i

United States

Department of

Agriculture

Forest Service

Rocky Mountain

Research Station

Fort Collins,

Colorado 80526

General Technical Report

RMRS-GTR-5

From the Rio to the Sierra:

An Environmental History of

the Middle Rio Grande Basin

Dan Scurlock
ii

Scurlock, Dan. 1998. From the rio to the sierra: An environmental history of the

Middle Rio Grande Basin. General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-5. Fort Collins,

CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research

Station. 440 p.

Abstract

Various human groups have greatly affected the processes and evolution of Middle

Rio Grande Basin ecosystems, especially riparian zones, from A.D. 1540 to the

present. Overgrazing, clear-cutting, irrigation farming, fire suppression, intensive

hunting, and introduction of exotic plants have combined with droughts and floods

to bring about environmental and associated cultural changes in the Basin. As a

result of these changes, public laws were passed and agencies created to rectify or

mitigate various environmental problems in the region. Although restoration and

remedial programs have improved the overall “health” of Basin ecosystems, most

old and new environmental problems persist.

Keywords: environmental impact, environmental history, historic climate, historic

fauna, historic flora, Rio Grande

Publisher’s Note

The opinions and recommendations expressed in this report are those of the author

and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USDA Forest Service. Mention of trade

names does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the Federal

Government. The author withheld diacritical marks from the Spanish words in text

for consistency with English punctuation.

Publisher

Rocky Mountain Research Station

Fort Collins, Colorado

May 1998

You may order additional copies of this publication by sending

your mailing information in label form through one of the following

media. Please send the publication title and number.

Telephone (970) 498-1719

E-mail rschneider/rmrs@fs.fed.us

FAX (970) 498-1660

Mailing Address Publications Distribution

Rocky Mountain Research Station

3825 E. Mulberry Street

Fort Collins, CO 80524-8597

Cover photo: View northeast of Laguna Pueblo and landscape. Ben Wittick photo, ca. 1883.

Courtesy School of American Research and Museum of New Mexico,

Santa Fe (negative no. 16051).
iii

USDA Forest Service

General Technical Report

RMRS-GTR-5 May 1998

From the Rio to the Sierra:

An Environmental History

of the

Middle Rio Grande Basin

Dan Scurlock, Environmental Historian

Wingswept Research

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Rocky Mountain Research Station

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Fort Collins, Colorado

iv

CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii

MAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

SCOPE OF THE PROJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

ORGANIZATION OF THE REPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

BENEFICIARIES OF RESEARCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

CHAPTER 2

MODERN AND HISTORICAL CLIMATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

CLIMATIC RECORDS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

CLIMATIC REGIME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

CLIMATOLOGICAL HISTORY OF ALBUQUERQUE: A CASE STUDY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Climatic Regime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Precipitation Variability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Temperature Variability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Wind Direction and Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Solar Radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

HISTORIC CLIMATE: OVERVIEW AND RECONSTRUCTION, 1540-1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Early Colonial, 1540-1680 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Middle-Late Colonial, 1681-1821 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Mexican-Territorial, 1821-1912 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Statehood, 1912-1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

HISTORIC PRECIPITATION: VARIABILITY AND TRENDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

LIVING WITH THE RIVER: A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF HISTORICAL

FLOODS IN THE MIDDLE RIO GRANDE VALLEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

HISTORIC DROUGHTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

SUMMARY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

CHRONOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

CHAPTER 3

HUMAN SETTLEMENT PATTERNS, POPULATIONS, AND RESOURCE USE . . . . . . . . . . 82

NATIVE AMERICAN SETTLEMENT, POPULATION, AND RESOURCE USE,

1400s–1960 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Native American Environmental Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Pueblo Settlement Patterns and Land Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Navajo, Apache, Southern Ute Settlement Patterns and Land Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Native American Populations and Disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Native American Resource Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Livestock Raising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Hunting and Gathering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Fauna. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Flora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Rocks and Minerals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Resource Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

iii
v

CONTENTS (continued)

Page

SPANISH EXPLORATION, SETTLEMENT, POPULATION, AND RESOURCE USE,

1540–1856 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Spanish Exploration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Settlement Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Spanish Population, Hygiene, and Disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Spanish Resource Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Agricultural Fields and Irrigation Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Spanish Livestock Raising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Logging and Wood Use. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Mining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Hunting and Fishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

ANGLO AMERICAN PENETRATION, SETTLEMENT, POPULATION, AND

RESOURCE USE, 1821-1960s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Fur Traders and Trappers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Anglo Settlement and Land Grant Adjudication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Anglo Population and Disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Anglo Resource Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Agriculture and Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Livestock Raising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Logging and Timber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Fuelwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Mining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Military Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Healing and Hot Springs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

SUMMARY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

CHRONOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

CHAPTER 4

THE MIDDLE RIO GRANDE BASIN: HISTORICAL DESCRIPTIONS AND

RECONSTRUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

GEOLOGY-PHYSIOGRAPHY-SOILS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

HYDROLOGY-GEOMORPHOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Rio Grande . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Santa Fe River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Jemez River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Las Huertas Creek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Rio Puerco-of-the-East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Rio Salado . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

FIRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

PLANT COMMUNITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Riparian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Grasslands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Desert Grassland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Plains-Mesa Grasslands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Scrublands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Juniper Savanna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Ponderosa Pine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Subalpine and Mixed Coniferous Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Alpine Tundra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

iv
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CONTENTS (continued)

Page

FAUNA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Mammals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Birds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Fish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Insects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

SUMMARY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

CHRONOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

CHAPTER 5

HISTORICAL IMPACTS AND CHANGES: BIOTIC RESOURCES AND HUMAN

POPULATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

EFFECTS OF CLIMATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

EFFECTS OF FIRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Fire History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Native American Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Euro-American Fire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

EFFECTS OF GRAZING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

EFFECTS OF CLEARING, CUTTING, AND THINNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

HUMAN IMPACTS AND CHANGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Colonial Period, 1540–1821 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Mexican and Territorial Periods, 1821–1912 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Statehood Period, 1912–1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Middle Rio Grande Geomorphology and Hydrology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Vegetation Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Water and Air Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

IMPACTS AND CHANGES IN THE RIO PUERCO, 1846–1980: A CASE STUDY . . . . . . . . 288

IMPACTS AND CHANGES IN UPLAND GRASSLANDS,

WOODLANDS, AND FORESTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

CHANGES IN PLANT SPECIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Extirpated Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Introduced and Naturalized Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

CHANGES IN ANIMAL SPECIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Extirpated, Rare, Endangered, and Threatened Fauna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

SUMMARY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

CHRONOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

CHAPTER 6

OVERVIEW OF EARLY SCIENTIFIC WORK, RESOURCE DATA COLLECTION,

MANAGEMENT, AND CONSERVATION 1812–1982 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

EARLY NATURALISTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTISTS IN THE STUDY

REGION, 1831-1924 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

SUMMARY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

CHRONOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

v
vii

CONTENTS (continued)

Page

CHAPTER 7

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND CONSIDERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

SUMMARY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Environmental History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Research Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Model I: Middle Rio Grande Valley in the 16th Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Model II: Middle Rio Grande Valley in the 18th to Mid 19th Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Model III: Middle Rio Grande Valley in the Late 19th to Early 20th Century . . . . . . . . 390

Model IV: Middle Rio Grande Valley in the Mid to Late 20th Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

CONSIDERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

Ecosystem Management: Restoration and Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

Role of Traditional Eco-cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Specific Resource Management Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

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viii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many individuals and institutions provided invaluable assistance of various kinds to me over

the 23 months of researching, writing, and editing this report. First, I would like to thank some

individual librarians who were always helpful: Frances J. Barney and her staff at the U.S. Forest

Service Library, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Fort Collins, Colorado. At the

Office of the State Engineer, Santa Fe, librarian Maida L. Gonzales, now retired, cheerfully and

efficiently retrieved manuscripts and published materials. In Albuquerque several University of

New Mexico libraries and their staffs provided various services: Nancy Brown, Terry Gugliotta, and

other staff members at the Center for Southwest Research, Zimmerman Library; Teresa Marques and

staff at Government Documents, Zimmerman Library; Christina Carter and staff, Reference Department, Zimmerman Library; and Donna Cromer and reference staff and Mary Wyatt and staff, Centennial Science-Engineering Library. The staff at the Griegos Branch Public Library also were helpful.

Photo archivists Mo Palmer at the Albuquerque Science and History Museum; Art Olivas at the

Museum of New Mexico Library, Santa Fe; Bob Eveleth, Bureau of Mines, Socorro; Joe McGregor, U.S.

Geological Survey Library, Denver; and Bernie Schermatzler, University of Wisconsin Library, Madison, all aided in historic photo research and copying.

Various individuals at government agencies contributed their time and shared their knowledge:

Linda Beal and Mike Kernodle, U.S. Geological Survey, Albuquerque; Julio Betancourt, U.S. Geological Survey, Tucson; Tony Tolsdorf, U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service, Lakewood, Colorado; Chris Gorbach and Steve Hansen, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Albuquerque; Phil Norton and

John Taylor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, near Socorro,

New Mexico; Paul Tashjian, Charles McDonald, and Jim Lewis, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Albuquerque; Charles Liles, Diedre Kann, and Raymond Jojola, U.S. Weather Service, Albuquerque; Bill

Krausmann and Dave Gillio, Regional Office, U.S. Forest Service, Albuquerque; and Dick Tinus, U.S.

Forest Service, Flagstaff, Arizona.

Several University of New Mexico biologists shared their resource data and expertise: Cliff

Crawford, Cliff Dahm, Bruce Milne, and Manuel Molles. Wayne Lambert, West Texas State University, provided direction and materials on repeat photography for the study region. Harold Malde,

retired U.S. Geological Survey geologist, Boulder, Colorado, directed me to archival sources for early

images in the Middle Rio Grande Basin. Alan Johnson and Sandra Turner, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, and Chris Baisan, Laboratory of Tree-ring Research, University of Arizona, assisted

in various ways.

Dennis Hunter and Dave Love at the Bureau of Mines, Socorro; John Hawley, Bureau of Mines,

Albuquerque; Erik Galloway, Environmental Improvement Division, Santa Fe; Lionel Maestas, State

Engineer’s Office, Santa Fe; and Sandy Williams, New Mexico Game and Fish Department, Santa Fe,

provided invaluable help. Chris Baisan, Bill de Buys, Dan Flores, Charles Liles, Dave Love, and Hal

Rothman peer-reviewed portions of the manuscript. The following persons provided field support:

Bob Cooper, Sandia Park; Alison Franks, Albuquerque; and Suzanne Smith, Socorro. Several Rocky

Mountain Research Station personnel at Fort Collins, Colorado, and Albuquerque furnished technical assistance for the project: Lane Eskew, Judy Perry, and Carolyn Lunar. Jim Zuboy was contracted

to perform the final edit.

Several colleagues at the U.S. Forest Service Albuquerque station made this project possible and

supported me along the way. I gratefully acknowledge the encouragement and professional guidance of Joe Tainter, Project Leader, Cultural Heritage Research, and Deborah Finch, Wildlife Biologist

and Team Leader, both part of the Middle Rio Grande Basin Ecosystem Program. Carol Raish, Social

Science Researcher, ably acted as U.S. Forest Service liaison for this project during 1995 and early

1996 and as style editor. Nora Altamirano and Carmen Gallegos helped with administrative and

logistical matters. Financial support was provided by the Middle Rio Grande Ecosystem Management Research Program and the Cultural Heritage Research Work Unit of the Rocky Mountain

Research Station in Albuquerque.

Four individuals in Albuquerque worked as project employees at various times over the past 2

years: Ellen Atkinson, research assistant; Ron Stauber, graphics; Carole Meyers, editorial assistant;

and Jennifer Hughes, word processor. Jennifer efficiently entered and corrected several drafts of this

long report. I am deeply appreciative for the contributions of the above persons and extend apologies

to anyone I may have overlooked.

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ix

TABLES

Page

Table 1. Historic weather stations, 1849–1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Table 2. Average annual precipitation at selected stations, 1951–1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Table 3. Mean historic snow depths (inches) at selected Upper Rio Grande stations

(Colorado) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Table 4. Mean historic snow depths (inches) at selected Upper Rio Grande stations

(New Mexico) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Table 5. Average annual snowfall at selected stations, 1931–1983 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Table 6. Daily and annual mean discharges at selected USGS gauging stations:

Upper and Middle Rio Grande drainages, 1895–1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Table 7. Average monthly distribution of annual runoff (acre–feet) at two Middle

Rio Grande gauging stations, 1890–1935 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Table 8. Average annual temperatures (°F) for New Mexico, 1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Table 9. Average high and low temperatures (°F), 1951–1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Table 10. Average annual number of frost–free days, 1951–1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Table 11. Ten driest years, Albuquerque, 1850–1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Table 12. Average decadal temperatures, Albuquerque, 1893–1994. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Table 13. Ten coldest years, Albuquerque, 1893–1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Table 14. Dust storms in Albuquerque, 1945–1960 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Table 15. Sunrise and sunset at or near equinoxes and solstices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Table 16. El Nino years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Table 17. Historic Rio Grande floods, 1591–1942 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Table 18. Historic New Mexico droughts, 1542–1989 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Table 19. Nomadic Indian raids and drought years, north and central New Mexico,

1580–1867 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Table 20. Siting of extant Rio Grand Basin pueblos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Table 21. Pueblo land/grazing holdings, 1858–1990. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Table 22. Pueblo population in the Middle Rio Grande Basin, 1680–1821 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Table 23. Pueblo population in the Middle Rio Grande, 1904–1968 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Table 24. Annual cycle of Santa Ana and Cochiti land use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Table 25. Middle Rio Grande Valley Pueblo irrigation, 1945. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Table 26. Historic Native American cultigens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Table 27. Annual traditional farming activities, Cochiti Pueblo, 1880 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Table 28. Pounds of meat sold and consumed, Acoma and Laguna, 1938–1943 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Table 29. Santa Clara use of mammals (non–food) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Table 30. Santa Clara use of bird feathers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Table 31 Pueblo plant use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Table 32. Pueblo use of rocks and minerals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Table 33. Historic Native American trade items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Table 34. Private land grant claims in the Middle Rio Grande Basin, 1693–1846 . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Table 35. Colonial Spanish population: Middle and Upper Rio Grande Basins

(Rio Arriba–Rio Abajo) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Table 36. Irrigation in the Middle Rio Grande Valley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Table 37. Livestock numbers in New Mexico, 1598–1830 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

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TABLES (continued)

Page

Table 38. New Mexico population, 1850–1910 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Table 39. Irrigation agriculture in the Middle Rio Grande Valley, 1850–1942 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Table 40. Irrigation agriculture in the Middle Rio Grande Basin, 1898 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Table 41. Principal crops in the Middle Rio Grande Valley, 1919–1942 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Table 42. Livestock numbers in New Mexico, 1850–1900 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Table 43. Major mining areas/activities, 1600 to 1945 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Table 44. Principal tributaries of the Rio Grande in the Middle Valley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Table 45. Upper and Middle Rio Grande streamflow gauging stations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Table 46. Rio Puerco–of–the–East: historical conditions and environmental changes,

1599–1964 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Table 47. Changes in width of Rio Salado, 1882 and 1918 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Table 48. Historic floral community dominant plant species, Middle Rio Grande Valley . . . . . 202

Table 49. Fauna identified from faunal remains and kiva murals—Kuaua Pueblo . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Table 50. Fauna identified from Pottery Mound kiva murals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Table 51. Beaver (pelts) trapped or shipped over the Santa Fe Trail, 1824–1841 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Table 52. Mammal populations, 1900–1935 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Table 53. Birds recorded by Abert (Alameda to south of Socorro), fall 1846 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Table 54. Fish identified from Spanish records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Table 55. Middle and Upper Rio Grande dams and reservoirs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Table 56. Historical change in areal extent of floodplain vegetation communities from

Cochiti Dam to San Marcial, 1918–1989 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Table 57. Rio Puerco–of–the–East: historical conditions and channel changes, 1846–1964 . . . 289

Table 58. Plant species extensively decimated or extirpated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Table 59. Extirpated grass species . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Table 60. Introduced plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Table 61. Introduced fauna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Table 62. Extirpated, threatened, rare, and endangered fauna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Table 63. National and state forests, wildernesses, wild rivers, parks, monuments,

and refuges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Table 64. Conservation improvements on Pueblo lands, 1935–1944 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Table 65. Rio Grande Pueblo irrigation projects, ca 1940. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

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MAPS

Page

Figure 1 Study region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Figure 2 Middle Rio Grande Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Figure 3 Upper Rio Grande Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Figure 4 Historic weather stations, 1849–1994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Figure 5 Snow survey data sites, Colorado and New Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Figure 6 Climatic subtype areas and precipitation isolines in the New Mexico

Rio Grande Basin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Figure 15 General locations of Pueblo and nomadic Native American groups 1598–1680 . . . 83

Figure 16 Major historic Pueblo language groups and villages, 1598–1680 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Figure 25 Some early Hispanic settlements, 1598–1680 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Figure 26 Major Hispano settlements, 1693–1821 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Figure 27 Spanish-Mexican land grants in the Middle Rio Grande Basin, 1693-1846 . . . . . . . 111

Figure 33 Major trails and roads, 1821–1880 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Figure 35 Major railroads, roads, and highways, 1879–1915 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Figure 39 Major mining districts and towns, 1600–1945 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Figure 40 Study region: streams and mountain ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Figure 41 Middle Rio Grande Basin: Major streams, mountain ranges, and historic

settlements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Figure 43 Meanders and multiple channels (braided) of the Rio Grande east and

southeast of Lemitar, 1906. USGS 7.5-minute quadrangle map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Figure 52 Reconstructed primeval vegetation types, 1870–1900 (after Gross and

Dick-Peddie 1979) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Figure 57 Major Middle Rio Grande channel movements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Figure 66 Major 20th century dams on the Rio Grande and tributaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Figure 70 Bureau of Reclamation vegetation map, Rio Grade Valley, Tome area, 1917 . . . . . . . 286

Figure 74 Miera y Pacheco’s map of the Middle Rio Grande Basin, 1779 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Figure 79 National forests, parks and monuments, national wildlife refuges, and

major state parks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

x
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 1

For more than 450 years the ecosystems of the Middle

Rio Grande Basin have evolved dynamically with the interrelated vagaries of climate, land forms, soils, fauna,

flora, and most importantly, human activities. Various

land use practices have caused an array of environmental

problems. Activities such as grazing, irrigation farming,

logging, and constructing flood control features, combined

with climatic fluctuations, have produced changes in

stream flow-morphology, groundwater levels, topsoils,

biotic communities, and individual species. Indigenous

human populations have, in turn, been impacted by modifications in these resources. This report examines these

processes, impacts, and changes in depth.

SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

This study of the environmental history of the Middle

Rio Grande Basin, and to a lesser degree the Upper Basin

(Fig. 1), was begun on June 1, 1994, and continued until

February 15, 1996. This project is part of a multidisciplinary research program called “Ecology, Diversity,

and Sustainability of Soil, Plant, Animal and Human Resources of the Rio Grande Basin” and was initiated by the

U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Albuquerque, in 1994. The larger 5-year study is focused on

the retrieval, synthesis, and interpretation of extant and

new data on the Middle Basin to better understand ecological processes, including not only the interrelationship

of physical and biological components of ecosystems but

also the human element. As the dominant force and agent

of change, various human groups or eco-cultures1 have

impacted all Basin ecosystems for more than 10,000 years

(Stuart 1986: a–c).

To address these interrelationships over time, the study

team, under the direction of Deborah M. Finch, identified

four areas of research: (1) responses of upland ecosystem

components to “natural” as well as human perturbations

and how these responses have affected or will affect the

dynamics, stability, and productivity of these ecosystems;

(2) interrelationships of lowland riparian and upland ecosystems of the past and present; (3) species responses to

barriers in dispersal, migration, and reproduction along

the Rio Grande and selected tributaries and identification

of those plants or animals and their needs for sustainable

management; and (4) environmental history of the Basin

to better understand the kind and extent of human interCHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

actions with ecosystems and the sustainability of such traditional eco-cultural activities within regional ecosystems.

The focus and context of these research areas are interrelated and grounded in environmental history as they

relate to human uses, impacts, and changes within a context of climate, fire, and other ecosystem dynamics. Further, environmental changes generated by various groups

sometimes resulted in modification of their world views

and economic systems. Without a better understanding

of these historical processes and their end results,

bioremediation and sustainability of Basin ecosystems,

including traditional lifeways, will be difficult if not impossible to accomplish. This report on the environmental

history of the Middle and Upper Rio Grande basins2 provides data pertinent to all four research areas.

The Middle Basin includes the Rio Grande from

Bandelier National Monument to the upper end of Elephant Butte Reservoir and seven major tributaries—Santa

Fe River, Galisteo Creek, Jemez River, Las Huertas Creek,

Rio Puerco, Rio San Jose, and Rio Salado. Within this region are three national forests—Carson, Santa Fe, and

Cibola—in which lie the southern Sangre de Cristo, Jemez,

Sandia, part of the Zuni and Datil, Manzano, Ladron, Los

Pinos, Magdalena, and San Mateo mountains (Fig. 2).

The Upper Basin extends northward embracing the

Espanola Basin, the Rio Chama, the Rio Grande Gorge,

the uplands of the Carson National Forest, and the uppermost watershed of the river in southern Colorado (Figs.

1 and 3). This latter area includes the San Luis Basin, part

of the northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and the eastern extension of the San Juan Mountains in the Rio Grande

National Forest.

The Upper Basin is included in this study for several

reasons. The Middle Valley ecosystem is first and foremost driven by water, and much of this resource comes

1 For these distinct groups interacting with and changing their

environment, the term eco-cultures will be used in this report to

reflect their ecological use of, impact on, and interaction with the

resources and ecology of the area. Also, archeological remains of

these groups will be referred to as eco-cultural resources. This term

precludes the use of more cumbersome, and misleading,

compound descriptors such as “cultures and environments” or

“humans and nature.”

2 Collectively, these two basins will be referred to as the “study

region.” Use of the term “region” refers to the study region and

adjacent areas.
2 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 1—Study region.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 3

Figure 2—Middle Rio Grande Basin.
4 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 3—Upper Rio Grande Basin.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 5

from the Upper Rio Grande and tributaries above the north

boundary of the Middle Basin (Figs. 1 and 3). Floodwaters generated in the Upper Basin affected virtually all

components of the middle one. Upper Basin droughts

clearly affected the Middle Valley ecosystem in other

ways. Further, some plant communities and animal populations also extend across this boundary, and various human groups moved from one basin to the other over time,

impacting both basins with their activities. Sustainability

of ecosystems, and their significant human component,

clearly lies in studying and managing both basins as one.

APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY

Environmental history has been recognized only recently by the academic community as a viable and needed

approach to better understanding human history by placing it in an environmental context. However, decades before this, several individuals, such as Aldo Leopold, James

Malin, and Walter Prescott Webb, were developing and

applying environmental history methodology and theory

to understanding and describing human groups and their

interrelationships with ecosystems. Although Leopold

called for “an ecological interpretation of history” more

than 50 years ago, environmental history was not a recognized academic discipline until the 1970s, following the

dynamic and influential environmental movement of the

late 1960s and early 1970s (Worster 1993: 2). The American Society of Environmental History was formed in the

bicentennial year of 1976. Since then, this new field of

study has embraced related fields such as climate history,

fire history, landscape ecology, forest history, agricultural

history, anthropology, ethnohistory, and history of conservation and science. Some specific topics addressed by

environmental historians, and discussed in this study, include historic floods and droughts, hydrology and geomorphology of streams, the “Columbian exchange,” environmental views of groups in a given area or region, environmental impact and change, and evolution of conservation and scientific research (Merchant 1993: vii–ix).

Aldo Leopold has been called the “father of wildlife

management,” and his prolific writings have significantly

influenced the philosophy and methodology of environmental sciences. Leopold’s published books, such as A

Sand County Almanac (1944), and papers have also helped

shape the view of many contemporary ecologists and environmental historians, such as Donald Worster of the

University of Kansas. This influence is reflected in

Worster’s (1993: 4) definition of his own field of study:

“[Environmental history] deals with the role and place of

nature in human life. . . .” and “Its goal is to deepen our

understanding of how humans have been affected by their

natural environment through time, and conversely and

perhaps more importantly in view of the present global

predicament, how they have affected that environment

and with what results.”

Importantly, this discipline has not only expanded the

view and “data base” for historians but has also provided

pertinent data for biological scientists and resource managers to use in developing a more comprehensive approach to bioremediation, reconstruction of ecosystems,

and determination of sustainability.

The ecosystem, or watershed, approach to study of areas or regions used by ecologists for some time is emulated by the bioregional approach that some environmental historians have used. This focus on a definable abiotic-biotic region in which various groups have employed

distinctive adaptive and exploitive strategies was discussed by Dan Flores (1994: 8):

. . . [A] given bioregion and its resources offer a

range of possibilities, from which a given human

culture makes economic and lifeway choices

based upon the culture’s technological ability

and its ideological vision of how the landscape

ought to be used and shaped to meet its definition of a good life.

The Middle and Upper Rio Grande basins, with a long

history of human occupation, have been studied by archeologists and historians for more than a century. The

region’s prehistory and history, reconstructed from an

array of physical and documentary evidence possibly as

comprehensive and detailed as that of any region in the

United States, lend themselves to the bioregional approach. The distribution of the protohistoric Pueblo groups

was mainly limited to the Middle and Upper Rio Grande

basins; the Zuni and Hopi Pueblos were the exceptions.

Subsequent Spanish settlement was confined to the basins as well until the early 1800s. The Spanish also recognized the environmental distinction between the Upper

and Lower basins, which they named the Rio Arriba and

Rio Abajo, respectively, for purposes of administration.

Further, early Anglo settlers almost exclusively occupied

these two ecological units. Also found here are descendants of the two earlier eco-cultures, Native American and

Hispanic, who still practice traditional lifeways to some

degree, so there is a continuing historic record today.

In general, this study focuses on identifying and interpreting the roles of various human groups in affecting

Basin ecosystems and their responses to the environmental changes that they and “nature” have produced. Although it was known that human groups had, over time,

shaped all regional ecosystems from the Rio Grande to

the tundra of the highest peaks, the processes of these

transformations were poorly understood. This study examines in detail the interrelationships of various eco-cultures with their Middle Basin environments, with a special focus on how groups have viewed and exploited their

environments. In addition, the general role and relation-
6 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

ship of politics, economic institutions, and social organizations to resource exploitation and its resulting impacts

on the environment are clarified. Finally, a number of specific environmental changes and their spatial and temporal occurrence, nature, and impacts were identified and

are discussed.

Because an environmental history of this spatial and

temporal magnitude has never been attempted in New

Mexico, the first priority was to review and integrate the

readily available, pertinent data on human prehistory

(late) and history with data from the physical and biological sciences. Important sources of this type of information were published works on local environmental histories within the study region, such as Man and Resources

in the Middle Rio Grande Valley by Harper et al. (1943) and

Enchantment and Exploitation (Sangre Cristo Mountains)

by deBuys (1985). Publications dealing totally or in part

with the historical use of specific environmental components, such as the Climate of New Mexico by Tuan et al.

(1973), Water in New Mexico by Clark (1987), Birds of New

Mexico by Ligon (1961), and Fishes of New Mexico by

Sublette et al. (1990), were also helpful in providing general context, as well as more specific data on topics of special interest. Recent comprehensive studies on the ecology of the study region, such as the Middle Rio Grande

Biological Survey by Ohmart and Hink (1984) and the

Middle Rio Grande Ecosystem: Bosque Biological Management

Plan by Crawford et al. (1993), provided a sound basis for

understanding the interrelationships of the river and the

various biotic components of the Middle Basin. Most of

the allocated research and analysis time was devoted to

review of these and other pertinent published books, reports, papers, and documents. Unpublished manuscripts,

maps, and photographs were consulted as time permitted. Data from selected oral interviews conducted by me

and other researchers were also reviewed. There is a huge

body of archival material in various state and regional

depositories that was not researched during this project

owing to time constraints but should be included in future regional or local environmental history projects.

Early in the project, 10 research problems requiring environmental history data were identified for inclusion in

the study: (1) effects of climatic phenomena, such as

droughts, on human views of and responses to the environment; (2) effects of human activities on changing local, regional, or global climatic components and regimes;

(3) effects of the temporal occurrence and magnitude of

flooding on historic land use activities; (4) effects of grazing on different ecosystem components such as plant communities; (5) effects of erosion on fauna, flora, and other

components; (6) effects of various water control structures

on riparian fauna and flora; (7) effects of fragmentation

of the Rio Grande bosque on riparian ecosystems; (8) effects of introduced plants and animals on ecosystems; (9)

effects of past resource management by various agencies

on these same ecosystems and their traditional resident

eco-cultures; and (10) effects of environmental impacts on

human responses, specifically attitudes, to these perturbations. These 10 problems guided the research presented

in this report. Four spatial-temporal models of impact and

change in the Middle Rio Grande Valley were also developed for “testing” during the study.

ORGANIZATION OF THE REPORT

Chapters 2 through 6 describe and reconstruct the history of occupation and use of the study region by various

human groups, the historic environmental conditions in

the basins, and the impact on and modification of abiotic

and biotic components of Middle Rio Grande ecosystems

by natural and human events over the last 455 years. These

chapters include historic and recent climates (Chapter 2),

human settlement and land use (Chapter 3), historical

descriptions and reconstruction (Chapter 4), impacts and

changes (Chapter 5), and the origin and development of

a conservation ethic and related land management agencies and organizations (Chapter 6). A chronology of pertinent events is provided at the end of each of these chapters. The final chapter (7) is a synthesis of the information

presented in the previous chapters, with conclusions and

considerations for using the data from this report in future research studies and management programs.

BENEFICIARIES OF RESEARCH

In addition to potential data uses by various public resource management agency personnel at all levels, this

study should be useful to a myriad of other Basin communities and organizations—Pueblos, Hispanic land

grant associations, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy

District, universities and schools, environmental groups,

and private contractors and individuals involved in

Middle Rio Grande Basin research. Potential uses include

evaluating current resource use and management, planning for bioremediation of environmental problems at

specific locales or areas, evaluating sustainability of past

and current land use practices, locating field trip and study

area sites for schools, and identifying, and hopefully resolving, critical environmental issues.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 7

Climatic elements such as precipitation types and patterns, temperature patterns, wind, solar radiation, frostsfreezes, and evaporation affect human activity and health

positively or negatively. Effects of intense rain, drought,

floods, deep snow, hail, freezes, lightning, intense heat,

and so forth on such endeavors as hunting, fishing, gathering, farming, ranching, mining, travel, and recreation

have been a long-time interest of archaeologists, climatologists, and environmental historians working in the

Southwest. The siting of dwellings, fields, villages, livestock facilities, mining operations, trails, and roads were

generally related, at least in part, to one or more climatological elements (Calvin 1948; Hambidge 1941; Upham

1986).

Precipitation and other weather phenomena are also

major influences on formation and maintenance of plant

communities, availability of wild plant foods, and dynamics of wildlife populations. Variations within these elements, coupled with human activities, have led to serious environmental problems such as intensive flooding, fluctuations or exhaustions of water supplies, and soil erosion.

The following sections of this chapter include discussions on various climatic elements. Coverage of interrelationships of climatic events and human activities are presented in Chapters 4 and 5. Also following in this chapter

are sections on climatic stations and records, recent climate, reconstruction of the region’s historic climate, climatic impacts on human populations, historic droughts

and floods, historic snowfall, and a chronology of climatic

events.

CLIMATIC RECORDS

Evidence of the earliest climate patterns and changes

for the region has been derived from tree-ring chronologies from various prehistoric archeological sites. These

chronologies provide indications of relative dry or wet

periods over a specific period. For the historic period, these

fluctuating patterns appear to generally correlate with

historical observations and, after 1846, scientifically collected data.

The earliest written historical observations of weather

were made by Spanish explorers, missionaries, government personnel, and settlers. In general, Spaniards who

came to New Mexico thought the climate was similar to

that of Spain, except for the Rio Arriba, which they found

to be colder (Tuan et al. 1973: 4–5). All historical accounts,

of course, have to be evaluated for their accuracy, as perCHAPTER 2

MODERN AND HISTORICAL CLIMATE

sonal views of untrained observers were sometimes exaggerated or otherwise inaccurate.

The first scientific climatic records were collected by a

few Anglo-American explorers in the first half of the 19th

century, followed by those recorded by U.S. Army personnel beginning in 1849. Observers were either military

doctors at various military posts or volunteers, who reported their recordings to the Smithsonian Institution until

1870. In that year, Congress authorized the Chief Signal

Officer of the Army to record climatic data; this program

continued until July 1, 1891, when the Weather Bureau

was created in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. From

about 1892 to 1931 weather observations were made by

Cooperative Observers. First Order Weather Stations, such

as that at Albuquerque, were first established in 1931 (Bradley 1976: 11–12; Taft 1980: 1; Table 1, Fig. 4).

Precipitation and temperature were the primary data

recorded in the early decades of record keeping. However, due to personnel changes and the closing of recording stations, records are generally noncontiguous, spotty,

or of short duration. Only Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and

Socorro have reliable scientific records that extend back

continuously for more than a century; these include precipitation and temperature (Bradley 1976: 11–13; Tuan et

al. 1973: 11–12; Table 1).

Scientifically recorded snowpack measurements in the

Upper Rio Grande basin (Colorado and New Mexico)

were begun in 1936–37. Since that time, these measuring

stations have been operated by the Soil Conservation Service (now the Natural Resources Conservation Service).

From 11 stations established in the 1930s, the total number has grown to 63 stations, with 31 in Colorado and 32

in New Mexico. Of these, eight in Colorado and seven in

New Mexico were selected for their distribution across

the Upper Basin, and for continuous annual records that

generally predate 1940, although three date only to 1950

(Fig. 5). Data from these stations were compared with runoff, flood, drought, and other precipitation records, and

these data are summarized in the following sections.

CLIMATIC REGIME

The Middle Rio Grande Basin ecosystem has evolved

with, and is basically driven by, the regional climate. Especially important to the hydrologic regime, as well as to

plants, animals, and human activity, is the availability of

moisture from rain or snowfall, which varies widely diurnally, seasonally, annually and over longer periods.
8 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 4—Historic weather stations, 1849–1994.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 9

Location Temperature Precipitation

County: Bernalillo

Stations: 4

Albuquerque 1850–1867 1893–1975

1878–1879

1889–1994

Sandia Crest 1953–1975 1953–1975

Sandia Park 1939–1994 1939–1994

Sandia Ranger Station 1910–1994 1915–1994

County: Catron

Stations: 2

Datil 1905–1908 1905–1908

1916–1951 1920–1951

Hickman 1944–1994 1957–1994

County: Cibola

Stations: 6

Bluewater 3WSW 1896–1903 1896–1903

1908–1919 1908–1919

1925–1959 1925–1959

Cebolleta Jan. 1894?

Laguna 1850–1851 1905–1921

1905–1915 1927–1994

1919–1921

1924

1927–1994

Prewitt Ranch 1887–1894

San Fidel 1920–1976 1920–1975

San Rafael 1904–1915

County: Los Alamos

Stations: 1

Los Alamos 1910–1994 1919–1994

County: McKinley

Stations: 1

Fort Wingate 1864–1911 1897–1911

1940–1966 1940–1966

County: Rio Arriba

Stations: 9

Abiquiu (Near) 1940–1948

Abiquiu Dam 1957–1994 1957–1994

Bateman Ranch 1909–1970

Chama 1889–1897 1889–1897

1905–1994 1905–1994

El Vado Dam 1906–1907 1906–1907

1936–1994 1936–1994

El Vado Dam (Near) 1923–1927

Embudo 1889–1893 1893

Espanola 1895–1929 1895–1902

1938–1975 1905–1929

1938–1975

Velarde 1940–1948

County: Sandoval

Stations: 7

Bandelier National Monument 1924–1975 1937–1975

Bernalillo 1889–1892 1895–1901

Bernalillo 1948–1982 1948–1982

Cuba 1938–1994 1938–1994

Jemez Springs 1910–1994 1910–1994

Johnson Ranch 1944–1994

Regina 1914–1969 1914–1969

Table 1—Historic weather stations, 1849–1994.

Wolf Canyon

(Senorita, Selsor Ranch) 1912–1994 1912–1994

County: Santa Fe

Stations: 6

Cundiyo 1909–1923

Fort Marcy Jan. 1849–1890?

Galisteo 1894–1903

Nambe #1 1889–1892 1930–1931

1930–1931

1947–1974

Nambe #2 1940–1950

Santa Fe 1850–1994 1874–1994

County: Socorro

Stations: 15

Augustine 1926–1939 1926–1939

1959–1973 1959–1972

Augustine 2E 1939–1959 1939–1959

1973–1994 1973–1994

Bosque del Apache 1851–1862 1894–1945

1865–1881 1950–1994

1884

1889–1891

1894–1945

1950–1994

Bosque del Apache A 1945–1950 1945–1950

Fort Conrad 1851–1854

Fort Craig 1940–1950?

Gran Quivira National

Monument 1905–1906 1940–1994

1929

1938–1994

Gran Quivira National

Monument A 1929–1938 1930–1934

Kelly Ranch 1945–1975

Magdalena 1889–1890 1906–1915

1905–1993 1918–1975

Rienhardt Ranch 1951–1994

Rosedale 1905–1932 1906–1932

Rosedale A 1927–1928 1927–1928

Socorro 1850–1851 1850–1851

1879–1881 1879–1881

1891–1994 1891–1994

Socorro Post 1849–1851

County: Taos

Stations: 6

Cerro 1910–1920 1911–1920

1932–1966 1932–1966

Cerro 5NE 1920–1931 1920–1931

1966–1994 1966–1994

Penasco Ranger Station 1929–1976

Red River 1906–1994 1909–1994

Taos 1889–1897 1889–1896

1901–1994 1901–1994

Tres Piedras 1905–1995 1905–1995

County: Valencia

Stations: 3

Los Lunas 1889–1941 1889–1941

Los Lunas A 1944–1958 1944–1958

Los Lunas 3SSW 1957–1994 1957–1994

Belen 1948–1976 1962–1994

Bernardo 1962–1994 1962–1994

Location Temperature Precipitation

Total counties: 10; total stations: 63

Sources: Gabin and Lesperance 1977: 11–34; Kann et al. 1995
10 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 5—Snow survey data sites, Colorado and New Mexico.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 11

Temperature has fluctuated widely over time and, along

with precipitation, is a major determinant of vegetation

types, their distributions, and surface water amounts.

These two elements have also, of course, impacted human activities in various ways (Tuan et al. 1973: 185).

The continental climate of the study region is characterized by light precipitation, a wide range of diurnal and

annual temperatures, abundant sunshine, low relative

humidities, and high evaporation over water surfaces.

These characteristics are determined by New Mexico’s

location relative to the moderating influences of the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, distance from the equator, and topography, including ranges in elevation (Tuan

et al. 1973: 185–186, 188; Von Eschen 1961: 1).

The Middle Rio Grande Basin lies within three climatic

subtypes: arid, of the valley reach and lowlands (below

5,000 feet) from Bernalillo to Elephant Butte Reservoir;

semi-arid, of the adjacent uplands (to 9,000 feet) to the

east, west, and north of Albuquerque; and sub-humid, of

the mountains above 9,000 feet (Tuan et al. 1973: 186–187;

Fig. 6).

In the arid areas temperatures and evaporation are high,

and annual precipitation is below 10 inches. The frostfree season ranges from 180 to 210 days (Tuan et al. 1973:

189–190).

The semi-arid portions of the study region, sometimes

referred to as grassland or steppe, have average temperatures in the warmest months in the 70so F and in the coolest

months around 32o F. Annual precipitation ranges from

near 11 to 18 inches; the average is 15 inches. The semiarid climate extends over most of the region. Temperatures are somewhat lower than in the arid subtype. The

annual moisture deficiency is between 10 and 21 inches.

Winter cyclonic storms, with snow, are more common here,

although they are of relatively short duration. Spring

winds with blowing dust are annual events (Tuan et al.

1973: 191–192; Fig. 6).

The sub-humid areas are the locations of greatest annual precipitation and the chief sources of water for the

state. Precipitation averages 20 to 30 inches annually in

the higher ranges, with a great annual range of variability. Temperatures generally decrease 5o F for every 1,000

feet in elevation gain. Higher peaks, of course, have many

nights when temperatures fall below freezing. The general frost-free season is 60 to 90 days (Bennett 1986: 47;

Tuan et al. 1973: 192, 194–195; Fig. 6).

For the study region, precipitation falls during two distinct periods—winter and summer (early July to late September). The principal sources of moisture for this precipitation are the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean.

About 43 to 54 percent of the annual precipitation falls in

summer from thunderstorms, which are uplifted over high

mountains by convection-heated air. Snow falls mostly

from cyclonic storms of moist Pacific air masses, generally moving eastward over the mountains. The least

amounts of precipitation fall in November and May or

June (Tuan et al. 1973: 20–34).

