The Rincone

The Rincone. . Rincone, Spanish for corner, was the name given this bench land which forms a right angle junction of Comb Ridge and the San Juan River. Being a popular site for the fording of the river. William Hyde established a trading post here in the early 1880s to trade with the Indians. In 1885 Hyde's son-in-law and partner, Amasa Barton, moved to the Rincone to run the enterprise. Barton built a log home, warehouse, blacksmith shop, corral and established a garden. For irrigation, water was brought up from the river by a water wheel., Early one morning in June 1887, two Navajos came into the store and began arguing with Barton. In the heated confrontation that followed, one of the Navajos pulled a gun and accidentally killed his companion and fatally wounded Amasa Barton. Tense hours and days followed the shooting for it was feared that it could lead to a major confrontation. Through the diplomacy of the settlers in Bluff and Navajo leaders, further bloodshed was prevented., Following the Bartons, cowboys of the Elk Mountain Cattle Company moved in, making this the center of their operation thoughout the late 1880s. Today the walls of the milk house and the platform for the water well (east of here) are all that remain of the trading post.