Arizona Apache Takes on a Different Meaning

Apache ALCO C-420 locomotives numbered 81 to 84 and an RS-36 (also from ALCO) are seen on the front of this post card near Holbrook, Arizona on August 24, 1994. The C-420s came from four different railroads and the RS-36 was delivered new to the Apache Railroad in the early 1960s.

Why ask the Wikipedia people about something when you can go straight to the source? That is what I did. The Apache Railway still has a website... and quite the varied past. This website tells it all: http://apacherailway.com/about/ The information below is from their website. The Apache Railway was incorporated in 1917, when it began construction of a rail line from Holbrook south, reaching Snowflake in 1918. It was extended south to McNary in 1920. From October 1, 1931, until 1936, amid the Great Depression, the APA was placed in receivership. A tourist railroad, the White Mountain Scenic Railroad, operated steam powered passenger excursions over the Southwest Forest Industries-owned line from McNary to the logging camp of Maverick, AZ, beginning in 1964. My dad and I rode this train in the early 1970s before I went to New Jersey to go to college. I have some post cards of this tourist train in my collection. As track conditions deteriorated, the excursions were cut back in later years to a point about half of the way to Maverick. In the final years, it operated north from Pinetop Lakes to a place called Bell Siding on U.S. Route 60. In 1976, the White Mountain Scenic Railroad ceased operations and moved its equipment to Heber City, Utah to be used on an excursion there known as the “Heber Creeper.” The line from Maverick to McNary, with some elevations exceeding 9,000 ft (2,700 m), was removed in 1982 after the McNary sawmill closed. By the 1980s, the Apache Railway was Arizona’s only remaining logging railroad. The track from Snowflake to McNary was abandoned in 1982. The Apache Railway offered passenger service until the 1950s. In July 1954, the mixed train operated on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, departing McNary at 7:15 am, arriving Holbrook at 12:15 pm, departing there at 1:30 pm and returning to McNary at 7:00 pm. The Apache Railway is now here for you!

The post card was published by Audio-Visual Designs (AVD) in Earlton, New York. It was published after October of 1983 because the 7-digit zip code has an additional 4 digits appended to it. AVD was started in 1964 by Carl Sturner for the sole purpose of providing railfans with sound recordings of locos and trains as well as with photochrome postcards of trackside photos.

Riding into History

The White Mountain Railroad was the only steam powered passenger tourist train in the state of Arizona. It traveled over some of the most beautiful country of the Southwest U.S. The railroad used two engines. Engine number 36, formerly ran on the Sierra Railroad in California. It was built in 1930 as a Mikado (2-8-2). Engine number 100, seen here on the front of this post

card, was also a Mikado. It was built by Baldwin in June of 1926 and was used on the Santa Maria Valley Railroad, also in California. Here is a little bit of history about the White Mountain Scenic Railroad as taken from this website: www.islandpondrailroad.com/wmsrr/wmsrr.htm The White Mountain Scenic Railroad August 14, 1974. In the last days of the White Mountain Scenic Railroad. The train began operating north from Pinetop Lakes, Arizona, to Bell. This is a much less scenic section of track compared to the former stretch from McNary to a picnic spot the crews called "Apache Hilton". In the very early days, trains actually went as far as an old logging camp called Maverick. All of those days are long gone. The railroad was pulled up on the Fort Apache reservation and both Mikados #36 (ex-Sierra Railroad) and #100 (ex-Santa Maria Valley) were trucked to Heber City, Utah to pull the "Heber Creepers". Both locomotives are now stored, allegedly on display, in poor condition on the Kepner estate in Merrill, Oregon.

The post card was published by Arizona Pictures, Box 635, Sedona, Arizona. With generic words like these in the name, I could not find anything about the history of the publisher. The photo was taken by Merle Porter. Porter, Merle (1907-1988) Merle was known as “the postcard king of the west.” He produced and distributed his “photo-color” postcards under the name Royal Pictures of Colton, California. Porter traveled nine months out of the year for over fifty years – putting as many as one thousand miles a week on his Ford Econoline van – photographing the historic sites, monuments, architecture, highways, infrastructure, oil fields, and landscapes of the western United States in color using his Speed Graphic view camera. While traveling he distributed his postcards to motels, souvenir shops, and gas stations, circulating one million postcards per year at the height of his career. Porter wrote lengthy and descriptive captions full of historical facts and local lore to be printed on the back of each postcard. This information was taken from this website: https://www.mocp.org/detail.php?type=related&kv=8486&t=people

It was a beautiful ride.

