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A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE

ATCHISON, TOPEKA, AND SANTA FE RAILROAD,

THE “ROUTE 66” RAILROAD IN ARIZONA

AND THEIR FAMOUS CALENDARS

By Kathy Block

March, 1951 ad in National Geographic Magazine

This write-up deals only briefly with the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad line in Northern Arizona, the “Route 66” railroad, though there were other railroad branches to other areas of Arizona.

The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad had its origins with the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, which was chartered by Congress on July 27, 1866, to build a railway from Springfield, Missouri across the Indian Territory to the Colorado River and from there to San Diego. Its major asset was a federal land grant of a 200 foot right-of-way along the alignment of the future railroad and 20 odd-numbered sections of land per mile on each side of the tracks across New Mexico and Arizona Territories. The alignment roughly followed the 35^th parallel, which runs between the east-west borders between the top one/third and bottom two/thirds of the Territories. This is close to the alignment chosen for historic Route 66 when it was created in 1926.

The Atlantic and Pacific was bankrupt in 1876, having completed only 351 miles of track in Missouri and Indian Territory. The Atchison and Topeka Company, which had its origins seven years before the Atlantic and Pacific charter was granted, had begun in 1859 with a charter from the Kansas legislature to build a railroad from the Northeast corner of Kansas thru nearby Atchison and end in Topeka – a distance of less than 100 miles. Colonel Cyrus K. Holiday- a farmer, land speculator, and lawyer- met with a dozen other men in a law office in Atchison, Kansas and formally organized the Atchison and Topeka Railroad. Then, March 3, 1863, President Lincoln signed legislation giving a 3 million acre land grant for a railroad extending from Atchison across Kansas to its western border in the direction of Fort Union and Santa Fe. The name was changed to the “Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad.” The line was completed to the Colorado border by the end of 1872, By February, 1880, tracks reached Santa Fe.

But, that charter extended no further west than Albuquerque. In November, 1879, though, the A, T, & S.F. purchased a half interest in the Atlantic and Pacific and used its charter to extend the line thru the rest of New Mexico and Arizona under the Atlantic and Pacific name!

The Arizona alignment was surveyed by a Lewis Kingman in 1880, with a survey team of 20 men and 5 wagons. The line was plotted between Rio Puerco in New Mexico to Holbrook, Arizona. Then, they followed the Little Colorado River to Sunset Crossing in Brigham City (a fort built by Mormons in 1876, now within Winslow City limits). The crew skipped the middle part of alignment across Arizona's high country until summer 1881.

Construction began new Albuquerque in summer 1880. The first rail put down in Arizona was a two and one/half mile segment in Querino Canyon, just west of present-day Houck. The company contracted with local construction firms to clear and grade portions of the line, do some bridge and tunnel work, and provide materials. By summer 1881 more than 2,000 men were working in Northern Arizona, preparing the way for the rails. These workers included groups of Mormons organized by John W. Young, son of Bigham Young. The A & P employed almost anyone they could find to work. Rural Arizona had a very limited labor pool, including local Hispanics, Apaches, and Navajos. They also recruited recent emigrants from the mid-west, resulting in crews with a large Irish contingent. (Footnote 1.)

Charles S. Gleed, whose name was given to a settlement along the railroad, wrote an article for The Cosmopolitan, February, 1893. (Footnote 2.) In it he mentions fears of great financiers who said that money invested in “the great American desert” would never come back. Eventually, with Col. Holiday as the originator of the enterprise, “the right man came and the locomotive and the Pullman car drove out the ox team, the covered wagon, and the desolate trail became the highway of nations.”

At the time of the article, there were 9,298 miles of track, nearly all single track, a mileage equal to one/third of the distance around the Earth, and one/sixteenth that of the United States. In Arizona, there were 490 miles.

Altitudes within Arizona included 7,257 feet at Continental Divide in Arizona, 4,848 feet at Winslow, 6,886 feet at Flagstaff.

Track laying at a rate of a mile a day was often achieved. Most of the lines of the system preceded settlements, “not to say civilization”, passing thru new country, too remote for substantial settlement without the railroad coming. The people of New Mexico and Arizona were nearly all Spanish Americans, except the Indians.

The Arizona line reached the mining and grazing regions of Northern Arizona by an east to west line from New Mexico to California at Needles.

Settlements began along the railroad line, often using the checkerboard sections granted to the railroad. The tracks began in Houck in the summer of 1880 and reached Kingman in March,1883. The bridge over the Colorado River was completed and the line reached Needles, California in August 1883. Passenger and freight stations began to be erected along the railroad. Nine of the 50 stations in Arizona were along Route 66.

Six “Harvey Houses” and hotels sprang up to serve passengers and crews, along this route. The famous El Tovar Harvey House, built in 1905 by the Santa Fe Railroad still stands at the Grand Canyon and is owned by the National Park Service as well as the Bright Angel Lodge, built for the ATSF Railroad in 1935, under famed female architect Mary Colter. It still exists also under National Park Service management.

Some of these settlements and stations along the Northern Arizona route near Route 66 are of interest to the APCRP for their historic cemeteries. There are a number of old cemeteries near Ash Fork such as Cedar Glade, Puntenney, and Gleed. Many railroad workers and people from settlements were buried in these. Drake train station (which changed its name from Cedar Glade in 1920), was built in 1901. The last passenger service here was in 1955 and 1969. This depot was moved to Prescott in the 1970s to become a gift shop. Other historic depots were torn down when they were no longer used. A few found new uses such as a crew house at Ash Fork, and a railroad office in Flagstaff. Several were restored for tourist use, such as Kingman (built 1907, last service 1971, restored 2007); and Williams (built 1885, last service 1908, used by city since 1994). (Footnote 3).