From north to south, precipitation generally decreases

and temperature increases over the study region. Also,

the variability of precipitation in the southern half of the

study region has a greater range than the northern half

(Tuan et al. 1973: 56; Fig.6). Average annual precipitation

in the Upper Basin varies from 19.01 inches at Chama to

9.42 inches at Espanola. In the Middle Basin it varies from

25.43 inches at Jemez Springs to 8.84 inches at Bosque del

Apache National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) (Table 2). About

50 percent of the annual precipitation in the region falls from

moist, unstable air invading the region from the Gulf of

Mexico from early July to late September. The summer thunderstorms are generally intense but brief and local in extent.

Lesser amounts of precipitation occur in spring and fall, but

these rains are sometimes longer in duration and produce

moderate to severe flash floods (Bennett 1986: 44–45, 52–54;

Crawford et al. 1993: 8–9; Tuan et al. 1973: 188–193).

Most snowfall in lower elevations occurs from December through February, with larger amounts occurring in

higher elevations for this period and into March and April.

These snows generally result from moist, eastward-moving storms originating over the Pacific Ocean (Bennett

1986: 52–54). Average annual precipitation and snowfall

for 14 selected weather stations in the study region are

shown in Tables 2, 3, 4, and 5.

The correlation between precipitation and streamflow

depends mainly on geographical and seasonal conditions.

The mean annual runoff in the arid Southwest is 0.25 to

10 inches per year or 1–40 percent of annual precipitation. Mean annual streamflow in cfs (cubic feet per second) per square mile “... is very low, often less than 0.1

CSM” (de Wiest 1965: 62). Various mean discharges at nine

selected stations between the years 1895 and 1994 are listed

in Table 6).

Table 2—Average annual precipitation at selected stations,

1951–1980.

Location Inches

Chama 19.01

Taos 13.42

Santa Fe 14.22

Espanola 9.42

Cuba 13.06

Jemez Springs 25.43

Bernalillo 8.19

Albuquerque 8.12

Laguna 9.45

Grants 10.26

Gran Quivira 14.25

Socorro 8.63

Bosque del Apache 8.84

Sources: Bennett 1986: 43, 45; Gabin and Lesperance 1977
12 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 6—Climatic subtype areas and precipitation isolines in the New Mexico Rio Grande Basin.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 13

Table 3—Mean historic snow depths (inches) at selected Upper Rio Grande stations (Colorado).

Year

1936

1937

1938

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

1946

1947

1948

1949

1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

Avg.

mean

Cochetopa

Pass

(elev.

10,000 feet)

25.00

9.25

17.75

24.50

12.00

9.50

16.00

20.00

29.50

23.75

17.50

18.50

21.50

21.75

13.25

18.50

26.75

14.25

5.50

22.75

18.00

34.50

19.09

Santa

Maria

(elev.

9,600 feet)

8.00

5.00

23.00

12.50

16.50

25.00

11.25

1.75

10.75

20.75

23.75

11.25

8.50

28.00

8.75

7.00

10.50

13.75

20.50

19.25

9.75

15.25

9.50

22.00

6.75

10.75

24.33

18.25

11.00

20.75

14.50

5.40

14.19

Upper Rio

Grande

(elev.

9,400 feet)

9.50

23.00

19.00

9.75

7.75

32.00

12.00

16.75

35.25

16.00

7.75

17.25

36.75

37.25

19.00

34.50

13.50

14.50

17.50

16.00

20.75

29.50

30.00

17.75

24.25

19.75

34.00

12.75

14.75

35.75

23.00

14.25

23.83

26.25

14.50

21.03

Wolf Creek

Pass

(elev.

10,320 feet)

58.00

96.33

85.33

56.33

37.25

89.25

69.75

62.25

90.25

72.50

36.50

56.50

82.00

95.00

73.50

68.00

114.25

48.75

50.50

54.00

76.25

104.50

69.50

41.25

71.00

56.75

83.75

45.25

55.00

99.25

61.00

82.00

80.25

80.00

58.75

70.31

Note: Months snow depths recorded.

Cochetopa Pass: Feb.–May

Santa Maria: Feb.–May

Upper Rio Grande: Feb.–May; except 1936, April–May; 1937–38, Mar.–May

Wolf Creek Pass: Feb.–May

La Veta Pass: Feb.–May

Silver Lakes: Feb.–May; except 1937–39, Mar.–May; 1965, April–May; 1966, Mar.–May

Culebra: Feb.–May; except 1958–59, Mar.–May

Cumbres Pass: Feb.–May

La Veta

Pass

(elev.

9,440 feet)

19.50

22.33

16.25

34.25

24.50

17.00

28.50

29.25

12.00

23.50

32.25

25.00

12.00

16.00

38.00

16.00

16.75

12.75

17.00

31.00

19.25

17.50

19.25

21.75

23.25

13.50

23.75

33.75

19.75

11.25

25.00

21.50

20.25

21.62

Silver

Lakes

(elev.

9,500 feet)

17.67

17.67

12.67

6.75

25.00

13.25

15.75

25.50

15.00

10.00

16.75

23.75

26.75

15.75

11.75

34.50

7.75

8.00

9.25

22.50

29.00

20.00

9.25

16.25

18.50

25.33

8.00

19.00

28.50

13.67

9.50

23.25

23.25

9.00

17.31

Culebra

(elev.

10,500 feet)

24.75

49.75

37.00

14.25

35.25

41.50

12.25

35.25

33.50

37.00

17.50

19.25

55.00

29.50

22.50

15.75

17.75

37.75

42.33

15.67

24.00

25.25

28.25

19.25

19.00

32.50

29.50

15.50

28.25

26.50

25.25

27.96

Cumbres

Pass

(elev.

10,022 feet)

45.50

78.33

63.30

50.00

36.25

87.75

56.00

52.50

65.00

71.50

25.50

38.75

49.50

63.75

42.00

42.75

60.25

36.25

24.00

25.00

41.75

66.75

53.00

31.75

52.25

44.75

63.50

29.70

36.00

73.00

46.50

1.00

47.25

70.25

35.25

48.76

In general, there is a correlation between high snowpack levels and spring floods caused by large runoff on

the Rio Grande and major tributaries, such as the Rio

Chama, Jemez River, and Rio Puerco for the period from

1936 to 1970. For the period 1890–1935, the May volume

of runoff is the highest monthly flow; winter is the lowest

(Table 7).

The 3 years of greatest measured snowfall for the eight

stations in the Upper Rio Grande Basin in Colorado were,

in decreasing amounts, 1952, 1941, and 1957 (Table 3). In

New Mexico, 1941, 1952, and 1937 were the years of greatest snow depths recorded (Table 4). El Nino (wet) conditions occurred in 1941 and 1952, and above-normal precipitation was recorded in 1937 and 1957.
14 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Table 4—Mean historic snow depths (inches) at selected Upper Rio Grande stations (New Mexico)

Year

1937

1938

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

1946

1947

1948

1949

1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

Avg.

Mean

Chama

Divide

(elev.

7,820 feet)

22.0

25.3

16.7

12.7

17.0

20.3

6.5

8.3

12.0

26.6

5.7

7.0

14.7

11.3

8.7

9.0

13.7

13.7

15.0

2.7

18.0

14.0

13.7

5.0

2.7

22.0

13.3

6.0

9.3

20.3

0.0

12.7

Red

River

(elev.

9,850 feet)

40.50

24.00

15.00

19.67

35.33

25.67

20.67

31.67

36.33

8.67

20.67

25.67

27.67

18.33

12.33

38.33

7.00

14.33

11.67

15.33

31.67

17.66

9.33

21.33

22.67

29.33

17.00

13.10

29.67

21.00

11.67

24.00

21.67

17.00

21.65

Bateman

(elev.

9,300 feet)

32.7

20.7

53.0

31.7

34.7

26.3

39.7

45.7

53.0

29.5

39.5

35.5

49.0

35.5

33.0

48.5

35.5

29.5

38.5

47.5

30.7

37.6

Taos Cany.

(elev.

9,100 feet)

30.50

12.00

13.00

16.00

35.70

20.30

13.70

24.00

29.30

10.70

21.70

24.30

14.30

12.30

7.70

24.70

13.00

10.00

12.00

12.00

16.70

17.00

10.00

18.00

14.30

17.30

9.70

13.00

18.25

15.00

7.70

16.70

23.70

10.70

16.63

Tres Ritos

(elev.

8,600 feet)

6.0

19.7

16.3

32.3

27.7

15.0

26.3

27.0

10.3

17.7

30.7

24.0

10.3

10.0

26.3

16.3

10.7

12.3

11.7

19.3

23.7

13.7

20.7

21.0

19.3

15.3

19.3

28.0

12.7

5.0

19.3

17.3

10.7

18.1

Quemazon

(elev.

9,500 feet)

23.3

19.7

42.5

29.0

26.5

12.5

22.0

31.0

49.0

25.0

41.3

39.0

40.7

25.0

20.7

39.0

30.0

14.7

30.3

32.7

27.3

29.6

Elk Cabin

(elev.

8,250 feet)

20.0

15.0

4.0

2.3

9.0

8.3

3.7

6.7

8.7

4.0

16.0

4.7

18.0

9.7

11.3

10.0

10.3

13.7

9.3

1.7

15.3

8.3

4.3

9.3

Note: Months snow depths recorded.

Chama Divide: 1940–62, Feb.–April; 1963–70, Feb.–May

Red River Pass No. 2:1937–39, Mar.–April; 1940, 1945–51, 1953–64, 1966–70, Feb.–April; 1941–44, 1952, 1965, Feb.–May

Bateman: 1950–57, Feb.–April; 1958–69, Mar.–April; 1970, Feb.–April

Taos Canyon: 1937–39, Mar.–April; 1940–70, Feb.–April

Tres Ritos: 1938, Mar.–April; 1939–70, Feb.–April

Quemazon: 1950–51, Feb.–April; 1952–59, Mar.–April; 1960–70, Feb.–April

Elk Cabin: 1948–70, Feb.–May

The 3 years of least snow depth for Colorado, in decreasing amounts, were 1946, 1967, and 1951 and in New

Mexico were 1967, 1951, and 1955. All four of these years

(1946, 1951, 1955, and 1967) were substantially below normal in annual precipitation, as recorded at the nearest

weather stations (U.S. Soil Conservation Service 1994).

Seasonal, annual, and decadal precipitation in New

Mexico vary greatly, resulting in dry or drought periods,

which may last a season, a year, or longer. The year 1956

was a dry, or La Nina, year. In fact, 1956 was the driest

year since the advent of scientifically recorded annual

precipitation in New Mexico. In Santa Fe the mean precipitation for 1916–17 was 4.5 inches below normal. In the

summer of 1929, during an El Nino year, Santa Fe recorded

8 inches above normal. Drought years often occurred in

“swarms,” while wet periods generally lasted only a year

or, more rarely, a few years. Wet years tend to follow an

extended drought. For example, Chama experienced its
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 15

Table 5—Average annual snowfall at selected stations,

1931–1983.

Location Inches

Chama 102

Taos 38

Santa Fe 36

Espanola 18

Cuba 39

Jemez Springs 35

Bernalillo 9

Albuquerque 11

Grants 18

Gran Quivira 29

Socorro 6

Bosque del Apache 6

Truth or Consequences 7

Source: Bennett 1986: 52

Station Discharge (cfs)

Red River near Questa

Years: 1910, 11, 12–24, 25, 26–93

Annual mean discharge (1966–93) 41.9

Highest annual mean (1979) 87.6

Lowest annual mean (1971) 11.8

Highest daily mean (June 9, 1979) 557.0

Lowest daily mean (January 6, 1971) 2.5

Rio Pueblo de Taos

Years: 1911–16, 40–51, 52–93

Annual mean 29.8

Highest annual mean (1979): 72.3

Lowest annual mean (1972) 7.7

Highest daily mean (May 26, 1979) 926.0

Lowest daily mean (January 27, 1950) 0.2

Rio Chama near Chamita

Years: 1912–93

Annual mean 588.0

Highest annual mean (1987) 923.0

Lowest annual mean (1972) 234.0

Highest daily mean (May 5, 1985) 3,570.0

Lowest daily mean (September 16, 1971) 1.2

Rio Grande at Otowi Bridge

Years: 1895–1905, 1909–93

Annual mean 1,559.0

Highest annual mean (1987) 2,764.0

Lowest annual mean (1977) 602.0

Highest daily mean (May 11, 1985) 12,000.0

Lowest daily mean (August 4, 1977) 195.0

Santa Fe River near Santa Fe

Years: 1910, 13–93

Annual mean 8.18

Highest annual mean (1919) 26.20

Station Discharge (cfs)

Santa Fe River near Santa Fe (continued)

Lowest annual mean (1951) 1.90

Highest daily mean (September 23, 1929) 3.80

Lowest daily mean (February 7, 1927) 0.10

Jemez River below Jemez Canyon Dam

Years: 1936–38, 43–93

Annual mean 58.9

Highest annual mean (1973) 17.8

Lowest annual mean (1953) 10.6

Highest daily mean (January 19, 1958) 3,640.0

Lowest daily mean (May 24, 1943) 0.0

Rio Grande at Albuquerque

Years: 1942–74, 75–93

Annual mean 1,440.0

Highest annual mean (1987) 2,486.0

Lowest annual mean (1977) 356.0

Highest daily mean (1985) 8,650.0

Lowest daily mean (1977) 0.0

Rio Puerco near Bernardo

Years: 1939–93

Annual mean 44.1

Highest annual mean (1941) 171.0

Lowest annual mean (1978) 5.5

Highest daily mean (May 5, 1941) 5,980.0

Lowest daily mean (November 1, 1939) 0.0

Rio San Jose at Grants

Years: 1912–26, 49–66, 68–93

Annual mean 0.8

Highest annual mean (1980) 8.1

Lowest annual mean (1978) 0.0

Highest daily mean (April 21, 1980) 355.0

Lowest daily mean (June 1, 1968) 0.0

Table 6—Daily and annual mean discharges at selected USGS gauging stations: Upper and Middle Rio Grande drainages, 1895–1993.

Source: USGS 1994

driest period in 1951–55 and its driest year ever in 1956,

recording only 8.7 inches. For the next year, 1957, this community measured its greatest ever annual precipitation

of 31.4 inches (Bennett 1986: 42; Tuan et al. 1973: 50, 52).

New Mexico experiences a wide range of temperatures,

primarily due to its elevation range and latitude. For each

degree of latitude change from south to north in the region, the temperature decreases 1.5o to 2.5o F. For every

1,000-foot gain in elevation, there is a decrease of about 5o F.

The topographic configuration of the region affects temperature as well (Tuan et al. 1973: 65–67). Slope and exposure, or aspect, as primary determinants of temperature

are relatively well understood. One cited example is temperature readings taken at Frijoles Canyon in Bandelier

National Monument on October 28, 1962. In mid afternoon, temperatures at the north-facing wall of the canyon, in shade, were from 8o–13o F lower than those at the

south-facing wall, in sunshine (Tuan et al. 1973: 68). Similar differences in temperatures, which determine vegeta-
16 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Table 7—Average monthly distribution of annual runoff

(acre–feet) at two Middle Rio Grande gauging stations,

1890–1935.

Month Otowi Bridge San Marcial

January 37,900 37,900

February 41,000 41,600

March 77,000 63,400

April 185,800 138,500

May 379,300 318,200

June 275,100 230,800

July 94,700 81,700

August 60,400 48,900

September 51,400 41,200

October 62,900 52,700

November 46,700 34,400

December 40,800 38,400

Total 1,353,000 1,127,700

Source: National Resources Committee 1938: 29

tion type, can be observed on east versus west sides of

north-south trending mountain ranges.

Like precipitation, temperatures vary greatly for diurnal, seasonal, annual, and longer periods. Average maximum temperatures, which usually occur in late June or

early July, range from 69o F at Cochiti Dam to 76o F at the

Bosque del Apache NWR. For the coldest month, January, the average annual temperature for Espanola is 31.9o

F, while at the Bosque del Apache NWR, it is 38.8o F

(Bennett 1986: 37; Crawford et al. 1993: 8–9; Table 8).

Another effect of topography is air movement or drainage. Cooler air warmed during the morning begins to rise

upslope or up canyon, usually by mid morning. Conversely, warm mountain air cools in the evening and night,

producing a downslope drainage or movement of cooler

air into valleys or onto canyon floors (Tuan et al. 1973:

69–70).

July is normally the warmest month in the study region, with average temperatures in the 70so F, and January is the coldest month, averaging in the 50so F (Table 8).

Mean monthly temperatures, however, vary far less from

year to year than does average monthly precipitation.

Daily temperature ranges average 30o–34o F. Summer

thunderstorms usually mitigate afternoon temperatures,

and rapid cooling, due to high elevations, occurs over

much of the region. Humidity averages less than 30 percent during the heat of the day, making even high summer temperatures relatively comfortable in the shade

(Bennett 1987: 34–36; Tuan et al. 1973: 69–72). Average

annual temperatures and maximum-minimum of temperatures for some representative stations in the study

region for 1991 and 1951–80 are shown in Tables 8 and 9.

Two kinds of frost, radiation and advection, occur in

New Mexico. The former, which occurs almost entirely at

night, is the most common, while the latter is more rare,

Table 8—Average annual temperatures (oF) for New Mexico, 1991.

Location January July Annual

Chama 18.6 61.5 40.4

Taos 20.3 67.0 45.7

Santa Fe (Santa Fe 2) 28.7 67.9 49.2

Espanola 31.9 72.4 52.7

Cuba n.d. 66.5 n.d.

Jemez Springs 31.0 69.7 51.1

Bernalillo n.d. n.d. n.d.

Albuquerque 35.7 76.9 56.8

Laguna n.d. 73.5 n.d.

Grants 27.3 71.2 50.5

Gran Quivira 34.3 71.3 53.7

Socorro 36.3 74.7 57.1

Bosque del Apache 38.8 77.3 58.3

n.d. = No data available.

Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 1991

Table 9—Average high and low temperatures (oF), 1951–1980.

Location High Low

Chama 88.8 –17.7

Taos 94.0 –14.5

Santa Fe 93.7 –4.4

Espanola 98.6 –9.0

Cuba 94.4 –14.8

Jemez Springs 96.3 –2.1

Bernalillo 102.4 –2.9

Albuquerque 100.8 3.6

Laguna n.d. n.d.

Grants n.d. n.d.

Gran Quivira 97.0 –2.4

Socorro 101.3 2.6

Bosque del Apache 103.3 1.7

n.d. = No data available.

Source: Bennett 1986: 38

but can occur any time and is the most dangerous. Radiation frost generally occurs on clear, windless, or nearly

so, nights when the air is dry. Cold air drainage into low

areas then can produce frost, causing damage to crops and

other vegetation. Duration is usually just a few hours

(Bennett 1987: 46–47).

Advection frost results from an unseasonable invasion

of cold, polar air masses, usually accompanied by strong

winds. Temperatures may remain low for many hours or

even a few days. Frost damage can be severe and widespread (Bennett 1987: 47).

In the Upper Basin the average frost-free, or growing,

period extends from early June to early September. To the

south, in the Socorro area of the Middle Basin, the frostfree period generally extends from late April to late October (Bennett 1986: 46–47; Crawford et al. 1993: 9). The av-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 17

erage annual number of frost-free days for 1951–80 are

shown in Table 10.

That central and northern New Mexico are part of the

“sun belt” is common knowledge. Insolation, or solar radiation, the total radiant energy from the sun that reaches

the ground, has significant effects on the environment and

human activity. The intensity of sunshine is greatest at

higher altitudes and in atmospheres of low humidity and

pollution levels. The region receives 70 to 80 percent of

possible sunshine, except in the higher mountains (Tuan

et al. 1973: 99–101). Plant growth, species distribution,

evaporation, solar heating of structures, and human health

are some of the environmental and cultural aspects determined or influenced by solar radiation.

Potential evaporation is two to five times greater than

precipitation amounts. This evaporation varies from 40

to more than 80 inches of water; the areas with the least

precipitation have the highest rates. Loss of water through

actual evaporation, less than that of potential evaporation, adversely impacts native vegetation, crops, runoff,

stream flows, lake levels, and ground water. Losses

through evaporation are obviously larger in summer than

in winter. Evaporation is influenced by many environmental factors, including solar radiation, air temperature, relative humidity, wind, water turbidity, water temperature,

soil texture, depth of water table, and vegetation (Bennett

1987: 48–49; Tuan et al. 1973: 112–115).

Wind, which constantly changes speed and direction,

is the least stable climatic element. Continental air masses,

local air drainage, ground cooling or heating, configurations of the terrain, and human structures affect surface

wind speed and direction. Convection heating usually

reaches its peak in the afternoon, causing the highest

winds. Average wind speeds for the region are 9.8 mph.

Although wind direction is highly variable, southeast

Table 10—Average annual number of frost–free days,

1951–1980.

Location Days

Chama 100

Taos 139

Santa Fe 164

Espanola 170

Cuba 120

Jemez Springs 173

Bernalillo 180

Albuquerque 191

Laguna 180

Grants 140

Gran Quivira 160

Socorro 195

Bosque del Apache 200

Truth or Consequences 228

Sources: Bennett 1986: 47; Tuan et al. 1973: 86–98

winds in summer and west winds in winter generally predominate (Bennett 1987: 50–51).

When winds reach 14 to 18 mph, small amounts of dust,

called dust streams, are picked up from the ground.

Higher winds of 20–30 mph result in mild dust storms.

Sustained winds of more than 45 mph may carry dust

more than 12,000 feet above the ground, with visibility

decreasing to a range of three-quarters to 2 miles. Spring

dust storms are more frequent than those of the other three

seasons; an average of five occur in April. Over a 16-year

period (1945–60) Albuquerque experienced a total of 364

days with some blowing dust, for an average of almost 23

occurrences per year (Tuan et al. 1973: 105–111).

CLIMATOLOGICAL HISTORY OF

ALBUQUERQUE: A CASE STUDY

Introduction

To document the variability and extreme ranges of the

Middle Rio Grande Basin’s historical and modern climate,

and to provide a “model” for researchers working with

the region’s eco-cultural resources, a somewhat detailed

discussion of Albuquerque’s climate, past and present, is

presented here. In addition to the references cited, a relatively large collection of documents on the city’s weather

may be found at the National Weather Service, National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Albuquerque

International Airport.

Albuquerque’s climate has been heralded, like that of

most of New Mexico, as one of its major attractions. Sizable populations of Native Americans adapted to the vagaries of the area’s climate in various ways, and the Pueblo

population in the Middle Rio Grande Valley at first European contact was higher than that of any other part of the

region at the time. This concentration was due in part to

available surface water for runoff and irrigation ditch

farming.

The Duke City’s abundant sunshine and low humidity,

extolled by journalists, promotionalists, and public officials, attracted thousands of midwesterners and easterners

to farm, ranch, retire, or be cured of various illnesses, primarily respiratory, from the 1880s to the 1930s. Tuberculosis, especially, brought many patients to the city’s sanitariums or convalescent homes during this period

(Simmons 1982: 343–346). The local climate has continued to be a major factor in attracting tourists and new

residents from out of state.

Albuquerque, located on the east side of the Rio Grande,

about halfway between the Colorado-New Mexico state

line and Elephant Butte Dam, has perhaps the best climatic documentation of any location in the study region.

Located on the Camino Real-Chihuahua Trail and a long

used east-west trail, Albuquerque was frequented by an

array of travelers, before and after European settlement
18 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

in 1706. Some of these individuals kept diaries or journals from which historical climatic information can be

gleaned. In 1850, a U.S. Army post was established here,

and military personnel recorded precipitation data for the

years 1850–67, 1878–79, and 1889–90. Precipitation records

were kept by various cooperative observers in the community from 1892 to January 1919; temperature recordings were begun in 1893. From September 1918 through

March 1931 precipitation and temperature data were collected at the University of New Mexico. Subsequently, a

“First Order Station” was established at the Kimo Building, then moved to the TWA West Mesa Airport on January 23, 1933, where a variety of weather observations were

made until July 1939. From here, the weather station

was moved to the Albuquerque municipal airport (now

international), where it has been maintained to date

(Gabin and Lesperance 1977: 11; Taft 1980: 1; Tuan et al.

1973: 11).

Additional climatic information for the historic period

is represented by area tree-ring and Middle Rio Grande

streamflow data. Recent tree-ring work in the Sandias and

Manzanos has added valuable data to information previously collected in the area (Baisan 1993, 1994). Streamflow

records for the river and tributaries also provide some

information, although the first gauging station in the

Middle Basin dates only to 1925 (USGS 1994).

Climatic Regime

Albuquerque’s climate has been characterized as continental plateau desert, with moderate temperatures and

arid to semi-arid precipitation ranges. Skies are generally

clear, solar radiation is high, precipitation and relative

humidity are low, and evaporation over water surfaces

is high. Diurnal-nocturnal and season-to-season temperature ranges are wide (Taft 1980: 1; Tuan et al. 1973: 185).

Its weather is determined largely by air mass movements

from outside the state and local topography. The invasion of air masses affects Albuquerque’s weather on a dayto-day, as well as a seasonal, basis. These occur as cold,

dry, polar continental air masses from Canada; cool, moist,

polar Pacific (north) air masses; hot, dry, tropical, continental air masses from Mexico and the far southwestern

United States; warm, moist, tropical air masses from the

Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean; or warm, moist, tropical

Pacific (south) air masses (Anderson 1961: 63–64). Vertical and horizontal air movement, radiation heating, and

precipitation between the Rio Grande Valley and the

Sandia Mountains is dynamic, causing rather dramatic

variations and differences in local climate.

Most of the winter and spring moisture comes from the

north Pacific Ocean, while the summer moisture originates

in the Gulf of Mexico. The air masses from Mexico and

the extreme southwestern part of the United States usually result in warm, dry weather. Extended cold periods

are brought by the cold, polar continental masses; some

snow can result if warm, moist air is replaced. Moist air

from the tropical Pacific usually contributes little to annual precipitation, although heavy rains of limited duration may result (Anderson 1961: 63–64).

Precipitation Variability

The amount of precipitation has been the most important climatic element affecting historic human activities

in and around Albuquerque. Precipitation may have been

higher during various periods in the first 250 years of the

historic period. Since 1890, precipitation has remained

relatively stable (Fig. 7). Extreme, long droughts occurred

in the Albuquerque area, however, during these earlier

periods, as well as in this century. Forty-five percent of

the year’s total moisture, or about 3.8 inches of moisture,

falls from early July to late September in thunderstorms,

which covers most of the growing season. For the remainder of this critical agricultural period, May through June,

farmers have generally depended on runoff from mountain snowpack upstream, which, even in some drought

years, was substantial enough to produce adequate crop

harvests through irrigation. An average snowfall of 11

inches, or 1.6 inches of moisture, has been recorded at local weather stations for the winters of 1850–1994. Only a

trace of snow was recorded in the years 1896 and 1950

(Bennett 1986: 52; Environmental Data Service 1977: 1;

Liles 1994: 35, 41; Von Eschen 1961: 5).

At the Tijeras Ranger Station, about 15 miles east of

Albuquerque, the annual mean precipitation is about 15

inches. At Sandia Crest, more than a mile above the

weather station at the airport, the average precipitation

has been about 25 inches. The greatest 24-hour snowfall,

some 30 inches, was recorded there on December 29, 1958

(Environmental Data Service 1977: 1; Taft 1980: 10, 20).

Of Albuquerque’s 12 wettest months, five occurred between 1852 and 1900, five between 1905 and 1933, and

two since this 1933. Seven of the 10 snowiest winters for

the period 1893–1994 occurred after 1957–58. The month

with the highest recorded snowfall was December 1959,

when 14.7 inches fell. The worst blizzard on record occurred March 22–25, 1957. The wettest 6-month period

was March-August 1858, when 14.4 inches of precipitation were recorded. The wettest spring was 1941, with 5.27

inches, and the wettest month ever, with 8.15 inches, occurred in June 1852 (Liles 1994: 6, 32, 41; Fig. 7).

November and January are the two driest months in

Albuquerque. Droughts in 1698–1704, 1714–34, 1748–57,

1770s, and 1805–13 had severe adverse impacts on the

area. There were crop failures, loss of livestock, and general hardship for the community and outlying ranches and

farms. For example, the dry conditions in spring 1862,

which resulted from below-normal precipitation over the

preceding 2 years, presented invading Union and Con-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 19

Figure 7—Annual precipitation in Albuquerque, 1896–1994.

federate armies with the problems of finding food and

water and keeping their horses and mules fit (Abert 1962:

71; Calvin 1968: 60, 70, 79; Simmons 1982: 85, 111, 179).

Droughts in the late 1800s-early 1900s, coupled with

increasing diversions of water from the Rio Grande,

caused water shortage problems for irrigation farmers in

the Albuquerque area. When the droughts “broke,” intense rainy periods usually followed, eroding the parched

and overgrazed ranges even more and causing destructive flash flooding. These events resulted in increasing

sedimentation in the river and its tributaries and waterlogging of floodplain soils (Harper et al. 1943: 31–39).

The driest 30-year period recorded for Albuquerque was

1941–70, when the annual mean was 7.77 inches. The average annual precipitation from 1892 to 1938 was 8.23

inches, and from 1892 to 1994 it was 8.46 inches (Liles

1994:9; Taft 1980: 1; Von Eschen 1961: 5; Fig. 7).

The 10 driest years for Albuquerque are shown in Table

11. Seven of these years occurred since 1900, and three

were recorded in the 1950–57 drought, the most severe

dry period in this century. The longest period of no meaTable 11—Ten driest years, Albuquerque, 1850–1994.

Year Precipitation (inches)

1917 3.29

1860 3.78

1861 3.81

1956 4.06

1922 4.09

1950 4.10

1856 4.15

1909 4.43

1954 4.51

1902 4.82

Source: Liles 1994: 9

surable precipitation was September 22, 1903, to January

9, 1904, or 110 days. The second longest was 109 days,

from January 31, 1902, to May 19, 1902. No precipitation

was recorded in the fall of 1858, the driest fall on record.

March 1956, was the driest month ever recorded for Albuquerque; November and January, however, are gener-
20 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

ally the two driest months (Liles 1994: 9; Taft 1980: 1; Tuan

et al. 1973: 107).

Relative humidity at Albuquerque is generally low, averaging about 43 percent annually. Diurnal range normally

varies from 58 percent in the cool morning hours to 30

percent during the highest temperatures during the day.

On abnormally hot days and in the spring and fall, relative humidity usually falls well below 20 percent. May

and June are the least humid months, averaging about 29

percent (Environmental Data Service 1977: 1; Taft 1980: 1;

Von Eschen 1961: 1).

Temperature Variability

As noted above, Albuquerque temperatures are characteristic of high altitude, arid, continental climates. In

addition to warm or cold air masses, Albuquerque’s temperature is affected by its varied topography, ranging from

about 4,900 feet elevation at the river valley to 10,678 feet

at Sandia Crest. Temperature inversion, cold or warm air

movement, and nocturnal radiation cooling are common

climatic phenomena experienced in the Albuquerque area

(Tuan et al. 1973: 69).

Seasonal temperature variations are distinct, with large

annual and diurnal temperature ranges, which are characteristic of the type of climate. Above-normal temperatures are associated with the drought periods. Tree-ring

data indicate that warming periods occurred during the

droughts in the 1780s–1790s and in 1815–22, for example

(Fritts 1991: 126, 152). There were also periods that were

cooler than 20th century temperature norms, such as the

period from 1833 to 1842 (Fritts 1991: 125).

Albuquerque’s average annual temperature for 1893–

1994 was 55.95o F; the average mean by decades for this

period is shown in Table 12. Summer temperatures are

moderate, and winter readings are relatively mild. Since

1893 the average spring temperature has been 55.2o F, the

Table 12—Average decadal temperatures, Albuquerque,

1893–1994.

Decade oF

1893–99 55.08

1900–09 55.80

1910–19 53.75

1920–29 55.40

1930–39 55.24

1940–49 56.53

1950–59 57.74

1960–69 56.06

1970–79 55.96

1980–89 56.75

1990–94 57.20

Average 55.95

Source: Liles 1994: 53

Table 13—Ten coldest years, Albuquerque, 1893–1994.

Years oF

1912 51.6

1913 51.8

1915 53.0

1917 53.4

1914 53.8

1930 53.8

1919 53.9

1929 54.0

1918 54.2

1933 54.2

Source: Liles 1994:53

summer 75.5o F, the fall 56.3o F, and the winter 36.7o F.

The hottest month, July, is the only month with an average high temperature above 90o F. From June through August, however, about 2 out of 3 days will have maximum

temperatures of 90o F or higher. The average high temperature in July at Sandia Crest is only 66o F (Environmental Data

Service 1977: 1; Liles 1994: 2, 53, 67–70; Von Eschen 1961: 5).

Daytime temperatures usually reach the mid 40so F in

January, the coldest month, and at night they usually fall

to the low 20so F (Von Eschen 1961: 5). The mean temperature in January is 34.7o F. The lowest temperature on

record, –17o F, occurred on January 7, 1971 (Taft 1980: 9).

Of the 10 coldest years since 1892, all occurred between

1911 and 1933. The coldest was in 1912, with a mean temperature of 51.6o F, and the tenth coldest was in 1933, with

54.2o F, the same as the ninth coldest year in 1918 (Table 13).

Normally, the coldest period for Albuquerque is December 28-January 16 (Liles 1994: 53, 70; Taft 1980: 7). The

average last freeze date in the spring is April 20, and the

first in the fall occurs on October 20. The average frostfree period is 203 days (Tuan et al. 1973: 88–89).

Albuquerque’s temperature trend since 1880, and probably from the beginning of the historic period, has been

upward (Table 12 and Fig. 8). The warmest year on record,

1954, had an average temperature of 55.9o F. The 1980s

were the hottest decade on record (Liles 1994: 52–53).

Five of the 10 warmest years for Albuquerque occurred

after 1977 (Liles 1994: 53). The longest severe heat wave

of 90o F or more occurred over 64 consecutive days in the

summer of 1980. There were nine consecutive days with

temperatures of 100oF or more during this period and a

total of 28 days on which the temperature reached or exceeded the century mark. The latest occurrence of a 100o

F day in a year was on September 5, 1979 (Taft 1979: 3).

The highest temperature ever recorded for Albuquerque

was 107o F, which occurred on June 27, 1994. Only 10 days

with 100o F or more occurred from 1893 to 1933. From

1934 to the present, Albuquerque has recorded 201 such

days, and more than half, 128 days, have occurred since 1972.

The second highest temperature recorded was 105o F on June

28, 1974 (Liles 1994: 1, 52, 83; Taft 1980: 13; Fig. 8).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 21

Figure 8—Annual mean temperatures in Albuquerque, 1896–1994.

Wind Direction and Speed

Wind direction and speed at Albuquerque are locally

affected by cool air drainage from the Sandias into the

valley and from higher mountains and mesas to the north,

down the valley. Warming of the air during the day causes

upslope winds along the west face of the range (Tuan et

al. 1973: 69). Local winds, which are sometimes turbulent, are common during summer thunderstorm activity.

Annually, measurable wind blows from the northwest

quadrant (i.e., west, northwest, or north) 42.1 percent of

the time and from the southeast quadrant, (southeast or

east) 41.9 percent of the time. Albuquerque’s winds blow

less than 8 mph 53.1 percent of the time, from 8 to 12 mph

26.4 percent of the time, from 13 to 18 mph 13.1 percent of

the time, and from 19 to 47+ mph 7.4 percent of the time

(Bennett 1986: 51).

Spring winds and dust storms are generally perceived

as Albuquerque’s only adverse climatic features. An average of five of these events occurs in April, the highest

for a month, but those in March last longer. These strong,

turbulent winds blow from the west across an area generally with scant or no vegetative cover, picking up soil particles and transporting them through westside developments and across the Rio Grande to older neighborhoods in

the city. Severe dust storms occur with the passage of a

cyclone with a sharp, cold front. These develop gradually

during daylight hours, reaching speeds of 45 mph or

higher by 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Dust may be carried to 12,000 feet

above the ground surface, reducing visibility to three-quarters of a mile (Bennett 1986: 50; Tuan et al. 1973: 105–107).

The worst such storms occur during hot, dry springs,

such as those of March and April 1862, when the activities of Confederate and Union troops were hampered by

blowing sand (Hall 1960: 121; Simmons 1982: 188). W.H.H.

Davis (1982: 53) described springs in Albuquerque as

sometimes having prevailing high winds, “when the sun

is almost obscured by the clouds of fine dust. . . .”

In more recent history, two substantial dust storms occurring over 3 days struck Albuquerque in mid March

1963. These storms preceded passage of a cold front;

strong, warm windy conditions existed. Winds of 30–40
22 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

mph with peak gusts of 50 mph and a high temperature

of 66o F were recorded at the weather service station on

March 15th, while winds on the Sandia Crest attained

speeds of 80 mph, with gusts exceeding 100 mph. With

passage of the cold front, the next day was clear and cool.

In the early afternoon of the following day, March 17th,

the temperature rose sharply, and the winds again gusted

to 30–40 mph, replicating meteorologically the storm of

March 15th (Tuan et al. 1973: 109).

Fall and early winter are the periods of least blowing

dust, with September having the fewest dust storms (Tuan

et al. 1973: 111). The strongest wind gusts have been recorded in the winter. On December 9, 1943, wind velocity

from the southeast at Albuquerque peaked at 90 mph. The

highest wind gust ever recorded occurred December 12–

13, 1987, 44 years later, at the base of the Sandia tramway.

Gusts up to 98 mph were measured in the city on January

18, 1990 (Liles 1994: 3; Taft 1980: 1). Dust storms recorded

for Albuquerque for 1945–60 are listed by month and severity in Table 14.

Solar Radiation

Solar radiation or “sunshine” directly affects temperature and produces in part some precipitation, snowmelt,

plant growth, evaporation, and wind. Sunshine also affects human health and tourism. Receiving about 76 percent of the potential insolation, Albuquerque is exposed

to a significant amount of solar radiation (Keen 1987: 150;

Table 14—Dust storms in Albuquerque, 1945–1960.

Storms classified

Total number of days

Month with blowing dust Severea Moderateb Lightc

January 14 4 3 7

February 26 7 11 8

March 44 15 12 17

April 75 18 21 36

May 55 2 8 45

June 56 5 6 45

July 38 1 2 35

August 10 0 1 9

September 8 0 2 6

October 15 0 5 10

November 13 1 2 10

December 10 3 3 4

Total 364 56 76 232

Average year 23 3 5 15

a Severe: Continuous blowing dust for 3 hours or more with visibility restricted to 1 mile or less at some time during the storm. b Moderate: Continuous blowing dust for 2 hours or with visibility

4 miles or less during the storm. c Light: All other dust storms during which visibility was restricted

to 6 miles or less.

Source: Tuan et al. 1973: 109, 111

Taft 1980: 15). From December 1961 to February 1964, some

sunshine was recorded every day (Tuan et al. 1973: 100).

This kind of solar exposure at Albuquerque’s mid latitude

and high elevation has resulted historically in a relatively

high incidence of skin and eye diseases. Melanoma and other

skin cancers have increased sharply in recent decades.

The maximum daily potential in hours of possible solar radiation varies from a low of 8.78 on winter solstice

to a high of 14.5 on summer solstice (Table 15).

Besides clouds, slope aspect determines the amount of

solar insolation reaching the ground, especially for northsouth oriented mountain ranges and deep valleys or canyons. For example, temperature differences between the

north and south slopes of the Sandia Mountains or

Embudo Canyon can be considerable. Prehistorically and

historically, this phenomenon was many times a determinant in the siting of communities, camp sites, houses, and

agricultural fields in this area (Scurlock 1982: 27–28, 41,

44, 100–101; Tuan et al. 1973: 68–69).

HISTORIC CLIMATE: OVERVIEW

AND RECONSTRUCTION,

1540–1980

Over the last 6 centuries the climatic regime of the

Middle Rio Grande Basin has remained relatively stable,

with no major changes in the various components that

make up weather. Episodic droughts and wet years characterize the variability of the region’s historic weather.

However, there were minor, but noticeable, climatic

changes that occurred between about 1450 and 1850, when

average temperature ranges were a few degrees below

post–1850 averages and snowfall somewhat greater. A

number of early explorers, priests, and Hispanic settlers,

Table 15—Sunrise and sunset at or near equinoxes and solstices.a

Date Time

March 21 (spring equinox)

Sunrise 7:15 a.m.

Sunset 5:06 p.m.

June 21 (summer solstice)

Sunrise 4:53 a.m.

Sunset 7:24 p.m.

September 21 (autumn equinox)

Sunrise 5:53 a.m.

Sunset 6:05 p.m.

December 21 (winter solstice)

Sunrise 7:11 a.m.

Sunset 4:58 p.m.

a Actual dates can fall on the 22nd or 23rd as well.

Source: Taft 1980: 18
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 23

as well as a few early Anglo Americans in New Mexico,

wrote about the long, cold winters of this period. This

generally colder period, known as the “Little Ice Age,”

was a worldwide event (Crawford et al. 1993: 15; Lamb

1977: 454–473; Swan 1977: 29–36). For example, Fray

Benavides in 1630 observed that the winters were “very

rigorous” and with “so many snows, frosts, and cold,”

causing the rivers and other surface waters to freeze solid.

