El Morro National Monument (15-17 Oct 2021)

El Morro National Monument Campground, New Mexico

El Morro National Monument Campground, New Mexico

El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

Patrick Kane at El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

Petroglyphs cover the sandstone bluff, a testament to the many hundreds of years people have lived or stopped here. As you walk, you will see them interspersed with inscriptions. Each group of travelers--American Indian, Spaniard, and Anglo--left its mark in its own way. Petroglyph makers incised or pected into the sandstone. They incised the petroglyphs by pecking into the rock using an animal antler or a harder rock called a hammerstone. Spaniards used daggers or horseshoe nails to inscribe their names and messages. Pioneers and other settlers along the trail of westward expansion probably used hammer and chisel, knives, nails or otehr tools. Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

E. Penn. Long of Baltimore, Maryland, chiseled this elegant-looking inscription. Long was a member of a U.S. Army expedition led by Lt. Edward F. Beale to find a wagon route from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to the Colorado River. The group, which first passed by El Morro in 1857, was also testing the usefulness of camels in crossing the deserts of the Southwest. Though Beale wrote positively about the camels in his journals, the Army abandoned the experiment at the onset of the Civil War. Long and two other members of Beale's group probably made their inscriptions during a second visit ot El Morro in 1859. "Mr. Engle" is in block print and "Mr. Bryn" in script. Engle was Beale's second-in-command. Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

Petroglyphs cover the sandstone bluff, a testament to the many hundreds of years people have lived or stopped here. As you walk, you will see them interspersed with inscriptions. Each group of travelers--American Indian, Spaniard, and Anglo--left its mark in its own way. Petroglyph makers incised or pected into the sandstone. They incised the petroglyphs by pecking into the rock using an animal antler or a harder rock called a hammerstone. Spaniards used daggers or horseshoe nails to inscribe their names and messages. Pioneers and other settlers along the trail of westward expansion probably used hammer and chisel, knives, nails or otehr tools. Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

P. (Peachy) Breckinridge was the man in charge of the twenty-five 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. Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

The translation of this Spanish inscriptions states "On the 25th of the month of June, of this year of 1709, Ramon Garcia Jurado passed through here on the way to Zuni." From the time Ramon Garcia Jurado moved to New Mexico as a colonist in 1693 until his death at the age of 80 in 1760, he was witness and participant in the Spanish settlement of New Mexico. It is likely that he was on a campaign against the Navajos during his visit to El Morro in 1709. Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

To the right of Garcia Jurado's inscription is a blackened inscription with translated reads, "Pedro Romero passed through here on the 2nd of August, year of 1751." These inscriptions are examples of early well-intentioned but intrusive attempts at preservation work. Early park managers darkened the inscriptions with graphite, also known as no. 2 pencils, so that they would be more visible and last longer. They ended this kind of preservation in the 1930s. Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

Bighorn sheep petroglyph. Many petroglyphs depict animals that were once familiar fauna in the region. Their compelling shapes and actions invite us to pause and imagine why people may have pecked them into the bluff. Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

The Spanish incription above the bighorn sheep petroglyphs reads: "We, Sergeant Major and Captain Juan de Arechuleta and Adjutant Diego Martin Barba and Ensign Agustin de Ynojos, passed by here, in the year of 1636." Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

One of the oldest and more famous inscriptions is that of the first governor of New Mexico, Don Juan de Onate. It was inscribed in 1605, fifteen years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. In 1604, Onate left the settlement of San Gabriel with thirty men in search of "the South Sea" (the Pacific Ocean). During their trip, the group visited the Gulf of California as well as the South Sea. On his return, Onate left this inscription (translation): "Governor Don Juan de Onate passed through here, from the discovery of the Sea of the South on the 16th of April, 1605. The inscription was not made on Onate's first visit to El Morro--on December 13, 1598, he passed here from Zuni with a group of Spanish soldiers, traveling to the Rio Grande via Acoma. Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

R. H. Orton is just one of many inscriptions along the cliff here. You can see a church, crosses, petroglyphs, and a cavalry flag. R. H. Orton became adjutant-general of California after the Civil War. In the early years of the Civil War, the California Column, as it was known, was sent to New Mexico to reinforce Federal troops expecting Confederate hostilities. Orton held the rank of captain when the First Cavalry was mustered out from March to October of 1866. He may have made his inscription as he returned to California. Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

Petroglyphs cover the sandstone bluff, a testament to the many hundreds of years people have lived or stopped here. As you walk, you will see them interspersed with inscriptions. Each group of travelers--American Indian, Spaniard, and Anglo--left its mark in its own way. Petroglyph makers incised or pected into the sandstone. They incised the petroglyphs by pecking into the rock using an animal antler or a harder rock called a hammerstone. Spaniards used daggers or horseshoe nails to inscribe their names and messages. Pioneers and other settlers along the trail of westward expansion probably used hammer and chisel, knives, nails or otehr tools. Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

The first emigrant train to try this route to California in 1858 was led by I. J. Rose, who was born in Germany but made his fortune in dry-goods in Iowa. At El Morro, they left their inscriptions and then moved on to the Colorado River, where they were attached by Mojave Indians. Thanks to journals kept by the immigrants, we know that survivors of the attack, including Rose, walked most of the way back to New Mexico to wait out the winter. Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

"In the year 1716 on the 26th of August don Feliz Martinez, Governor and Captain General of this Kingdom, and the reverend Father Antonio Camargo, Custodian and Ecclesiastical Judge, passed by here to the conversion and conquest of the Moqui [Hopi]." After leaving the inscription, Governor Martinez--and interim governor--found the Hopi unwilling to accept Spanish domination. After two months of quarreling, the expedition returned to Santa Fe. When the time came for Martinez to relinquish the office of governor, he refused until pressed by adversaries. Martinez died in Mexico City in 1731, leaving a large debt. Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

LT J. H. Simpson, an engineer for the army, and Mr. R. H. Kern, a Philadelphia artist employed by the army as togographer, were the first English-speaking people to make a record of Inscription Rock. They spent two days copying the inscriptions and petroglyphs, and their reports of the visit show that not a single English inscription could be found on the rock. Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico

This translation for this message left in Spanish colonial shorthand is "On the 23 of March [or May] of the year 1632 we travel to avenge the death of Father Letrado-Lujan." In the year 1629, Father Letrado built the earliest mission chapel at Gran Quivira, which today is part of Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument. He was transferred to Zuni in February 1632 and was killed just one week later. On hearing the news, the governor sent a punitive expedition of soldiers, one name Juan Lujan, from Santa Fe to Zuni to pacify the Zunis. Inscription Rock Trail, El Morro National Monument, New Mexico