Canyon for several years invariably inquired for "Cap" as soon as they
arrived. I always felt a sense of personal shame when I heard a ranger
directing them to his grave. He had begged with his last breath to be
buried in the Canyon, or else on the Rim overlooking it. "God willing,
and man aiding," as he always said. However, his wish had been ignored,
for the regular cemetery is some distance from the Rim.

This Captain John Hance was the first settler on the Rim of the Grand
Canyon. The Hance Place is located about three miles east of Grand View
Point. Here he built the old Hance Trail into the Canyon, and discovered
numerous copper and asbestos mines. Many notables of the early days
first saw the Canyon from his home, staging in there from Flagstaff,
seventy miles away. He had an inexhaustible fund of stories, mostly made
up out of whole cloth. These improbable tales were harmless, however,
and in time he became almost an institution at the Canyon. The last
years of his life were spent at El Tovar, regaling the tourists with his
colorful and imaginary incidents of the wild and woolly days.

He was quite proud of his Munchausenian abilities. Another old-timer at
the Canyon, W. W. Bass, who is still alive, was Cap's best friend. Cap
Hance was often heard to declare: "There are three liars here at the
Canyon; I'm one and Bass is the other two."

Romantic old ladies at El Tovar often pressed him for a story of his
early fights with the Indians. Here is one of his experiences:

"Once, a good many years ago when I was on the outs with the Navajos, I
was riding the country a few miles back from here looking up some of my
loose horses. I happened to cast my eye over to one side and saw a bunch
of the red devils out looking for trouble. I saw that I was outnumbered,