Customer Reviews

Living at the Edge : Explorers, Exploiters and Settlers of the Grand Canyon Region (Grand Canyon Association)

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The photos alone are worth the price of this oversized paperback. Mr. Anderson has assembled a detailed and engaging history of the "pioneer" period (1850-1930) at the South and North rims of the Grand Canyon (and the cliffs, slopes and water in between). The familiar names of trails and canyons are fleshed into the first hardy folks who endeavored to eek a livelihood out of northern Arizona's unforgiving desert canyon. We meet explorers, entrepreneurs and industrialists. Prospectors stake their claims, both legitimate and fraudulent. Mormons seek refuge from the laws of their own home state. Individuals fight their losing tugs-of-war against the Railroad/Concession/Park Service aliance. While treatment of prehistoric and early Spanish events is adequate to set the stage for discussing the later periods, it is not intended to be comprehensive [see On the Edge of Splendor]. This comfortably readable volume has finally clarified for me the preferential treatment of Fred Harvey Enterprises, the unmistakable ambivalence of the National Park Service toward its patrons (visitors), and the puzzling destruction of historic sites and abandonment of remote access roads by the NPS. This is great reading for any Canyon junkie.

This is a great book to read before you go to the Grand Canyon. I wish I had done so. Many of the places referenced are easily seen from the rims. the South Rim is almost unchanged as far as the older hotels are concerned. This book was recommended by a Park Ranger during our visit. Some of the photos are too small to be of any value.