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

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The Santa Fe Railway and Fred Harvey Company, which ran the concessions associated with the railroad (and had built Phantom Ranch), the National Park Service, and other government agencies wished to invalidate Ralph Cameron’s mining claims and take control of the trail that departed from the rapidly expanding Grand Canyon Village. Moreover, Ralph Cameron took poor care of “his” trail and the Indian Garden Campground. In 1913 the U.S. Forest Service sued Ralph Cameron over his unused claims, which led to a 1920 U.S. Supreme Court decision that dissolved his claims and turned the trail over to Coconino County. However, Cameron succeeded in continuing to collect tolls. He was also active in local politics and in 1924 convinced the citizens of Coconino County to vote against selling the Bright Angel Trail to the National Park Service.

To avoid requiring tourists to support the Cameron brothers, as soon as the Grand Canyon became a national park in 1919, the park service began arranging for the construction of an alternative route, which would become the South Kaibab Trail. They moved forward quickly following the November 1924 election and by December 1 of that year had $50,000 for the project, had ordered construction materials, and had amassed two 20-worker teams. One team would begin at the Colorado River and the other at Yaki Point. They had hoped to complete the trail by May, but it took until mid-June for the two teams to meet up because of the difficulty in blasting into solid rock and winter storms that delayed work. The final cost for the project was $73,000. The trail was dedicated on June 15, 1925. Except for the section of the trail below the Tipoff, the South Kaibab Trail did not follow an existing route.