Before I went to the East Coast to go to college from the Los Angeles area, my Dad and I took a trip to Northern Arizona, where I grew up. As part of that trip we took a scenic train ride through the White Mountains area. It was a side gig for the Apache Railway Company. Their main line of income was logging trains.

The train on the front of this post card is the train that my Dad and I took back in the early 1970s. This website will tell you more of the history of the Apache Railway: https://www.american-rails.com/apache.html The common-carrier Apache Railway was originally built to handle logs and paper products, owned by the Apache Logging Company. The history of the Apache Railway begins on September 5, 1917 when construction commenced from a connection with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway at Holbrook building southward to tap timber reserves for a paper mill. A year later, almost exactly to the day on September 6, 1918 the railroad completed its line as far south as Snowflake and two years after that in the summer of 1920 the route was opened to McNary, a total of 72 main line miles. The railroad would reach a peak size of 140 miles, which included several branches and spurs. In 1924 the railroad was acquired by the Cady Logging Corporation. From October 1, 1931, until 1936, amid the Great Depression, the APA was placed in receivership. In 1935 it again changed ownership to Southwest Lumber Mills. Finally, in 1960 the railroad was purchased by Southwest Forest Industries. The Apache owned steam locomotives but was well-known during its diesel years for operating venerable American Locomotive Company products. A tourist railroad, the White Mountain Scenic Railroad, operated steam powered passenger excursions over the Southwest Forest Industries-owned line from McNary to the logging camp of Maverick, AZ, beginning in 1964. As track conditions deteriorated, the excursions were cut back in later years to a point about half of the way to Maverick. In the final years, it operated north from Pinetop Lakes to a place called Bell Siding on U.S. Route 60. In 1976, the White Mountain Scenic Railroad ceased operations and moved its equipment to Heber City, Utah to be used on an excursion there known as the "Heber Creeper." In 1984 it abandoned its line south of Snowflake, reducing its property to 33 miles. The railroad was hit hard by the 2012 closure of its largest customer, the paper mill in Snowflake.

The post card was published by Norm's Publishing House. The company's address was 610 McLellan in Mesa, Arizona. The interesting thing about the company listing on this post card is the phone number. "... for a train ride on the steam powered WHITE MOUNTAIN SCENIC RAILROAD, Phone 245 or write Box 496, McNary, Arizona. The phone number only has three digits. This post card is a photochrome sytle of card. They first came out in 1939. The address of the railroad does not have a zip code; those came out in 1963. Given these facts, I would guess that this card is from the late 1950s or the very early 1960s.

How Convenient!

The locomotive pictured on the front of this post card had quite the active history before it was put on static display. A much better alternative than hitting the scrap pile!! The information below about this locomotive is taken from this website: https://locomotive.fandom.com/wiki/ATSF_No._3759

The Santa Fe (ATSF) No. 3759 is a type of 4-8-4 'Northern', steam locomotive which was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1928 for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. This engine hauled passenger trains on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. It was retired in the late 50’s when diesels replace steam. In February 1955, 3759 was brought out of retirement at the request of the Railway Club of Southern California for a special excursion run, dubbed "Farewell to Steam." This special ran on February 6, a round trip between Los Angeles Union Station and Barstow, California with stops in Pasadena and San Bernardino and was the last Santa Fe revenue steam train to leave Los Angeles and to traverse Cajon Pass. After this trip, 3759 went back into storage, until Santa Fe donated the locomotive to the city of Kingman in 1957. In January 1991, Grand Canyon Railway owner Max Biegert sent a letter to Kingman city officials of his proposal to lease AT&SF 3759 to operation and donate his engine No. 19 to the city. 3759 would have run in the Grand Canyon Railway and an "Orient Express"-styled train between Los Angeles and Williams, Arizona. But the city refused, and so it remains in its plinth rather than being given a second chance. Today it's on display at Locomotive Park, located between Andy Devine Avenue and Beale Street in Kingman, Arizona.

