Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-02-11
INSCRIPTION ROCK.
A GIGANTIC PEAK IN THE NEW
MEXICAN DESERT.
Inscribed With Names of Spanish
Pathfinders and Allusions to Their
Deeds-A Record Reaching.
Back to 1905.
TN q far-away corner of far away

| New Mexico stands pinnacle of
| rocks SO stupendous that it serves
as landmark, even in land of
lofty peaks. with top SO difficult of ac.
cess that only creatures with wings
may surmount it, with appearance so
striking that it received a character.
istic name almost three centuries ago,
when it first lay under the astonished
| gaze of white man-El Moro.
While the poetic and impressionable
| Spaniards who braved the unknown
and opened the Southwest to civiliza.
ton saw the beauties of the immense
pile, with its resemblance to the castles
of the Old World, and gave it name
significant of its appearance, the latter.
day American saw the writings left by
long-gone explorer, and dabbed in
"1nscription Rock"
When old-time explorers penetrated
the unknown country north OF Mexico,
carrying the faith" they passed up
the ancient pueblo of Zuni, thence
eastward toward the Rio Grande River.
The natural highway, if it may be so
called, led them directly under the
shadow of towering wall, thousands
OF feet long and hundreds of feet high.
This wall, when faced from the east,
presents the appearance of a wedge of
rock, but when seen from the rear, it
is found to be an immense V, the ap-
parently solid wall being split almost
to the end by deep canon which left
two immense cliffs of rocks frownlng
at each other across the great chasm.
Where the two walls joined, the cliff
shot up to towering height in pin
nacle of rock which bears the most
striking resemblance to an immense
castle or fortress. 1t was this which
gave the name by which 1T was known
to the earliest explorer-El Moro.
But the present interest in this
structure does not center in the stu
pendous rock, nor in the marvellous
beauty of the cliff which terminates it.
There is more human interest in it,
more even than that which is aroused
by the ruins of two great pueblos
which look at each other across the
chasm which divides the ridges form
ing the sides of the V. At the foot of
the castle there trickles out little
spring, the only y water to be found in
long days ride. and this made it in
the past, as it makes 1t now, the nat
ural stopping place for all travellers
who pass that way. History is meagre
in its details of the conquest of New
Mexico, but there are extant annals
which give to the searcher for light
many bits of information, that may be
patched together to make harmoni-
GUS whole, which tell of the fortitude,
the trials, and the sufferings of those
men who braved the dangers OF an un-
known country and an unknown horde
OF savages to carry their faith to the
heather and to search for gold. These
early explorers made the base of Ell
Moro their resting place, and here
they left for those who followed after
a record of their presence which has
| endured until the present time.
The sandstone of the cliff is very
fine and smooth, just such combina-
| ton as would induce casual passer
to inscribe his name thereon, and the
Spanish explorers utilized it as a
registry of their passage. 1t is an au
tograph album so valuable that it
ought to be the proud boast of the
United States that it is within its pos
sessions. 1t is doubtful, however, if
the authorities at Washington even
know of the existence OF this remark
able record OF the early pioneers.
With their knives and probably
their swords, the Spanish soldiers
carved their names and generally some
slight allusion to their mission upon
the smooth surface of the wall, and
bears the autographs of the men who
| opened the way to civilization in the
| Southwest two centuries before other
white men from the East penetrated
into that wonderful land of canon and
desert.
The Oldest identified autograph, as
we'll as the most important of all the
many noble names to be found written
in the Spanish of 800 years ago is
that of the leader, Juan de Onate, the
real founder of New Mexico, the
builder of the two oldest towns in the
territory, San Gabriel and Santa Fe,
and one of the brayest explorers that
ever penetrated an unknown country
with handful of men. He it was that
went on that marvellous journey in
search of the "South Sea-" the Pacific
Ocean, and it was on his return from
that wonderful tramp with thirty men
through a trackless wilderness and
desert that he encamped at the foot of
Ell Moro and left his modest inscrip-
tion upon that eternal page. Here is
what he wrote:
Paso por aqui el adelantado don Jua de
Onate al descrubemendto de Ia mar del sur
a IL de Abril 40 1905.
PASSED by here the officer, Don Juac dc
0nate to the discovery of the sea OF the south
on the 10th of April, year of 16O5).
The lettering is antique and much
abbreviated, but it is clear, and holds
its appearance well after the rain and
wind of three centuries.
When Diego de Vargas reconquered
New Mexico after the Pueblo Indian
uprising, which swept back for a time
the advancing tide of civilization, he,
too, stopped to rest under the giant