Читать книгу One Best Hike: Grand Canyon. Everything You Need to Know to Successfully Hike from the Rim to the River—and Back онлайн

14 страница из 51

The Southern Paiute also inhabited the Grand Canyon region for approximately six centuries until the arrival of white men, predominantly living on the north side of the Colorado River. The Paiute were not farmers; they lived solely on what they hunted and gathered.

PUEBLO AT BRIGHT ANGEL CREEK

The ruins of a pueblo are visible at the mouth of Bright Angel Creek, between the Bright Angel Creek Campground and the mule bridge. The kiva was built when the site was first occupied, around A.D. 1050, while the living area dates to A.D. 1100. By A.D. 1140 this site, like most habitations along the Colorado River, was abandoned because of increasing drought. Major John Wesley Powell recorded this site during his first descent of the Colorado River.

PIONEERS

The first view of the Grand Canyon by a nonnative person was in 1540 by a Spanish party led by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. They were unimpressed with the difficult landscape, and Native Americans continued to be the only inhabitants of the area for many years. Only in 1826 did a party of fur trappers reach the rim; they were likewise disappointed by the steep, deep, contorted canyon and large river—and didn’t recruit others to the location.