The post card was published by Petley Studios out of Phoenix, Arizona. It is rather convenient that the locomotive is on static display in Kingman, Arizona (just about 3 hours away from Phonenix). It is also convenient that the photograph of the locomotive was taken by Bob Petley. It is not so convenient that the post card was probably printed in Chicago, Illinois.

That is where the Curt Teich Company is located. The code (3DK-1903) in the stamp box tells me that this post card was printed by them in the 1960s. This date can be validated also by the fact that the lomotive was put on diplay after 1957, which would give Bob Petley time to get up there to take the picture and have it sent to Chicago - in the 1960s.

Two Crozier Canyon in Arizona Post Cards

This is a picture of a Santa Fe Railroad train as it passes through Crozier Canyon in northwest Arizona (about 55 kilometers [35 miles] northeast of Kingman, Arizona). This post card was printed by the Detroit Publishing Company. More about this below.... However, about the picture: In 1857, President James Buchanan authorized Secretary of War Jefferson Davis (soon to be the president of the Confederate States), to find a road that would connect Fort Defiance in today's New Mexico with Fort Mohave in the extreme west of what is today Arizona. Davis delegated this task to Lieutenant Edward Beale. This expedition was to have a second purpose, to see if camels - natural desert animals in other parts of the world - would be useful for the US military applications. Davis authorized the purchase of about 30 camels at $1,000 per head. The entire party surveyed northern Arizona along the 37th parallel. Today, Interstate 40 and old Route 66 follow part of what became known as "Beale's Wagon Road". The camels proved their worth, but the military developed other priorities and sold off the camels. The legend of "Hi Jolly" is worth pursuing if you are interested in "American Camels".

As you can clearly see, this post card comes to us from the White Border Era of post card printing. Prior to this era the printed pictures went right to the outside borders of the post card. When one prints hundreds of thousands of post cards, cutting the picture off with an eight of an inch border of white can save over 10 percent of the ink. That means that one can get one extra post card per print run for every nine that one prints. That kind of savings adds up!!

This post card below is a duplicate of the one above. The difference is that this one comes to us from the Linen Card Era. This post card was printed by one of the pioneers who developed the textured card, Curt Otto Teich. He made the card for the Fred Harvey Company. Fred Harvey was the originator of the "Harvey House" chain of restaurants and hotels that he built along the railroads in the western United States. He started the company in the late 1800s and he died in 1901. So, this post card was published by the company that he left behind.

In 1897 Harvey took over the news stands for the A.T.&S.F. Railroad and began distributing postcards. Between 1901 and 1932 the Company contracted all their cards with the Detroit Publishing Company (thus, the first post card that we see above). These cards have an H prefix before their identification number, but in addition Detroit published many of Harvey’s images on their own. After Detroit closed, many of Harvey’s cards were contracted out to Curt Teich (thus, the second post card that we see here) among others.

These are the backs of the post cards. The first one is from the White Border Era, printed by the Detroit Publishing Company. You can see in the upper left-hand corner the word "PHOSTINT"; this is the trademark that they used for their own, unique printing process. The same area also shows us that Fred Harvey's company was involved in the publishing of this post card. The description is much longer on this post card than the one below.

The bottom one is the one that was printed by the Curt Otto Teich company. At the very bottom of the middle of this side of the card is the code: 7A-H2919 This tells me that the post card was printed by the Curt Otto Teich company in 1937 - indicated by the "7A" - for Fred Harvey's company. Notice that both companies indicate with an "H" that this job is for Fred Harvey - they just have different numbers for the post card lots.

Still in Arizona with Steam Locomotives

This post card is an image of a locomotive cruising on the main line of the railroad through Crozier Canyon in northwestern Arizona.

Today, you can still take pictures similar to this one (without the steam locomotive, of course). The canyon is still accessible from Route 66. The website: http://www.northamericanrails.com/bnsf_transcon_across_az_seligman_sub/bnsf_-_seligman_sub_-_crozier_area gives you directions of how to get close to the old Santa Fe, now Burlington Northern Santa Fe, main line to take great pictures of trains.

The post card was published by Fred Harvey. He didn't usually print his own cards, but contracted with someone else to do the printing and he distributed them.

