At various times concessionaires and park service officials even proposed developments within Havasu Canyon, including a tourist facility on the canyon floor and a dam on Havasu Creek between its waterfalls. An amendment to the park’s organic act explicitly allowed the Havasupais to use park lands for traditional purposes, though in practice NPS officials tended to restrict their movement and use of the land. The federal government managed most of the lands surrounding the reservation, and when Grand Canyon National Park was created in 1919, it completely encircled the reservation, though the reservation and trails leading down to it were not under NPS control. Later, the Fred Harvey Company and other local tourism businesses would lead similar tours. He often led tourist groups down the Havasu Canyon Trail to visit the tribe and enjoy the spectacular scenery. He befriended members of the tribe who showed him important water sources and introduced him to trails in the canyon that he later developed for his mining and tourism businesses. In the 1880s William Wallace Bass was one of the first Euro-Americans to settle near the Havasupais. After missionaries converted the tribe to Christianity, and with the urging of Bureau of Indian Affairs officials, the Havasupais began burying their dead instead, further reducing their land resources. Upon a tribal member’s death, others would cremate the body, burn the deceased’s personal belongings, and chop down his fruit trees. For example, the site of the modern campground near Havasu Falls historically was used for Havasupai cremations. Being confined to the bottom of the canyon not only restricted their subsistence and economic opportunities, but it also put increasing pressures on the canyon’s agricultural lands, especially as the population of the tribe grew.Įuro-American influence has disrupted the tribal culture and land use in unexpected ways. In the fall and winter they would move to the plateau to tend livestock, hunt, and gather food resources, while in the spring and summer they would tend crops and orchards at the bottom of the canyon. This was a major blow to the tribe, since their traditional lifestyle depended on seasonal movements between the canyon floor and plateau uplands. The reservation was reduced to only 500 acres a few years later, confining the tribe to the lands at the base of Havasu Canyon. President Rutherford Hayes established the Havasupai Reservation in 1880 on land bordering Havasu Creek. The Spanish, and later Mexicans, claimed control of lands that included the Grand Canyon area the United States acquired these lands under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. Though for centuries the Havasupais traveled wherever they pleased around the Grand Canyon, the arrival of Europeans and Euro-Americans brought important changes. One group decided to move away, but as they were leaving the canyon a man and woman grew sad and turned to look at their canyon home one more time, only to be turned to stone. Havasupai stories tell that long ago, when there were too many members to be supported by the canyon’s resources, the tribe split in two. Across the canyon, directly above the village, are two other rock formations resembling a man carrying a child and a woman. Havasupai legends state that if these pillars ever fall, the canyon walls will close in and destroy the people. Two red pillars, known to the Havasupais as Wigleeva, are believed to guard the tribe. The Havasupais tell stories of the stones that they believe protect their canyon home. It also protects their skin from the sun and weather. They feel that when they “wear” these rocks, it reaffirms their connection to the Grand Canyon. In particular the red rocks are used in Havasupai celebrations and ceremonies as paints. The Havasupais left their mark on the landscape of the Grand Canyon by utilizing many paths that today have been converted into hiking trails, and by establishing communities at sites such as Indian Garden.Įach layer of the Canyon represents different seasons and different uses of the rocks to the Havasupais. Over these centuries, the Havasupais have cultivated a close relationship to the natural environment in their canyon home. There are several variations to the rest of the story, but generally a man or several boys use a log to jam it open so the people could enter the canyon safely.Īnthropologists believe that the Havasupais have occupied the canyon for at least 800 years. The Havasupais tell that when their ancestors first saw Havasu Canyon, the people believed that if they entered it the walls would close up and they would be crushed.
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