Hueco Tanks is an area of low mountains and historic site in

El Paso County, Texas El Paso County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 865,657, making it the ninth-most populous county in the state of Texas. Its county seat is the city of El Paso, the sixth-mos ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is located in a high-altitude desert basin between the Franklin Mountains to the west and the Hueco Mountains to the east. ''Hueco'' is a Spanish word meaning ''hollows'' and refers to the many water-holding depressions in the boulders and rock faces throughout the region. Due to the unique concentration of historic artifacts, plants and wildlife, the site is under protection of Texas law; it is a crime to remove, alter, or destroy them. The historic site is located approximately 32 miles (51 km) northeast of central

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

, accessible via El Paso's Montana Avenue (

U.S. Route 62 U.S. Route 62 or U.S. Highway 62 (US 62) is an east–west United States Highway in the southern and northeastern United States. It runs from the Mexican border at El Paso, Texas, to Niagara Falls, New York, near the Canadian b ...

U.S. Route 180 U.S. Route 180 is an east–west United States highway. Like many three-digit routes, US 180 no longer meets its "parent", US 80. US 80 was decommissioned west of Mesquite, Texas, and was replaced in Texas by Interstate 20 and Interstate 1 ...

), by turning at RM 2775. The park consists of three

syenite Syenite is a coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock with a general composition similar to that of granite, but deficient in quartz, which, if present at all, occurs in relatively small concentrations (< 5%). It is considered a and is popular for recreation such as

birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device such as binoculars or a telescop ...

and

bouldering Bouldering is a form of rock climbing that is performed on small rock formations or Climbing wall, artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or Climbing harness, harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers ...

. It is culturally and spiritually significant to many Native Americans. This significance is partially manifested in the

pictographs A pictogram (also pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto) is a graphical symbol that conveys meaning through its visual resemblance to a physical object. Pictograms are used in systems of writing and visual communication. A pictography is a wri ...

(rock paintings) that can be found throughout the region, many of which are thousands of years old.

Designation

Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site was obtained from the county by special deed on June 12, 1969, and by purchase of additional land on August 10, 1970. This site was opened to the public in May 1970. This park is named for the large natural rock basins or "huecos" that have furnished a supply of trapped rainwater to dwellers and travelers in this arid region of west Texas for millennia.

History

The park has gone through considerable changes during private and public ownership. The inscribed names of Texas Rangers and US Cavalrymen, as well as Native American artifacts and paintings, attest to its historic nature. This site had originally attracted people due to its critical resource needed to survive life in the desert-water. The huge rocks and boulders have cracks and are pocketed with holes-huecos that trap and hold rainwater for months at a time. Passing people found this out and had made it known for future travelers by encrypting the walls with pictures and symbols on the rocks.

Early inhabitants

Human habitation of the area dates back 10,000 years with the arrival of the Desert Archaic Culture. These people would have eaten

mesquite Mesquite is a common name for some plants in the genera ''Neltuma'' and '' Strombocarpa'', which contain over 50 species of spiny, deep-rooted leguminous shrubs and small trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. Until 2022, these ge ...

beans,

banana yucca ''Yucca baccata'' (datil yucca or banana yucca, also known as Spanish bayonet and broadleaf yucca) is a common species of yucca native to the deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, from southeastern California north to ...

and

cactus A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

fruits in Hueco Tanks. The region was inhabited by various peoples, from the

Paleo-Indian Paleo-Indians were the first peoples who entered and subsequently inhabited the Americas towards the end of the Late Pleistocene period. The prefix ''paleo-'' comes from . The term ''Paleo-Indians'' applies specifically to the lithic period in ...

s who used

Folsom point Folsom points are projectile points associated with the Folsom tradition of North America. The style of tool-making was named after the Folsom site located in Folsom, New Mexico, where the first sample was found in 1908 by George McJunkin with ...

s to hunt the Megafauna of North America, to the people of the 'Jornada Mogollon' (pronounced ''mo-goi-YONE''). This site was once a Jornada Mogollon village, according to an archaeological dig of the ground between North Mountain and West Mountain. By about 700 years ago, the population of the village could no longer be sustained by the small agricultural area surrounding Hueco Tanks. At this point, a population shift occurred and settlements were formed on the nearby playas to the south, west, and northwest. There, they flourished until about 1450 A.D. when the area suffered from a series of severe droughts. Although it took time, by about 1600 A.D. the region was inhabited by the

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

people, who moved in from Canada (see the

Athabascan Athabaskan ( ; also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large branch of the Na-Dene language family of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, ...

s). Agriculture was introduced in the area sometime around 1000 A.D. and along with it, the development of the Jornada

Mogollon Culture The Mogollon culture ( ) is a pre-historic archaeological culture of Native American peoples from Southern New Mexico and Arizona, Northern Sonora and Chihuahua, and Western Texas. The northern part of this region is Oasisamerica, while the sou ...