In 1878 Fred Harvey was the first to established a chain of restaurants then hotels across the Southwest that provided quality service. Much was done to market the region including publishing large series of postcards depicting Native Americans and local scenery. In 1897 Harvey took over the news stands for the A.T.&S.F. Railroad and began distributing postcards. The Santa Fe Railroad also did a great deal to publicize its Route to the Grand Canyon. A large amount of postcards were produced depicting the canyon and the Railroad’s hotel interests within the National Park. Fred Harvey himself provided some of the images for these cards until his death in 1901. Between 1901 and 1932 the Company contracted all their cards with the Detroit Publishing Company. These cards have an H prefix before their identification number, but in addition Detroit published many of Harvey’s images on their own. After Detroit closed, many of Harvey’s cards were contracted out to Curt Teich among others.

This is the description of what is on the front of the post card, as found at the back-left-top corner of the card. It mentions that the picture was taken at Crozier Canyon in Arizona and we can see that the railway was owned by the Santa Fe by then. It mentions that the canyon lies between Hackberry and Peach Springs.
This is a part of the post card description that I noticed, that got my

hackles up. Then I realized that this post card was from the early twentieth century and decided to use it as a learning experience for myself, and perhaps for you, too. It is the part about "made over into educated citizens" that go to me. It reminds me of a conversation I had with someone who said, basically, that "they deserved to lose the land because they didn't do anything with it."
These people lived in the area for thousands of years in harmony with the land, the climate, the weather, the animals, etc. Look at the names they have given to themselves: The Havasupai people are an American Indian tribe who have lived in the Grand Canyon for at least the past 800 years. Havasu means "blue-green water" and pai "people". The name Hualapai, meaning "people of the tall pines", is derived from hwa:l, the word for ponderosa pine and pai "people". Their traditional territory is a 108-mile (174 km) stretch along the pine-clad southern side of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River with the tribal capital at Peach Springs. Both groups of people lived in such a way on the land that we should have learned from them how to live there, rather than us teaching them how to become "civilized" peoples.

I'm done. I will get off my soap box now.

A Trip to Northern Arizona

As the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (Santa Fe) made its way west towards California from Chicago it had to cross through mountain passes and over canyons.

The picture on the front of this post card shows that the Santa Fe successfully made it over Canyon Diablo in northern Arizona. It is located 35 degrees north of the equator and 111 degrees west of the prime meridian. Edmonton, Alberta Canada is located 53 degrees north of the equator and 113 degrees west of the prime meridian; we are almost 1,200 kilometers straight north of this canyon.

The building of this bridge led to the development of a small city on the western edge of the canyon. Originally started by the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, the bridge was put on hold for six months because the company had ordered a bridge of the wrong span length (the mistake was only discovered when the bridge arrived at the canyon) and a new one had to be ordered. However, the building of the railroad continued west while the railroad waited for the bridge. In 1880, a town called Canyon Diablo began as the central location for the railroad workers. The town was connected to Flagstaff, Arizona by stagecoach to facilitate growth and commerce. But, as fate would have it instead saloons, gambling halls, brothels and dance halls made this town their home. Eating establishments, grocery stores and other honest businesses also called Canyon Diablo home. While its residents were mainly employees of the A&P RR, outlaws, gamblers, and prostitutes made their way there, too.

This is from https://www.legendsofamerica.com/az-canyondiablo/: Within a short time the town had 2,000 residents. A regular stagecoach route from Flagstaff to Canyon Diablo began running and was often the victim of robberies. Within its first year, the town received its first marshal. He was sworn in at 3:00pm, and was being buried at 8:00pm that same night. Five more town marshals would follow, the longest lasting one month, and all were killed in the line of duty. A "Boot Hill" cemetery sprouted up at the end of town, which in less than a decade had 35 graves, all of whom had been killed by way of violent death. The 36th grave was that of former trading post owner Herman Wolfe, who died in 1899, the only one to have died a nonviolent death.

This is a picture of the bridge taken in 2005:

When the railroad bridge was completed, the town quickly died. The original railroad bridge was replaced in 1900 with a new bridge to carry heavier locomotives and cars. By 1903, the only thing remaining in the town was a Navajo trading post. A new double track railroad bridge was completed across the Canyon in 1947. What remains today at Canyon Diablo are a few building foundations, the grave marker and grave of Herman Wolfe, the ruins of the trading post, a railroad siding and a double track railroad bridge.