Interestingly, he found the summer heat more “intolerable,” however, than the winter cold (Ayer 1965: 37, 39).

In 1844, near the end of this period, Josiah Gregg (1966,

I: 146–147) wrote the following about the weather:

Salubrity of climate is decidedly the most interesting feature in the character of New Mexico.

Nowhere, not even under the much boasted Sicilian skies, can a purer or a more wholesome

atmosphere be found.

From the late 19th century to today there has been a

general warming of a few degrees Fahrenheit over the

study region, making the dry climate even more attractive to a variety of residents and visitors, especially those

with respiratory ailments. In 1903 a University of New

Mexico climatological researcher (Weinzirl 1903: 9) expressed his view of New Mexico’s weather as related to

human health:

That more equable climates can be found than

that of New Mexico is certain. That warmer climates or cooler summer climates are available is

equally true. But it will indeed be difficult to find

an all-around, all-year climate which at the same

time affords so many of the desirable factors required by the invalid, viz., an abundance of sunshine, a dry atmosphere, plenty of pure air, and

a considerable altitude.

The following overview, a chronological reconstruction

of the historical climate for the Middle and Upper Rio

Grande basins, is based on tree-ring and stream runoff

data, scientific weather records, and anecdotal observations. Dendrochronology for the region is reasonably

good, but there are few or no data available for many specific locations. In some instances anecdotal data have been

combined with local or regional dendrochronology sites

to interpret the seasonal or annual weather for a particular location. Weather data recorded by scientific instruments began in late 1849, but this collected information

varies in reliability until late in the century. Many early

recording stations were forts or military garrisons and

were abandoned, so continuous records to the present do

not exist. A few locales, such as Santa Fe and Albuquerque, have reliable, continuous records extending for more

than a century (table 1). Stream-flow records for regional

rivers began in 1888, when the U.S. Geological Survey

(USGS) established the first such station at Embudo. Most

of the continuous records are from post 1900. The most

reliable reconstruction of the historical climate is therefore from 1888 to the present.

Early Colonial, 1540–1680

When the first Spaniards, led by Francisco Vasquez de

Coronado, arrived in the Middle Rio Grande Valley in

December 1540, the region was in the grips of what some

researchers have called the Little Ice Age. This generally

cold period began about 1430–50 and lasted until the mid

1800s, and was periodically marked by temperatures 1.8

to 3.6o F below 20th century means (Fritts 1991: 175, 189–

192; Lamb 1977: 454–473; Swan 1977: 29–36). Some investigators (Fritts 1991; Jones and Bradley 1992) suggested

that the term Little Ice Age is misleading, in that there is

little evidence of abnormally colder temperatures during

this period.

An increase in moisture, perhaps from long winter

snowfalls, in the first 2 decades of the 15th century is indicated by various tree-ring studies. This factor probably

favored Pueblo populations, primarily dependent on corn,

beans, and squash as staples, but floods caused by runoff

from deep snowpacks and periodic droughts forced the

abandonment of some villages, with relocation to higher

sites with new farmlands (D’Arrigo and Jacoby 1991: 95,

98; Gunnerson 1974: 132; Schoenwetter and Dittert 1968:

46; Stuart 1985: 96). During periods of lower temperatures,

shortened growing seasons may have resulted in diminished crop harvests.

Periodic droughts, accompanied by warmer temperatures, did occur, of course, over these 3 centuries, as they

have over the last 146 years. Just prior to the Spanish arrival, droughts struck in 1525 and 1533–35. These dry years

have recently been termed “La Nina.” An “El Nino “ year,

or an exceptionally wet period, occurred in 1531–32; such

years are caused by the early winter appearance of anomalously warm surface water along the coast of Ecuador and

Peru (Table 16). This warm water apparently interacts with

the atmosphere to produce increased moisture content.

Associated with this event is a west-to-east flow of this

moist air over North America known as the Southern

Oscillation. In La Nina years, the opposite effects occur

(Ellis 1974: 231; Leighly 1963: 67–68; Quinn et al. 1987:

14449–14450, 14453).

The heavy snowfall of late 1540, which caused suffering among the Coronado expedition members, actually

began in late October near Zuni Pueblo. Snowfall accumulations resulted in depths of 18 inches from there to

the Tiguex villages in the Bernalillo area. Snowfall occurred at Taos Pueblo for six consecutive months in 1540–

41, and snow fell almost every day in January and February at the Tiguex villages. The surface of the Rio Grande
24 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Table 16—El Nino years.

Year Year Year Year

1525–26 1660 1791 1906–07

1531–32 1671 1803–04 1911–12

1539–41 1681 1814 1915

1552 1687–88 1815–16 1917

1567–68 1701 1828 1925–26

1574 1714–15 1844–45 1932

1578 1717–18 1864–65 1937

1591–92 1720 1871 1940–41

1607 1728 1877–78 1952

1614 1746 1884 1958

1618–19 1747 1886 winter 1972–73

1624 1761 1891 1982–83

1634 1775 1899–1900 1985

1652 1785–86 1905 winter 1986–87

Sources: Crawford et al. 1993: 16; Quinn et al. 1987: 14450–14451

was frozen solid and remained so until May. Runoff from

the deep snowpack caused severe flooding in the late

spring-early summer (Bancroft 1989: 56, 59; Bolton 1964:

204–205, 213–214, 216; Hodge 1946: 204–211, 316).

Tree-ring data indicate that a drought occurred in 1542,

probably in the summer. Apparently summers were generally dry, but winters remained long and cold throughout the remainder of the century. The 1550s generally were

wet, with above-average precipitation. Precipitation was

below normal for the period 1560–93; the years 1552, 1567–

68, 1574, and 1578 were exceptionally wet (Bradley 1976:

216–217; Ellis 1974: 231–232; Fritts 1965: 432; Ladurie 1971:

30–31, 285; Quinn et al. 1987: 14450; Reher 1972: 216–217;

Schroeder 1972: 48).

During this period, some Pueblo villages were abandoned along the Rio Grande, Rio Chama, and Galisteo

basin, and populations moved to higher elevations in

some instances. Severe winters no doubt had an adverse

effect on the Pueblos, as they did on the Spanish entradas

of January 1581 and the winters of 1581–82, January-March

1583, and the winter of 1590–91. Deep snows, below-normal temperatures, and frozen streams were the main problems experienced by Spaniards on these expeditions

(Bolton 1946: 178; Hammond and Rey 1966: 62, 106–107,

137, 170, 206, 284; Sanchez 1987: 34, 38, 46–47; Schroeder

and Matson 1965: 73, 103, 110, 123, 124, 145, 148, 152, 154;

Fig. 8). Santo Domingo Pueblo was flooded in the spring

of 1591, no doubt due to high runoff from the melting of

the deep snowpack (White 1935: 12).

The winter of 1597–98 and the summer of 1598 were

dry, followed by another severe winter, both of which

adversely affected the first Spanish colonists of New

Mexico as they were led up the Rio Grande from El Paso

to San Juan Pueblo by Juan de Onate. By late October,

area snows began, and this and the next two winters were

long and severe (Baisan 1994: 2). One of Onate’s soldiers

commented, “The cold is so intense that the rivers freeze

over, and it snows most of the time during the winter,

which lasts eight long months” (Baisan 1994: 2; Simmons

1991: 101–105, 109, 111, 118, 125, 127, 158). Partly due to

the dry summers and harsh winters of the next few years,

Apaches and Navajos began to raid the Pueblo and Spanish villages for food. The Jemez, Keres, and Tewa pueblos

were forced to move to more environmentally advantageous sites (Schroeder 1968: 298, 1972: 48).

Precipitation was below normal and temperatures

above normal from 1602 to 1609, except for the El Nino

year of 1607. Probably due to environmental stress caused

by this extended drought, the Querechos (Apaches?)

raided from their mountain strongholds in the basin. The

next decade was wet; 1614 and 1618–19 were El Nino

years. The following decade, 1620–1629, was a dry period, as was the next, except for 1634, an El Nino year.

Famine among the Pueblos was widespread, especially

in the Salinas Province. Apache raids, also caused in part

by the severe drought, which extended onto the Southern

Plains, were frequent and intense. Hostilities between the

Jemez Pueblos and Navajos and Apaches also ensued. And

as in the early part of the century, winters were harsh.

Custos Alonso Benavides wrote about New Mexico’s

weather in 1630:

The temperature is by extremes: for the winter is

very rigorous and of so many snows, frosts and

cold [snaps] that all the rivers, sloughs, and even

the Rio del Norte freeze. . . . And so every winter

many Indians are frozen in the country, and

many Spaniards have their ears, feet, and hands

frozen. And on the contrary, in summer the heat

is more intolerable than the cold in winter (Ayer

1965: 39).

Another priest also noted that winters in the 1610s–

1620s brought deep snows and very cold temperatures.

Fray Salmeron described these seasons as “cold and

healthful,” but noted the heat “is more intolerable than

the cold” in the summer. Tree-ring evidence for warmer

summers has been collected (Ayer 1965: 39; Fritts 1991:

133, 141, 190; Hackett 1937: 109, 119–120; Milich 1966: 55,

57; Quinn et al. 1987: 14450; Schroeder 1968: 298; Vivian

1964: 153).

The years 1641–50 brought increased rainfall and perhaps the lowest temperatures of the Little Ice Age, but the

heat and dryness returned after 1650 (Eddy 1976: 1189,

1199; Ladurie 1971: 30, 32; Fritts 1991: 190). By 1658

drought-generated famine had impacted the Pueblos, and

the Piro began to abandon villages from below modern

Belen to San Marcial. Again, the plains and mountain

Apaches were stressed by drought conditions, and they

brought their own children and slaves to the pueblos to

trade. By the summer of 1659 the Pueblos and Spaniards
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 25

were forced to eat grass seeds, herbs, bran, “spinach”

(quelites?), and green barley. The severe aridness and heat

extended into the next decade, resulting in more nomadic

raids, starvation, and an increased death rate, resulting

in an estimated population decline from 40,000 Native

Americans in 1638 to 17,000 in 1671 (Forbes 1960: 151, 159–

161; Gutierrez 1991: 119; Hackett 1937: 17, 142, 162; John

1975: 92; Loomis and Nasatir 1967: 17; Reeve 1957: 48–50;

Vivian 1964: 153).

The drought continued through the 1660s, bringing

more starvation and unrest. Salinas Province was the hardest hit, while drought conditions in the Santa Fe-Pecos

area were not so severe (Fairchild-Parks et al. 1995: 10).

Compounding the suffering and loss of Native American

and Spanish lives was the outbreak of an epidemic in the

region (Forbes 1960: 159, 161: Hackett 1937: 17; John 1975:

92; Reeve 1957: 48; Schroeder 1968: 297; Simmons 1979: 184;

Vivian 1964: 3, 153). By 1670 the Piro and Salinas pueblos

were experiencing possibly the worst drought in the Spanish Colonial period (Fairchild-Parks et al. 1995: 10).

Perhaps by this time the Pueblos began to believe that

Catholicism did not ensure an orderly and productive

progression of the seasons with attendant precipitation,

as their own religion did. “Sorcery” and other native rituals may have increased at this time. Attempted suppression of native religion, ongoing since early Spanish colonization, was increased. Some 47 “Pueblo witches” were

apprehended at San Juan Pueblo in 1675; a few were

hanged and others were flogged. One of those flogged

was Pope, a major leader in the revolt that occurred 5 years

later (Anderson 1985: 369; deBuys 1985: 51; Sando 1992:

63; Tainter and Levine 1987: 86).

The ongoing drought and interrelated famine and

raids were a major cause of the Pueblo Revolt of August

1680 (Loomis and Nasatir 1967: 17; Schroeder 1968: 297).

An epidemic made the situation worse in the early 1670s,

and the Apache and Navajo raids continued at an intense

level. Tompiro and Piro pueblos were depopulated and

before the end of the decade totally abandoned (Fig. 9).

Punitive raids by the Spanish against the raiders exacerFigure 9—Cochiti Pueblo in snow. Photo by T.H. Parkhurst, courtesy Museum of New Mexico (negative no. 12311).
26 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

bated the general decline of the Pueblo-Apache-Navajo

relationship.

Climate played a crucial role in the revolt. Pope and

other Pueblo leaders noted that the winter snowfall of late

1679-early 1680 on the mountains of the Upper Rio Grande

Basin was heavy. They also observed that spring temperatures were cool, delaying snowpack melt until the summer.

These factors, they believed, would result in an abnormally

major and late flood, which would delay the arrival of the

supply caravan at the El Paso del Norte crossing of the river.

So they set the date of the revolt in early August. These planners were proved to be correct in their predictions of this

environmental event. The supply train was not only delayed

in August but also until Spanish refugees fleeing from the

revolt made their way downriver to the ford in mid September (Bailey 1980: 58–59; Correll 1976: 16; Forbes 1960: 167–

168; Grinde and Johansen 1995: 67–68, 72; Gunnerson 1974:

98; Gutierrez 1991: 130; Hackett 1937: 17; Kessell 1979: 212;

Reeve 1957: 48). The revolt of 1680 temporarily ended the

Spanish oppression, as they were driven south to El Paso.

Middle-Late Colonial, 1681–1821

A flood along the lower Rio Grande resulted from a

heavy snowpack to the north during the summer of the

revolt, but drought once again appeared the following year

and persisted until the El Nino of 1687–88. The customary elevated temperatures accompanied the drier conditions (Baisan 1994: 2; Ellis 1974: 233; Quinn et al. 1987:

14450). Due partly to the stress of the drought, the Pueblo

alliance of 1680 disintegrated, and the Spaniards and

their allies at El Paso suffered as well. The now familiar

pattern of nomadic raids against Indian and Spanish farm

villages in the area resumed. Winters remained severe,

with heavy snows and very cold temperatures (Bancroft

1889: 184–185; Beck 1962: 82, 85; Ellis 1956: 29; Espinosa

1940: 170; Folsom 1989: 121; Fritts 1991: 125; Gutierrez

1991: 139; Hackett and Shelby 1942: 321, 337, 351, 354, 362–

365; Quinn et al. 1987: 14450; Simmons 1977: 73).

An extended winter storm in late 1681 indicates how

severe the weather was at the time, hampering the activities of the Spanish army under Governor Otermin.

Rain, snow, and high winds struck the area from Isleta

to Alameda on the morning of December 10, and then

snow fell all day. On the night of the 11th there was an

intense sleet storm, and temperatures were low. This bitter cold continued on December 12 and through the morning of the 13th. At this time a “fierce storm of large hail”

accompanied by strong winds occurred. On the 14th, rain

and snow fell, with a continuance of cold temperatures

and high winds. The snow persisted through the night

and into the next morning, “the earth being everywhere invisible and much snow still falling.” The weather

moderated some later in the day, and on the 17th the

sky cleared. A cold, north wind blew, however, on the

18th of December (Hackett and Shelby 1942: 22–224, 227–

231).

Diego de Vargas assumed command of the Spanish

military and colonists at El Paso in early 1691, and he

found them in deplorable condition. When he led a reconquest expedition up the Rio Grande in October of the

next year, his army was hampered by rain and snow, which

made bad roads even worse. Vargas described New Mexico’s

climate as “so very cold with abundant snow and rain and

such heavy frost and freezes...” (Kessell et al. 1995: 110).

Campaigning again from El Paso against the northern

Pueblos in December 1693, Vargas and his troops suffered

in the deep snow and cold temperatures. In late 1694 and

1696, campaigns by Vargas again were hampered by snow

and cold. In the latter year, drought conditions returned,

and crop and livestock losses were high; an infestation of

worms adversely affected the harvest as well. Most of the

northern Pueblos revolted during this year, and some Rio

Grande Pueblo residents sought refuge from the weather at

Acoma and Laguna. Tree-ring data indicate a cooler period

over most of the decade (Bailey 1940: 95; Bancroft 1889: 214–

215; Beck 1962: 88; Ellis 1974: 397; Espinosa 1942: 151–154;

Fritts 1991: 125; Simmons 1982: 85; Twitchell 1963, I: 391).

Drought continued from 1698 into the first decade of

the 18th century. Conditions among the Pueblos and Spanish were again worsened by epidemic diseases and raiding by Apaches and Navajo, partly due to the drought.

Precipitation fell mainly in the form of snow in winter

and as rain in the El Nino year of 1701. The harsh winters

of 1704 and 1706 and the drought of 1707 caused suffering among the Spanish and Pueblos. Navajos began to

raid settlements in 1707. Travel was again hindered by

winter snows during this period (Adams 1954: 47, 65, 105;

Baxter 1987: 21; Brugge 1979: 113–114; Ellis 1974: 397; Fritts

1991: 125, 127; Hackett 1937: 375; Kelley 1952: 384; Minge

1976: 32; Quinn et al. 1987: 14450; Simmons 1980: 194).

An El Nino year was experienced in 1714–15 according

to one source, but another suggests a dry period occurred

in 1714–17 (Ellis 1974: 234; Quinn et al. 1987: 14450). At

least one crop failure took place, and forest fire frequency

was above normal. In the late years of the decade, wetter

conditions and warmer temperatures prevailed, except for

below-normal rainfall in the summer. An El Nino year

occurred in 1720 (Baisan 1994: 3; Fritts 1991: 127, 148, 190;

Simmons 1982: 111; Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1019).

The decade of the 1720s was generally dry, except for

the El Nino year of 1728. Warmer temperatures continued until about 1726. What the specific weather conditions were throughout the late 1720s and early 1730s is

not known, however, dry conditions probably prevailed.

Tree-ring data indicate that precipitation was below normal from 1734 to 1739. Tree-ring data from the Sevilleta

National Wildlife Refuge indicate that the 1730s–40s was

the worst drought period since the late 1500s (FairchildPark et al. 1995: 8). A Rio Grande flood, which destroyed
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 27

the church of upper Bernalillo in 1735, may have been the

result of runoff from a deep snowpack to the north or an

intense local rain. At this time and place, the Rio Grande

channel began to move westward (Ellis 1974: 234; Fritts

1991: 134; Quinn et al. 1987: 14450; Snow 1976: 172–175).

A major flood occurred along the Rio Grande in 1741,

and floods on the north bank of the Chama in the Abiquiu

area forced Spanish settlers to move to the south bank.

Precipitation was above normal in 1745–47, with an occurrence of an El Nino in 1747. The following year a severe drought began, and wildfires were much above normal. In 1752 the Rio Grande was dry for its entire reach in

the region. Temperatures were moderately warmer during this period, especially in the drought years of 1755–

57 (Adams 1954: 43, 71; Baisan 1993: 3; Fritts 1991: 127,

134; Pattie 1966: 268; Tuan et al. 1973: 56).

The Rio Grande flooded almost every year from 1753

to 1760. The river topped its banks several times in 1760

and ran “full” throughout the year. The following year

was an El Nino year. Several severe floods occurred along

the river, especially in the Santa Fe, Belen, and Tome areas; the Rio Grande channel moved eastward at the latter

two settlements. Temperatures for the entire decade were

below normal (Adams 1954: 43, 71; Fritts 1991: 126, 150;

Gerald 1974: 151–152; Kessell 1980: 150; Quinn et al. 1987:

14450; Snow 1976: 172–175; Tuan et al. 1973: 56).

One of the severest droughts of the colonial period

struck the region from 1772 until about 1785. There was

general crop failure and a marked decrease in wild plant

and animal populations. Navajo, Apache, and Comanche

raids increased sharply because of the environmental

stress. El Nino rains fell in 1775, and crop harvests were

good at Taos Pueblo. Drought conditions returned for the

last half of the decade; springs and creeks reportedly

ceased flowing. Some residents ate cow and oxen hides,

leather shoes, and saddles. A smallpox epidemic struck

the region in 1780, which, combined with the drought,

killed some 5,025 Pueblo Indians. A number of Pueblo and

nomadic Indians moved into other Pueblo or Spanish villages (Adams and Chavez 1956: 112, 175, 194, 213, 215,

217; Bodine 1979: 256; D’Arrigo and Jacoby 1991: 95, 97–

98; Fritts 1991: 127; Gutierrez 1991: 372; Hewett et al. 1913:

48; Hodge 1929: 26; John 1975: 474; Jones 1966: 133–134,

150–156; Kenner 1969: 48–49; Kessell 1979: 347; Simmons

1979: 190; Workers of the Writer’s Program 1940: 69).

Although the drought persisted, an above-normal

spring runoff, probably due to a heavy snowpack in the

Rio Grande headwaters, caused flooding at San Felipe and

other Rio Grande pueblos in 1780–81. The lake near Laguna Pueblo was dry for most of the year in 1782, except

in the spring, when it filled with runoff water from the

San Mateo Mountains. By 1785 forest fire frequency in

the region was above normal due to dry conditions, but

these changed later in the year due to an El Nino event.

Temperatures generally were warm over the decade (Fritts

1991: 126, 151; Kessell 1980: 132; Quinn et al. 1987: 14450;

Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1019; Thomas 1932: 103).

In 1791 there were El Nino conditions; the winter of

1792–93 was also wet. Temperatures over the next 20 years

continued generally warm. High temperatures caused the

deaths of some horses in 1801. Irrigation water saved crops

during the drought year of 1803; an El Nino year followed,

temporarily ending the drought. Dry conditions returned,

however, and persisted until 1813. An El Nino year followed in 1814, and severe, long winters began in this year

and extended over the next few years. The remainder of

the decade and into the early 1820s were dry, causing hardship for people and their livestock. Wildfires were common in 1818–19 and 1822 (Baisan 1994: 3; Bancroft 1889:

302; Baxter 1987: 77; Denevan 1967: 701; Ellis 1974: 235;

Fritts 1991: 128, 151–152; Gunnerson 1974: 284; Quinn et

al. 1987: 14450; Simmons 1983: 6–8; 1991: 70–71).

Mexican-Territorial, 1821–1912

In 1822–23, at the end of the drought, major flooding

occurred along the Rio Grande from Bernalillo to El Paso

(Bowden 1971: 94; Carter 1953: 4, 19). A major flood on

the river, perhaps due to deep snowpack, occurred in 1823

(Lange et al. 1975: 73). Rainfall was below normal in 1824–

25. Precipitation increased, beginning in 1827; an El Nino

year occurred in 1828. Perhaps the largest flood on the

Rio Grande during the historic period, estimated at

100,000 cfs, inundated the entire valley below Albuquerque in 1828. Among the widespread flood damage was

the destruction of the church at Socorro. Temperatures

were abnormally cold during this period; one source noted

that New Mexicans had to spend 6 months of every year

indoors due to the cold. Tree-ring data in the northern

part of the region indicate below-normal precipitation

(Baisan 1994: 3; Burrus 1984: 148; Carroll and Haggard 1942:

40; Fritts 1991: 154; Ellis 1974: 235; Quinn et al. 1987: 14450).

In 1830 another major flood occurred along the Rio

Grande, destroying property in the region. The decade

was not only a wet one, but also temperatures were the

coldest in the historic period. The winters of 1831 and 1832

were bitterly cold with deep snows. One source reported

that loaded wagons could cross over ice on streams. There

was some loss of human life and major losses of livestock

(Bailey and Carroll 1942: 24–25; Barreiro 1928: 11–12;

D’Arrigo and Jacoby 1992: 243, 251; Fritts 1991: 128–129,

154; Gregg 1966, I: 147–148). Forest and grass fires were

below normal, probably due to the above-normal precipitation (Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1019).

Drier conditions began in 1841 and prevailed into the

early 1850s. Probably as a result of this drought, nomadic

groups increased their raiding on villages, herds, and

fields along the Rio Grande (Bayer et al. 1994: 115–116).

The El Nino year of 1844–45 brought some relief, but the

drought returned. The years 1845–47 were perhaps the
28 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

driest period in the last 5 centuries. In 1847 forest fire frequency was above normal, as was the case in 1851. Streams

dried up, there were dust storms, and temperatures were

above normal over much of the period. Nomadic Indian

raiding intensified in 1852–53, both dry years (Horgan

1954, I: 831). Heavy snow and cold temperatures occurred

in northern New Mexico in the winter of 1846–47 (Abert

1962: 141–148; Bloom 1914: 37–38; Denevan 1967: 701; Ellis

1974: 235; Fritts 1965: 438–442; 1991: 128, 129, 134, 155;

Quinn et al. 1987: 14451; Schroeder 1963: 12; Swann 1977:

31; Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1019; Tiller 1992: 43).

Precipitation was substantially above normal in 1854–

55, causing disastrous flooding over much of the region.

The Rio Abajo and Rio Arriba experienced relatively severe property damage. A major sandstorm struck Casa

Colorado in early May 1855, and there was a relatively

heavy snowfall and cold temperatures in the AlgodonesSanta Fe area in the late fall-early winter of 1856. Floods

also occurred in 1856 and 1857. An extended drought hit

the region in 1859–65. A major flood in 1862, probably

caused by runoff from a deep snowpack, inundated much

of the Rio Grande Valley from Albuquerque south; structures and crops were damaged or destroyed (Barbour

1990: 95, 97, 105, 106–107, 109, 115; Baisan 1994: 3; Beadle

1973: 514–515; Davis 1982: 298–299, 359–360; Espinosa and

Chavez n.d.: 146; Fritts 1991: 156; Heyman 1951: 49–50;

Lange and Riley 1970: 14; Loew 1875: 133; Sonnichsen

1980: 9; Tuan et al. 1973: 57). Cold winter weather was

experienced in January and February 1861, and March

brought at least one severe dust storm. Later in the year,

the Rio Grande was dry from Socorro to below El Paso.

Continuing drought conditions caused the Navajo to

raid Acoma and other pueblos for agricultural produce

in the early 1860s. The dry conditions and warm temperatures continued, and a severe winter in 1863–64 caused

hardship for the Navajos, who had been continually beleaguered by the U.S. Army. Some 8,000 surrendered during this period. Snowfall was heavy in the El Nino year of

1864. The next winter was also snowy and cold; late spring

frosts killed the buds and flowers of fruit trees regionwide.

Floods caused by snowmelt runoff resulted in major flooding from Bernalillo south, destroying crops and forcing

valley residents to move to higher ground. Above-normal precipitation caused more flooding in 1866–70; the

Rio Grande shifted its channel in some Rio Abajo locations at this time. Winters continued to be cold, causing

hardship and some deaths (Armstrong 1988: 60–63;

Browne 1973: 70–71; Carter 1953: 64; Ellis 1974: 235; Fritts

1991: 134, 191; Keleher 1982: 382–383; McKeta 1982: 56–

57; Miller 1989: 95, 201, 217–218; Quinn et al. 1987: 14451;

Scurlock 1982: 12; Simmons 1982: 179, 194, 195; Sonnichsen

1980: 9, 182; Tiller 1992: 71, 73; Wozniak 1987).

The years 1870–71 were wet; the latter was an El Nino

year. Generally dry conditions prevailed in southern New

Mexico in 1871 and from 1873 to 1880 across the entire

region. Floods occurred in the Middle Valley in the springs

of 1871 and 1872 and on the Chama and Rio Grande in

the spring and summer of 1874, due to spring runoff from

the northern snowpack. The summer of 1877 was one of

below-normal rainfall. An El Nino year occurred in late

1877–78, and heavy snowfalls in the winter caused the

loss of more than 20 percent of the sheep in the region.

Below-normal precipitation followed for 2 years, according to tree-ring data. Drought severely impacted the livestock and railroad industries during this time, and forest

fires were above normal in 1879. Temperatures generally

were above average. The combination of drought, intense

local rains, and overgrazing probably caused severe erosion (Baisan 1994: 3; Bancroft 1889: 739–740, 768; Biebel

1988, I: 138; Carter 1953: 9–10, 44, 73; Denevan 1967: 701;

Eisenstadt 1980: 13; Fergusson 1951: 356; Fritts 1991: 129,

157; Gordon et al. 1974: 98; Miller 1989: 100–101, 103;

Nanninga 1982: 99; Quinn et al. 1987: 14451; Simmons 1982:

204, 208; Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1019; Fig. 10).

The summer of 1880 was rainy in northern New Mexico,

but drought prevailed elsewhere. The Rio Puerco flooded,

and 2 years later the lower Santa Fe River flooded on July

13 (Lange and Riley 1966: 339; Quinn et al. 1987: 14451;

USGS 1994). Dry conditions generally continued over the

region until 1891, causing losses for ranchers and farmers. Due to the drought and increased upstream use of

water, flow of the Rio Grande became more intermittent.

Overstocking and severe winters contributed to these

losses, and associated heavy snowfall produced major

runoff flooding in the springs of 1884, 1885, and 1886; a

flood also occurred in late summer 1886. Damage to villages, fields and crops, and the railroad was generally

extensive (Adams and Chavez 1956: 131, 137; Bancroft

1889: 768; Barry and Bradley 1972: 295; Batchen 1972: 69;

Baydo 1970: 134; Brugge 1980: 92, 94, 104; Carter 1953:

16–21, 29–31, 117, 187, 228; Chappell 1969: 15; Clark 1978:

89; Denevan 1967: 701; Ensign 1888: 142, 145, 147; Follett

1898: 3; Gordon et al. 1974: 93–95, 98; Kessell 1980: 92,

130–131, 183; Lange and Riley 1966: 248, 316, 331–332;

Minge 1976: 71; Oppenheimer 1962: 30–31, 33, 36;

Rothman 1989: 200–202; Sonnichsen 1980: 20; Taylor 1989: 4).

Drought conditions continued into the early 1890s according to several sources, but other sources indicate 1891

was a wet year (Brown 1983: 41; Minge 1976: 72; Quinn et

al. 1987: 14451). A May flood damaged parts of Valencia

and Los Lunas. The generally dry weather during the

period adversely impacted the ranching, farming, and

railroad industries. Below-average precipitation was recorded for the mid to late 1890s as well, except for the

Middle Rio Grande Valley in 1897, which was wet. The

river was intermittently dry during this period (Fig. 10).

Due to the drought, an embargo on permitting new irrigation in the Upper Rio Grande was imposed by the Territorial Engineer. A moderate flood did occur on the lower

Jemez River (Baisan 1994: 3; Baydo 1970: 224–228; Carter
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 29

Figure 10—Dry Rio Grande riverbed near Los Lunas, 1987.

Photo by author.

1953: 315–316, 331; Cooper 1960: 135; D’Arrigo and Jacoby

1991: 95, 97; Ellis 1974: 235; Follett 1898: 90; Fritts 1991:

157; Gatewood et al. 1964: B13; Humphrey 1987: 420; Thomas 1963a: H16; Thomas et al. 1963: D4; Tiller 1992: 130;

Tuan et al. 1973: 58; USGS 1994; Westphall 1965: 92–93).

The drought continued into the early years of the 20th

century. Extremely dry conditions caused starvation

among cattle herds in New Mexico (Branson 1985: 16).

Flooding was experienced at Alameda in 1903, however,

due to snowpack runoff or intense local rain. The year

1904 was a La Nina year, but western and northern New

Mexico were hit with heavy rains in late September 1904,

resulting in widespread flooding. A major flood occurred

at this time along the Rio Grande, destroying almost all

of the field crops, vineyards, and orchards. Another Rio

Grande flood, this one less serious, occurred in 1905; it

probably was caused by a heavy winter snowpack. Topsoil losses were generally severe during this period. Precipitation was above normal in 1906 and part of 1907, followed by a major drought in central New Mexico in late

1907–10. Regionally, however, based on tree-ring evidence,

1907–16 were wet and cool. Weather records showed precipitation to be below normal for 1910 (Anonymous 1905:

1; Barker 1953: 191–193; Beal and Gold 1987: 99; Clark

1987: 171, 205; Crawford et al. 1993: 18; Fritts 1991: 159–

160; Grubbs 1961: 287–288; Manthey 1972: 8; Murphy 1905:

149; Sargeant 1987: 36; Sargeant and Davis 1986: 105–106;

Simmons 1988: 12; Tuan et al. 1973: 57–59; Workers of the

Writer’s Program 1940: 79).

Precipitation in 1911 was above average, and the average annual flow of the Rio Grande at the Otowi Bridge

gauging station exceeded the high flows of 1897, 1904,

and 1905. San Marcial property was damaged by a flood

in 1911 (Beal and Gold 1987: 125; Calkins 1937: 7–8). Good

crops were harvested statewide.

Statehood, 1912–1980

The first 3 years of this period, 1912–14, were also wet.

The winter of 1914–15 was severe in the Jemez Mountains

area; sheep ranchers suffered heavy losses. A heavy snowpack in the winter of 1915–16 resulted in above-average

flows along the lower Rio Grande; 1915 was an El Nino

year. The years 1917 and 1918 were dry and caused hardship for the livestock industry. Severe cold weather struck

in the fall and winter of 1918, causing more losses in livestock. The next year, 1919, was one of the wettest years in

this century. A major Rio Grande flood caused damage

from Espanola to San Marcial in 1920 (Church and Church

1974: 12; Clark 1987: 147; Crawford et al. 1993: 18; Dahm

and Moore 1994: 2; Grubbs 1961: 274–285, 287–288;

Henderson 1983: 67; Kessell 1980: 152; Melzer 1982: 221;

Pearson 1986: 124; Pynch 1911: 48; Tuan et al. 1993: 53, 58).

Dry conditions generally persisted across the region

from 1920 into early 1925, adversely impacting the livestock industry (Hagy 1951: 29, 32–33; New Mexico Historical Records Survey 1940: 24). The Rio Grande flood of

100,000 cfs on June 3, 1921, was probably due to snowmelt runoff from the northern mountains. In contrast, the

Rio Grande at San Marcial was dry for 150 days of the

year. Precipitation was just above normal from late summer 1923 to February 1924 (Mortensen 1983: 16; Tuan et

al. 1973: 58). A heavy snowpack was recorded on the

Carson National Forest for the winter of 1924–25 (Tucker

1992: 7), but data on any related floods were not found.

The drought was ended by the wet years of 1925–26

(Betancourt et al. 1993; Molles and Dahm 1990: 71); the

wheat harvests of the 1926–27 winter were excellent. Production for the dry years of 1927–1928 was only about a

third of normal, or about 150,000 bushels. Water shortages were a problem for Rio Puerco-of-the-East farmers

in 1928. Severe winter weather in 1928 resulted in the loss

of almost half of the sheep in northern New Mexico. The

summer of 1928 was hot and dry; some ranchers moved

their herds to better rangeland in Mexico. In August 1928

torrential rains on the Puerco and the Rio Salado watersheds in the Socorro area caused flooding of several downstream villages on the Rio Grande. In September 1929

heavy rains on the Upper and Middle Rio Grande caused

major flooding, which virtually destroyed all of the

region’s crops and the villages of San Acacia, San Antonio, and San Marcial. Bernalillo was severely damaged.

Many railroad bridges were washed out from Bernalillo

to Guadalupe Canyon in the Jemez. Precipitation for July

of the next year was the wettest ever recorded with instruments. Precipitation was above normal in 1929 and

1930. Temperatures for the decade were below normal,

but summer temperatures for Albuquerque and Santa Fe

began an upward trend (Bowen and Saca 1971: 53; Calkins

1937: 9–11; Calvin 1948: 25, 276; Church and Church 1974:

12; Clark 1987: 228; Davis 1986: 103; Garcia 1992: 101;
30 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Glover 1990: 26; Harper et al. 1943: 33–34; Hedke 1925:

13; Maes and Fisher 1937: 20; Olson 1976: 73; Poulson and

Fitzpatrick about 1930: 2–3; Rodey and Burkholder 1927:

16; Scurlock 1982: 13; Tuan et al. 1973: 58, 72, 76–77, 78,

145; Tucker 1992: 7; Wozniak 1987).

The frequent, intense flooding of the previous decade

resulted in continuing waterlogging, a rising water table,

and damage to dams and irrigation systems at the beginning of the 1930s. The winter of 1931–32 was marked by

heavy snows and cold temperatures, causing loss of human lives and livestock. Intense rains in September 1931

and April-September 1932 caused flooding along the Rio

Puerco and washed out the Santa Fe Northern Railroad

in Sandoval County. The winter of 1932–33 was another

severe season; almost 70 percent of the Jicarilla Apache

sheep died. An extended drought began in late 1932, ending an El Nino year, and lasted until 1936; temperatures

were above normal. There were severe losses of livestock,

decimation of range vegetation, soil erosion by wind and

water, and the spread of exotic plants such as tumbleweed

(Fig. 11). Predation on livestock increased due to the dry conditions. Under the Drought Relief Service Program, the government began buying cattle on overgrazed, droughtstricken rangelands. The rains returned in 1937, washing out

levees and irrigation facilities in a number of locations in the

Middle Rio Grande Valley. Drier conditions, however, set in

again in 1939-early 1940 (Bennett 1932: 27; Brown 1985: 157;

Brugge 1980: 430; Calkins 1937: 13–18; Cooperrider and

Hendricks 1937: 20, 76; Fritts 1991: 161, 189; Glover 1990: 56;

Happ 1944: 4; Haughton 1978: 397; Limerick 1987: 88; Minge

1976: 90; Thomas et al. 1963: D4; Tiller 1983: 454; Tuan et al.

1973: 58, 72, 78; Weigle 1975: 115, 136, 145, 159).

The late winter of 1940 brought heavy precipitation; 14

inches of snow fell on Santa Fe in 5 hours. The snows continued to fall in the winter of 1940–41. Melting of the deep

snowpack, and rain in the following spring, brought more

flooding. Temperatures were substantially below average,

and killing frosts were reported at many locations

throughout the region. Heavy rains began to fall on the

valley in the Cochiti Pueblo-Albuquerque area in late summer 1941, causing severe flooding. Local and regionwide

records of high precipitation were set in this year. Some

62.45 inches fell at White Trail, Otero County; the statewide average was 28.24 inches. The annual runoff at Otowi

Bridge in 1941 was the highest in this century; the flow

for the next year was the third highest in the century. Perhaps the fewest acres to ever burn in the Southwest in

recent history was due to this El Nino year (Liles 1994: 32;

Quinn et al. 1987: 14451; Swetnam and Betancourt 1990:

11; Taft 1980: 12, 143; Tuan et al. 1973: 143–145).

Below-normal precipitation ensued from late 1942 to

1948, and 1943 was a La Nina year. Temperatures were

elevated, and Albuquerque recorded a wind velocity of

90 mph. Livestock and wildlife suffered, there were municipal and agricultural water shortages, and forest fires

occurred. Several heavy snows fell on the Pajarito Plateau in January 1948, but drought conditions prevailed

regionwide. Precipitation was just above normal for 1949,

but drought conditions once again returned the next year

and persisted into the next decade. When rains did fall

and following snow melts in the 1940s, runoff was greater

due to denuded mountain slopes (Betancourt et al. 1993:

46; Calvin 1948: xv-xvi; Church 1960: 124, 132, 138, 144,

145; Clark 1987: 226–227; Crawford et al. 1993: 18; deBuys

1985: 229; Gatewood et al. 1964: B43-B44; Long 1975: 13–

14; Manthey 1977: 8; Olson 1976: 73; Thomas 1963a: H18;

Tuan et al. 1973: 58; USGS 1994).

A severe drought occurred over the first 6 years of the

1950s. This became the driest period since the scientific

recording of weather data began in New Mexico. Surface

and ground water were severely impacted, causing major losses for ranchers, farmers, and municipalities. Up to

60 percent of crops were lost; native trees such as junipers, usually drought resistant, were killed. Most farmers along the Rio Grande were able to continue farming,

however, through development of irrigation wells. Water

demands in the Middle Valley precluded delivery of

scheduled water to Elephant Butte Reservoir. Streams

dried up, and reservoirs were drawn down significantly.

Intense dust storms, especially in 1956, were relatively

common. Costilla, Santa Cruz, and El Vado reservoirs went

dry. This was the driest year in New Mexico since the

advent of scientifically recorded data. The drought finally

broke with the El Nino of 1957–58. Floods occurred on

the Santa Fe, Rio Puerco, and Jemez rivers in June 1958;

in December the greatest 24-hour snowfall (30 inches) ever

recorded in the state occurred at Sandia Crest. From late

1959 to the summer of 1963, precipitation in the region

was below normal (Betancourt et al. 1993: 46; Burdett et

al. 1990: 10; Gatewood et al. 1964: B43-B44; Molles and Dahm

1990: 71; Perrigo 1982: 198; Powell 1976: 91, 102; Taft 1980:

10; Tuan et al. 1973: 57, 107; USGS 1994; Welsh 1987: 132).

HISTORIC PRECIPITATION:

VARIABILITY AND TRENDS

The variability of the region’s climate has been alluded

to previously. Historically, wet or normal years meant, in

general, abundant to adequate irrigation water, native

plant growth and germination, and in time, less soil erosion and few or no raids by nomadic Indians. Adverse

impacts could include floods, shifts in stream channel,

difficult road travel, and cultigen diseases. Droughts

caused even more hardship, and even death, for humans

as well as little native plant growth, decimation of wildlife, and soil erosion.

