Hubbell Trading Post Cultural Landscape Report

CULTURAL LANDSCAPE HISTORY OF THE HUBBELL TRADING POST AND HOMESTEAD (continued)

Zenith Period of the Hubbell Trading Post and Farm (1895-1922)

Although some accounts such as the one above by LaCharles Eckel mention that Hubbell had regained full possession and management of the Ganado trading post by 1894 or 1895, Hubbell himself contradicts these statements. In his 1907 Homestead Application, J.L. Hubbell provided a deposition that described his trading business and ownership of the Ganado property as follows:

...affiant says that the store buildings upon said tract and referred to in said letter have been owned and occupied by himself and his employees exclusively for the last ten years, and that from the year 1885 until about the year 1897 there was associated with affiant in said business, one C.N. Cotton and that prior to the year 1885, to wit, from the year 1878, affiant owned and conducted said place exclusively and that during all of the time since the year 1878 affiant has been the exclusive owner of said tract of land and of the improvements thereon and has conducted the business of trading with the Navajo Indians thereon wholly and entirely in his own name and in his own right, save and except for the period between 1885 and 1897, when he was associated with C.N. Cotton as aforesaid; that the use made of the store buildings and warehouse is in the carrying on of an Indian trading business; that affiant buys wool, goat pelts and sheep pelts, silverware, blankets and other articles of Indian manufacture direct from the Navajo Indians and sell the same anywhere he can find a market. [83]

The year 1897 was definitely a year of improvements around the trading post. This also marked the beginning of an intensified period of trade with the Navajos, especially the weavers. [84] Wilkins also noted that the Hubbells began commissioning the rug paintings, buying greater quantities of rugs and heavily marketing Navajo textiles during this time. [85] Construction began on the first of Hubbell's bread ovens, several of the corrals and sheep pens located south of the barn were built using pole and beam construction techniques and an extension was added to the south side of the manager's residence sometime between 1897 and 1900. [86] Using tree-ring information it has been determined that several rooms now part of the primary Hubbell residence may have preceded the construction of the main house by two or three years. These early rooms might have included the dining room and the root cellar. [87]

Also visible in a series of photographs taken between 1895 and 1897 are several smaller structures including a well house and watering trough immediately east of the old trading post complex, a matanza to the west of the old trading post buildings, a continuous fence connecting the old complex to the new stone trading post building, and at least two unidentified shed type structures. These early photographs also reveal the sparse vegetation throughout the area immediately east and north of the development areas. While there are some sizeable trees to the southwest of the Leonard building, only a few scraggly junipers represent the limited vegetation immediately adjacent to the trading post (figure 19).

In December 1899, Agent Hayzlett provides a written reference describing Hubbell's property:

He (J.L. Hubbell) started and occupied the place expecting to make a permanent home, has improved and expended considerable money on it, I should think in the neighborhood of $10,000, and if an act can be passed that will secure to him a title he will put more Improvements on it and thereby give the Indians in the part of the country a daily object lesson, in the way of farming and stock raising. As it is he keeps some hogs, cows, and hundreds of chickens, and gives Employment to many Indians during the year. [88]

The following year Hubbell began work on the construction of his residence located immediately west of the new stone trading post building. Like the barn and trading post, the new house was constructed of locally available stone and timbers from the Defiance Plateau 15 miles east of Ganado, Tree-ring information reveals that the house was roofed in 1901 and this included the main hall and the 5 flanking rooms. [89] According to Stewart Culin, Hubbell moved into his new residence shortly thereafter. Culin's 1902 journal notes, "Mr. Hubbell had just completed a new house at Ganado, into which he had moved on the day of our arrival." [90] Following the construction of the new residence, the fence running from the new trading post building north to the old complex was changed from vertical juniper posts to a double post and rail fence (figure 20) and a wood plank boardwalk was constructed to connect the new residence to a privy located along the edge of the wash to the west (figure 21).

Figure 19. The Leonard buildings around 1897. Photograph taken by Ben Wittick.

