San Miguel del Vado Land Grant

Some of them had complained of poor conditions and were granted lands by the governor for farming and grazing and to provide a buffer of protection against the raids of Plains Indians, primarily Comanche, who were menacing towns such as Santa Fé.

It became the passage for the later Spanish explorers, comancheros and other frontier traders, ciboleros and other buffalo hunters, Indian fighters, the Santa Fe Trail, Civil War armies, and later still for the southern route of the transcontinental railroad.

Oñate rewarded the pobladores with encomiendas or grants of Indian labor, for meritorious service, obligating these encomenderos to defend the Pueblos and provide them religious instruction.

Pecos Pueblo may have housed a garrison of ten Spanish soldiers and their family members from 1750 until the establishment of the San Miguel del Vado Grant.

The site was described as being about 20 miles downstream and southeast of Pecos pueblo, where the trail to the plains crossed the river, with sufficient space for both the petitioners and some of the more destitute residents of the province.

That the plaza they may construct shall be according as expressed in their petition; and in the mean time they shall reside in the pueblo of Pecos, where there are sufficient accommodations for the aforesaid fifty-two families.

That the construction of their plaza, as well as the opening of acequias [irrigation ditches], and all other work that may be deemed proper for the common welfare, shall be performed by the community with that union which in their government they must preserve.

Following a period of about 20 years of development to meet the grant requirements, individual parcels of land were allotted by don Pedro Bautista Pino in the name of Governor Chacón's verbal order of March 12, 1803.

Following the Mexican War of Independence which ended in 1821, San Miguel del Bado became the administrative headquarters for the northeastern plains region of New Mexico with the election of an ayuntamiento or town council.

He also included the observation that losses of cattle and sheep growers suffered under Indians would be lessened if Las Vegas became a permanent settlement with occasional military protection.

Prior to reaching Santa Fe, he gave speeches from house-tops in Las Vegas, Tecolote and San Miguel, absolving the people from their allegiance to governor Manuel Armijo and Mexico.

[12] After leaving Tecolote, the following events within the San Miguel del Vado land grant, as well as some occurring five years earlier during the 1841 Texan Santa Fe Expedition, were described.

On the 16th, after a progress of six miles, we arrived at San Miguel, situated on the river Pecos, and famous as being the place near which the Texan army under command of Gen. McLeod, fell into the hands of Gen. Salezar and Gov.

Here again Gen. Kearny, assembling the citizens of the place, as usual, on the terraced roof of some spacious building, delivered to them a stern, sententious speech, absolving them from any further allegiance to the Mexican government.

Gen. Kearny having promised protection to their persons and property, as to other citizens of the United States, and also having threatened to subvert the town unless they should submit, they were at length induced to take the oath.

This prisoner's father, Gen. Salezar is the same detestable wretch who captured the Texans near Anton Chico and San Miguel, and treated them with such wanton cruelty and inhumanity.

This highly colored account of our strength, no doubt spread dismay through their ranks, and increased the desertions from Armijo's standard, which were already going on to an extent well calculated to alarm him.

Donaciano Vigil had, over a 25-year military career, advanced from private to eventually become captain and company commander of the San Miguel del Bado militia.

He had participated in the capture of the Texas Santa Fe expedition, and was the officer who protested against governor Armijo's order to disband the troops he had positioned at Apache Canyon to resist Kearny's approaching forces.

Under date of November 13, 1879, Surveyor-General Atkinson in a report upon this claim approved the grant to "the heirs, legal representatives, and assigns of Lorenzo Marquez as grantee, to whom it is recommended it be confirmed by Congress."

Upon an examination of the record in the case, which consists of copies of alleged originals, it is found that under date of March 18, 1857, Faustin Baca y Ortiz (juez de paz), for and in the name of the inhabitants of the settlements of La Cuesta, San Miguel, Las Mulas, El Pueblo, Puertecito, San José, el Gasano y Bernal, filed his notice with the surveyor-general of New Mexico claiming title to a tract of land within said Territory under an alleged grant from the governor of New Mexico, dated November 25, 1794, to Lorenzo Marques and fifty-one others.

