Grand Canyon!!!!??

Question

I need some facts about it [maybe a link or two]

Not facts about tourists atractions but about the History about it!

Answer 1

That is a pretty big question for a pretty big place.

As for the geologic history... the vast majority of scientists and geologists believe that the Grand Canyon was carved over several million years by the Colorado River whose cutting power was greatly increased by the geologic uplift of the Colorado Plateau (a raised area of mountains and plateaus around the Four Corners area). Because the Grand Canyon cuts through so many different rock layers (over 10 major formations), it is one of the best places in the world to study geology.

As for the human history of the canyon...
Humans have lived in the area for over 10,000 years, but very little is known about the earliest people who nomadic and left relatively few artifacts. One of the few exceptions are some animal figurines made of twigs that were found in a canyon cave and dated to around 2,000 BC. The first people to leave extensive ruins in the canyon were the Ancestral Puebloan people (AKA: Anasazi, same people who lived at Chaco Canyon) who built a number of small stone pueblos in the canyon area around 900-1100AD. The Havasupai people lived (and still do) in a small side canyon (where the famous Havasu Falls are) and the Hopi people believe they first came into this world near where the Little Colorado River enters the Grand Canyon.

The first European to see the canyon was the Spanish officer Captain Garcia Lopez de Cardenas in 1540AD. Cardenas was leading a small group that broke off of the larger Coronado expedition which was searching for the Seven Cities of Gold in New Mexico (Coronado himself never saw the canyon). A few later Spanish explorers crossed the area, as well as American trappers in the early 1800s (the first American to see it was probably trapper James O. Pattie). But relatively few people visited the area until it became part of the United States after the Mexican-American War in 1848-49.

In the 1850s, the US sent scouts and map makers to explore the west. The first real scientist to visit the canyon were members of a party led by Lt. Ives who traveled up the lower Colorado River by boat and explored the western end of the canyon.

One of the biggest and most famous events in the canyon history occurred in 1869 when Major John W. Powell (a one arm Civil War veteran) led the first successful boat trip through the canyon. He (and several other members of the group) wrote very popular accounts of the trip which first brought the canyon to the public's attention. Powell was also the one to offically name it the 'Grand Canyon'.

In the late 1800s, some of the most famous geologists in American studied the canyon including Karl Grove Gilbert and Clarence Dutton. Dutton's finely illustrated book on canyon geology is still considered a classic today. In the late 1800s, a number of pioneers and miners also first began to settle in the area including John Hance, William Bass and Louis Boucher ('the hermit') for whom many early trails are named. Most settlement was along the south rim.

In 1901, the Santa Fe railroad reached the south rim of the canyon and led to the age of large scale tourism at the canyon. Santa Fe and the Fred Harvey Company also opened a number of grand lodges and shops (including the famous El Tovar Hotel in 1905) which ended up driving many of the earlier smaller hotels and shops out of business. At the same time, Ralph Cameron began charging tourists to travel down the trail he built to his mines at the bottom (the Bright Angel Trail).

Many of the buildings at the canyon were designed by architect Mary Jane Colter who believed in making the buildings reflect their local environment and history. Two other famous residents at this time were the Emory and Ellsworth Kolb who became noted photographers of the canyon and had a studio right on the edge. President Roosevelt visited the canyon several times and hunted mountain lions on the north rim. Concerned that the canyon should be protected for future generations, he helped establish it as a National Monument in 1908. In 1919, the canyon became a full-fledged National Park and after a protracted legal battle, Cameron was forced to give up ownership of the Bright Angel trail.

In the 1940s, Norm Nevills began taking tourists on river trips through the canyon and it became more and more popular in the1950s and 1960s. Boatwoman Georgie Clark became famous for her giant raft trips. In 1963, the controversial Glen Canyon Dam was completed near Page. This flooded Glen Canyon (upstream of the canyon) and greatly changed the character (and natural processes) of the canyon by limiting the flow of the river.

Answer 2

The Colorado River runs through the Grand Canyon, and is presumed by many the primary agent involved in its formation. However, if you have ever seen the Grand Canyon, or Lake Powell (up river in Utah) you will come to understand that the Colorado, even at many times its flood stage could not have formed the canyon. The Grand Canyon, and others were formed by cataclysmic floods that inundated the western US. Check out this website, fascinating reading. http://www.sentex.net/~tcc/index.html

Answer 3

The grand canyon was formed over millions of years by weathering, not by innundating floods.

It is a beautiful place. Here is a link to the site that I use for most science information. It is very informative...

Answer 4

Official National Park Service site. News and events, information on camping and lodging, facilities and fees, maps and volunteer openings

Answer 5

well if you are going there you need a power chair..........next time im going to the grand cayon!