Although Hubbell undoubtedly recognized that he was sitting on one of the best pieces of arable land in the Pueblo Colorado Valley, he hesitated to initiate further improvements to the property until he was able to obtain secure title. Actions continued in Washington to facilitate his eventual acquisition in title of the 160 acre homestead. Bill 4001 was introduced in the House of Representatives on December 13, 1899 for the purpose of excepting from the executive order of 1880 "all lands claimed by actual settlers or persons to whom valid rights attach." The bill was vetoed. In January 1902 it was reintroduced and was signed by the President on July 1 of the same year. At this point Hubbell was encouraged to file his homestead application, however he could actually do no more than file a letter of intent as the area had not been officially surveyed. [91]

Figure 20. Detail of fence construction between Hubbell home and Trading Post, around 1913. (HUTR 4502).

Figure 21. Plank boardwalk at Hubbell home, around 1903. (HUTR 4515).

It seems that once Hubbell began to realize that clear ownership of the Ganado homestead was soon to become a reality he began to move forward with his plans for improving the land and developing his irrigation system. During his 1903 visit to the Ganado area Stewart Culin noted that "Hubbell's latest enterprise is the establishment of a steam pumping plant to raise the water of the Pueblo Colorado to the mesa above the creek adjacent to his house and irrigate a tract of some 160 acres." [92] A few months later in September 1903 Hubbell writes..."I have at last commenced my irrigation work and hope to have it concluded in about two months. I have changed my plans for the reason that I find that machinery would be to (sic) expensive to run. I am putting in an irrigating ditch and hope to have the water on the land at the latest in sixty days. I am going to be busy all winter and was in hopes of being able to visit Chicago this fall, but it is impossible." [93]

Almost three months later Hubbell again wrote..."I finished building my ditch which cost about double the amount that it was estimated. I hope to be able to finish the reservoir with less expense. But irrigating ditches and reservoirs seem to be a hard matter to estimate the cost with any degree of accuracy." [94] By January of 1904 Hubbell was making plans for clearing the land and preparing his fields for cultivation. On January 18, 1904 he writes to the John Deere Plow Company:

please ship the following goods advertised in your Catalog No. 28...2 timber land plows, 2 extra shares, page 6e of Cat.No.28; 1 Deere pipe lever bar harrow 15 ft. cut three

sections, page 189 of catalogue 28; 1 disc harrow 12 discs _?_ inch with seeder attachment as nearly like cut enclosed or your own selection; a 3 cultivator with solid shields, page 128 cat. No. 28 Walking Cultivator. All plows right handed. [95]

In the same letter, Hubbell describes additional equipment that he needs and mentions crops that he intends to plant and will need seeders for including alfalfa, wheat, barley, oats, rye, and sorghum. He also mentions that he has recently installed his irrigation ditch and plans future expansion of same. [96] Hubbell also provides us with a general description of the land that he has set forth in clearing when he writes another letter to the John Deere Plow Company dated February 8, 1904:

I note what you say about plows. Nevertheless I wish to have at least one of the timber land plows that you advertise on page 63. I have quiet (sic) a lot of land to break that has had quiet a lot of timber on it. You can send me two more plows of 14 inches of your selection for ordinary land, the strongest and best that you have in stock, that can be used with either two or three horses. Send an evener for four horses with the timber plow. Two eveners for the other two plows for three horses. [97]

The reference to the land that he plans to break having quite a lot of timber on it is supported by a statement provided by Friday Kinlichinee, a former Hubbell employee who was interviewed by park staff in 1970. Mr. Kinlichinee was born in March of 1895 and he states that at the time he was a little child "this fenced in area was full of juniper trees growing close together and I was present when they felled them." [98]

Additional information is provided by Stewart Culin regarding Hubbell's early progress in clearing and cultivating his fields and implementing his newly constructed irrigation system. Culin's journal entry made during his trip through Ganado in 1904 noted:

Mr. Hubbell took me over to see his reservoir. It covers some three acres and has an extreme depth of eight feet. With it he can irrigate his tract of 160 acres. The reservoir was probably two-thirds full, and later in the day it was reported entirely full, and the ditch still running.

