Appetite for America

by Stephen Fried

  a tomb impervious: Details of Pullman’s grave from “Lies in Solid Rock,” CT, Oct. 24, 1897, p. 24.

  disinherited his twin sons: “Cut Off with Income of $3000 Each,” Boston Globe, Oct. 28, 1897, p. 3; and “Disinherited,” LAT, Oct. 28, 1897, p. 1.

  his personal barber: “Pullman’s Barber Shut Out,” NYT, Dec. 16, 1898, p. 1.

  Smart, direct, and sometimes stunningly: Descriptions of Minnie Harvey are from the vivid recollections of her great-nephew Stewart Harvey Jr., from author interviews, and from photographs of her in LCHSC.

  John Huckel: Huckel used his first name, John, but was more often referred to by his middle name, Fred. But since it is hard enough to keep track of Fred, his son Ford, and his son Freddy already, I’m referring to him as John. Biographical information comes from his obituaries: “Death of J. F. Huckel,” KCT, March 27, 1936; NYT, March 28, 1936, p. 15; and “John F. Huckel, Fred Harvey Official, Passes Away,” SFMag, May 1936, pp. 15–16.

  a health crisis: Author interview with Joy Harvey, wife of the late Byron “Ronny” Harvey III—she recalled hearing this from Kitty Harvey.

  whose namesake niece: “Birthday Party,” LT, July 2, 1881, p. 4.

  “cowboy cavalry”: “Teddy’s Terrors: Cowboy Cavalry Regiment Going to Cuba; the Men Who Are Being Enlisted Are Rough Riders, Dead Shots, and Fearless Fighters,” LAT, April 28, 1898, p. 3.

  “benevolent assimilation”: From McKinley’s order to the secretary of war, Dec. 27, 1898, reprinted in NYT, Jan. 6, 1899, p. 1.

  “A splendid little war”: Hay to Roosevelt, July 27, 1898 (just before he was named secretary of state). See William Roscoe Thayer, John Hay: In Two Volumes (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1915), p. 337; the “turkey shoot” quote credited to a Seaman Cross from the battleship Oregon.

  As the Rough Riders’ train: Roosevelt’s visit is recreated from coverage in the NYT, CT, and LAT, as well as “Roosevelt There: Rain Ruined Decorations at Las Vegas,” Santa Fe New Mexican, June 24, 1899, and “Rough Riders Grand Reunion,” Albuquerque Daily Citizen, June 26, 1899.

  “almost lifted bodily”: “Teddy’s Coming,” LAT, June 25, 1899, p. B1.

  Harvey Girls wore special outfits: Author interview with Leslie F. Loewe, retired chairman and CEO of Angelica Corporation; and Poling-Kempes, Harvey Girls, p. 56.

  Williams sent the spoon: “Was F. Harvey’s Spoon,” LT, June 13, 1900, p. 4, reprinted from St. Louis Democrat; actual letter from Williams is in DHC along with typescript of this article and a Jan. 27, 1900, letter to Fred from John C. Burrowes, the superintendent for dining cars for the Southern Railway, to whom the spoon was apparently first sent.

  CHAPTER 20: THE CLUTCHES OF THE GRIM MONSTER

  “Frederick Harvey Ill”: “Frederick Harvey Ill at Streatham,” NYT, Oct. 15, 1899, p. 1.

  most renowned medical authority: There have been numerous references to Harvey being treated by “one of the most eminent surgeons” (in the words of Dan Anthony in the LT), but nobody named the doctor. It had to be Frederick Treves, who was, at that time, not only the world’s most famous surgeon but also the world authority on exactly what was wrong with Fred. Besides this circumstantial evidence, there is one hard fact—-just after Fred’s surgery, his treatment was transferred to another London physician, a transfer that corresponds to Treves quitting his private practice to go treat soldiers in the Boer War.

  written the textbook: Information on Treves from Stephen and Lee, Dictionary of National Biography, p. 857; and Trombley, Sir Frederick Treves, esp. pp. 80–83, from which the quotes are taken.

  was reporting that Fred: “Railroad Record,” LAT, Oct. 25, 1899, p. 9.

  “Fred Harvey Not Dead”: Santa Fe New Mexican, Oct. 27, 1899, p. 1.

  tethered permanently: Htapes, no. 7, side B: “He had a colostomy, which my father [Byron Harvey, Fred’s son] told me all about and he was scared to death—my father had the same thing.”

  “even a teaspoonful”: Fred’s graphic descriptions of his pain and physical problems are in letters to Ford Harvey, Feb. 23, March 6 and 10, April 3 and 6, 1900, LCHSC. The March 6 letter is particularly interesting because it has a note at the end written to Ford by what appears to be Fred’s sister Eliza (who appears to have also been the actual writer of the letters, presumably dictated to her by Fred).

