Road Contracting and the
Santa Fe Mystique
by Nate Skousen, Jr.
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The city of Santa Fe is often called The City Different. No one seems
to know exactly what makes it different - it just is. You can feel it even
if you cant describe it. My two sisters and I experienced this mystique
as children, but for us it arrived through the magic of Santa Fe's La Fonda
Hotel. In the '30s and '40s, road contractors and equipment dealers
(some called them peddlers) gathered at the De Vargas Hotel for the monthly
"road lettings" held by the New Mexico State Highway Department.
On the morning of these awards, the contractors, followed by the dealers,
walked the quarter mile to the Capitol where contractors submitted their
bids on chosen road projects. After Fred Harvey leased the La Fonda Hotel
from the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in 1926, this ritual ended
as contractors and peddlers moved their watering hole to the new and beautiful
Harvey House. The La Fonda had the warmth and charm of an old Spanish
hacienda with its spacious lobby, wooden vigas, red tile floors, massive
leather couches and chairs, traditional wall decorations and open patio.
As a young man in those years, I was smitten with the Santa Fe mystique
because my father was a road contractor who built much of New Mexicos Route
66, and contractors and dealers always brought
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Dottie and Joye Skousen in La Fonda's
open patio. 1954 |
their families to stay at the La Fonda. The serious business of getting
a job or selling equipment was temporarily set aside, and the atmosphere
settled into more of a family reunion than a business meeting. Our family
arrived the day before the letting, and after checking in, our mother took
out her cleaning materials and cleaned all of the fixtures in the bathroom.
Then we dressed in our Sunday best and went down for lunch in the elegant
dining room, complete with white linen table cloths and richly designed
silverware and china next to thick amber glasses. This atmosphere, with
food served by the famous Harvey Girls, inspired us children to use our
best manners. |
Winter 1998