Mr. Hubbell had the men and team at work preparing the beds for alfalfa. He had potatoes and corn in and doing fairly well. They promised a good crop with the present rain. Mr. Hubbell's irrigation scheme which involved bringing the water from the Pueblo Colorado to his dam in a ditch two miles long, cost him about $14,000. It is the most important improvement of its kind in northern Arizona, and suggests the possibility of a similar work along the Pueblo Colorado to Holbrook. [99]

Stewart Culin again visits Ganado in 1905 and notes:

I had not visited Ganado since 1904. I found no particular changes, but everything looked prosperous. We drove past a large field of green alfalfa, which I was told later, had been frost-bitten, and saw the newly-planted fruit trees. [100]

A photograph dated 1913 reveals the expansiveness of Hubbells fields by that date as well as "Kentucky" style fences enclosing them (figure 22). The boardwalk running from the residence to the privy along the wash can no longer be discerned. A photograph taken in 1905 reveals the yard around the west side of the residence with the bread oven but again does not show any constructed walks or landscape treatments (figure 23). Hubbell's Homestead Application dated July 26, 1907 provides a great deal of information regarding his agricultural developments on the property, his business relationship with C.N. Cotton, and his occupation of the homestead. [101] An attached "Homestead Proof-Testimony of Witness" submitted by Jose Manuel Jaramillo as witness responds to the question "how much of the homestead has the settler cultivated and for how many seasons did he raise crops thereon?" by stating "settler has cultivated about 140 acres of the homestead and raised crops thereon four seasons." [102] According to this information, Hubbell began cultivating his fields in 1904. Additional descriptions are provided by Matthew Howell who states:

"Mr. Hubbell has established an irrigating system upon said land and has thereby brought under cultivation about one hundred and forty acres of land, upon which he has an orchard and vineyard and raises crops of rye and alfalfa; that said irrigating system consists of a main irrigating ditch about two and one-half miles in length, terminating in a reservoir, through which all of said land is irrigated by means of laterals. This irrigation system has been gradually developed during the last five years. [103]

J.L. Hubbell also includes a sworn deposition as part of his Homestead Application and in it he states the following regarding his use and development of the land:

...the said tract of land has been used and occupied by affiant as his home to the exclusion of every other place since the year 1878, except that he has been compelled, on account of the health of his wife and for the purpose of educating his children, to be absent temporarily at different times, and that affiant himself has never been absent from said place for over a month or six weeks at any time; that affiant has cleared and leveled about one hundred and forty acres of said land and prepared the same for cultivation at great expense, to wit, the sum of about ten thousand dollars, including the planting of an orchard and vineyard thereon; that he has constructed from what is known as Pueblo Colorado Creek an irrigating ditch which, when constructed, was five feet wide at the bottom and seven feet wide at the top for a distance of about two and one-half miles....; that at the terminal point of said ditch affiant has constructed a reservoir covering about five acres and so situated that by means of laterals running therefrom he can irrigate every part of the one hundred and forty acres so brought under cultivation by him, and that there are many laterals running from said reservoir to every part and parcel of said irrigated tract; and that upon said tract he has about twelve hundred trees about three years old, a vineyard, and that for four years last past he has raised large crops of rye, alfalfa and garden products generally.... [104]

Shortly after Hubbell completed the main irrigation canal system he began looking towards the government to take over its long term management and operation needs (Appendix 1). A letter from Hubbell to H.F. Robinson dated March 1909 refers to his earlier proposals made to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and he states that:

I will turn over to the Gov. all my Ditches flumes and improvements on the ditch which runs to my farm. While you were doubtful as to whether the indians would use the water or not. I have faith in their doing it. Will also guarantee that the ditch will be cleaned to four miles from the reservoir by the indians them selves and kept in condition to run the water, except where flumes or head gates are destroyed by floods. [105]

Hubbell kept a carbon copy of both his business and personal correspondence files and while much of the information discussed in these letters pertains to the trading business some of them provide us with insight into the farm operation. For example Hubbell often refers to the fact that they have begun irrigating certain crops and based on existing weather conditions he estimates the outcome of the crop for the season. [106]

One letter in particular was helpful in that it was an order request for garden vegetable seed. This letter dated April 1909 was addressed to the Barteldes Seed Co., Los Angeles, California and requested that the following garden seeds be shipped by mail:

