Mesa del Contadero facts for kids

Mesa del Contadero, sometimes called Black Mesa, is a cool, flat-topped mountain in New Mexico. It's made of black rock called basalt. This mesa stands tall on the east side of the Rio Grande river, near a place called Val Verde in Socorro County, New Mexico. It rises sharply, about 250 to 300 feet high, especially where the river flows around it. The top of the mesa is flat and reaches an elevation of 4,810 feet (1,466 meters). Its highest point, called Mesa Peak, is even taller at 4,916 feet.

A Look Back in Time

Early Explorers and Names

In 1598, a Spanish explorer named Juan de Oñate led an expedition into this area. On May 27, they reached the lands of the Piro people. Oñate saw this mesa and called it "Mesilla de Guinea." This name meant "little table of Guinea," because the mesa was made of dark, black rock, like the land in Guinea, Africa. This is why it's still sometimes called "Black Mesa" today. This mesa also marked the southern edge of what was then known as Santa Fe de Nuevo México.

The Counting Place

Later, after the Pueblo Revolt (a time when Native American groups fought against Spanish rule), the Spanish returned to New Mexico. In 1680, the governor Antonio de Otermin camped near the mesa. He called this spot "El Contadero," which means "The Counting Place." This is how the mesa got its name, "Mesa del Contadero," meaning "Table of the Accountant."

Why was it called "The Counting Place"? This spot along the Rio Grande was where officials would count the sheep being moved out of the province. Sheep were a very important trade item for the area. They also counted animals and goods coming into the province. This helped the government collect taxes. So, this pathway around the mesa became well-known as "El Contadero."

The Senecú Connection

The closest Piro village to the mesa was called Senecú. It was located just across the river. During the Pueblo Revolt, the people of Senecú left their village, and it was never settled again. Because of these ruins, the mesa was sometimes called "Mesa de Senecú" in the 17th and 18th centuries. You can even see this name on an old Spanish map from 1773.

That map also showed a place called Paraje de Contadero on the south side of the mesa, close to the river. However, by the 1800s, the ruins of Senecú had disappeared, probably washed away by big floods from the Rio Grande. As the ruins vanished, so did the name "Mesa de Senecú" for the mesa.