CN Cotton Warehouse

CN Cotton Warehouse. Scenic Byways Trail. , 101 North Third Street (circa 1887), Adequate transportation has been the answer to successful business entrepreneurs in the Gallup area as early as the late 1880's. Clinton N. Cotton, a shrewd Yankee trader and businessman, concluded that the way to market the wares and crafts of his Navajo trading partners was to develop a wholesale business at "a point favorably located for transportation." So, in 1887 he built the C.N. Cotton Warehouse right along the railroad in Gallup., Clinton N. Cotton was born April 12, 1859 in central Ohio. At the meager age of 11 his father died and C.N. left school for work to support his mother and younger siblings. In 1881 he came west with the railroad working as a telegraph operator at the Fort Wingate station. During his employment with the railroad, Cotton made acquaintance with Juan Lorenzo Hubbell. They soon became friends which led to Cotton purchasing a half interest in the Hubbell Trading Post located at Ganado, Arizona. Together, Cotton and Hubbell were credited with introducing a nationwide mail-ordering system for Navajo goods, especially blankets (rugs). The C.N. Cotton Company became the first and most important wholesale warehouse in Indian country and the first to top a million dollars a year in business., By 1894 Cotton sold his half interest in Ganado back to Hubbell in order to focus on his Gallup business. However, he didn't sell before developing a close relationship with Chief Manuelito, a respected Navajo warrior who had signed the treaty with General Sherman in 1868 for all twelve Navajo chiefs. Cotton so respected the chief that the year following Manuelito's death, Cotton commissioned Herman McNeil to make a likeness of him. For nearly a century the sculpture sat high in a niche on the original east façade of the C.N. Cotton Warehouse. The noble statue greeted traders and travelers from east to west, announcing their arrival to Gallup, New Mexico., While the original building has since been demolished, a newer, larger wholesale warehouse stands in its place. The prestigious statue of Chief Manuelito was donated to McKinley County and is currently on display in the new Courthouse annex overlooking the Courthouse Square in downtown Gallup.