On June 22, 1852, Richard Augustus Keen wrote at City of Rocks, "There are thousands of names here I registered on a large Rock." Throughout the West, emigrants recorded their passing by writing their names, often with axle grease, at distinctive places such as the City of Rocks. Camp Rock once held hundreds of names, but these historic records are rapidly disappearing as nature and careless or malicious people take their toll. How long remnants of the names will remain is unknown.