Hueco Tanks is an area of low mountains 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. Hueco Tanks is thus a redundant phrase.

An historic site in this area, approximately 32 miles (51.5 km) northeast of El Paso, Texas, bears the same name. The park is popular for recreation such as birding and bouldering, and is culturally and spiritually significant to many Native Americans. This significance is partially manifested in the pictographs (rock paintings) that can be found throughout the region, many of which are thousands of years old.

In centuries past, the region was inhabited by a people known as the Jornada Mogollon (pronounced mo-goi-YONE). This culture existed in the region until about 1400 A.D., after which time the region was inhabited by the Apache people, who moved in from the North.

External Links

Hueco Tanks State Historic Site

References

• 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.
• Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, Volume II, p203-205. (Mogollon)