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  • HOME
  • Establishing The Detours
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    • Indian Detours Day 2
    • Indian Detours Day 3
    • Roads to Yesterday
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    • Detours From Albuquerque
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A Rough Ride to the Grand Canyon

A stagecoach heads to the Grand Canyon circa 1900.

All Aboard - A Stagecoach?

Before the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF Railway) built their spur line from Williams, Arizona sixty miles north to the Grand Canyon, passengers had to depart the train and board a stagecoach for the miserable journey north. The ride was hot, dusty, and very bumpy. Fred Harvey was not happy with putting his guests through this experience. 

improvements are Coming!

A meal stop on the stagecoach trip to the Grand Canyon.

Well, this place definitely did not meet Fred Harvey standards, but it did offer the stagecoach passengers some kind of a meal on their sixty-mile journey from Williams to the Grand Canyon.

The first AT&SF train arrives at the Grand Canyon in 1901.

Finally! The first AT&SF Railway train arrived at the Grand Canyon from Williams in 1901. The passengers look extremely pleased to be there having avoided the stagecoach ride. 

El Tovar Hotel at the Grand Canyon in 1905.

El Tovar Hotel at the Grand Canyon opened in 1905 with Fred Harvey as concessionaire. It was a short walk for passengers from the train station to the hotel. Transportation along the Canyon rim was still horse and buggy at this time.

Tourists queue up for a bus trip at the Grand Canyon from El Tovar Hotel, circa 1920.

By 1915 automobiles and motorized coaches were making an appearance at the Grand Canyon. Fred Harvey was pleased to offer guests at El Tovar Hotel with a more comfortable way to see the Grand Canyon. Transportation manager Hunter Clarkson was busy coordinating the traffic west along the canyon rim to Hermit's Rest and east along the rim to Desert View. This experience eventually led him to suggest the Indian Detours to Fred Harvey in 1925, with a start date in 1926.

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