Extended, severe droughts have occurred relatively

commonly in New Mexico over the past 500+ years. Examples include the drought of the late 16th-early 17th cen-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 31

Figure 11—Although the study region never experienced these extreme Dust Bowl conditions of 1936 in western Oklahoma,

dust clouds did appear over the Middle Rio Grande Basin. Photo by Arthur Rothstein,

courtesy Museum of New Mexico Archives, Santa Fe (negative no. 66457).

tury, punctuated by long, heavy winter snowfalls, which

is an unprecedented event of the period (Baisan 1994: 3;

Thomas 1963a: H3). In addition to these periods, tree-ring

evidence indicates that major dry periods occurred in the

1730s, late 1740s and 1750s, with 1755–57 being the driest

years in the last 500+ years. Two decades later, one of the

most severe, extended droughts struck the region, lasting

from 1772 to 1785 (D’Arrigo and Jacoby 1991: 95, 97–98;

Fritts 1991: 127; John 1975: 474).

Above-normal temperatures accompanied droughts,

enhancing the dry conditions. Forest fires were also generally associated with these xeric periods (Swetnam and

Betancourt 1990).

Since continuous, reliable weather records have been

kept beginning in the late 19th century, annual precipitation in the region has continued to fluctuate cyclically, as

have temperatures. The early to mid 1950s was the driest

period in this century. Since the 1920s, there has been a
32 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

general warming trend. The 1950s were warm, and the

1980s were the warmest decade of the century to date.

Characteristically, one or more El Nino years immediately followed these droughts. An unprecedented wet

period, accompanied by very cold temperatures in winter, followed the drought of 1820–22. The heavy rains and

deep snows, with major flooding, lasted until the 1840s

(D’Arrigo and Jacoby 1992: 95, 98, 243, 251; Fritts 1991:

154; Quinn et al. 1987: 14450).

LIVING WITH THE RIVER:

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF HISTORICAL FLOODS

IN THE MIDDLE RIO GRANDE VALLEY

Historically, periodic floods impacted the valleys of the

Rio Grande and tributaries and their human users and

occupants until major flood control structures were constructed in the 20th century. A minimum of 82 moderate

to major floods occurred during the historic period, 1591–

1942 (Table 17). These floods, which here are defined as

having a flow of more than 10,000 cfs, were caused by

three climatic phenomena. One type resulted in the spring

from melting snow in the mountains within the Upper

and Middle Rio Grande drainages. These runoff-generated floods occurred from late April to June and were characterized by a general rise in the river, then an extended

flood period, followed by a gradual recession of flood

waters. In 1776 one Spaniard observed

This river is in flood from mid-April to the end

of June. The force of the freshets depends upon

whether the winter snows have been heavy or

light, but they never fail, for it always snows

more or less. In a very rainy year the flood season lasts a long time, and the longer it lasts, the

greater the damage it does, whether to people or

cattle who are drowned, or to farmlands that are

swept away, or even to nearby houses that are

carried off (Adams and Chavez 1956: 7–8).

Major flooding also resulted from extended, regional,

summer rains over the drainage basin already saturated

by the runoff of the snowpack and subsequent flooding.

A third type of flood, of smaller scale, resulted from intense local rainstorms, which usually occurred between

early July and the end of September.

When the first Spanish settlers reached New Mexico in

the late 16th century, Pueblo Indians along the Rio Grande

generally were living on slight rises in the floodplains or,

perhaps more commonly, on elevated points of land along

the edge of the valley. Situated above most flood levels,

they farmed nearby plots on the lower portions of the

floodplain using irrigation ditches or overflow waters

from the river or its tributaries. Most of their villages and

campsites were inundated periodically, however, causing

the Pueblo residents to leave the area until the waters receded. Less frequently, they completely abandoned residential locations where inundation was too frequent or

in instances of irreparable damage to homes or fields. Nevertheless, the Pueblos and the newly arrived Spanish settlers recognized the benefits of the floods—the deposition of nutrient-rich sediments for cultigens and native

flora, the wetting of their farmlands, and perhaps even the

flushing of salts from their fields and irrigation systems.

With European settlement, recording of adverse impacts

due to severe flooding began, including personal injury

and loss of human life; destruction of acequia systems,

homes, churches, and crops; and loss of livestock. A number of floods have been documented by records research

of the Colonial and Mexican periods (1598–1846). Relatively severe to major floods occurred in 1680, 1735, 1760,

1769, 1780, 1814, 1823, 1828, and 1830 (Table 17). Based

on limited information, the 1828 flood was a mega event,

with an estimated flow of 100,000 cfs. The entire valley

was inundated from the Albuquerque area to El Paso

(Carter 1953: 19; Peterson and Brown 1994: 43).

Flooding in the late 1600s–1735 was associated with a

general westward shift of the Rio Grande channel. Residents of an “Upper Bernalillo” on the west bank of the

river were forced to move to the east bank by this shift

(Brown and Sacca 1971: 56–59; Snow 1976: 172–175).

Alameda, too, was on the west bank in 1675, but sometime before 1710 the villagers were living on the “new”

east bank of the Rio Grande. Albuquerque, founded in

1706, experienced some flooding when the river moved

back and forth between an old chute, or channel, along

the present North 2nd–4th streets and its more recent channel west of town. Dikes and berms, which date back to

the Colonial Period, were sometimes breached by these

flood-caused channel movements. Changes in the river

are discussed in Chapters 4 and 5.

With the arrival of the first Anglo-Americans in 1846,

use of the Middle and Upper Rio Grande drainage intensified. Clearing of upland forests, grazing, and more sophisticated farming contributed to increased runoffs with

associated problems. Some 50 floods have been recorded

for the main stem of the river from 1849 to 1942 (Table

17); these are relatively well documented as to extent and

damage compared with those of the Colonial and Mexican periods. Major to moderate floods (10,000 cfs or more)

in 1849, 1852, 1854, 1855, 1862, 1865, 1866, 1867, 1868, 1871,

1872, 1874, 1878, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1884 (two), 1885, 1886

(two), 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1895, 1896, 1897 (two), 1902,

1903, 1904, 1905 (two), 1906, 1909, 1911 (two), 1912, 1916,

1920, 1921, 1924, 1929, 1937, 1940, 1941 (Fig. 12), and 1942

are documented for the Middle Rio Grande (Table 17).

Floods of this magnitude occurred on an average of every 1.9 years during this period. There may have been

other floods for which documentation has not been found.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 33

Table 17—Historic Rio Grande floods, 1591–1942.

Date Location Impact Source

1591 Santo Domingo to Difficult or impossible to cross river Hammond and Rey 1966: 292

Puaray White 1935: 12

1598 pre Tewa village Village destroyed Ellis 1987: 15–16

above San Juan

1665 spring–

early summer El Paso Mission supply caravan delayed Moorhead 1958: 35

1679 spring El Paso Created cienegas and esteros Sonnichsen 1968: 32

Kessell 1979: 224

1680 August– Entire region Deep snowpack and a late spring and intense summer Hackett and Shelby

September rains caused flooding. Supply caravan at El Paso held up 1942: 229–230

Sonnichsen 1968: 31–32

1696 June Upper Bernalillo Village abandoned Espinosa 1942: 255

(near present

confluence of Jemez

River and Rio Grande)

1700 Bernalillo Church destroyed, channel of Rio Grande began to shift Bowen and Saca 1971: 56–59

westward

1726 May La Salineta ford, El Paso Precluded crossing by conducta Marshall 1990: 174

1735 Upper Bernalillo Church destroyed, river began shifting channel westward Snow 1976: 172–175

Bowen and Saca 1971: 56–59

1741 Rio Grande Valley Major property damage and livestock loss Beal and Gold 1988: 125

1700s mid Entire region Some humans and animals drowned, houses and fields Adams and Chavez 1956: 8

damaged or destroyed; north bank of Chama River Swadesh 1974: 37

flooded; settlers moved to south bank

1753–60 El Paso May have flooded every year Clark 1987: 14

Gerald 1974: 151–152

1756 ca. Chama River valley Santa Rosa church moved McDonald 1985: 121

1750s late– El Paso Floods destroyed diversion dams virtually every year Clark 1987: 14

1760s early

1760 winter Valley below ? Adams 1954: 47

Albuquerque

1760 July Middle Rio Grande, River could not be crossed Adams 1954: 43, 56, 71

Isleta, Tome Tuan et al. 1973: 56

1760 all year Entire region River “ran full” all year Adams 1954: 202–208

1763 post Upper Bernalillo area Residents forced to move to Algodones Snow 1976: 172–175

1767 Santa Fe area Property damage: Santa Fe River shifted into Twitchell 1963, I: 447

Rio Chiquito channel

1769 Tome – Belen River shifted east and destroyed farmlands Kessell 1980: 152

1780 spring Santo Domingo, Runoff caused severe flooding of villages and fields; Ellis 1955: 95

San Felipe, courthouse damaged Kessell 1980: 132

Sandia pueblos, Tome

continued on next page
34 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1782 Santa Ana Pueblo Farmlands along Rio Grande and Jemez River destroyed Thomas 1932: 98

White 1942: 27

1783 Albuquerque Resident noted that flood left “a thick mud which serves Simmons 1983: 6

[served] as manure for the land . . . a glutinous scum

resembling lard”

1798 El Paso Bridge at lower ford washed out Jones 1979: 145

Sonnichsen 1968: 89

1822 Bernalillo to Major property damage; church destroyed Carter 1953: 4

Albuquerque Chavez 1957: 3

1823 Cochiti to El Paso Widespread damage Bowden 1971: 94

Lang et al. 1975: 73

1828 Ranchito de Santa Property destroyed, river shifted eastward at Ranchito de Bayer et al. 1994: 114

Ana to El Paso Santa Ana and cut new channel east of Peralta, flow Carter 1953: 19

estimated at 100,000 cfs; flood waters diverted away from Ellis and Baca 1957: 22

Tome Plaza by a burro, or levee Peterson and Brown 1994: 43

U.S. Court of Private Land

Claims 1899: 24–26

1829 Socorro San Miguel Church destroyed Burrus 1984: 148

1830 Entire Region El Paso business district destroyed Bowden 1971: 105

Lange et al. 1975: 73

1835 Upper or Middle Two churches and convents destroyed Lange et al. 1975: 73

Rio Grande

1849 June 20 Albuquerque Rio Grande ran “bank full in many places” with a Bloom 1945: 146

“very swift” and “muddy or turbid” current

1852 May to Socorro to Isleta River above normal due to runoff from snowpack Bowden 1971: 143

late July del Sur, Socorro Hammond 1966: 24–25

1857 June Tome to Fort Craig River too high to cross at both places; estimated width at Browne 1973: 59

or July Fort Craig 1/2 mile

1850s Corrales River channel shifted and church destroyed Eisenstadt 1980: 6

1860 ca.–1885 Chamberino, Santa Several floods forced residents to move to higher ground Johansen 1948: 54

Ana County

1862 August Albuquerque to Mesilla Damage of buildings and crops; Mesilla Valley settlers moved Carter 1953: 4

to Tularosa Valley; Mesilla was an “almost inaccessible Couchman 1990: 155

community” due to flood waters Schneider–Hector 1993: 42

1864 El Paso Major damage Peterson and Brown 1994: 43

1865 spring Mesilla Valley Village of Santo Tome destroyed; river channel shifted west Wozniak 1987

1865 June Cochiti to Sabinal Evacuation of communities; crops and structures severely Carter 1953: 5, 64

damaged

1865 South of Rincon Destruction of grain crop Miller 1989: 95

1866 San Marcial San Marcial was “wiped out” Pearce 1965: 146

continued on next page

Table 17—Historic Rio Grande floods, 1591–1942 (continued).

Date Location Impact Source
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 35

1867 summer Los Lentes Pueblitos Homes destroyed Miller 1989: 100

to Bosque de Belen

1868 July 5–11 Corrales to Corrales church destroyed; river could not be crossed Armstrong 1988: 60

Albuquerque Simmons 1982: 194

1871 May–June Middle Valley Four persons drowned, little property damage Carter 1953: 44

1872 late Albuquerque to Most of floodplain inundated by runoff from snowmelt in Beadle 1973: 490

May–early El Paso basin; flow peaked at an estimated 100,000 cfs Larson 1968: 112

June Nanninga 1982: 99

Peterson and Brown 1994: 43

1874 May– Confluence of Rio Chama and Rio Grande to El Paso Carter 1953: 9–10, 73

June Neither river could be crossed safely; widespread damage Kelley 1969: 17

Peterson and Brown 1994: 43

1878 “In the territory” “There were many destructive floods...” Bancroft 1889: 768

1878 Placitas, Dona Ana Residents forced to move to a mesa above Rio Grande Johansen 1948: 54

County

1880 summer San Juan Pueblo Rear of church nearly washed away Kessell 1980: 92

1880 Alameda Various damages Carter 1953: 13

1880–1930s Albuquerque Town experienced “a considerable number of floods”; Oppenheimer 1962: 33

late semi–permanent lakes bordered town on north and south,

drained by Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

1881 Jemez Pueblo Roof of Jemez church collapsed under heavy summer Kessel 1980: 130–131, 183

Santo Domingo rains; new houses constructed on higher ground; levees Lange and Riley 1966: 98

Pueblo area constructed to channel the river away from Santo Domingo

during flood stages

1882 Cochiti Bridge destroyed; Rio Grande was cutting into Cochiti Lange 1959: 37

Santo Domingo farmlands; residents distraught; bridge damaged Lange and Riley 1966: 248

1884 May– Del Norte to El Paso Residents of Del Norte Valley reported that river flow was the Carter 1953: 16–21, 117

June largest they had experienced; runoff from heavy winter Follett 1898: 90

snowpack; flood damaged virtually every village from Kight 1981: n.p.

Albuquerque to El Paso; several people killed; extensive Lange and Riley 1970: 332

damage to buildings and crop fields; river cut through Peterson and Brown 1994: 43

acequia and into old river bed near Peralta; flow estimated Simmons 1982: 298–299

at 100,00 cfs; Tome church destroyed; Valencia totally Taylor 1989: 4

abandoned; property damage between Alamillo and Lemitar; U.S. Court of Private Land

lower sections of Socorro under observed to be Claims 1899: 24–26

encroaching “upon its western bank” but cutting eastward

above Alamillo

1884 July 2 Santo Domingo to Extensive damage; interruption of work and social activities Kessell 1980: 131

El Paso Lange and Riley 1970: 332

Peterson and Brown 1994: 43

1885 Entire region Extensive damage, almost as severe as June 1884 flood Carter 1953: 187

Follett 1898: 90

Simmons 1982: 301

continued on next page

Table 17—Historic Rio Grande floods, 1591–1942 (continued).

Date Location Impact Source
36 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1886 June Espanola to Isleta Bridges destroyed; Santo Domingo church destroyed Lange et al. 1975:169

Pueblo Yeo 1943: 23–25

1886 Valencia to Mesilla Large number of houses washed away or damaged; Carter 1953: 31, 228, 232–233

September hail damage at Belen; railroad and bridges washed out at Follett 1898: 90

Rio Salado and Rio Puerco–of–the–East; homes, fields, and Want 1964: 175–177

bridges damaged, less severe than May flood; San Marcial

and Bowling Green destroyed; homes, fields, and bridges

damaged, less severe than May Flood; railroad tracks,

cemetery, houses washed out at Chamberina and entire

Mesilla Valley; Long Lake formed, remained for a number

of years

1888 late Socorro Part of the community was inundated Carter 1953: 32–33

April–early

May

1889 ca. Isleta Pueblo to El Paso Destroyed most fields below pueblo and on west side of river Peterson and Brown 1994: 43

Poore 1894: 113

1890 Santo Domingo Pueblo buildings and fields damaged by flooding, and Carter 1953: 36

Pueblo to Socorro residents would not plant in the floodplain due to their White 1935: 20–21

concern for more high water; washouts of rail line at two

valley locations and some bank cutting at Barelas

1891 May Albuquerque to Bridge washed away at Albuquerque; Isleta and Valencia Carter 1953: 315–316, 328

El Paso attempted to “boom and dike” the river, but flood wiped out Peterson and Brown 1994: 43

their work; homes destroyed at Valencia, new 500–yard–wide Poore 1894: 113

channel cut with water 5 feet deep flowing through village;

new bridge over river destroyed; considerable, widespread

damage

1895 late La Joya to Socorro At least seven persons killed; property damage; runoff from Conron 1980: 31

July thunderstorm in Blue Canyon west of Socorro flooded town, Marshall and Walt 1984: 264

causing severe property damage and loss of life; in lower Yeo 1943: 26–27

section of town water reached a height of 4 feet

1896 Near San Marcial USGS gauging station washed away Follansbee and Dean 1915: 41

1897 May Embudo to El Paso Widespread damage; flow at Buckman peaked at 15,300 cfs Cooperrider and Hendricks

and San Marcial 21,750 cfs 1937: 31

Sullivan 1924: 11–12

Yeo 1943: 27–29

1897 October Near San Marcial Flow from fall rain peaked at 15,500 cfs Cooperrider and Hendricks

1937: 31

1897 Otowi Bridge Total annual flow at this gauging station far exceeded the norm Crawford et al. 1993: 18

1902 Alameda to Dike and levees breached at Alameda; agricultural fields Simmons 1982: 301–302

Albuquerque damaged

1903 May 15 Lower Chama River Peak flow of 10,900 cfs Yeo 1943: 29

to Otowi Bridge

1903 June Otowi Bridge to A flood of 19,300 cfs broke through Alameda dike, flooding Sargeant 1987: 36

Socorro valley and destroying the settlement; agricultural fields and Steele 1983: 29

buildings destroyed Sullivan 1924: 11–12

continued on next page

Table 17—Historic Rio Grande floods, 1591–1942 (continued).

Date Location Impact Source
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 37

1904 Buckman to Rain runoff peaked at 17,700 cfs at Buckman and 33,000 cfs Cooperrider and Hendricks

Sept. 29 San Marcial at San Marcial; almost all agricultural fields, most of the houses 1937: 31

to Oct. 8 at Corrales, Ranchos de Albuquerque, and Corrales bridge Eisenstadt 1980: 5–6

destroyed; fields and houses destroyed or damaged to south; Ellis and Baca 1957

highway near Tome became an arroyo Murphy 1905: 149

Sargeant and Davis 1985:

105–106

1904 Otowi Bridge

Gauging Station Annual Rio Grande flow was considerably above average Crawford et al. 1993: 18

1905 May Buckman to Tome Flow at Buckman was 19,500 cfs; inundated Tome and Ellis and Baca 1957: 17

washed out Los Lunas–Valencia bridge; widespread Bureau of Agricultural

damage; peak flow at San Marcial was 29,000 cfs Economics 1941: 22

Cooperrider and Hendricks

1937: 31

Sullivan 1924: 12

Yeo 1943: 37–40

1905 winter Entire region Rains averaged 20 inches, damage? Tuan et al 1973: 57–59

1906 early Lobatos to Intense, widespread rains in northern and central New Mexico Yeo 1943: 44

May to San Marcial caused moderate flooding; peak flow at Lobatos was

mid June 8,000 cfs and more than 10,000 cfs at San Marcial

1911 May 8 Otowi Bridge to Flow peaked at 10,800 cfs at Buckman and 15,270 at Crawford et al. 1983: 18

to June 2 San Marcial San Marcial; average annual flow at Otowi station Yeo 1943: 50–51

exceeded high flows of 1897, 1904, and 1905

1911 October Del Norte, Another flood peaked at 18,000 cfs at the first location and Yeo 1943: 51–52

4–11 Colorado to 11,530 cfs at the second

San Marcial

1911 October Otowi Bridge to Flow peaked at 15,600 cfs at first station and 11,780 cfs at Calkins 1937: 7

San Marcial second; channel change at Buckman; channel change in Follansbee and Dean 1915:

river and property damage at San Marcial 120

1912 May– Otowi Bridge to Flow peaked at 29,000 cfs at the first site, 23,800 cfs at Bureau of Agricultural

June San Marcial Buckman, and 15,145 at San Marcial Economics 1941: 22

Cooperrider and Hendricks

1937: 31

Sullivan 1924: 11

1916 May Buckman to Flow peaked at 15,900 cfs at the first site and 25,145 cfs at Cooperrider and Hendricks

San Marcial the latter 1937: 31

1920 May– Espanola to Peak flow of 28,800 cfs at Buckman; community bridge at Anonymous 1978: 7–1

June San Marcial first location destroyed; partial collapse of Tome church; Calkins 1937: 8

parts of Albuquerque and San Marcial damaged; Cooperrider and Hendricks

flow at latter 22,500 cfs 1937: 31

Kelley 1982: 17

Kessell 1980: 152

Rodey and Burkholder 1927:

17

Sullivan 1924: 11

1921 June Entire region Flow of 17,400 cfs at Buckman and 19,360 cfs at Rodey and Burkholder 1927:

San Marcial; flood peaked at 100,000 cfs downstream? 16

Sullivan 1924: 12

continued on next page

Table 17—Historic Rio Grande floods, 1591–1942 (continued).

Date Location Impact Source
38 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1924 May Buckman to Flow peaked at 16,910 cfs at Buckman and 12,400 cfs at Cooperrider and Hendricks

San Marcial San Marcial 1937: 31

1929 August– Buckman to Widespread property damage; Bernalillo town plaza was Bowen and Saca 1971: 53

September San Marcial destroyed; torrential rains on Rio Puerco and Rio Salado Cooperrider and Hendricks

watersheds and Rio Grande tributaries around Socorro 1937: 31

virtually destroyed San Acacia and also impacted Harper et al. 1943: 33–34

San Antonio, Valverde, and La Mesa; at San Marcial, Scurlock 1982a: 13

peak flow reached 47,000 cfs; region’s crops virtually

destroyed, as was San Marcial, San Acacia, and San Antonio

1933 or 1934 North Valley of North Valley flooded east to Rio Grande Boulevard Sargeant and Davis 1986: 105

Albuquerque

1937 late Albuquerque to Levees washed out at number of locations; agricultural Calkins 1937: 18

August–early San Marcial fields and crops damaged Happ 1943: 1

September Happ 1944: 4

Kelley 1969: 17

1939 Alameda to Flood washed pine trees down west side of Sandias onto Sargeant and Davis 1986:

downtown Edith and North 2nd area; residents collected them for 106–107

Albuquerque fuelwood

1940 August Cochiti Pueblo to Valley flooded; worst flood since late 1880s struck Bernalillo; Olson 1976: 73

Albuquerque Sisters of Loretto convent destroyed

1941 January– Espanola to Socorro Twenty–nine inches of precipitation fell during this period; Kelley 1969: 71

May widespread property damage; more than 50,000 acres Olson 1976: 90

inundated in valley Tuan et al. 1973: 143–145

Vlasich 1980: 34

1941 Mouth of Some 250 acre–feet of sediments, up to 9 feet deep, Tuan 1966: 594

September 20 Calabasillos Arroyo deposited in river

1942 April– Otowi Bridge to The flow at Albuquerque peaked at 19,600 cfs and at Happ 1942 ca.: 2–5

June 6 San Marcial Bernardo 21, 000 cfs USGS 1994

1942 Otowi Bridge Heavy snows and rain produced third greatest annual Crawford et al. 1993: 18

flow in this century

Table 17—Historic Rio Grande floods, 1591–1942 (continued).

Date Location Impact Source

Among the greatest floods of the period were the 1872

and 1884 spring floods, which crested at an estimated

100,000 cfs. The 1874 flood peaked at about 40,000 cfs, the

May 1897 at 21,750 cfs, the June 1903 at 19,300 cfs, the

1904 at 33,000 cfs, the 1905 at 29,000 cfs, the 1912 at 29,000

cfs, the 1920 at 28,800 cfs, and the 1942 at 21,000 cfs.

Following the devastation caused by the floods from

1849 to 1921, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District was created by the legislature in 1923 and formed in

1925, in part to control flooding, as was the Corps of Engineers’ Albuquerque District, organized in 1935. During

this same period, the U.S. Department of Agriculture was

made responsible for controlling floods on watershed

tributaries. The Bureau of Reclamation, established early

in the century, also was involved in flood control. Dams,

levees, drainage canals, and other water control works

were constructed by these entities. Major flood control

dams constructed by the Corps included El Vado (1936),

Jemez Canyon (1953) (Fig. 13), Abiquiu (1963), Galisteo

(1970), and Cochiti (1975). With the completion of the

Cochiti Dam, the threat of flooding in the Albuquerque area virtually ended. However, runoff waters from

intense local summer rainstorms still result in water damage to neighborhoods built on the old channel along North

2nd and 4th streets and other low-lying areas. Flash flooding along arroyos and streets at the base of the Sandias

has resulted in loss of life and property damage in recent

years.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 39

Figure 12—Flood at Escondido, 1941. Courtesy of the Albuquerque Museum (negative no. 1980.061.490).

HISTORIC DROUGHTS

Droughts have perhaps been the single

most significant “natural” climatic event

adversely affecting historic human populations in the Southwest. Historic documentary data, as well as archeological evidence,

including tree-ring data, show that periodic

droughts of varying magnitude have impacted past human activity and other environmental components. At least 52 droughts

lasting 1 year or more, totalling about 238

years, occurred in the Middle Rio Grande

Basin in the historic period (448 years).

Droughts, therefore, have had a mean occurrence of 8.6 years, and a mean length of 4.6

years (Table 18). Some of the more important effects of extended dry periods have

been decrease or loss of water sources, diminishment of indigenous and cultivated

Figure 13—Jemez Canyon Dam. Photo by author. food plants, decrease in native fauna, and
40 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Table 18—Historic New Mexico droughts, 1542–1989.

17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century

1542 1700–1709 1801–1803 1900–1904 mid

1570–1573 1707 1805–1813 1907 late–1910

1578–1580s 1714–1717 1817–1822 1917–1918

1598–1606 1719 summer 1824–1825 1920–1925 early

1608–1609 1727 1829–1830 1927–1928

1620–1623 1729–1730 1841–1843 1932 late–1937

1625–1633 1734–1739 1845–1847 1939–early 1940

1635–1640 1748–1759 1849 1942 late–1948

1651–1672 1768 1851–1853 1950–1956

1675–1680 1772–1774 1859–1863 1959 late–1963

1681–1686 1775–1785 early 1873–1877 summer 1971

1689–1699 1787–1790 1877–1883 1980

1886–1890 1989

1892 summer–1896

1898–1900

Total period years: 448 Mean length: 4.6

Total droughts: 52 Mean occurrence/years: 8.6

Total drought years: 238

Sources: Bancroft 1889: 184–185, 195, 214–215, 245, 739–740; Clark 1987: 89, 147, 171, 218, 227, 234, 396, 407; Fritts 1991: 134; Gatewood

et al. 1996: B11–B12, B23; Thomas et al. 1963: D3–D5; Tuan et al. 1973: 50–59

loss of domesticated animals. Combined with intensive

resource use, such as grazing and irrigation farming, these

impacts were generally exacerbated and led to other

changes in environmental components. The extent and

significance of droughts generally varied over the region.

A given location might be less impacted than another due

to more reliable sources of surface or ground waters. For

example, sufficient irrigation water was sometimes available along the drought-stricken Middle Rio Grande Basin

when the mountains in the Upper Rio Grande watershed

had a normal or above-normal snowpack.

One or more of these drought-caused impacts have led

to human suffering or loss of life and temporary abandonment of villages, hunting-gathering areas, or even a

region. Expanding one food procurement adaptation (e.g.,

hunting-gathering) or de-emphasizing or abandoning

another (e.g., farming) was sometimes employed by various indigenous groups as a survival strategy during these

times of hardship. Also, disputes over water and water

rights, and raiding or even general warfare, sometimes

erupted. While at first review there appears to be a direct

link between drought and raiding, or all-out warfare, and

sometimes subsequent abandonment of villages or areas,

it was, in general, only one of several relevant causal factors. Kelley (1952) was perhaps the first investigator in

the Southwest to suggest a correlation between drought

conditions, as indicated by tree-ring data, and raiding/

abandonment in the protohistoric period. Two other archeologists, Stuart and Gauthier (1981: 316–318), compared Apache raids and Pueblo uprisings with drought

periods in northern New Mexico, and they came to the

conclusion that these environmental stress times were but

one of several factors that contributed to warfare. Brugge

(1986: 157–160) tested correlations between drought years

and raiding in northwest New Mexico, and he came to

the same basic conclusion.

A 1660s drought was also one of several factors leading

to abandonment of the Salinas and Piro provinces, including the mission pueblos of Abo, Quarai, Gran Quivira,

and Senecu in the early to mid 1670s. The authors (Tainter

and Levine 1987: 74, 84–87) of this study suggested a number of other interrelated factors: Spanish economic demands, religious persecution, subsistence change, and several others. Epidemic diseases, such as smallpox, also appear to have been a causal factor in unrest, conflict, and

abandonment.

Comparisons of droughts and raids for the Middle and

Upper Rio Grande basins from 1580 to 1867 are presented

in Table 19 and reveal a correlation with raiding for 23 of

the 35 droughts identified from published sources. The

strongest cases for cause-effect, in addition to 1663–70, are

the dry periods of 1748–54, 1770s, and 1845–55. During these

extended droughts, intense raiding by Apaches, Navajos,

and Comanches (after 1706) was widespread. Because of Spanish or Anglo pressures after 1700, abandonment of Pueblo

villages and movement to a more favorable environmental

location was no longer an option, as it was in the protohistoric

and late prehistoric periods. Additional archival research and

better tree-ring evidence are needed to clarify the causal effects and interrelationships of these factors.

Historical evidence indicates an association between

epidemics and droughts in the region. This correlation
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 41

Table 19—Nomadic Indian raids and drought years, north and central New Mexico, 1580–1867.

Years of Drought

raids years Source

1580 Yes Stuart and Gauthier 1981: 317

1590–91 Yes Stuart and Gauthier 1981: 317

1598–1606 Yes Forbes 1960: 109, 158; McNitt 1972: 10; Worcester 1951: 104–105

1608–09 Yes Forbes 1960: 109

1630–40 Yes (except for 1634) Anderson 1985: 371; Dean and Robinson 1977; Ford 1975: 5; Hackett 1937: 109, 119–120;

John 1975: 83–86; Vivian 1964: 153; Worcester 1951: 104

1650s Yes Bailey 1980: 56, 58; Forbes 1960: 143–144, 160–161; Reeve 1957: 42, 44; Schroeder 1974: 10a;

Tainter and Levine 1987: 85–86; Worcester 1951: 104

1663–69 Yes Correll 1976: 16; deBuys 1985: 51–52; Forbes 1960: 158–159, 163–164; Kessell 1979: 212;

Loomis and Nasatir 1967: 17; Reeve 1957: 48–50; Schroeder 1963: 7; Wilson 1985: 117–118

1670–72 Yes Correll 1976: 16; Cully 1977: 101; Gutierrez 1991: 130; Hackett 1937: 17; John 1975: 92–93;

Tainter and Levine 1987: 86

1675–80 Yes Bailey 1980: 58–59; Forbes 1960: 95–97, 167–168, 172–175; Gunnerson 1974: 99; John 1975:

95–97; Tainter and Levine 1987: 87

1681–84 Yes Bancroft 1889: 184–185; Ellis 1974: 233; Gutierrez 1991: 139; John 1975: 110–111

1695–96 Yes Bancroft 1889: 214–215; Beck 1962: 88; John 1975: 127; Kessell 1989: 62; Minge 1976: 28;

Reeve 1961: 300–302

1700–03 Yes Kelley 1952: 384; Minge 1976: 32; Schroeder 1974: 226–227; Simmons 1980: 194

1707 Yes Brugge 1979: 113–114

1710s (early) No John 1975: 236, 243

1715–17 Yes John 1975: 238; Meyer 1984: 98–99; Schroeder 1974: 238, 243

1719 No Kenner 1969: 29

1744–54 Yes Bancroft 1889: 245; Brugge 1983: 494; Ellis 1974: 234; Haskell 1975: 180; Jones 1988: 149, 152;

Kenner 1969: 41; Pattie 1966: 268; Schroeder 1974: 154, 181; Swadesh 1974: 35, 38; Tainter

and Levine 1987: 95; Tyler 1954: 353; Wallace and Hoebel 1952: 45

1760–63 No Ellis 1974: 243; Kenner 1969: 43

1768 Yes Gunnerson 1974: 247–248; Kenner 1969: 45–46

1770–81 Yes Bailey 1966: 27, 1980: 100–104; John 1975: 474–475, 605–610; Jones 1966: 133–134, 140, 150–

156; Kenner 1969: 46–51; Tyler 1954: 350

1785–87 No Kessell 1979: 408; Thomas 1932: 279–290

1792–93 No Gunnerson 1974: 275; Jones 1966: 166

1790s (late) No Minge 1976: 38

1801–03 Yes Gunnerson 1974: 284, 287–288; Simmons 1973: 77; Tainter and Levine 1987: 98

1804 No Schroeder 1974: 11–12

1822–25 No Betancourt 1980: 37–39; Ellis 1974: 235; Worcester 1979: 35–36

1831–39 No Betancourt 1980: 37–39; Minge 1965: 65; Swadesh 1974: 58; Twitchell 1963, II: 47–48

1840 No Minge 1965: 65

1841–43 Yes Minge 1965: 65–69, 89

1845–55 Yes (except for Betancourt 1980: 40; Couchman 1990: 43–44; Denevan 1967: 701; Dockstader 1979: 525;

1848, 1850, 1854–55) Kenner 1969: 117; Minge 1965: 89; Schroeder 1965: 67–68, 1974: 185, 215; Swadesh 1974:

263–275; Wallace and Hoebel 1952: 45

1859–60 Yes Beadle 1973: 514–515; Frazer 1983: 186; Sunseri 1973: 33

1864–65 No Ogle 1970: 47–49; Schroeder 1974: 232

1867 No Schroeder 1974: 219

involves crop failures due to the drought and subsequent

famine. Human populations were then more susceptible

to contracting diseases, as their immunity was lowered

due to nutritional deficiencies caused by inadequate diet.

The 1781 smallpox epidemic followed a severe drought

of 10 years. Drought also fosters a concentration of mi-
42 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

crobial contaminants in declining surface water sources

(Earls 1985: 157–158, 162).

Archeological evidence and historical records reveal a

relatively long succession of alternating periods of belownormal precipitation and above-normal precipitation.

Usually accompanying these dry and wet periods are

warmer and cooler temperatures, respectively. For

droughts, these above-normal temperatures contribute to

the adverse impacts noted above. Extended, severe regional

droughts have an average duration of 10 to 13 years and

occur every 22–25 years (Thomas 1963: H3). Less severe and

more localized droughts appear to occur more randomly and

for shorter periods. Wet, or strong El Nino, years may have

occurred every 9.9 years (Quinn et al. 1987: 14455).

Tree-ring evidence and historical records indicate that

the most severe droughts occurred in 1578–89, 1598–1606,

1630s, 1663–70, 1682–90, 1734–39, 1748–59, 1772–82, 1841–

55, 1895–1904, 1931–40, and 1952–1964 (Bark 1978: 12–13;

D’Arrigo and Jacoby 1992: 243; Fritts 1991: 127, 133, 134,

141, 190). These major droughts and less severe, or smallerscale, ones that occurred in the last 100 years are shown

in Table 18 and Fig. 14.

With rapid growth of the human population in the

Middle Rio Grande Basin, drought still poses a serious

Figure 14—Drought Severity Index, 1895–1988.

threat to human economic activities such as farming,

ranching, recreation, and tourism, modern technological

advances notwithstanding.

SUMMARY

Climatic variability over the past 457 years has been a

major environmental factor in shaping the study region’s

landscape and history. Periodic droughts, El Nino years,

frosts, and lightning have combined to produce dynamic

spatial and temporal weather patterns. Among the environmental elements and events affected, determined, and

maintained are streamflow, vegetative communities, wildlife populations, and wild fires.

The most notable climatological shifts or trends in the

study region have been the Little Ice Age, which occurred

during the first 250 years of the historic period, and the

more recent warming trend from the late 1800s to the

present.

Droughts have had the most eco-cultural impact, not

only on the “natural” constituents named above but also

on various human activities. Crop loss, decimation of flora

and fauna, and associated high temperatures have adversely affected such pursuits as farming, gathering, hunt-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 43

ing, livestock raising, and mining. Extreme, extended dry

periods have resulted in groups changing resource exploitation strategies, raiding to procure needed food, or even

abandoning an area, including settlements.

Floods caused by periods of above-normal precipitation, especially El Nino years, have had widespread impacts on human populations. On the negative side, flooding has resulted in loss of human life and livestock or destruction of homes or entire communities and fields and

crops. Deposition of rich alluvium on agricultural fields

and pastures, leaching of salts from irrigated lands, and

maintenance of aquatic ecosystems on which groups have

in part been dependent were positive consequences of

flooding.

CHRONOLOGY

1429–40 Tree-ring data indicate that this was one of

the wettest periods in the last 6 centuries

(D’Arrigo and Jacoby 1991: 95, 98).

1430–50 (ca.) The Little Ice Age, with average temperatures 1.8° to 3.6° F lower than those of recent

decades, began in Europe and North America

(Lamb 1977: 454–473; Swann 1977: 29–36).

1455–90 This was a period of increased moisture in

the region (Schoenwetter and Dittert 1968: 46).

1487–98 Based on tree-ring data, this was one of the

wettest periods in the last 6 centuries

(D’Arrigo and Jacoby 1991: 95, 98).

1400s (late) An increase in precipitation occurred

over the region (Kelley 1952: 384; Gunnerson

1974: 132).

1400s (late) Prehistoric villages and fields were temporarily, or sometimes permanently, abandoned due to alternating floods and droughts.

In the latter case, new villages and field sites

with more available moisture were found

(Stuart 1985: 96).

1400s (late to early 1500s) Following their arrival

on the northeastern plains of New Mexico, the

Plains Apaches found life hard during the severe winters, which brought extremely low

temperatures, drifting and blowing snow, and

a scarcity of game. Some Apache groups began

to winter at the eastern pueblos such as Pecos,

trading for corn and blankets (Kenner 1969: 8)

1525 Tree-ring data indicate that a drought struck

the Upper Rio Grande Basin and southwestern Colorado (Cully 1977: 101).

1531–32 This was a wet or “El Nino” year (Quinn et

al. 1987: 14450).

1533–35 A drought gripped the Southwest and caused

hardship among various Indian groups in southwest Texas, New Mexico, and northern Chihuahua (Ellis 1974: 231; Leighly 1963: 67–68).

1539–40 (winter) Exceptionally cold temperatures and

deep snow halted the Melchior Diaz expedition en route to Cibola (Hammond and Rey

1940: 157).

1540 (late September or early October) Extreme

cold at Taos Pueblo marked the beginning of

long winters (Schroeder 1972: 44).

1540 (late October) Only a day or so south southwest of Zuni Pueblo, the main body of the

Coronado expedition, especially Mexican Indian allies, suffered from a “great fall of snow.

. . .” Some of the soldiers found some caves,

which sheltered the party from the cold

(Hodge 1946: 306).

1540 (late November-early December) Part of

Coronado’s army was stopped by heavy

snowfall as they left the Zuni villages. Snow

fell almost every night, delaying their march

for 10 days. Horses were half buried by each

night’s snows (Hodge 1946: 316).

1540 (early December) The last of Coronado’s contingents of soldiers from Mexico camped at

Matsaki, a Zuni village. Over a 10-day period

snow fell every afternoon and nearly every

night in the Zuni-Acoma area. Snow accumulation at the end of this period was one-half

of an estado, equal to the height of an average Spaniard. This condition hampered

movement toward the Rio Grande and other

activities (Bolton 1964: 213–214; Hammond

and Rey 1940: 222; Hodge 1946: 316).

1540–41 (December-April) Deep snow, intense cold,

and a frozen Rio Grande gripped central and

northern New Mexico. Suffering from the

extreme cold and deep snow at Tiguex,

Coronado demanded and received blankets,

animal skins, turkeys, and maize from the

Pueblos. This was a major factor in the

breakout of hostilities between the Spanish

and the Pueblos (Bancroft 1889: 56, 59; Dutton

1963: 4–7; Hodge 1946: 204–211, 316, 320, 328).

1540–41 Snow occurred over 6 months of each year in

the Zuni Pueblo area (Schroeder 1972: 44).

1540–99 (winters) Long, harsh winters and dry summers prevailed, and crop yields were poor

(Manley 1992: 14).

1541 (January-February) Snow fell almost every

day during this period. Coronado’s troops

were limited in their movement and suffered

from the cold. The Pueblos, who had given

up blankets and food to the Spaniards, experienced a hard time as well (Bolton 1964: 204–

205, 216).

1541 (February 20-March 31) Coronado laid siege

to Moho Pueblo in the Tiguex Province. After
44 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

the snow stopped falling, the pueblo inhabitants suffered from little or no water. They

eventually abandoned their village and some

fought their way through the Spanish lines

(Bolton 1964: 219–230).

1541 (winter-spring) The Rio Grande was frozen

until May; rain in late summer hindered transport in September and October (Bancroft 1889:

59).

1542 Tree-ring data indicate that a drought struck

the area (Ellis 1974: 231).

1550 By this date, the Little Ice Age had severely

impacted northern New Mexico. The growing season decreased, summer rainfall diminished, and average seasonal temperatures

dropped (Bradley 1976: 3; Reher 1977: 216–

217).

1552 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1550s Tree-ring data indicate that this decade experienced above-average precipitation (Ellis

1974: 231).

1560–85 Drought may have been a factor in the abandonment of some Pueblo IV villages (Wendorf

and Reed 1955: 153).

