Hualapai
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The Hualapai (also spelled Walapai) are a tribe of Native Americans who live in the mountains of northwestern Arizona, United States. The name is derived from "hwal," the Yuman word for pine, "Hualapai" meaning "people of the tall pine". Their traditional territory is a 100 mile (160 km) stretch along the pine-clad southern side of the Grand Canyon with the tribal capital located at Peach Springs.
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[edit] The Reservation
The community is governed by the Hualapai Tribal Council which includes a chairperson, vice-chairperson, and seven other council members. Law enforcement is provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, although the Hualapai Tribe is in the process of hiring four tribal police officers. Fire protection is provided by the BIA and the local volunteer fire department. Alcoholism is a major problem among many Native American people, so there are community-wide anti-drug and anti-alcohol efforts.
[edit] Location of Reservation
Including off-reservation trust lands, the Hualapai reservation has a land area of 4,146.178 km² (1,600.848 sq mi) in parts of Coconino, Mohave, and Yavapai counties along 108 miles (174 km) of the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. It is mostly rolling hills, rugged mesas, forests, cliffs, and deep gorges.
The 2000 census reported a total population of only 1,353 persons residing on tribal lands. The tribal capital, and only major town, is Peach Springs. Peach Springs is 50 miles (80 km) east of Kingman, Arizona on historic Highway 66. The railroad established a water station in the early 1880s and called it Peach Springs after the peach trees growing at a nearby spring.
[edit] Community Facilities
The Hualapai Indian Reservation has basic shopping, including a general store, restaurant, gift shop, and a bi-weekly newspaper, Gamyu. A 60-room motel, the Hualapai Lodge, was built in 1997 in Peach Springs for tourists who wish to stop for the night. Recreational facilities include a gymnasium, a rodeo arena, ball fields, a hunting lodge, a community center, and a senior citizens' center.
[edit] Education
Peach Springs School (kindergarten through twelfth grade) has a student body of 285 and is served by an 18-member faculty. The high school and Head Start programs have their own buildings, and a family training center is under construction.
[edit] Medical care
Basic medical and dental care is provided at a clinic in Peach Springs by the United States Public Health Service. It is staffed by two medical doctors, two registered nurses, and one public health nurse. The tribe provides its own emergency and ambulance service. For comprehensive medical care, one must be transported to nearby Kingman.
[edit] Average temperature and precipitation
| Month | Daily max | Daily min | Precipitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 50.5 F (10.3 C) | 20.6 F (-6.3 C) | 0.87 in (22 mm) |
| February | 1.01 in (26 mm) | ||
| March | 1.07 in (27 mm) | ||
| April | 69.5 F (20.8 C) | 31.6 F (-0.2 C) | 0.62 in (16 mm) |
| May | 0.29 in (7 mm) | ||
| June | 0.24 in (6 mm) | ||
| July | 90.8 F (32.7 C) | 54.7 F (12.6 C) | 1.48 in (38 mm) |
| August | 1.87 in (47 mm) | ||
| September | 1.05 in (27 mm) | ||
| October | 73.5 F (23.1 C) | 36.1 F (2.3 C) | 0.64 in (16 mm) |
| November | 0.73 in (19 mm) | ||
| December | 0.97 in (25 mm) | ||
| Year | 71.07 F (21.7 C) | 35.7 F (2.1 C) | 10.84 in (275 mm) |
[edit] Economy
The tribal economy is based on tourism, river-rafting, cattle-ranching, hunting expeditions, and timber-cutting, as well as crafting of traditional and modern folk arts.[citation needed] Business matters are guided by the Hualapai Enterprise Board, a committee of independent, business-minded tribal members and non-members. Complete banking services are provided by Arizona's major financial institutions in Kingman.
Full-time employment is provided mostly through government programs.
[edit] Current growth
There has been rapid economic, social, and governmental progress.
- More than 200 new homes have been built recently.
- About 14 miles (23 kilometers) of town streets have been paved and curbed.
- An improved community water and sewer system provides infrastructure for future growth.
- 300 streetlights were installed in 1999.
[edit] Tourism
Grand Canyon West is Hualapai land, and the tribal government runs tourist programs that attract more than 7,500 guests a month. Grand Canyon Caverns, just east of Peach Springs, offers guided tours through chambers 21 stories underground. The tribe also runs the only Indian-owned-and-operated river-rafting company on the Colorado River: Hualapai River Running. The tribe sells big-game hunting permits for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, trophy elk, antelope, and mountain lion.