This is the back of the post card. This tells me that it was printed before March 1, 1907, when people were first allowed to add a message to the back of the post card. Prior to that, only the address could be on the back. If there was going to be a message, it had to be short enough to fit on the front without obstructing the beautiful scene on the front. In fact, I can tell you that this post card was published before 1904. The reason is included below. This post card was published by the Detroit Photographic Co. Originally a printer of religious books and calendars, the Detroit Photographic Company Ltd. shifted production in 1897 when owners William A. Livingstone and Edwin H. Husher saw the potential in postcards. After negotiations with Orell Fussli, Detroit became the sole American company to license the Swiss photochrom process, which they would eventually register in 1907 under the name Phostint. In addition they would also distributed Swiss made prints for Fussli in America. When the well known Western photographer William Henry Jackson joined the company as a partner, he added his thousands of negatives to Livingstone’s collection of Great Lakes imagery and Husher’s photos of California. All this provided a strong foundation to start publishing postcards. Jackson traveled around the United States taking many additional pictures until 1903 when he took over the management of Detroit’s factory. By 1904 as postcards sales increased to 7 million per year they changed their name to the Detroit Publishing Company. They produced postcards on a great variety of subjects but they are best known for their view-cards. The quality of their cards are considered some of the finest produced in America. They also printed many contract cards whose numbers increased as ordinary sales began to fall. Many of their views found on postcards were also produced as larger sized prints. Detroit went into receivership in 1924 but printed contract cards until 1932. The look of these cards changed over the years as the phostint technique was secretly perfected. All their cards were printed in Detroit except for a rare few from Austria and Switzerland.

Bringing Home the Memories!

I have to ask if this is a real train or not. It is a picture, which is posted below, of a scale model of what looks like a Southern Pacific design of a diesel engine pulling a passenger consist. The train pulls passengers around the property of this hotel:

I grew up just a few blocks from this hotel. We passed it often when visiting an aunt in Scottsdale, when going to Papago Park, or when going up or down Van Buren for one reason or another.
When the Ramada Inn at 3801 East Van Buren installed a streetcar trolley to deliver guests to their rooms, the HiWay House at 3148 East Van Buren, which advertised itself as the "King-Sized Playground of the Southwest," invested in a large-scaled train. They named it the Arizona Pacific Railroad and it pulled its visitors of all ages on a locomotive tour of the grounds as seen on this map of the hotel.

And what grounds. HiWay House was an extreme example of the frenzied competition among Van Buren Street motels.
The hotel was a Del Webb Construction Company project and Van Buren's largest hotel complex; besides its private locomotive and passenger consist, the HiWay House Hotel had its own business complex and convention center. In December of 1956 the “Web Spinner”, an internal communications tool of the Del Webb Construction Company, the HiWay House is mentioned as still being under construction. In the November of 1956 issue it was mentioned as being scheduled for opening in December of 1956. I am not sure exactly when it opened its doors, but it was shortly before the picture on the post card posted below.

The trains were not inexpensive. At a time when a new Chevrolet was $2200, the average house $18,000 and average annual wage $5500, Webb paid $13,700 for each of the Arizona trains FOB North Tonawanda, New York. Rail, ties, ballast, other track components, crossing signals and labor brought the overall cost of each railroad to close to $20,000 - and he already owned the land.

The hotel had two engines that pulled the train: the one shown in this post card

and a replica of a steam locomotive. At the time, the public had an insatiable appetite for the American Western. Seven of the top ten TV shows and eleven of the top twenty were westerns. Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Have Gun will Travel, The Rifleman, Maverick, Tales of Wells Fargo and Wyatt Earp were all in the top ten most popular shows on television. Webb was looking to ride the wave of the popularity of the American western and provide a fun and entertaining way for motel guests to enjoy and view his spacious motel grounds. So, he also purchased this locomotive:

The Hiway House in Phoenix changed ownership and names several times in the mid-sixties and seventies, but the train stayed and continued carrying guests around the property. The name on the side of the engine changed as often as hotel ownership. The Hiway House Express was at various times the Ramada Inn Express, International Hotel Express and Sleepy Bear Express (Travelodge) among others. The interstate highway system bypassed the area and by the mid-seventies the area was in significant decline.

