Paso por aqui, as they wrote. Spanish for "passed by here" begins the inscriptions left by many of the Spanish explorers. Native Americans knew about this spot because of the water hole formed by run off. They left their mark in the form of petroglyphs. Many of which were impressions of a hand. Then in 1605, the first Spaniard left his mark. It wasn't until the 1840s when Americans began to venture this way and chisel their names into the rock. Many of these people are known to history and include surveyors, explorers and wagon train families. All were drawn to the water. After seeing how many left their mark on the rock, they felt compelled to follow with their own inscription.
The water is 12 feet deep and has been dammed now.
"Peachy" Breckinridge was in charge of 25 camels, part of an exploratory expedition in 1859.
A'ts'ina as the Zuni call this place, meaning "place of writings on the rock". President Theodore Roosevelt designated it a National Monument in 1906. People began visiting it and, you guessed it, left their inscriptions as well. In 1920 it was determined this was not an acceptable practice and all inscriptions made since 1906 were removed. The removal process involved sanding the inscription off the rock. Unfortunately, older inscriptions often were under the newer ones and older ones were incorporated into newer ones. So, a lot was lost.
R H Orton was a captain in the Union Army cavalry. Send from California to New Mexico during the war, he likely made this inscription on his return to California.
Horace Mann? Nope, not the educator. He died in 1859. Couldn't be his son Horace Mann Jr, the botanist and friend of Henry David Thoreau and Asa Gray. He died in 1868. Most of the 1876 inscriptions were left by a group of surveyors searching for a railroad route through the area.
In 1849 James Simpson and Richard Kern documented the inscriptions they found by copying them in sketches. They spent 2 days doing that. That documentation is invaluable today. Note that they misspelled "inscription".
Proof aliens visited here?
The ravens look after this place
Peas
El Morro is home to more than the historic inscriptions. Walking up and beyond on a trail cut in the sandstone, one rising atop the mesa. Here a Zuni pueblo is partially excavated. The site was used from 1275 to 1350, contained 875 rooms and likely housed 1500 people.
This kiva is square unlike most I saw which are round.
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