Grand Canyon History

The Grand Canyon National Game Preserve was established in 1906. In 1919 it became Grand Canyon National Park by an Act of Congress. The Grand Canyon National Park covers 1,218,375 acres in northwestern Arizona and it includes 105 miles of the most brilliant and colorful part of the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River. The Park shop be at the top of your list of things to do when making your Arizona Travel plans!

The history of the Grand Canyon area dates back 10,500 years when the evidence for the first human presence in the area started. For at least 4,000 of those years the Grand Canyon was home to Native Americans. Anasazi, first as the Basket maker culture and later as the Puebleoans, developed from the Desert Culture as they became less migrant and more dependent on agriculture.

About 2,000 ancestral Pueblo sites have been found within the park's circumference, the most remarkable of which is Tusayan Pueblo, which was built in A.D. 1185. It was occupied by approximately 30 people.

The Basket makers lived peacefully alongside the Cohonina people, who who were of similar culture.

It is believed that a drought in the late 1200s and internal strife caused the Pueblo and the Cohonina population to abandon their homes.

The Puebloans moved beside the Rio Grande and the Little Colorado drainages. Their descendants - the Hopi and the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico - continue many of their traditions to this day.

Other cultures followed, including the Paiutes, Cerbat, and the Navajo, but were later forced onto reservations by the United States Government. The Southern Paiutes worked closely with a group of Mormon missionaries led by Jacob Hamblin who settled in southern Utah and the Arizona Strip during the 1850s.

The expedition led by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in 1540, introduced the first white men to the canyon. They were in search of search of the legendary Seven Cities of Cíbola that were believed to contain great riches. Unable to cross the Canyon, Coronado and his men returned to Mexico empty-handed. Their lack of success on behalf of the Spanish Crown led to their court-martial.

However, the Spanish would return in the late1500s - this time as colonists. By 1776 they were headquartered in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and were starting their attempt of converting the natives to Christianity.

In 1821 the Santa Fe Trail, linking Missouri to New Mexico, opened to east-west trade. In 1857 a U.S. Army survey party led by Lieutenant Joseph Ives was sent to explore the Grand Canyon area. His 1858 “pessimistic” report indicated that the region was of no future value, and predicted his crew would probably the last to visit.

During May of 1869, Major John Wesley Powell, a Civil War veteran, with a group and ten other men, set forth to explore the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. In 1870 he came back to explore the North Rim Plateau and once again in 1872, through Grand Canyon.

By the 1880's, several live stock companies were developing in the Grand Canyon area. By the 1890's it was estimated that there were over 100,000 head of cattle and more than 250,000 head of sheep were feeding off the land.

In 1883 Kaibab National Forest was established. By the time the Grand Canyon National Preserve was established in 1906, the land was desolate with sagebrush and most of the ranchers were out of business. The lush grassland had been grazed out.

James T. Owens was named warden of the Grand Canyon National Preserve. He built a cabin and set up a mountain lion hunting business. 12 years later, he began buffalo ranching on the plateau. Preferring the lower reaches of House Rock Valley, the buffalo moved down from the Plateau. In 1926, the buffalo were sold to the State of Arizona.

In 1917 W.W. Wylie built the first tourist facility on the North Rim near Bright Angle Point. It provided minimum accommodations. At the same time, tourists camps were being developed at Bryce Canyon and Zion. Stephen T. Mather, the National Park Service's first director, supported the development to encourage people to visit these areas. In 1919, Congress made the Grand Canyon Preserve a National Park.

Most of the 1,904 square miles of the park are maintained as wilderness. The park is made up of three distinct sections: the South Rim, the North Rim and the Inner Canyon. Each section has different vegetation and climate.

The Colorado River runs at the bottom of the canyons, about 1,850 feet above sea level. The sides of the canyons are made of rocks, cliffs, ridges, hills and valleys of every form. The colorful rocks were formed millions of years ago. Their colors change with the changing sunlight. The constant cutting force of the rushing river has bared many of the layers of the rocks. The first layer is black in color and is called Archean. The second, a brilliant red color, called Algonkian, creating a beautiful contrast to the next layer, a lavender/brown color known as Tapeats sandstone. The Devonian, which is the fourth layer, is made of small deposits of lavender stone. Above these layers, the thick Red wall curves along the canyon. Atop the Red wall lies 800 feet of red sandstone called the Supai formation. Another layer of red rock covers this - the Hermit shale.

There are thick forests of blue spruce, fir, juniper and oaks along with Pinon and Ponderosa pines that cover the canyon rim. Deep in the canyon's recesses, the foliage grows thin, sporadic and shorter. Dry desert scrub covers the canyon floor.

The highest points on the rim are about 9,000 feet above sea level. The north rim of the Grand Canyon rises about 1,200 feet higher that the south rim. The North Rim is the coldest and the wettest and it receives up to 26 inches of precipitation per year. In comparison, the South Rim receives around 16 inches of precipitation per year. The Inner Canyon is considered closest to a desert, as the lower you descend, the hotter and drier it becomes. About a mile below the North Rim, on the floor of the canyon, the temperature is about 35°F hotter than the temperatures above.

Grand Canyon National Park is home to 75 species of mammals, 50 species of reptiles and amphibians, 25 species of fish, and over 300 species of birds.

Two of the park's most famous residents are the Albert squirrel, on the south rim and the Kaibab squirrel on the north rim. They are descendants of the same ancestor, the tassel-eared squirrel.

The wide variety of animals includes mule deer, desert bighorn, bobcats and coyotes, and a small population of mountain lions. Among the smaller mammals, there's ringtails, gophers, beavers, bats and a few varieties of rabbits, bats and squirrels. A variety of lizards, snakes (including the unique Grand Canyon "pink" rattlesnake), frogs, salamanders, toads and turtles make up the reptile and amphibian group. Countless species of birds, along with hundreds of insects and arachnids (spiders and scorpions) also make the park their home.

Among some of the species that make up the threatened and endangered list Colorado squawfish, humpback chub, and bonytail chub. Also on the list are birds, including the peregrine falcon, bald eagle, and willow flycatcher.

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