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. There are community-wide anti-drug and anti-alcohol efforts. Alcoholism is a major problem among Native American people. The community has its own bi-weekly newspaper, Gamyu.
[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, and gift shop. 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.
Radio stations from Kingman and Las Vegas can be picked up, and 26 channels of cable are provided by Cablevision.
[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 | 20.6 °F | 0.87 in. |
| February | 1.01 in. | ||
| March | 1.07 in. | ||
| April | 69.5 °F | 31.6 °F | 0.62 in. |
| May | 0.29 in. | ||
| June | 0.24 in. | ||
| July | 90.8 °F | 54.7 °F | 1.48 in. |
| August | 1.87 in. | ||
| September | 1.05 in. | ||
| October | 73.5 °F | 36.1 °F | 0.64 in |
| November | 0.73 in. | ||
| December | 0.97 in. | ||
| Year | 71.07 °F | 35.7 °F | 10.84 in. |
[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. 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 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.
In August of 2005, the tribe announced that it was building a horseshoe-shaped glass-floored walkway, the Grand Canyon Skywalk, that will jut out 70 feet from the canyon wall and 4000 feet above the floor of the Grand Canyon. Admission will be $25. The walkway is scheduled to open at the end of 2006.
[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 (no pun intended it's really called a Wikieup).
- Reservation Created
- By executive order in 1883
[edit] Hualapai War
The war broke out in April of 1865 when Hulapai leader Anasa was murdered by drunken settlers in the area. They 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. It was broken when Chief Wauba Yuma was murdered after a dispute with the Walker party over the treaty. Raids by the Hualapai Indians began in full force, raiding white mining camps and settlers. The cavalry from Fort Mojave responded by attacking Hualapai rancherias and burning them. The army also used the Mohave Indians against the Hualapai. A notable warrior was Sherum, who was known for his tenacity as a warrior. This war lasted until December 1868. 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 also later surrendered, thus ending the Hualapai Wars.
[edit] Sources
- Intertribal Council of Arizona (Hualapai)
- Hualapai Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land, Arizona United States Census Bureau
- Thrapp, Dan L. (1967). The Conquest of Apacheria. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. LCCC 67-15588.
