Elevation:   6400'

Location:   Ganado (Spanish meaning "herd of cattle") is situated on the crimson shale plains midway between the Defiance Plateau on the east and the Hopi mesas to the west.  The main trading center is nestled in a small valley along the southern banks of Puelby Colorado Wsh, 28 miles west of Window Rock on Arizona Highway 264 (Navajo Route 3)

ESTABLISHED:  1871, and then sold to Juan Lorenzo Hubbell in 1878.    Hubbell, in honor of his friend and Navajo Chieftain Ganado Mucho (Spanish for "many cattle") is responsible for the current place name.  From this headquarters, Hubbell later formed a partnership with C.N. Cotton who bought a half interest in the post in September of 1884.

Cotton was industrious and had a keen interest in business.  The trading post was much more than a local grocery.  The trader had to buy what the Indians produced because this income was what the Indians then used to buy goods from the trader.  The Indians had unlimited time, and if the trader didn't pay a fair price for their goods, the Indians would go to another post to trade.  If the trader priced his goods too high, again the Indians would go elsewhere.  The smart traders learned that the only effective way to deal with the Indians was in the Navajo language.  Cotton understood this and soon learned the language. 

After running the trading post for a while, both Cotton and Hubbell decided to demand that the Navajo improve the quality of the blankets which were brought to the trading post for sale.  Hubbell was a man who respected traditional Navajo culture and hence urged the weaving of Navajo blanket patterns.  Cotton prodded the weavers to produce blankets of better quality and to make more of them.  He sent letters to dealers in the East, to Tiffany & Company in New York, to San Francisco, and to Denver extolling the virtues of the Navajo blanket.  Cotton noted the bright aniline dyes brought in to Fort Defiance by the trader Ben Hyatt.  Hubbell was particularly fond of the dark red dye, since called Ganado red, but he objected to other chemical or artificial dyes.  Cotton insisted on more colors.  A compromise was reached wherein the only aniline dyes they would sell would be red, blue and black.  Cotton succeeded in having a dye manufacturer, Wells & Richardson of Burlington, Vermont, put up dyes in small packages ready for their use.  Later these became the famous Diamond Dyes, combining dye and mordant in one package which had only to be thrown into boiling water, envelope and all, and the wool boiled in the solution until the proper color was attained.  There was no need to add vinegar or alum to set the color.

Cotton soon had a brilliant idea.  Why not sell the blankets the Navajo wove for wearing for use as rugs?  This was a stroke of genius; it revolutionized the trade and greatly increased the potential market for Navajo blankets. Traders, in their effort to keep weaving alive since it was important financially to the Navajo, suggested new patterns and forms that appealed to Anglo customers.

In June of 1885 Cotton bought Juan Lorenzo Hubbell's half interest in the trading post at Ganado and all interest in wool owned by the partnership.  He opened a business in Gallup, New Mexico, while continuing to work at Ganado.  In 1896 he published an illustrated and descriptive catalogue of the Blanket and continued to expand his business. 

By 1899 Hubbell was again the owner, and he built a trading empire which included 14 trading posts, wholesale warehousing, and freighting.  His reputation gained him the title, "the greatest of all Indian traders."  He managed his vast holdings for over three decades, until his death in 1930. 

THE RUG:  The famous Ganado "red" is perhaps the best known of all Navajo rugs, considered by most non-Indians what a Navajo rug should look like.  Its creator, Juan Lorenzo Hubbell, specialized in a well-woven product that featured a brilliant red background surrounded by strong geometric crosses, diamonds, and stripes colored with yarns of gray, white, and black.  Hubbell's influence is still very much in evidence in the modern Ganado.  The central motif is usually a bold diamond or cross, sometimes outlined in another color.  Smaller forms occupy the remaining spaces.  The rug can range from large, simple, bold designs to intricate, more sophisticated works.  Some have contrasting borders along a pair of sides.  The bright reds are still the dominant characteristic throughout the pattern, although recently the tones have taken on rich shades of burgundy.  In some contemporary examples, various shades of gray are replacing the red backgrounds.  Although bordered on the south by the vegetal-dye centers, the Ganado is a combination of the natural colors (grays and whites), the aniline dyes of black, and the characteristic red.

Source:  Posts and Rugs, The Story of Navajo Rugs and Their Homes, by H. L. James, Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, Third Printing 1979; Copyright 1976 by Southwest Parks and Monuments Association. (Pages 71, 72).

C.N.  Cotton and His Navajo Blankets, by Lester L. Williams, M.D., 1989, Avanyu Publishing Inc., Albuquerque, NM (Pages 9, 23, 24, 33).

Weaving of the Southwest, Marian Rodee, 1987, Schiffer Publishing Ltd., Atglen, PA, (Pages 98, 162).