The Translator
Kevin Davidson • Planning & Economic Development Director, Hualapai Indian Tribe
Kevin Davidson did not grow up in Peach Springs. He is not Hualapai. Yet over the past decade, he has become one of the people most responsible for helping visitors understand its history.
As Planning and Economic Development Director for the Hualapai Tribe, Kevin writes interpretive exhibits, oversees restoration projects, secures preservation funding, and helps shape how the story of Peach Springs is told. His work ranges from restoring the Osterman Station to documenting the memories of tribal elders before they are lost.
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.
Lorem Ipsum
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.
Lorem Ipsum
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.
"There's exploitation in this history. There's also resilience. I try to hold both."- Kevin Davidson