. The Jornada people built a village in the area and grew

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

. Later the area was occupied by

Mescalero Mescalero or Mescalero Apache () is an Apache tribe of Southern Athabaskan–speaking Native Americans. The tribe is federally recognized as the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Apache Reservation, located in south-central New Mexico. In ...

and Lipan Apaches and

Jumano people The Jumanos were a tribe or several tribes, who inhabited a large area of western Texas, New Mexico, and northern Mexico, especially near the Junta de los Rios region with its large settled Indigenous population. They lived in the Big Bend area ...

. Also using the area were

Comanche The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...

Kiowa Kiowa ( ) or Cáuigú () people are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe and an Indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colora ...

and Tiguas. Spanish and Mexican travelers were rare visitors to the area. The Kiowa called the area the ''Tso-doi-gyata-de-dee'', meaning "rock cave where they were surrounded." In 1837, the Kiowa signed a treaty with the United States, however, shortly after Mexican soldiers forced them into a six-day siege in Hueco Tanks, during which most of them died. The earliest known modern graffiti dates back to the 1840s. The area was visited by United States Boundary Commissioner, John R. Bartlett, in 1852 who recorded some of the pictographs. Between 1858 and 1859, the

Butterfield Overland Mail Butterfield Overland Mail (officially Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service in ...

kept a

stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

station in the area, but left when a better location was found to the south. An El Paso businessman, Juan Armendariz, purchased much of the Hueco Tanks land to use for ranching in 1895. Silverio Escontrías bought the land from Armendariz in 1898 and the family used it as a ranch and tourist attraction until 1956. The early El Paso Archaeological Society (EPAS) began to campaign for the land to be turned into a park and in 1935, the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

offered to buy the land from the Escontrías family, but they refused. Fort Bliss leased land from the Escontrías family for training purposes in the 1940s and 50s. The ranch went on the real estate market in 1956 and during this time, members of archaeological and historical societies raised awareness of the area's significance. El Paso County took over the land in the mid-1960s.In 1968, it was discussed whether or not the park should be turned over to the Tiguas. In 1969, the El Paso County commissioners decided to deed the park to the

Texas Parks and Wildlife The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) is a Texas state agency that oversees and protects wildlife and their habitats. In addition, the agency is responsible for managing the state's parks and historical areas. Its mission is to manage ...

Commission. It was made a Texas State Park in 1970. The park's information center was made from the old Escontrías ranch house. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1971. Archaeological excavations conducted by George Kegley took place in the area between 1972 and 1973. The park was named the Hueco Tanks State Historic Site in 1998.

Pictographs

The first paintings made at Hueco Tanks were done by members of the Desert Archaic Culture, and depicted abstract designs. These were created between 6000 and 3000 B.C. Between 3000 BC and 450 A.D., pictures of animals and humans were drawn on the rocks. Most of the

at Hueco Tanks are of Jornada Mogollon origin. The drawings may have been used in praying for rain. The Jornada's religion was influenced by

Mesoamerican religion Mesoamerican religion is a group of indigenous religions of Mesoamerica that were prevalent in the pre-Columbian era. Two of the most widely known examples of Mesoamerican religion are the Aztec religion and the Mayan religion. Cosmology The ...

s. Many of the Hueco Tanks drawings depicted Tlaloc, a rain god and Quetzalcoatl. Modern graffiti by

Anglo Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people of British d ...

people started appearing when someone painted "1849" over some of the original pictographs. The first scientific overview of the rock paintings at Hueco Tanks happened in the summer of 1939 with Forrest and Lula Kirkland recording the art. Most of the colors used in the paintings came from minerals in the area. The paintings themselves became bound to the rock through the aging process. In 1972, the El Paso Archaeological Society (EPAS) and the Anthropology Club of the

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public university, public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the Univers ...

(UTEP) systematically documented the drawings, their current conditions and sometimes relocated and inspected the rock art. The project discovered 300 previously unrecorded pictographs. The findings of their work was published in ''A Rock Art Inventory at Hueco Tanks State Park'' (1974). In 1988, park ranger Dave Parker and archeologist Ron Ralph plotted the location of all known pictographs. A digital database of the art and its GPS coordinates was started in 1999 with Robert Mark and Evelyn Billo.