In the mid-'90s, the HiWay House became the Big House, when the state of Arizona purchased the property and turned it into a women's prison, which operated until the end of the 1990s.

This post card was published by Petley Studios from Phoenix, Arizona. Bob (Robert Teeple) Petley was born on November 11, 1912, in Akron, Ohio and passed away on July 7, 2006. He began his publishing career when he issued twelve black & white comic cards in 1946. he started his postcard company, Petley Studios, Inc., which would later become the nations largest publisher and distributor of scenic color postcards with dealers in Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas, southwestern Colorado, and eastern California. He went on to become the largest publisher of photochrome postcards depicting Southwest views and roadside Americana. Some artist signed cards depicting Western themes were also produced. Most of his postcards seem to have been printed by Dexter Press. This firm was sold to Bruce Finchum in 1984. The above information about Petley comes from the Metropolitan Postcard Club's website.

Johnson's Canyon Bridge is NO MORE!

This is a post card of a steam engine pulling a passenger train over a bridge and into a tunnel as it crosses Johnson's Canyon in Arizona.

The following information has been taken from the following presentation:

The Johnson Canyon Abandoned Railroad Grade: A History of 9.3 Miles of Treacherous Railroading in Northern Arizona By Neil S. Weintraub Northern Arizona University
Paper Presented at the 1993 Arizona History Conference in Kingman, Arizona

Johnson Canyon that is approximately eight miles west of Williams, Arizona, which is 81 miles west of Flagstaff. It is on the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau, a large geological uplift the forms an 1100 foot drop that plagued engineers as they built the tunnel and bridges over the canyon and through the rock. Congress chartered the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company to build a railway from Springfield, Missouri to San Diego, California. However, bankruptcy problems prevented the A&P from building the line until the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company acquired half interest, using the A&P charter to complete the line from Albuquerque to the Colorado River. It was in the summer of 1880 that the railroad reached the eastern Arizona border. Opening the line through Johnson Canyon required the construction of two steel bridges and a tunnel. This was the only segment of railroad grade in Arizona that required two bridges in any one locale, as well as necessitating the only tunnel west of Albuquerque. In early 1881, the A&P awarded a contract for all the work through the canyon to James T. Simms. By April, Simms’ track crews began feverishly grading the main line path by blasting rock cuts, building bridges, clearing trees, and cutting ties. Because of the significant labor the structures required, Simms’ construction camp
housed 2500-3000 men.

The bridges were located just west of the tunnel and stood 100 feet above the canyon
bottom, spanning 330 feet and 360 feet. Working on the bridges was a precarious job. The bridges were trestle type. The first bridge consisted of eleven 30 foot girder spans resting on metal trestle bents on small masonry piers. The second bridge had twelve 30 foot girder spans supported by small masonry piers. In both cases, the Edge Moore Iron Works of Edge Moore, Delaware fabricated the metal. The Arizona line’s high maintenance costs proved financially disastrous, and in 1896 the AT&SF acquired the full ownership of the A&P. Few changes were made to the line until 1901 when the AT&SF upgraded the tunnel by having it lined with cement, roofed with steel plating and the portals faced with sandstone masonry. These modifications greatly reduced maintenance costs and the operations continued through the canyon until 1910. As technology advanced, newer, more powerful and heavier trains required gentler uphill grades. In 1910, the AT&SF built the first major realignment around Johnson Canyon to lessen the grade for eastward (uphill) bound trains. This line ran from just west of Fairview to two miles east of McLellan, passing north of Johnson Canyon. Although construction lengthened this segment from 9.3 miles to 12.7 miles, it reduced uphill grades from 112 feet per mile to 82 feet per mile. by 1960, spurred by the need for higher clearances, the Santa Fe commenced work on a new multi-million dollar realignment that bypassed the 1882 Johnson Canyon railroad grade and the 1910 realignment. With the new realignment, crews scrapped the rails in Johnson Canyon and the ties left to rot. Here is a picture, I found on the internet, of Johnson's Canyon today:

The post card was published by Fred Harvey. My blog post of February 7, 2014 explains much about Mr. Harvey and his chain of restaurants. Harvey began a business venture of setting up restaurants along the Kansas Pacific Railroad with Jeff Rice in 1873. It didn’t survive; but, Fred realized that this was to be his life’s work. 1876 he struck a deal with an acquaintance, Charles Morse. Harvey opened eating houses rent free along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad – of which Mr.

