Babbitt and Roberts Trading Post.

David and William Babbitt arrived in Flagstaff, Ariz. in 1886. They and their brothers, Charles, George, and Edward began a small cattle business and a general store. By 1889, the store, operating as Babbitt Brothers Trading Company did business with a broad spectrum of northern Arizona society, including reservation traders and Indians. The Babbitt brothers owned a number of trading posts on the Navajo Reservation which were operated as parternships. One such post located in the Jeddito Valley, Arizona was the Babbitt and Roberts Trading Post, which was known before 1919 as the Antelope Springs Trading Post.

Babbitt and Roberts Company Imprint. (Box 4, Folder 39).

David and William Babbitt arrived in Flagstaff, Arizona in 1886. Within a few months, brothers Charles, George, and Edward joined them. They began a small cattle business, and also bought a building in which they began operating a general store, run by David. By 1889, trade had expanded tremendously; and the store was moved to a larger building. The expanded store operated as Babbitt Brothers Trading Company. People representing a broad spectrum of northern Arizona society, including reservation traders and Indians, traveled distances of more than 100 miles to do business with the Babbitt Brothers.

The Babbitt Brothers bought, built, or acquired a small empire of trading posts on the Navajo reservation. Primarily concerned with their cattle business and with expanding retail operations, they often delegated management to others. Prior to incorporating most of their trading posts in 1923, many were operated as partnerships, the manager usually having a partnership interest in the post. Presumably, this was the case with the Babbit and Roberts Trading Post, also known as the Antelope Springs Trading Post, at Jeddito, AZ.

Wilmer C. Roberts, born in Maryland in 1889, moved to the Southwest as a boy. He grew up in the Jeddito area. Circa 1919, he bought the Antelope Springs Trading Post, and with his cousin, C. R. Roberts, ran the post for some 35 years.