Geology

The syenite

pluton In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

was formed 34-38 million years ago, as part of a larger range, the Hueco Mountains, which range in age to over 320 million years ago, when this area was covered by an inland sea. The pluton was eventually exposed through weathering to form the rock formations visible today, which jut from the desert floor. The tanks were once capable of containing a year's supply of water. In addition to the tanks, there are several permanent springs and seasonal springs in the area. The area receives less than of rainfall a year. The syenite rock formation is covered with 'desert patina' (visible in the image below), the result of thousands of years of weathering of the rock surface by sun, sand, and water; the site is culturally and spiritually significant to many Native Americans, such as the

Mescalero Apache Mescalero or Mescalero Apache () is an Apache tribe of Southern Athabaskan languages, Southern Athabaskan–speaking Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans. The tribe is federally recognized as the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the M ...

, the

Hopi The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado ...

, and the

Pueblo people The Pueblo peoples are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Among the currently inhabited Pueblos, Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zuni, and Hopi are some of the ...

. This significance is partially manifested in the

(rock paintings) that can be found throughout the region, some of which are thousands of years old. Hueco Tanks contains the single largest concentration of mask paintings by Native Americans in North America, of which hundreds exist at this site.

Wildlife

Freshwater shrimp Freshwater shrimp are any shrimp which live in fresh water. This includes: *Any Caridea (shrimp) which live in fresh water, especially the family Atyidae *Species in the genus '' Macrobrachium'' :*'' Macrobrachium ohione'', the Ohio River shrimp :* ...

and spadefoot toads survive at the site; for this and other reasons, visitors are cautioned against touching the pools of water at Hueco Tanks to avoid destroying the eggs of these animals.Interpretive Center, Orientation Video, Hueco Tanks State Historic Site, 2009-12-26Spadefoot toads have re-spawned in Hueco Tanks, September 2010, due to the heavy monsoon rains this year. —Ed Woton, Interpretive Guide, Hueco Tanks State Historic Site, Oct 17, 2010. Other

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

s seen in the park include

barred tiger salamander The barred tiger salamander or western tiger salamander (''Ambystoma mavortium'') is a species of mole salamander that lives in lower western Canada, the western United States and northern Mexico. Description The barred tiger salamander typical ...

s. Around 30 different species of

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

s live in the area. In 2002, 222 different species of bird were documented at the site during the year. Migratory birds such as waterfowl and songbirds pass through during migration seasons. Several birds such as the

prairie falcon The prairie falcon (''Falco mexicanus'') is a medium-sized Falconiformes, falcon found in Western North America. A separate species from the peregrine falcon, with which it shares some visual similarities, the prairie falcon is, essentially, an ...

burrowing owl The burrowing owl (''Athene cunicularia''), also called the shoco, is a small, long-legged, primarily terrestrial—though not flightless—species of owl native to the open landscapes of North and South America. They are typically found in gra ...

, white throated swift,

black-chinned hummingbird The black-chinned hummingbird (''Archilochus alexandri'') is a hummingbird occupying a broad range of habitats. Its summer range is in the western United States and southwestern Canada. It is migratory, wintering as far south as Mexico. In sunl ...

, ash throated flycatcher,

Crissal thrasher The crissal thrasher (''Toxostoma crissale'') is a large thrasher found in the Southwestern United States (western Texas, southern New Mexico, southern Arizona, southeastern California, extreme southern Nevada, and extreme southwestern Utah) to c ...

blue grosbeak The blue grosbeak (''Passerina caerulea''), is a medium-sized North American passerine bird in the cardinal family Cardinalidae. It is mainly migratory, wintering in Central America and breeding in northern Mexico and the southern United States. ...

Scott's oriole The Scott's oriole (''Icterus parisorum'') is a medium-sized icterid (the same family as many blackbirds, meadowlarks, cowbirds, grackles, and others, including the New World orioles). It is primarily found in the Southwestern United States ...

and

lesser goldfinch The lesser goldfinch (''Spinus psaltria'') is a small finch in the genus '' Spinus'' native to the Americas. As is the case for most species in the genus ''Spinus'', lesser goldfinch males have a black forehead, which females lack. Males in this ...

all likely breed in the area. The park is home today to

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...

, black bears,

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the wildcat, bay lynx, or red lynx, is one of the four extant species within the medium-sized wild cat genus '' Lynx''. Native to North America, it ranges from southern Canada through most of the c ...

gray fox The gray fox (''Urocyon cinereoargenteus''), or grey fox, is an omnivorous mammal of the family Canidae, widespread throughout North America and Central America. This species and its only congener (biology), congener, the diminutive island fox ...

