BOCA NEGRA CANYON – A little
known fact is the route between current day Mexico City and Santa Fe has been a
crossroads for trade spanning centuries, and possibly thousands of years. Ever
since reading Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather, I developed a
passion for Southwestern Literature. Stories such as those told by author
Eugene Manlove Rhodes, of Pasó Por Aquí. He takes the title for his classic
western novella from those same words, the words Don Juan de Oñate carved on
the sandstone wall of El Morro, otherwise known as Inscription Rock. Or another
tale, The Little Lion of the Southwest, whereby author Marc Simmons depicts the
life of Manuel Antonio Chaves, also appearing in Cather’s book as a minor
character. A descendent of one Oñate’s conquistadores, Chaves participated in a
raid on the Navajo, and in retaliation, was severely wounded. At the age of 16,
as the only survivor, he walked home 200 miles without provisions. Long before
any European set foot on the path, the Anasazi settled Canyon de Chelly and
dispersed the Hopi, Navajo and Acoma people into the surrounding areas. From
the Acoma Pueblo to the green pond of El Morro, the landscape is as stark and
emblematic as those that passed this way, down the lonesome trail. Photographs
of these stone etchings, taken at Boca Negra Canyon historical site, reflect the
hand of an ancient ancestor that scratched symbols in the black rocks. Were these people the first to walk the trail? Yes, that's what I imagine.
No comments:
Post a Comment