Tribe banking on natural beauty of Skywalk

GRAND CANYON WEST, Ariz., March 8 (UPI) -- One American Indian tribe is banking on a Grand Canyon tourist draw -- a glass-bottomed deck suspended over the Colorado River -- to provide economic succor.

The horseshoe-shaped deck being inched into position some 4,000 feet above the Grand Canyon floor, extending nearly 70 feet from the rim.

And when it opens March 28, the deck will provide visitors, for a $25 fee, the feeling of being suspended amid the canyon's red rock walls high above a snaking Colorado River, USA Today said.

The walkway is on the Hualapai Indian Reservation on the canyon's western rim, 250 miles west of Grand Canyon National Park's main entrance. Half of the 1,500 Hualapai reservation residents are unemployed, with 30 percent living below poverty level, the newspaper said.

More than 300,000 visitors annually visit "Grand Canyon West," where the tribe offers helicopter sightseeing trips, rafting and pontoon rides, an Indian village and a replica Old West town. Tribal officials said they believe the walkway will double that number in the first year.

Critics compare the $30 million project to an amusement-park attraction. Sheri Yellowhawk, head of the tribe's business enterprises, told USA Today that the walk will create jobs and foster cultural exchange.