Morse was the superintendent. The deal was sealed only with a handshake, but it would have huge ramifications for both parties. At its peak, there were 84 Harvey Houses, all of which catered to wealthy and middle-class visitors alike and Harvey became

known as "the Civilizer of the West."

Fred Harvey and His Post Cards

Fred Harvey (June 27, 1835–February 9, 1901) has done wonders to promote the beauty of the Arizona desert. In 1878 Fred Harvey established a chain of “Harvey House” restaurants and hotels across the southwestern United States. Much was done to market the region including publishing large series of post cards depicting Native Americans and local scenery. Harvey's partnership with the Santa Fe began in 1876 when he struck a deal with Charles Morse, the superintendent of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad (Santa Fe). In 1897 Harvey took over the news stands for the railroad and distributed post cards. A large amount of post cards were produced depicting the Arizona scenery and the Santa Fe trains as they passed through. Fred Harvey himself provided some of the images for these cards until his death in 1901. When Fred Harvey died there were 47 Harvey House restaurants, 15 hotels, and 30 dining cars operating on the Santa Fe Railway.

The first post card picture is of a bridge then a tunnel. These are at Johnson’s canyon; about half way between Flagstaff and Seligman, Arizona, just west of Williams where one can take a steam train ride to the Grand Canyon. Santa Fe used the steeper Johnson Canyon route, opened in 1882, for east-west rail travel and the gentler "Coconino Cut" route to the north for west-east rail travel through to the early 1960's. The line was finally abandoned in 1962 and the rails removed when the "Coconino Cut" route (a much gentler grade) was double-tracked. It is quite a hike, but one can still get to the tunnel to see the old route. The middle post card is an image of a Santa Fe diesel cruising on the main line of the Santa Fe railroad through Crozier Canyon in northwestern Arizona. Today, you can still take pictures similar to this one. The canyon is still accessible from Route 66. The website: http://www.northamericanrails.com/bnsf_transcon_across_az_seligman_sub/bnsf_-_seligman_sub_-_crozier_area gives you directions of how to get close to the Santa Fe main line to take great pictures of trains. The bottom post card is of Canyon Diablo. I am very familiar with this area. We used to spend our summers exploring northern Arizona when I was growing up. Canyon Diablo is very close to the “world famous” Meteor Crater. It is about half way between Flagstaff and Winslow. It, too, is on the main line of the Santa Fe railroad. Canyon Diablo was given its name by a Lieutenant Whipple in 1853. This canyon presented such an obstacle to his historic thirty-fifth parallel survey party that he wanted to let all that followed know what he thought of it. Devil's Canyon was appropriately named. Other survey parties, like Whipple's, had to go miles out of their way just to cross the canyon. The railroad tried to span the canyon in 1881 but Canyon Diablo once more lived up to its name. Evidently the timber parts of the railroad bridge were pre-assembled elsewhere and the plans were misread. The bridge came up several feet short! Today is has a modern steel bridge and it is used by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad on a regular basis.

On the back side of the cards to the top left we can see Fred Harvey’s signature advertising that there are hotels, shops and restaurants waiting to serve our needs. Between 1901 and 1932 the Company contracted all their cards with the Detroit Publishing Company. These cards have an H prefix before their identification number, which you can see on the front of the cards as part of their titles. After Detroit closed, many of Harvey’s cards were contracted out to Curt Teich. These three post cards are printed by Curt Otto Teich. You can see the evidence at the bottom middle of the post cards. By this time, Curt Teich’s company had settled on a convenient way to date and number their post cards. The numbers for these cards are from top to bottom: 1B-H752, 1B-H751 and 1B-H752. The 1B indicates the year the post card was printed. B indicates that it was printed in the 1940s. The 1 indicates that it was specifically 1941. The H- indicates that the post card was printed using the “Art Colortone” method. Most post card collectors will recognize these as the “linen” post cards. In 1941 there were 2693 different pictures on these types of post cards printed by The Teich Company. Through a bit of math we can see that these cards were printed somewhere in the beginning of April of that year.