William
Sherman arrived at Fort Sumner to investigate complaints and to hear the
Diné claims. Barboncito was chosen as the spokesperson for the entire
Diné and three days later the two sides agreed to the Treaty of 1868. The
Diné were to return to their homeland at last, closing this bleak episode in
their history. But the memories of the suffering of Hwéeldi remain a dark
cloud over the Diné even to this day.
After we get back to our country,
it will brighten up again,
and the Navajo will be
as happy as the land.
Black clouds will rise,
and there will be plenty of rain.
Corn will grow in abundance
and everything looks happy.
Barboncito, 1868
Produced with funds donated by Western National Parks Association
www.wnpa.org
EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA
4/2006
Hubbell Trading Post
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Hubbell Trading Post
National Historic Site
Arizona
Churro Sheep
Navajo-Churro sheep are
descended from the Churra, an
ancient breed from the Iberian
Peninsula (Spain and Portugal).
The Churro was the first breed of
domesticated sheep in the New
World. Imported in 1598 by the
Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate,
the Churro was used to feed
and clothe Spanish settlers and
conquistadors.
By the 17th century, the
Churro became the mainstay
of Spanish ranches and villages
along the upper Rio Grande
Valley in what is now New
Mexico. Hispanic settlers
relied on Churros for food
and fiber, developing a style
of weaving known as the Rio
Grande Weaving Style. These
sheep were acquired by the
Navajo, became the focus
of their economy, culture, and
arts, and were the beginning of the renowned Navajo weaving
tradition. The Navajo-Churro Sheep of today are descended from this genotype.
An Endangered Breed
Churro sheep remained the primary source of wool for the Navajo until 1863. During the 1850s, thousands of Churros
were trailed west to supply the California Gold Rush. Most of those that remained behind were crossed with fine-wool
rams to supply the demand for garment wool caused by an increasing population and, later, the Civil War.
In 1863 the U.S. Army under the command of Colonel Kit Carson marched into the lands of the Navajo and began a
systematic campaign of destroying all means of Navajo livelihood. The army slaughtered sheep by the thousands, as well as
burning crops and killing other livestock. A few bands of Churro managed to survive because they were moved to remote
canyons.
Faced with starvation during the winter of 1863–1864, thousands of Navajo surrendered to U.S. Army troops in a
forced removal policy from their traditional homelands known as the Long Walk. More than 8,000 Navajo walked more
than 300 miles to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, to a reservation area called Bosque Redondo. Enduring extreme hardships,
the Navajo were incarcerated at Bosque Redondo for four years. In 1868 the Navajo returned to their homeland under a
treaty of agreement between the U.S. government and the Navajo Tribe.
Churro Sheep Re-introduced
After the incarceration at Bosque Redondo, the Navajo
were issued new breeds of sheep and encouraged by Indian
agents to increase their flocks. Federal agents gave two sheep
to every man, woman, and child. In 1870 the U.S. government supplied the Navajo with native Mexican sheep—a
cross between Churro and Kentucky Merino brought to the
Southwest over the Santa Fe Trail. Other attempts were made
by the U.S. government to build up mutton production. Each
resulted in further contamination of the Churro breed.
Hubbell Trading Post and the Churro Sheep
When John Lorenzo Hubbell began trading at the present location in Ganado, Arizona, the Navajo sheep on the reservation numbered not less than 550,000 head. The corrals of the
Hubbell Trading Post held lambs and sheep, purchased from
HUTR 7091
Navajo stockmen, until they could be herded to the railroad.
During the 1920s, the Hubbells were active in the sheep and goat trade, purchasing animals and collecting them
at Ganado for resale in various markets.
The Hubbells grazed and maintained the sheep on the Hubbell property as they accumulated sheep through their
various trading operations. The sheep were held until shipping time and then driven to railroad loading pens at Chambers,
Arizona, or Gallup, New Mexico. Along with the sheep on the Hubbell lands in Ganado, thousand of sheep were also kept
at various herders’ grounds throughout Navajo lands and eventually herded to the railroads at Chambers or Gallup as well.
Churro Sheep Reduction
During the 1930s and 1940s, a U.S. government
program of soil and range conservation called for the
forced reduction of flocks of sheep on Navajo land.
As a result, tens of thousands of sheep were killed.
The economic impact among the pastoral Navajo was
severe. By the 1970s, fewer than 450 Navajo-Churro
sheep were left on Navajo land.
Navajo-Churro Sheep Restoration
In the mid-1970s several individuals began the work
of preserving the breed and revitalizing the Navajo
and Hispanic flocks. It was also hoped to revive the
authentic Navajo and Rio Grande weaving traditions.
Today there are organizations that promote restoration and development of the traditional NavajoChurro sheep breed.
Navajo-Churro Sheep Breed Standard
Navajo-Churro sheep have coarse, long wool, including an outer coat and a soft inner coat. Their colors
are varied in shades of white, tan, brown, black, and
grey. They also have patterns of color. The sheep
have long, wool-less legs and narrow bodies. Their bellies
have little or no wool. Some rams have four fully developed
horns, a trait shared by few other breeds in the world.
Navajo-Churro sheep are highly adaptable to extremes
of climate and resistant to disease. They breed easily and
twins or triplets are not