1561–93 Based on tree-ring data, precipitation in central and northern New Mexico was below

normal. Tewa and Keres pueblos, east of the

Rio Grande, were abandoned due to the

drought and interrelated Plains Apache raids

(Ellis 1974: 232; Fritts 1965: 432; Schroeder

1972: 48).

1567 (late to October 1568) This was an El Nino

year (Quinn et al. 1987: 14450).

1570–90 Generally, this was an abnormally dry period,

perhaps the most severe in the historic period

(Baisan 1994: 3; Ladurie 1971: 30–31, 285).

1570–1600 Tree-ring analysis shows drought conditions

of exceptional magnitude prevailing across

the Southwest (Thomas 1963: H3). Tewa and

Keres pueblos, east of the Rio Grande, were

abandoned, in part due to this more xeric period (Schroeder 1968: 296).

1573–93 A severe drought during this period may have

forced Navajos and Apaches to seek water

sources in higher elevations in the mountains

of southwestern Colorado and northwestern

New Mexico (Bailey 1980: 32).

1574 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1578 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1579–98 Tree-ring data indicate that this was the most

severe drought in the historic period

(D’Arrigo and Jacoby 1991: 97–98).

1570s–80s Tree-ring data indicate that this was a period

of severe drought (Fairchild-Parks et al. 1995:

8–9).

1580 Tree-ring data indicate that this was a dry year

in the Upper Rio Grande and southwestern

Colorado (Cully 1977: 101).

1581 (fall) The Chamuscado-Rodriguez expedition

cut short its exploration of the Salinas Province due to snow and cold temperatures. Proceeding up the Jemez River valley, the expedition had to turn back again due to “heavy snowfalls” (Hammond and Rey 1966: 62, 106–107).

1581 (December) The Chamuscado-Rodriguez expedition traveled westward to Zuni Pueblo,

but a heavy snowfall turned them back to the

Rio Grande (Hammond and Rey 1966: 137).

1583 (January 22) Close to present El Paso, members of the Espejo expedition had to break the

ice in a marsh with picks and bars to procure

drinking water (Hammond and Rey 1966: 170).

1583 (March 15-April 7) Espejo noted that the Zunis from Hawikuh were planting their fields.

Showers, mainly in the form of snow, fell frequently. The expedition was provided with

“plenty of hares and rabbits” (Hammond and

Rey 1966: 184–185).

1583 (March) Espejo’s expedition suffered from

heavy snowfall and extreme cold from Acoma

to El Morro (Sanchez 1987: 38).

1583 (July 2–3) At the Tanos pueblos in the Galisteo

Basin corn fields were suffering from lack of

rain (Hammond and Rey 1966: 206).

1583 Espejo noted that Pueblo fields in northern

New Mexico were either ditch irrigated or

“dependent on the weather [dry-farmed]”

(Bolton 1946: 178).

1590 (December 24-February 14, 1591) Castano de

Sosa’s expedition encountered heavy snow

and intense cold on the Gallinas River southeast of Pecos Pueblo. As he moved from

pueblo to pueblo, as far north as Taos and

south to Santo Domingo and the Galisteo

pueblos, frequent snows, which accumulated

up to 3 feet, hampered the expedition. Rivers

were frozen, some to the bottom of the stream

(Schroeder and Matson 1965: 73, 103, 110, 123,

124, 145, 148, 152, 154).

1591 (early January) A contingent of men from the

Sosa expedition travelled from southeast of

Santa Fe into the Tewa country near San Juan.

They were hampered by snow up to 3 feet

deep (Sanchez 1987: 46–47).

1591 (January 13–14) Near Santa Clara Pueblo,

Sosa continued to note the snow depth, “. . . the

snow was a yard (vara) deep, the like of which
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 45

none of us had seen. It was so deep the horses

could hardly walk” (Hammond and Rey 1966:

283; Schroeder and Matson 1965: 123).

1591 (late January) Sosa found the Tesuque River

frozen solid, some “two spans thick,” and had

to use pickaxes to break through it. Additionally, “the entire land was covered with snow,”

and the weather was “bitterly cold”

(Hammond and Rey 1966: 284).

1591 (March 11) The Sosa expedition crossed the

Rio Grande near Puaray; the river was in “full

flood.” As Sosa approached, the Tiwa Pueblos abandoned their villages on the west side

of the Rio Grande, but some could not cross

the flooding river (Hammond and Rey 1966:

292).

1591 (spring) Santo Domingo Pueblo, then located

on the Galisteo River, was flooded, probably

due to high runoff from the heavy winter

snowpack (White 1935: 12).

1597–98 (winter) Tree-ring evidence indicates this was

a very dry period (Baisan 1994: 2).

1598 (pre) A Tewa Pueblo village above San Juan

was destroyed by the flooding Rio Grande.

The villagers moved a few miles south, but

their village was once again devastated by

flood. Once again they moved south, this time

to high ground across the Rio Grande from

the pueblo of Yunque, which allowed them

to settle the new pueblo named Okeh. A few

years later Onate and his Spanish colonists

established the first Spanish town in New

Mexico at Yunque, and a few months later the

Spaniards moved across the river to Yunque

to construct the new capital of San Gabriel

(Ellis 1987: 15–16).

1598 (late May) Crossing the Jornada del Muerto

in one of the hottest and driest times of the

year, Onate’s expedition suffered from lack

of water. Men were sent in various directions

to find water, but it was a canine “member”

of the party that found two water holes, at an

area that was named Laguna de Perrillo

(Simmons 1991: 103–104).

1598 (late October) When Juan de Onate’s men

reached El Morro, a sudden snowstorm

struck, and their remuda stampeded. Some

animals were not recovered (Simmons 1991:

127).

1598–99 (winter) This was a wet season; the snowpack

in the mountains was probably deep (Baisan

1994: 2).

1598–1601 (winters) Severe cold and snows caused suffering among the Spanish settlers at San

Gabriel (Simmons 1991: 158).

1500s (late) The drought forced some Tewa and

Keres pueblos to be abandoned (Schroeder

1972: 48). Drought conditions probably forced

Jemez Pueblos to move to higher elevations

also (Schroeder 1968: 298).

1500s (late) A severe drought caused the Rio Grande

Pueblos to depend more heavily on ditch irrigation of their crops versus floodwater or

dry farming (Simmons 1972: 137).

1600 By this year, the Pueblos, who had been living on the Pajarito Plateau, had abandoned

their villages and fields and moved to lower

elevations along the Rio Grande. This movement may have been due in part to the drought

and the cold snowy winters in the mid to late

15th century (Rothman 1989: 191–192).

1600–01 (winter) Onate’s colonists suffered in the severe cold, which resulted in the Rio Grande

and Rio Chama freezing over. Snow was common over the 8 months of winter (Simmons

1991: 158).

1600–01 Tree-ring data indicate these were exceedingly dry years (Ellis 1974: 232).

1600–01 Drought, in part, over these 2 years caused

some of Onate’s colonists to desert San

Gabriel and return to Mexico (Hammond and

Rey 1953: 60–61).

1600–80 The Apaches and Navajos raided Pueblo and

Spanish villages during drought years when

their local animal and plant foods were scarce.

This environmental stress was one cause of

the Pueblo Revolt (Sando 1979a: 195).

1601 The drought, followed by an early frost,

caused a failure in most of the northern

Pueblo corn crops (Hammond and Rey 1953:

696). Fray Francisco de San Miguel reported

that the Spanish military and settlers had confiscated virtually all of the food from the

northern Pueblos, and many of them were

dying (Kenner 1969: 12).

1601 Food shortages continued at San Gabriel;

Spaniards also suffered from the intensely

cold winters. One soldier wrote “The cold is

so intense that the rivers freeze over, and it

snows most of the time during the winter,

which lasts eight long months” (Simmons

1991: 158).

1602–10 Based on tree-ring evidence, drought appears

to have spread during these years across the

Southwest (Fritts 1991: 141).

1607 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1608 (pre) Mountain Querechos living west of the

Rio Grande competed with Pueblos for the

same game populations, and during drought
46 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

periods, these nomads would raid the Pueblo

villages for food, as they had no surplus corn

or other produce to trade the Querechos

(Forbes 1960: 109).

1609–10 (post) New settlers at Santa Fe received two

suertes for a house and garden, another two

for a vegetable garden, and still another two

for a vineyard. They also received rights to

sufficient water to irrigate these plots. As the

population increased, the water supply from

the Santa Fe River fluctuated with seasonal

and annual precipitation, and in some years

there was not adequate irrigation water (Clark

1987: 13).

1609–23 Tree-ring data indicate that this was, generally, the wettest period in the 17th century

(D’Arrigo and Jacoby 1991: 95, 98; Rehr 1977:

136).

1611–20 Based on tree-ring evidence, precipitation was

above average (Fritts 1991: 141).

1614 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1619 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1600s (early) During dry years, buffalo ranged west

to the saline lakes in the Estancia Valley near

the Tompiro villages (Schroeder 1979: 241).

1600s (early) Based on tree-ring evidence, temperatures gradually rose during the early part of

this century, reaching “high-ranking values”

in the latter half of the 1640s and 1650s (Fritts

1991: 125).

1621–26 Fray Salmeron described the climate of northern New Mexico as “cold and healthful, with

the climate of Spain.” The Pueblos all wore

“shoes because of the cold” (Milich 1966: 55,

57).

1624 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1620s Based on tree-ring evidence, a drought occurred in this decade (Fritts 1991: 133).

1620s The population of the Jemez Pueblo had declined, perhaps due, at least in part, to the

severe drought of the late 1500s, which led to

famine and war with Navajos and Apaches

(Schroeder 1968: 298).

1630 Fray Benavides wrote this about the effect of

the cold winters: “Every winter a great number of Indians out in the country are frozen,

and many Spaniards have their ears, feet and

hands frozen” (Chavez 1992: 54). He also

wrote “in summer the heat is more intolerable than the cold” (Ayer 1965: 39).

1631–40 Based on tree-ring evidence, precipitation was

below normal (Fritts 1991: 190).

1630s (early) Famine hit the Tewa Pueblos due to a

shortage of irrigation water (Ford 1975: 5).

1634 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450). The Tewa Pueblos, however, experienced a lack of irrigation water (Schroeder

and Matson 1965: 120).

1637–66 Based on tree-ring evidence, precipitation

generally increased (Fritts 1991: 144).

1638–39 Two priests described the mission areas as

having rigorous winters with deep snows and

extreme cold temperatures. One noted that

the rivers froze over in winter, but the summers were hot (Hackett 1937: 109, 119–120).

1630s A drought was partly responsible for intense

Indian raids across New Mexico; the nomadic

raiders burned an estimated 50,000 bushels

of corn. This virtually wiped out the provincial stores. At the same time, a new epidemic

killed 3,000 Indians, 10 percent of the Pueblo

population (John 1975: 83–86; Vivian 1964:

153).

1630s–40s (early) Drought-caused famine and European-introduced disease were major factors

in the decline of the Pueblo population. By

1644 only 43 pueblos in New Mexico were

occupied, a 71 percent decline in villages

(Anderson 1985: 371).

1630–40s Based on tree-ring evidence, moderate peaks

in volcanic activity occurred, with associated

warming in the West (Fritts 1991: 125).

1640 Severe drought and resultant decrease in food

supply caused hardship and high fatalities

(Hackett 1937: 109, 119–120).

1640 Pueblos produced little food in their fields

because they were meeting Spanish demands

for labor; the scant rainfall was also a factor

(Simmons 1979a: 184).

1641–50 This was a period of above-normal precipitation (Ladurie 1971: 30, 32).

1645–1715 Sunspot activity may have reached an all-time

low for the historic period. Temperatures during this period were the lowest of the Little

Ice Age (Eddy 1976: 1189, 1199).

1650–80 Droughts were a major factor in the Piro’s

abandonment of the Rio Abajo villages (Earls

1992: 18).

1652 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1657–66 Based on tree-ring data, temperatures were

above normal (Fritts 1991: 190).

1658–59 Rainfall was below normal, and a famine occurred among the Apaches during the first

year. They brought their slaves and own children to the pueblos to exchange for food the

following year (Forbes 1960: 151).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 47

1659 (summer) The famine forced the Indians to

eat “grass seeds... and very injurious herbs,

and the Spaniard on bran, spinach, green barley and other herbs” (Gutierrez 1991: 119).

1650s Due in part to stress caused by drought, disease, encomenderos, and Apache raids, sorcery increased among the Piro (Tainter and

Levine 1987: 86).

1660–69 Tree-rings indicate a below-normal precipitation and above-normal temperatures for

Chupadera Mesa in the Salinas Province (Wilson 1985: 117–118).

1663 A provincewide drought severely impacted

crops, livestock, irrigation water, and other

environmental components (John 1975: 92).

The main water source at Gran Quivira was

a few wells located a quarter league to the

west of the pueblo. At this time of drought,

the wells yielded a relatively limited amount

of water. Residents of Las Humanas Pueblo,

experiencing a water shortage, saved their

urine and used it for making adobe bricks and

plaster (Hackett 1937: 142, 162).

1663–65 A food shortage resulted in the Apaches increasing their raids (Forbes 1960: 159).

1663–71 A severe drought struck Pueblos and Spaniards,

resulting in little or no crop production, livestock losses, and human fatalities. Under environmental stress, Navajos and Apaches, sometimes joined by Piro Pueblos, raided their villages. Compounding the unrest and suffering,

an epidemic disease hit all of the groups (Forbes

1960: 161; Hackett 1937: 17; John 1975: 92; Reeve

1957: 48–50; Schroeder 1968: 297; Simmons 1979:

184; Vivian 1964: 3, 153). The extended drought

and associated general unrest was one reason

the Pueblos revolted in 1680 (Loomis and

Nasatir 1967: 17; Schroeder 1968: 297).

1665 (spring) The mission supply caravan coming

north on the Camino Real was delayed 3

months at El Paso by Rio Grande floodwaters (Moorhead 1958: 35).

1666–67 Compounding the problems of drought-famine, an epidemic struck from northern New

Mexico to Nueva Vizcaya (Forbes 1960: 161).

1666–70 This severe drought was interpreted by the

Pueblo Indians as evidence that the Catholic

religion “did not ensure an orderly and fruitful progression of the seasons as they believed

theirs did” (deBuys 1985: 51).

1666–71 A severe drought caused a very poor corn

crop; famine and pestilence followed. The

Indian population dropped to 17,000 from a

high of about 40,000 in 1638 (Correll 1976: 16;

Forbes 1960: 160; Gutierrez 1991: 130).

1667 Not until this year did the Apaches aggressively raid Pueblo and Spanish villages. The

raids seem to have been related, at least in

part, to the famine caused by the extended

drought. The Piros, who up until this year

maintained peaceful relations with the Spanish, allied with Apaches, began a revolt. These

hostilities continued into the 1670s, fueled by

the drought-caused famine and a severe disease epidemic (Forbes 1960: 160–164).

1667–1716 Based on tree-ring evidence, these years were

“cooler than it had been earlier” (Fritts 1991:

147).

1668 This was the third year in which there was a

crop failure due to the drought. At the pueblo

of Las Humanas (Gran Quivira), in the previous year, more than 450 Indians died due to

the famine, and water was so scarce that the

residents had to depend on 32 wells. The

Apaches frequently raided the region during

this time of environmental stress (Kessell 1979:

212; Schroeder 1979: 241; Wilson 1985: 114).

1660s Crop failures of corn and cotton caused by

drought brought more difficulties for the

Pueblo, who had to pay tributes to the Spanish under the encomienda system (Anderson

1985: 369). The drought in the Santa Fe-Pecos

area was less severe than in the Salinas area

(Fairchild-Parks et al. 1995: 10).

1660s Based on tree-ring evidence, a drought occurred in this decade (Fritts 1991: 133).

1670 By this year, the Piro and Salinas pueblos were

experiencing the worst drought since the

1580s and the most severe in the Spanish Colonial period (Fairchild-Parks et al. 1995: 10).

Tree-ring data indicate that this was also a dry

year in the Upper Rio Grande drainage and

southwestern Colorado (Cully 1977: 101).

With the failure of crops, loss of livestock, and

decrease in wild food plants and animals,

Spaniards and Pueblos were forced by the

drought-caused famine to eat hides and

leather straps of their carts. These were soaked

in water and then boiled with roots and herbs

(Gunnerson 1974: 98; Hackett 1937: 17).

1670–76 The mission caravans were unable to deliver

adequate provisions to the mission Indians,

who were suffering from the near-famine conditions caused by the ongoing drought

(Moorhead 1958: 36).

1671–72 Following the drought of the previous years,

a “pestilence” struck the province, and more

people, as well as livestock, died. Apaches

and Navajos raided across the region (Correll

1976: 16; Gutierrez 1991: 130; Reeve 1957: 48).
48 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1672–78 Drought, famine, and interrelated Apache

raids led to the abandonment of a number of

pueblos east of the Manzano Mountains in

the 1670s (Schroeder 1968: 297). Six pueblos

were abandoned in the Piro-Tompiro-eastern

Tewa region due to incessant Apache raiding

(Forbes 1960: 167–168). Navajos, as well as

Apaches, raided northern and western Pueblos, which were Spanish dominated, and several pueblos, including Hawikuh, were abandoned. Punitive Spanish military expeditions

were mounted against the Navajo, and the

Navajo conducted reprisal raids (Bailey 1980:

58–59).

1679 (August) The supply caravan from Mexico

City was held up at El Paso by unseasonably

high waters of the Rio Grande (John 1975: 96).

1670s Based on tree-ring evidence, moderate peaks

in volcanic activity occurred, with associated

warming in the Southwest (Fritts 1991: 125).

1680 (pre) Mining at the Ortiz deposits and the

New Placers was dependent on water packed

in on burros for many miles during the dry

season. Snow was reportedly melted in winter with heated rocks to provide water for the

mining operations (Northrop 1975: 12).

1680 (spring-summer) Father Francisco Ayeta, of

El Paso, organized a caravan loaded with supplies for the missionary priests in northern

New Mexico and moved north toward the

pass. The Rio Grande was in flood, creating

cienegas and swamps on the floodplain and

forcing Ayeta to wait at the ford. With news

of the August Pueblo revolt, the wagons were

unloaded, then reloaded with supplies for the

refugees coming down the river. A company

of 134 fighting men was also organized. They

got underway and crossed the river and

moved north to the Fray Cristobal paraje,

where they met the first of the refugees. Needing more food, Ayeta took 25 wagons by the

ford above El Paso, but the river had again

risen due to rains in the area. In attempting

to cross the Rio Grande below at Canutillo,

across from the paraje of La Saliveta, he almost drowned attempting to get a wagon

across the river (Sonnichsen 1968: 32).

1680 (August) A deep snowpack, a late spring, and

intense summer rains caused flooding of the

Rio Grande, which Pope and other Pueblo

revolt leaders had counted on (Folsom 1989:

83–85, 121; Kessell 1979: 224).

1680 (December) Marching upriver from El Paso,

Otermin’s small reconquest army was hindered along the Rio Abajo by snow and extreme cold temperatures. A planned raid on

Isleta’s granaries by Pueblo “rebels” did not

occur, due in part to snow cover and very cold

temperatures. Moving northward toward

Santa Fe, Governor Otermin was finally

turned back by the cold winter weather and

a shortage of forage for the horses. He decided

to withdraw to El Paso (Sanchez 1987: 129,

138; Simmons 1977b: 73).

1681 (fall) Drought reduced the crop harvests of

the northern Pueblos, who were starving.

Many villages were abandoned (Hackett and

Shelby 1942, I: cxxxvii-cxxxviii).

1681 (December 23-January 31, 1682) A Spanish

army of attempted reconquest under Governor Antonio de Otermin camped at Isleta

Pueblo and experienced severe hardship due

to the snow and extremely cold temperatures.

A number of their horses died due to “severe

freezes, closing of the rivers [frozen over], and

many snows.” Retreating southward, in part

due to the weather, the army reached Las

Tusas, near the Fray Cristobal range, where

the snow was deep (Hackett and Shelby 1942,

II: 321, 337, 351, 354, 362–365).

1681–83 Crop failures due to drought and continuing

Indian raids caused hardship among the

Spanish survivors and their Indian allies at

San Lorenzo, below El Paso del Norte, following the Pueblo Revolt (Beck 1962: 82).

1681–87 A regional drought resulted in meager agricultural harvests, and the Pueblo alliance began to crumble. Hunger and pestilence was

once again widespread, and the Utes and

Navajos waged war against Jemez, Taos,

Picuris, and Tewa. Civil unrest was also

caused by several Spanish invasions (Baisin

1994: 2; Bancroft 1889: 184–185; Ellis 1956: 29,

1974: 233; Fritts 1991: 190; Gutierrez 1991: 139).

1687–88 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1680s Based on tree-ring evidence, warming temperatures occurred (Fritts 1991: 125).

1691 (February) General Diego de Vargas, when he

became governor, found the El Paso colonists

in deplorable condition due to inclement

weather and continuing nomadic Indian raids

(Beck 1962: 85).

1692 (October 17–28) The soldiers and colonists of

the Vargas expedition of reconquest suffered

from lack of food and climatic elements as

they marched up the river from El Paso. The

Pueblos had little food due to loss of crops to

grasshoppers in the summer. At the abandoned hacienda of Mejia, near Albuquerque,
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 49

Vargas wrote “The winter weather here is severe and there has already been some snow

and heavy frost this month ...” (Kessell and

Hendricks 1992: 524). The Vargas expedition

was hampered by snow, rain, and bad roads

on its march from Pecos to the Galisteo pueblos (Espinosa 1940: 170; Twitchell 1963, I: 385–

386).

1692 (December 9) Having carried out what he

considered a successful reconquest, including

the western Pueblos, Vargas and his army

moved down the Rio Grande. The expedition

experienced “a great windstorm and snows

. . .” at a site with “no pasturage for the horses

... and no firewood . . .” (Kessell and Hendricks 1992: 592). Vargas elected to take his

army down the rougher Rio Grande branch

trail of the Camino Real rather than take the

Jornada del Muerto route. He cited the lack

of adequate water in the Jornada as the reason for his decision (Crouch 1989: 56).

1692 Vargas described New Mexico’s climate as “so

very cold with abundant snow and rain and

such heavy frost and freezes ...” (Kessell et

al. 1995: 110).

1693 (early November) Returning to northern New

Mexico with his army and colonists, Vargas

reported that his troops “have suffered harsh

weather with continual snow, freezes, and

high winds . . .” (Bailey 1940: 95; Kessell et al.

1995: 400).

1693 (December) The soldiers and settlers led by

Vargas endured severe hardship at Santa Fe

due to the severe cold, deep snow, and a meager food supply. Also, adequate fuelwood

could not be procured because of the impassable snowpack on roads and trails. Twentytwo Spaniards died as a result of these conditions. Vargas sent a group of Pueblo Indians

into the mountains above Santa Fe to cut timber for the repair of San Miguel chapel. Cold

weather turned them back without the wood

materials (Espinosa 1942: 151–154; Twitchell

1963, I: 391).

1695–96 There was a general failure of Pueblo and

Spanish crops due to a drought and crop

worms. Residents were forced to eat “dogs,

cats, horses, mules, bull-hides, foul herbs, and

old bones.” More than 200 individuals died

due to starvation and “noxious food.” Spanish and Pueblos suffered from the harsh

weather. An epidemic also struck, resulting in

further hardship and loss of life. Some Pueblos

staged minor revolts (Bancroft 1889: 214–215;

Kessell 1989: 62; Reeve 1961, 1: 300–302).

1696 June Vargas ordered the residents of Bernalillo, a

new settlement that was at this time on the

west side of the Rio Grande, to leave their

village and take refuge in Santa Fe due to

Pueblo unrest. Because the river was “running high,” Bernalillo residents could not

cross to the east side with their sheep

(Espinosa 1942: 255).

1696 (summer) The famine among some of the

northern Pueblos was a major cause of another revolt (Beck 1962: 88).

1696 (October 22) East of Picuris Pueblo, Vargas

“lost the trail” of Pueblo rebels from Picuris

and Taos “because of rain” (Gunnerson 1974:

123).

1696 (October 28-November 7) The Vargas expedition followed the fleeing Picuris eastward

onto the eastern plains of New Mexico, but it

was turned back by snowstorms and very

cold temperatures. The Spaniards lost more

than 200 horses and 5 mules; their Pueblo allies from Pecos and Tesuque lost even more.

The expedition lived off the meat of the dead

horses and roasted corn (Kenner 1969: 21–22;

Thomas 1935: 58).

1698–1704 A severe, extended drought struck northern

New Mexico and resulted in a catastrophic

loss of livestock. The inclement weather

forced some Rio Grande Pueblos to take refuge in the Acoma and Laguna areas (Ellis

1974: 397; Simmons 1982: 85). The ongoing

drought and disease caused a decline in the

population of Acoma (Minge 1976: 32). Governor Cuervo, succeeding Vargas as governor,

reported that the drought had caused crop

failure and loss of livestock. Raiding by nomadic groups intensified during these years,

in part due to the stress of the severe drought

(Simmons 1980: 194). Pueblo and other farming Indians were forced to abandon some villages or agricultural sites (Kelley 1952: 384).

1690s Based on tree-ring evidence, lower temperatures occurred (Fritts 1991: 125).

1700–10 Based on tree-ring evidence, dry conditions

generally existed, although they were not as

dry as in the previous century (Fritts 1991:

127).

1701 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1704 Spanish settlers and soldiers suffered from

hunger and inadequate clothing, a condition

blamed on a harsh winter and nomadic Indian raids (Baxter 1987: 21).

1704–09 A drought struck the region (Ellis 1974: 397;

Hackett 1937: 375).
50 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1706 (January 12) Fray Juan Alvarez at Nambe

Pueblo reported the road from Santa Fe to

Pecos was periodically closed by heavy snow.

He also noted ice in the Rio Grande near San

Ildefonso and Santo Domingo (Adams 1954:

47, 65, 105; Hackett 1937: 375).

1707 The region experienced a severe drought, and

most crops were lost. This caused unrest

among the Navajos and Pueblos, and the

former began to raid Spanish villages after 3

years of peace (Brugge 1979: 113–114).

1712 (mid September) Heavy rains fell for 3 days

on Santa Fe, causing the roof of the Palace of

the Governors to leak (Horgan 1965: 87).

1714–15 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1714–17 Tree-ring data indicate that precipitation was

below normal (Ellis 1974: 234).

1714–34 At least three droughts caused crop failure

during this period (Simmons 1982: 111).

1715–16 Wildfires were common during these drought

years (Baisan 1994: 3; Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1019).

1717 By this year, based on tree-ring evidence, there

was declining precipitation, but the percentage changes were small and the differences

insignificant (Fritts 1991: 148).

1717 (to 1718) Based on tree-ring evidence, precipitation began to increase (Fritts 1991: 127, 190).

1719 (summer) Rainfall was below normal (Baisan

1994: 3).

1720 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1727–39 This period was one of episodic drought and

wet years across the province (Ellis 1981: 411;

Hill 1940: 415; Simmons 1982: 111).

1728 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1720s Tree-ring data from Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge indicate that these years were exceptionally wet (Fairchild-Parks et al. 1995: 8).

1730 The northern Pueblos harvested abundant

crops owing to favorable weather (Adams

1954: 97).

1734–36 Based on tree-ring evidence, these years were

the fourth, in order of importance, driest 3-

year period over the last 5 centuries (Fritts

1991: 134).

1735 A Rio Grande flood destroyed the church at

upper Bernalillo, on the west bank of the river.

This marked the beginning of a 2-mile westward shift of the river channel in this area,

forcing the residents to move to the east side

of the river (Bowen and Sacca 1971: 56–59;

Snow 1976: 172–175).

1735–39 Tree-ring data indicate precipitation was below normal (Ellis 1974: 234).

1739 By this year a number of Albuquerque area residents had moved down the Rio Grande, in part

due to a shortage of water for their fields (Gatewood et al. 1964: B13; Thomas et al. 1963: D3).

1730s–40s Tree ring data from Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge indicate that this was the worst

drought period in the last 400 years (FairchildParks et al. 1995: 8).

1741 A major flood occurred along the Rio Grande

(Beal and Gold 1988: 125).

1742 Due at least in part to the drought of the previous decade, all of the revolt period Pueblo

refugees from the Rio Grande, except residents of Hano, left the Hopi area and returned

to their former villages (Adams 1981: 326).

1745–47 Tree-ring data indicate that precipitation was

above normal in northern New Mexico

(Baisan 1994: 2; Ellis 1974: 234).

1746 Chama Valley settlers avoided locating on the

north bank of the river because of periodic

flooding; they settled on the south bank

(Swadesh 1974: 37).

1747 This was an El Nino year (Baisan 1994: 3;

Quinn et al. 1987: 14450).

1748 Tree-ring data indicate that this may have

been the driest year in the century (Baisan

1994: 3; Ellis 1974: 234).

1748 The frequency of wildfires was substantially

above normal (Swetnam and Betancourt 1990:

1019).

1748–50s Based on tree-ring evidence, an extreme

drought occurred (Fritts 1991: 127).

1750 (pre) Santa Ana Pueblo began acquiring better farmlands along the Rio Grande because

its fields on the Jemez River were periodically

destroyed by floods (Kessell 1980: 168).

1752 The Rio Grande was dry for almost 400 miles

(border to border), primarily due to drought

(Pattie 1966: 268; Tuan et al. 1973: 56).

1753–1885 Livestock grazing (Navajo and Hispano) in

the Rio Puerco valley and climatic change

(droughts and locally intensive rains) were

the probable causes of the beginning of severe erosion (Bryan 1928: 280–281).

1754 (ca.) The Santa Rosa de Lima church was

moved from the confluence of the Abiquiu

Creek and Chama River to higher ground due

to continual flooding (McDonald 1985: 121).

1755–57 Based on tree-ring evidence, these years were

the third, in order of importance, driest 3-year

period in the last 5 centuries (Fritts 1991: 134).

1760 (winter-spring) Low temperatures created ice

on the Rio Grande. Later in the period, the
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 51

cold killed fruit tree blossoms in the Isleta

area, and as a result there was no fruit. The

valley below Albuquerque also flooded

(Adams 1954: 47, 65, 105).

1760 (July) Bishop Tamaron went from Isleta to

Tome and there prepared for his journey to

El Paso. He left on July 8 but could not cross

the river due to floods (Adams 1954: 43, 71).

1760 Bishop Tamaron noted that Isleta Pueblo was

located on an elevation in the Rio Grande

floodplain and was indeed an island when

the river flooded (Adams 1954: 202–208).

1760 Bishop Tamaron crossed a frozen Rio Grande

at the Barelas ford to reach Atrisco on the west

bank (Simmons 1978: 46).

1760 The Rio Grande ran “full” throughout the

year (Tuan et al. 1973: 56).

1760 Residents of the El Paso area were diverting

about one-half of the waters of the Rio Grande

for agricultural and domestic use. The diversion dam washed out and was rebuilt virtually every year (Clark 1987: 14).

1760–70 Based on tree-ring evidence, temperatures in

this decade were cool, but temperatures were

near 20th century means (Fritts 1991: 126, 150).

1761 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1763 By this time, an “upper” and a “lower”

Bernalillo were recognized. Soon, however,

the upper settlement was forced upriver to

Algodones by floods, a location of higher elevation (Snow 1976: 172–175).

1767 A severe flood on the Santa Fe River impacted

Santa Fe. The river channel shifted into the

Rio Chiquito, which is now covered by Water Street (Twitchell 1963, I: 447; Workers of

the Writers’ Program 1940: 426).

1769 Father Dominguez reported that the flooding

Rio Grande had moved east and destroyed

most of the homes and farmlands at Tome.

The river continued to flow in this new channel until at least 1777, leaving its old bed to

be farmed by citizens of Belen, opposite (to

the west of) Tome (Adams and Chavez 1956:

8; Kessell 1980: 150).

1770 Over half the church bells in New Mexico

were found to be cracked due to their being

rung in cold weather (McDonald 1992: 33).

1772–79 A severe drought persisted over the province,

and Pueblo and Spanish crops failed except

where there was adequate irrigation water. As

a result there was little produce to trade to

the Navajo, Apache, or Comanche, who were

suffering shortages of wild animal and plant

foods themselves. Raids on the Rio Abajo by

these Indians consequently increased (John

1975: 474; Jones 1966: 133–134, 150–156).

1773–74 A visitor from Virginia claimed “no diseases

have appeared since the settlement of the

province by Spaniards, which can be said to

be peculiar to the climate and country”

(Hodge 1929: 249).

1773–76 Fray Dominguez reported that the people of

Acoma were experiencing hardships from the

ongoing drought (Adams and Chavez 1956:

194).

1773–82 Based on tree-ring evidence, an extreme

drought occurred (Fritts 1991: 127).

1774 (February 9–11) A traveler found little snow

in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, apparently

crossing from west to east via Glorieta Pass.

The weather was mild, with a light west wind

(Hodge 1929: 261).

1774 (February 12–13) “It rained incessantly” in the

Las Vegas area (Hodge 1929: 262).

1774–76 Crop harvests at Taos Pueblo during these

drought years were above normal owing to a

reliable water supply for irrigation (Adams

and Chavez 1956: 112; Bodine 1979: 256).

1775 (summer) Devastating Comanche raids were,

at least in part, related to the continuing

drought. Spanish and Pueblos losses were six

times greater than those of the Comanche.

Pecos and Galisteo were the hardest hit, and

residents resorted to eating animal hides and

old shoes. Populations of the two settlements

decreased almost 50 percent during the decade (Kenner 1969: 48–49).

1775 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1775–1800 Hispanos in northern New Mexico reported

that springs and creeks had ceased flowing

(Hewett et al. 1913: 48).

1776 (pre) (winters) According to Fray Francisco

Atanasio Dominguez, frozen acequias and

streams in Santa Fe shut down mill operations

(Adams and Chavez 1956: 31). A stone embankment had been built on the Santa Fe

River to prevent flood damage to property in

the villa (Adams and Chavez 1956: 40).

1776 (pre) Two farm plots and a large kitchen garden at Zia were washed away by the flooding Jemez River (Adams and Chavez 1956:

170).

1776 The residents of Pecos Pueblo were suffering

due to the drought, which resulted in little or

no crop harvest and a shortage of water for

domestic use. Wells had been dug near the

pueblo to provide domestic water (Adams

and Chavez 1976: 213; Kessell 1979: 347).
52 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1776 Fray Dominguez described the Santa Fe River

as “Its current is so swift that in times of

freshet it has done some damage, and although this was not extreme, measures have

been taken to avoid further harm by installing a stone embankment... although it carries

enough water to be called a river, it is not overabundant. Indeed, it is usually insufficient,

and at the best season for irrigating the farms,

because there are many of them it does not

reach the lowest ones, for the first, being

higher up, keep bleeding it off with irrigation

ditches, and only in a very rainy year is there

enough for all. In such seasons ranchos five

leagues downstream benefit as much as the

rest” (Adams and Chavez 1956: 40).

1776 Fray Dominguez reported that residents of

the Galisteo Pueblo were suffering from famine due to the drought and Comanche raids.

Those who had not abandoned the settlement

were eating hides of cows, oxen, and horses

and the leather of saddles and shoes (Adams

and Chavez 1956: 217).

1776 According to Dominguez (Adams and

Chavez 1956: 7–8), “The river [Rio del Norte]

is in flood from mid-April to the end of June.

The force of the freshets depends upon

whether the winter snows have been heavy

or light, but they never fail, for it always

snows more or less. In a very rainy year the

flood season lasts a long time, and the longer

it lasts, the greater damage it does, whether

to people or cattle who are drowned, or to

farmlands that are swept away, or even to

nearby houses that are carried off.”

1776 Fray Dominguez reported that farmlands

around Quemado and Cieneguilla were “fertilized” by overbank floodwaters of the Santa

Fe River (Adams and Chavez 1956: 41).

1776 Zia Pueblo had a league (2.64 miles) of irrigated farmland along the Jemez River and

some arable land in tributary canyons above

and below the village. Below-average precipitation and poor soils prevented good crop

harvests in some years (Adams and Chavez

1956: 175).

1777 The continuing drought caused most Zuni villagers to abandon their pueblo and to move east

to join other Pueblos (Simmons 1979: 190).

1777–80 Drought continued in New Mexico, which,

combined with the 1780 smallpox epidemic,

killed some 5,025 Pueblo Indians (Workers of

the Writer’s Program 1940: 69).

1778 Governor Anza recommended that two annual expeditions composed of militia and

Pueblo auxiliaries be made against the

Apaches. One would come at the beginning

of the rains in July, while the second would

be at the onset of winter. This plan left the

spring for planting, irrigating, and weeding

and September and October for crop harvest

(Thomas 1932: 185).

1778–87 Tree-ring data indicate that these were perhaps the most severe drought years in the 18th

century (D’Arrigo and Jacoby 1991: 95, 97–

98).

1779 (summer) Rainfall was below normal (Baisan

1994: 3).

1779–80 The extended drought forced some Pueblo

and nomadic Indians into Spanish villages

(Gutierrez 1991: 372).

1780 Above-normal spring runoff brought severe

flooding at San Felipe and other pueblos

along the Rio Grande. Sparse summer pasture resulted from below-normal precipitation in the summer (Kessell 1980: 132; White

1935: 18–19).

1780 The Tome courthouse, located on the plaza

west of the church, was damaged by a Rio

Grande flood (Ellis 1955: 95).

1782 Fray Morfi reported that Santa Ana Pueblo

was subjected to “great winds” and floods of

the Jemez River, which deposited sand on the

agricultural fields. Additionally, the river

water was “salty” due to its tributary, the Rio

Salado. Because of this and the lack of irrigation water, the fields were virtually nonproductive. The latter situation was perhaps

caused by downcutting of the river to a point

below which gravity-flow acequias could deliver water (Thomas 1932: 98; White 1942: 27–

28).

1782 Fray Morfi reported that the lake for which

Laguna Pueblo was named was dry most of

the year. In March, April, and May the lake

filled with run-off water from the San Mateo

Mountains. The lake was located a little more

than one-half mile west of the pueblo and was

estimated to have had a circumference of just

over 5 miles (Thomas 1932: 103).

1785 Forest fire frequency was above normal

(Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1019).

1786 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1780s–90s Based on tree-ring evidence, temperatures

began to warm throughout the region, reaching maximum values at the start of the next

century (Fritts 1991: 126).

1791 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 53

1791 ca. Based on tree-ring evidence, the reconstructed

temperature rise occurring around this time

was surpassed only by warming of the 20th

century (Fritts 1991: 151).

1792–93 (winter) This was a wet period. San Felipe de

Neri, an adobe church in Albuquerque, collapsed, probably due to the above-average

precipitation during this period (Baisan 1994:

2; Simmons 1982: 120).

1800 (ca.) The annual trade caravan to Chihuahua,

which included large flocks of sheep, began

leaving La Joya de Sevilleta in August instead

of the traditional month of November. This

change was made to take advantage of summer rains, which filled the waterholes and

ensured good grazing grass (Baxter 1987: 63).

1800 (ca.) The adobe parish church in Santa Fe had

been damaged by heavy rains and had to be

rebuilt (Chavez 1972: 8).

1800–10 Based on tree-ring evidence, below-normal

precipitation prevailed (Fritts 1991: 128, 151).

1801 (summer) The horses of the Spanish military

suffered, and some died, from high temperatures (Gunnerson 1974: 284).

1803 Irrigation prevented a crop loss due to

drought in the Rio Grande Valley (Bancroft

1889: 302).

1803–04 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1805 (summer) Rainfall was below normal (Baisan

1994: 3).

1805 A Santa Fe presidial soldier was killed by a

bolt of lightning while riding a mule

(Simmons 1977b: 102).

1807 (March 5–6) As they departed Santa Fe, a

snowstorm hampered travel by Zebulon Pike

and his Spanish captors. He noted that 1 foot

of snow covered the ground north of San

Felipe Pueblo (Coues 1987, II: 614–616).

1810–21 Based on tree-ring evidence, there was a general downward trend in temperature. Temperature decline was most rapid around 1821

(Fritts 1991: 128).

1814 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14, 1450).

1814 Residents of Santa Fe suffered due to deep

snow and shortages of food (Baxter 1987: 77).

1815 (ca.) The governor of New Mexico, Alberto

Mayvez, reported that the province was economically poor due to extremely cold

weather, which had virtually ruined farming

and ranching efforts (Simmons 1991: 70–71).

Severe, long winters devastated the agricultural and livestock industries in northern

New Mexico (Simmons 1983: 6–8).

1815–16 These were very wet years (Baisan 1994: 3).

1817–22 (summers) Precipitation was below normal

(Baisan 1994: 3).

1818–19 Wildfires were common (Baisan 1994: 3).

1818–23 Precipitation was below normal, causing

problems for ranchers and farmers in northern New Mexico. In spite of the drought conditions, sheep herds increased in number

(Bancroft 1889: 302; Denevan 1967: 701; Ellis

1974: 235).

1819–29 Dendroclimatic studies in the Tijeras Canyon

area indicate that precipitation was below

normal, and temperatures were above normal. The precipitation the first year was estimated to have been only about 6 inches, more

than 50 percent below today’s normal. No

crops were harvested by Hispanic land-grant

settlers in the canyon that year (Cordell 1980:

52, 64–65; Quintana and Kayser 1980: 52).

