El Morro National Monument, Grants, New Mexico

El Morro - it's called Stories in Stone, and Inscription Rock. This cuesta rises up from the desert and has meant oasis to centuries of travelers who then left their mark upon it. Imagine the comfort and refreshment of finding water after days of dusty travel. A reliable waterhole hidden at the base of a sandstone bluff made El Morro (the headland) a popular campsite for hundreds of years. Here, Ancestral Puebloans, Spanish, and American travelers carved over 2,000 signatures, dates, messages, and petroglyphs.

Pond at base of mountain

The Zuni Indians, whose Puebloan ancestors lived here, call it Atsinna - "place of writings on the rock." The Spaniards called it El Morro - The Headland. Americans called it Inscription Rock.

The Zuni Indians descended from desert hunter-gatherers. About 2,000 years ago they shifted toward the cultivation of crops that gave birth to the Southwest's Pueblo culture. Small villages appeared along the streams of this arid land.

Over the years, from the Puebloans, Spanairds to the Americans, they all left their marks on the rock. 

P. ("Peachy") Breckinridge was the man in charge of the 25 camels used by Lieutenant Beale in 1857.  After his work with Beale, Breckinridge returned to his home state of Virginia and fought in the civil war. He was killed during a skirmish at Kennon's Landing, Virginia in 1863.

Many Spanish inscribers wrote paso por aqui or "passed through here." The inscription reads "On the 25th of June, of this year 1709, Ramon Garcia Jurado passed through here on the way to Zuni."

The last inscription from Spanish colonial times is by Andres Romero. He wrote "Andres Romero passed through here in the year 1774."  Romero's visit was followed by turbulent times. Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821. Then, following the U.S.-Mexican war from 1846-1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago ceded large areas of land from Mexico to the United States. This new land, the New Mexico territory, opened the way for the Americans - the last of the inscribers - to come through El Morro.

Don Juan de Ornate

One of the oldest and more famous inscriptions was that of the first governor of New Mexico, Don Juan de Onate, was inscribed in 1605, 15 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. In 1604, Onate left the settlement of San Gabriel with 30 men in search of the "South Sea" (the Pacific Ocean). During their trip, they visited the Gulf of California as well as the South Sea. On his return, Ornate left this inscription, which translated means: "Governor Don Juan de Ornate passed through here, from the discovery of the Sea of the South on the 16th day of April, 1605."

"General Don Diego de Vargas, who conquered for our Holy Faith and for the Royal Crown, all of New Mexico, at his own expense, was here, in the year of 1692."

In 1680, the Pueblo Indians revolted against their conquerors. Many Spanish men, women and children were killed and the remainder fled to El Paso. In 1692, newly appointed governor of New Mexico, Don Diego de Vargas reestablished Spanish control of the Pueblos. After the end of his first term as governor he was imprisoned for three years in the governor's palace for alleged wrongdoings among the settlers. He was exonerated and restored as governor for a second term in 1702. He died in Bernalillo in 1704 at the age of 61.

The longest inscription is attributed to Governor Eulate: "The governor and captain general of the provinces of New Mexico for the King, our lord, passed by here, returning from the Zuni pueblos on July 29, 1620; he left them in peace, a at their request; asking his favor as vassals of his majesty, they again rendered their obedience; he did all this with attention, zeal, and prudence, as such a particularly Christian gentleman and gallant soldier of unending, praiseworthy memory." (The word crossed out appears to have been "gentleman".)

Quote for the day: "That so long as we enjoy the light of day, we may greet one another as kindred." ~~ Pueblo prayer