El Morro preserves a lingering history of the American Southwest in inscriptions carved into soft sandstone alongside petroglyphs left by people who lived here more than 700 years ago and Puebloan ruins on top of the sandstone monolith. Early travelers stopped here because of the dependable water supply at the base of the rock, and the pool made it a pleasant rest stop with water, shade, some protection from the elements, and a good place to camp. Spaniards and Americans left hundreds of inscriptions here, and without the pool they likely would not have stopped to do so; Ancestral Puebloans also may not have settled here. The names of the celebrated, the infamous, the legendary, and the unknown remain together here, linking modern travelers with the history of the American Southwest.