Milan, NM - History or Graffiti?

Since when does the NPS glorify graffiti and try to preserve it? Well, when it dates from 1605 and comes from such diverse groups as ancient Puebloans, Spanish conquistadors, US Calvary soldiers, Union Pacific surveyors and pioneers. What a hoot - over 2000 signatures, dates, stories, poems and names circling a tall monolithic sandstone rock. Here these travelers found a continual source of water, shade and a spot to rest for the night and a handy surface to record their names and their travels for posterity. A timeless testament to their passage through this spot, maybe a way to pass an idle moment or a chance for immortality. Here we found a bighorn sheep laboriously pecked into the sandstone by by an ancient Indian, a Spanish carving of ‘paso por aqui’, a young pioneer girl’s name carved into the rock and finally a carving by soldiers making a reconnaissance.

And to top it off, literally, is a village on the top of the mesa which, at its height, held approx 1000 - 1500 people in 875 rooms from 1275 - 1350 AD. Only a few of these rooms are excavated but they provide a glimpse into the lives of these early settlers.

The Zuni call it Atsinna, ‘place of writings on the rock’, the Spanish called it El Morro, ‘the headlands’, and the pioneers called it ‘Inscription Rock.’ Officially now it is El Morro National Monument and we found it all fascinating. PLUS it has a neat hike at the top of the Mesa circling a box canyon to the ruins and back down to the Visitor Center. What more could one want in a NPS site? Oh, yeah, a shaded picnic area for lunch after your hike.

We arrived about 10:00, toured the displays in the Visitor Center and began our tour of the inscriptions. First we hit the pool of water which is about 12’ deep in the middle but which never runs dry. It was a continual reliable source of water and was on many maps of the area that others took to get through.

There were 4 main groups who used this pool:

        The Early Puebloans: 1100 - 1400 AD who left their pictographs on the stone face

        The Spanish: 1539 - 1774 who were lured by the rumors of great cashes of gold. The first Spanish inscription is that of Governor Juan de Ornate in 1605 on his second trip near the area.

        US Military expeditions: 1846 - 1906.

        Emigrants to the West: 1846 - 1906.

Here you can see the peckings of the early peoples.

Below is the signature of Onate, the very same Onate who conquered the Acoma peoples.

After the Mexicans defeated the Spanish and were in turn defeated by the Americans, New Mexico became part of the United States and pioneers began streaming through.

 One was a young woman named America Fancis Baley who,with here sister, Amelia, was part of a wagon trail heading west. Later in the trip, when they got to the Colorado River, 800 Mojave Indians attacked the 60 American pioneers. They killed 9, injured 17 but suffered 87 casualties themselves. The wagon trail returned to St. Louis to wait out the winter but then headed out again. The two sisters eventually made it to California.

Here’s the signature of another who stopped here before heading onwards only to be turned back by Indians. Another, Sallie Fox was only 12 years old when she pased through and carved her real name in the rock. Later in the trip she was hit by an arrow during an attack at the Colrado River but survived.

In 1855, P (Peachy) Gilmer Breckenridge passed through here with a caravan of 25 camels when the army was experimenting with using camels across the desert instead of mules. He was actually in charge of the camels. When the trip was done, he returned to Virginia to fight with the Confederacy during the Civil War. He was killed during a skirmish in Virginia in 1863.

When the railroad was completed in 1881, wagon trains became a thing of the past and few passed this way. In 1906, Theodore Roosevelt made this a National Monument and it became protected by the US Government for all to see.

We circled the bluff searching for signatures, reading the stories of those who signed until we came to the end.

                       

However, here is where we started the hike to the top of the mesa where the ancient ruins were.

Huffing and puffing (we’re not quite in hiking shape yet) we made it to the top to find a neat loop trail which took us around the mesa to the ruins.

And, when I say a ‘neat’ loop hike, I mean it. At the top you circle along the white sandstone on the top of the mesa, around a box canyon filled with trees.

We walked over, between, around and across the white sandstone which forms a top layer on the cliff. We also followed a trail pecked into the sandstone and down the steps carved into the white sandstone rocks by the CCC. A very ingenious trail that kids would love and we adults had a great time with also. I’ve left my foot in the picture to show how small the steps are.

What views the people who lived here had but getting food, water and other supplies to the top of this mesa was an arduous trek. But they did it every day.

When we finished the hike, we used the picnic area to eat lunch and then left El Morro and headed back planning to hike in the El Caldrone area of El Malpais area there was an extinct volcano which had erupted 115,000 years ago.

5.5 450’