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American Indians most likely discovered the Grand Canyon at least 10,000 years ago.
These were wandering groups of hunters and gatherers. They were known as the Desert Culture. They probably came into the area looking for mammoths, camels, and giant sloths to hunt. We have hardly any record of them. All that’s left are some stone spear points. Since that time long ago, many people have visited the canyon area. Some stayed long enough to call it home.
◀ Dolls made of split willow twigs are 4,000 years old. They’re shaped like such animals as bighorn sheep, deer, and antelope. Many have a twig stuck through them. That might mean they were animals the people hunted.
▲ The Cohonina came from what is now west-central Arizona. They settled on the South Rim around A.D. 700. By 1150, both the Cohonina and the Anasazi had left the area because of a drought. Around 150 years later, the Cerbat came. They moved to the South Rim from the deserts of the lower Colorado River. They lived in rock shelters and brush wickiups. The Cerbat were ancestors of the Pai people. Their line connects to the Havasupai and Hualapai too. Those two tribes still live in the canyon today. They have historical and agricultural ties to the area that became Grand Canyon National Park. Pictured is a Havasupai couple in front of a wickiup, in 1899.
Explorers of the Canyon
▲ The Grand Canyon became part of the U.S. in 1848. But it took a while for anyone to explore the area by traveling along the dangerous Colorado River. That didn’t happen until 1869.
▲ Who were the explorers In 1869? Civil War veteran and geology professor Major John Wesley Powell and nine other men. They set out to sail 277 miles through the canyon. They burned all day in the hot sun. At night, they hid their faces from sandstorms. Weeklong rains made things even worse. Because of big rocks in the river, they often had to unload the boats and carry equipment. During the trip’s last five days, they had no food.
▲ Powell published the story of his dangerous trip in 1870. He was praised as a national hero. After a second trip in 1871 and 1872, he wrote about the area’s rich resources. Many miners came and staked claims to copper, zinc, and lead. Powell’s detailed and exciting story helped make the canyon popular.
▲ President Theodore Roosevelt visited the canyon in 1903. He was very impressed. In 1908, he changed the canyon from national forest and game reserve to Grand Canyon National Monument.
◀ Today, the Havasupai live on a 189,000-acre reservation in the south-center part of the park. Their name means “People of the Blue-Green Waters.” They raise livestock and gardens, and they sell baskets and beadwork to tourists. Other native groups live near the park. They include the Navajo, Hualapai, Hopi, and Kaibab-Paiute. Pictured here is a Hualapai family.
