Havasupai Reservation

The Havasupai Reservation lies in and around Havasu Canyon, a side canyon of the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona, where spring-fed Havasu Creek runs a startling turquoise over travertine ledges. The Havasupai name for themselves, Havsuw' Baaja, means 'people of the blue-green water.' Their village of Supai, at the canyon bottom, can be reached only by an 8-mile trail, by horse or mule, or by helicopter, and it is the last place in the country where the U.S. mail is still delivered by mule train.

In 1882 the federal government confined the tribe to just 518 acres in the canyon. After a long campaign, Congress returned about 185,000 acres in 1975, a restoration central to the tribe's identity. Tourism to Havasu, Mooney and Beaver Falls, by tribal permit only, is the main source of income, and the tribe runs its own reservation system. A deadly flash flood in August 2024 forced helicopter evacuations and a months-long closure. The tribe also opposes uranium mining near Red Butte, one of its sacred places.

• Grand Canyon National Park
  The park protecting Arizona's mile-deep gorge borders
• Arizona
  The Grand Canyon State, admitted 1912 located in
• The Grand Canyon
  A mile-deep gorge carved by the Colorado River located in