Photos: Grand Canyon National Park turns 100 years old
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Rick Wiley
Photo editor
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The Grand Canyon in Northern Arizona was designated a national park in 1919. Along with Yellowstone and Yosemite, it is one of the crown jewels of the National Park system in the United States. It receives nearly 5 million visitors each year.
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Bright Angel Point, ca. 1922.
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Photograph shows a steam-powered Toledo car owned by Oliver Lippincott. The man in the car has been identified as Lippincott and also as Al Doyle, a mountain guide who accompanied Lippincott to drive the first car to the Grand Canyon on Feb. 5, 1902.
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A man and a woman riding mules on the Grand View Trail in the Grand Canyon, ca. 1906.
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Overlooking the Grand Canyon in 1903.
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Snow-capped peaks, Grand Canyon, 1913.
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Descending the Grand View Copper Mine trail, ca. 1906.
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Projecting Ledge, foot of the Limestone Cliff, ca 1906
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Grand Canyon of Arizona from in front of Grand View Hotel. Detroit Publishing Co., ca. 1906
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Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Major Powell's famous armchair boat on the Colorado River. August 22, 1872.U.S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region (Powell Survey). Stereoscopic view.
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Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Packing up for portage at the head of Hance Rapid. Colorado River Survey of 1923
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Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Sunset on Cedar Ridge on South Kaibab Trail. July 12, 1957.
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The Kachina Lodge also known as the Grand Canyon Inn from path to Powell Memorial showing rim cabins and main lodge.
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Kaibab Trail Suspension Bridge over Colorado River in 1928.
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Grand Canyon National Park, a free government service. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1938.
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Hikers descend the South Kaibab trail early Saturday morning. The teenaged Healthy Living Ambassadors of the 4-H Youth Leadership program at the Pima County Cooperative Extension took part in a 3-day teen summit trip to the Grand Canyon in April, 2016.
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Hikers snake along the South Kaibab trail into the Grand Canyon. The teenaged Healthy Living Ambassadors of the 4-H Youth Leadership program at the Pima County Cooperative Extension took part in a 3-day teen summit trip to the Grand Canyon in April, 2016.
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The group of hikers, with Liz Sparks, a 4-H Extension Assistant Agent in the middle, all rush into the frigid waters of the Colorado River at the same time in April, 2016. The teenaged Healthy Living Ambassadors of the 4-H Youth Leadership program at the Pima County Cooperative Extension took part in a 3-day teen summit trip to the Grand Canyon, with most of the 60-plus students choosing a 14-mile round-trip hike to the bottom of the canyon and back to the rim in one day.
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Hikers descend the South Kaibab Trail into the Grand Canyon. The teenaged Healthy Living Ambassadors of the 4-H Youth Leadership program at the Pima County Cooperative Extension took part in a 3-day teen summit trip to the Grand Canyon in April, 2016.
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4-H Youth Development leaders Leza Carter, left (a program coordinator) and Veronica Simon (an instructional specialist) hike down the Bright Angel Trail near Skeleton Point. The teenaged Healthy Living Ambassadors of the 4-H Youth Leadership program at the Pima County Cooperative Extension took part in a 3-day teen summit trip to the Grand Canyon in April, 2016.
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The last series of switchbacks along the South Kaibab Trail are shaded by lingering morning clouds in April, 2016.
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Tourists to the Grand Canyon get a taste of the old west riding the Bright Angel Trail on mules in December, 2000.
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A Chinese couple watch out the window of a loaded shuttle tram bus as it leaves Hopi point just after sunset in November, 2000. The shuttle takes visitors to the Grand Canyon's vistas west of the village on roads that traditionally have been open to private vehicles.
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Two Grand Canyon visitors peer over Trailview Overlook on the south rim of the Grand Canyon in November, 2000, as Bright Angel Canyon stretches vertically out in front of them.
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The Grand Canyon Railroad loads up with tourists at the South Rim station in November, 2000.
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THREE MEN, "STOPE B, 4TH LEVEL" MINING, CANYON COPPER CO. MINE ON HORSESHOE MESA. GRANDVIEW CIRCA 1907.
