[Summer 2001] 

If you’ve ever driven the legendary old Highway 66, or its modern counterpart, Interstate 40, you know the name Ortega. The family’s trading posts are strung along the west’s most scenic highway like so many colorful beads on a Navajo necklace. 

The saga began with Tomás Ortega, a Spaniard, who opened the family’s first Indian trading post* in 1889 in Holbrook, Ariz.  It continued with his son Max Ortega, who fortuitously saved the life of a railroad man in Lupton, Ariz. and was rewarded by the railroad with a chunk of land which he turned into another trading post. (Tomas’ other son Tony was a deputy sheriff in Holbrook.) Max and his wife Amelia produced a daughter and six sons, five of whom also became Indian traders. 

Armando, the oldest, wound up with trading posts in California, Arizona and Texas—and even an outlet at Macy’s in New York! Max Ortega Jr. opened a post in Holbrook, like his grandfather, and at one time employed more than 250 silversmiths. (This was back in the 1960s when Indian trading had become very popular.) 

Max Jr. and his wife Mildred (a striking woman of Spanish and Portuguese descent) nurtured the growing Ortega dynasty of Indian Trading. “We helped out Dad Ortega a lot,” says Mildred, Max’s dynamic, vivacious widow who today runs Ortega’s Trading in Durango. (Their two children, Debbie and Max III, are active traders as well.)  “We also went to help my husband’s brother Armando in Deme, NM,” Mildred adds, “then we went to Gallup, trading with the Navajo and Pueblo Indians there. Later, we opened “Sitting Bull,” in Jo City [Joseph City, Ariz.] and another one in Old Town Scottsdale [Ariz.].” Mildred and Max went on to Silverton, Colo., where, helped by Otto Smith, they opened three more stores. “It was hard at first,” Mildred says, “but Otto helped us a lot!” Simultaneously, Mildred and Max conducted auctions in Durango at the old VFW Hall. 

After Max’s death in 1997, Mildred, who is now helped by companion and business associate Gary Lewis, kept the trading legacy going. Today, her daughter Debbie Ortega Noel runs three trading posts in Silverton: Iron Horse Trading, Old town Indian Shop and Ortega’s Indian Trading Post. Grandson Jimmy Noel (Debbie’s son) runs another store in Silverton, Indian Plaza, and two more in Durango: Indian Trading Post and Sunset West. 

Meanwhile, Max III, Mildred’s son, aided by his son Max the Fourth, runs “Sixth Generation” in Carefree, Ariz. (near Scottsdale.) 

All of the trading posts carry authentic, beautifully crafted hand-made items made by Native Americans. At Ortega’s in Durango, Mildred has her own unique approach to store-stocking. She and Gary Lewis make regular two and three day trips to the  “reservation” where they purchase items from the Navajo, Zuni, Hopi and Acoma and bring them back to the store. (Other purchases, mainly pottery, come from an Indian market in Albuquerque.)  “Usually, we are gone for two or three days,” Mildred explains. “Starting in May,” adds Gary, “we pick up stuff, load it in the back of our secure pickup, and haul it back to one of the posts.”  Their store is open year-round, but business peaks during “high tourist season” months of June through September. 

“We look for the unusual as well as the traditional,” adds Mildred.  And they find it. One of her rare finds is Navajo-carved alabaster sculpture, a beautiful, translucent peachy color, from tiny table-top pieces to some standing over four-foot tall. Her cigar store “wooden Indians” are also very popular. “We sell them as fast as we stock them!” she laughs. Mildred, of the sparkling eyes and diminutive stature, laughs a lot. And wears her wares with astounding style and grace. She is seldom without the immense hand-carved turquoise cameo pendant given her by her late husband Max. It’s an awesome, one-of-a-kind piece that almost, but not quite, dwarfs her. 

Ortega’s also carries a lot of inlay work, along with kachinas, storyteller dolls, baskets, pottery, rugs, sand paintings, museum-quality old photographs and a collection of knives, tomahawks, spears and other “warrior” items. Top of the line, and astounding in its variety of design and origin is the signature jewelry collection at Ortega’s. The family has married into many of the Native American peoples who supply items traded at their posts, and nowhere is that more evident than in the jewelry (which comes with price points from the very affordable to the discerningly collectible.) 

True to family tradition, Mildred is a trader. Walk in Ortega’s and she greets you with a smile and a bargain you can’t resist. For those who need to research the providence of items they select, Ortega's provides authentication and historical background materials. While I was visiting there for this interview, a New York writer came in, needing advice on what gifts to take to Zuni, when he went there for an upcoming interview. Mildred supplied it. A customer called from Oklahoma, needing to augment her jewelry collection. Mildred filled the order quickly. Two young women walked in off the street, and walked out with a a storyteller doll and carved fetish to take back home with them. Another hurried in, needing something to wear to a party that evening. She left with a signature bracelet and pendant by Navajo artist Tommy Moore. And I left with a story, a gift from Mildred and enough purchases that had to be shipped because I couldn’t carry them all! 

Ortega’s Indian Arts & Crafts is located at 809 Main Street, downtown Durango. 970 259-6634.