Gallup and the Wholesale Houses, 1900s–1980s
Gallup, New Mexico, was where the reservation's silverwork was sold on to the rest of the country. The town's mercantile companies supplied the trading posts, and by the late 1930s the work of hundreds of smiths came through Gallup to be sold to three large wholesale companies and shipped across the country. [1] Between 1940 and 1970 Gallup, Albuquerque and Santa Fe kept growing as New Mexico's business hub for Native American arts and crafts, while the traders on the Navajo reservation went from over 100 in the 1930s to only a handful by the end of the 1960s. [6]
KEY POINTS
- Frank credits Gallup's traders and its railroad lines to larger markets with “rapid changes in local jewelry styles and techniques.” [4]
- The trading posts bought their goods mainly from Gallup wholesalers: the C. N. Cotton Company, Gallup Mercantile, Gross Kelly and the Kirk Brothers. [6]
- In the late 1930s, smiths' work from posts as far apart as Newcomb's, Zuni, Crown Point and Ganado was sold in Gallup and shipped to resorts, the West Coast, Colorado, the Middle West and the East. [1]
- Maurice M. Maisel of Albuquerque met tourist demand with machine-made jewelry. He lost a court case over his advertising, but the judgment was never enforced. [6]
- When silver rose to about fifty dollars an ounce in the early 1980s, nobody in Gallup or Albuquerque was buying turquoise, one trader recalled, and much fine jewelry was melted for scrap. [6]
The railroad town
Gallup had what the reservation posts lacked: railroad lines to larger markets. Frank credits that, with the town's gathering of Indian traders, for “rapid changes in local jewelry styles and techniques.” [4] The big mercantile companies there supplied the trading posts with merchandise, and Adair records that they took up the Fred Harvey Company's system of “farming out” cut turquoise and silver to the posts, where smiths were paid by the ounce for lighter jewelry, and adopted that method of buying silver “for the tourist trade and for the rapidly growing markets in other parts of the country.” [1]
By the late 1930s the work of hundreds of smiths came to Gallup, from posts as far apart as Drolet's and Newcomb's in the north, Zuni in the south, Crown Point in the east and Ganado in the west. It was sold to three large wholesale companies and to many dealers and stores, then shipped on to the southern Arizona resorts, the West Coast, Colorado, the Middle West and the East. [1] In 1975 Stacey's Turquoise Blue Book could still call Gallup “the market place of the Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado Indian Arts and Crafts.” [7]
The wholesale houses
The traders bought their goods mainly from Gallup wholesalers: the C. N. Cotton Company, Gallup Mercantile, Gross Kelly and the Kirk Brothers. [6] Gallup Mercantile was incorporated in 1908 by Hans Neuman, a Berlin-born trader who had learned the business from the Vanderwagens near Zuni, together with G. Page and F. W. Meyer. The Charles Ilfeld Company bought it in 1924. Ilfeld and Gross Kelly, which had bought the assets of C. N. Cotton, became Gallup's two largest wholesalers. [6] In Mrs. John Kirk's account, quoted by Bedinger, her husband bought the McAdams trading post at Gallup in 1920, renamed it Kirk Brothers and hired eight or ten smiths. [2]
The town grew as the posts dwindled. Between 1940 and 1970 Gallup, Albuquerque and Santa Fe kept growing as New Mexico's business hub for Native American arts and crafts. On the Navajo reservation the number of traders fell from over 100 in the 1930s to only a handful by the end of the 1960s. [6]
Machine work and the tourist trade
The Albuquerque, Gallup and Santa Fe area became the center of wholesale jewelry production and the leading market for turquoise. Maisel's in Albuquerque was one of the first and largest wholesalers. [6] Maurice M. Maisel, an Indian arts dealer by 1924, met tourist demand for cheaper pieces with machines. He hired Native Americans to run them and to demonstrate handwork at the front of the store, which gave the impression that everything was handmade. The older trading-post operators objected to his advertising as fraudulent. Maisel lost the court case, but the judgment was never enforced, and as of 2020 Ryan and Chambless described the conflict over machine-made work passed off as handmade as continuing. [6]
Maisel was not alone. On mass production for tourists, Lowry names the Bell Trading Company as “one of the most famous,” a maker of jewelry and trinkets “for the tourist trade on a large scale.” [5] In Santa Fe, Jake Gold's store began with finer handmade pottery and weavings; when tourist buyers balked at the prices, he contracted for cheaper, mass-produced items from non-native sources to sell beside them. [3]
A few traders held to the old standards through these commercial years. Quoting Neumann (1932), Bedinger names Wick Miller at San Ysidro near Jemez, Jesse Foutz at Sa-Nos-Tee near Shiprock, known for cast work, B. I. Staples at Coolidge and “Cozy” McSparron at Chinle. [2]
