[A] rare historical marking has been authenticated on one of the canyon cliffs that surround Lake Powell in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The inscription was carved when the United States was only six months old.
It was left in November 1776 by Friars Dominguez and Escalante when their exploring party became trapped in a fierce storm along the Colorado River. In a hidden canyon up from the main river channel in what is now Padre Bay, someone carved in elegant script “paso por aqui, 1776.” The words are Spanish for “we passed by here.”
There’s more details at High Country News.