Santa Fe: The Chief Way

By Robert Strein, John Vaughan and C. Fenton Richards

Santa Fe: The Chief Way is a fresh and nostalgic look at the streamliners of the Santa Fe railroad from the late thirties to the early seventies. Historic photographs, promotional posters, and art capture the charm of traveling by rail throughout the Southwest on classics such as the Super Chief, the Chief, El Capitan, and the San Francisco Chief.

The abundant pictures of the cars and amenities remind us how wonderful it was to travel by train. The extensive coverage of the original advertising materials used to lure travelers west through Indian Country in the Southwest is a unique feature to this charming book. These include train brochures, postcards, and magazine advertisements—all of which show the style and luxury afforded to the traveler on these famous streamliners. Additional chapters devoted to the art collection of the Santa Fe railroad and the depots and Harvey House hotels that are still standing in New Mexico add to the rich history and nostalgia of train travel in the Southwest.

This book will be a must-have for railroad buffs, historians, memorabilia collectors, and those interested in the history of advertising. It is a book for all those who are fascinated by the romance of the Southwest and the glory years of the Santa Fe streamliners.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Release date: Nov 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9780826359704

Book preview

Introduction

This Santa Fe brochure for the California Limited was issued in 1906. The cover illustration is one of the earliest known uses of Native Americans in Santa Fe advertising.

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway became a part of the American Southwest in November 1878 when construction crews working from the east reached the summit of Raton Pass and entered the Territory of New Mexico for the first time. Over the next several years the railroad extended its tracks south to Albuquerque and El Paso, and westward from Albuquerque to Arizona and California.

In the process of building through New Mexico, the Santa Fe encountered lofty mountain ranges, cut through spectacular canyons and skirted multicolored mesas and rock formations. It also passed by numerous Indian pueblos still inhabited as they had been for many hundreds of years. Next to its tracks towns sprang up and a new prosperity spread through the territory. From its earliest beginnings the Santa Fe Railway profoundly impacted New Mexico and the Southwest. But soon the American Southwest and its Native American people profoundly influenced the