Trip #26: New Mexico Park Tour

May 14 – 21, 2010

CROWNPOINT, BLUE WATER STATE PARK, EL MORRO, EL MALPAIS, SANTA FE,  BANDELIER NATIONAL MONUMENT

769 miles

 

Crownpoint Rug Auction – scored two! Wild horses in the park, inscription rock, tour of Santa Fe Palace of the Governors, camped at Heron Lake where Bill got some sort of spider bite on his arm, stop at Tierra Wools.













Amazing stop at El Morro's Inscription Rock -- carved grafitti as far back as the 1600s, and then American ones from the spread westward, including marks by:

 Topographical Engineer James H. Simpson and the artist Edward Kern, resulted [referring to a map] from a punitive expedition against the Navajos led by Colonel John M. Washington, the military governor of New Mexico, in 1849. The campaign was an important one, as Wheat observes, “following up that of Colonel Doniphan in 1846 before he went on to Mexico, and though the Indians remained restless it served its primary purpose of preserving the New Mexican settlements from Navajo raids.” The expedition traveled northwest from Santa Fe by way of the Jemez Pueblo and over the Jemez Mountains to Chaco Canyon and finally to Canyon de Chelly, “the very citadel of the Navajos,” as Goetzmann notes, where a treaty with the Navajos was signed. 

Inscription Rock is mentioned in the Kit Carson bio “Blood & Thunder,” as well as much on the Kearny Expedition. And the story of the Kern brothers is quite interesting, too -- can’t resist adding it here. I have pasted it in below the photos below.

I took my usual zillion photos just out of sheer amazement, and now through the wonderful world of the web, I found Kern’s original drawings of some inscriptions when he first came upon them, and realized I had taken shot the same ones. They are shown below, along with my modern day shots. 

This spring is still there. Start your tour here, and walk to the right please...

 

 

This is the right side of what Kern drew above. Still there. FROM 1692!

And this is the left side.

What you see today from the drawing above from 1849. So apparently the line drawing of the box person was there back then, at least in 1849.

They couldn't resist leaving their own mark.

That last name is McCook, if anyone is researching.

Script on sandstone???

And how the heck did someone do this? on sandstone?

Richard H. and Edward Meyer Kern, artists and western explorers, gave the American public some of its earliest authentic graphic images of the people and landscape of Arizona, New Mexico, and southern Colorado, providing views of Canyon de Chelly, Chaco Canyon, and El Morro (Inscription Rock). This collection contains Richard and Edward’s original drawings from J.H. Simpson’s military reconaissance expedition to the Navajos in 1849. Background note:

Born 1821 in Philadelphia, PA, Richard H. Kern began exhibiting landscape and figure studies in Philadelphia around 1840. He was an art teacher at the Franklin Institute, owned his own studio at 62 Filbert Street in Philadelphia, and was a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences. Between 1848 and his death in 1853, he participated in four expeditions in the west, where he accomplished his best and most well known work. Edward Meyer Kern was born 1823 in Philadelphia, the youngest of three Kern brothers. By 1841, he, too, was exhibiting in Philadelphia as a painter.

From 1848-49 Richard and Edward joined in John C. Fremont’s winter expedition, along with their older brother, Benjamin (1818-1849). The two were to be artists for the expedition, and Benjamin the doctor. The trip ended badly as some of the party were killed in the mountains of Colorado from starvation and exposure. In order to move more quickly to safety, it was necessary that the brothers hide their goods (including sketches) in a cave. After arriving in New Mexico, Benjamin returned for the hidden goods and was killed by a band of Utes. Only some of the sketches were recovered.

In August of 1849, Richard and Edward joined J. H. Simpson on the 1849 exploration campaign of John M. Washington. The goal was to lead a military expedition to punish the Navajos for raids on the New Mexico settlements and to secure a treaty with them, in addition to surveying the country. Richard’s role, as second assistant and artist, was to make portraits of Indian chiefs, costume, scenery, geological formations, ruins, and to copy ancient writings found on the sides of stone. Edward's role was as first assistant and topographer. The expedition brought both brothers back to New Mexico.

Edward and Richard lived in New Mexico for two years, working for the Corps of Topographical Engineers. In 1851 Richard joined Lieutenant Lorenzo Sitgreaves on an expedition to explore the Little Colorado River, and Edward joined Lieutenant John Pope, who was looking for a better route between Santa Fe and Fort Leavenworth. In 1852 Richard returned to Philadelphia.

Richard left for his fourth and final trip in 1853, joining Captain John Williams Gunnison on an expedition to survey a railroad route that would pass through the Rockies. On October 26, 1853, Richard accompanied Gunnison on a side trip to explore the area around Sevier Lake, Utah. There, A group of Pahvant Indians, seeking revenge for the murder of their chief, killed Kern alongside eight other members of Gunnison's party. The Indians carried away all the notes, sketchbooks and collections of the party. These were later returned to the U. S. Army corps.

From 1853 to 1856, Edward served aboard the U.S.S. Vincennes on the North Pacific exploring expedition commanded by Cadwalader Ringgold (later replaced by John Rodgers). This expedition navigated the globe and mapped the Japanese coast. Edward next joined Lieutenant John M. Brooke on a survey of the sea lanes between California and China, returning in 1860. During the Civil War, Edward served under Fremont, who had command of the Army of the West, but when Fremont was relieved of command, Edward was as well. He died November 23, 1863 of an epileptic attack. 

(wow. while most of modern-day people sit in front of computers)