Havasupai

thumb|Havasupai Basket,

The Havasupai people (Havasupai: Havsuw' Baaja) are a Native American people and tribe who have lived in the Grand Canyon for at least the past 800 years. Their name means "people of the blue-green water", referring to Havasu Creek, a tributary of the Colorado.

Located primarily in an area known as Havasu Canyon, this Yuman-speaking population once laid claim to an area the size of Delaware (). In 1882, however, the United States federal government forced the tribe to abandon all but of its land. A silver rush and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in effect destroyed the fertile land. Furthermore, the inception of the Grand Canyon as a national park in 1919 pushed the Havasupai to the brink, as their land was consistently being used by the National Park Service. Throughout the 20th century, the tribe used the US judicial system to fight for the restoration of the land. In 1975, the tribe succeeded in regaining approximately of their ancestral land with the passage of the Grand Canyon National Park Enlargement Act.

As a means of survival, the tribe has turned to tourism, attracting thousands of people annually to its streams and waterfalls at the Havasupai Indian Reservation.

History

Relation with Hualapai

Ethnically, the Havasupai and the Hualapai are one people, although today, they are politically separate groups due to U.S. government policy. The Hualapai (Pa'a or Pai) had three subtribes: the Plateau People, Middle Mountain People, and Yavapai Fighter. The subtribes were divided into seven bands, which themselves were broken up into thirteen regional bands or local groups. The local groups were composed of several extended family groups living in small villages: The Havasupai were just the Havasooa Pa'a regional band (or local group) of the Nyav-kapai ("Eastern People") of the Plateau People subtribe.

Pre-1882

The tribe had traditionally relied heavily on agriculture, hunting, and gathering as their means of survival. Although living primarily above and inside the Grand Canyon, which consists mostly of harsh terrain, the tribe's reservation was also home to some lush vegetation and the aquamarine blue water of Havasu Creek. Their name, meaning "the People of the Blue-Green Waters," reflects this.

The Havasupai are said to have existed within and around the Grand Canyon for over eight centuries. Little is known about the tribe before their first recorded European encounter in 1776 with Spanish priest Francisco Garcés.

In the first half of the 19th century, with the exception of the introduction of horses by the Spanish, U.S. westward expansion affected the Havasupai less than it did other indigenous populations of the West. Even as interaction with settlers slowly increased, day-to-day life did not change much for the tribe until silver was discovered in 1870 by Cataract Creek. The migration of prospectors to the area was unwelcome. The Havasupai sought protection from the intrusion of Western pioneers on their land and sought out assistance, but to little avail. An executive order by President Rutherford Hayes in 1880 established a small federally protected reservation for the tribe, yet it did not include the mining areas along the Creek (Hirst, 1985).

During this era, Havasupai relations with other Native American tribes were generally mixed. Bonds and interactions with the Hopi tribe, whose reservation was in close proximity, were strong, as the two peoples did a great deal of trading with each other.

thumb|250px|left|Two Havasupai women with "Kathaks" on their backs, ca.1900

The loss of almost all of their land was not the only issue that the Havasupai were contending with: the increase in the number of settlers in the local region had depleted game used for hunting, and soil erosion (a result of poor irrigation techniques) touched off a series of food shortages.

In the 1800s, the continental railway system was greatly expanded. In 1897, construction opened on a spur line of the Santa Fe Railroad, which was to lead directly to the Grand Canyon;

1921–1975

Issues regarding health within the Havasupai population reduced its growth to the point where almost an entire generation was lost due to infant and child mortality. Low morale spread throughout the tribe, leading to an increase in gambling, alcoholism, and violence. As the years progressed, the Havasupai came to realize that they could not hope to survive in their American social situation without embracing at least some aspects of it. Breaking horses, working on farms, or even serving as employees of the Grand Canyon National Park were all options for tribal members. The court findings stated that the Havasupai had portions of their land taken from them illegally in 1882 and that the tribe was entitled to recover the land from the US at fair market value (ICC 210). That value ended up being 55 cents an acre, totaling just over one million dollars. Although the case was a landmark for the Havasupai in the sense that it was proven in a court of law that the federal government had inappropriately taken their land, it had still not been properly returned to the tribe. where the campground now resides. Below Mooney Falls, the famous pipe "ladder" ascended to a vanadium deposit.

1976–present

thumb|Mooney Falls Following the return of a large share of their land, the Havasupai as a tribe have once again begun to flourish. Although many of the day-to-day customs that existed before 1882 are not well established today, the Havasupai have continued to respect and preserve the traditions of their ancestors. As of 2019, the tribe consists of about 730 members, of which about 400 live on the reservation.

Presently, the tribe has begun to take advantage of the beauty of its land by turning it into a tourist destination for visitors to the Grand Canyon. Tribal members often work as packers and/or workers for tourist ventures or work at the lodge, tourist offices, the café, etc.