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A rainbow appears over the late-day light on the ridges of the north rim as seen from the Bright Angel Trail in April, 2016.
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A trio of hikers, led by Leon Segura, descend past Cedar Ridge along the South Kaibab trail into the Grand Canyon in April, 2016.
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Visitors standing around the front entrance to the El Tovar Hotel, ca. 1922.
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Cape Royal on the North Rim provides a panorama up, down, and across the canyon. With seemingly unlimited vistas to the east and west, it is popular for both sunrise and sunset. The sweeping turn of the Colorado River at Unkar Delta is framed through the natural arch of Angels Window.
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Theodore Roosevelt leading a group of men and women on horseback down the Bright Angel Trail, Grand Canyon, Arizona. ca 1911
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Boaters running Lava Falls Rapid in Grand Canyon National Park.
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A mule train queues on the South Kaibab Trail beyond Tipof in April, 2016.
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Horse and rider at the Grand Canyon in 1955.
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Stephen T. Mather, shown in this October 1921 file photo, poses by the Powell Memorial Plaque at the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Mather, an avid outdoorsman and self-made millionaire, was convinced that the national parks needed to be protected under one federal agency. On Aug. 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law an act creating the National Park Service.
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Polly Mead Patraw, first female park ranger at Grand Canyon National Park - took her job on August 1, 1930. She was the second female ranger in the entire National Park Service.
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Grand Canyon Lodge, Main Lodge, North Rim, Grand Canyon, By Richard Frear, Photographer July 1982
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Looking west approaching Grand Canyon Visitor Center plaza on the South Rim in 2010.
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Civil Conservation Corps works construct a trail along the Colorado River, ca. 1935.
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Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim covered with snow in 1941.
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The original Grand Canyon Lodge - North Rim, ca. 1929, before destroyed by fire 1932. View from east.
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North Rim Lodge after reconstruction in 1937. It was heavily damaged in a fire.
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Shriner's special trains pulled by steam locomotives in the Grand Canyon Station yard in 1937.
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Phantom Ranch. View across swimming pool towards several guest cabins. Several guests are swimming in the pool. Circa 1961.
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Improved Mather Point and and Visitor Center Plaza in 2008.
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El Tovar Hotel as seen from the roof of hopi house, ca. 1922. Native employees posing on different levels of roof. Fred harvey touring cars parked around entrance loop.
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The Anvil Overlook below Lookout Studio, ca. 1936. Safety railing installed by Civilian Conservation Corps.
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Looking north along the east face of Lookout Studio, ca. 1914.
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Greenland Lake is located on the North Rim of the park along the Cape Royal Road.
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Phantom Ranch, at the bottom of the Grand Canyon is 2,550 feet above sea level; making it about 4,600 feet lower than the South Rim about 5,800 feet lower than the North Rim. It is the only lodging facility below the rim of the Grand Canyon. The ranch was designed by architect Mary Colter and completed in 1922. The rustic cabins and main lodge are built of wood and native stone and fit in with the natural beauty and solitude of the setting.
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Phantom Ranch, at the bottom of the Grand Canyon is 2,550 feet above sea level; making it about 4,600 feet lower than the South Rim about 5,800 feet lower than the North Rim.
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The confluence of Havasu Creek with the Colorado River (river mile 157) is a popular place for boaters to stop and admire the striking blue-green water of Havasu Creek. The turquoise color is caused by water with a high mineral content. At the point where the blue creek meets the turbid colorado river there often appears a definite break.
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Point Imperial, the highest point on the North Rim at 8,803 feet (2,683 meters), overlooks the Painted Desert and the eastern end of Grand Canyon. Here the canyon transforms as the narrow walls of Marble Canyon, visible only as a winding gash, open dramatically to become "grand."
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Detail of ccc enrollees suspended above the colorado river in a cable tramway car. Man hanging below the tram car from a rope ladder. Circa 1936.
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An auto caravan group at Grandview Point on May 24, 1934.
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Visitors at Hopi Point along the Hermit Rim Road, ca. 1935.
