As the Mormon communities of St. George and Kanab, Utah, expanded north of the canyon, pioneers began settling the region. Timberman logged Mt. Trumbull and the Kaibab Plateau to supply St. George and Kanab with building materials. Ranchers raised cattle west of the Kaibab Plateau, and colonists settled towns west and east of the canyon.

Prospectors began exploring the inner canyon, mining lead, zinc, silver, copper, asbestos. Seth Tanner, a Mormon scout and guide, settled along the Colorado River in 1876 and established the Little Colorado Mining District in eastern Grand Canyon, mining copper. Dozens of prospectors followed, though few found mineral deposits rich enough to make the effort and expense of mining worthwhile.

The Atlantic & Pacific Railroad completed tracks across northern Arizona in 1882, and communities sprang up in Flagstaff and Williams, attracting settlers from the east and midwest. Miners who had scratched out only a meager living saw potential in guiding others to the canyon for sightseeing. One, William Wallace Bass, became the first to raise a family at the canyon. He arrived in Williams, established a base camp near Havasupai Point, constructed a wagon road, and improved Indian trails to the river, combining prospecting with guiding tourists. Bass built the canyon’s first rim-to-rim trail, crossing the river by cable, and constructed two frame houses that doubled as hotels.

On the other end of the canyon, the sheepherding Hull brothers and prospector John Hance built a wagon road to the Grandview area. Hance guided tourists and erected a tent camp near his cabin on the rim, serving meals and offering accommodations. James Thurber bought out Hance’s interests and established a regular stage route from Flagstaff, a two-day trip that cost $20. Pete Berry began mining copper at Horseshoe Mesa in 1892, building the Grandview Trail to his mines. He and his wife owned and operated the Grand View Hotel until 1901. Martin Buggeln, who bought out James Thurber, shifted his attention to further west along the rim, where a Santa Fe Railway spur was nearing completion.

The first to settle at the future Grand Canyon Village was Sanford Rowe, who filed mining claims three miles south of the rim at Rowe Well as early as 1890. Here he established a small tourist camp, building a road to Hopi Point. Not far away, Pete Berry and Ralph Cameron improved a Havasupai trail to Indian Garden in order to prospect their claims in this area. Cameron registered the trail as a toll road with Coconino County. Thurber extended his stage line from Grandview to this part of the rim, building another hotel. He and Rowe guided tourists on Cameron’s toll road.

When the Santa Fe Railway completed its spur line in 1901, travelers could choose between a $15–20 bumpy, two-day-long stage trip and a comfortable three-hour train ride from Williams for $3. Most chose the train, and the canyon’s pioneer enterprises faded away. Ralph Cameron, who, over the years, would act as sheriff, county supervisor, and U.S. senator, had powerful friends and the resources to take a stand against the railroad. Cameron had moved the Red Horse stage station to the head of his toll trail and remodeled it into the Cameron Hotel. The Santa Fe Railway partnered with Martin Buggeln and his Bright Angel Hotel and camp, a couple hundred feet east, until the railroad could complete its own hotel, El Tovar. A bitter competition ensued.