Budville Trading Post
Named for H.N. “Bud” Rice, it got its start when Bud and his wife Flossie opened an automobile service in 1928. Soon afterward they opened the Budville Trading Company, and over the years — a gas station, a few cabins, and the only tow company between the Rio Puerco River and Grants for a number of years. They also sold bus tickets, operated a post office, and Bud served as the Justice of Peace, a position in which he was known to have issued steep fines, especially to anyone outside of the area.
Having operated the business for 39 years, the store was held up by a desperado in November 1967. There were four people in the building at the time — Bud, Flossie, an 82-year old retired school teacher named Blanche Brown who worked part-time, and a housekeeper named Nettie Buckley. Within moments, shots were fired and the gunman fled leaving behind a scene that would earn the trading post the moniker of “Bloodville.” Fifty-Four-year-old Bud Rice and the elderly shop keeper Blanch Brown were dead. Flossie and the housekeeper survived. Though arrests were made, no one was ever convicted of the crime.