Fred Harvey's La Posada Hotel in Winslow, Arizona was the dream of the Harvey Company's architect Mary Colter. She designed it in the form of a Spanish hacienda. It sat trackside of the AT&SF awaiting the arrival of the Detourists. For information about staying at the hotel today, click on the photograph.
A HarveyCoach is departing from La Posada Hotel in 1930, heading for one of the many Indian Detours offered from there.
The Painted Desert was about fifty-five miles east of Winslow, Arizona and combined with the Petrified Forest just to the south of it, made for an interesting morning Detour from Winslow.
The Fred Harvey lunch counter in the Painted Desert Inn made for a refreshing stop on the Indian Detours before heading south into the Petrified Forest.
Albert Einstein and his wife visited Petrified Forest National Park, a stop on the Indian Detours, in 1931. The petrified logs can be seen in the background. Petrified Forest became a National Monument in 1906. In 1932 the Painted Desert section was added to the Monument, and the entire area became Petrified Forest National Park in 1962. Click on the photo for information about the Park.
Returning from Petrified Forest for a late lunch at La Posada, the Detourists then ventured west eighteen miles to view the Meteor Crater. The crater was formed when a meteorite slammed into the earth about 50,000 years ago. After viewing the crater, the dudes returned to La Posada for the night to board the train the next day or continue more Detours in Arizona.
This Ansel Adams photograph illustrates the remoteness of the Hopi pueblo at Walpi sixty miles north of Winslow, Arizona. Obviously, the Detourists could not spend the night here, so Fred Harvey set up a tent camp for them on the plains below.
One of the most popular of all the Indian Detours was the trip to Hopi to view the Snake Dance. Here the natives danced with a snake in their mouth. To the Hopi, snakes were the original guardians of springs of water, so the dance was held in August to bring rain to their crops.
Nampeyo was a famous Hopi potter. Her pots were highly valued by the Detourists and everyone who visited Hopi. The Fred Harvey Company brought her to live at Hopi House at the Grand Canyon to demonstrate her pottery-making skills during the summer.
Rainbow Bridge National Monument is 210 miles north of Winslow, Arizona, so it was definitely a multi-day Detour. The dudes stayed at Rainbow Lodge the first night, and then rode horses the next day on the thirteen-mile trail to Rainbow Bridge. They camped overnight at the Echo Spring Camp and returned to Rainbow Lodge the next day.
President Theodore Roosevelt (second from right) is set to camp at Echo Spring Camp on his way to Rainbow Bridge. The famous "Rough Rider" had no problem riding a horse on the thirteen-mile journey.
Rainbow Bridge, a favorite destination on the Indian Detours, was declared a National Monument by President William Howard Taft on May 30, 1910. It is one of the largest natural arches in the world with a span of 275 feet. It is 290 feet from the base to the top of the arch. Rainbow Bridge can be reached today from Lake Powell. For information on that trip, click on the photograph.
From Rainbow Bridge, the Detourists could return to Winslow, Arizona or carry on to Monument Valley about 100 miles to the east. Monument Valley is a Navajo Tribal Park, and the Detourists stayed at Goulding's Lodge just outside of the park. The "Mittens" formation seen above is one of the most famous sights in Monument Valley.
The scenery in Monument Valley, with its 400-to-1,000-foot-high pinnacles and buttes, is so fantastic that it has been the site of countless motion pictures. The first film was shot there in 1925- "The Vanishing American"- based on a Zane Grey novel.
From Monument Valley, the Indian Detours travelers could motor on to the Four Corners, where the boundaries of four states come together- Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. This is also a Navajo Tribal Park, and tribe members sell their arts & crafts here. Tourists like to pose on the monument showing how they can be in four states at the same time.