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Babbitt's
Special Edition |
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Babbitt's
Wholesale, Inc.
AND
Pendleton Woolen Mills
Present
The Historic Babbitt
Trading Posts
Commemorative Blanket Series |
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Number
One
Red Lake Trading Post |
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| The
Babbitt Brothers |
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| The
Babbitt brothers - David, George, William,
Charles, and Edward - came to Flagstaff in 1886 to
go into the cattle ranching business. The
brothers established the C.O. Bar ranch on lands
between Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. The
historic C.O. Bar is one of the largest cattle
ranches in the Southwest and continues in
operation to this day. The C.O. Bar brand
recalls the former Babbitt home of Cincinnati,
Ohio. |
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| By
1889, the Babbitt brothers also had established a
general mercantile store in Flagstaff. This
store supplied goods such as oil lamps, saddles,
wool shears, canned food, hardware, and trade
blankets to the trading posts which were beginning
to spring up across the vast Indian Country of
northeastern Arizona. Construction of the
Atlantic & Pacific Railway along the 35th
Parallel across northern Arizona in 1882 brought
manufactured goods to the area for the first
time. Since currency was almost unknown in
Indian Country until the turn of the century,
these manufactured goods were bartered or traded
for Indian-made items such as baskets, pottery,
rugs, and silver and turquoise jewelry.
Centers of such commerce with Native American
tribes dubbed "trading posts". |
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| Red
Lake Trading Post |
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| In the
late 1800's, a trading post was built on a sandy
hill overlooking a small lake named "Tonalea"
("Red Water" or "Red Lake" in
Navajo). The trading post served primarily
Navajo customers living in the area northeast of
present-day Tuba City.
In 1891, the Red
Lake Trading Post was being operated by a
German-Jewish merchant named Sam Dittenhoffer.
He had vied for the attention of an attractive
young Flagstaff woman, and was gunned down by his
jealous rival in April of 1891. As
Dittenhoffer's major creditor, the Babbitt
brothers assumed operation of the Red Lake Trading
Post upon his death. This was the first of a
large number of trading posts owned by the
Babbitt's on the Navajo, Hope, Paiute, and Apache
reservations. |
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| The
Historic Babbitt Trading Posts Commemorative Series |
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| To
commemorate the Babbitt family's proud and colorful
history in the Indian Trading business, Babbitt's
Wholesale, Inc. and Pendleton Woolen Mills plan to
issue a series of unique trade blankets recalling
individual Babbitt Brothers trading posts.
Number One - Red Lake Trading Post - will be
followed by other specially labeled blankets in the
order in which Babbitt trading posts were
established. We hope this series will be
valued by all those who are interested in trade
blankets and in the rich history of the trading
posts which served the Native American peoples of
the Southwest. |
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James
& Helene Babbitt
Babbitt's Wholesale, Inc.
Flagstaff, Arizona
July, 2001 |
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BABBITT
BROS.
FLAGSTAFF,
ARIZONA
U.S. LICENSED
INDIAN TRADER
SINCE 1891 |
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Babbitt's
Wholesale, Inc.
Distributors of
Pendleton Native American
Robes, Shawls & Accessories
1-877-527-0479 |
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