Opinion: Hualapai Tribe steals White Man's ideas

Thursday, February 15, 2007  

"The Hualapai Indian Reservation in Arizona is constructing an immense glass walkway, called Skywalk, that juts out 70 feet from the South Rim precipice of the Grand Canyon. When finished next month, Skywalk will allow visitors a dizzying view of the abyss below. The admission price will be $25.

Naturally, this brazen exploitation of a national treasure has angered a lot of people. And for good reason.

Clearly, the Indians have stolen one of the White Man's ideas.

Skywalk, the Hualapai tribe says, will be just the first part of a development that eventually will include hotels, restaurants and even a golf course.

Critics are aghast. They wonder how indigenous peoples, long known for their love of nature and their reverence for the Earth, could commit this atrocity, this defacement, this desecration.

Gee, where could the Indians have gotten the idea? Could it have been from the folks who started developing the canyon rim a century ago? The same folks who have established hotels there, and restaurants, and shops, and a tourist train, and helicopter tours?"

Get the Story:
John Weeks: Plundering our national treasures (The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin 2/15)

Relevant Links:
Grand Canyon West - http://www.destinationgrandcanyon.com/indexe.html
Grand Canyon - http://www.nps.gov/grca

Related Stories:
Hualapai Tribe plans for Grand Canyon Skywalk (12/14)
Hualapai Tribe expects big boost in tourists (09/05)
Hualapai Tribe still working on Grand Canyon skywalk (8/1)
Hualapai Tribe sees interest in Grand Canyon skywalk (02/15)
Hualapai Tribe to challenge Grand Canyon plan (11/11)
Hualapai Tribe, National Park Service in dispute (10/13)
Hualapai Tribe to open Grand Canyon skywalk (08/23)
Hualapai Tribe plans skywalk over Grand Canyon (07/23)
Hualapai Tribe awarded $2M in federal grants (7/15)