The Wisconsin Dells was in Milwaukee Road territory, not Santa Fe. But that didn’t stop Fred Harvey from taking over several resort facilities in 1954. These included the Hotel Crandall in the city of Wisconsin Dells, the Dells Boat Company, and a trading post at Dells Park Indian Village.

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These operations were originally owned by George Crandall, who moved from New York to Kilbourn (the original name of the city of Wisconsin Dells) in 1892. There he met Henry Hamilton Bennett, an innovative photographer whose work first popularized the Wisconsin Dells and one of whose descendants took the photo on the cover of this menu. Crandall also met Bennett’s daughter, Nellie, who he married.

Crandall was a conservationist who sought national park status or other legal protection for the Dells. He eventually owned more than 1,200 acres in the area but said “No man can own the Dells. He can only be its custodian for a time.” After he died in 1938, he children carried on his work and in 1954 — the same year they sold his commercial operations to Fred Harvey — they gave most of the land to the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation for conservation purposes.

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The above postcard shows the Winnebago, the boat that is also on the menu cover, along with one of the other boats purchased by Fred Harvey. This is not a Fred Harvey postcard and may have been issued shortly before Fred Harvey purchased the Dells Boat Company.