In my quest to study all things pertaining to Fred Harvey (the man and the company), I stumbled across an old (i.e., 36 years ago) account of the companys Southwestern Indian Detours venture that ran out of La Fonda in Santa Fe. It was in 1926 that these ground tours began. And we all know what else happened toward the end of that year. One of the attractions along the way was to drive the coaches and motor cars down La Bajada. The story of La Bajada is one of numerous routes scaling this 600-foot escarpment. In addition to unknown numbers of Indian trails, the historic El Camino Real, and various wagon routes, there were three primary auto routes...1909 (west), 1924 (east), and finally, 1931, roughly following the current I-25 corridor a few miles farther south and east. The picture below is from 1926, when Fred Harvey Company (Fred himself had been dead for 25 years at that point) started bringing tour groups to La Bajada. It was not yet christened Route 66 just yet, so in fact was still NOTR. Indian Detours director R. Hunter Clarkson worked closely with then-Governor Arthur T. Hannett to ensure that curves were rounded, lanes widened, and surface smoothed to facilitate tourism (and specifically, Harvey vehicles). By 1930, daily traffic averaged 1565 vehicles. It is very interesting to me to note the influence that Fred Harvey Company had on one of our most cherished of Route 66 byways. We may not always like the influence that corporations wield on governments, but in this case, we may all be able to agree that it was good.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 15:07:59 +0000
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