San Miguel del Vado Land Grant facts for kids
The San Miguel del Vado Land Grant was one of the special Spanish land grants in New Mexico. These grants were ways the Spanish government gave land to people. On November 24, 1794, 53 men asked for land. They were given temporary ownership. Later, on March 12, 1803, 58 more men and their families received a second grant. Just two days later, land was given to 47 more families, including two women, at San José del Vado. This place was about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) north of San Miguel del Vado.
Some of the first men who asked for land were genízaros. These were Native Americans who had been captured or sold into slavery. They had faced tough lives. The governor gave them land for farming and raising animals. This also helped create a protective barrier. It kept them safe from raids by Plains Indians, especially the Comanche, who often attacked towns like Santa Fé. In 1896, a big court case, United States v. Sandoval, changed the grant. The land was reduced from about 315,000 acres to just over 5,000 acres. This smaller area was what people privately owned at the time.
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A Special River Crossing
This land grant was near the Pecos River. It was below the Pecos Pueblo, an old Native American village. A vado or bado means a place where you can cross a river easily. This particular crossing was a very important meeting spot. Different Native American tribes from the plains and pueblos would meet here to trade.
It was also a path through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Puebloan peoples from the Rio Grande valley used it to reach the plains and hunt buffalo. Later, Spanish explorers used this path. So did traders called comancheros and buffalo hunters called ciboleros. Even armies during the Civil War used it. Much later, it became part of the southern route for the transcontinental railroad.
Early Explorers and Settlements
In 1540, a famous Spanish explorer named Coronado invited Pueblo peoples to meet him. Pecos Pueblo, then called Cicuique, was the only one to send a group. About 20 men, led by a chief named Bigotes, went. These men spoke many languages. They were traders, messengers, and even spies. They convinced Coronado to send Captain Hernando de Alvarado to explore further east. This led the Spanish to see the Tiwa Pueblos in the Rio Grande valley. Then they went to Bigotes' Pecos pueblo and through the mountain pass. This is how they first saw the vast buffalo herds on the plains.
The first lasting Spanish settlement in northern New Mexico began in 1598. Juan de Oñate led the colonists. They extended El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, a royal road, over 600 miles. They reached the San Juan Pueblo and set up a Spanish town called San Gabriel. Oñate gave his colonists encomiendas. These were grants that allowed them to use Native American labor. In return, the colonists were supposed to protect the Pueblos and teach them about religion. The Pueblo people had to pay a tax or 'tribute' for these 'services'. Before the Pueblo Revolt, Pecos was known as the richest encomienda. This was mostly because of the buffalo hides they got from the plains. Pecos Pueblo had always been a major trading center between the Plains Indians and the Pueblo peoples.
The San Miguel Grant is Formed
In 1794, the request for the San Miguel land grant was made. It partly claimed to be a genízaro settlement. This made it a stronger argument for getting the land. The area was described as being about 20 miles downstream from Pecos pueblo. It was where the trail to the plains crossed the river. There was enough space for the people asking for land and for other poor residents of the area.
The people who received the grant had to follow certain rules:
- The land had to be shared by everyone, including new settlers who joined later.
- Because the area was dangerous, they had to have weapons. At first, bows and arrows were okay, but after two years, everyone had to have firearms. If they didn't, they would be sent away.
- They had to build a main plaza (town square) as they had planned. Until then, they would live in Pecos pueblo.
- They had to set aside a small piece of land for the local government official (the alcalde) to farm.
- Building the plaza, digging irrigation ditches (acequias), and other community work had to be done together.
The boundaries of the land were described as:
- North: The Río de la Vaca from La Ranchería to El Agua Caliente.
- South: El Cañón Blanco.
- East: La Cuesta and Los Cerritos de Bernal.
- West: The place called El Gusano (South San Isidro).
Land Distribution and Growth
After about 20 years of developing the land and meeting the rules, individual pieces of land were given out. This happened on March 12, 1803. Don Pedro Bautista Pino measured the land along the river that could be irrigated. After setting aside land for grazing animals and for future settlers, the rest was divided. Each family got a share, called a reparto, by drawing lots. They were not allowed to sell their land for ten years. Two days later, a similar process happened at San José del Vado. There, 45 men and two women received farm land. On March 30, 1803, Governor Fernando Chacón officially approved the grant.
The settlers of San Miguel finished their church by 1811. In 1812, the priest from Pecos Pueblo moved to San Miguel. San Miguel's population grew, while Pecos Pueblo's population shrank. Pecos was suffering from Spanish people taking their land and from Comanche raids.
