"They" were the Hacienda Spanish land owners or Jesuit Surveyor's for royal mining area's. Basically these can be an eye catcher or have value as a pointer to other Cacti.
I have a map of a pictograph that has a hooked "X" symbol. I looked for that symbol for months and never found it. One day I was hiking the mountain and found a lone Cardone cactus. It was the only cactus on that mountain so I noticed it.
As I approached the lone cactus I looked around and saw four small barrel cactus in four cardinal directions. While taking bearings on the smaller barrel cactus I noticed each direction had a pointer off the center cactus. The pointer was a crossed line on the ribs of the cactus making the letter "Y"!
Together from above looking down it made an "X" with the center being the Cardone lone cactus and the barrel cactus being the ends of the "X".
The hooked "X" said the cactus that went east and to the right was the one to follow. I removed my optical device. (Binoculars)
When I looked off in the distance I saw a "Crazy" Cactus!
No other cactus was anywhere else these were the only ones!
I jumped in my 4x4 ford and headed over there. When I got there I found a small canyon that had a profile rock chair. This was a minor resting area set up by the Spanish miners. Up above were the mines hidden pretty well.
Cactus were Survey markers in mining rest area's.
View attachment 1154703View attachment 1154704View attachment 1154707
View attachment 1154722
The "Y" symbol on maps or pictograph's are the symbols for cactus.