Erna Fergusson
Erna Fergusson was one of the many intrepid women of her era who left a lasting legacy on New Mexico’s history. She was a writer, historian, teacher, and tour guide. She is probably most famous for her book, “Dancing Gods” which describes many of the dances of the Pueblo, Hopi, Navajo, and Apache people. She also created and operated “Koshare Tours” the first of the touring companies to introduce visitors to the Southwest’s rich indigenous culture.
She was called New Mexico’s First Lady of Letters.
She was born in Albuquerque. New Mexico, at a home called La Glorieta. Her grandfather, Franz Hunning, came originally from Germany and was part of the German traders who came out West and created mercantile businesses in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
Her father, Harvey Fergusson, married Franz’s daughter Clara, and settled in Albuquerque. Her father became a politician who put through Congress the Fergusson Act and also advocated for Statehood. After Statehood in 1912 he was elected to the New Mexico Senate.
Erna was their daughter, and because she was born into a wealthy family, she received a very good education, including going to Columbia University. Upon returning to Albuquerque, she became a faculty member at the Albuquerque High School and taught English and Spanish.
During WW1, she joined the Red Cross. It was at this time Erna started to travel throughout the State of New Mexico, which helped create a network of friends and acquaintances in Pueblo and Spanish villages. This held her in good stead when she and a friend Ethyl Hickey started a touring company called Koshare Tours in 1921. In its heyday these two created up to twenty tours and advertised nationally, taking visitors to Zuni, Hopi, Taos, among other places in northern New Mexico and Arizona. Her tours gave Eastern visitors an up-close experience of what Erna called a “still unspoiled civilization”. Koshare Tours was a big success story for the day, and the Smithsonian Magazine called her the first female “dude wrangler”.
Meanwhile the Fred Harvey Company had taken over the La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe in 1925. And in 1926 Fred Harvey started the “Indian Detours”, a similar venture to Erna’s. Eventually the Harvey Company bought Erna’s business, as they saw how successful it was. Indian Detours hired young college-educated women, which they called “Couriers”, as guides, to accompany the visiting “Detourists” in their Harvey Cars and Coaches. Erna was kept on to train the Couriers which she did in an exacting fashion, very much in line with Fred Harvey’s vision of a fully satisfying tourist experience.