Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
Herman Wolf, got in the habit of burying his profits in cans and jars around the fences on his property. Operating the trading post for thirty years on the Little Colorado River between 1869-1899, his highly profitable business brought him tens of thousands of gold and silver coins over the years. These treasure troves are said to have numbered in the hundreds of thousands and his thirty year accumulation estimated at $250,000.
Of the beaver trappers who left evidence behind them, and who came to the canyon at this point, the best known were William (Billy) Mitchell, Fred Smith, W. C. Siewert and Herman Wolf. Their starting point for each trapping expedition was either Santa Fe or Taos, during the middle 1830's. All of them were experienced mountain men.
It was in Canyon Diablo that the pack train traders, the forerunners of permanently established trading posts, found them.
First among these traders in the area were Smith, Mitchell, "Whitehead" Fitzpatrick, "Gabe" Hall and "Old Man Yellow Face" Buck. They traveled together for mutual protection. Smith wrote home to his sister in Tennessee in 1850 from Taos that he had been engaged in this precarious trade for several years after beaver trapping went under.
On the sides of Canyon Diablo they held trading rendezvous not unlike those of the old fur brigades in the Rocky Mountains but, of course, on a far smaller scale.
Their trade goods consisted of galena, bullet molds, powder, dye stuff (Indigo and Cochineal), buffalo robes, cotton blankets, flints, Green River knives, cloth, cheap glass beads and imitation silver jewelry. In trade they received horses and mules, if not too far distant to drive back into New Mexico, and a plain striped handcrafted woolen blanket approximately 36 by 80 inches in size. This item sold readily as a "wagon blanket".
Other pack train traders followed them. One of the most unusual was called "Billikona Sani" (Old American) by the Navajos, and of all things, he arrived during the summer of 1852 off the California-Santa Fe Trail with a two-wheeled cart driven by a Mexican.
The outbreak of the Civil War put an end to further official exploration of this area, halting settlement for some years. Soon after the war ended Herman Wolf returned to the canyon and the Little Colorado to trap beaver. His first cabin camp was called Beaver House (Chi bogan) by the Navajos. They so gave it this name because his beaver plews were leaned against the walls of his abode to dry. Later on the name was applied to the trading post.
Wolf may have built his large stockade picket post prior to 1868. But he was definitely in the trading business on the river downstream from the mouth of Canyon Diablo that year.
For several years his outpost was the sole center of attraction in the little known frontier of northern Arizona. But there soon followed others who entered the wonderful country to stay. Meanwhile he and the U. S. Army were both engaged in fighting renegade Indians.
Canyon Diablo is south of I-40 between Meteor City, and Flagstaff, Arizona. Take the Two Guns Exit (#230). The road to Canyon Diablo is immediately right of the old gas station in Two Guns.
This is a rough road and best traveled with a four wheel drive; however, if conditions are good, and you take your time, it could be taken in a regular car. The road is very rocky, so caution should be taken with any low seated vehicle.
http://www.arizfoto.com/herman_wolf.html
http://www.arizfoto.com/diablo.html
http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/az/canyondiablo.html
Of the beaver trappers who left evidence behind them, and who came to the canyon at this point, the best known were William (Billy) Mitchell, Fred Smith, W. C. Siewert and Herman Wolf. Their starting point for each trapping expedition was either Santa Fe or Taos, during the middle 1830's. All of them were experienced mountain men.
It was in Canyon Diablo that the pack train traders, the forerunners of permanently established trading posts, found them.
First among these traders in the area were Smith, Mitchell, "Whitehead" Fitzpatrick, "Gabe" Hall and "Old Man Yellow Face" Buck. They traveled together for mutual protection. Smith wrote home to his sister in Tennessee in 1850 from Taos that he had been engaged in this precarious trade for several years after beaver trapping went under.
On the sides of Canyon Diablo they held trading rendezvous not unlike those of the old fur brigades in the Rocky Mountains but, of course, on a far smaller scale.
Their trade goods consisted of galena, bullet molds, powder, dye stuff (Indigo and Cochineal), buffalo robes, cotton blankets, flints, Green River knives, cloth, cheap glass beads and imitation silver jewelry. In trade they received horses and mules, if not too far distant to drive back into New Mexico, and a plain striped handcrafted woolen blanket approximately 36 by 80 inches in size. This item sold readily as a "wagon blanket".
Other pack train traders followed them. One of the most unusual was called "Billikona Sani" (Old American) by the Navajos, and of all things, he arrived during the summer of 1852 off the California-Santa Fe Trail with a two-wheeled cart driven by a Mexican.
The outbreak of the Civil War put an end to further official exploration of this area, halting settlement for some years. Soon after the war ended Herman Wolf returned to the canyon and the Little Colorado to trap beaver. His first cabin camp was called Beaver House (Chi bogan) by the Navajos. They so gave it this name because his beaver plews were leaned against the walls of his abode to dry. Later on the name was applied to the trading post.
Wolf may have built his large stockade picket post prior to 1868. But he was definitely in the trading business on the river downstream from the mouth of Canyon Diablo that year.
For several years his outpost was the sole center of attraction in the little known frontier of northern Arizona. But there soon followed others who entered the wonderful country to stay. Meanwhile he and the U. S. Army were both engaged in fighting renegade Indians.
Canyon Diablo is south of I-40 between Meteor City, and Flagstaff, Arizona. Take the Two Guns Exit (#230). The road to Canyon Diablo is immediately right of the old gas station in Two Guns.
This is a rough road and best traveled with a four wheel drive; however, if conditions are good, and you take your time, it could be taken in a regular car. The road is very rocky, so caution should be taken with any low seated vehicle.
http://www.arizfoto.com/herman_wolf.html
http://www.arizfoto.com/diablo.html
http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/az/canyondiablo.html
