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Plans for the Grand Canyon

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PostedMar 30, 2012 at 9:13 pm

That's a really tough one. I certainly don't want to see more development of the Grand Canyon–Phantom Ranch is bad enough. But some white people telling the Native Americans what they can do with what little land they have left isn't a precedent I want to set either.

obx hiker BPL Member
PostedMar 31, 2012 at 5:22 am

A few things to consider:
1. The Navajo "Rez" is larger than New England
2. The Sipapu at the mouth of the Little Colorado is a first order sacred spot for the Hopi and possibly other Puebloans. In that sense this might be sort of like Muslims building a resort next to the Vatican City or something similar.
3. The puebloans still claim much of this territory; and historically/anthropologically have justification. For ex. I think there's actually a cliff dwelling ruin that's a popular photographic subject in the NW end of this mesa overlooking the river and Nankoweap.
4. I'd bet this proposal is not particularly popular with traditional Navajo.
5. I'd also bet the project has backers unrelated to the Navajo.

David Chenault BPL Member
PostedMar 31, 2012 at 7:35 am

Good point all, Cola. The first thing I thought when I heard about this was that it was yet another way for the Dine to mess with the Hopi.

As successful as some of the Dine casinos might be lately, I have a hard time believing the tribe has ~1 billion to finance this. Or anything close. Paving the road kicks things up a notch, to say nothing of a gondola down to the river level. If the Hualapai somehow managed to pave the road to the skywalk, they'd have a lot more visitors. We should also remember that in the 70s the Havasupai had to emphatically turn down government offers to build a road down into the canyon. I'm sure there's still disagreement amongst the tribe as to the wisdom of that, but opening the Pandora's Box of having motorized transit down from the rim (mules and raft guiding are bad enough) is a scary thought.

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