1820–21 (winter) This was a wet period (Baisan 1994:

3).

1820–22 A drought caused hardship, but irrigation

saved crops along the Rio Grande (Bancroft

1889: 302).

1820s (early) The irrigation system at San Antonio

Plaza on the east side of the Sandias was abandoned due to poor quality and insufficient

quantity of water (Quintana and Kayser 1980:

57).

1820 (post) A Rio Grande flood destroyed the

Bernalillo church (Chavez 1957: 3).

1821 (August) Comanches raided the El Vado district of the upper Pecos River. The extended

drought, and the governor’s failure to give

these Indians gifts, probably caused the raiding (Kessell 1979: 436).

1821–30 Based on tree-ring evidence, “average temperature and precipitation patterns were not

greatly different from the embedded anomalies of 1602–1900” (Fritts 1991: 154).

1821–46 Navajos raided the Santa Ana Pueblo area

during drought years (Bayer et al. 1994: 115–

116).

1822 Tree-rings indicate precipitation was substantially below normal (Ellis 1974: 235).

1822 Wildfires were common (Baisan 1994: 3).

1822–23 Major flooding occurred on the Rio Grande

from Bernalillo to El Paso (Carter 1953: 4).

1822 (post) Those seeking a cure for their bad health,

mostly tuberculars, began travelling the Santa

Fe Trail to New Mexico. Others made the trip

to prevent illness through exercise and breathing the clean air (Barbour 1990: 47).

1823 (early June) Surveyors of the El Canutillo

grant near El Paso were forced to halt their
54 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

work due to the flooding Rio Grande (Bowden 1971: 94).

1823 A major flood occurred along the Rio Grande

(Lange et al. 1975: 73).

1824–25 (winter) Ten trappers left Santa Fe to work

the Green River, but deep snow and intense

cold forced them into winter quarters in

southwest Colorado (Weber 1971: 79).

1827 In Santa Fe a “great rain almost ruined all the

houses in town” (Cleland 1950: 224).

1827 Don Jose Agustin de Escudero reported that

New Mexicans had to spend 6 months of every year in their homes due to the severity of

the climate (Carroll and Haggard 1942: 40).

1827–37 Based on tree-ring evidence, the annual average precipitation exceeded 20th century levels (Fritts 1991: 154).

1828 The Rio Grande flooded, destroying property

in the Rio Abajo and cutting a new channel

in the Los Pinos-Peralta area (U.S. Court of

Private Land Claims 1899: 24–26). The flood

also caused extensive damage. Peak discharge

was estimated at 100,000 cfs, and water extended across the entire Rio Grande floodplain (Carter 1953: 19).

1828 A Rio Grande flood at Ranchito de Santa Ana

caused the river to shift eastward, destroying some old houses (Bayer et al. 1994: 114).

1828 The Rio Grande, in flood, was diverted away

from Tome Plaza by a burro, or levee (Ellis and

Baca 1957: 22). A priest of the Tome parish later

said “. . . that Tome should be called `the charcos

city’—referring to the standing pools of water

... a heritage of the great flood of 1828" (Ellis

1955: 201). Later, Tome and Valencia citizens

were in disagreement about moving the Tome

church and plaza to higher ground. According

to Tome residents, the church was in a precarious state, but Valencians disagreed. The church

remained at its original site (Chavez 1957: 98).

1828 Gold was discovered at El Real de Dolores in

the Ortiz Mountains southeast of Santa Fe.

Mining was hampered due to a lack of adequate water supply. Most of the mining was

done in the winter, when snowmelt could be

used (Christiansen 1974: 24–25).

1828 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14450).

1829 The San Miguel church at Socorro was destroyed by a Rio Grande flood (Burrus 1984:

148).

1829 Tree-ring data indicate that precipitation was

below normal (Ellis 1974: 235).

1829–30 The drought caused priests to lead prayers

for rain (Bayer et al. 1994: 115).

1829–42 Trade caravans usually left Santa Fe in October to travel the Old Spanish Trail to California before snows began. Returning caravans

left in April so they could cross rivers before

runoff from snowmelt raised them to flood

levels (Hafen and Hafen 1993: 187).

1820s–30s (winters) When the snow was too deep for

their livestock, trappers would cut cottonwood branches, and the animals would eat

the bark. Some believed too much bark would

cause the hair of an animal to fall out. Adequate water for stock was usually a more

critical factor; waterholes had to be chopped

through the ice of frozen streams or springs

(Lavender 1954: 78).

1830 (spring) Ponce de Leon, whose grant is the

present site of El Paso’s business district, lost

his home on the bank of the Rio Grande in a

flood. His fields and crops suffered considerable damage also (Bowden 1971: 105).

1830 A major flood occurred along the Rio Grande.

Two churches and convents were destroyed

at two unspecified locations along the river

(Kessell 1980: 132; Lange et al. 1975: 73).

1830 (November-December) Work at the Tiro mine

in the Los Cerrillos area was suspended due

to a “great cold spell” (Potash 1949: 338–339).

1831 Antonio Barreiro wrote that the larger, regional streams froze so solidly in winter that

loaded wagons could cross the ice. He also

reported that milk froze in pails (Barreiro

1928: 11–12).

1831 (or 1832) The Rio Grande shifted course, and

Pueblo de Senecu, located east of El Paso, was

“moved” from the south to the north side of

the river (Bowden 1971: 129).

1831–32 (winter) The weather in the southern Rocky

Mountains was extremely severe. Two Mexican servants of an Anglo trapper froze to

death while attempting to take supplies from

Taos into the northern mountains (Weber

1971: 202).

1831–32 (winters) These two seasons were described

as being colder than those in Europe. Winter

weather began in September, with the severest weather occurring in December or January. Snow cover in the higher elevations remained on the ground year round, and rivers

sometimes froze to the extent that the ice

would support heavily loaded carts and pack

trains. Severe winters caused major losses of

livestock and some loss of human life (Bailey

and Carroll 1942: 24–25).

1831–40 Based on tree-ring evidence, this appears to

have been an extremely wet decade. In fact,
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 55

it may have been the wettest since 1600 (Fritts

1991: 129, 154).

1832 (July) A flood on the Rio Chama washed away

a diversion dam and ditch above Abiquiu

(Ebright 1979: 21).

1832 (summer) In northeast New Mexico, Josiah

Gregg’s (1966, I: 108) caravan experienced a

thunderstorm. A bolt of lightning killed an ox.

1833–42 Based on tree-ring evidence, this was the coldest period in the last 5 centuries (Fritts 1991:

128).

1835–49 Tree-ring data indicate that this was the wettest period of any other comparable time

range in the historic period (D’Arrigo and

Jacoby 1992: 243, 251).

1837 Forest fire frequency was below normal

(Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1019).

1837 Priests were again asked to lead prayers for

rain because of the drought (Bayer et al. 1994:

115).

1830s Gregg (1966, I: 146–147) wrote this on the climate: “Salubrity of climate is decidedly the

most interesting feature in the character of

New Mexico. Nowhere, not even under the

much boasted Sicilian skies, can a purer or a

more wholesome atmosphere be found.”

Some Hispanic residents told him that rainfall increased during this decade (Gregg 1966,

II: 203). He (1966, I: 148) observed that the

Santa Fe wagon trains were especially welcomed in the capital during droughts, when

they brought relief to the area residents. Some

Hispanics thought the Americans brought

rain, but Gregg remarked that this was a “superstition,” as the traders arrived during the

usual rainy season of July and August. Gregg

(1966, II: 94) also wrote “Owing a little to the

dryness of the climate, Mexican animals have

unusually hard hoofs. Many will travel for

weeks, and even months over firm [packed]

and often rocky roads of the interior ... without any protection whatever to the feet ....”

1830s (winters) These seasons were described as

“long” but not as cold as those of the previous century (Gregg 1966, I: 147–148).

1830s–40s Precipitation was above normal during most

of this period. Perhaps as a result, fires in

grasslands and forests were few in New

Mexico and Arizona. Another possible cause

for so few fires was the intense grazing of the

grass understory by sheep, removing grassy

fuels important to spreading fires (Swetnam

1990: 10).

1841 A decline in annual precipitation began (Fritts

1991: 129).

1840s (mid) (to early 1850s) Severe drought due to

below average precipitation occurred

(Denevan 1967: 701; Ellis 1974: 235). Perhaps

in response to these conditions and an accelerating decrease in bison on the eastern plains,

various nomadic Indian groups stepped up

their raiding along the Rio Grande (Bloom

1914: 37–38).

1844–45 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14451).

1845–47 Based on tree-ring evidence, these years were

among the driest 3-year periods in the last 5

centuries (Fritts 1991: 134).

1846 (pre) Spanish livestock raisers sometimes requested Pueblo governors to allow them to

graze their animals on Indian lands “for a year

or two, generally during years of drought.”

Often the Spaniards would continue to use

the land and would eventually gain legal title

to it (Sando 1992: 113).

1846 (November 24) Lt. James Abert (1962: 127), at

Valverde, wrote “. . . the river was frozen

across, but by breakfast time the ice was floating down the rapid current in great quantities. . . .”

1846 (December 10–15) Near Valverde, Abert’s

(1962: 132–135) men suffered from cold temperatures and snow. On the last day they

packed, crossed the river at the Valverde ford,

and began their march upstream to Santa Fe

on the west bank road.

1846 (December 28) Abert’s (1962: 141) command

suffered from the effects of a severe snowstorm as they left Santa Fe. They were forced

to camp at Apache Canyon. A number of oxen

died, and wolves and ravens were seen scavenging the carcasses.

1846 (December 31-January, 1, 1847) Another severe snowstorm struck Abert (1962: 142–143)

and his men, and they sought shelter in a pine

forest west of Ojo de Bernal. They camped at

the spring and awoke to 5 inches of snow on

the ground, a strong wind, and very cold temperatures.

1846 Adolph Wislizenus (1969: 25) wrote “... the

Rio del Norte is never frozen with ice thick

enough to admit the passage of horses and

carriages, as was formerly believed.”

1847 (January 3) Abert (1962: 144) reported thick

ice on the Rio Sapello, making crossing difficult. The same was true at the Rio Mora.

1847 (January 7–8) The snow and cold in the Rio

Rayado area continued to hamper Abert’s

(1962: 147–148) travel. Wolves were eating

downed oxen, and some attacked the mules.
56 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Ice on the Rio Vermejo was crossed by the

men, their animals, and the wagon.

1847 The “mountains all around” Santa Fe were

“covered with snow...” (Frazer 1981: 39).

1847 Forest fire frequency was above normal

(Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1019).

1849 (June 15–20) William H. Chamberlain, traveling from Santa Fe through the Tijeras Canyon to the Rio Grande, wrote “Everything

here appears to be suffering from drought.”

However, the river at Albuquerque was

“nearly a mile wide,” and “its flow was higher

this season than ever known before” (Bloom

1945: 144–146).

1849 (August 14-September 23) This was a dry period for the region between the Rio Puercoof-the-East and the Chuska Mountains

(McNitt 1964: 163).

1849 This was a drought year, and the Rio Puercoof-the-East was dry (McNitt 1964: 163).

1849–50s (falls) New Mexico’s normally dry autumns

resulted in “the grass not lose[ing] its nutritious properties by being washed with rains.

It gradually dries and cures like hay, so that

animals eat it freely, and will fatten upon it

even in midwinter. It is seldom that any grain

is fed to stock in either of these territories”

(Marcy 1988: 113).

1840s Santa Fe Trail traders were welcomed by the

Pueblos, who believed their arrival was “a

sign that the rains would soon come (Bayer

et al. 1994: 115).

1840s–60s Based on tree-ring evidence, this was a warming period, followed by a cooling period

(Fritts 1991: 128).

1840s–70s Every “new moon” and in August, individuals from Placitas forecast the weather as related

to farming activities (Batchen 1972: 22–23).

1850–1994 (winters) The average precipitation for Albuquerque was 1.6 inches (Liles 1994: 35).

1800s (mid) The old Corrales church was destroyed

by Rio Grande floods (Marshall 1989: 47).

1851 A drought, hail, and grasshoppers notwithstanding, the crop harvest was good in the

territory (Sunseri 1979: 22). Some ranchers

were forced by the dry conditions to drive

their cattle and sheep herds to market in California (Loomis 1962: 21).

1851 Forest fire frequency was above normal

(Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1019).

1851–60 Based on tree-ring evidence, precipitation was

below 20th century means (Fritts 1991: 155).

1852 (June) This was the wettest month ever recorded in Albuquerque; 8.15 inches of precipitation fell (Liles 1994: 6).

1852 Gila Apaches struck Rio Grande settlements

in Valencia and Socorro counties repeatedly

(Schroeder 1963: 12). These attacks may have

been, in part, related to the drought of the

previous 2 years.

1852 Military physician John F. Hammond noted

that the Rio Grande in the Socorro area was

running above normal flow from May to late

July due to the snowmelt runoff. During these

periods, the river ran 200 to 600 yards wide and

4 to 6 feet deeper than normal flow. Floods destroyed “hundreds of acres of cultivated land

in a single season, and formed extensive deposits ... and that [water] used for irrigation makes

a heavy deposit which improves the land.”

Changes in the channel reportedly took place

almost every year (Hammond 1966: 24–25).

1852–62 The drought caused hardship among all New

Mexicans, and nomadic Indian groups raided

widely (Horgan 1954, I: 831).

1850s (early) Whenever the Rio Grande rose, its waters ran in its new (present) channel and the

1831 or 1832 channel, forming a 20-mile-long

island on which the pueblos of Isleta del Sur

and Socorro and the Presidio de San Elizario

were located (Bowden 1971: 143).

1853 (February) A reservation for the Jicarilla

Apaches was established about 20 miles west

of Abiquiu on a tributary valley of the Chama

River. Here there was good grazing and shelter from winter weather, and in the nearby

mountains there were abundant game animals and good timber (Tiller 1992: 41–42).

1853 (spring-summer) The Rio Puerco west of

Abiquiu went dry, preventing the Jicarilla

Apache from growing crops on lands set aside

for them by the government (Tiller 1992: 43).

1853 (September) An early frost killed the peaches

along the lower Rio Grande before they could

be harvested (Hume 1942: 210).

1853 (September 21) Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel

Thomas Charlton Henry, a U.S. Army surgeon

stationed in New Mexico, was waiting at the

north end of the Jornada del Muerto with a

detachment of soldiers for the “advent of rain”

and the oxen to recuperate. He described the

Rio Grande as “a magnificent stream. Its waters are muddy, like those of the Missouri, yet

on standing sediment is quickly deposited, and

the water is very palatable” (Hume 1942: 210).

1850s (early to mid) The period of the “Little Ice Age”

generally ended, and a gradual warming trend

began (Fritts 1965: 438–442; Swan 1977: 31).

1854 (spring) W.H.H. Davis (1982: 351, 353), visiting the Bernalillo-Albuquerque area, wrote
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 57

“. . . there are flies and mosquitoes, which

swarm in and out of doors in untold millions.”

He described the water from the Rio Grande

as “so muddy that you can not see the face in

it until it shall have settled several hours.” He

described the climate of Albuquerque as “oppressively warm in the summer season” and in

“some seasons of the year high winds prevail,

when the sun is almost obscured by the clouds

of fine dust. . . . No climate in the world is better

adapted to the [grape]vine than the middle and

southern portions of New Mexico. . . .”

1854 (April 4) U.S. Army troops, pursuing Jicarilla

Apaches, were hampered by a violent wind

and snowstorm. Upland areas above 6,000

feet were blanketed by 3 feet of snow (Tiller

1992: 48).

1854–55 (summers) This was an exceptionally wet

period. Rains were abnormally intensive and

lasted beyond the normal summer “monsoons” in northern New Mexico. In the first

year, the summer rains began early and extended into fall, ending the first week in November. Houses were damaged in Santa Fe;

some adobe structures were destroyed (Davis

1982: 298–299).

1854–55 Albuquerque experienced two “wet” years,

with 12.51 and 10.54 inches of precipitation

(Tuan et al. 1973: 8).

1855 (early May) U.S. Attorney W.W.H. Davis described the Casa Colorado area during a dust

storm: “At Casa Colorado we struck a young

desert, an excellent pocket edition of the great

African Zahara, over which we journeyed for

about four miles. A high west wind was blowing at the time, and there was no grass upon

the ground to keep the sand where it belonged: it drifted about like snow in a winter’s

storm; the particles were fine and dry, and the

atmosphere was so filled with them as almost

to obscure the sun. The sand blew into our

faces like hail, and our poor animals, at times,

would stop, refusing to face the storm. In

many places the loose sand was piled up in

conical-shaped hills, several feet in height,

and the finer particles were constantly whirling around them. For the distance this region

extends, it is as perfect a desert waste as can be,

and we were right glad when we reached the

southern border, and once more had a hard road

under our horses’ feet” (Davis 1982: 359–360).

1855 (July) The Rio Puerco west of Albuquerque

was dry, but a little water was found in the

Rio San Jose (Davis 1982: 392).

1855 (winter) The Rio Grande ceased flowing 25

miles above Las Cruces, near the San Diego

ford (Horgan 1954, II: 831–832).

1855 Survey of the principal meridian south of the

base line, near Socorro, during a dry period

was discontinued due to the high price of

water (75 cents/gallon) for the survey crew

and their mules. Work did not resume “until

the rains came” (Westphall 1965: 10).

1855 A flood on the Gallinas caused property damage in Las Vegas (Perrigo 1982: 87).

1855 (ca.) Flooding on the Rio Grande was damaging the Belen church, and within a few

years it was totally destroyed by floodwaters

(Espinosa and Chavez n.d.: 146).

1856 (November 2) A snowstorm and strong winds

struck the Larkin party on the Santa Fe Trail,

spoiling their hunting. They camped that night

in the snow at Raton Pass (Barbour 1990: 95).

1856 (November 6) Another snowstorm struck the

Larkin group near Ocate Creek (Barbour 1990:

97).

1856 (November 23) There were 6–8 inches of snow

on the ground at Santa Fe (Barbour 1990:

105).

1856 (November 28) Larkin left Santa Fe and travelled 42 miles through “deep snow” to

Algodones (Barbour 1990: 106–107).

1856 (November 28-December 3) The weather was

“excessively cold” in the Algodones-Santa Fe

area (Barbour 1990: 107).

1856 (December 9) Snow still covered the ground

at Santa Fe (Barbour 1990: 109).

1856 The “old town” of Sabinal was destroyed by

a Rio Grande flood, which cut a new, straight

channel through the town site (Lange and

Riley 1970: 14).

1856 The Rio Grande flooded in the Sabinal area

and silted over the location where Chiricahua

and Mescalero Apaches had lived in agricultural communities during the early 1790s.

This settlement was part of an attempt to

maintain peace between the Apaches and the

Spanish (Simmons 1991: 57–60).

1857 (January 7–9) Snow fell all of the first day at

Santa Fe, with 8 inches on the ground the next

morning. There was more snow on the 8th,

and then it became bitterly cold on the third

day (Barbour 1990: 115).

1857 (June or July) The Rio Grande was about a

half-mile wide and too high to cross from the

west bank to the east at Fort Craig (Browne

1973: 59).

1858 (March-August) This was the wettest 6-month

period for Albuquerque; 14.4 inches of precipitation were recorded (Liles 1994: 6).
58 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1858 (June 23) Emigrant John Udell, at Albuquerque, wrote “The Rio Grande River is about

one mile wide here, from bank to bank....” He

was describing a spring flood (Dodge 1980:

90–91).

1858 (fall) No precipitation was recorded for this

season in Albuquerque, the lowest of record

(Liles 1994: 34).

1858 The highest annual precipitation ever recorded for Albuquerque was 16.3 inches (Liles

1994: 6, 9).

1859–60 A drought in New Mexico resulted in a decreased crop harvest and poor native grass

growth (Beadle 1973: 514–515; Frazer 1983:

154, 186; Keleher 1982: 146; Sunseri 1973: 33).

Northwest New Mexico was especially hard

hit, with almost no grass and little water.

Large numbers of sheep and horses were reported to be dying (Heyman 1951: 49–50).

1850s (late) Precipitation was above average in the

southern Rocky Mountains (Bradley 1976: 16,

191).

1850s A Rio Grande flood in the Corrales area

caused a shift in the river’s channel (Eisenstadt 1980: 16).

1850s (early 1860s) Some Navajos claimed that war

was efficacious in bringing rain (Brugge 1985:

163).

1860 (ca.) Residents of Abiquiu reported that Rito

Coyote, Rito Vallecito, and Rito Colorado de

Abiquiu ceased flowing. This was explained

by the saying “el tiempo se pone mas seco

cado ano” (Loew 1875: 133).

1860 (spring) No precipitation was recorded for

Albuquerque (Liles 1994: 32).

1860 The corn crop in New Mexico was less than

expected due to drought. Residents of the territory suffered from the lack of adequate provisions (Sunseri 1979: 20, 33).

1860–65 These were drought years (Baisan 1994: 3).

1860 (ca.) (to 1885) The village of Chamberino of

Santa Ana County was flooded several times

by high waters of the Rio Grande. A flood in

the last year destroyed all but a few houses.

Some families moved to higher ground and

reestablished the village (Johansen 1948: 54).

1861 (January) Ice covered the Rio Grande crossing at the Barelas-Atrisco ford. Some of the

ice supported a light buggy and an army

ambulance (Lane 1964: 94).

1861 (February 5) Deep snow prevented many Navajo leaders from coming to the peace council

at Ojo del Oso for 10 days (Bailey 1980: 216).

1861 The Rio Grande was dry from Socorro to below El Paso (Follett 1898: 90).

1861–70 Based on tree-ring evidence, the drought continued (Fritts 1991: 156).

1862 (January 27) A traveler passing through Albuquerque had difficulties in getting his wagons across the Rio Grande (Barelas Ford?) and

coping with sand storms west of town

(Oppenheimer 1962: 24).

1862 (March 8) A dust storm struck a Confederate

column near Judge Baird’s residence. Sergeant A.B. Peticolas (Alberts 1993: 66) described this event: “. . . the wind increased to

almost a hurricane. Clouds of sand came driving against our backs, and the whole atmosphere was dark with the heavy clouds of

sand. The pebbles dashed stingingly against

our backs, and our eyes were almost put out

by the sand.”

1862 (March) A dust storm at Albuquerque was

described by a Confederate soldier: “The sand

and gravel...[flew] in a manner that I never

saw before. I would compare it to a description that I have seen of the sand storms of the

great desert of Sahara” (Hall 1960: 121).

1862 (April) The retreating Confederate army suffered losses in the San Mateo Mountains,

Socorro Co., due to exposure, cold temperatures,

disease, and Apache attacks. Apaches also poisoned wells along the retreat route of the Confederates (Roberts and Roberts 1988: 124).

1862 (April 13) A dust storm prevented Union

troops from attacking the retreating Confederate army just south of Albuquerque

(Simmons 1982: 186).

1862 (April 16) Peticolas’s Confederate unit found

“plenty of wood” at a Hispano rancho near

Belen. The severe dust storm continued all

day (Alberts 1993: 107).

1862 (August) A major flood inundated much of

the Rio Grande Valley from Albuquerque

south, destroying crops and damaging structures in the Valencia area (Carter 1953: 4).

Floods along the Rio Grande in southern New

Mexico damaged fields, destroyed homes, and

forced many residents to abandon their villages

(Couchman 1990: 155; Sonnichsen 1980: 9).

1862 (late December to early January 1863) On a

mail coach, Franz Huning encountered snow

from west of Albuquerque to Zuni. On the

return trip, travel was more difficult due to

deep, hard-frozen snow (Browne 1973: 70–71).

1862 Following the 2-year drought lack of adequate

grasses, forbs, and shrubs for grazing livestock was a factor in the ultimate defeat of

Confederate forces by Union forces (Simmons

1982: 179).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 59

1862 As a result of the drought, the demand for

salt by the military increased. The military at

Fort Bliss and other posts in the area especially needed the salt (Sonnichsen 1968: 182).

1862 Hispanic settlers from the Mesilla Valley established the village of La Luz in the Tularosa

Valley. They moved due to the frequent floods

on the Rio Grande (Schneider-Hector 1993:

42).

1862–64 Floods along the southern portion of the Rio

Abajo caused shifts in the river channel and

damaged acequia systems (Wozniak 1987).

1863 Continuing drought conditions forced the

Navajos to raid Acoma to obtain agricultural

produce (Ellis 1974: 456).

1860s early Rio Grande floods caused considerable damage to homes and farms in the Los Padillas

area (Espinosa and Chavez n.d.: 159–160).

1860s early The continuing drought was a factor in causing major raids by nomadic groups on Pueblo,

Hispano, and Anglo settlements in northern

New Mexico (Ellis 1974: 287).

1863–64 A severe winter, followed by more drought

the next spring and summer, was a contributing factor in the surrender of more than

8,000 Navajos by October of 1864. These prisoners were incarcerated at Fort Sumner on the

Pecos (Bailey 1970: 60–61).

1863–65 Based on tree-ring evidence, these years were

the second-driest 3-year period in the last 5

centuries (Fritts 1991: 134).

1864 (February) En route from Fort Whipple, Arizona, to Fort Wingate, a U.S. military contingent was caught in a storm that deposited 3

feet of snow. Men and their animals suffered,

and the party was almost out of food when

they reached Zuni, where they were given

pinole and beans (Meketa 1986: 256–258).

1864 (October 29–31) A U.S. military contingent

was caught in a blizzard at Raton Pass. Snow

was waist deep, and most of the men suffered

frozen feet and snow blindness (Meketa 1986:

56–57).

1864 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14451).

1864–65 (winter) The weather was abnormally severe,

including heavy snowfall (Carter 1953: 64).

Melt and runoff would result in major flooding (Yeo 1943: 13).

1865 (mid May-June 17) A major Rio Grande flood,

due to runoff from the abnormally deep

snowpack in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, struck northern and central

New Mexico. The Rio Grande Valley was inundated by a major flood, which caused the

evacuation of communities from Atrisco to

Sabinal. Crops and structures were severely

damaged (Carter 1953: 64).

1865 (late spring) Late frosts killed the buds and

flowers of fruit trees statewide. At about the

same time, floods along the Rio Grande destroyed agricultural crops in Bernalillo

County and forced most residents to move to

higher ground above the valley. Settlements

downstream to Mesilla suffered property and

crop losses as well (Keleher 1982: 382–383;

Simmons 1982: 195).

1865 (late spring) A major Rio Grande flood hit the

Mesilla Valley hard where the village of Santo

Tome was destroyed. The river channel

shifted west, moving from the east side of

Mesilla to its west side. The change in the river

left Picacho on the opposite bank from other

nearby valley settlements, causing a gradual

abandonment of the village (Bowden 1971:

51–52; Wozniak 1987).

1865 (summer) Locusts and grasshoppers devoured the fields of wheat, corn, and beans

in Taos, Rio Arriba, Mora, and San Miguel

counties. Next, grasshoppers and corn worms

wiped out surviving crops from Paraje to Albuquerque and west to Fort Wingate. Finally,

more floods along the Rio Grande, bolstered

by high water from the Rio Puerco-of-theEast, caused major damage from Sabinal to

Las Cruces and Mesilla. Flooding below Albuquerque nearly completely inundated villages from Atrisco to Los Lunas. No vegetables, grain, or fruit were harvested that

summer and fall, and the Pueblos were asked

to donate food stores to other communities

(Bancroft 1889: 739; Keleher 1982: 382–383;

Simmons 1982: 195).

1865 Rio Grande floodwaters destroyed the grain

crop along the valley south of Rincon (Miller

1989: 95).

1865–66 Flood refugees from Refugio de los Amoles

joined other settlers to form the new village

of “Old” Chamberino north of El Paso

(Bowden 1971: 28).

1865–67 Fort Bliss structures at El Paso were being

threatened by the Rio Grande, so two wing

dams were built to divert the threatening current. Floodwaters in late May and early June

swept away more than half the newly constructed quarters and all of the storehouses

and corrals. In March 1868 this site was abandoned (Miller 1989: 217–218).

1865–70 Precipitation was above normal in northern

and central New Mexico (Bradley 1976: 17).
60 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1866 (January 18) A territorial statute providing for

the right to move an irrigation ditch destroyed

by rain or runoff was passed. Construction

of a new ditch was allowed if the damaged

one was impossible to rebuild and if most of

those who would furnish the labor so consented. The mayordomo was authorized to

relocate the acequia and given the authority

to cross any land by securing the consent of

the owner (Clark 1987: 26).

1866 James F. Meline (1966: 151) noted that the

Santa Fe River had “a wide pebbly bed, showing capacity for frequent mountain torrents,”

and “in ordinary seasons its waters are lost

in the granite sands, some five miles below

town.”

1866 San Marcial was “wiped out” by a Rio Grande

flood (Pearce 1965: 146).

1866–69 (winters) Military post herds were fed hay

and corn fodder, but some died nevertheless

from exposure to cold temperatures and snow

(Miller 1989: 201).

1866–90 Partly due to flooding of the original or Spanish section of Lemitar, Anglos established

businesses and homes on higher ground

(Scurlock 1982a: 12).

1867 (summer) The flooding Rio Grande destroyed

houses at Los Lentes, Pueblitos, Bosque de

Belen, Sabinal, and the Mesilla Valley (Miller

1989: 100).

1868 (July 5–11) Some 7,000 Navajos, returning to

their homeland from Bosque Redondo, were

delayed 7 days by high water on the Rio

Grande at the Barelas crossing (Simmons

1982: 194).

1868 (August 6) Two male individuals, one an

Indian servant, were killed by the same lightning bolt at Tome (Baca and Baca 1994:

40).

1868 (summer) The rich placer gravels at Elizabethtown could not be worked over this entire mining season due to scarcity of water

(Pearson 1986: 7).

1868 A flood on the Rio Grande washed away the

church and cemetery at Corrales; residents

subsequently built a new church on higher

ground, about one-half mile west of the old

church (Armstrong 1988: 60–63).

1868 Tree-ring data indicate that this was a very

wet year (Ellis 1974: 235).

1868–71 (winters) Freezing temperatures and water

shortages at Elizabethtown mines halted mining operations (Murphy 1969: 56).

1869 Pools of water, which reportedly originated

from early 19th century flooding, were still

standing in the Tome area. Father Luis

Benavidez, substituting for Father Ralliere,

called it the “City of Stagnant Pools” (Ellis

and Baca 1957: 25).

1869–70 (winter) Wine froze in the chalice in a church

at Las Vegas (Ayer 1965: 263).

1869–70? La Constancia, the southernmost settlement

on the Tome land grant, consisted of a group

of farms located near the old ferry crossing

on the Rio Grande. A bridge was later built

here, but it soon washed out due to the low

river banks. Even later it was replaced by the

Highway 60 bridge, just beyond the southern boundaries of the grant (Ellis 1955: 104).

1860s Flooding of rivers hindered freighting of army

supplies (Miller 1989: 311).

1860s Based on tree-ring data, temperatures were

generally above average (Fritts 1991: 191).

1870 (May 30-October 1) A sleet and snow storm,

followed by three nights of hard frost, killed

all Navajo crops except wheat and peas. Most

of the fields were replanted, but drought later

adversely affected the harvest. A loss of about

two-thirds of the normal harvest resulted

(Brugge 1980: 57–58).

1870 fall Railroad surveyor William A. Bell traveled

down the Rio Grande from Albuquerque noting that most of the cottonwood bosque was

periodically removed by floods. Agricultural

fields, he observed, all suffered damage during these floods (Bell 1965: 241–242).

1870 (fall-winter) The Jicarilla were unsuccessful

in their hunting on the Southern Plains, and

were dependent on government rations. With

the arrival of cold weather, some Apaches

died (Tiller 1992: 71, 73).

1870–75 (falls) Poor roads prevented contractors from

delivery of hay at Fort Union and Santa Fe.

Rain and early snows made some roads virtually impassable or “spoiled” hay before

delivery (Miller 1989: 101).

1870 (to about 1900) During this period there was

a higher frequency of intense storm events

and fewer light rains. This, coupled with intense grazing and lack of light rains which

infiltrate the surface soil and favor perennial

grass growth, may have reduced vegetation

cover. This may have resulted in increased

surface erosion by wind and water to produce

deflation and arroyo cutting (Grover and

Musick n.d.: 8).

1871 (May-June) The Middle Rio Grande was high

from 4 to 6 weeks of this period, and four

people drowned. Little property damage apparently occurred (Carter 1953: 44).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 61

1871 (August-September) Heavy rains destroyed the

garden crops at Fort Selden (Miller 1989: 44).

1871 Drought stunted native grass growth in

southern New Mexico, and hay contractors

had difficulty in delivering the full amount

to forts Bayard, Stanton, Craig, Selden, and

Wingate. The contractor at the latter post had

to collect hay from a 50-plus miles distance

(Miller 1989: 102).

1871 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14, 451).

1871–80 Based on tree-ring evidence, the region was

warm and dry (Fritts 1991: 157).

1871 (to early 1900s) Drought conditions prevailed

along the middle Rio Puerco. Periodic floods

and overgrazing resulted in gullying and erosion. Flood damage was exacerbated by intense cutting of timber along the river. Ring

muhly and “weeds” began to replace the native gramas and other good grazing grasses

(Rittenhouse 1965: 79, 82–83).

1872 (late May-early June) Flooding on the Rio

Grande caused by snowmelt runoff prevented

some residents of the Middle Valley from voting on a statehood referendum (Larson 1968:

112). At Albuquerque the river covered most

of the floodplain between its channel and the

plaza (Beadle 1973: 490). The flood caused the

Rio Grande to cut into the main Las Cruces

acequia (Wozniak 1987).

1872 (June 26) Following a flood 3 weeks earlier, the

flow in the Rio Puerco-of-the-East was noted to

be falling. The river reportedly ran only 2

months of a given year, and the water “looked

exactly like dirty milk and its temperature was

about 70.” The valley was about 2-miles wide;

the channel of the river was “some twenty-five

feet deep and not more than fifty wide at the

top of the bank” (Beadle 1973: 493–494).

1872 (August 19) A flood on the Santa Fe River

probably exceeded 1,000 cfs (U.S. Geological

Survey 1994).

1873 (spring-summer) Low precipitation resulted

in little native grass growth in the Santa Fe

area and in serious crop losses. Contractors

to the army had to haul hay to the community from 120 miles away. The drought must

have ended because in late summer the military was purchasing hay by the cart and burro

load in Santa Fe (Miller 1989: 100–101).

1873 Pueblo Indian agents reported crop failures

due to drought (Bancroft 1889: 739–740).

1873 Based on tree-ring evidence, the dry weather

that began about 30 years earlier was “somewhat ameliorated” by this year (Fritts 1991: 129).

1874 (January 7) Wine froze in a chalice on the altar of the Belen church (Ayer 1965: 263).

1874 (April 14) The Chama River was in flood and

could not be crossed safely, nor could the Rio

Grande at the confluence with the Chama

(Carter 1953: 73).

1874 (May 21–29) The Middle Rio Grande flood

was estimated to have a peak flow of 100,000

cfs. In places, the river shifted in its channel

(Nanninga 1982: 99).

1874 (May-June) A major flood of the Rio Grande

from Alameda to Socorro caused widespread

damage and resulted in the river flowing

through an old channel east of Albuquerque’s

Old and New towns (Carter 1953: 9–10; Kelley

1969: 17).

1874 (mid July) A flash flood along the Galisteo

Arroyo washed away a buckboard, mule, and

driver. A road bridge in the area also was

damaged (Carter 1953: 10).

1874 (summer) A major flood of the Rio Grande

resulted in overflow waters moving into an

old channel to the east of Alameda and Albuquerque, making the latter community an island for several days. Damage to buildings,

crops, and other property was severe

(Simmons 1982: 208).

1874 Another (?) flood on the Rio Grande washed

away the church and cemetery at Corrales

(Armstrong 1988: 63; Eisenstadt 1980: 13).

1874 A large flood on the Rio Grande sent the river

out of its channel, causing extensive damage

in El Paso and smaller communities to the

north (Sonnichsen 1968: 196, 382).

1874 Pueblo Indian agents reported a good crop

harvest (Bancroft 1889: 739–740).

1874–1950 Sixteen floods damaged farmlands and crops,

destroyed villages, and threatened

Albuquerque’s North and South valleys

(Fergusson 1951: 356).

1876 (January 13) An act was passed establishing

a five-member board of commissioners, who

were responsible for taxing residents who

lived within 5 miles of the Rio Grande, to raise

money for flood prevention (Clark 1987: 31).

1876 The U.S. Army built a pontoon bridge at or

near the site of the present Central Avenue

bridge in Albuquerque. By 1878 the bridge

had been washed away by floods (Simmons

1982: 204).

1877 (summer) Rainfall was below normal (Baisan

1994: 3).

1877 An army physician reported that many individuals suffering from pulmonary diseases

came from the “Missouri frontier” for the “sa-
62 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

lubrious” New Mexico climate (McParlin

1878: 323).

1877–78 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14451).

1877–78 (winter) Heavy snowfalls were estimated to

have caused the loss of more than 20 percent

of the region’s sheep (Gordon et al. 1974: 72).

1877–83 Precipitation was below normal, and the

Pueblos suffered crop losses (Bancroft 1889:

740; Denevan 1967: 701; Ellis 1974: 235).

1877–1917 Based on tree-ring evidence, precipitation

generally increased (Fritts 1991: 157).

1878 (winter) A severe blizzard drove pronghorns

from the San Pedro Mountains area westward

to near San Felipe Pueblo. Hunters from the

village killed most of them and feasted on the

meat for many days (Batchen 1972: 66).

1878 The village of Placitas in Dona Ana County

was founded on the Rio Grande but was soon

moved to a mesa above the river because of

flood waters (Johansen 1948: 53–54).

1878 There were many destructive floods in the

territory (Bancroft 1889: 768).

1879 (February to July 1880) A territory-wide

drought caused sheep losses from 25 to 50

percent (Gordon et al. 1974: 98). The Rio

Grande was dry below Isleta during this first

year (Carter 1953: 262).

1879 (summer) Rainfall was below normal (Baisan

1994: 3).

1879 A drought resulted in crop failures and the

loss of many sheep for the Navajo, who increased their raids on Zuni and Hispanic livestock (Ellis 1974: 494).

1879 The drought caused some hay contractors to

fail in meeting their requirements to provide

hay for the army (Miller 1989: 103).

1879 The Rio Grande below San Felipe was dry for

1 or 2 months (Lange and Riley 1970: 14).

1879 Forest fire frequency was above normal

(Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1019).

1879–96 Reportedly, the “destruction of timber both

by fire and sawmill men, the snows melt earlier in the spring and run off more quickly,

and so the flood comes sooner and does not

last as long as formerly” (Follett 1898: 92).

1880 (early) To prevent flooding, the new Santa Fe

rail line north of Albuquerque was located

about 2 miles east of the Rio Grande at the edge

of the floodplain, removed from the old channels and other low-lying areas that were inundated by floodwaters (Oppenheimer 1962: 33).

1880 (summer) Navajo crops were threatened by

drought in early summer. About a month

later, heavy rains damaged their fields. Some

fields were entirely washed away (Brugge

1980: 92).

1880 (summer) Rains almost washed out the rear

wall of the adobe church at San Juan. To prevent that from happening again, some Pueblo

residents “built it up with ox-horns” (Kessell

1980: 92).

1880 A major flood occurred along the Rio Puerco

(U.S. Geological Survey 1994).

1880 There was a severe drought in the territory

(Bancroft 1889: 768).

1880 Lack of adequate water rendered mining at

the New Placers District unprofitable

(Northrop 1959: 27).

1880–81 (winter) The weather was “severe,” and there

was deep snow (Nims 1980: 114). Heavy livestock losses were experienced by Navajos due

to the severity of the weather (Brugge 1980:

92).

1880–85 (summers) The flow of the Rio Grande was

reduced severely by irrigation (Baxter 1885:

687).

1880 (to late 1930s) Albuquerque experienced a

considerable number of floods, and most

buildings were set up to 5 feet above street

level. A semipermanent lake bordered the

town on the north and south. It was drained

by the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (Oppenheimer 1962: 36).

1881 (March 18-July) Heavy snow, sleet, and cold

temperatures that lasted for several days

killed a minimum of 10,000 Navajo sheep.

This was followed by summer drought, wind,

and worms, and then heavy rains destroyed

some fields (Brugge 1980: 94).

1881 (August 4) Levees to channel the river away

from the pueblo of Santo Domingo during

flood stages were in place (Kessell 1980: 130–

131).

1881 (summer) Heavy rains at Jemez Pueblo

caused the roof of the church to collapse

(Kessell 1980: 183).

1881–82 (winter) Precipitation had been adequate, and

temperatures were mild. Cattle herds increased, and ranchers profited (Gordon et al.

1974: 93–94).

1881–82 A bridge over the Rio Grande was constructed

west of Albuquerque at the site of a former pontoon bridge. The flood of May 1891 washed

away this bridge (Simmons 1982: 278).

1882 (pre) The west side of Santo Domingo Pueblo

had been destroyed by Rio Grande floods.

