An English immigrant named Fred Harvey began serving meals to railroad passengers on the Great Plains almost 150 years ago. Since then, the “Harvey Houses” he established remain a byword for both good food and a vanished age of rail travel.

But where did all those ingredients for the hotels and dining cars come from?

One answer lies in Chino Valley. Beginning in 1913, a bustling farm near Del Rio Springs began provisioning Fred Harvey restaurants in and around northern Arizona. Farm managers took advantage of the so-called Peavine Railway that linked Prescott and Chino Valley with the Santa Fe’s mainline at Ash Fork.

The farm employed dozens of workers. They ran a large dairy and poultry operation that shipped milk, cream and eggs to Harvey restaurants, including those on the South Rim

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