Las Trampas Land Grant

The Las Trampas Land Grant was awarded in 1751 by the colonial government of Spain to twelve Hispano families.

The grant consisted of 28,132 acres (11,385 ha) of land on the western slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

From 1692 to 1846, the Spanish and Mexican governments awarded about 300 land grants to individuals, communities, and Pueblo villages in New Mexico and Colorado.

After its conquest of New Mexico in the Mexican-American War, the U.S. and New Mexican governments adjudicated and "confirmed" (recognized the validity of) 154 of the grants in a long, slow, and corrupt legal process.

The size of the confirmed land grants ranged in size from 200 acres (81 ha) for Cañada Ancha (now a suburb of Santa Fe) to 1,714,765 acres (6,939.41 km2) for the Maxwell Land Grant on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains extending northward into Colorado.

Specifically, the settlers of Las Trampas had the job of shielding Santa Cruz, 17 miles (27 km) to the southwest from Comanche raids.

Many of the early settlers were genízaros, detribalized Indians with a history of serving as slaves and servants of the Spanish colonists.

[5] The boundaries of Spanish and Mexican grants were often vaguely defined but Las Trampas was later authenticated by the U.S. government to consist of 28,132 acres (11,385 ha).

No weather stations are located in the grant area but nearby Truchas at an elevation of 8,040 ft (2,450 m) receives 14.7 in (370 mm) annually[8] which makes irrigation important or essential for most crops.

By the time of the American conquest of New Mexico in 1846, the population in the grant area is estimated at 1,500 in several settlements in addition to Las Trampas: Ojo Sarco, Romero, El Valle, Diamante, Chamisal, Ojito, Llano and Rodarte.

"[14] Most of the Hispano residents living on grant lands were poor, uneducated, unable to speak English, and unfamiliar with the American legal system.

In that year an indebted descendant of one of the original settlers and four others petitioned the court for "partition" of the Las Trampas grant.

Requests for partition was one of the ways that members of the Santa Fe Ring acquired grant land or profited from legal disputes concerning its ownership and disposition.

The sale and subsequent resales incited additional legal struggles over a period of years in which the attorneys benefited from fees.