One of the most enjoyable aspects of creating this Then & Now exhibit is to stand in the exact location a historic photographer stood and try to imagine what they saw and heard, what they were thinking, and how they felt. The modern visitor can come and go with relative ease and comfort, but not so with those who arrived around the turn of the 20th Century. Their journeys were long and arduous.
When the late 18th Century miners realized it was not worth the time and effort to ply their trade in the Grand Canyon, they shifted their focus to take advantage of the Canyon’s growing reputation as a tourist destination. Indigenous and mining trails were improved to accommodate intrepid travelers, wagon roads from Flagstaff were constructed, and a variety of lodging options popped up to house the growing number of visitors. In September, 1901, the Santa Fe and Grand Canyon Railway completed its line from Williams to the South Rim.
The Kolb Brothers and the Underwood Photography Company captured the visitor’s experience and tourists brought those images back to their hometowns. Their photos inspired the public’s imagination as words could not
Kolb Studio and Bright Angel Trail Toll Gate c. 1904
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Credit: Photograph: Kolb Brothers Grand Canyon National Park Museum GRCA 07729
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
Emery and Ellsworth Kolb opened their studio at the top of the Bright Angel Trail in 1902, inspired to take photos of the mule parties on the trail. Over time, their subjects became more diverse and in 1911, the Kolbs decided to attempt a run down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon and took the first motion pictures of their journey. Emery served as the head boatman for the 1923 USGS Birdseye Expedition, both brothers participated in the failed search for Glen and Bessie Hyde who disappeared in 1928, and Emery also was part of the 1938 Nevills Expedition with Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter.The toll gate was established in 1903 by Ralph Cameron after he made improvements to the trail and set up a tourist camp in Havasupai Gardens, an area that had long been used by Havasupai people. Cameron had made improvements to the Havasupai trail previously to gain access to his copper mining claims in the Canyon. Cameron charged a $1 toll until the National Park Service took control of the trail in 1928.
Photographer's Note: The Kolb Studio has undergone multiple changes since 1904. My rephotograph from January, 2023 aligns very closely with the original structure.
Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce at the bottom of the Bright Angel Trail - 1906
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Credit: Photograph: Putnam and Valentine Grand Canyon National Park Museum GRCA 13655
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone-2023
Thought-leaders John Muir andFrederick Law Olmsted, Jr. emphasized the economic benefits of grand scenery untrammeled and unaffected by humans. The railroads and chambers of commerce were also interested in promoting the parks as playgrounds for the people and tourist magnets. Groups like the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce endured challenging trips across the deserts to see for themselves how they might support businesses in their own communities as they sought to provide access to such remarkable places as the Grand Canyon.
Ralph Cameron's Havasupai Gardens Tourist Camp - c. 1906
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Credit: Photograph: Fred Harvey Photo Grand Canyon National Park Museum GRCA 03611C
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
Havasupai Gardens was the site of an ancient agricultural settlement for the Havasupai people. But in 1903, Ralph Cameron dammed Garden Creek to irrigate a garden and orchard, planted cottonwood trees for shade, and set up a tent camp for tourists where the ranger station is today. Cameron failed to adequately maintain his facilities and the property fell into disrepair so the NPS took legal possession of the area in 1927. In 1928, park rangers evicted the last Havasupai farmer from Havasupai gardens.
Photographer’s Note: The Park Service has recently been planting Velvet Ash at the Gardens to replace the hollowed out old cottonwood trees that obscure the modern photo. Velvet ash is a native species, it provides good shade, and does not hollow out, thus reducing the danger of falling trees and branches.
John Hance with Teddy Roosevelt - c. 1911
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Credit: Grand Canyon National Park Museum GRCA 01573
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
President Teddy Roosevelt referred to John Hance as “the greatest liar on earth” for his unending stream of tall tales. The story was told that Hance and his horse Darby tried to jump the canyon but halfway across, he figured he wouldn’t make it so he turned back.He discovered asbestos in an area across from Red Canyon. He established a mine and built a trail to it - the Red Canyon Trail, now the New Hance Trail. Very quickly, he gave up on mining and started taking tourists into the Canyon on his mining trails, charging $1 for dinner and lodging.Hance’s asbestos claims were eventually sold to the William Randolph Hearst family. The Hearst Tract remains as the only private inholding within the park’s original boundaries.
Kolb Brothers Photo Lab Havasupai Garden - c. 1917
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Credit: Photograph: Emery Kolb Northern Arizona University, Cline Library NAU.PH.568.1213
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
Emery Kolb made a business of photographing tourists on mules as they headed down the Bright Angel Trail passing by the Kolb Brother’s studio at the top of the trail. But the water to develop the photos had to be pumped up from Havasupai Gardens and the water wasn’t free. Emery solved that problem by photographing the tourists up near the rim, running the four miles and 4,000 feet down to Havasupai Gardens where the creek was, developing the photos in their lab, and then running back up to the top with the photos ready to go by the time the riders returned. He was paid 75 cents for each photo.
Photographer’s Note: In the 100 years since Kolb’s photo was taken, many planted cottonwood trees grew to obscure an appropriately aligned modern photo. Once again, I made the choice to prioritize the story and use a photo that is not accurately aligned. You can just see the stone basement of Kolb’s studio in the lower right corner of the modern photo.
First Airplane to Land in the Grand Canyon - 1922
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Credit: Photograph: Fred Harvey Photo Grand Canyon National Park Museum GRCA 05235
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
As soon as the park opened in 1919, airplanes started flying over the park and pressure mounted to allow commercial sightseeing flights. NPS Director Stephen Mather had mixed thoughts about it, acknowledging the value for fire-fighting and administrative purposes but concerned about safety and disruption to the peace and serenity of the park experience.
In August, 1922, pilot R.V. Thomas, with Ellsworth Kolb as cameraman, flew in from Williams and made the first landing and takeoff within the canyon at “Turtle Head”, a promontory on the Tonto Platform. He returned ten days later with a Fox Weekly motion-picture company cameraman.
Ultimately, the Park Service decided to allow flights within the Canyon’s airspace but disallow landing fields. Scenic Airways inaugurated trans-canyon flights in 1929, tickets could be bought at the El Tovar and Bright Angel Lodge, and NPS naturalists started going along on the flights in 1932.
Cable Rig and Three Women Cross the Colorado River - 1935
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Credit: Photograph: Benjamin Freve Greater Arizona Collection, Arizona State University Library CM MSS 155
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
The CCC constructed a tram across the river at the bottom of the Bright Angel Trail to ferry cargo and enrollees working at Phantom Ranch and building the River Trail.
Georgie White at Paria Riffle - c. 1950
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Credit: Photograph: Josef Muench Northern Arizona University, Cline Library NAU.PH.2003.11.4.3.H3828A
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Credit: Photograph: NPS/Ted Barone - 2023
Georgie White – cross-country bicyclist, Women’s Auxiliary Flying Squadron pilot (WW2), wife (first married at age of 16), mother, and the first woman to row the full length of the Grand Canyon (1952).After her daughter, Sommona, was killed by a motorist while bicycling, Georgie attended a Sierra Club presentation about the Grand Canyon. She was so enamored that she dedicated the balance of her life to the Canyon and its river. In 1954, she assembled rafts of big, black army-assault pontoon boats tied together. The rafts had a small motor to power the boat during long periods of still water. They were very popular, opening up the canyon to the less wealthy and technically skilled people. Typically dressed in a leopard-print bathing suit and a red-meshed t-shirt, she named her customers the “Royal River Rats” and broke an egg over their heads in an initiation ceremony before each trip.
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