El Morro National Monument
El Morro National Monument is now my 64th National Park visited since starting my travels back in 2010. I had the opportunity to see it two years back when I was in the area, but fuel costs ruled my thoughts back then, so I did not drive the few extra miles it would have taken. I do not know why, but I recall thinking that this was just a statue. How wrong I was.
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. Wikipedia
The large sandstone walls are chock-full of petroglyphs from ancient natives. On top of those are inscriptions of people who stopped here for the water during their travels. They visitors range from military men to a young girl to make her own history years later. Some of these inscriptions date back 400+ years. Included amongst the ancient and historical are panels of smooth sandstone wall. It is clear someone intentionally removed many inscriptions. Kerri learned that these were inscriptions done post 1906 and were deemed “illegal graffiti” by the park’s first caretaker, so all were removed.
R.H. Orton became a General 21 years later. He died in 1894.
http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18940109.2.28#
(The digital copy of the text on the left is a mess; it’s easier to read the article itself.)
Pat