  “I think if Mamma”: Fred Harvey to Ford Harvey, April 6, 1900, LCHSC.

  “sometimes I feel hopeful”: Fred Harvey to Ford Harvey, Feb. 23, 1900, LCHSC.

  “The pain, Mother”: These Edison Cylinders still exist at LCHSC, but so far nobody has been able to make a modern transfer of the sound on them. This quote is from Michael Quinn, a photo researcher at NPSGC, who is the only living person known to have actually heard what was on the cylinders—from a reel-to-reel tape the company had made decades ago when the cylinders still played. The tape had been lost for years; urged on by me and others, Quinn finally found it mislabeled in the NPS archive, and then various historians at southwestern institutions with an interest in Fred Harvey, led by Karen Underhill at CLC, paid to have a restoration attempted on the tape. It, too, failed, although the restorers did believe they heard Fred croak out the word “Mother.” For now, we’ll have to rely on Michael’s memory.

  In one of the last pictures: In HHMC.

  “the first moment”: Fred Harvey to Ford Harvey, Aug. 21, 1900, on Chicago Beach Hotel stationery, LCHSC.

  “Your words and actions”: Fred Harvey to Ford Harvey, Aug. 23, 1900, LCHSC.

  “If you can impress upon her”: Fred Harvey to Ford Harvey, Aug. 21, 1900, LCHSC.

  spontaneous, tax-evading “gifts”: Explained in a six-page letter in DHC, dated June 28, 1900, from Leavenworth and addressed to Ford and Dave Benjamin. It notes, “My wife joins me in these gifts to our children and approves of, in evidence of which her signature to these instructions accompanies my own below.”

  “unless mamma and you object”: Fred Harvey to Ford Harvey, telegram, Sept. 7, 1900, LCHSC.

  “The Chinese doctor is not”: Ford Harvey to Fred Harvey, Sept. 8, 1900, LCHSC.

  “Have seen Chinese”: Fred Harvey to Ford Harvey, telegram, Sept. 9, 1900, LCHSC.

  “the most sprightly invalid”: Fred Harvey to Ford Harvey, Oct. 3, 1900, Wellington Hotel, LCHSC.

  “It was a delightful surprise”: Visit detailed in Strong to Ford Harvey, Oct. 24, 1900, LCHSC.

  Dave was riding from Houston: This scene in Galveston is recreated from “From the Stricken City,” KCStar, Sept. 15, 1900, p. 1—which I first learned about in Larson, Isaac’s Storm, pp. 159–63, on which I also relied. Details of the building come from a previous Galveston Daily News story, Feb. 14, 1897, n.p.

  Fred came to Leavenworth: Fred’s movements over the last weeks are detailed in “Fred Harvey at Point of Death,” LT, Feb. 7, 1901, p. 4.

  headed to Southern California: Details are in “Southern California by Towns and Counties: Pasadena; Rev. Mr. Hobart Accepts Call of Baptists, Wind-Up of Tournament of Roses Affairs,” LAT, Jan. 7, 1901, p. 11.

  California had become a major Fred: According to company datelines in DHC, the ferryboat restaurants opened in 1900, and the operation at the Ferry Building in 1901.

  knew that their leader: This is based on how the company has always operated, letters to Fred from employees wishing him good health (in DHC and LCHSC), and what reportedly happened when other key members of the Harvey family died, particularly Ford.

  dry, cracking lips: This was a common end-of-life treatment even then, see Thornton, “Treatment of Uterine Fibro-myoma” p. 863.

  “Fred Harvey lies”: “Fred Harvey at Point of Death,” p. 4.

  “Father passed away peacefully”: A copy of the telegram sent to William Strong, affixed to a copy of Fred’s 1880 portrait, is in DHC. It is unclear if this is actually Strong’s copy—returned to Ford after his death—or an extra.

  “Fred Harvey … has done more”: William Allen White’s obit from the Gazette was reprinted in LT, Feb. 14, 1901, p
. 2.

  “in many ways”: “Fred Harvey Will Probated Yesterday,” LT, Feb. 16, 1901, p. 4; also copy of will in DHC.

  “to be greatly in excess”: “Fred Harvey’s Estate Worth Over a Million,” LAT, Feb. 16, 1901, p. 1.

  “will be conducted just as it was”: “Fred Harvey Will Probated Yesterday.”

  CHAPTER 21: A LITTLE JOURNEY IN THE WILDERNESS

  self-appointed “Apostle”: Information on Lummis’s background comes from Thompson, American Character, and author correspondence with Thompson.

