With the creation of the Grand Canyon National Park in 1919 the reservation was completely surrounded by National Park lands. By agreement with the federal government, the reservation and the trails which led down to it remained sovereign to Havasupai tribe. The tribe continually lobbied the United States to restore more of their ancestral land to them, although to no avail. In the 1950s a superintendent of the Grand Canyon, John McLaughlin, proposed to take over the reservation, but he was rebuffed by the tribe.