Are you wondering how the Grand Canyon was formed? One word: erosion. When hiking along one of the canyon’s rims, look down and try to spot the tiny ribbon below. That’s the Colorado River. This river has wound its way through the various layers you see on the canyon’s walls for millions of years carving a gorge of epic proportions. Water and wind erode rock and sweep it away. It’s hard to imagine that the river was once on top.
The layers of the Grand Canyon are a spectacular feature that reveals various time periods and conditions. Sediments left behind reflect the conditions (muddy, rocky, sandy, volcanic, etc) of certain time periods. The river has cut through the earth which allows us to see the passing of eons before our eyes.
The Grand Canyon has been home to Native Americans for thousands of years. About 10,000 years ago, paleo-hunters were known to have hunted big game throughout the area. More recently, hunter-gathers lived in the area until about 1000 BC. Archaeological findings, such as pottery found in the canyon, have been carbon dated to 4000 years ago.
Ancestral Puebloan people moved in around 500 AD. They cultivated corn, hunted bighorn sheep, rabbits, and deer, and made intricate baskets. Their basket making skills lead archaeologists to call these people “basket makers.”
The park contains nearly 2,000 ancestral Puebloan sites including the impressive Tusayan Pueblo which was built in 1185 AD. By the late 1200s, the early Grand Canyon Native Americans abandoned their homes. Some speculate that an extended drought prompted this mass exodus.
The 1870s and 1880s yielded the discovery of lead, zinc, asbestos, and copper which prompted many to stake mining claims. However, actually mining the canyon proved difficult and treacherous. Instead of getting dollars through mining, many miners turned to a more profitable venture: tourism. Buildings, railroads, lodging, and new trails along with fabulous photos and paintings depicting the canyon and eventual National Park status in 1919, beckoned tourists from all over the world with promises of a sight unlike any other in the world. They were right.