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As a white person, I have grappled with the idea of the Grand Canyon as a sacred place. I feel the Canyon’s power, especially as I descend into its interior and experience the changing light, texture of the rocks and soils, and weather. But my experience is only temporary. For the indigenous people of the Canyon region, the rocks, trees, floods, and animals are all sacred and integral to who they are. As indigenous scholars Danelle Cooper, Treena Delormier, and Maile Taualii wrote in the International Journal of Human Rights Education in 2019, “Our environments are our cultural identities, origins, religions, and worldviews.” For me, my family, my ancestors, and my environments are my sacred spaces. They define who I am, how I think, and how I live my life in the world. In the same vein, as Cooper et al note, “In plain speak, to have a relationship with a place and to know this place for Indigenous/Aboriginal People is similar to knowing and relating to one’s family.”
Researchers from the University of California have determined the presence of the Pai people in the Grand Canyon region dates back 20,000 to 25,000 years. For the Havasupai, Hualapai, and Yavapai-Apache Nation, along with the rest of the 11 Associated Tribes of the Grand Canyon, the Grand Canyon is a sacred place. “The whole canyon and everything in it is sacred to us, all around, up and down.” (Rex Tilousi, Havasupai). For the Hualapai, Hopi, and Zuni, it is the location of their origin stories. For all, the ancestors play an integral role in their contemporary ceremonies.
As any student of American history knows, the post-contact history is one of betrayal, broken treaties and forced relocations of indigenous peoples by the European-Americans, and the commercialization of the western idea of Indians. As a European-American, I have long been sickened by that history. However, the more modern history is one of re-empowerment of tribal organizations and reclaiming of ancestral land. At the Grand Canyon, this process has begun, most notably with the Desert View Tribal Heritage Project, and I am hopeful for the future.
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Cliff Dwelling Ruins at Moran Point - c. 1900
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Credit: Photograph: Charles Pierce California Historical Society Collection, University of Southern California CHS-3225
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Credit: NPS/Ted Barone 2023
Hundreds of dwelling sites have been found along the rims and in the Canyon, dating back hundreds of years before the arrival of Columbus. Arrowheads, fragments of pottery, and other evidence found at the various sites indicate an advanced state of culture. At Moran Point, the ruins on the butte are believed to be remains of an ancient fort.
Artisans at the Hopi House c. 1905
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Credit: Photograph: Detroit Photographic. Grand Canyon National Park Museum GRCA 27532C
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone 2023
Intended to provide tourists with a sense of authenticity where “real Indians” worked and lived, theHopi House was built in 1905 by concessionaire The Fred Harvey Company and its partner the Santa Fe Railroad. Designer Mary Colter created an atmosphere within the building where people could meet and interact with native craftsmen and women and shop for souvenirs and supplies. In this historic photo, originally entitled “Native Roof Garden Party”, Hopi potter Nampeyo and his family members pose for the camera.
Desert View - Looking Northeast
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Credit: Photograph: Phillip Brigandi Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography, University of California, Riverside
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone 2023
The view northeast from Desert View is towards the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers, a location of particular spiritual importance. It is the location of the Sipapuni, the spot from where the Hopi people emerged into this world. For the Zuni, their ancestors emerged into the earth close by the confluence and traveled up the Little Colorado to where the Zuni live today. The confluence is important to the Navajo (Diné) people as the salt and medicinal plants from the area are used in Navajo ceremonies.It is also the place where, in 1880, Mormon scout and settler Seth Tanner discovered copper deposits and organized the Little Colorado River Mining District.
Havasupai Workers Hauling Kaibab Bridge Cable - 1928
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Credit: Grand Canyon National Park Museum GRCA 10111
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone 2023
When the original suspension bridge across the Colorado River was deemed inadequate for the safe crossing of traffic from the South Rim to Phantom Ranch and the North Rim, The Fred Harvey Company wrote to Superintendent Miner Tillotson requesting a new bridge, estimating a cost of $55,000. To build the bridge, mules carried 122 tons of materials down nine miles of trail from the South Rim. The one-ton, 550-foot-long bridge support cables were carried by 42 Havasupai workers on their shoulders down the South Kaibab Trail for the new Kaibab suspension bridge. Havasupai workers provided the bulk of the labor required to build inner-canyon infrastructure, particularly the back-breaking trail construction and maintenance.
The Arrival - El Tovar Hotel - 1929
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Credit: Northern Arizona University, Cline Library NAU.PH.95.44.37.3
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone 2023
In this promotional photo from the Santa Fe Railroad and Fred Harvey Company, indigenous people on the roof of the Hopi House watch the arrival of tourists to the El Tovar Hotel. The photo was likely staged and serves as an ironic symbol of the national park’s challenging historical relations with the Native American population. The Native Americans stand upon a structure that was designed by a European-American woman, Mary Colter, and intended to replicate ancient Native American structures.
Desert View Watchtower Construction - 1932
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Credit: Grand Canyon National Park Museum GRCA 22640
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Credit: Photographer: NPS/Ted Barone 2023
Built to mimic the remains of an abandoned structure on Desert View Point, Mary Colter and the Fred Harvey Company designed the Desert View Watchtower and Kiva to provide tourists with another “authentic’ experience. A 1933 company brochure called the Watchtower and Kiva, “A Re-Creation from the remote past of the American Southwest, built in the heart of the prehistoric Indian country on the promontory that overlooks the wanderings of these ancient people.”On May 13, 1933, the Watchtower and Kiva were “blessed” in an elaborate “Hopi” ceremony covered by 620 newspapers from 45 states, broadcast on the radio and filmed for Paramount news.
Snake Painting in the Watchtower - 1932
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Credit: Grand Canyon National Park Museum GRCA 08801
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone 2023
At the base of the Watchtower, Hopi artist Fred Kabotie, working for the Fred Harvey Company, painted the snake legend painting. It illustrated the story of the first man to navigate the Colorado River. Kabotie attended the Santa Fe Indian School between 1918 and 1922.Some of the hieroglyphs were taken from their original sites and placed on the interior walls of the tower.Today, the Park Service is modernizing the way it tells the histories and stories. A new Desert View Tribal Welcome center is starting to take shape and represents a major shift from the cultural appropriation of the Watchtower and Kiva to a focus on the determination of indigenous people to reclaim their ancestral lands and renew their cultural/spiritual connections.
Kiva Postcard - c. 1934
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Credit: Curt Teich and Company
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone 2023
A kiva is a spiritual and ceremonial space used by many indigenous groups in the American Southwest. However, the so-called kiva at the base of the Desert View Watchtower was used primarily by the Fred Harvey Company and subsequent concessionaires to sell souvenirs and Native American arts and crafts.The “kiva” and “watchtower” remain controversial. Naturalist Edwin McKee disliked the way it stuck out from the landscape and felt that calling it an “Indian Watchtower” was misleading. More recently, the kiva in particular, is being transformed into a space where the cultural heritage of the region’s 11 associated tribes can be celebrated.
Eagle Dance at the Hopi House - 1949
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Credit: Photographer: J.M. Eden; Grand Canyon National Park Museum GRCA 0911
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Credit: NPS/Ted Barone 2023
In the late 1940’s, Grand Canyon National Park visitors were entertained each evening by Indian Dances outside the Hopi House. They were performed by the Hopi employees of park concessioners. Shown is the Eagle Dance, a depiction of an Hopi traditional symbol who mediates between the physical and spiritual world.
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