By Cassandra Jensen
The ruins of the first trading post called Chaa`Ni` Bighan or "Wolf Post" is located 13 miles northwest of L.S.I. along the south rim of the Little Colorado River. A German trapper named Hermann Wolf built this trading post in the 1870's near a river crossing named after him as the "Wolf Crossing." The Navajos soon called him Hastii Chaa`í or the "Beaver man" for he trapped beavers down the river. His post was also known as "Chaa` Bighan" or the "home of the beaver." Today, places surrounding his former post still bear his name as in the "Beaver Farm." After Mr. Wolf's death in 1899, George McAdams and the Babbitt Brothers of Flagstaff ran the post. In 1903, Leander Smith bought the store. Mr. Smith liked to do tricks on the Navajos. He also liked old things and explored the area looking for Anasazi things. One day he found an ancient human skull and he put it on the front window of the store. Soon, a Navajo customer came to the trading post carrying sheepskins to trade. But when he saw the skull, he dropped the sheepskins and ran off yelling because Navajos never liked to look at dead people's bones. He jumped on his horse and took off as fast as his horse could go. He warned other Navajos the trading post was now a place of the devil. The Navajos stopped trading there. Mr. Smith got poor and he had to close his store in 1906. Shortly after, Mr. William Johnston, a local missionary, started the Christian Trading Post at Tolchaco. A few months later, John Walker who was half-Navajo and half-white bought the trading post.
please select... Title Page About Our Research San Francisco Peaks Edible Plants Black Rock that Steals Round Trees General Fremont's Station Stingy Water Spring Wolf Post The Rest Area Navajo Campground Old Mormon Trail Canyon Diablo Canyon Diablo Bridge Canyon Diablo Trading Post Tolchaco Christian Trading Post The First School at Tolchaco Tent Store in Leupp Old Rock Houses Old Leupp Boarding School Old Leupp Store The First BIA Bridge Sunrise Trading Post The Flood of 1927 The Dikes of Old Leupp Black Falls Post Ashurst Bridge The Leupp Penal Colony Fort Delivery Beaver Farms North Leupp Farms Leupp Schools Incorporated Interesting Landmarks What are these structures?