El Morro National Monument Inscription Rock

After the railroad passed it by, the rock needed keepers. Its first custodian, Evon Z. Vogt, ran the monument from his ranch near Ramah, ten miles off, and also founded Gallup's first newspaper and served as agent for the Ramah Navajo. A wooden contact station built by hand beside the pool in 1918 doubled as the ranger's cabin until 1938. In the 1920s officials scraped away names carved after 1906 as graffiti, and Civil Works crews laid the first trails. Since the early 1990s the University of Pennsylvania has worked with the park against erosion.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker El Morro National Monument Inscription Rock Until it was by-passed by the railroad in the 1880's, its waterhole made El Morro an important stop for travelers in the Acoma-Zuni region. Numerous inscriptions carved in the sandstone date from the prehistoric, Spanish, Mexican, and Territorial periods in New Mexico's history. An important example is Oñate's inscription, carved in 1605.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• El Morro National Monument — 0.7 mi
  A sandstone headland with a pool at its foot, where Puebloan people, Spanish governors and American soldiers all left their marks, until carving became illegal in 1906.
• El Malpais National Monument — 17 mi
  The badlands south of Grants: lava 3,900 years old from McCartys Crater, a tube system at least seventeen miles long, and an old trail across four lava flows between Zuni and Acoma.

More markers nearby

• Matilda Coxe Stevenson (1849-1915) — 2.6 mi
• Zuni Olla Maidens — 24 mi
• Bluewater Village — 25 mi