Mesa del Contadero, sometimes called Black Mesa, also appeared on a 1773 Spanish map as Mesa de Senecú,Valverde, June 30, 2012
from newmexicohistory.org accessed August 18, 2019 is a

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge, or hill, bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and standing distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks, such as shales, capped by a ...

that stands out on the east bank of the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

over three miles southwest of Val Verde in

Socorro County, New Mexico Socorro County () is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 16,595. The county seat is Socorro. The county was formed in 1852 as one of the original nine counties of New Mexico Te ...

. The mesa rises up dramatically from its lower surroundings in steep sides of 250 to 300 feet, particularly on the three sides where the river must pass around it to the west. It then levels off to a level area on top of an elevation of , with a high point

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

called Mesa Peak at 4,916 feet on the northeast edge of the Mesa.

History

On May 27, 1598, as the Oñate Expedition entered Piro lands from the south after crossing the

Jornada del Muerto Jornada del Muerto was the name given by the Spanish conquistadors to the Jornada del Muerto desert Endorheic basin, basin, and the almost waterless trail across the Jornada beginning north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, Las Cruces and ending sout ...

, Juan de Oñate named this mesa "Mesilla de Guinea" (little table of Guinea frica named this because the mesa was made of black rock.Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquista y colonización de las posesiones españoles en América y Oceanía, sacados bajo la direccion de J.F. Pacheco, F. de Cárdenas y L. Torres de Mendoza, Volumes 15-16, Jose Maria Perez, Madrid, 1871
/ref> This name the mesa has survived as "Black Mesa". This mesa became the southern boundary marker of

Santa Fe de Nuevo México Santa Fe de Nuevo México (; shortened as Nuevo México or Nuevo Méjico, and translated as New Mexico in English) was a province of the Spanish Empire and New Spain, and later a territory of independent Mexico. The first capital was San Juan d ...

. When the Spanish returned to New Mexico after the

Pueblo Revolt The Pueblo Revolt of 1680, also known as Popé, Popé's Rebellion or Po'pay's Rebellion, was an uprising of most of the Indigenous Pueblo people against the Spanish Empire, Spanish colonizers in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, larger t ...

, the governor Antonio de Otermin called the place he camped on the trail around the mesa next to the river as "El Contadero" (The Counting Place). It gave the mesa its name, "Mesa del Contadero," meaning the "Table of the Accountant," referring to the place along the mesa and the Rio Grande where provincial border officials counted the numbers of sheep being herded out of the province, south past them with the trade caravans into Mexico. This sheep trade had been the major item of trade for the province before the Revolt, and would be again after it recovered from the effects of the Revolt. They also counted the numbers of animals being brought into the province for tax purposes. The taxes on imported animals and goods in the caravans from the south supported the government and the pathway around the mesa remained known as El Contadero (The Counting Place).

Senecú The Piro pueblo of Senecú was the southernmost occupied pueblo in New Mexico prior to the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. It was located on the west bank of the Rio Grande within sight of the Piro pueblo of San Pasqual. Colonial Spanish documents consis ...

was the closest Piro pueblo they encountered, just across the river from this mesa. During the Pueblo Revolt Senecú was evacuated and never repopulated. The ruins across the river from the mesa during the 17th and 18th centuries gave the mesa another name, “Mesa de Senecú,” seen on the Spanish Map “Plano del Rio Grande, 1773 by Miera y Pacheco. Also named on that map was the site of the Paraje de Contadero on the south side of “Mesa de Senecú” close to the Rio Grande. By the 19th century the ruins of Senecú had vanished, probably washed away in one of the large Rio Grande floods, and with it the Senecú name of the mesa, as memory of it faded.George D. Torok, From the Pass to the Pueblos, Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, Dec 1, 2011

References

Landforms of Socorro County, New Mexico Jornada del Muerto Mesas of New Mexico {{NewMexico-geo-stub