After the Mexican War of Independence ended in 1821, San Miguel del Bado became an important administrative center. It had its own town council. In 1827, soldiers were stationed there. Their job was to protect against Native American attacks and stop smuggling on the Santa Fe Trail. To keep peace with hostile Plains Indians, soldiers often gave them gifts. In 1833, a bishop visited the San Miguel church. He said it lacked many basic things. In 1835, the customs house, which collected taxes on goods, moved from Santa Fe to San Miguel. This military protection helped new settlements grow, like the Las Vegas grant. The priest of San Miguel, José Francisco Leyba, also supported this growth. He said that if Las Vegas became a permanent settlement with military help, farmers would lose fewer animals to Native American raids. The Las Vegas grant was completed between 1835 and 1838.
The Mexican-American War
During the Mexican–American War in 1846, General Kearny's army followed the Santa Fe Trail. They came to invade and set up a U.S. government in New Mexico. Before reaching Santa Fe, General Kearny gave speeches in towns like Las Vegas, Tecolote, and San Miguel. He told the people they no longer had to be loyal to Mexico. He promised to protect their lives, property, and religion if they peacefully joined the United States. He also threatened those who resisted.
Here's what happened when Kearny's army reached San Miguel: The army arrived at San Miguel, which was known as the place where a Texan army had been captured in 1841. General Kearny gathered the townspeople on a building's roof. He told them they were no longer loyal to Mexico. When he asked them to swear loyalty to the U.S. on a cross, the local leader (Alcalde) and the Priest objected. They said it would make them traitors. Kearny promised protection and threatened the town if they didn't agree. So, they finally took the oath.
The army then moved on to San José. There, they captured the son of a Mexican general, Salezar. He was a spy. General Salezar was known for being cruel to the Texans he captured earlier. Two other Mexican soldiers were also captured. Kearny showed them the American cannons and then let them go. These soldiers went back and told their people that the American army had 5,000 men and too many cannons to count. This exaggerated story likely scared the Mexican army and caused many soldiers to leave.
Donaciano Vigil was a military officer from San Miguel del Bado. He had helped capture the Texas Santa Fe expedition. He also famously protested when Governor Armijo ordered his troops to stand down instead of fighting Kearny's forces.
In 1849, Father Ramón Ortiz y Miera came to New Mexico. He was a commissioner helping families who wanted to move to Mexico after the war. When he arrived in San Miguel del Vado, 900 out of 1,000 families asked for help to move. They said they would rather lose everything than live under a government where they felt they had fewer rights. The U.S. government, led by Governor John M. Washington and Secretary Donaciano Vigil, stopped Father Ortiz from getting more signatures. They wanted to prevent people from leaving New Mexico.
The Land Grant in Court
United States v. Sandoval (1896)
This court case is important because it decided the future of many land grants. When the people of San Miguel asked the government to confirm their land grant, the first surveyor general said the whole grant should be confirmed. But later, another official said only the parts people actually lived on should be confirmed. This would mean losing the "common lands," which were most of the grant.
When the Court of Private Land Claims decided to confirm the entire grant, the U.S. government immediately appealed to the Supreme Court.
On May 24, 1897, the Supreme Court made its decision in United States v. Sandoval. The court said that under old Spanish laws, lands not given to settlers still belonged to the king. After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the U.S. government took over these rights from Spain and Mexico. The Supreme Court ruled that the Court of Private Land Claims could not give ownership of these common lands to the towns or settlers. Instead, it was up to the U.S. Congress to decide what to do with any fair claims to these lands.
This ruling greatly reduced the size of the San Miguel del Vado grant. It went from over 300,000 acres, which included the common lands, to just over 5,000 acres. This smaller amount was only the land that people privately owned at the time.
The case was heard by the Supreme Court in 1896. People from eight villages within the grant, including La Cuesta and San Miguel, had asked for the grant to be confirmed. They said the land was given to them in common, not just for the first settlers but for anyone who joined later. They argued that they had managed the land as a community.
The United States government argued that if anyone deserved land, it was only the part they actually lived on and used. They said any land not used by 1846 should belong to the public.
Chief Justice Fuller explained the court's decision. He said that the power to control and use town lands belonged to the Spanish and then Mexican governments. The U.S. government took over these rights. This meant that any land not specifically given to individuals could be controlled by the government. The Supreme Court decided that the Court of Private Land Claims could not give ownership of these common lands. It was up to the government's political leaders (Congress) to deal with any fair claims.
This decision was a big deal for the government. If the common lands of this grant were rejected, it meant hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of acres from other community land grants would also belong to the government, not to the families who had lived there for generations. After the 1897 Sandoval decision, the land claims court rejected the common lands of almost every community grant that came before it. Some experts argue that the Supreme Court made a mistake about Spanish and Mexican law in this case. They say that historical records show common lands were indeed property of local communities, separate from the king or government.