The postwar traders, in their own words
John W. Kennedy persuaded the owners of Gallup's California Super Market, opened in 1950, to run a trading operation in the basement. With Henry Bolacca, Bernie Vanderwagen and Larry Lee he later bought Gallup Mercantile's Indian jewelry department, and Gallup Indian Trading Company became an important part of the Gallup market. Kennedy kept issuing silver and turquoise to Indian jewelers to make jewelry in their homes, a system also used in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. [6]
The families who ran the houses remembered how the deals were done. B. C. Waddell and his wife Jean opened the West Y Trading Post in Gallup in the late 1930s. [3] Gene Waddell recalled his parents running it until it burned, uninsured, in the early 1950s, and his father trading a hundred pounds of turquoise to John Kennedy for Navajo rugs, half cash and half trade, which he said was how a lot of those deals were done. [6]
Nila Brown recalled that Bill “Lucky” Brown co-owned the Blue Gem Trading Post in Gallup with J. W. Edgar from the mid-1940s, supplied rough turquoise to C. G. Wallace and relied on Flora Zunie to handle his turquoise trade in Zuni; in the late 1940s he and his wife Bernice opened the Covered Wagon Trading Post at Continental Divide on Route 66. David Layton recalled that his father, Alvin Layton, and Lee Hand needed government and tribal permission to sell Blue Gem turquoise directly on the reservation, and that when buyers ran out of cash they traded rugs for rough and cut stone. [6]
Rugs worked as currency well beyond Gallup. Jackson Clark II recalled that his father, working for a Durango Pepsi franchise, took rugs from the trader at Two Grey Hills in place of an unpaid soft-drink bill. He gave that trader credit to pass on to other traders, and so opened up posts where Coca-Cola had controlled the whole market. He became known as the Navajo Rug Pepsi Man. [6] In the mid-1970s Dave Tite, owner of Desert Indian Traders on the west side of Gallup, hired Ron Alexander to set up a jewelry factory in the store's basement and train workers there. [6]
Silver at fifty dollars
Gene Waddell remembered the early 1980s, when silver rose to about fifty dollars an ounce. Nobody in Gallup or Albuquerque was buying turquoise, and much fine jewelry was bought up and melted for scrap. [6] He also recalled that the owners of turquoise mines had to sell in Gallup and Albuquerque, where the price was set, so it often cost them more to mine than they were paid. [6]
For the pawn side of the posts' trade, see Pawn and Dead Pawn. For individual houses, see Kirk Brothers, Tanner's Indian Arts, Woodard's Indian Shop, the Running Bear group and Bell Trading Post. For the posts themselves, see Shops, Trading Posts & Guilds of Southwest Jewelry.
Field Notes by Mateo James
Two counts of the Gallup houses. Adair (1944) found the late-1930s work of hundreds of smiths going to three large wholesale companies, plus many dealers and stores, but he does not name the three. Ryan & Chambless (2020) name Ilfeld and Gross Kelly as Gallup's two largest wholesalers, and four companies that supplied the posts. Don't fill in Adair's three from the later list.
One firm, two names, maybe. Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 157) write that Kennedy and his partners bought Gallup Mercantile's Indian jewelry department and that “Gallup Indian Trading Company” became an important part of the Gallup market. In the Waddell interview (p. 165), Kennedy is “of Gallup Indian Traders.” The book places the two side by side without saying they are one company, so we give each name as its source does.
From the Library
What 7 reference books say about Gallup and its wholesale houses, grouped by topic. Every passage names its book and page; full references are under Sources.
These are outside observers' records of the trade; the Navajo (Diné), Zuni and other nations are the authority on their own history.
The railroad town and the wholesale houses8 passages · 4 books
Why the trade ran through Gallup, and the companies that ran it.
Frank (1990) noted that closeness to the railroad set the pace of change:
“Gallup, with its gathering of Indian traders and its railroad lines to larger markets, caused rapid changes in local jewelry styles and techniques.”
Frank (1990), p. 10 AS OF 1990 [4]
Adair (1944, pp. 25–26) describes the system the Fred Harvey Company began in 1899: it sent cut turquoise and silver to trading posts, and traders at Sheep Springs, Smith Lake and Mariano Lake paid Navajo smiths by the ounce for the finished jewelry. On the method itself:
“This method of "farming out" to the trading posts silver and turquoise, which had been polished and cut to the right size and shape, proved to be a very satisfactory method of obtaining jewelry for the tourist trade.”
