John Hance

John Hance (1837- 1919) is thought to be the first non-Native American resident of the Grand Canyon, US. He opened the first tourist trail, today known as Old Hance Trail, into Grand Canyon in 1884, well before his mining activities began. "Captain" John Hance was said to be one of the Grand Canyon's most colourful characters, and it had been declared by one early visitor that "To see the canyon only and not to see Captain John Hance, is to miss half the show." Hance delighted in telling canyon stories to visitors, favouring the whopper of a tale over mere facts. With a straight face, Hance told travellers how he had dug the canyon himself, piling the excavated earth down near Flagstaff (a dirt pile now known as the San Francisco Peaks). Despite such questionable claims, Hance left a lasting legacy at the Grand Canyon, dying in 1919, the year the Grand Canyon became a National Park. Hance was the first person buried in what would become the Grand Canyon Pioneer Cemetery.

As Hance himself would once say, “I've got to tell stories to these people for their money; and if I don't tell it to them, who will? I can make these tenderfeet believe that a frog eats boiled eggs, and I'm going to do it; and I'm going to make 'em believe he carries it a mile to find a rock to crack it on."