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| The Babbitt
brothers - David, George, William, Charles, and Edward -
came to Flagstaff in 1886 to go into the cattle ranching
business. The brothers established the C.O. Bar
ranch on lands between Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. The
historic C.O. Bar is one of the largest cattle
ranches in the Southwest and continues in
operation to this day. The C.O. Bar brand
recalls the former Babbitt home of Cincinnati,
Ohio. |
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| By
1889, the Babbitt brothers also had established a
general mercantile store in Flagstaff. This
store supplied goods such as oil lamps, saddles,
wool shears, canned food, hardware, and trade
blankets to the trading posts which were beginning
to spring up across the vast Indian Country of
northeastern Arizona. Construction of the
Atlantic & Pacific Railway along the 35th
Parallel across northern Arizona in 1882 brought
manufactured goods to the area for the first
time. Since currency was almost unknown in
Indian Country until the turn of the century,
these manufactured goods were bartered or traded
for Indian-made items such as baskets, pottery,
rugs, and silver and turquoise jewelry.
Centers of such commerce with Native American
tribes dubbed "trading posts". |
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