  Ford met up with the Ripley: This trip is recreated from “Lummis Acted as Guide in Wonderland,” LAT, Oct. 31, 1901, p. 12, for which Lummis was either the main source or the uncredited author, as well as Lummis’s own journal entries about the trip, which are in the Autry National Center of the American West and were translated for me (he wrote in English and Spanish) by research associate Manolo Madrid. Also, Lummis wrote a two-part story about the trip, “A Week of Wonders,” in his magazine Land of Sunshine 15 (June–Dec. 1901), pp. 315 and 425. His photos from the trip are also in the Autry collection.

  “a G-string”: Lummis, “Week of Wonders,” p. 327.

  controversial relic hunter: Information on Wetherill and the Hyde Exploring Expedition is from Snead, Ruins and Rivals, pp. 31–64.

  “Ours has been”: Cited in Hughes and Priehs, In the House of Stone and Light, p. 28 n. 16. The Grand Canyon history section is recreated from parts of this book; Stephen Pyne’s provocative 1998 book, How the Canyon Became Grand, a repackage of his 1982 scholarly book Dutton’s Point; and Neumann, On the Rim.

  The Santa Fe offered Moran: Moran’s relationships with the railroads are recreated from Wilkins, Thomas Moran; Bryant, History of Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, p. 120; and also Bryant’s article “The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway and the Development of the Taos and Santa Fe Art Colonies,” p. 437.

  “the Divine Abyss”: Quoted in Hughes and Priehs, In the House of Stone and Light, p. 58, citing John Burroughs, “The Divine Abyss,” in Time and Change (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1912), p. 49. Muir himself had actually been fearful when he first heard the railroad was building a line to the canyon, but later changed his mind, writing in 1902, “When I saw those trains crawling along through the pines of the Coconino Forest and close up to the brink of the chasm at Bright Angel, I was glad to discover that in the presence of such stupendous scenery they are nothing. The locomotives and trains are mere beetles and caterpillars, and the noise they make is as little disturbing as the hooting of an owl in the lonely woods.” The Writings of John Muir (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1918), p. 348.

  When Ford looked into the Divine Abyss: While some of this interior monologue is extrapolated from later events and insights from Ford’s obituaries, the best example of Ford discussing his obsession with the canyon appeared in “How One Man Conducts Sixty-six Hotels,” Leslie’s Illustrated, Feb. 27, 1913, HMC.

  “You want to put the hotel”: Lummis diary for Oct. 28, 1901, recounts this scene.

  CHAPTER 22: THE FRED HARVEY INDIAN DEPARTMENT

  Minnie was thrilled: While Minnie’s actions were generally behind-the-scenes and undocumented, she is credited for instigating the Indian Department in Bryant, History of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, p. 120.

  Ford wasn’t sure: Ford explained his unsureness about various retail adventures that John Huckel pushed the company into in an unpublished manuscript dated July 19, 1927, marked “For system” in company files, HMC. “We walked around the idea a good many times before we went into the business of selling Indian goods and curios.”

  “Once Harvey women”: Author interview with Stewart Harvey Jr.

  Schweizer was like a character: Background on Schweizer comes from Howard, “‘A Most Remarkable Success’;” and Fergusson, Our Southwest, pp. 199–201.

  tiny Harvey House in Navajo: This was first located in Coolidge, New Mexico, where this incident took place, but the eating house was later moved twenty miles west to Gallup.

  “bald-headed man”: Howard and Pardue, Inventing the Southwest, p. 12.

  he was the first to order: Adair described this in his book The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths, pp. 25–26; and Howard quotes a personal interview with Adair in “‘A Most Remarkable Success,’” p. 88.

  He had trouble adjusting: This insight is based on the obvious friction between the men in the tone of their career-long correspondence.

  “America’s Orient”: This provocatively loaded term was coined by cultural historian Barbara Babcock, in “A New Mexican ‘Rebecca,’” p. 406.

  who apparently had been recommended: Grattan, Mary Colter, p. 6. Biographical information on Colter is largely drawn from this book and Berke, Mary Colter, and author correspondence with Berke.

  “An incomprehensible woman in pants”: Frank Waters, Masked Gods, p. 111.

  “Herman stood in front”: Fergusson, Our Southwest, p. 201.

  “He just had room after”: Author interview with Stewart Harvey Jr.

  “Fred Harvey saw the value”: Amsden, Navaho Weaving, p. 35, quoted in Fergusson, Our Southwest, p. 201.

  “as handsome and inviting”: Quoted in Howard and Pardue, Inventing the Southwest, p. 16, from Hudson letters dated Feb. 6 and 7, 1903.

  some five thousand pieces: Albuquerque Journal Democrat, May 11, 1902.

  “staged authenticity”: This phrase, used to critique different types of tourist experiences, was coined by sociologist Dean MacCannell in 1973.

  Elle of Ganado: She and her husband, Tom, are profiled in Howard and Pardue, Inventing the Southwest, pp. 60–61.

  Then text began to emerge: This recreation of her weaving comes from the photo taken of her during the process. Ibid., p. 60.