2 lb. Ox-Heart Carrot

2 lb. Giant Australian Carrot

1 oz. Cucumber Seeds (any you think will be early and prolific)

3 oz. Cuttings or Roots Horse Radish

2 oz. California Crea, Butter

1 lb. each of Beets; Detroit, Dark Red, Long Blood Red, Early Blood Turnip and Eclipse

1 lb. Glass Radish

1 lb. White Vienna Long Radish

1 lb. Long Brightest Scarlet

1 lb. California White Mammoth Winter

1 lb. Warty Hubbard Squash

1 lb. Mammoth Crooked Neck Squash

1 lb. Mammoth Tours

1 lb. earliest variety of watermelon you have

1 lb. Much (sic) Melon earliest variety you may have in stock.

Figure 22. Kentucky style fences around Hubbell fields, around 1913. Photograph taken by Simeon Schwemberger from Hubbell Hill (HUTR 2140).

Figure 23. West side of Hubbell home showing bread oven and surrounding yard, around 1905. (HUTR 4363).

Hubbell also inquires "whether you will be fixed to ship me 8000 lbs of Winter Rye or more about June 20 or 25th at the latest..." [107] A later letter from Hubbell to his nephew Antonio Armijo who was at the Oraibe Trading Post mentions that he is mailing him some garden seeds but if he wants anything else he should "order a little of each by mail from the Barteldes Seed Co., Denver, Colorado. [108]

The years between 1906 and 1913 were a time of much building activity in and around the trading post. Around 1906 the chicken house later to become the generator house was first constructed and it originally included a stone fenced enclosure on the back or west side and was placed on stone foundation The stone enclosure is shown in later photographs Also during this time work continued on the corrals and pens, the wagon sheds to the west of the corrals were in place although not completed, additions were added to the barn on the west and south sides, and the second story was added to the northwest corner of the barn. The earlier 1897 addition to the manager's residence was removed around 1909 and a second bread oven was built south of the original oven west of the main residence. [109] Changes were also made to the main house around 1910 as the addition of the school room, bedroom, and present day kitchen were added to the earlier residence building that included five rooms and a large main hallway. This new addition served to connect the 1890's dining room and root cellar structure with the 1901 residence structure, create the small open patio between the two and result in a single structure for the Hubbell family residence. Also during this time a wooden vestibule area was added to the north entrance of the trading post.

As for the farm, Peterson provides information regarding the shipment and planting of a variety of fruit trees in and around 1905 and 1906. He notes that varieties planted included plums, apricots, pears, and apples including a "seedless apple" supplied by the Spencer Seedless Apple Company of Roswell, New Mexico. [110] Peterson also notes that there is "some hint that a large number of trees may have been planted east of the trading post, but it remains to be shown definitely whether or not orchards as such were ever planted." [111] There are numerous references to Hubbell having not only an orchard but also a vineyard, the possible location of the vineyard has not been established.

Hubbell continued to make application for his homestead grant in addition to working to convince the government of the need for the construction of a substantial reservoir facility along the Pueblo Colorado during this time. A patent was finally issued in 1908 however it was soon discovered that the Sam Day survey was flawed and a new survey was necessary In 1915 Frederick Miller completed a new survey that included Hubbell's lands and this information was filed with the General Land Office — Phoenix, Arizona In 1917 Hubbell was issued a new patent and the land was officially in his ownership. [112] Success had also been achieved with regard to the construction of the Ganado Reservoir as Hubbell wrote to his son in April 1912 that "the appropriation for the Ganado Reservoir has passed the House (Congress)..." and the reservoir appropriation was "sure to pass the Senate, so at last after many years, my dream has come true and under adverse circumstances and with an opposition that no one thought could be overcome." [113]

In 1913, Lina Rubi, Hubbell's wife died following a prolonged illness. She lived apart from Hubbell much of the time keeping residences in St. Johns and Albuquerque. Peterson notes that Lena spent summers and the final years of her life at the Ganado residence. However she did not maintain a high profile with regard to the daily operations and management of the property. She was buried on Hubbell Hill. Additional changes occurred around this time as the stone residence was constructed to serve as quarters for the freight and truck drivers and other post employees. Originally this structure included a 4 truck garage which extended east from the building. This structure later burned in 1931 and was repaired but then torn down sometime between 1935 and 1951.

