The Ojo del Apache Grant .................... 720

111 Pages·2011·12.67 MB·English

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VIII SAtG NIGUEL COUNTY. NEW MEXICO
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The Preston Beck. Jr Grant
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The Angostura del Pecos Grant t
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The Anton Chico Grant
A
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The Baca Location No 2
.k
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The Pablo Montoya Grant 700
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The Antonio Ortiz Grant 706
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The Town of Chaperito Grant 711
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The O j o d e l Apache Grant 720
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The Chupaderos de la Lagunita Grant 727
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The Bernal Spring Grant 729
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The Town of Tecoloti Grant 730
... ...............
The San Miguel del Vado Grant 734
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The Los Trigos Grant 744
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The Pueblo 04 Pecos Grant 751
. ..................
The Alexander Valle Grant 760
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The Los ~ a n u e l i t a sG rant 764
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The Sanguijueta Grant 767
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The Santiago Bone Grant 770
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The JohnScolly Grant 775
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783
The Town of Las Vegas Grant
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The Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca Grant 793
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The Town of Mora Grant **k
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The Gervacio Nolan Grant
*
See Guadalupe County
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See Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca Grant
***
See Mora County

THE PABLO NONTOYA GRANT
Pablo Montoya, a resident of' the Pueblo de
Cienaga, petitioned the Territorial Deputation of New
biexico on November 8, 1824, seeking a grant covering a
tract of vacant land situated on the Colorado ~ i v e ra s
a pasturage for his livestock. The requested tract was
described as being bounded by the following natural objects:
On the north, by the Rincon de la Sinta; on the east,
by Mule Spring; on the south, by Trenchera; and on
the west, by the Arroyo del Cuervo.
On the 19th bf the same month, the Territorial D~putation
transmitted the petition t o the Governor for an immediate
report as t o whether or not there was any legal impedi-
ment t o the issuance of the grant. On the same dzte,
Governor Bartolome 33aca:reported that the primary cause
for the decline of the livestock industry i n New Mexico
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was the failure of the government to grant sufficient
pasture lands t o foster and encourage the expansion of
that industry. He noted that the granting of vacant
lands on the distant frontiers would not injure any
person or community, but on the otherhand, viould afford
a place of employment for the idle vagrants and serve
as a buffer zone between the interior settlements and the
hostile Indians. Therefore, he not only favorably recom-
mended, but exhorted the Territorial Deputati,on t o promptly
issue the requested concession to Montoya.
In response
t o Baca's report, the Territorial Deputation on November
19; 1824, granted the premises t o ~ o n t o.~l a While there
is no documentary evidence that legal possession formally
had been delivered t o Montoya, it is known that he promptly
entered upon said land and, thereafter, continuously
pastured livestock upon the grant until the t i m e of
his death i n about 1842. Due t o the hostil-ity of the
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Indians, his heirs never attempted to occupy the grant.
A petition seeking the .confirmation of the grant
was presented t o the Surveyor General's Office by the
heirs of Pablo Montoya on April 11, 1856. Surveyor
General A. P. Wilbar under' date ,of November 20, 1860,
rendered a report t o CongressLherein he recommended
By
that the grant be confirmed t o the petitioners.
1
Archive No. 618 (Mss., Records of the Museum of
.
New Mexico, Santa Fe, New Hexico)
2
H. R. M i s c . Doc. Fo. 37, 35th Cong., 2d Sess.,
26 (1861).
an a c t approved March 3, 1869, Congress confirmed the
'
~ a b l oM ontoya Grant provided such confirmation was not
t o be construed as adversely affecting thc rights of
third persons or t o include any military or othJ er reser-
vations of the United States. 3
Shortly after the passage of the confirmation
A c t , the owners requested that an official. survey of the
grant be made, However, the Commissioner of the General
Land office refused t o order a survey unless the owners
would consent t o release their interest i n a l l lands
covered thereby i n excess of eleven leagues. The owners
promptly protested on the grounds that the Commissioner
had no authority t o impose this condition which had the
effect of modifying the Act of Confirmation. Recognizing
the m e r i t s of tk claimants' protest, the Commissioner
of the General Land Office directed the Surveyor General
t o proceed with the surveying of the grant. In April
and Play, 1872, Deputy surveyor7 John Lambert executed a
survey of the Pablo Montoya Grant which showed that the
grant contained 655,468.07 acres. It also disclosed t h a t
3 ~ anc t t o confirm certain private land claims
i n the Territory of New Mexico, Chap. 152, 15 Stat. 34.2
(1869).
the grant conflicted with a withdrawal made i n 1866 by
the War Department for a military reservation t o be named