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...

badger Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea. Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by the ...

s, ringtails,

skunk Skunks are mammals in the family Mephitidae. They are known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong, unpleasant scent from their anal glands. Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown, cream or gi ...

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...

mountain lions The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, '' KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North, Central and South America, making it the most widely distributed wild ...

black-tailed jackrabbit The black-tailed jackrabbit (''Lepus californicus''), also known as the American desert hare, is a common hare of the western United States and Mexico, where it is found at elevations from sea level up to . Reaching a length around , and a ...

desert cottontail The desert cottontail (''Sylvilagus audubonii''), also known as Audubon's cottontail, is a New World cottontail rabbit, and a member of the family Leporidae. Unlike the European rabbit (''Oryctolagus cuniculus''), they do not form social burrow s ...

eastern cottontail The eastern cottontail (''Sylvilagus floridanus'') is a New World cottontail rabbit, a member of the family Leporidae. It is the most common rabbit species in North America. Distribution The eastern cottontail can be found in meadows and shrub ...

, six species of

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

s and twenty species of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

Plants

Around the syenite outcrops, the park is surrounded by Chihuahuan Desert scrub with

creosote bush ''Larrea tridentata'', called creosote bush, greasewood, and chaparral is a medicinal herb. In Sonora, it is more commonly called ''hediondilla''; Spanish ''hediondo'' = "smelly". It is a flowering plant in the family Zygophyllaceae. The specific ...

as the dominant species. The site contains enough water to support

live oak Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are generally not more closely related to each other than they are to o ...

s and

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

s, species which survive from the last ice age. Other trees found in the area include netleaf hackberry, Texas mulberry, Mexican buckeye, catclaw acacia, and

Arizona white oak ''Quercus arizonica'', the Arizona white oak, is a North American tree species in the beech family. It is found in Arizona, New Mexico, western Texas, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sinaloa, and Durango. Description The Arizona white oak is o ...

. Hueco Tanks has the only population in the United States of the plant '' Colubrina stricta''.

Bouldering

Hueco Tanks is widely regarded as one of the best areas in the world for

, that is,

rock climbing Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending climbing routes, routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in c ...

low enough to attempt without ropes for protection. It is unique for its rock type, the concentration and the quality of the climbing. In any given climbing season, which generally lasts from October through March, it is common for climbers from across Europe, Asia, and Australia to visit the park. In February an outdoor bouldering competition known as the

Hueco Rock Rodeo The Hueco Rock Rodeo is a bouldering competition held annually in February at Hueco Tanks State Historic Site in the extremities of El Paso, Texas. It is highly competitive and attracts professional rock climbers from all over the world. The pr ...

is held. The event is a world-class outdoor competition that attracts many professional climbers every year. Since the implementation of the Public Use Plan in June 2000, following a brief closure of the entire park due to the park service's inability to manage the growing crowds of international climbers, more than two-thirds of the park is restricted to tours by volunteer or commercial guides. Only North Mountain is accessible without guides, and then only for about 70 people at any given time, except on the south side at ground level, which is closed to the public. The park offers camping and showers for $12 per night (as of April 2020), or, as is most popular for climbers, the nearby Hueco Rock Ranch offers camping where climbers can relax and socialize. This is also where commercial guides can be found, and where many volunteer guides stay during the climbing season.

Notes

References

* ''Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes'', Volume II, p203-205. (Mogollon) * * * * ''Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine'', September 2004, ''The Rocks that Speak'', Carol Flake Chapman, p41-45. * ''Turquoise Ridge and Late Prehistoric Residential Mobility in the Desert Mogollon Region'', Whalen, Michael E., Salt Lake City University of Utah Press, 1994. *

External links

Firecracker Pueblo discusses the extent of the Jornada Mogollon.
*

* ttp://www.huecorockranch.com/ Hueco Rock Ranch for climbers.* (2012 video)
Hueco Tanks State Historic Site

Picture of a hueco, description of the video the park makes campers view, and links. *
News story on Hueco Tanks
from

WFAA WFAA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving as the American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate for the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur, Texas, Decatur-li ...

Texas Archive of the Moving Image The Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) is an independent 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2002 by film archivist and University of Texas at Austin professor Caroline Frick, PhD. TAMI's mission is to preserve, study, and exhibit Texas film ...

{{Authority control Landforms of El Paso County, Texas Mogollon culture Rock formations of Texas Climbing areas of Texas Butterfield Overland Mail in Texas Stagecoach stops in the United States