  He was whisked: Coverage of Roosevelt’s appearance in Albuquerque, NYT, May 6, 1903, p. 3.

  saddled white stallion: Described in Chappell, “The Railway at Grand Canyon,” n.p.

  “The only word I can use for it”: Roosevelt’s visit is recreated from “President Visits an Awful Place,” LAT, May 7, 1903, p. 1 (which includes full text of his speech), and notes from Charles Lummis’s diary for this day, from the Autry National Center for the American West collection.

  “further back from the rim”: Coconino Sun, June 5, 1903.

  CHAPTER 23: TENTH LEGION

  “the Tenth Legion”: This scene is recreated from a later KCStar story—one of the first for which a journalist was allowed access to Fred Harvey offices to see normal daily operations—“Taking the Harvey System Apart to See What Makes It Tick,” March 29, 1914, which included the dialogue; the “Tenth Legion” reference comes from “Intimate Glimpses of Fred Harvey Personalities: Frank Clough,” SFMag Oct. 1936, p. 40.

  tiny toads found their way: Story recounted years later in Corb Sarchet, “Toads in Coffee Cups Greeted Customers of Harvey House,” Wichita Morning Eagle, marked “1953,” but no date, HMC.

  was now buying and serving: These statistics, which appear in various turn-of-the-century stories, appear to have originated in Leigh Mitchell Hodges’s article in the May 5, 1905, Philadelphia North American, but there is also a 1908 internal list, “Estimates of Supplies During the Year 1908 on Entire System,” in DHC that reconfirms them.

  sparked a huge controversy: “Olive Oil—a Manufacturer Claims That the California Product Is Equal or Superior to the Imported Article,” LAT, July 17, 1903, p. 6.

  “the multiplication table”: “Taking the Harvey System Apart.”

  Samuel Crumbine: This incident is recounted in Crumbine’s memoir, Frontier Doctor, pp. 74–75.

  “titular head of the dining car operation”: Author correspondence with Stewart Harvey Jr.

  “My father didn’t know”: Htapes, no. 6, side B.

  He teamed with the new American powerhouse: See Stechschulte, Detroit Publishing Company Postcards, pp. 333–35.

  “peculiarly lacking”: IND, Nov. 27, 1915, p. 5.

  A handful of
eastern entrepreneurs: Background on William and Samuel Childs is from Landmarks Preservation Commission Report, Feb. 4, 2003, for the former Childs restaurant building at 2102 Boardwalk in Brooklyn, p. 2, www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/childs.pdf; on Horn and Hardart, see “Meet Me at the Automat,” Smithsonian, Aug. 2001.

  In a very cozy arrangement: The Huckels lived at 3530 Locust Street; the Benjamins at 3620 Gillham (where they lived with Dave’s bachelor brother, Alfred).

  “His employees who do their work”: “How One Man Conducts Sixty-six Hotels,” Leslie’s Illustrated, Feb. 27, 1913, n.p., HMC.

  “instruct our people always”: Ford Harvey, unpublished manuscript, July 19, 1927, pp. 10–11, HMC, emphasis added.

  developing a running list: This list is digested from various writings of Ford’s meant to help employees understand company ethos, including Ibid.; undated manuscript, presumably written in the early 1920s, apparently for American Magazine, UA, box 3, file 16, p. 6, HMC; and “Ideals Applied to Buying at Fred Harvey’s,” from his address at the National Restaurant Association convention in 1925, published in Restaurant News and Management, Nov. 1925, pp. 13–15.

  CHAPTER 24: ON THE VERY BRINK OF THE DIZZY GULF

  the government wouldn’t even take it for free: Correspondence is in the Santa Fe collection, box 130, KSHSC.

  Voth had converted: See Michael F. Brown, Who Owns Native Culture? which opens with a scathing indictment (pp. 11–15) of Voth’s intrusions.

  “whittling bows and arrows”: “Prisoner of 18 Years: Geronimo, the Bloodthirsty Indian,” Boston Globe, Sept. 18, 1904, p. SM12.

  after seeing a Fred Harvey promotional display: For more details on Hearst’s collecting, see the introductory essay in Blomberg, Navajo Textiles.

  “My Dear Mr. Schweizer”: An undated letter in HMC, presumably from Dec. 1905, includes all these quotations. Interestingly, ten years later Hearst did end up forcing Schweizer to accept newspaper coverage for a $6,861.90 ($154,000) bill he ran up at Hopi House and refused to pay. As detailed in a Dec. 2008 article about Harvey public relations by Patricia Curtin in the Journal of Communication Management, both Fred Harvey and the Santa Fe were so mortified by the episode that they made sure the resulting double-page spread on the Grand Canyon in the San Francisco Examiner on May 2, 1915, mentioned neither company’s name.