El Morro National Monument

El Morro National Monument
Map showing the location of El Morro National Monument
Map showing the location of El Morro National Monument
Location Cibola County, New Mexico, USA
Nearest city El Morro, New Mexico
Coordinates 35°2′18″N 108°21′12″W / 35.03833°N 108.35333°W / 35.03833; -108.35333Coordinates: 35°2′18″N 108°21′12″W / 35.03833°N 108.35333°W / 35.03833; -108.35333
Area 1,278.72 acres (5.1748 km2)
1,039.92 acres (420.84 ha) federal
Created December 8, 1906 (1906-December-08)
Visitors 59,422 (in 2016)[1]
Governing body National Park Service
Website El Morro National Monument
El Morro National Monument
Area 221 acres (89 ha)
Built 1605 (1605)
NRHP reference # 66000043[2]
NMSRCP # 59
Significant dates
Added to NRHP October 15, 1966
Designated NMSRCP May 21, 1971

El Morro National Monument is located on an ancient east-west trail in western New Mexico. The main feature of this National Monument is a great sandstone promontory with a pool of water at its base.

As a shaded oasis in the western U.S. desert, this site has seen many centuries of travelers. The remains of a mesa top pueblo are atop the promontory where between about 1275 to 1350 AD, up to 1500 people lived in this 875 room pueblo. The Spaniard explorers called it El Morro (The Headland). The Zuni Indians call it "A'ts'ina" (Place of writings on the rock). Anglo-Americans called it Inscription Rock. Travelers left signatures, names, dates, and stories of their treks. While some of the inscriptions are fading, there are still many that can be seen today, some dating to the 17th century. Among the Anglo-American emigrants who left their names there in 1858 were several members of the Rose-Baley Party, including Leonard Rose and John Udell.[3] Some petroglyphs and carvings were made by the Ancestral Puebloan centuries before Europeans started making their mark. In 1906, U.S. federal law prohibited further carving.

The many inscriptions, water pool, pueblo ruins, and top of the promontory are all accessible via park trails.

It is on the Trails of the Ancients Byway, one of the designated New Mexico Scenic Byways.[4]

El Morro National Monument has been featured in the film Four Faces West (1948) starring Joel McCrea.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "NPS Annual Recreation Visits Report". National Park Service. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
  2. ↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  3. ↑ Weigle, Marta and White, Peter (2003). The Lore of New Mexico, p. 56. University of New Mexico Press
  4. ↑ Trail of the Ancients. Archived August 21, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. New Mexico Tourism Department. Retrieved August 14, 2014.
  5. ↑ Maddrey, Joseph (2016). The Quick, the Dead and the Revived: The Many Lives of the Western Film. McFarland. Page 181. ISBN 9781476625492.
  • United States Government Printing Office (1995). El Morro National Monument. GPO 387-038/00173


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