It's the rapping ranger coming at you again
With tales of human history and of the people within
The park is Pecos, New Mexico, NHP
The story starts with a pueblo and it ends with you and me

Long ago the Cicuye were 2000 strong
While living in a hilltop pueblo situated along
The foothills of a mountain range, with the mesa and the plains
And a corridor essential to the ancient routes of trade

The pueblo people traveled from the valley to the west
And the tribes from the plains traveled to the highest crest
And they met up in the middle at the pueblo Cicuye
Which began the blend of cultures that’s so evident today

Glorieta, Glorieta
There is nowhere better for an
Ancient band to settle in the west
A climate so inviting and a pathway fit for trade
The pueblo on the hill…they had it made

Skip ahead a century, when Spain was on a mission
Seeking silver, seeking gold, seeking all the finest riches
In a new world full of unfamiliar terrain
That they would spend years trying hard to conquer and claim

But then they came across a settlement on top of hill
The people living off the land, but very powerful still
Cause their location was impeccable, overlooking everything
Way of life respectable, with balance and harmony

The newcomers thought that they would settle beside
The people they would call the Pecos, and believe me they tried
But when they built a mission church and brought a new way of livin’
The Pecos resisted, defending their traditions

(Chorus)

Now when the Santa Fe Trail came thru that corridor
That had served as an east to west trading route before
Men from Missouri came thru, and what’s more
Soldiers had a battle here during the Civil War

Once the war was over, trade resumed along the trail
But eventually it yielded to the power of the rail
An intercontinental railroad took the stage
As the nation jumped into the industrial age

Then came the mother road, route 66
Connecting Chicago to Los Angeles
And more recently the interstate came on thru
History in the making…that includes you!

Ancient routes of trade
The trail of Santa Fe
It was the railway, and Route 66, and
Now, it’s the interstate
(x2)

Glorieta, Glorieta
There is nowhere better
To open up the world to newer quests
A climate so inviting and a pathway of exchange
Glorieta…the gateway to the Plains.