In the bottom of the Grand Canyon along the main corridor rim-to-rim trail Bright Angel Creek joins the mighty Colorado River.
Taken on Grand Canyon hike 11/28/10
In 1869, Major John Wesley Powell named the clear waters of Bright Angel Creek in contrast to the muddy Colorado River and a tributary upstream he’d named the Dirty Devil.
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While ranchers used the Toroweap valley seasonally in the early 1900s, the first year round homestead was the Lower Kent Ranch, built in 1927, located just north of the park.
On our way out of Tuweep/Toroweap we saw the evidence ranching in the past.
Some places older than others.
The Tuweep Valley stretches on for miles once out of the park and is still used as range land leased by the Bureau of Land Management.
Mike Anderson, historian, took us on a journey back in time during a special shuttle ride west on the Hermit Road.
Lt. Joseph Christmas Ives traveled by steam boat 350 miles (563 km) up the Colorado River in the 1850s. After the boat was wrecked on rocks he and the crew hiked up to the South Rim. Ives’ report to the Army stated, “The region is of course altogether valueless. Ours has been the first, and will doubtless be the last, party of whites to visit this profitless locality."
John Wesley Powell journeyed down the Green and Colorado River in 1869 and again during 1871-72. He led the first known successful navigation and scientific exploration of the river.
El Tovar on far left and Kolb Studio on right
By 1905 the Santa Fe Railroad reached the South Rim, the Kolb brothers opened their photographic studio, and El Tovar Hotel and Verkamp’s Store opened.
President Theodore Roosevelt established Grand Canyon National Monument in 1908 and in 1919 Congress passed the bill making Grand Canyon a National Park.