El Morro National Monument
| El Morro National Monument | |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
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| 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°WCoordinates: 35°2′18″N 108°21′12″W / 35.03833°N 108.35333°W |
| Area | 1,278.72 acres (5.1748 km2) 1,039.92 acres (420.84 ha) federal |
| Created | December 8, 1906 |
| Visitors | 857,883 (in 2004) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | El Morro National Monument |
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El Morro National Monument
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| Area | 221 acres (89 ha) |
| Built | 1605 |
| NRHP Reference # | 66000043 |
| 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. 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.
Inscription by Juan de Oñate in 1605. This is the oldest historical inscription at El Morro.
Inscription recording a 1629 expedition by Francisco Manuel de Silva Nieto
El Morro in 1868, photographed by Alexander Gardner
Native American petroglyph
Sandstone bluff at El Morro
Ponderosa pine along Mesa Top trail loop
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Wikipedia