New houses were being built on the east side

of the village. Two dikes had been built to

keep out floodwaters (Lange and Riley 1966:
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 63

98). The bridge at Cochiti had previously been

destroyed by a flood on the Rio Grande, and

the bridge at Santo Domingo was also damaged. A pueblo ruin in the east part of

Bernalillo also had been destroyed by a Rio

Grande flood (Lange and Riley 1966: 316, 248).

1882 (July 13) The Santa Fe River, carrying high

water, flooded part of the valley across the

Rio Grande from Cochiti (Lange and Riley

1966: 39).

1882 The Rio Grande was cutting into Cochiti

Pueblo farmlands along the east bank of the

Rio Grande. One resident commented that “it

would be much better if the River would eat

the pueblo than to have it eat up its lands.

The pueblo would soon be built elsewhere”

(Lange 1959: 37).

1882 A. Bandelier recorded a group of penitentes

at the Cochiti Pueblo church playing musical

instruments, chanting, and singing in a performance believed to make clouds form to

produce rain (Lange 1959: 24).

1882 Below-average precipitation was recorded for

New Mexico (Denevan 1967: 701; Follett

1898: 3).

1882–83 (winter) This was the coldest such season

during the mining boom at Kingston (Weigle

and White 1988: 324).

1882–83 Livestock losses were high due to severe

weather in northwest New Mexico (Brugge

1980: 104).

1880s (early) A flock of sheep owned by Don Jose Leandro Perea were killed by a blizzard while grazing

between Placitas and Bernalillo. He sent word to

local residents by runners that they could have

the frozen meat of the dead sheep if they would

bring him the pelts (Batchen 1972: 69).

1883 (June) A drought struck the Santa Fe-Espanola

area (Chappell 1969: 15).

1883 A drought impacted the overstocked cattle

and sheep (Gordon et al. 1974: 94).

1883 A drought in the Acoma area caused the Pueblos to suffer (Minge 1976: 71).

1884 Overgrazed ranges in the Albuquerque area

experienced a severe drought. Too many cattle

had glutted the market, and 1882 prices of

$6.40 per hundred weight dropped to $1.00

in 1887 (Oppenheimer 1962: 31).

1884 (winter-spring) Snows were heavy and continued through April, producing good summer grass and crops (Brugge 1980: 115).

1884 (April or May) The Rio Grande at Del Norte

flooded; residents of the valley reported that

it was the largest flood they had experienced

(Follett 1898: 90).

1884 (May-June) A Rio Grande flood occurred from

Cochiti to San Marcial, drowning several

people, destroying buildings, and damaging

farm fields extensively. An above-normal

snowpack in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado was the cause (Carter 1953: 16–21, 117;

Simmons 1982: 298–299).

1884 (June) The Rio Grande cut through the

acequia at Los Lentes and into the old riverbed east of Los Pinos and Peralta for about 2

years. This old bed was first cut in 1828 by a

flood of the Rio Grande (U.S. Court of Private Land Claims 1899: 24–26). This flood,

about 100,000 cfs, damaged virtually every

village from Albuquerque south to El Paso; several people were killed. Damage to agricultural

fields was extensive as well (Carter 1953: 16–

21, 117). The Rio Grande flood left standing

water up to 5 feet deep from Los Pinos to Tome

(Taylor 1989: 4). The Tome church was destroyed in the flood. Valencia was totally abandoned (Carter 1953: 117; Kight 1981: n.p.). C.

Aragon “drowned behind El Cerro” near Tome

during the flood (Baca and Baca 1994: 75).

1884 (late June) As the flood was subsiding, the Rio

Grande was observed to be encroaching

“upon its western bank” south of Alamillo but

cutting eastward above the settlement (Lange

and Riley 1970: 331–332).

1884 (June 30) Bandelier found the “lower parts of

Socorro” inundated by floodwaters, and he

described the area between Lemitar and

Alamillo as “the main washout-currents and

counter-currents are rushing back and forth,

under and around the track [railroad]” (Lange

and Riley 1970: 331).

1884 (July 2) Bandelier wrote “At San Felipe the

water had risen but little, but at Santo

Domingo it reached the foot of the bluff on

which the western tiers of houses stand. It

looks rather threatening” (Kessell 1980: 131).

1884 (July 2) Continued flooding had caused extensive damage in the Rio Abajo and had interrupted work and social activities. Alameda,

Bernalillo, and other communities were seriously flooded (Lange and Riley 1970: 332).

1884 When the Rio Grande shifted its course west

between Los Lentes and Los Lunas during the

flood, the river cut the acequia madre and left

it on the east side of the river. Three other

ditches “moved” from west of the river to the

east side (Wozniak 1987). Portions of the

Valencia church were destroyed. Father

Ralliere ordered members to move the santos

and church furnishings at Tome to a safer lo-
64 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

cation. Two feet of water damaged the walls

of the nave, which subsequently had to be

rebuilt (Kessell 1980: 151–152). The flood “destroyed the channels behind the Cerro [to the

north] and made a marsh of 22 feet deep”

(Ellis and Baca 1957: 24).

1884 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14451).

1884–85 (both springs) The flooding Rio Grande destroyed homes and fields at Chamberino in

Dona Ana County. Afterward, dikes were

built around the village (Want 1964: 175).

1884–85 Floods washed out the railbed and bridges

along the uncompleted section of the Denver

and Rio Grande Chili Line. Also, ties along

the route were rotting (Chappell 1969: 15).

1885 (early spring) “Piling revetment and embankments were constructed at several locations

between Isleta and Los Lunas” (Carter 1953:

46–47).

1885 (May 11) Above-normal runoff resulted from

rain on the Sandia Bajada, east of Albuquerque (Carter 1953: 27).

1885 (June) Another flood, which was almost as severe as the one of the previous year, caused

major damage in the Rio Abajo (Carter 1953:

187; Simmons 1982: 301).

1885 (July 19) Runoff from rains over the Tonque

Arroyo watershed washed out a section of

railroad track above Bernalillo, causing a train

wreck. Two railroad employees were killed

and three seriously injured. Four other rainstorms over the remainder of the summer

caused flood damage in the Middle Valley

(Carter 1953: 27–28).

1885 (winter) A heavy snowfall on Cumbres Pass

prevented the passage of trains for 3 months

(Barry and Bradley 1972: 295).

1885 The Rio Grande flooded at San Marcial

(Follett 1898: 90).

1885 A drought, accompanied by high temperatures and hot winds, caused a crop failure in

the Rincon area. Also, the Rio Grande had

changed its course recently. These two factors

forced some settlers to leave the area (Schlissal

et al. 1989: 148–149).

1885 W.C. Bishop, a Texas cattleman who was representative of those responsible for the abusive land practices in West Texas in recent

years, leased the 32,000-acre Vigil grant on the

Pajarito Plateau and stocked it with over 3,000

cattle. This number was 10 times the estimated carrying capacity; deterioration of the

range grasses began. The severe winter of

1886–87 wiped out most of Bishop’s herd,

forcing him to return to Texas (Rothman 1989:

200–202).

1885–86 (winter) Cattle ranchers experienced heavy

losses during unseasonably cold temperatures and blizzards (Sonnichsen 1980: 20).

1885–86 Overstocking and drought left the range in

poor condition. The winter was severe, followed by a hot, dry summer that killed cattle

and produced poor grazing conditions.

Ranchers were forced to sell their cattle at low

prices (Gordon et al. 1974: 95).

1885–91 The first flood-protection levees, drainage

ditches, and rip-rap were constructed along

the river between Alameda and Albuquerque.

A substantial dike with planted willows was

constructed along the riverside to act as a

breakwater. The dike was also seeded with

grass (Simmons: 1982: 301–302).

1886 (winter) Snowfall in the Rio Grande Valley at

Del Norte was above normal (Follett 1898: 90).

1886 (April 18–20) Wind and rainstorms hit central and northern New Mexico. The Santa Fe

River flooded on April 20th, and at least one

bridge washed out (Lange et al. 1975: 144, 445).

1886 (May) A flood washed out the Isleta railroad bridge

across the Rio Grande (Carter 1953: 29–31).

1886 (June) High daily temperatures averaged 100o

F at Rincon (Schlissal et al. 1989: 159).

1886 (June 3) A large portion of Santo Domingo

Pueblo was destroyed in a Rio Grande flood

(Poore 1894: 109; White 1935: 12). The colonial church at the village described by

Dominguez and the mound on which it was

located were swept away in this flood. Bodies were washed from the cemetery and were

seen floating down the river (Adams and

Chavez 1956: 131, 137).

1886 (summer) The early part of this period was

dry, and Hispanos and Navajos clashed over

water rights in northwest New Mexico. MidAugust rains reduced the tension (Brugge

1980: 122).

1886 (September 7) A severe thunderstorm struck

Santa Fe, causing flooding of the Santa Fe

River. High winds and hail accompanied the

storm (Lange et al. 1975: 175).

1886 (September 12) The Rio Grande was in flood

below Albuquerque, washing away or damaging a large number of houses between Belen

and Socorro. At Belen, a hailstorm also inflicted damage on crops as well as homes. Fifteen houses washed away at Socorro. Portions

of the railroad and bridges were also wiped

out on the Rio Salado and Rio Puerco-of-theEast crossings (Carter 1953: 228).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 65

1886 (September) The Rio Grande flooded San

Marcial (Follett 1898: 90), and the village of

Bowling Green on the Rio Grande, Sierra

County, was destroyed by a flood (Carter

1953: 232–233).

1886 An even more devastating flood than those

of the previous years struck Chamberina, inundating the entire Mesilla Valley. The railroad tracks were washed out, irrigation

ditches and fields destroyed, cemetery

washed out, and most houses destroyed. A

long lake, which remained extant for a number

of years, was formed (Want 1964: 175–177).

1886–87 (winter) Severe winter weather destroyed

cattle and sheep herds on the Pajarito Plateau

(Rothman 1989: 201).

1886–1901 Rio Grande floods in Dona Ana County were

not as severe as those of the 1870s and 1880–

85 (Johansen 1948: 55).

1887 (May 25–29) A rising Rio Grande caused erosion along about a mile of the east bank of

the river at Barelas. A section of road was

washed out, and three ranches were damaged

(Carter 1953: 32).

1887–96 Exploitation of water resources were reexamined by the Federal Government during this

drought period. Most homesteaders failed at

dry farming, and ranchers suffered severe

losses (Clark 1987: 58).

1887–88 (summers, winters) Severe droughts and cold

winters with snow caused heavy losses of

sheep in the Albuquerque area. Recent overgrazing and the dry conditions decimated the

grasslands (Oppenheimer 1962: 30).

1888 (pre) The Rio Grande at El Paso went dry at

intervals of about 10 years (Clark 1978: 73).

1888 (late April-early May) A rise in the level of

the Rio Grande inundated part of Socorro. The

high water was partially due to the above-average flow of the Chama (Carter 1953: 32–33).

1888 (summer) The Rio Grande at Socorro was dry

due to upstream use (Hedke 1925: 26).

1888 (August) The depth of the Rio Grande at Las

Cruces dropped from about 6 feet to a dry

channel in a 2-week period (Schlissel et al.

1989: 160).

1888 (winter) A blizzard almost wiped out the large

herds of pronghorns on the San Augustine

Plain (Cleaveland 1941: 25).

1888 The U.S. Geological Survey established the

Embudo streamflow gauging station, the first

such facility in the country (Baker et al. 1973:

102).

1888 Stream flows, owing to droughts, had become

more intermittent or reduced in volume in

Bernalillo, Rio Arriba, and Sierra counties

than in the preceding 2 decades. Flooding also

increased, perhaps due to extensive

clearcutting of upland forests and overgrazing of rangelands (Ensign 1888: 142, 145, 147).

1888 Recent droughts and blizzards caused the U.S.

Congress to authorize surveys for irrigable

lands and reservoir sites in the West by the

U.S. Geological Survey (Wozniak 1987).

1888–98 The Rio Grande at El Paso was dry every year

but two (Clark 1978: 73).

1889 (summer) The Rio Grande below Isleta dried

up due to the drought and to a great increase

in irrigation activity in the San Luis Valley.

This surge in water use was related to the arrival of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad

(Carter 1953: 262; Clark 1978: 89).

1889 Precipitation was below normal for the year

in New Mexico (Denevan 1967: 701).

1889 (ca.) The flooding Rio Grande destroyed most

of Isleta’s fields below the village and on the

west side of the river (Poore 1894: 113).

1889–92 A drought, combined with cattle grazing,

“did irreparable damage to the grass cover”

(Wilson 1975: 105).

1880s In an attempt to alleviate the flooding of Albuquerque, the Santa Fe Railroad built a

drainage ditch parallel to their tracks. A canal was dug from the ditch through town to

the Rio Grande to carry off floodwater

(Oppenheimer 1962: 36).

1880s (late) Partly as a result of drought, blizzards,

overgrazing, and other environmental factors,

the cattle industry in New Mexico rapidly declined (Baydo 1970: 134).

1880s–1920sRailroad companies, doctors, and immigration officials promoted the climate as therapy

for tuberculosis, asthma, and hay fever (Fox

1983: 218).

1890 Santo Domingo Pueblo was damaged by

flooding, and residents would not plant their

fields on the floodplain because of their concern of more high water (White 1935: 20–21).

1890 Some ranchers, responding to ongoing

drought conditions, drilled more wells, used

deep plowing, planted alfalfa, and constructed

irrigation systems (Baydo 1970: 221–222).

1890–91 Drought and epidemics of smallpox and diphtheria struck Acoma, causing a decline in

population (Minge 1976: 72).

1890–92 Precipitation was below normal the first year,

and summer rains for the following 2 years

were sparse (Brown 1983: 41).

1891 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14451).
66 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1890–1935 The rangelands of northwestern New Mexico

supported two types of climax vegetation: a

pinyon-juniper/sagebrush or grassland association found on rougher sections and foothills and a “pure grassland” association found

on open, rolling areas. Since that time, grazing, wood cutting, and periodic droughts

have caused sagebrush to invade and increase

in both plant communities and pinyon-juniper to decrease in overall extent. Three other

invader species—walking stick cholla, rabbitbrush, and yucca—were totally absent or

present in small numbers, whereas today they

are common in some areas of the region

(Gross 1973: 44–47)

1890–1935 The mean annual streamflow depletion between Otowi Bridge and San Marcial was estimated at 586,000 acre-feet. The mean annual

depletion was estimated at 580,000 acre-feet

(Thomas et al. 1963: D7-D8).

1891 (February) Deep snow on Navajo rangelands

resulted in livestock losses (Brugge 1980: 149).

1891 (May) A major flood on the Rio Grande struck

from Albuquerque to Valencia. The bridge at

Albuquerque was destroyed. A newspaper reported on damage at Valencia”...about sixty

houses were washed away. Not a house is left

standing.” The new bridge at Los Lunas

washed away. South of Albuquerque the river

was shifting eastward, and at Valencia the

river cut a new channel through the abandoned homes of the community’s south plaza

(Carter 1953: 306, 315–316).

1891 (July 1) The U.S. Weather Bureau was established in the Department of Agriculture (Bradley 1976: 12).

1891 (July 15) After the flood destroyed the corn,

wheat, and oats, Los Lunas farmers planted

beans with anticipation of a bigger profit than

they would have received on the first crops

(Carter 1953: 331).

1891 (summer) The Rio Grande flow was aboveaverage or average from Embudo to San

Marcial (Follett 1898: 90).

1891 New earthen dikes to prevent flooding were

constructed near Alameda (Carter 1953: 49).

1891–93 A severe drought in New Mexico caused the

deaths of thousands of cattle (Humphrey

1987: 420; Mangum 1990: 63).

1891–1900 Based on tree-ring evidence, dry conditions

existed (Fritts 1991: 157).

1892 (summer) Rainfall was below normal (Baisan

1994: 3).

1892 The Rio Grande at Los Lunas was dry (Hedke

1925: 26).

1892–93 (winter-spring) Four to 5 feet of snow covered Arroyo Hondo Canyon through May

(Pearson 1986: 24–25).

1892–93 A severe drought and overgrazed ranges resulted in heavy livestock losses (Cooper 1960:

135).

1892–96 This was a dry period in the Middle Rio

Grande Valley (Thomas et al. 1963: D4).

1892 (to early 1900s) Owing to the state’s clean air

and virtual perennial sunshine, many

easterners with an assortment of respiratory

ailments moved to New Mexico (Simmons

1982: 315).

1892–1904 The Southwest, including the Middle and

Upper Rio Grande Basin, experienced a severe drought, the worst since the advent of

scientific record keeping. The drought conditions resulted in an “embargo” being placed

on new irrigation projects in the Upper Rio

Grande Basin (Dortignac 1956: 33; Gatewood

et al. 1964: B13; Thomas et al. 1963: D4, H16).

1890s (early) About three million acres of land, forfeited by the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, could

not be sold, in part, because of the scarcity of

water due to drought (Westphall 1965: 92–93).

1890s (early) A drought began in the Rio Abajo that

especially impacted the area from Mesilla to

El Paso. Effects of the drought were experienced until 1904 (Wozniak 1987).

1893 (pre) Isleta Pueblo and the Spanish community of Valencia had attempted to “boom and

dike” the Rio Grande, but a spring flood

wiped out their work (Poore 1894: 113).

1893 Blowing sand along the Jemez River was causing problems, for example, filling irrigation

ditches, for Santa Ana Pueblo. Pueblo ranches

on the Rio Grande produced good and abundant corn crops, most of which were ground

by hand over the winter (Poore 1894: 109).

1893–1904 Available surface water in the Middle Rio

Grande Valley was low (Hedke 1925: 12).

1893–1938 The average annual precipitation for Albuquerque was 8.23 inches (Taft 1980: 1).

1893–1950 There were 23 days of 100o F or more recorded

for Albuquerque (Liles 1994: 83).

1893–1978 (November, January) These were the driest 2

months in Albuquerque (Taft 1980: 14).

1893–94 Precipitation was below normal for New

Mexico (Tuan et al. 1973: 58).

1893–1994 Albuquerque’s average, annual precipitation

was 8.46 inches (Liles 1994: 9–10).

1893–1994 Average annual snowfall at Albuquerque was

9.3 inches (Liles 1994: 42).

1893–1994 Five of the warmest 10 years for Albuquerque occurred after 1977 (Liles 1994: 53).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 67

1893–1994 The average annual temperature for this period at Albuquerque was 55.9o F. The temperature at Albuquerque was at least 100° in 43 of

these 102 years, for a 43 percent occurrence.

For 1951–94 the occurrence was 188 times for

this 44-year period, an average of 4.3 times a

year (Liles 1994: 84).

1894 This was a dry year in Navajo country (Gregory 1916: 52).

1895 (January) The Territorial Legislative Assembly passed legislation enabling the publication of a Monthly Weather Review (Tuan et

al. 1973: 12).

1895 (winter) Snowfall was below normal in the

Zuni-Bluewater area (Follett 1898: 84).

1895 (July 30) Runoff from a thunderstorm in Blue

Canyon, west of Socorro, flooded the town,

causing severe property damage and loss of

life. In the lower section of town the water

reached a height of 4 feet (Conron 1980: 31).

1895 The period of open-range ranching in New

Mexico ended, partly as a result of inclement

weather and overgrazing due to overstocking (Baydo 1970: 224–228).

1895 A new church at Santo Domingo, to replace

the old one that washed away in June 1886,

was begun on high ground to the east of the

pueblo (Kessell 1980: 133).

1895–96 (winter) Wine on the altar of the Isleta church

froze (Ayer 1965: 263).

1895–1907 The Middle Rio Grande was dry during irrigation seasons (Hedke 1925: 34).

1895–1924 (September) Available irrigation water was

below the annual demand of 50,000 acre-feet

in the Middle Rio Grande Valley (Hedke 1924:

27–28).

1890s (mid) Another dam was built below the original one on the headwaters of the Santa Fe

River. The reservoir provided adequate water for Santa Fe residents for the remaining

years of the territorial period (Clark 1987: 33).

1896 (summer) A drought struck the Jicarilla

Apache reservation (Tiller 1992: 130).

1896 (summer) The Rio Grande at San Marcial was

dry (Sullivan 1924: 11).

1896 The ongoing drought generated an embargo

on new irrigation in the Upper Rio Grande

Basin by the Territorial Engineer (Thomas

1963: H16).

1896 A flood carried away the gauge at the U.S. Geological Survey flow measurement station near

San Marcial (Follansbee and Dean 1915: 141).

1896 This was a very dry year (Ellis 1974: 235).

1896 Older residents of Del Norte, Colorado, reported this to be the driest year in memory.

The flow of the Rio Grande at Del Norte was

the smallest remembered by local residents.

There was a shortage of irrigation water along

the Rio Chama Valley, but it did not diminish

crop production. Residents of Pena Blanca

reported the Rio Grande flow the lowest in

memory (Follett 1898: 86, 91).

1896 Only a trace of snowfall was measured in Albuquerque during this year (Liles 1994: 41).

1896–1931 Twelve diversion works and ditches washed

out in the Rio Puerco drainage. Eleven of these

were built in 1872; the other was built some time

prior to this date (Maes and Fisher 1937: 28).

1897 The Upper Rio Grande Basin received “an

excessive snowfall before May,” and snow

depth ranged “from 112 to 188 percent of normal” (Yeo 1943: 29).

1897 This was a wet year in the Middle Rio Grande

Valley (Thomas et al. 1963: D4).

1897 A major Rio Grande flood washed out many

of the vineyards around El Paso, ending the

productive grape-based industry (Sonnichsen

1968: 384).

1897 The total annual flow at the Otowi Bridge

gauging station far exceeded the norm

(Crawford et al. 1993: 18).

1897 A drought struck the Durango (Colorado) and

Chaco Canyon areas, and crops failed

(Gillmor and Wetherill 1965: 47, 64).

1897–1907 The Rio Grande was dry every irrigation season at San Marcial (Hedke 1925: 30).

1898 (December-January 1899) Some 500 sheep out

of 2,500 head froze to death in the upper Rio

Puerco-of-the-East valley (Maes and Fisher

1937: 18).

1898–1904 This was a dry period in the Middle Rio

Grande Valley (Thomas et al. 1963: D4).

1898–1905 The Rio Grande channel was aggrading, and

the rising silt caused spring floods to get increasingly closer to New Town, Albuquerque

(Balcomb 1980: 14).

1899 (summer) The Rio Grande at San Marcial was

dry (Sullivan 1924: 11).

1899 Legislation was passed that authorized towns

of the “first class” to issue bonds for construction embankments, drainage ditches, and

other facilities to prevent flood destruction of

municipal property (Clark 1987: 31–32).

1899–1900 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14451).

1890s This was a dry period for the Tijeras Canyon

area (Cordell 1980: 65).

1890s A prolonged drought damaged crops and

rangeland in the El Paso area (Sonnichsen

1968: 382).
68 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1890s Following the big die-off of cattle due to

drought, blizzards, and overgrazing, wolf

populations increased as a result of having

this surplus carrion to eat (Brown 1983: 42).

1890s–1904 Based on tree-ring data, this was the most

severe drought of the 19th century (D’Arrigo

and Jacoby 1991: 95, 97).

1800s (late) Residents of Adelino, across and down

the river from Tome, would take a santo of

San Juan to the river to “look” at the dry sand

in hopes he would bring rain (Ellis 1955: 106).

1800s (late) Intense rains in the Old Town area created “mud puddles large enough to attract

ducks and hopeful hunters” (Browne 1973:

116).

1800s (late) A flood destroyed the ruins of a late prehistoric pueblo at Bernalillo (Lange and Riley

1966: 316).

1800s late Livestock overgrazing on the mesa above

Placitas (Sandoval County) denuded the vegetation, which contributed to flash floods.

These runoffs eroded soil and created deep

arroyos. Residents of Placitas were forced to

resettle because of flooding and gullying

(Johansen 1948: 54).

1800s (late) When the Rio Grande was too high to

wade across, boats were used to cross the river

at Belen (Espinosa and Chavez n.d.: 175).

1900 (summer) The Rio Grande at San Marcial was

dry (Sullivan 1924: 11).

1900 (summer) Only 0.32 inches of precipitation

were recorded in Albuquerque, the lowest

record ever for this period (Liles 1994: 33).

1900 A flood of just under 16,000 cfs occurred on

the lower Jemez River (U.S. Geological Survey 1994).

1900 (and 1904, 1906, 1909) Intense rain storms

washed out the Bluewater Land and Development Company dam, but the Mormon

colony persevered (Mangum 1990: 65).

1900–01 A drought in the El Paso area caused water

shortages and changing agricultural practices, which put a large number of Mexican

workers out of work (Sonnichsen 1968: 384).

1900–10 Many of the would-be dry farmers left the

state, primarily due to drought (Clark 1987:

171).

1900–20 Thousands of health-seekers flocked to new

spas, hospitals, and sanatoriums in New

Mexico. Most of these individuals were suffering from tuberculosis. The state’s “fresh” air,

high altitude, and high incidence of sunshine

were thought to be healing (Fox 1983: 218–219).

1901–04 A severe drought caused starvation among

cattle herds in New Mexico (Branson 1985: 16).

1901–10 Based on tree-ring evidence, regional temperatures varied during the seasons but were

generally cooler than the mean values for the

rest of the century. Also, total precipitation for

the decade was generally above 20th century

decadal averages (Fritts 1991: 159).

1901–48 Business for the Gross-Blackwell Company

fluctuated due to the undependable supply

of their main commercial goods—pinyon

nuts, Navajo wool, and cattle hides. Availability of these goods was due in part to climatic

shifts (Kelly 1972: 184–185).

1902 (January 31-May 19) No measurable precipitation fell at Albuquerque (Liles 1994: 6).

1902 Floodwater broke through the Alameda dike

and levees and threatened Albuquerque and

satellite communities. A farmer alerted firemen, policemen, and volunteers in time to

shore up the breaks, which precluded flooding in Albuquerque (Simmons 1982: 301–302).

1902 (June 30) The lowest flow ever at Embudo on

the Rio Grande, 130 cfs, was recorded (Beal

and Gold 1987: 99).

1902 (summer) The Rio Grande at San Marcial was

dry (Sullivan 1924: 11).

1902 This was a dry year, and coupled with overgrazing, it resulted in range disputes between

Navajos, Hispanos, and Anglos in northwest

New Mexico (Brugge 1980: 179).

1902–03 Severe drought conditions and receipt of limited water from the Rio Grande in northern

Mexico caused residents and officials to complain to the International Boundary and Water Commission (Bullard and Wells 1992: 16).

1902–04 Floods along the Rio Grande in Dona Ana County

forced the residents of Berino to move their

village to higher ground (Johansen 1948: 55).

1903 (winter) Heavy snows and abnormally low temperatures caused suffering among the Navajos

and large livestock losses (Brugge 1980: 192).

1903 (March 20-July 22) There was no flow in the

Rio Grande streambed at San Marcial (Yeo

1943: 31).

1903 (late May-mid June) Rain occurred over lower

elevations and snow in the higher elevations.

Combined with melt runoff from the deep

winter snow, two flood peaks occurred in the

Middle Basin (Brugge 1980: 192–194; Sullivan

1924: 11–12; Yeo 1943: 29).

1903 (June 19) The Rio Grande peak flood flow was

recorded at 16,200 cfs (Beal and Gold 1987: 99).

1903 June (to August 1904) Less than one-half inch of

precipitation fell on the Estancia Valley. Sheep

and other livestock were seriously affected

(Towne and Wentworth 1946: 252).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 69

1903 (August 18) An intense rain fell on the arroyo

system west of Socorro, and resulting runoff

destroyed or damaged three bridges, the

Magdalena road, and a number of houses (Yeo

1943: 31).

1903 A Rio Grande flood of 19,300 cfs broke

through the dike at Alameda, flooding the

valley and destroying the settlement

(Sargeant 1987: 36). The chapel of La Natividad de Maria Santisima at Alameda was destroyed in the flood; a new church soon replaced the old structure (Steele 1983: 29).

1903 (September 22-January 9, 1904) This was the

longest period of no precipitation ever recorded at Albuquerque (Taft 1980: 1).

1903 There was a drought in the Isleta PuebloValencia-Tome area, and the Rio Grande was

dry in March. After this time it only ran at

intervals, then dried up again (Ellis and Baca

1957: 15).

1903–04 Precipitation during these 2 years was substantially below normal (Tuan et al. 1973: 57).

This major drought caused losses in livestock

(Simmons 1988: 12).

1904 (pre) Burros, or levees, were constructed in

Chical, Bosque de los Pinos, Los Chavez,

Valencia, La Constancia, and Tome to prevent

flooding. The burro at Tome held when a flood

struck (Ellis and Baca 1957: 17).

1904 (summer) The Rio Grande at San Marcial was

dry (Sullivan 1924: 11).

1904 (summer) During the continuing drought,

Navajos had to travel long distances in search

of grass for their sheep herds. Some were gone

for 6 weeks (Gillmor and Wetherill 1965: 64).

1904 (August 15) Ofelio Tapia, probably from

Tome, was killed by lightning while herding

livestock on the San Agustin Plains (Baca and

Baca 1994: 139).

1904 (September 26–30) Intense rainfall over all but

the extreme western portion of New Mexico

resulted in widespread flooding. The most

extensive flood damage occurred on the eastern slopes and in the valleys of the Sangre de

Cristo Mountains, especially at the confluence

of the Mora and Sapello rivers. One newspaper reported “The whole track [Santa Fe Railroad] was lifted bodily out of the long, narrow, winding box canyon and hurled two

miles further down on the Shoemaker

Ranch.” Loss of topsoil, loss of tree stands,

and gullying were severe in this location as

well. Natural revegetation of floodplains and

slopes did not occur for several years. A flood

destroyed a school building near Watrous.

Eight people were drowned at Springer, eight

at Watrous, and four at Chaperito (Barker

1953: 191–193; Church and Church 1974: 9;

Perrigo 1982: 87–88).

1904 (September 29) A major flood also occurred

along the northern Rio Grande. Streamflow

of the Rio Chama probably exceeded 15,000

cfs (Beal and Gold 1987: 99; U.S. Geological

Survey 1994).

1904 (September 29 or 30) A flood on the Santa Fe

River probably exceeded 1,000 cfs (U.S. Geological Survey 1994).

1904 (September 29 and October 8) Heavy rains

caused the Rio Grande to overflow at the

Chical Farm just south of Isleta Pueblo and at

Valencia, where 25 houses were inundated

(Ellis and Baca 1957: 15).

1904 (September) A flash flood swept away the

large bathhouse at Hot Springs, damaged

homes, and destroyed the grandstand at the

race track in Las Vegas (Perrigo 1982: 25, 45,

87–88).

1904 (September-October) Disastrous flooding

struck at various locations around the New

Mexico Territory. Many lives were lost, and

rail lines were washed out, disrupting the

shipment of livestock and goods (Grubbs

1961: 288; Workers of the Writers’ Program

1940: 79).

1904 (October 11) A peak discharge of 50,000 cfs

occurred on the Rio Puerco (Snead and

Reynolds 1986: 57).

1904 (fall) A major flood along most of the Rio

Grande destroyed almost all of the field crops,

vineyards, and orchards (Murphy 1905: 149).

1904 (fall) Only four structures were left standing

after the Corrales flood. The large house of

Teofilo Perea, Sr. and the Fernando Armijo

house were the only Corrales homes to survive the flood. Village residents fled to the

sandhills west of the village, where they excavated dugouts or erected tents for housing.

The Corrales bridge was washed away, and a

new bridge was not built until 1912. The large

amount of silt in the channel raised the streambed and water table in the agricultural

fields along the river, creating marshy or

swampy conditions (Eisenstadt 1980: 5–6, 13).

1904 (fall During the flood the village of Los

Ranchos in Albuquerque’s North Valley was

destroyed, as were crops and livestock

(Sargeant and Davis 1986: 105–106).

1904 The annual Rio Grande flow at the Otowi

Bridge gauging station was considerably

above average (Crawford et al. 1993: 18).
70 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1904 Navajo crop production was severely reduced

by the drought (Brugge 1980: 196).

1904 (post) Mining at Bland ended, primarily due

to lack of adequate water (Pickens 1980: 13).

1904–05 (winter) Forty percent of the sheep in northern New Mexico died during this abnormally

severe weather period (Grubbs 1961: 287–288;

Workers of the Writer’s Program 1940: 79).

1904–05 (winter-early spring) Snowfall on the Upper

Rio Grande watershed was “very heavy,” and

temperatures were generally below normal.

Rains were also exceptionally heavy. The average annual precipitation statewide exceeded 20 inches (Tuan et al. 1973: 57–59).

Runoff records indicate that precipitation was

above normal (Gatewood et al. 1964: B34).

1905 (May 20–23) A Rio Grande flood completely

inundated Tome and washed out the Los

Lunas-Valencia bridge. Water was more than

6 feet deep in the church, causing considerable damage. Water from the Rio Grande

flood ran “along the highway, which became

an arroyo impossible for travel.” Celso Salazar

was able to remain in his home owing to the

dike he had built north of his residence. The

Territorial Legislature passed an act creating

the River Commission which had responsibility for flood control on the Rio Grande.

Burros, or dikes, were built at Valencia and

Tome. The flood broke through the burro at

Tome, inundating some 25 houses. Residents

of the village fled to the foothills, where some

stayed for 47 days. A number of the refugees

stayed at Ranchos and Cerro, near the base of

Tome Hill. Some 7,600 persons in the area were

made homeless by the flood (Ellis and Baca

1957: 17–19; Gallegos 1970: 69; Hodge et al.

1945: 258; Kessell 1980: 152; Sanchez 1989).

1905 (May 20-June 10) A flood of about 14,000 cfs

occurred along the northern Rio Grande (Beal

and Gold 1987: 99).

1905 A large flood on the Rio Grande destroyed

many houses at Isleta, drowned three people,

and led to the building of a bridge across the

river (Parsons 1974: 208).

1905 The Rio Grande flood flow at Otowi was

19,500 cfs, while at San Marcial it was 29,000

cfs a few days later (Bureau of Agricultural

Economics 1941: 22).

1905 The drought of the previous year and competition over water motivated some Navajos

on the eastern part of the reservation to construct reservoirs (Brugge 1980: 199).

1905–20 This period of above-average precipitation

resulted in good crops and grass in some areas but extensive soil erosion due to runoff

on lands already impacted by overgrazing

and logging. Topsoil losses were especially

prevalent on areas such as the Pajarito Plateau (Rothman 1989: 205, 1992: 178).

1906 (early May to mid June) Intense, widespread

rains in northern and central New Mexico

caused moderate flooding from Lobatos to

San Marcial. Peak flow at the former was

8,000 cfs and more than 10,000 cfs at the latter (Yeo 1943: 44).

1906 (August) The channel of the Rio Grande at the

Alameda-Corrales ford was running full from

recent rains (Schmedding 1974: 133–134).

1906 (November 2) Heavy rains caused the wreck

of a train near Sevilleta south of Antonito. A

number of passengers and train crew were

injured (Chappell 1969: 33).

1906 The water treaty with Mexico was prompted

by the recent drought. The water treaty between the United States and Mexico guaranteed that Mexico would receive 60,000 acrefeet of water from the Rio Grande to the head

of the acequia madre in Juarez. In years of

shortage both countries would receive an

equal amount of the available water (Bullard

and Wells 1992: 16). Also, planning to construct the Elephant Butte Reservoir was begun (Thomas et al. 1963: D–116).

1906–07 Precipitation was above normal for New

Mexico (Tuan et al. 1973: 58).

1907 (December 10) A storm scattered a flock of

yearling lambs at San Raphael, and about 150

were taken by coyotes (Bailey 1971: 320).

1907 A state law was passed providing for a territorial engineer, a water code, and a reconstituted board of water commissioners. Hydrographic surveys of the state were soon begun

(Clark 1987: 118–123).

1907–08 A major drought caused losses in livestock

(Simmons 1988: 12).

1907–10 Drought conditions prevailed in central New

Mexico (Manthey 1977: 8).

1907–16 Based on tree-ring evidence, precipitation

during this period was the second-highest

amount since the beginning of the reconstructed record (Fritts 1991: 160).

1908 The Rio Grande was dry just below Cochiti

Pueblo (Harrington 1916: 101).

1908–17 Based on tree-ring evidence, the 10-year average temperature was lower during this period “than at any other 10-year period since

1602” (Fritts 1991: 160).

1909 (May) A Rio Grande flood swept away a long

sandbar island near Isleta Pueblo, drowning
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 71

most of a sheep flock and stranding several

herders. About half of the three-quarter-milelong island was washed away (Yeo 1943: 50).

1909 (spring-early summer) A drought caused

Navajos to plant only about half of the fields

normally cultivated. Also, overgrazing and

droughts were causing Navajos to “move frequently” in search of adequate grass and water by this year (Brugge 1980: 226, 229).

1909 Homestead farmers located north of Gran

Quivira had poor crop harvests (Huntington

1914: 86).

1909 A major rainstorm destroyed the church at

Nambe Pueblo, a structure built in about 1729

(Speirs 1979: 318).

1909–10 Precipitation was below normal, and about

90 percent of the Gutierrezia and other plants of

the “mesa formation” died. In June of the following year, the summer rains began, and the

surviving plants were “thrifty” and showed

“abundant bloom” (Watson 1912: 202–203).

1910 (summer) The Rio Grande at San Marcial was

dry (Sullivan 1924: 11).

1910 Drought and repeated crop failures drove out

50–75% of the homesteaders in the Estancia

Valley (Tainter and Levine 1987: 128–129).

1910 Precipitation was below normal for New

Mexico (Tuan et al. 1973: 57–58).

1910 The least annual rainfall ever recorded for

New Mexico, only 1 inch, occurred at

Hermanas (Taft 1980: 13).

1910 Hispanics in northern New Mexico generally

reported that the weather was becoming increasingly drier in each succeeding year

(Hewett et al. 1913: 48).

1910–12 An abnormally high number of fires occurred

(Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1018).

1910–19 This was the coldest decade between the

1890s and the 1980s at Albuquerque (Liles

1994: 53).

1911 (May 8-June 2) A Rio Grande flood from

Otowi Bridge to San Marcial occurred. Its flow

peaked at 10,800 cfs at Buckman and 15,270

at San Marcial (Yeo 1943: 50–51).

1911 (late July-early August) There was no rain in

the Tome area, and the Rio Grande was almost dry (Ellis and Baca 1957: 271–272).

1911 (August 18) It had not rained in a month, and

the Rio Grande was dry at Tome (Ellis and

Baca 1957: 271–272).

1911 (October 4 or 5) A flood on the Chama River

was greater than the floods of September 1904

or May 1920 (U.S. Geological Survey 1994). It

caused property damage as far downstream

as Albuquerque (McDonald 1985: 122).

1911 (October 4–11) Intense rains caused a major

flood along the Rio Grande from Del Norte,

Colorado, to San Marcial. Flows peaked at

14,000 cfs at Del Norte, and the flood near

Buckman caused “considerable change” in

the river (Follansbee and Dean 1915: 120; Yeo

1943: 51–52).

1911 (October 7 to 14) Rains produced peak flows

on the Rio Grande, from San Marcial to El

Paso, at 9,000–11,000 plus cfs. Damage was

widespread (Yeo 1943: 51).

1911 Following the flood that damaged San

Marcial, the State Engineer’s Office constructed a levee to protect the community

(Calkins 1937: 7).

1911 Good crops were produced statewide owing

to above-normal precipitation (Pynch 1911:

148; Tuan et al. 1973: 53, 58).

1911 A flood on Santa Clara Creek washed away

Pueblo houses, drowned livestock, and buried fields under deep layers of gravel (Ellis

1978: 60–61).

1911 The average annual flow of the Rio Grande

at the Otowi bridge gauging station exceeded

the high flows of 1897, 1904, and 1905

(Crawford et al. 1993: 18).

1911–12 (winter) The highest snowfall ever recorded

for this season, 483 inches, occurred at the Anchor Mine near Taos (Burdett et al. 1990: 10).

1911 (post) Personnel from the State Engineer’s

Office constructed a levee to protect San

Marcial from floods (Calkins 1937: 7–8).

1912 A Rio Grande flood flow peaked at 29,000 cfs

at Otowi (Bureau of Agricultural Economics

1941: 22).

1912 The irrigation dam on the Rio Puerco at

Cabezon washed out (Maes and Fisher 1937:

24).

1912 A soil survey in 1912 indicated that the water

table in the Middle Rio Grande Valley stood

at 6 inches to 6 feet, with an average of 23

inches. This waterlogging was due, in part,

to long-term irrigation and a rising water

table (Clark 1987: 205).

1912 This was the coldest year ever recorded in

Albuquerque; the annual mean temperature

was 51.6o F (Liles 1994: 52).

1913 (summer) The Rio Grande at San Marcial was

dry (Sullivan 1924: 11).

1913 A Rio Grande flood destroyed the Rincon post

office (Patton 1993: 8A).

1913 Good range conditions, owing to above-normal precipitation, were a factor in Navajo acquisition of better breeding sheep, goats,

cattle, and stallions (Brugge 1980: 292).
72 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1913–42 The average annual runoff of the Rio Chama

at Chamita was 483,300 cfs (Pillow and

DeVancy 1947: 5).

