Marble Canyon Lodge

When the Navajo Bridge opened in 1929 and the ferry closed, this stretch of desert needed a new reason for travelers to stop. Marble Canyon Lodge became it. A tourist lodge and trading post have run near this spot continuously since that year, financed at first by the trader Lorenzo Hubbell and passed through a handful of owners before the Foster family took it on in 1959. It marked the shift here from a working river crossing to a waypoint on the automobile road.

What the plaque says

A tourist lodge and trading post have operated near this site since 1929. Without them, travel through this isolated region would have been far more difficult. Marble Canyon Lodge was already in operation when the historic Navajo Bridge was dedicated on June 14, 1929. The lodge was financed initially by Lorenzo Hubbell and operated by Buck Lowery. Hubbell assumed ownership in 1937, and Kyle Bates purchased the lodge in 1949. In 1959, Jane Bales Foster inherited it. The Foster family continues to operate Marble Canyon Lodge. The original lodge building has been restored and stands 0.4 km (1/4 mile) west of this marker.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Antelope Canyon — 15 mi
  Tsé bighánílíní — where the water runs through the rock

More markers nearby

• Lafe McDaniel — steps away
• Navajo Bridge — steps away
• John Deering — 0.2 mi
• Lewis Nez — 0.2 mi