There are three roads on the Huaulapai reservation of interest to tourists. Route 66 goes through the center of Peach Springs, bringing tourists to the general store, gas station, deli, and gift shop where Hualapai Folk Arts offers a variety of traditional and modern arts. Peach Springs Canyon offers the only road into the Grand Canyon. Diamond Creek Road is a conditional access road maintained by the tribe for tourists with the proper permits.
[edit] Grand Canyon Skywalk
In August 2005, the tribe announced that it was building a horseshoe-shaped glass-floored walkway, the Grand Canyon Skywalk, that would jut out 70 feet (21 meters) from the canyon wall and 4000 feet (1200 meters) above the floor of the Grand Canyon. A "First Walk" event for the media and VIPs was held on Tuesday 20 March 2007, with former astronaut Buzz Aldrin taking the first step out onto the completed walkway, followed by tribal elders and project engineers. It was expected to open to the general public on 28 March 2007. [1]
Although admission was originally expected to be around US$25, current pricing starts at US$49.95 for access to the site to "view" the Skywalk, with rates ranging from US$74.95 to US$199 for various packages including an actual walk on the Skywalk. [1]
Most of the funds collected from tourists will to go to the tribe, with the balance to the builders of the structure. The structure cost private developers over US$30 million.
The walkway encountered much public criticism from conservation groups, who contended that it would affect the pristine atmosphere of this section of the Grand Canyon. As might be expected, the tribal leaders have said otherwise, contending that they are land-rich but cash-poor and need the funds to help make ends meet for their very poor people living on tribal lands.
Previous efforts by the tribe to raise money with gambling have failed, since most of the visitors have already been to nearby Las Vegas, which has legalized gambling casinos. [2]
[edit] Taxes
- State Taxes
- The State of Arizona does not tax Indian lands and Indian-owned property on reservations. Incomes of Indians residing on reservations are not taxed by the state if they are wholly derived from reservation sources. Indian people of Arizona are also exempt from state and local sales taxes on consumer goods purchased on the reservation, unless such taxes are imposed by the tribal government. However, the state of Arizona collects taxes from reservation residents on sales of gasoline, electricity, natural gas, and telephone service.
- Federal Taxes
- The Federal Government does not exempt individual Indians from income taxes or other federal taxes.
[edit] History and culture
- Major traditional ceremonies
- "Maturity" and "Mourning"
- Modern festivals
- The annual Sobriety Festival is in June.
- Afterlife
- The souls of the dead are believed to go northwestward to a beautiful land where plentiful harvest grow. This land is seen only by their spirits.
- Traditional dress
- Full suits of deerskin and rabbit skin robes.
- Traditional language
- Yuman
- Traditional housing
- Conical houses formed from cedar boughs using the single slope form called a Wikieup.
- Reservation Created
- By executive order in 1883
[edit] Hualapai War
This war was caused by an increase in traffic through the area on the Fort Mojave-Prescott Toll Road which elevated tensions and produced armed conflicts between the Hualapai and the Euro-Americans. The war broke out in May of 1865 when the Hualapai leader Anasa was killed by a man named Hundertinark in the area of Willow Grove and in March of 1866 a man named Clower was killed by the Hualapai. The Hualapai cut off the route from Prescott, Arizona to the Colorado River ports. It was not until W.H. Hardy negotiated a peace agreement at Beale Springs that the raids and the fighting subsided. However, the agreement lasted only nine months when it was broken after Chief Wauba Yuma was killed during a dispute with the Walker party over the treaty. After the chiefs death, raids by the Hualapai Indians began in full force, raiding mining camps and settlers. The cavalry from Fort Mojave responded, with the help of the Mohave Indians, by attacking Hualapai rancherias and razing them . The Hualapai began to surrender as whooping cough and dysentery weakened their ranks; they were led by Under Chief Leve Leve of the Yavapai peoples. The warrior Sherum (who was known for his tenacity as a warrior) later surrendered, thus ending the Hualapai Wars in 1870. It is estimated that one-third of the Hualapai people were killed during this war either by the conflict or disease.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Grand Canyon Skywalk website
- ^ Great Divide: The Fights for America's Landscape. Independent 9 March 2007
[edit] Sources
- Intertribal Council of Arizona (Hualapai)
- Hualapai Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land, Arizona United States Census Bureau
- Hualapai Tribe
- The Havasupai and the Hualapai
- Camp Beale's Springs - Mohave Museum
- Thrapp, Dan L. (1967). The Conquest of Apacheria. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. LCCC 67-15588.