In 1911, two years before Lena Rubi's death her daughter Barbara Goodman moved home to Ganado to take care of her ailing mother and help keep the house. Barbara was a young widow as her husband Charles died in 1909 from a shooting accident prior to the birth of their daughter LaCharles, LaCharles was two years old when she and her mother moved to Ganado, There are numerous pictures of the young LaCharles playing in the yard surrounding the house and trading post (figures 24 and 25). Photographs dating from the period 1913-1915 show the landscape surrounding the residence remained compacted soil apparently devoid of either native or introduced vegetation (figures 26, 27 and 28). Adele Hubbell Parker and her son Miles were also living at Ganado at the time. A few years later Hubbell's son Roman returned to the Ganado farmstead and trading post, took up residence, and assisted his father in the management of the farm. Roman's wife died during the flu epidemic of 1918 leaving him with two small children to care for. During the late teen's and early 1920s Roman Hubbell assisted his father as co-manager of the farm while his sisters Barbara and Adele and the family's domestic employees assisted with the children. At the time of their mother's death Roman's children were quite young with Roman Jr. (Monnie) being 4 and John 8 months.

In addition to three of his children living at the Ganado home, Hubbell also had five grandchildren in and around the house. The Hubbell grandchildren as well as children of some of the workers at the trading post were tutored on site at the Ganado residence. The first tutor was Charlotte Chain and there are photographs of her with the Hubbell grandchildren dating as early as 1915. The second tutor, Ophelia McGraw was brought in around 1918. [114] In 1920 a young woman by the name of Dorothy Smith traveled to the trading post to serve as the family's third tutor and in 1921 she married Roman Hubbell. Mrs. Parker and J.L. Hubbell had both recently left Ganado prior to Dorothy's arrival in 1920. J.L. Hubbell had moved to Gallup where he resided in Roman's house. Those living in the Ganado house included Roman Hubbell and his sons Monnie and John, Barbara Goodman and her daughter LaCharles, and Miles Parker. Others living on the property included the storekeeper Epimenio Armijo and his two sons, Francisco Terrones the baker, Daisy and Elizabeth who helped with household chores, Loco the cook, Joe Borrego the blacksmith, and the gardener Don Eduardo. There were also freighters and the driver of the mail truck who were frequently here as well as temporary help for haying, irrigation, and such. [115] Several of the buildings on the property were utilized for living quarters. In addition to the family's main residence these buildings included the Leonard buildings, the stone bunkhouse (teamster's quarters), and the manager's residence. Both Dorothy and Hubbell's daughter Barbara who was also living at the post during part of this time following the accidental death of her husband had a strong influence on the daily operations of the post and farm, particularly on the visual quality of the landscape surrounding the residence.

Figure 24. Hubbell's granddaughter, LaCharles, near Leonard/Hubbell Trading Post buildings, around 1911. (HUTR 7076).

Figure 25. Hubbell's granddaughter, LaCharles, around 1910. (HUTR 7567).

Figure 26. Hubbell's granddaughter playing in front of Hubbell home, around 1915. (HUTR 4498).

Figure 27. Hubbell family members sitting east of Trading Post building, around 1909-1913. (HUTR 7564).

Figure 28. Hubbell Trading Post with sheep herd in foreground, around 1913. Photograph taken by WA. Munk. (RP 58).

According to Peterson, "they ran the house and served variously as governess, post mistress, accountant, trader, and spokespersons for the family." [116] By 1918 and 1920 historic photographs reveal the planting of ornamental vines along the front porch of the residence and a row of poplar trees along the eastern fence line which separates the yard of the residence from the trading post (figures 29 and 30). According to interviews with Dorothy Hubbell, the shade ramada or "summerhouse" that is in the front yard of the residence was there when she arrived in 1920 and was 'lust like it is now, with the silver lace vine..." [117] She also noted that the structure is built over an old well most likely associated with the early trading post.

Figure 29. Hubbell's grandchildren, LaCharles and John (?), in front of Hubbell home, around 1918. (HUTR 4501).

Figure 30. Hubbell Trading Post and home, around 1920. (HUTR 8651).