Hualapai Tribe

A nation today

The Grand Canyon dropping away below the railed paved overlook at Mather Point on the South Rim.
Tuxyso, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

Background

Hualapai means "People of the Tall Pines," and the Tribe's own page gives the pronunciation Wal-lah-pie. An executive order in 1883 established the reservation, which runs about a million acres along 108 miles of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River across parts of Coconino, Yavapai and Mohave counties, from 1,500 feet at the river up to more than 7,300 feet at the highest point of the Aubrey Cliffs. Most people on the reservation live in Peach Springs, which takes its name from peach trees that grew at springs nearby, 55 miles east of Kingman on historic Route 66. The Tribe runs an executive branch of a nine-member Tribal Council with a chairperson and a vice-chairperson, elected by Tribal members to four-year terms and overseeing twelve administrative departments, and a judicial branch of a Tribal Court and a Court of Appeals. The 2000 U.S. Census counted about 1,621 people on the reservation, and total tribal membership is approximately 2,300, counting members who live off the reservation. Tourism, cattle ranching, and arts and crafts are the principal economic activities. A Cultural Department runs classes in pottery, cradleboard making, and Hualapai cultural history, archaeology and anthropology, and supports a yearly youth language immersion camp.

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Visit and learn

Hualapai Tribe's own site

Tribal lands have their own laws. Check the nation's site before you visit.

Parks on its homelands

The Grand Canyon dropping away below the railed paved overlook at Mather Point on the South Rim.Grand Canyon National Park

The Hualapai Tribe is Hwal'bay in the park's list of the eleven nations associated with Grand Canyon, and the park shares a boundary with three federally recognized tribes. Source

Programs

  • Cultural Arts and Language Program (CAL)

    The Cultural Department runs the program through the Hualapai Cultural Center. It covers classes in pottery making, cradleboard making, and Hualapai cultural history, archaeology and anthropology, plus field trips and a green arrow garden project alongside a community garden.

    https://hualapai-nsn.gov/services/cultural.php·culture

  • Pai Language Immersion Camp

    A yearly youth camp run under the Cultural Department to promote the Pai language. The department also runs a Hualapai Language Immersion Program, quarterly genealogy classes, and a Native American Horsemanship Program that sends speakers into schools, and it supports the Yuman Language Summit and the Pai language annual conference.

    https://hualapai-nsn.gov/services/cultural.php·language

Sources

Checked September 2026.

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