Grand Canyon Village was built around the Bright Angel Inn and its more recent competition, plus the Kolb Brother’s Studio and Fred Harvey’s Outlook Studio (also more recent competition). The nearby rail station really opened up the park to tourism, and the Bright Angel Trail carved by earthquakes and early natives, was popularized by the Kolbs as a path to water for their film developing, and as a route to river running. The Kolbs learned river running the hard way: by trial and error. Like the Wright Brothers, they approached their new craft respectfully, knowing it was a fine way to get killed. (The Wrights limited their first few flights to an altitude of ten feet, knowing a fall from there might be survived.) The Kolbs learned every time out on the river, and continually built on their knowledge.

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