Rt66 Carnuel Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
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Silver bison tube in Carnuel outskirts cutout on eastbound Hwy 66.
Another Route 66 cache in Carnuel, NM.
The Spanish-appearing name of this small inhabited community probably is like Gila, Pecos, Chama and others in disguising a much older Indian name. The Tiwa name for the site is Carna-aye and means "badger place." Perhaps the name was related to the pueblo whose ruins have been found nearby.
The name has appeared on maps as both Carnue and Carnuel (pronounced carn-WELL). Carnue (pronounced carn-Way) perhaps better approximates the Tiwa word, and the locality appeared as Carnue on Bernardo Miera y Pacheco's Plano de la Provincia interna del Nueva Mexico of 1779. On the other hand, the territorial governor L. Bradford Prince cited "Carnue" as an example of a final consonant being lost through evolution, and Carnuel is the form most often used by present day residents.
The first settlement of the area occurred on Feb 12, 1763 when 19 Hispanic men and their families took possession of a land grant. They established a small village they called San Miguel de Carnue, but repeated Indian attacks on the village forced its abandonment in 1771; subsequent attempts at resettlement were not successful. The short-lived village is believed to have been on benchland outside the mouth of Tijeras Canyon, within the present Albuquerque city boundary; partially excavated ruins there are preserved within Singing Arrow Park.
In 1819 Governor Melgares approved the Canon de Carnuel Grant giving the land to landless persons from Albuquerque. Its boundaries included most of what is now Tijeras Canyon, which also was known as Canon de Carnuel. It was there, within the canyon, that the present village was established. (Thanks to "The Place Names of New Mexico" by Robert Julyan, revised edition, for all above info.)
No pencil so bring your own writing stick.
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Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
arne gur raq