2003–2010 blood sample controversy

In 2003, protests ensued when it was found that Arizona State University had used blood samples consensually acquired from the Havasupai people to "study the causes of behavioral/medical disorders," with an initial goal of determining whether the high rates of Type 2 diabetes among Havasupai adults were due to the same gene that causes high rates of diabetes in the Pima people. This included one that indicated that their ancestors migrated from Asia to North America, which contradicts the traditional Havasupai belief that the tribe originated in the canyon. Another showed a relatively high level of consanguinity, which can result in health problems. Havasupai participants US$700,000.

Traditional culture

Agriculture

Before modern times, agriculture was the essential means of progress and survival for the Havasupai. In the winter, the tribe members stationed themselves on the plateau of the canyon; in the summer, irrigation gardening of the crop fields brought the members back inside the canyon walls. These systems were built to conform with the existing contours which allow for efficient irrigation without modern pumps. The community diligently cooperated and helped clear and maintain the canals whenever necessary. They also adapted the orientation of them as the seasons and rainfall changed or if there was large sediment build up.

The system of open channel canals included manually operated diversions to send the water where it was needed most. Families of the tribe regulated flow by operating small headgates to ensure water was shared equitably while also preventing erosion and over-saturation. This system also carried nutrient-dense sediment onto the crop fields which replenished the soil year after year and increased crop yields.

Hunting

The bow and arrow were of primary importance to a Havasupai hunter. Built from an unidentifiable tree, an entire process of crafting, bending, and designing went into the construction of these hunting tools. The Tribe charges for entering its land, and visitors are required to reserve either a room at their lodge or a space at the campground.

Havasupai Trail

thumb|right|Havasupai Trail

The trailhead is at Hualapai Hilltop, Arizona (located at the end of BIA Road 18), where there is a large parking lot, a helipad, and portable toilets. The trail can be traveled by foot or horseback. Alternatively, transportation by helicopter is periodically available. Mule service can also be purchased for luggage/packs only. The trail to Supai is approximately long and descends approximately . The campground is an additional , with another drop of about .

Havasu Creek

Havasu Creek runs through Supai. The creek has several waterfalls, including Havasu Falls.

Gallery

File:Two Havasupai Indian children, the daughters of Chickapanagie's, enjoy a mellon, ca.1900 (CHS-3362).jpg|Two Havasupai children, the daughters of Chickapanagie's, enjoying a melon, ca. 1900. Both are wearing checkered dresses and are barefooted. They sit on a blanket with a zig-zag pattern with their hands in a half melon between them. Their hair is cut very short.

File:Two Havasupai Indian women basket makers, ca.1900 (CHS-4695).jpg|Two Havasupai women basket makers, ca. 1900. The women and a child sit on the ground in front of a house made of branches. They wear long dresses with shawls over their shoulders. They sit among firewood. A child peers out of the entry of the dwelling. A "kathak", a large conical basket, lies on the ground at right.

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References

General references

"Depositions of Big Jim, Billy Burro, Supai Mary and Allen Akaba," Records of the Indian Claims Commission, Havasupai Tribe, Docket 91, August 4, 1950, RG 279, National Archives.
Kendall, Martha B. 1983. "Yuman languages". In Southwest, edited by Alfonso Ortiz, pp. 4–12. Handbook of North American Indians, William C. Sturtevant, general editor, Vol. 10. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Mithun, Marianne. 1999. The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge University Press.
Braatz, Timothy. "The Question of Regional Bands and Subtribes among the Pre-Conquest Pai (Hualapai and Havasupai) Indians of Northwestern Arizona." American Indian Quarterly 22(1) (1998): 19–30.
Dobyns, Henry F., and Robert C. Euler. 1999. "Bands of gardeners: Pai sociopolitical structure (discussion)." American Indian Quarterly 23 (3): 159–74.
Hanna, Mark. Man of the Canyon: An Old Indian Remembers His Life. Edited by Richard G. Emerick. Orno, Maine: Northern Lights, 1992.
Hirst, Stephen. Havsuw 'Baaja: People of the Blue Green Water. Tempe, Arizona: Walsh and Associates, 1985.
MORTON, D. J., PROUDFIT, J., CALAC, D., PORTILLO, M., LOFTON-FITZSIMMONS, G., MOLINA, T., FLORES, R., LAWSON-RISSO, B., & MAJEL-MCCAULEY, R. (2013). Creating Research Capacity Through a Tribally Based Institutional Review Board. American Journal of Public Health, 103(12), 2160–2164.
The Havasupai Tribe of the Havasupai Reservation, Arizona, The Navajo Tribe of Indians v. the United States of America 20 Ind. Cl. Comm. 210 (1968). Havasupai Indians, edited by David Agee Horr, 343–356. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1974.
Whiting, A.F. Havasupai Habitat. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press, 1985.

External links

Official Havasupai Tribe of the Havasupai Reservation website
ASU Grand Canyon website