End of an Era at the Grand Canyon

"GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. - At a time when tourists visited the Grand Canyon in stagecoaches, they did their souvenir shopping at a tent set up by a man named John George Verkamp.

It was 1898, before the Grand Canyon was a national park, before there was a National Park Service and before Arizona was even a state. Not many had the means to visit the mile-deep gorge, so it was mostly just a handful of adventurers, prospectors, the American Indians whose people had lived there for centuries, and the Verkamps.

These days, the Grand Canyon has luxury lodges and cute coffee shops. The only thing it won't have come September is the Verkamps."

http://www.examiner.com/a-1337240~Historic_Grand_Canyon_shop_to_close_after_102_years_at_the_rim.html

Verkamps virtual tour

http://www.keeneye.biz/verkamps/virtual_tour.htm