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Glimpses of our National Monuments

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  • OUR NATIONAL MONUMENTS 23 pictographs have never been deciphered, and there is some doubt whether they really were intended to tell a story, or were merely symbols representing various clans of the Pueblo Indians. Apparently these pictographs were made by the Indians who lived long ago on top of the mesa, and whose ruined terraced homes can be seen there to-day. An ancient carved hand and foot trail used centuries ago by these early inhabitants of New Mexico leads up the side of El Morro from near the water cove. Two other trails, one from the east side of the rock and the other from the west, lead up to the south rim. The trails have been plainly marked, so that travelers to-day may reach the top of the mesa without difficulty. Some of the walls still standing are from 4 to 6 feet high. The lands surrounding Inscription Rock were reserved from settlement or entry by order of the Secretary of the Interior June 14, 1901, and on June 8, 1906, shortly after the passage of the antiquities act, the El Morro National Monument was created. June 18, 1917, the monument was enlarged to its present area (240 acres) by the addition of 80 acres containing ruins of archeological interest. The monument is reached from Gallup, N. Mex., on the Santa Fe Railroad and National Old Trails Road. Westbound motorists, however, may leave the highway at Grants and follow a new road which goes through San Rafael, one of the largest strictly Spanish towns in the State, then skirts the foothills of the Zuni Mountains and passes Agua Fria Draw. From there on the road is through a grove of pines, bordered on the left hand by a great rough lava bed rising to mountains in places and falling into unknown dark crevices and canyons in others. It is 55 miles from Grants to El Morro, thence 10 miles to Ramah, where the custodian of the monument, Evon Z. Vogt, resides. From Ramah to the famous pueblos of Zuni it is 25 miles. This makes an inviting detour for tourists who may thus leave the Old Trails Road between Gallup and the town of Grants and by a run of a little over 100 miles see two places of prime interest, as well as the attractive country along the Zuni Mountains. EOSSIL CYCAD NATIONAL MONUMENT In an accessible and picturesque part of the Black Hills Rim in South Dakota, just at the south entrance to the hills, is the Fossil Cycad National Monument, an area of 320 acres reserved by presidential proclamation October 21, 1922, to protect its large deposits of the fossil remains of fern-like plants of the Mesozoic period, which are of intense interest to scientists. This is probably one of the most interesting fossil-plant beds yet discovered, with the most perfectly
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