Fort Butler and also with the Baca Float No.
2. It was
asserted that the A c t of March 3, 1869 required the exclu-
sion of these two tracts from the grant. However, in a
decision dated A p r i l 13, 1877 Commissioner J. A. William-
son held that since the Act of June 21, 1 8 6 0 , ~w hich
authorized the heirs of Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca t o lo-
cate the floats, permitted their location only upon vacant
land. it stated that in view of.the fact that the Pablo
Montoya Grant was a valid grant and protected by the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the Baca Float No. 2, inso-
f a r as it conflicted with the grant, was void, Continu-
ing, Williamson held that since the government had never
utilized the site selected for Fort Butler for military
purposes and had i n fact released the reservation on Jan-
uary 28, 1876, as being nb longer needed for military ,
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purposes, that site was not a:military reservation within
the meaning of the confirmation act. Therefore, the
4 ~ nac t t o confirm certain private land claims
i n the Territory of New Mexico, Chap. 167, 12 Stat. 71
(1860).
~amberts urvey was approved and a patent based thereon
was issued t o the heirs of Pablo Montoya on April 20,
For over ten years no one questioned the valjdity
of the Pablo Montoya Grant as patented; however, George
TIJ. ~ u l i a n ,u pon entering the office of Surveyor General,
proceeded t o re-examine both the patented and unpatcnted
cases acted upon by his predecessors. With an incessant
drive, he sought t o have the patents t o most of the larger
grants s e t aside and the Pablo Montoya ~ r a n t ' w a sn o excep-
tion. On August 4, 1887, Julian recommended that suit
be instituted t o s e t aside the Pablo Montoya Grant on the
grounds that it gave the patentees twice as much land
as they were properly or legally entitled t o receive under
the grant and act of confirmation. He considered thst
the boundaries of the grant should have been drawn between
the points named i n the te'stimonio instead of through them.
If Julian's construction was adopted, the grant would be
On January 13,
diamond-shaped instead of
5 ~ h ePa blo Montoya Grant, No. C1 ( M ~ s . , Records
of the S.G.N.M.).
1888, ~ c t i n gC ommissioner of the General Land O f f i c e ,
S. M. Stockslager, advised Julian that the facts presented
did not warrant the institution of s u i t to set aside the
patent since there was no evidence t h a t the patentees had
practiced fraud upon the gover~ment. He specifically
called ~ u l i a n ' sa ttention t o the f a c t that the court was-
disposed t o cancel patents of long standing without clear
evidence of' wrong-doing when the rights of innocent pur-
chasers were involved.6 Thus ended the l a s t assault on
t h e title t o the Pablo Kontoya Grant.
6 ~ b i d .' In State v'. Red River Valley Co., 51 N.M.
207, 182 P. 2d 421 (1947), t h s Supreme Court of New
Mexico held that the State Game Commissioner had the right
to control fishing on the Conchos ~ e s e r v o i rs ince such
reservoir was one of the public waters of t h e State. In
commenting on the Pablo Montoya Grant. Justice Sadler.
" I t may be, and probably
i n h i s dissenting opinion, states.
is. true that the t e r r i t o r i a l deputations of the #e>:j.can
Territory of New Mexico were without power t o grant land
...
during the years 1824 t o 1828 but that question was not,
and could not be, raised in t h i s case..."
THE ANTONIO OKTIZ GIViNT
~ n t o n i o~ r t i z ,a resident and merchant of Santa Fe,
~ e t i t i o n e dG overnor Facundo Melgares on December 18, 1818,
seeking' a grant covering a t r a c t of table land on the
Gallinas ~ i v e ri n order t o support his large family and
pasture h i s growing herds of livestock. The requested
t r a c t , which was situated on the eastern frontier of
New ~ e x i c oi n t h e heart of the Indian country, was described
as being bounded:
-.
On the north', the Canon de Aguilar; on the east,
the Mesitas de l a s Conchos; on t h e south, the
road going t o Las Conchas; and on the west, the
Canon de Lauriana.
Melgares, i n turn, ordered the Alcalde of San Miguel del
Vado to investigate and give him a f u l l report on the
merits of the petition. Alcalde Vincenta Villanueba
advised the governor on December 29, 1818, t h a t the land
in question was public. domain, and the petitioner had grazed
his stock on the land for about a year. continuing,
Villanueba noted t h a t while no one had objected t o
Ortiz's petition or use of the land, he was of the opinj-on
t h a t the issuance of the grant would restrict the future
growth of the livestock industry a t Sari Miguel del Vado.
On April 21, 1819. Melgares referred the proceedings t o the
Tax Assessor of New Mexico, Francisco Ygnacio dc Madariaga,
for h i s recommendations. Six days later, he reported ,that
since the ~ e r r i t o r yo f New Mexico was very large and mostly
uninhabited, he did not consider it improper t o grant the
lands t o Ortiz. On April 30, 1819, Melgares issued the .'
grant. Legal possession of the premises was delivered t o
Thomas Maese, who was an agent for Antonio Ortiz, on June
8, 1819, by Francisco Ortiz, the Alcalde of San Miguel d e l
1
Vado.
Antonio Ortiv,: occupied the land and continuously
pastured his flocks and herds of cattle thereon except for
short periods when the hostility of the 1ndians prevented
such use. Following Ortiz's death, the management of the
property was assumed by his five children. hey petitioned
Surveyor General Will-iam pelham 'on June 19, 1857 for the
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confirmation of the grant. The investigation intoth e
validity of the claim was conducted primarily by Pelham but
the decision recommending the confirmation of the grant was
lArchive 727 (Mss., .Records of the hluseum of New
.
Itexico, Santa Fe, New ~ex.ico)