Tuweep Ranger Station Complex: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Grand Canyon National Park

IR 6, 7, & 8 Cultural Landscapes Program

This Cultural Landscapes Inventory report documents the 380-acre Tuweep Ranger Station Historic District in Grand Canyon National Park recognizes the majority of historic park-area management developments for what the National Park Service (NPS) calls its “Tuweep Area” in today’s central-north extent of the park. This report focuses on the developments between 1933 and 1952. The inventory unit is subdivided into four contiguous “character areas”—Toroweap Valley Road, Tuweep Ranger Station Administrative Area, Toroweap Lake, and Toroweap Overlook—each composed of individual resources contributing to the NRHP eligibility of the historic district. The two versions of the place name—Tuweep and Toroweap—reflect the multiple layers of human interaction in and around the valley. Toroweap is the early Anglicized interpretation and spelling of the indigenous Southern Paiute name for this landscape and its features, meaning “dry or barren valley”. Tuweep could also be a Paiute word (Tu-Veep) for “the earth”, and is generally considered to be the Mormon settlement-period simplification of Toroweap and the two-syllable place name and spelling approved in 1929 for an official address by the U.S. Post Office Department. Although the names have been used interchangeably in literature and maps, the current understanding and this CLI report attaches Toroweap to the geographic features while honoring their Paiute associations, and Tuweep also honors the Paiute while distinguishing the historic-period improvements of Mormon settlers and National Park Service management. The NPS most often describes its management location as the Tuweep Area. The Tuweep Ranger Station Historic District cultural landscape inventory unit is a component cultural landscape of Grand Canyon National Park.

Tuweep Ranger Station Complex: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Grand Canyon National Park

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