ESAU’S
ROCK
by Howdy-Nocona Fowler
I
n 1932 Rancher Esau
Nelson from over in the
Sabinal country of Texas
discovered a large, mysterious
stone carving in the Pecos
Canyon along the Pecos River.
The rock carving was done on
a native limestone ledge. It was
carved in a 15th-century style
known as Arabesque, with a
year date done in a Celtic- or
Gaelic-type carving. All the
numbers are intertwined in
the fashion of the “endless
knots” designs. This large
work consists of a hand-carved
stone basin, a highly stylized
year date, the word D.’AVE
carved in capital letters, and
the word or phrase PhCONI
or PhI CONI. The whole
carving is embellished with
vines and leaves, carved flow-
ers and the head of a gargoyle
or cub lion. This rock has baf-
fled archeologists, scientists,
treasure hunters, historians
and the curious for decades.
In about 1962 Esau’s son Ennis
Nelson donated the eight- to nine-foot-
long stone carving to the John Wayne
Museum located on John Wayne’s
famous movie set at Alamo Village
(owned and operated by Happy Shahan)
just outside of Brackettville, Texas.
The intertwined year date seems to
cause more problems than anything else
on the elaborate stone carving, because
the fact is nobody today knows how to
read it. Even though the carved numbers
8
are as plain as day, the style in which it is
carved causes the problem. The date
could be read as follows: 1168, 1681,
1861, or 1891. So let’s look at the
known history in West Texas around
those dates.
1168: Coni left Naples, Italy with a
fleet of ships to prove the world was
round. The fleet never returned to port.
This is according to the Students’ ver-
sion of The World Atlas Encyclopedia in
1959. I actually read this writing online
Cenizo
Second Quarter 2018
spanned the Pecos River,
opening the Trans Pecos region
for white settlement.
I first saw Esau’s Rock in
1994, while on a cross-country
trek retracing the known
camel routes used by the U.S.
Camel Corp.
One day while riding my
camels, west along Highway
90 near Brackettville (Ft.
Clark at Brackettville was a
Camel Fort), none other than
the famous Texas promoter
Happy Shahan drove up
beside us in a pickup and
invited us to Alamo Village
where John Wayne’s famous
film The Alamo was shot in
1958. Happy was showing me
around Alamo Village when
we entered the John Wayne
Museum, and there in the
back of the museum was
Esau’s Rock. I never forgot it.
Photo courtesy of Howdy-Nocona Fowler and C uatro C oates
After finishing my 1,800 mile
journey I stopped back by
Alamo Village in 1996, hop-
years ago. Now, no mention of Coni can
ing to get a photo of Esau’s Rock, but
be found on Google or other internet
sadly Happy’s cancer had advanced, hos-
search engines.
pice had been called in and Alamo
1528: Spanish Explorers reached the
Village was closed. Happy passed away
Pecos River region.
not long after.
1681: LaSalle, a French explorer,
Then in October of 2018 I was
claimed the Pecos River and the lands
involved in the filming of a PBS docu-
lying east of it for France.
mentary about John Wayne’s film The
1680: Ysleta Mission del Sur, located
Alamo. The film shoot ran way after
close to El Paso, Texas celebrated its first
dark, so I missed another opportunity to
Mass.
photograph Esau’s Rock.
1881: The Texas and Pacific Railroad
In January 2018, a public sale was