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Sunset as seen from Kolb Studio on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Kolb Studio was constructed on this site from 1904 through 1926. It was a 2 1/2 story structure with the upper level on the rim of the Canyon. This building saw 23 years of expansion and alterations that brought it to its present day appearance.
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Prehistoric granaries above Nankoweap in Marble Canyon.
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Storm breaking up over the Grand Canyon on September 9, 2014, as seen from the South Rim Historic District.
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Grand Canyon from the South Rim Historic District on Jan. 1, 2015.
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Interior of Desert View Watchtower Kiva Room after the gift shop was removed in January 2015, after the National Park Service purchased the building. The Watchtower is located at Desert View, the eastern-most developed area on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Recognized as a National Historic Landmark, the tower was constructed in 1932. Architect Mary Colter’s design takes its influences from the architecture of the ancestral Puebloan people of the Colorado Plateau. She collaborated on the design with Native American artisans of the time, including well-known Hopi artist Fred Kabotie whose murals adorn much of the second level of the tower.
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Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Pabirana, viewed from 100 feet below the rim on Bright Angel Trail. View is north. August 30, 1905.
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Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Tonto Platform eastward up Kaibab division of the Grand Canyon from the level of the Esplanade directly under Havasupai Point. 1901. Plate 5, U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 549.
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A river unit was dismantled 16 months ago after a report found sexual harassment there.
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Day hikers at Ooh Aah Point on the South Kaibab Trail.
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Designed in 1932 By Mary Colter and constructed by the Santa Fe Railroad, The Desert View Watchtower overlooks the eastern end of Grand Canyon National Park. The Colorado River is visible lower left.
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Snow at the Grand Canyon, ca. 1950s.
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Eight to 10-inches of snow fell at the Grand Canyon in January, 1958. The lodge had 20-foot icicles and was bathed in fog, as in this picture.
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Grand Canyon, mid-1950s.
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The Grand Canyon Lodge on the South Rim surrounded by snow in mid-1950s.
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Arizona Daily Star reporter Doug Kreutz at the Grand Canyon in 2000.
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Visitors to Mather Point on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, in Ariz., view a rare weather phenomenon - a sea of thick clouds filling the canyon just below the rim, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014.
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Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, in blue shirt at railing, watches water flow from the number one and two jet tubes at the Glen Canyon Dam after he released the valves Wednesday, March 5, 2008 in Page, Ariz. The Department of Interior is experimenting with high flows of water from the dam to help, in part, to rebuild beaches along the Colorado River that runs through the Grand Canyon. (AP Photo/Matt York)
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A spring snowstorm blankets the south rim of the Grand Canyon, Saturday, April 9, 2011.
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Phantom Ranch along Bright Angel Creek at the bottom of the Grand Canyon in 2004.
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The boat house at Lees Ferry, with the Colorado and Vermilion Cliffs in the distance. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. 1923.
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Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. First Granite Gorge. September 1872. U.S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region (Powell Survey). Stereoscopic view. Negative cracked.
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Bright Angel suspension bridge, viewed upstream from the north bank in 1923.
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A rainbow appears over the late-day light on the ridges of the north rim as seen from the Bright Angel Trail in April, 2016.
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A trio of hikers, with Leon Segura out front, descends past Cedar Ridge along the South Kaibab trail into the Grand Canyon last April. The Bright Angel Trail is also popular.
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El Tovar Hotel went up in 1905, three years after Theodore Roosevelt first visited the canyon. This shot is from about 1922.
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Cape Royal on the North Rim provides a panorama up, down, and across the canyon. With seemingly unlimited vistas to the east and west, it is popular at both sunrise and sunset.
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Theodore Roosevelt leads a group of men and women on horseback down Bright Angel Trail.
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Boaters run Lava Falls Rapid in the Grand Canyon. Rafting the Colorado River can be an unforgettable experience.
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Mules, like these taking supplies to the canyon floor, can be the answer for those who’d prefer not to hike but still want to go to the bottom, where rustic Phantom Ranch awaits.
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This horseman may not agree with an early opinion that the canyon is “altogether valueless.”
Rick Wiley
Photo editor
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