Adair (1944), pp. 25–26 AS OF 1944 [1]
How the Gallup wholesale houses followed the Harvey model, in Adair (1944):
“The big mercantile companies in Gallup, which supplied the trading posts with merchandise, adopted this method of buying silver for the tourist trade and for the rapidly growing markets in other parts of the country.”
Adair (1944), p. 26 AS OF 1944 [1]
According to Adair (1944, p. 116), in the late 1930s the work of hundreds of smiths, from posts as far apart as Drolet's and Newcomb's in the north, Zuni in the south, Crown Point in the east and Ganado in the west, all came to Gallup, where it was sold to three large wholesale companies and many dealers and stores, and shipped on to southern Arizona resorts, the West Coast, Colorado, the Middle West and the East. [1]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 46), the traders obtained their goods from wholesalers located mainly in Gallup, New Mexico, such as the C. N. Cotton Company, Gallup Mercantile, Gross Kelly and the Kirk Brothers. [6]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 154), Hans Neuman, a Berlin-born trader who learned the trade from the Vanderwagens near Zuni, incorporated the Gallup Mercantile Company in 1908 with G. Page and F. W. Meyer; the Charles Ilfeld Company bought it in 1924, and Ilfeld and Gross Kelly, which had bought the assets of C. N. Cotton, became Gallup's two largest wholesalers. [6]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 154), between 1940 and 1970 Gallup, Albuquerque and Santa Fe kept growing as New Mexico's business hub for Native American arts and crafts, while the number of traders on the Navajo reservation shrank from over 100 in the 1930s to only a handful by the end of the 1960s. [6]
Stacey (1975) on the market town:
“Gallup, New Mexico, is still the market place of the Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado Indian Arts and Crafts.”
Stacey (1975), p. 87 AS OF 1975 [7]
Mass production and the tourist trade6 passages · 4 books
Machine work, cheaper goods, and the traders who held out.
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 103), the Albuquerque, Gallup and Santa Fe area became the center of wholesale jewelry production and the leading market for turquoise, and Maisel's in Albuquerque was one of the first and largest wholesalers. [6]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 104), Maurice M. Maisel became an Indian arts dealer by 1924 and met tourist demand for cheaper pieces with machine fabrication, hiring Native Americans to run the machines and to demonstrate handwork at the front of the store, which gave the impression that everything was handmade. [6]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 104), the older trading-post operators objected to Maisel's advertising as fraudulent and Maisel lost the resulting court case, but the judgment was never enforced; as of 2020 the authors described the conflict over machine-made work passed off as handmade as continuing. [6]
On mass production for tourists, Lowry (2010) wrote:
“One of the most famous was the Bell Trading Company, which produced jewelry and trinkets for the tourist trade on a large scale.”
Lowry (2010), p. 92 AS OF 2010 [5]
According to Chambless & Ryan (2021, p. 179), Jake Gold's Santa Fe store began with finer handmade pottery and weavings, but as tourist buyers balked at the prices he contracted for cheaper, mass-produced items from non-native sources to sell alongside them. [3]
According to Bedinger (1973, p. 119), quoting Neumann (1932:108), a few traders held to the old standards during the commercial years: Wick Miller at San Ysidro near Jemez, Jesse Foutz at Sa-Nos-Tee near Shiprock (known for cast work), B. I. Staples at Coolidge, and "Cozy" McSparron at Chinle. She also quoted Mrs. John Kirk's account (1945:41) that John Kirk bought the McAdams trading post at Gallup in 1920, renamed it Kirk Brothers, and hired eight or ten smiths. [2]
The postwar Gallup traders, in their own words9 passages · 2 books
Interviews with the families who ran the houses and posts.
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 157), John W. Kennedy persuaded the owners of Gallup's California Super Market, opened in 1950, to run a trading operation in the basement; Kennedy, with Henry Bolacca, Bernie Vanderwagen and Larry Lee, later bought Gallup Mercantile's Indian jewelry department, and Gallup Indian Trading Company became an important part of the Gallup market. [6]
According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 157), Kennedy kept issuing silver and turquoise to Indian jewelers to make jewelry in their homes, a system also used in Albuquerque and Santa Fe; Julius Gans at Southwest Indian Arts and Crafts in Santa Fe was among the first to use Pueblo artists, often working in the Navajo style. [6]
Chambless & Ryan (2021) also record a Gallup post that became a gallery:
“In the late 1930s, B.C. Waddell and his wife Jean opened the West Y Trading Post in Gallup, New Mexico.”
