Dates on canyon’s calendar
5 million years ago
Water and wind begin to deepen a crevice that will become the route of the Colorado River. Those forces eventually will carve a nearly 300-mile-long canyon up to a mile deep and 18 miles wide.
12,000 years ago
Somebody leaves artifacts that later will be found by scientists. Eleven tribes have been associated with the canyon area, including Navajo, Hopi, Ancestral Puebloan, Southern Paiute and Zuni.
1540
An exploratory party from Mexico, led by Capt. García López de Cárdenas, finds the Grand Canyon while searching for North America’s mythical Seven Cities of Gold.
1869
An expedition led by Maj. John Wesley Powell makes the first successful boat trip through the canyon.
1880s
Pioneers from the eastern U.S. begin displacing Hualapai and Havasupai residents as they build trails, roads and stage lines to woo prospectors and early tourists.
1887
First mule rides for tourists.
1901
The first Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe passenger train reaches the canyon’s South Rim from Williams, Ariz.
1903
Ralph Cameron, an entrepreneur who helped construct Bright Angel Trail, starts charging a $1 toll to use the trail. This will go on for about 25 years before he is shouldered aside by the National Park Service.
1904
With Cameron as their landlord, brothers Ellsworth and Emery Kolb expand their photography studio from a tent cabin to a building by the Bright Angel trailhead. Their still and motion-picture images of mule-riding tourists and the rushing river help popularize the location.
1905
Santa Fe Railway and Fred Harvey Co. open a grand hotel, El Tovar, designed by Charles Whittlesey. Harvey has architect Mary Colter design Hopi House. Her Lookout Studio, Hermits Rest, Phantom Ranch, Desert View Watchtower and Bright Angel Lodge follow.
1919
The canyon is named a national park. It draws 44,173 visitors in its first year.
1933-1942
Civilian Conservation Corps workers improve the Bright Angel Trail and build stone walls along the village section of the South Rim.
1956
On June 30, a United Airlines DC-7 and a TWA Constellation both dip into Grand Canyon airspace to give passengers a peek. The planes collide over the canyon, killing 128 people. President Eisenhower moves to strengthen air traffic regulation nationwide.
1976
Emery Kolb dies. The National Park Service acquires the five-story, 23-room Kolb Brothers Studio, which later becomes an exhibition space and gift shop.
2015
The Grand Canyon gets about 5 million visitors yearly.