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HISTORY ABOUT THE GRAND CANYON AND GRAND CANYON WEST
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The Grand Canyon has been home to Native Americans for thousands of years. About 10,000 years ago, paleo-hunters were known to have hunted big game throughout the area. More recently, hunter-gathers lived in the area until about 1000 BC. Archaeological findings, such as pottery found in the canyon, have been carbon dated to 4000 years ago.
Ancestral Puebloan people moved in around 500 AD. They cultivated corn, hunted bighorn sheep, rabbits, and deer, and made intricate baskets. Their basket making skills lead archaeologists to call these people “basket makers.”
The park contains nearly 2,000 ancestral Puebloan sites including the impressive Tusayan Pueblo which was built in 1185 AD. By the late 1200s, the early Grand Canyon Native Americans abandoned their homes. Some speculate that an extended drought prompted this mass exodus.
In the 1300s, the Cerbat (ancestors of today’s Havasupai and Hualapai Tribes) people moved in along with the Southern Paiutes. A century later would see the Navajo and the Dine (relatives of the Apache) people settling in and around the canyon. Today, the Navajo’s reservation is located along the eastern section of the Grand Canyon.
Unlike the South and North Rim, the West Rim of the Grand Canyon is not administered by the National Park Service. The West Rim is owned and operated by The Hualapai Indian Tribe. The Tribe is enlarging its amenities and services to attract a greater number of tourists. It is the home of the "SkyWalk" where tourists can walk out over the canyon with a see-through surface beneath them. It is an amazing experience. The West Rim is closer to Las Vegas than the other two rims and as such enjoys a great number of tours from the Las Vegas area.
Today, a Grand Canyon vacation involves more than peeking over the Canyon’s rim. Tours, river rafting expeditions, hiking, mule rides, and camping are just a sampling of the delights that various rims of the canyon offers.