On November 25, 1794, Governor Chacon directed the principal alcalde of the town of Santa Fé, Antonio José Ortiz, to execute the grant as requested, so that they, their children and successors may have, hold, and possess the same, in the name of His Majesty, at the same time observing the conditions and requisites required in such cases and especially that relative to not injuring third parties.

On November 26, 1794, Antonio José Ortiz, in company with two witnesses and the fifty-two petitioners, informed them of the conditions upon which the grant was made and proceeded to place them in possession of the land solicited, giving the boundaries as described in their petition.

On March 12, 1803, Pedro Bantista Pino, justice of second vote of the town of Santa Fé and its jurisdiction, by verbal order of Colonel Fernando Chacon, governor of New Mexico, proceeded to the settlement "for the purpose of distributing the lands which are under cultivation to all the individuals who occupy said settlement, and having examined the aforesaid cultivated land I [he] measured the whole of it from north to south, and then proceeded to lay off and divide the several portions with the concurrence of all the parties interested until the matter was placed in order according to the means myself and the parties interested deemed the best adapted to the purpose, in order that all should be satisfied with their possessions, although said land is very much broken on account of the many bends in the river.

"And after having made the distribution I [he] proceeded to mark out the boundaries of said tract from north to south, being on the north a hill situated at the edge of the river above the mouth of the ditch which irrigates said lands, and on the south the point of the hill of Pueblo and the valley called Temporales, a large portion of land remaining to the south, which is very necessary for the inhabitants of this town who may require more land to cultivate, which shall be done by the consent of the justice of said town who is charged with the care and trust of this matter, giving to each one of those contained in the list the amount he may require and can cultivate; and after having completed all the foregoing I caused them all to be collected together and notified them that they must each immediately erect mounds of stone on the boundaries of their land so as to avoid disputes; and I also notified them that no one was privileged to sell or dispose of their and until the expiration of ten years from this date, as directed by said governor, who, if he be so pleased, will certify his proper approval at the foot of this document, of which a copy shall remain in this town and the original be deposited in the archives where it properly belongs," &c. On March 30, 1803, Governor Chacon approved the action of the justice in the following terms: "By virtue of what has been done by Pedro Pino, senior justice of second vote of this capital town of Santa Fé, concerning the distribution of lands made in the name of His Majesty to the residents of the new town of El Bado known as San Miguel, I declare the aforesaid residents of El Bade the lawful owners thereof, approving and confirming the possession given by said senior justice Pedro Pino and in order that it may so appear in all time," &c. This list of individuals who occupied the town of San Miguel del Bado del Rio do Pecos comprises some 58 persons, opposite whose names is stated the number of varas assign to each.

I would respectfully suggest that in the event of the confirmation of this claim by Congress it be limited to the extent of the land reduced to actual possession and occupancy, to be ascertained by additional evidence and survey.

"Under the laws of the Indies lands not actually allotted to settlers remained the property of the king, to be disposed of by him or by those on whom he might confer that power; and as, at the date of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, neither the municipalities nor the settlers within them, whose rights are the subject of controversy in these suits, could have demanded the legal title of the former Government, the Court of Private Land Claims was not empowered to pass the title to either, but it is for the political department [ Congress ] of the Government to deal with any equitable rights which may be involved."

The existence of this power of control and disposition as to municipal lands in the supreme Spanish and then Mexican authority was shown by further references, and various acts of Congress were cited as enacted in view "of this state of the Spanish law and the unquestioned power lodged in the King of Spain to exercise unlimited authority over the lands assigned to a town and undisposed of and not the subject of private grant, to all of which rights the United States succeeded as successor of the King of Spain and the government of Mexico."