Keam's Canyon Trading Post: History & the First Hopi Smith

Keam's Canyon Trading Post, Arizona (Hopi), was the post of Thomas V. Keam, a trader "licensed to trade with the Hopi by 1875" (Baxter 2000, p. 81). Keam exhibited "his considerable collection" of silver at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 (Frank 1990, p. 27), and Larry Frank pictures pieces he collected among the Smithsonian's early jewelry (Frank 1990, pp. 34–52). And Sikyatala, named as "the first Hopi silversmith" (Baxter 2000, p. 97), sold some of his work to "Tom Keam, a trader" (Bedinger 1973, p. 157). Our books don't record when the post opened or what became of it after Keam.

Founding

Our sources date Keam's license, not the post's opening. Paula A. Baxter's Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry says Keam was "licensed to trade with the Hopi by 1875" and, with Douglas Graham, the first trader to open a store at Zuni Pueblo, calls the two traders "representative of the new breed of Indian trader" (Baxter 2000, p. 81). In the same entry, writing of traders in general rather than of Keam, she notes that they "played an important role in supplying native-made goods to major anthropological museums" (Baxter 2000, p. 81). Of Hopi country before them, Baxter writes: "Prior to the mid- to late nineteenth century, Hopi's geographical remoteness precluded sustained local trade with Anglo traders" (Baxter 2000, p. 71).

The University of Oklahoma Press, describing Laura Graves's biography Thomas Varker Keam: Indian Trader, gives a span: "Thomas Varker Keam owned and operated a trading post in Keams Canyon, Arizona Territory, from 1874 to 1902." That 1874–1902 range comes from the publisher's web page, not from the books we work from. Our sources don't record who, if anyone, ran the post after Keam, or whether it went on as a trading post.

The Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, edited by F. W. Hodge for the Bureau of American Ethnology, locates places by "the Keam's Canyon road" (Hodge 1907/1910, Part 2, p. 666) and by "Keam's Canyon school" (Hodge 1907/1910, Part 2, p. 723).

People

Thomas V. Keam. The Handbook also cites him as a written source, listing "Keam and Scott" in Donaldson's 1893 report on the Hopi (Hodge 1907/1910, Part 1, p. 143). Our sources don't say what Keam contributed to that report. The books we work from don't record his life before he came to Hopi country, or his dates of birth and death.

Sikyatala and Lanyade. How silversmithing reached the Hopi comes to us through outside observers' records, and they disagree on the date and the place. Hopi people are the authority on their own history. We give the accounts as recorded and don't choose between them.

  • Adair's account. The Zuni smith Lanyade told John Adair that in 1898, "before Mrs. Stevenson bought my tools," he visited Hopiland "to make silver", "living with Sikyatala" in the village of Sichomovi on First Mesa (Bedinger 1973, p. 156, via Adair 1944). Margery Bedinger's Indian Silver continues: "shortly thereafter Sikyatala bought some tools and experimented in working the 'little white cakes' himself. He became sufficiently skilled to sell some of his productions to Tom Keam, a trader, but he sold most of his wares to other Hopis living on First Mesa" (Bedinger 1973, p. 157).
  • Colton's account. Mary-Russell Colton, writing in 1939 and quoted by Bedinger, puts it earlier and at Zuni. In her account Sikyatala, of Walpi, went to Zuni shortly before 1890 to visit his friend Laniyati, the silversmith, and learned his trade there (Bedinger 1973, p. 157, quoting Colton 1939).
  • Later writers. Margaret Nickelson Wright, in Hopi Silver, leaves the place open: "Whether they were at Hopi or Zuni, by varying accounts, Sikyatala learned from Lanyade to make silver" (Wright 2003, p. 9). Baxter gives both versions. In one entry Sikyatala "learned the process from Lanyade … after visiting him in Zuni around 1898" (Baxter 2000, p. 71). In another, Lanyade "went to First Mesa and taught the first Hopi silversmith, Sikyatala" in 1898 (Baxter 2000, p. 97).

Because the dates disagree, our sources don't let us say when Sikyatala sold to Keam. They don't record what he sold, or whether any of it survives.

Marks and what to look for

Our sources record no shop mark for Keam's post. What they record is Keam's collection. Frank writes: "Tiffany exhibited Mr. Kunz's collection at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and Mr. Keam also exhibited his considerable collection there" (Frank 1990, p. 27). In the Smithsonian section of Frank's Indian Silver Jewelry of the Southwest, 1868–1930, the pieces credited to Keam include:

  • Two najas, "most probably made before 1880". "Both are tufa cast" (Frank 1990, p. 34).
  • Two of the bracelets in Frank's Fig. 32, collected by Keam for the 1893 exposition (Frank 1990, p. 39).
  • German silver buttons, "Circa 1870s", which Frank says "might possibly be of Plains Indian origin" (Frank 1990, p. 41).
  • Twelve first phase conchas. "All are circa 1880s" (Frank 1990, p. 46). Six of them, shown again in Fig. 42, "are all superb examples" (Frank 1990, p. 47).
  • A German silver concha, shown with a first phase belt and collected by Keam for the same exposition (Frank 1990, p. 48).
  • Rocker-engraved hair ornaments, "Circa 1870s" (Frank 1990, p. 52).

Frank captions every one of these "SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION" (Frank 1990, pp. 34–52). He also warns about the labels: "Side by side, Navajo and Plains Indian jewelry, collected by Thomas Keam and George Kunz and labeled Navajo, coexisted, the distinction obliterated by the use of the same designs, tools, and materials" (Frank 1990, p. 28). None of these pieces is attributed to a Hopi smith in our sources. Our sources don't say how Keam acquired them, from which makers, or when they reached the Smithsonian.

The University of Oklahoma Press, in its description of the Graves biography, says Keam "sold enormous collections to the Smithsonian Institution, the Field Museum, and the Peabody Museum, as well as several European institutions." Our sources don't say which of those sales included jewelry.

Legacy

Writing in 1990, Frank said the Smithsonian collection, "Although not large," "consists of the largest group of pre-1900 jewelry available today", and that "The core of the collection comes from no more than a half-dozen persons", Keam among them (Frank 1990, p. 27). His other link to the record is Sikyatala's sales to "Tom Keam, a trader" (Bedinger 1973, p. 157). Bedinger adds that "Silversmithing did not catch on in Hopiland as it did at Zuni and among the Navajos. For one thing, the Hopis could get silver from the western Navajos almost from the commencement of the craft" (Bedinger 1973, p. 158). Our sources don't describe the post's building, the goods it traded, or who its customers were. For the wider story of the region's posts, see our history of trading posts. For later Hopi silver, see the Hopi Silvercraft Guild.

Sources

  1. Baxter, Paula A. Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry. 2000. pp. 71, 81, 97.
  2. Bedinger, Margery. Indian Silver: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers. 1973. pp. 156, 157, 158 (reporting John Adair, 1944, and Mary-Russell Colton, 1939).
  3. Frank, Larry, with Millard J. Holbrook II. Indian Silver Jewelry of the Southwest, 1868–1930. 1990. pp. 27, 28, 34, 39, 41, 46, 47, 48, 52.
  4. Hodge, F. W., ed. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 30). Part 1, 1907, p. 143; Part 2, 1910, pp. 666, 723.
  5. Wright, Margaret Nickelson. Hopi Silver. 2003 ed. p. 9.
  6. University of Oklahoma Press. Description of Laura Graves, Thomas Varker Keam: Indian Trader. Web page, oupress.com, accessed 2026-09-28. (Publisher's description; the 1874–1902 dates and the museum sales above come only from this page.)

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