• Historic inscriptions carved in the bluff at El Morro.

    El Morro

    National Monument New Mexico

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Places

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The Pool at El Morro
 

The pool at El Morro collects snow melt and rain run-off from the top of the cuesta. Prior to the 1900s, there was a sandbar that rimmed its perimeter. Visitors to the pool could walk or ride their horses around its circumference. Depending on yearly rainfall, today the pool holds approximately 200,000 gallons of water on average.

Did You Know?

Image of Simpson and Kern inscription from 1849

The first English inscription at El Morro, carved into the rock by Lt. J. H. Simpson and R. H. Kern in 1849, has a spelling error: "inscriptions" was spelled "insciptions" with the "r" inserted afterwards.