Old Trading Posts of the Four Corners

After traveling extensively throughout the Four Corners region of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, Richard Berkholz has produced a comprehensive study of early-day trading posts located on or near the Navajo, Hopi, and Ute Mountain Ute Reservations. The posts covered in his new book Old Trading Posts of the Four Corners were opened for business in the late 1800s and early 1900s up to 1950. While some are gone without a trace, Berkholz provides a descriptive of each that includes directions to the site, a brief history, status, condition, owners, and occasional anecdotes of interest.

Filled with past and present-day photographs of the posts, maps, and historical sidebars of the tribes and settlers these posts served, Old Trading Posts gives the reader a glimpse into the lives of the people who were and, in many ways, still are a part of the Old West. Much of the historic information in this book was obtained through personal interviews, and, like most oral history, is sometimes subject to question or interpretation. However, the author's interest in western history, appreciation of the high desert, and realization that the trading post as it once was is rapidly disappearing, drove him to preserve in writing as much as he could about one of the few links we still have to our American heritage. Millions of people travel through the high desert southwest, with most just passing through unaware of the area's colorful history. Hopefully, Old Trading Posts of the Four Corners will encourage some stops along the way.