Chambless & Ryan (2021), p. 187 AS OF 2021 [3]
Gene Waddell recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 163), that his parents ran the West Y Trading Post in Gallup from the late 1930s until it burned, uninsured, in the early 1950s. [6]
Gene Waddell recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 165), that his father traded a hundred pounds of turquoise to John Kennedy of Gallup Indian Traders for Navajo rugs, half cash and half trade, which was how a lot of those deals were done. [6]
Nila Brown recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 162), that Bill "Lucky" Brown and his wife Bernice opened the Covered Wagon Trading Post at Continental Divide on Route 66 in the late 1940s, and that he co-owned the Blue Gem Trading Post in Gallup with J. W. Edgar from the mid-1940s, supplied rough turquoise to C. G. Wallace, and relied on Flora Zunie to handle his turquoise trade in Zuni. [6]
David Layton recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 130), that his father Alvin Layton and Lee Hand needed government and tribal permission to sell Blue Gem turquoise directly on the reservation, and that when buyers ran out of cash they traded rugs for rough and cut stone. [6]
Jackson Clark II recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 156), that his father, working for a Durango Pepsi franchise, took rugs from the trader at Two Grey Hills in place of an unpaid soft-drink bill, gave the trader credit he could pass to other traders, and so opened trading posts where Coca-Cola had controlled the whole market; he became known as the Navajo Rug Pepsi Man. [6]
Ron Alexander recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 256), that Dave Tite, owner of Desert Indian Traders on the west side of Gallup, hired him in the mid-1970s to set up a jewelry factory in the store's basement and train workers there. [6]
Silver prices and the turquoise market2 passages · 1 book
The early 1980s, as one Gallup trader remembered them.
Gene Waddell recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 188), that when silver rose to about fifty dollars an ounce in the early 1980s nobody in Gallup or Albuquerque was buying turquoise, and much fine jewelry was bought up and melted for scrap. [6]
Gene Waddell recalled, in an interview published by Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 188), that mine owners had to sell in Gallup and Albuquerque, where the price was set, so it often cost them more to mine than they were paid. [6]
Frequently asked questions
Why was Gallup the center of the trade?
It had railroad lines to larger markets and a gathering of Indian traders, which Frank says drove rapid changes in jewelry styles and techniques. Its mercantile companies supplied the trading posts, and by the late 1930s smiths' work from posts as far apart as Newcomb's, Zuni, Crown Point and Ganado was sold there. As of 1975 Stacey still called Gallup the marketplace of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado Indian arts and crafts.
What were the Gallup wholesale houses?
The mercantile companies that supplied the trading posts with goods and bought silver for the tourist trade and for markets elsewhere. Ryan and Chambless name the C. N. Cotton Company, Gallup Mercantile, Gross Kelly and the Kirk Brothers; Ilfeld, which bought Gallup Mercantile in 1924, and Gross Kelly became the two largest.
Who was Maurice Maisel?
An Albuquerque Indian arts dealer by 1924 whose store was one of the first and largest wholesalers. He used machines run by Native American workers to make cheaper pieces for tourists, with handwork demonstrated at the front of the store. The older traders objected to his advertising as fraudulent; he lost the court case, but the judgment was never enforced.
What happened to the trade when silver reached fifty dollars an ounce?
Gallup trader Gene Waddell recalled that in the early 1980s, with silver at about fifty dollars an ounce, nobody in Gallup or Albuquerque was buying turquoise, and much fine jewelry was bought up and melted for scrap.
A note on accuracy. We strive for accuracy, and this page is continuously updated with new information from the artists, their families, and the community. Corrections welcome.
Sources
- Adair, John. The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths. The Civilization of the American Indian Series. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1944. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1944.
- Bedinger, Margery. Indian Silver: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1973. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1973.
- Chambless, Philip, and Mike Ryan II. Turquoise in America, Part One: The Great American Turquoise Rush, 1890–1910. Revised first edition. Callais Press, 2021. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2021.
- Frank, Larry, with the assistance of Millard J. Holbrook II. Indian Silver Jewelry of the Southwest, 1868-1930. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 1990. First published 1978 by New York Graphic Society. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1990.
- Lowry, Joe Dan, and Joe P. Lowry. Turquoise: The World Story of a Fascinating Gemstone. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2010. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2010.
- Ryan, Mike, II, and Philip Chambless. Turquoise in America, Part Two: 1910–1990. Callais Press, 2020. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2020.
- Stacey, Joseph, ed. Turquoise Blue Book and Indian Jewelry Digest. Arizona Highways Collectors Series. Phoenix: Arizona Highways (Arizona Department of Transportation), 1975. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 1975.