Canyoneering 2 -- Beautiful Places On Earth

FYI:  Xan (from Xanadu) + Terra (Earth) = Xanterra

If you’ve seen the 1987 film “Matewan” you might recall that the story involved a group of coal miners who lived in a ‘company town’.   That is, they lived in housing provided by the company.  They shopped in stores owned by the company.  They were paid in scrip that could only be used within the limits of the company’s town.  In a sense, the miners had become victims of circumstance, owing their livelihood (if not their existence) to the all-powerful Company.  (If you’ve not seen the movie, it’s worth your time to see it, imo.  Follow the link(s) provided here and in the first line of this paragraph.)

There’s a parallel between the circumstances of the Matewan miners and the employees of Xanterra here at the Grand Canyon.  Let me be clear about a few things:  Xanterra pays its employees in good old-fashioned US greenbacks, not scrip.  People are free to come and go as they please.  Xanterra doesn’t ‘own’ the GC; the federal government owns the land which it operates through the National Park Service.  The company operates restaurants and hotels (concessions) by right of being the highest bidder to offer such services.  In fact, there are other companies here that operate other services.  An example would be DNC (Delaware North Companies) which operates the Park’s General Stores.

The parallels I speak of have more to do with the practical side of living and working in the GC.  All the housing for Xanterra employees is provided by the company.  As I explained in a previous post, almost everyone here shares living accommodations.  This can be a one or two bedroom apartment with up to 10 people in a unit, or Trailer Village where I live in a tiny, cramped room.  Most male employees will stay in the Victor Hall dorm while females stay primarily in Coulter Hall.

The cost of housing for shared accommodations is very cheap, no more than $16 a week, including utilities.  In fact, the cheap housing is a reason you can actually save a fair amount of money despite the near-minimum wage salaries.  It’s also a reason many people elect to follow the lifestyle of staying in the parks; it’s not unusual for employees to transfer from one park to another every 6 months or so.  You can find plenty of people who have done this for decades.  Interestingly (to me anyway), many of these folks look like burned out hippies and they all seem to be devoted NPR listeners.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

So most Xanterra employees live in company housing (including managers who qualify for separate apartments offered at impressively low rents taken directly out of the paycheck).  We employees also tend to eat at the company-owned restaurant and cafes on the property.  Foodstuffs can be bought at the General Stores, but the prices have horrendous markups since they cater to tourists as much as residents.  (And since it’s not owned by Xanterra, there is no employee discount).  We generally receive 50% off food prices at the company owned restaurant.  Given that prices are high to begin with (a hamburger  - no sides – will run at least $6 plus tax), it makes our cost only slightly less outrageous than it normally would.

There are no fast food franchises like McDonalds or Wendy’s inside the park.  Those establishments can be found in the neighboring small hamlet of Tusayan (pronounced, ‘To-Saigon’) the so-called gateway to the GC.  You’ll find a number of hotels in the area along with a gas station, several small restaurants and bars.  You’ll also find the same high prices found in the GC.  Even Mickey D’s is uncommonly expensive there.  (Several co-workers who moonlight at that McD’s say they constantly have field questions from angry tourists demanding to know why they have no Dollar Menu .)  There’s also a general store; but since it’s owned by DNC it has the same high prices as its counterpart in the GC.  If you live here you’re caught in a different type of tourist trap:  You’re a resident paying hugely inflated tourist prices.

The General Store -- with Major Markups

I’ll have more to say concerning the tourist trade in the next post.  In the meantime, you know the old saying, “Can't live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em?”  That pretty well sums up the employees’ attitude toward the tourists.