Map from the back of the 1929 Katchina Doll calendar showing Santa Fe RR routes

The president of the Santa Fe Railroad, William B. Strong, pushed development and was described in 1893 as: “The romance involved in the history of the Santa Fe system can scarcely be more than hinted at here. There can never be again in this country such a life as was led by President Strong strictly within the bounds of civil life, he was yet as free as Columbus to discover new commercial worlds....” Later the author, Charles Gleed, commented that management and commercial considerations led to the realization that, “the romance in the business has largely gone. It went with the Indian, who once burned station-houses and murdered settlers along the line; with the Colorado and Kansas grasshoppers that stopped the very trains on the track, with the drought that drove the settlers back and threatened ruin to the whole new field of commerce.” (Footnote 2).

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FAMOUS

ATCHISON TOPEKA & SANTA FE CALENDARS

The romance and scenes of the Southwestern country and its Native Americans that the ATSF traveled thru, though, was preserved and promoted, beginning in 1900, by William Haskell Simpson. He became the railroad's general advertising agent in 1900. His first goal was to enhance the company's image and promote tourism to the southwest where the trains traveled.

Simpson recruited artists, ironically mostly from famous artists in the Eastern United States, to paint the Southwestern-themed art to be used in Santa Fe advertising. The first artists were originally paid with trips to the Grand Canyon. However, as more artists were represented, the railroad decided to purchase the paintings and avoid future conflicts with reproduction rights.

The first painting purchased by Simpson was in 1903 by Bertha Menzler Dressler. It depicted the San Francisco Peaks in Northern Arizona. Simpson purchased 108 paintings by 1907 for the Santa Fe Railroad collection. Most illustrated Southwestern landscapes and portraits of Native Americans as they lived in Arizona.

The art collection was used on all forms of advertising. In 1907 the annual Santa Fe calendars were first printed, using these paintings. They were sent to schools and businesses across the United States. The tradition lasted until 1993. Simpson died in 1933, but Santa Fe continued to purchase and commission original paints depicting Southwestern themes until around 1966. Today there are more than 600 paintings, one of the largest collections of Southwestern art in existence. The collection is now owned by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad and displayed nationally in its corporate offices. Some paintings are also at the New Mexico Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe.

The first calendar (1907) using these paintings was “Everywhere Southwest” with an Indian design border. In the 1900s, some were design only, but by the 1920s and thru the 1940s, most of the calendars depicted Native Americans engaged in various activities such as basket weaving, grinding corn, dancing, hunting. There were no calendars in 1919 and 1920 (government operation).

In the 1940s, scenery became more prominent, with depictions of landmarks such as “Gallup in the 1880s,” “Monument Valley,” “San Francisco Peaks”. Some calendar scenes resembled paintings by the noted Western artist Charles Russell. In the 1950s, Native Americans were again featured on calendars such as “Navajo Woman,” “Navaho Sandpainter”. etc. One, “Indian Chant”, 1953, is shown below.

L. “Indian Chant” calendar unframed – R. “Indian Chant” calendar framed

APCRP has collector copies of this calendar available, unframed, on light cardboard, as a donation to APCRP. $15.00 + $5.00 S&H Each.

NOTE: Quantities are limited on some collector calendar prints; make sure to order quickly to assure a copy of the print you want.

Other calendars available thru Neal Du Shane as a donation to APCRP are the dreamy, “On the Way to Laguna Pueblo,” (1934), “Water Birds,” (1937), and “Indian Shepherd.” (1961). $15.00 + $5.00 S&H Each.

L. “On the Way to Laguna Pueblo” Unframed. R. “Water Birds” Unframed

“Indian Shepherd”. Unframed

In the 1960s, the Santa Fe Railroad had over 600 paintings and decided to reuse four of their paintings for 1963, 1964, 1965, and 1967 calendars. One, “Kachina Doll” was used in 1964. It was originally titled, ”The Katchina Doll” (1929). (The word Kachina is spelled several ways.) One copy of this calendar is available. Unframed.

“The Katchina Doll”

Collectors can tell the difference between earlier and later versions by looking for the Santa Fe circle and cross logo. Until 1949, all calendars had the logo overlaid or watermarked on the image. The date of publication appears usually below the bottom line of the framed art, on the right hand side.

Example of ad for a calendar for sale today from an Internet dealer

These calendars are a lasting reminder of the Southwestern country and peoples at the beginning of the settlement of Arizona, partly brought about by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad.

FOOTNOTES

1. “Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, The Route 66 Railroad!” aroundaz.com. 2003-2007. Internet.

2. Charles S. Gleed, “The Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe,” The Cosmopolitan, Feb. 1893. Reprinted in Catskill Archive. Internet. This page originally appeared on Thomas Ehrenreich's Railroad Extra Website.

3. “Passenger Train Stations in Arizona,” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.” Internet.

4. “Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Company Calendars,” Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Company Calendars Website.

These prints are donated to support APCRP,

through the generosity of Ed and Kathy Block

Call in advance of placing an order to verify availability

Make Donation Checks Payable and mail to:

Neal Du Shane / APCRP

1224 Canvasback Court

Fort Collins, CO 80525-8835

1-970-227-3512

American Pioneer & Cemetery Research Project

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