[1] The bridge is part of the South Kaibab Trail and is the river crossing used by mules going to Phantom Ranch.

The cableway was a 6 by 10 feet (2 by 3 m) steel cage large enough for one mule or several people that would carry passengers across the river, but the passage was considered precarious.

It was built in 1920 and proved to be too flexible to safely carry pedestrians across the river as the number of visitors to the park was increasing.

As motorized vehicles could not access the construction site, humans and mules transported the 122 tons in materials down the 9 miles (14 km) of trail.

Walking single file, 42 Havasupai tribesmen carried the one-ton, 550-foot (170 m) suspension cables.