Nature taking a toll on El Morro

Clouds roll in over Atsinna Pueblo high atop El Morro National Monument. Atsinna was occupied between approximately 1275 to 1350 A.D., up to 1,500 people lived in this 875-room pueblo which is larger than Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon. [Photo by John A. Bowersmith/Independent]

Editor's note: This is the last in a two-part series on the 100th anniversary of El Morro National Monument.

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

EL MORRO NATIONAL MONUMENT — In the next few years El Morro National Monument Superintendent Kayci Collins said she will be facing a difficult decision.

Part of the ancient and historical inscriptions on the sandstone cliff are on the northeast face of the site on the 1,278 acres of the monument.

It is from this direction that the elements heat, cold, wind, rain, sleet, hail and snow batter the cliffs year round.

"Erosion is the biggest enemy," she said, about preserving the inscriptions for future generations.

"I may have to decide, or some future superintendent at some point whether to remove the inscriptions and put them in a museum, or allow them to erode," she said.

"Putting the inscriptions in a museum does not give the public the impact it does in the natural setting," Collins said.

Some of the inscriptions and petroglyphs date back to between 1100-1200 A.D., Collins said.

And, there are the historical inscriptions of the Spanish explorer Don Juan de Oate, in 1620, who eventually reconquered New Mexico.

Preservation of the site for future generations actually began in 1917 with the first "caretaker," Ramah sheep rancher Evon Vogt.

He built a fence to keep people away from the cliff site, built a dam to allow the pool at the base of the cliff to collect more water and built the first footpath trail to the top of the mesa.

He also removed graffiti, which was already taking place, but accidentally removed some historical inscriptions by chipping pieces of rock off the cliff wall.

Those inscriptions were recorded by the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology between 1906 when El Morro was named as a national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt and 1916 when the National Parks Service was created by Congress.

Some major factors, in addition to the elements already mentioned, affecting the erosion of the inscriptions include: clay overwash being left by running water, filling in the inscriptions; insect bore holes, lichens, mosses, surface water runoff and water percolating upward to the surface from under the sandstone, Collins said.

A more formalized approach to preserving the inscriptions and Acoma and Zuni petroglyphs at El Morro, was created in the early 1990s, she said.

"A bigger picture a holistic approach was created, that took into effect how the natural processes operate and influence conditions of the historical resources of El Morro," Collins said. In 1954, a Columbia University professor, archeologist Richard Woodbury, found two kivas, ceremonial areas used by the ancestors of the Acoma and Zuni.

It was from these areas and 13 rooms of the Atsitti and N. Atsitti pueblos on top of the sandstone mesa, that the dates of occupation of the site, from about 1100-1200 A.D., were determined, Collins said.

The excavated kivas and 13 rooms are viewable today from an area atop the mesa.

There are 17 full-time and part-time employees who work at El Morro with an annual budget of $669,000.

Last year there were 32,000 visitors to the site.

Daily admission is $3 per person, an annual El Morro pass is $10 and a National Parks Pass is $50, allowing the holder admittance at any national park site in the nation.

The visitor's center starts winter hours on Oct. 29 and will be open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., with trails open from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., daily. The visitor's center may be reached at (505) 783-4226.

The monument is closed on Christmas and New Years Day.

On Dec. 8, the monument celebrates its 100th anniversary. An open house with events during two days, Dec. 8-9 will be held and entrance fees will be waived.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin, call (505) 287-2197 or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.