People of the Tall Pines
Conversations with Charlie Vaughn, Ronald Quasula Sr., and Duane Clarke
From left: Vice Chairman Ronald Quasula Sr., Councilman Charlie Vaughn, and Chairman Duane Clarke at the Hualapai Cultural Center in Peach Springs.
The Hualapai call themselves Hwal’bay, “The People of the Tall Pines.”
The pine forests lie nearly a hundred miles from Peach Springs, in the plateaus north of the Colorado River where the tribe’s ancestors once spent the summer months. Today, the name remains, even as the people live across a landscape shaped by railroads, highways, tourism, and tribal sovereignty.
Three members of the Hualapai Tribe reflect on what has changed, what has endured, and what they hope survives another generation.
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Kevin Davidson, interviewed in Peach Springs, Arizona, May 2026 Edited and condensed for clarity.
Tell us about the history.
The railroad came through in 1882 and basically made the town — but they took reservation land to do it. Chester Arthur signed an executive order in January of 1883. The tribe was, in the most literal sense, railroaded. And then Route 66 came through, and a gas station opened in 1929, and a trading post, and gradually the tribe started building something of its own — on land that had been taken. There's a lot to unpack there. That's part of what I'm here for.
The bypass — what did it actually do to this place?
The tribe didn't start moving into commercial enterprise until around 1950. Before that it was mostly cattle — which was itself brought in by Anglos in the 1860s. The trading post was a big leap — the tribe deciding to build something rather than depend on the BIA. And then the bypass came. They built something, and the road moved.
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How do you hold the complicated parts of that history?
It's not black and white. The railroad took the land and made the town. The highway brought traffic that eventually benefited the tribe. And now there's the Skywalk, Grand Canyon West, Riverrunners — a real tourism economy the tribe built.
There's exploitation in this history. There's also resilience. I try to hold both. The people who lived through the old highway days won't be here forever. Part of what I'm doing is making sure the story gets told while there are still people alive who remember it.
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Tell me about the gas station.
It's not black and white. The railroad took the land and made the town. The highway brought traffic that eventually benefited the tribe. And now there's the Skywalk, Grand Canyon West, Riverrunners — a real tourism economy the tribe built.
There's exploitation in this history. There's also resilience. I try to hold both. The people who lived through the old highway days won't be here forever. Part of what I'm doing is making sure the story gets told while there are still people alive who remember it.
"You don't plan to end up at a place like this. It just happens and then you can't leave."- Mark Bradley
How were you after?
Bad. I didn't know how to act. When you're a caretaker and then suddenly there's nothing to take care of — you just go to pieces. I went to shit pretty fast, medically. Heart stuff. I'm doing great now, I've snapped back. But those first weeks were rough. I sat here at the memorial and I just started bawling in front of everybody. I never cry like that. But this place — if I start thinking about it I just lose it. It's got a hold on me I can't explain.
Tell me about Halo.
I've known her since she was four years old. Andrea used to just hand her off to me and I'd take her to the ranch, take her to Walmart, whatever. She was a handful with her grandmother but with me she was completely different. It was just an act. She knew how to read people from that age. She's sixteen now and she's got the same energy Andrea had. The same way of drawing people in. The rest of the family has a lot of faith in her. We all do. I'm going to work with her. She doesn't need to worry about anything. She's going to be a star here.
"She still had her spark right to the end. Just couldn't hold it as long."
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What does the place feel like now?
There's still something here. People still come in and feel it. I don't fully understand it. You can feel when it's working and when it's not, and it's still working. The people that come here are just the nicest people you'll ever meet anywhere in the world. They don't see the rough edges. They just want to be part of this. People have met here and got married. People come back twenty years later. Whatever Andrea built, it didn't leave with her.
We're making more money on merch right now than we ever made on food. The kitchen is coming back. Halo is coming. The buses from France are still coming. She'd have loved that.
