Century-old policy ‘finally made right’ at Havasupai Garden

For the first time since the forced removal of the the last Havasupai tribal member from Grand Canyon’s Indian Garden in 1928, members of tribe gathered May 4 at Bright Angel Trailhead to reclaim and celebrate their ancestral home.

In a message on its Facebook page, the Havasupai celebrated “a truly historic day, as members of the Havasupai Tribe gathered at the Bright Angel Trailhead at the Grand Canyon to bless and dedicate the sacred place now known as Havasupai Gardens.”

Originally called Ha’a Gyoh, the National Park Service (NPS) instituted policies that forced the Havasupai people from Ha’a Gyoh and in 1928, the last Havasupai resident, Captain Burro, was forcibly removed.

Havasupai people continued to live and work within Grand Canyon National Park, despite the forced removal from the inner canyon.

Vice Chairman Edmond Tilousi, a descendant of Captain Burro, spoke of the significance of this part of the Canyon stating that "by renaming it Havasupai Gardens, it has finally made right what was done to the Tribe those many years ago."

Since the arrival of the railroad and the construction of a road to the South Rim brought increasing numbers of tourists and fortune-hunters to the Grand Canyon, the forerunner to the NPS decided that Native Americans living within the newly-formed national monument was bad for business.

In some cases, homes and crops were burned to ensure the area’s Havasupai inhabitants had nothing to return to. The agency’s decision to call the area Indian Garden, scrubbing all mention of the Havasupai Tribe from the landscape, was a grave insult to the tribe.

Late last year, the tribe submitted a formal petition to the U.S. Board of Geographic names to change Indian Garden to Havasupai Garden.

Grand Canyon National Park officials supported the tribe and agreed that the area’s name change was long overdue.

“The Grand Canyon National Park team was proud to work alongside the Havasupai Tribal Council in our joint effort to rename this culturally significant location at the Grand Canyon,” said Superintendent Ed Keable. “The Havasupai people have actively occupied this area since time immemorial, before the land’s designation as a National Park and until the park forcibly removed them in 1926. This renaming is long overdue. It is a measure of respect for the undue hardship imposed by the park on the Havasupai people.”

Annually, approximately 100,000 people visit the area while hiking the Bright Angel Trail, largely unaware of this history, according to the tribe.

“The people of the Havasupai Tribe have always called the vast Grand Canyon and the plateau lands south of it our homeland,” the tribe continued. “The Creator made the Havasupai People the guardians of the Grand Canyon, and this is a role that we take very seriously. We are a small tribe. But our voices and our spirits are large.”

Information provided by the Havasupai Tribe