1914–15 (winter) Severe weather killed 30 percent of

the ewes in the Espanola area. Sheep raisers

in the Jemez Mountains area suffered heavy

losses also (Grubbs 1961: 274–285, 287–288).

1915 This was an El Nino year (Betancourt et al.

1993: 46).

1915–16 (winter) Heavy snow interrupted many activities in northern New Mexico. High-elevation mountain settlements were virtually isolated (Pearson 1986: 124).

1915–18 Drought and overgrazing in the lowlands

brought intensive grazing to higher mountain

elevations and put increasing numbers of livestock in grizzly bear habitat. Predation on cattle

and sheep by the bears resulted (Brown 1985: 131).

1916 (March) The Rio Grande was “running full”

at Las Cruces (Henderson 1983: 67).

1916 (spring-summer) Dry conditions prevailed,

especially north of Chaco, so most Navajo

herds were grazed to the south, where grass

was relatively good. Water, however, was

lacking (Brugge 1980: 298).

1916–19 Two droughts and a severe winter during this

period caused major losses in New Mexico

livestock. The most severe dry period was in

1917–18, followed by a hard winter (Mortensen 1983: 12).

1917 (summer) The Rio Grande at San Marcial was

dry (Sullivan 1924: 11).

1917 Only 3.29 inches of precipitation were recorded in Albuquerque, the driest year on

record (Liles 1994: 2; Thorn et al. 1993: 16).

1917–18 (April) A number of New Mexico ranchers

moved their cattle out of state because of the

drought (Hagy 1951: 29).

1917–18 During the drought, which was causing hardship for the livestock industry, the governor

committed to support leasing of public lands

for grazing (Clark 1987: 147).

1917–18 The demand for beef during World War I

caused cattle prices to soar, and in response

ranchers increased the grazing pressure on

their rangelands. Grasses were decimated,

exposing large areas to water and wind erosion (Sanchez 1992: 2).

1918 (summer) The Rio Grande at San Marcial was

dry (Sullivan 1924: 11).

1918 Runoff from a rain storm ran down Central

Avenue, washing out the railroad tracks

(Oppenheimer 1962: 41).

1918 (fall and winter) New Mexico experienced the

coldest winter for the past 25 years. Temperatures at Gallup dropped to –30o F. This severe

cold period, combined with the Spanish influenza of October and November, made this

one of the hardest periods in the history of

New Mexico (Melzer 1982: 221).

1918 During this drought year mesquite died, and

the prickly pear cactus, used as emergency

food for cattle, was depleted (Cabeza de Baca

1954: 175).

1918 Annual precipitation was below normal for

New Mexico (Tuan et al. 1973: 58).

1918–19 (fall-winter) A severe cold period struck the

Pajarito Plateau-Jemez Mountains area.

Snows covered the winter ranges beginning

in October and extending into April. An estimated 10 percent of the cattle herds were lost;

many were saved by feeding them hay

(Church and Church 1974: 12). Frank Bond

experienced severe losses of sheep in the area

due to the inclement weather (Scurlock 1981a:

144).

1918 (to early 1920s) Post World War I recession

and several years of drought resulted in hard

times for dry farmers and livestock raisers,

leading to bank failures across New Mexico

(Kelly 1972: 144).

1918–33 There were no days of 100o F or more recorded

for Albuquerque (Liles 1994: 83).

1919 (winter-spring) The preceding drought, severe cold, and deep snow resulted in the estimated death of 15,000 sheep in the Chaco

area. Horses and cattle were also lost; hay

prices soared to 50 cents a ton (Brugge 1980:

310–311).

1919 (summer) The snows of the previous winter

and seasonal rains resulted in good crops for

Navajos (Brugge 1980: 311).

1919 (summer) The Rio Grande at San Marcial was

dry (Sullivan 1924: 11).

1919 This was one of the wettest years in central

New Mexico during this century (Dahm and

Moore 1994: 2).

1920 (spring) Cold weather, cutworms, and prairie dogs caused extensive damage to young

crop plants on the eastern Navajo reservation.

Fields had to be replanted once or twice

(Brugge 1980: 312).

1920 (May 22) A maximum discharge of 9,000 cfs

was measured on the Rio Chama below the

later El Vado Dam (U.S. Geological Survey

1994).

1920 A flood on the Rio Grande was the greatest

since at least 1884, and probably so until the

1941 flood. Discharge on May 23 at the Otowi

Bridge, near San Ildefonso Pueblo, was 24,400
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 73

cfs. A flood on the Rio Grande destroyed the

bridge at Espanola (Beal and Gold 1987: 125;

Liles 1978: 7–1).

1920 The flood damaged parts of Albuquerque and

the Valencia church (Kessell 1980: 152; Rodey

and Burkholder 1927: 17). The nave and facade of the Tome church collapsed in the flood

(Kessell 1980: 152). San Marcial was also damaged in the high water, and most residents

were forced to leave the area. Waterlogging

of field soils was a factor in this abandonment

(Calkins 1937: 8, 13–17).

1920 Following the flood, the State Engineer’s Office again had to do more levee work (Calkins

1937: 7–8).

1920–25 Dry conditions had an adverse impact on

some cattle-raising operations (Hagy 1951: 29,

32–33). The cattle industry in present Valencia

County was severely affected by overgrazing

and drought conditions in the area (New

Mexico Historical Records Survey 1940: 24).

1920–40 Droughts, especially the one in the 1930s,

were a factor in the economic decline of the

Las Vegas area. All of the nearby small communities lost population during this period,

and Las Vegas gained only 800 persons

(Perrigo 1982: 64–65).

1900s (early) A number of high-runoff years in the

Upper Rio Grande Basin probably accelerated

soil erosion on a deteriorating watershed

(Crawford et al. 1993:24).

1921 (June 3) A flood on the Rio Grande peaked at

17,400 cfs at Buckman and 19,360 cfs at San

Marcial (Rodey and Burkholder 1927: 16).

1921 Drought and high winds contributed to intense, widespread fires in the region (Baker

et al. 1988: 110).

1921–25 Precipitation in the Albuquerque basin was

18 percent below normal (Kernodle et al. 1995:

16).

1921–19 Homesteaders settled an area west of La

Madera, but droughts forced them to abandon their homesteads. The government subsequently bought this submarginal land area

(Gjevre 1975: 28).

1922 (fall) Continuing drought conditions caused

some ranchers to ship their cattle to Mexico

for winter grazing (Hagy 1951: 32).

1922 A Hispanic homesteader’s crop failed in the

Sandia foothills due to lack of adequate precipitation (Davis 1986: 103).

1922 No rain was recorded for 11 months of this

year in the Los Alamos area. Livestock had

to be fed supplementally (Church and Church

1974: 12).

1922 A drought struck following overstocking during World War I, and little range grass was

available for the cattle. The loss in the calf crop

was severe. Many starving animals were

moved to Mexico; other ranchers failed

(Kelley 1988: 3–20; Mortensen 1983: 12).

1922 The Rio Grande at San Marcial was dry for

150 days of the year (Hedke 1925: 13).

1922 (May to winter 1923) Precipitation was light,

and livestock suffered and crops were reduced. Overgrazing, including usurpation of

Navajo rangeland by Anglos, was a factor in

stock loss (Brugge 1980: 326).

1920s (early) The great depression started early in

Las Vegas and was exacerbated by severe

droughts in the area (Perrigo 1982: 62–63).

1900s (early) A number of high-runoff years in the

Upper Rio Grande Basin probably accelerated

soil erosion on a deteriorating watershed

(Crawford et al. 1993: 24).

1923 The average annual flow of the Rio Chama

was 364,000 acre-feet (Sullivan 1924: 9).

1923 Aldo Leopold hypothesized that the drought

caused a scarcity of quail in New Mexico

(Brown and Carmony 1995: 108, 111).

1923 (late summer to February 1924) Precipitation

was above normal over much of the state

(Mortensen 1983: 16).

1924 (summer) A violent hailstorm in the LemitarSocorro area destroyed structures, crops

ready for harvest, and small livestock such

as goats and sheep (Scurlock 1982a: 14).

1924 (September to July 1925) Dry conditions prevailed (Mortensen 1983: 16).

1924 In this drought year precipitation was just

over 50 percent of the normal. Drought conditions led to some ranchers sending their starving herds to better rangeland in Mexico. When

the precipitation pattern shifted to wetter years,

the grass had been overgrazed and cut-up by

livestock hooves (Calvin 1968: 25, 276).

1924 The Magdalena stock driveway was used for

unlawful grazing of animals, causing grass

shortage for legal herds using the 2- to

4-mile corridor (Mortensen 1983: 11).

1924–25 (winter) The snowpack was unusually deep on

the Carson National Forest (Tucker 1992: 7).

1924–32 Density of black grama grass on New Mexico

ranges increased until the drought in subsequent years reversed this process (Gatewood

et al. 1964: B43).

1925 The condition of rangelands became acute by

this year due to the drought and overgrazing. Ranchers joined U.S. forest rangers in

rounding up thousands of wild horses on
74 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

national forest lands. These were sold to reduction plants in El Paso and Gallup, where

they were slaughtered and ground into fertilizer and pet food (Wyman 1945: 159–160).

1925 (fall-winter) A good pinyon nut crop and mild

weather allowed Navajos to carry out extensive collecting in the Mount Taylor area. Nuts

sold for 15 to 20 cents a pound (Brugge 1980:

354).

1925 (late) A pony truss bridge was constructed

across the Rio Grande on Highway 74 so that

San Juan Pueblos and others could reach their

farmlands on the west side of the river during high water over the old ford (Rae et al.

1987: 40).

1925–26 Reduction of forage plants due to drought

resulted in grizzly bear and black bear predation on livestock (Brown 1985: 150–152).

1925–1930s An extended drought, including high winds

and dust clouds, struck east-central New

Mexico. Many livestock ranchers suffered

heavy losses, a factor in the cessation of sheep

raising (Griego 1981: 66–67, 69).

1926 (August) A flood along the Galisteo drainage

destroyed acequias at Colorado Plaza, Ortiz,

Los Cerrillos, and Tejon (Cooperrider and

Hendricks 1937: 15).

1925–26 This was an El Nino year for the New Mexico

(Betancourt et al. 1993: 46; Molles and Dahm

1990: 71).

1926 Annual water loss due to evaporation in the

Middle Rio Grande Valley was estimated at

500,000 acre-feet (Rodey and Burkholder

1927: 20).

1926 or 27 The San Luis irrigation ditch on the Puerco

was destroyed by a flood (Widdison 1959:

276–277).

1926 (winter–1927) Owing to favorable weather,

the regional winter wheat crop harvest for

1926 was 4,876,000 bushels. A drought the

following year resulted in a decrease to

150,000 bushels (Roberts and Roberts 1986:

286–287).

1926–27 Severe flooding of the Lower Rio Grande was

caused, in part, by removal of plant cover due

to overgrazing (Ligon 1927: 42).

1927 Construction of Bluewater dam and reservoir,

with a capacity of 46,000 acre-feet, was completed (Thomas et al. 1963: D12).

1928 (winter) Severe winter weather resulted in the

loss of almost 50 percent of the Hispanicowned sheep in northern New Mexico (Forrest 1989: 140). Almost one-half of the sheep

in the Cuba-Cabezon-Casa Salazar area froze

to death (Maes and Fisher 1937: 20).

1928 (March 13) Congress authorized the Secretary

of the Interior to enter into a contract with

the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

for participation in its $10 million program

of drainage, flood control, rehabilitation of

irrigation systems and farmland, and general

conservation (Strauss 1947: 133–134).

1928 (summer) This was a hot, dry period (Clark

1987: 228).

1928 Farmers in the Guadalupe area, Sandoval

County, began to experience water shortages

(Garcia 1992: 101).

1929 (August 12–13) Torrential rains on the Rio

Puerco and Rio Salado watersheds and other

Rio Grande tributaries around Socorro resulted in a major flood that impacted San

Acacia, San Antonio, Val Verde, La Mesa, and

San Marcial, where the peak flow reached

24,000 cfs. A flood of 30,600 cfs occurred near

the mouth of the Rio Puerco. (Harper et al.

1943: 33–34; Heath 1983: 333; U.S. Geological

Survey 1994).

1929 (August 12–13 to September 23–24) A flood

on the Rio Grande caused widespread damage from Lemitar to San Marcial. The latter

was virtually destroyed (Scurlock 1982: 13;

Wozniak 1987). These floods deposited sediments on the Rio Grande floodplain that were

several inches to more than 7 feet deep. The

town of San Marcial “became partially buried with fine sand and a number of buildings

collapsed. . . . The railroads, roads, ditches,

and dikes were washed out or buried in many

places” (Poulson and Fitzpatrick ca. 1930: 2–

3).

1929 (August-September) The Middle Rio Grande

floods were caused by intense rains on the

main stem and tributary drainages (Nelson

1946: 16).

1929 (September 23) A flood on the Santa Fe River

may have exceeded 1,500 cfs (U.S. Geological Survey 1994).

1929 (September 23) The greatest flood since about

1880 occurred on the Rio Puerco, near its

mouth. The discharge was estimated at 35,000

to 37,700 cfs (Heath 1983: 333; U.S. Geological Survey 1994).

1929 (September) Heavy rains over the Upper and

Middle Rio Grande watershed caused another

major flood, which “originated largely on

impoverished range lands” (Cooperrider and

Hendricks 1937: 31). The flood damaged

much of Bernalillo and destroyed the plaza.

Ditches, known as des aguas, were dug to

carry away the flood water (Bowen and Sacca
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 75

1971: 53; Olson 1976: 73). Inundation of parts

of Bernalillo virtually destroyed all of the

region’s crops. San Marcial, San Acacia, and

San Antonio were all but destroyed (Bowen

and Sacca 1971: 53; Calkins 1937: 9–11; Harper

et al. 1943: 34).

1929 (fall) A total of 5.61 inches of precipitation was

recorded in Albuquerque, the most ever for

this period (Liles 1994: 34).

1929 The Teofilo Perea house in Corrales, one of

only two houses in the village to survive the

1904 flood, was destroyed in this flood

(Eisenstadt 1980: 6).

1929 Students from the University of New Mexico

helped erect earthen dikes in the north 2nd–

4th streets and Candelaria-Griegos areas (Fish

1993, personal communication).

1929 The Santa Cruz dam was built on the Santa

Cruz River; the reservoir had a capacity of

4,500 acre-feet (Gatewood et al. 1964: B45).

1929–30 Precipitation was above normal (Tuan et al.

1973: 58).

1929–30 Fourteen bridges along the Santa Fe Northwestern rail line between Bernalillo and the

Canon de San Diego land grant washed out

(Glover 1990: 26).

1929, 1931 Floods on the Rio Salado destroyed the Santa

Rita ditch (Cooperrider and Hendricks 1937:

14–15).

1920s The community of Paraje was impacted by

the Rio Grande, which has been cutting eastward since abandonment of the site. Many of

the historic structures were destroyed (Boyd

1984: 4).

1920s The temperatures for this decade were below

normal (Tuan et al. 1973: 72), and dry conditions generally prevailed (Rothman 1992: 179).

1920s The railway embankment without drain

openings at Vado caused serious flooding of

agricultural fields (Mock 1985: 10).

1920s (late) (to 1930) Runoff from torrential rains

washed away irrigation dams on the Rio

Puerco-of-the-East. This factor and the 1930s

drought forced many residents of the valley

to abandon their villages, farms, and ranches

(Garcia 1992: 6, 84–85, 91).

1920s–50s (summers) Albuquerque and Santa Fe temperatures trended upward (Tuan et al. 1973:

76–77, 78).

1930 (pre) High spring winds caused problems of

drifting sand and moisture loss in soils in central Socorro County (Poulson and Fitzpatrick

ca. 1930: 4).

1930 (July) This was the wettest July ever scientifically

recorded for New Mexico (Tuan et al. 1973: 145).

1930–35 Homesteaders in western Socorro county, discovering that the climate was too dry and cold

for the growing of sufficient crops, turned to

other ways of making a living. They picked

pinyon nuts and hunted pronghorns, deer,

and rabbits; trapped coyotes, bobcats, badgers, and skunks; and captured wild horses

(Kelley 1988: 3–23).

1930–37 Waterlogging caused by repeated floods and

a rising water table related to an aggrading

Rio Grande resulted in the abandonment of

some 60 percent of the farmland in the San

Marcial area (Calkins 1937: 13–18).

1931 (April) A hailstorm near Pietown forced the

plane carrying a document from President

Herbert Hoover to the Governor of New Mexico

to make a forced landing (Speakman 1965: 36).

1931 (September) Heavy rains caused a flood on

the upper Rio Puerco drainage, which caused

damage to roads and bridges in the Cuba

Valley (Cooperrider and Hendricks 1937: 76).

1931–32 (winter) Heavy snows and cold temperatures

caused loss of human life, as well as livestock,

in the study region (Bennett 1932: 27;

Rothman 1982: 179).

1931–60 The average annual precipitation at Sandia

Crest and South Sandia Peak was 25 inches

(Taft 1980: 20).

1932 (April-September) The Santa Fe Northern

Railroad line, taking over the Cuba Extension

Railway, was washed out by rains (Glover

1990: 56).

1932 The government bought 15,000 sheep for the

Jicarilla Apache to replace their losses during the preceding severe winter (Brugge 1980:

430; Tiller 1983: 454).

1932 This was an El Nino year (Quinn et al. 1987:

14451).

1932–33 (winter) Unusually severe weather caused the

death of almost 70 percent of the Jicarilla

Apache sheep. This ended a 12-year period

of economic prosperity derived from sheep

raising on the reservation (Tiller 1983: 454).

1932–38 An extended drought spurred the comprehensive Rio Grande Joint Investigation and led

to the Rio Grande Compact between Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas (Thomas 1963:

H16). The drought, coupled with overgrazing on the Acoma reservation, resulted in the

loss of livestock (Minge 1976: 90).

1933 (September) Rainfall increased on the Navajo

reservation, and many roads were washed out

(Brugge 1980: 425).

1933 (winter) A large number of Navajos who were

collecting pinyon nuts on the Zuni Pueblo res-
76 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

ervation were trapped by a severe snowstorm

and had to be rescued (Castetter 1935: 40).

1933 During this relatively dry year the IlfeldMoulton Company of Albuquerque had to

send 46,000 sheep to Durango, Mexico, when

adjacent states, also suffering from the

drought, would not allow them to be driven

across their borders (Towne and Wentworth

1945: 253).

1933 or 34 The Rio Grande flooded the North Valley of

Albuquerque, east to Rio Grande Boulevard

(Sargeant and Davis 1986: 105).

1933–34 The drought and erosion at Abiquiu reduced

the former livestock herds, which numbered

in the thousands (Weigle 1975: 156).

1934 Under the Drought Relief Service Program the

U.S. Government began buying cattle on overgrazed, drought-stricken rangelands (Limerick 1987: 88).

1934 El Vado dam and reservoir were built on the

Rio Chama; capacity was 197,500 acre-feet

(Gatewood et al. 1964: B45).

1934–35 (winter) This was a “wet” period in northwestern New Mexico (Brugge 1980: 434).

1934–35 There was little grass on the Tome grant for

the cattle to graze during the drought. They

were sold by local ranchers and farmers at $5

a head (Salazar 1995).

1934–37 Precipitation was below normal, which

caused a severe drought in the study region

(Tuan et al. 1973: 58).

1934–82 Peak flows of the Rio Puerco averaged 9,082

cfs, while those of the Rio Grande at Bernardo

averaged 5,664 cfs (Crawford et al. 1993: 53).

1935 (August 21) Heavy rainfall on the headwaters of the Rio Puerco and Rio San Jose produced major flooding. A peak flow of 28,000

cfs was recorded on the Rio Puerco (Heath

1983: 333).

1935 During the extended drought, especially that

of the Dust Bowl, the Soil Conservation Service was established by Congress to research

soil erosion and promote soil rehabilitation

(Udall 1963: 144).

1935 Trees on the mountain slopes around Truchas

were dying as a result of the two previous dry

years. At El Guache, on the Chama River,

three seasonal cuttings of 3 tons per acre

dropped to two cuttings with a decreased

yield per acre. The grama-dominated grasslands in the Chama River Basin had been replaced by ring muhly grass, snakeweed, and

rabbitbrush due to overgrazing. Topsoil was

being lost to wind and water action, and arroyos were cutting into hillsides. Some residents reported that overgrazing caused a reduction in streamflow and an increase in

heavy floods. Others reported that precipitation had been decreasing each year (Weigle

1975: 115, 136, 145, 159).

1935 The ongoing drought was a factor in the

bringing of a suit against the state and the

Middle Rio Grande District by water users in

southern New Mexico for impairment of water rights below Elephant Butte Reservoir

(Clark 1987: 218).

1935 Depredation on livestock by predators increased, due in part to the drought (Brown

1985: 157).

1935 By this year the U.S. Resettlement Administration had relocated 9,600 New Mexican settlers because of the Dust Bowl (Flores 1990:

153).

1935–36 As a result of the Dust Bowl, the newly

formed Soil Conservation Service promoted

contour planting and terracing. The agency

also recommended that 5 million acres, or 78

percent of the total acreage under cultivation

at the beginning of the drought, which were

submarginal farmlands, should be revegetated in grass (Hurt 1979: 149).

1935 (post) Native grasses were cut for “hay” during wet years in northern New Mexico. The

hay was stored for later use as feed during

droughts or deep snows (Kelly 1972: 195).

1930s (mid) Due to overgrazing and the drought,

Acoma Pueblo rangelands deteriorated, and

severe erosion ensued. Supplemental feeding

of livestock was initiated. Farmlands and crop

production also declined, forcing residents to

acquire some of their food from outside

sources (Reynolds 1986: 282).

1936 (August 4) A general rainstorm over the Rio

Puerco watershed produced a peak flow of

24,000 cfs (Heath 1983: 333).

1936 (August 5) A flow of 27,400 cfs was recorded

for the Rio Grande at San Acacia (Beal and

Gold 1988: 196).

1936 The Flood Control Act of 1936 declared that

the Federal Government had responsibility to

control floods on navigable rivers and runoff-caused erosion on smaller streams in cooperation with state and local governments.

This act established for the first time an integrated flood-control policy and laid the

groundwork for the greatest public works

program ever undertaken by the U.S. Government (Buchanan 1988: 33; Clark 1987: 259–260).

1936 (to early 1937) The irrigation dam on the Rio

Puerco washed out at San Luis, and the last
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 77

of the old irrigation dams on the Rio Puerco

washed out at Guadalupe. The river channel

was widening and deepening relatively rapidly, and the silt load was “tremendous”

(Maes and Fisher 1937: 7, 24).

1937 (January) Some 300 Navajos picking pinyon

nuts in the Zuni Mountains were trapped by

heavy snow. They were rescued by Bureau of

Indian Affairs personnel (Brugge 1980: 447).

1937 (August 10) This was the latest date of 100o F

recorded in a year at Albuquerque (Taft

1979: 3).

1937 (September 1–3) Flooding along the Middle

Rio Grande Valley washed out levees in a

number of locations (Happ 1944: 4). The flood

broke through a levee below the San Marcial

bridge and damaged the wagon bridge at the

village. Farmlands were also damaged (Happ

1943: 1).

1937 Another major flood destroyed the last irrigation facilities at San Marcial (Calkins 1937: 18).

1938 The Rio Grande Compact was initiated, providing for the apportionment of water among

three major divisions of the Rio Grande—the

San Luis Valley, the upper and middle reaches

of the river, and the lands served by Elephant

Butte Reservoir in southern New Mexico and

west Texas (Thomas 1963: H18).

1939 Runoff from a heavy rainfall on the Sandia

Mountains rushed down arroyos on the

bajada and into the North Valley from

Alameda south to downtown Albuquerque.

Pine trees were washed from the west side of

the Sandias onto Edith and North 2nd in the

Alameda area, and residents collected them for

fuelwood (Sargeant and Davis 1986: 106–107).

1939 (to early 1940) A drought struck the Rio

Grande Basin (Thomas et al. 1963: D4).

1930s (late) A levee system to help control floods

was constructed throughout much of the

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

(Bullard and Wells 1992: 47).

1930s (late) El Vado dam was constructed on the

Chama River as a flood control structure

(Welsh 1987: 140).

1930s (late) Following the warm Dust Bowl conditions, temperatures were cool (Tuan et al.

1973: 72, 78).

1930s (late) (to 1941) The Work Projects Administration constructed small retention and diversion dams in rural New Mexico communities

to prevent flooding (Welsh 1987: 110).

1940 (pre) An archeological village site above Zia

Pueblo was severely damaged by floods of

the Jemez River (White 1962: 19).

1940 (pre) Older residents of El Cerrito no longer

grew wheat due to less annual precipitation

than “in the past when rainfall was heavier....”

(Leonard 1970: 60).

1940 (March 3) The heaviest, short-term New

Mexico snow on record, 14 inches, fell on

Santa Fe in 5 hours (Long 1975: 13–14).

1940 (August-May 1941) Heavy rains fell during

this period, with 29 inches falling in Bernalillo

during the 1941 period. This was the worst

flood in the town since the late 1800s; the Sisters of Lorretto convent was destroyed. The

valley from Cochiti Pueblo to Albuquerque

was flooded (Olson 1976: 73, 90).

1940 (November) A period of abnormally heavy

rain and snow began. This El Nino year ended

in late October of 1941 (Quinn et al. 1987:

14451; Tuan et al. 1973: 143).

1940 (December-February 1941) Cool temperatures

and about 200 percent above-normal precipitation occurred (Tuan et al. 1973: 144).

1940–41 (winter) Runoff from the heavy snowpack in

the Jemez Mountains severely damaged the

rail line in Guadalupe Canyon, logging truck

roads, and bridges. The New Mexico Timber

Company decided to abandon the rail line

and to use trucks solely for hauling logs to

their Bernalillo mill (Scurlock 1981a: 151).

1941 (spring) The weather was cold and windy,

and dust storms occurred. Precipitation was

about 1.55 inches above average (Tuan et al.

1973: 144).

1941 (spring) This was the wettest period ever recorded, 5.27 inches, for Albuquerque (Liles

1994: 32).

1941 (May) (early to late) The most severe flood

since at least 1890 occurred on the Jemez River

near Jemez Pueblo (U.S. Geological Survey

1994). The Guadalupe and Jemez rivers

flooded and washed out 3 miles of track of

the Santa Fe Northwestern Railroad. Several

bridges were damaged as well (Myrick 1970:

176). The Rio Grande flood damaged bridges,

dams, and phone lines in the Santa AnaBernalillo area. Pueblo refugees, who moved to

schools during the flood, were struck by measles

and pneumonia (Bayer et al. 1994: 241). The

highest daily mean flow since late 1939, 5,980

cfs, occurred on the lower Rio Puerco (U.S. Geological Survey 1994). Due to the highest snowmelt runoff and spring rains ever recorded in

recent history (Kelley 1969: 17; Tuan et al. 1973:

143–145), a Rio Grande flood inundated more

than 50,000 acres of land in the Upper and

Middle basins (Vlasich 1980: 34).
78 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1941 (May) The greatest monthly rainfall (16.21

inches) ever recorded in New Mexico occurred at Portales (Taft 1980: 12).

1941 (June-July) Killing frosts were reported at

many weather stations and other locations.

July was the coolest ever recorded and included more frosts (Tuan et al. 1973: 145).

1941 (August) Crops such as potatoes and beans

were damaged by frost in mountain basins

(Tuan et al. 1973: 145).

1941 (September 20) A heavy rain on the

Calabasillas Arroyo northwest of Albuquerque caused the deposition of 250 acre-feet of

sand and other sediments, with a depth of up

to 9 feet in the Rio Grande (Tuan 1966: 594).

1941 Part of the northeast wall of Valencia Church

collapsed due to spring floods and summer

rains. The north wall subsequently collapsed,

and the structure was completely razed and

rebuilt on a concrete foundation using the

original floor plan (Taylor 1989: 29).

1941 The most precipitation ever recorded in New

Mexico in a year fell; the statewide average

was 28.24 inches. The most overcast days ever

were also experienced (Tuan et al. 1973: 143).

The largest amount of annual precipitation

ever recorded, 62.45 inches, fell at White Tail,

Otero County (Taft 1980: 12, 143).

1941 The fewest acres burned in the Southwest in

recent history was probably due to the El

Nino year (Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 11).

1941 The annual runoff flow of the Rio Grande at

the Otowi Bridge gauging station was the highest in this century (Crawford et al. 1993: 18).

1941–70 The average annual precipitation for Albuquerque was 7.77 inches (Taft 1980: 1).

1942 (April 17–25) The flow of the Rio Grande

peaked at 19,600 cfs at Albuquerque as a result of heavy snows and rain on the upper watershed. Some flood conditions existed south to

San Marcial until June 6. Runoff for the remainder of the year was above normal (Happ ca.

1942: 2–5). A maximum discharge of 21,000 cfs

occurred on the Rio Grande floodway near

Bernardo (U.S. Geological Survey 1994).

1942 The annual flow of the Rio Grande at the

Otowi Bridge gauging station was the third

largest in this century (Crawford et al. 1993: 18).

1942–43 (winter) Snowfall was below normal, which

resulted in limited spring runoff and fire danger all summer (Welsh 1987: 87).

1942–46 Central New Mexico experienced a drought

(Manthey 1977: 8).

1942 (late) (to 1948) Precipitation was below normal, and crops, cattle, and range plants suffered heavy losses (Gatewood et al. 1964: B43-

B44; Tuan et al. 1973: 58).

1943 (May 24) The lowest mean flow since 1936,

0.0 cfs, on the lower Jemez River occurred

(U.S. Geological Survey 1994).

1943 (summer) The weather was hot and dry, and

grasshoppers damaged crops in the Los

Alamos-San Ildefonso area (Church 1960:

124).

1943 (December 9) Wind speed reached 90 miles

per hour at Albuquerque. The highest gusts

ever recorded were measured at 124 mph in

December 1987 (Liles 1994: 3; Taft 1980: 1).

1943 This was a La Nina year (Betancourt et al.

1993: 46).

1943–44 (winter) Temperatures plunged to as low as –

28o F, and more than 5 feet of snow accumulated at Los Alamos (Welsh 1987: 87).

1943–56 This was the longest dry period in the last 100

years for New Mexico. Average annual precipitation was 8.98 inches, or 77 percent of the

average (Tuan et al. 1973: 59).

1943–56 During this generally extended dry period,

the San Luis Valley, and the Upper and

Middle Rio Grande divisions, failed to deliver

water to the Elephant Butte Reservoir, which

was set forth in the Rio Grande Compact of

1938 (Thomas 1963: H18).

1944 Precipitation was below normal for much of

the state (Mortensen 1983: 37; Tuan et al. 1973:

58).

1945 (winter-spring 1946) This was a dry period

for the Los Alamos-San Ildefonso area

(Church 1960: 132).

1945–48 Precipitation was below normal statewide

(Mortensen 1983: 37; Tuan et al. 1973: 58).

1946 In New Mexico and across the Southwest,

extreme dryness resulted in forest fires, lack

of adequate grazing for livestock, and municipal and agricultural water shortages. As a result of drought, streams were drying up in

the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and elsewhere, conditions that adversely affected

wildlife. Deer were suffering from inadequate

forage, trout were easy prey for predators,

and many game birds probably did not nest

the following year (Calvin 1948: xv-xvi).

1948 (January) Several snow storms left a relatively

deep snowpack on the Pajarito Plateau. Night

temperatures commonly fell to –15o F (Church

1960: 138).

1948 Congress passed the Flood Control Act of

1948, which authorized the Chamita Dam

above Espanola, the Jemez Canyon Dam

above Bernalillo, and other flood protection
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 79

facilities in the Middle Rio Grande Valley

(Welsh 1987: 114, 166).

1948–49 (summers) Santa Fe recorded substantially

above-normal precipitation (Tuan et al. 1973:

54).

1949 Precipitation was just above normal for the

region (Tuan et al. 1973: 58).

1940s Streams on the west side of the Sangre de

Cristo Range carried twice as much water as

they did in the 1980s. This higher runoff was

due to slopes with little or no vegetation that

could no longer “hold” some of the water

(deBuys 1985: 229).

1950 (spring-summer) This was an abnormally dry

period in the Jemez Mountains area (Church

1960: 144–145).

1950 (July 24) Runoff from a severe rain storm in

the northeast heights of Albuquerque flooded

200 houses and caused $250,000 damage in

the North 2nd–4th streets at the Menaul area

(Kelley 1982: 20).

1950 Congress enacted the Rio Grande Floodway

as part of the Middle Rio Grande Project. Private and state levees and dams were targeted

for reconstruction from Velarde to Elephant

Butte Reservoir (Welsh 1987: 166).

1950 This was a La Nina year (Betancourt et al.

1993: 46).

1950 Only a trace of snow was recorded for this

year in Albuquerque, a record matched only

in 1896 (Liles 1994: 41).

1950 (and 1953, 1954, 1956) These were four of the

ten driest years in Albuquerque since 1892.

The annual precipitation amounts were 4.10,

5.08, 4.51, and 4.06 respectively (Liles 1941: 9).

1950–51 The Public Service Co. of New Mexico acquired the Agua Pura Water Co. of Las Vegas

and constructed a second large reservoir to be

supplied with water from the Gallinas River,

but the ensuing drought forced the company to

drill four deep wells as backup during extended

dry periods (Perrigo 1982: 191–192).

1950–52 To control flooding and sedimentation, the

Jemez dam and reservoir were constructed

above Bernalillo on the Jemez River (Welsh

1987: 117–118).

1950–55 The number of irrigated acres in the state decreased by 24 percent, while the number of

irrigated acres from wells increased by 48

percent due to the ongoing drought (Gatewood et al. 1964: B–44).

1950–56 An extended drought, the most severe since

the inception of scientific recording of weather

data, impacted the region’s agricultural and

ranch industries (Manthey 1977: 8; Tuan et al.

1973: 58–60, 147–156). The drought severely

affected the amount of available surface water,

and the use of groundwater sources increased

over normal usage (Thomas 1963: H–16).

1951 (February 1) The lowest temperature ever recorded, –50° F, occurred at Gavilon in Rio

Arriba County (Burdett et al. 1990: 10; Tuan

et al. 1973: 67).

1951 (July 24–25) A flash flood destroyed the San

Luis irrigation dam on the Rio Puerco

(Widdison 1959: 277).

1951 The Bureau of Reclamation and Corps of Engineers began to install the first of 100,000 jetties along the Middle Rio Grande Valley

(Bullard and Wells 1992: 50).

1951 Water rationing went into effect in Santa Fe,

and six wells were subsequently drilled to

meet demand (Gatewood et al. 1964: B–44).

1951–55 The extended drought in northern New

Mexico caused the premature sale of thousands of cattle by ranchers, which negatively

affected the local economy. Fishing waters

dried up, and residents had to significantly

reduce water use (Perrigo 1982: 198).

1951–56 The drought and water demands by a growing population in the Middle Rio Grande Valley prevented the delivery of scheduled water to Elephant Butte Reservoir (Welsh 1987:

132). Most water users along the river were

able to continue farming during the drought

through development of groundwater

sources. Many small subsistence farmers

along tributary streams and narrow creek

bottoms, however, were forced out of agriculture. Also, the drying of streams and reservoirs caused the loss of many fish (Gatewood

et al. 1964: B–44; Thomas et al. 1963: D24).

1951–56 There was no pinyon nut crop due to the extended drought in the Cochiti Pueblo area

(Lange 1959: 122, 145).

1952 (April) This was the windiest month ever recorded in Santa Fe, and the lilacs did not

bloom until mid May. The high winds created

dust storms over the town (Scott 1976: 62).

1952 (June) Runoff from the west face of the Sandia

Mountains caused an estimated $348,000

flood damage to homes and businesses in

Albuquerque (Welsh 1987: 167).

1952 (July) The Chama River at Abiquiu flooded,

with the highest flow ever recorded

(McDonald 1985: 122).

1950s (early) Precipitation was much below normal

at Tijeras Canyon (Cordell 1980: 64–65).

1953 Senators Clinton P. Anderson and Francis

Case of South Dakota sponsored legislation
80 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

to encourage experimentation in rain making

and created the Advisory Committee on

Weather Control (Clark 1987: 414).

1953–56 A federal drought relief program was in operation in New Mexico. Cheap feed, extended

government credit, and reduced freight rates

on cattle and feed were the main elements of

this program (Mortensen 1983: 37).

1954 The Flood Control Act included authorization

of two diversion canals that would carry runoff from summer rain from the west slopes of

the Sandia Mountains (Welsh 1987: 167).

1954 This was the warmest year recorded in Albuquerque since 1893, with a mean annual temperature of 59.5o F. The average annual temperature to 1994 was 55.9o F (Liles 1994: 52).

1955 This was a La Nina year (Betancourt et al.

1993: 46).

1956 (March) A combination of dry topsoil and

high winds produced the most severe dust

storms in the region since the 1930s (Tuan et

al. 1973: 107).

1956 (March) This was the driest month ever recorded for Albuquerque (Tuan et al. 1973:

107).

1956 (spring-summer) Near the end of the 6-year

drought the leaves of aspens in the Sangre de

Cristos were stripped by Great Basin caterpillars. Reservoirs in the region were dry or

low, and severe dust storms occurred (Powell

1976: 91, 102).

1956 (summer) Costilla, Santa Cruz, and El Vado

reservoirs were all dry as a result of the

drought (Gatewood et al. 1964: B45).

1956 This was the driest year in New Mexico since

scientific records have been kept. It marked

the climax of a long dry period that began

about 1943 (Tuan et al. 1973: 107).

1956 This was the driest year ever recorded for

Albuquerque. On March 15 and 17 temperatures were above normal when cold fronts

passed through the area. Accompanying

gusty winds produced severe dust storms.

Wind speeds of 50 mph were reached over

the city. At Sandia Crest gusts reached 100

mph (Tuan et al. 1973: 107, 109).

1956 As much as 60 percent of New Mexico’s crops

failed due to the drought (Gatewood et al.

1964: B–43).

1957 (March 22–25) The worst blizzard on record

for the Albuquerque area was accompanied

by snow drifts up to 10 feet high. Transportation was halted, and some area communities

were isolated by the storm (Liles 1994: 3).

1957 (August 15) While the feast day dance (rain)

at Zia Pueblo was underway, a heavy rain fell

in mid afternoon (White 1962: 273).

1957 (October) Some 4 inches of precipitation fell

on the San Luis experimental watershed on

the Rio Puerco (Dortignac 1960: 49).

1957 Due in part to the extended drought, cattle

prices were 57 percent less than the price per

head had been 5 years earlier (Mortensen

1983: 37).

1957 The Santa Fe River flooded, causing property

damage in Santa Fe (Welsh 1987: 208).

1957 (late) (to 1958) Following the preceding

drought, precipitation was above normal

(Tuan et al. 1973: 57).

1958 (December 29) The greatest 24-hour snowfall

(30 inches) ever recorded in New Mexico occurred at the Sandia Crest (Burdett et al. 1990:

10; Taft 1980: 10).

1958 The levee-riverside drains in the Albuquerque area were reconstructed by the U.S. Army

Corps of Engineers. Operation and maintenance of the system were transferred to the

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

(Bullard and Wells 1992: 47).

1958 The highest mean daily flow on the lower

Jemez River since March 1936, 3,640 cfs, occurred (U.S. Geological Survey 1994).

1958 This was a wet year in New Mexico (Molles

and Dahm 1990: 71).

1959 (December) The highest December snowfall

ever in Albuquerque, 14.7 inches, was recorded (Liles 1994: 42).

1959 (late) (to 1960s) Precipitation was below normal in New Mexico (Tuan et al. 1974: 57).

1959 Construction on the Heron Dam was begun

on the Chama River near Tierra Amarilla by

the Corps of Engineers (Welsh 1987: 133–134).

1960 The Flood Control Act directed the U.S. Corps

of Engineers to construct Galisteo Dam

(Welsh 1987: 149).

1961 (December-February 1964) Some sunshine

was recorded for every day during this period at Albuquerque (Tuan et al. 1973: 100).

1962 The Bureau of Reclamation was authorized by

congressional act to construct the San JuanChama Transmountain Diversion Project.

About 110,000 acre-feet of water would be diverted from the upper tributaries of the San Juan

River, across the continental divide, and into

the Rio Grande drainage (Bullard and Wells

1992: 20).

1963 (January 13) An unofficial low temperature

(–57o F) for New Mexico was recorded near

Gallup (Tuan et al. 1973: 67).

1963 (March 15) Winds on the Sandia Crest attained
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 81

speeds of 80 mph, with gusts exceeding 100

mph (Tuan et al. 1973: 109).

1963 (August 10) Between 6 and 9 p.m., 2.5 inches

of rain fell on Albuquerque, causing flood

damages of $2 million (Tuan et al. 1973: 39).

1963 The Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood

Control Authority was created to study and

alleviate the problem of urban flooding from

unregulated, ephemeral tributaries of the Rio

Grande (Bullard and Wells 1992: 22).

1963 Abiquiu Dam was completed on the Chama

River (Welsh 1987: 134).

1965 The legislature declared that “the State of

New Mexico claims the right to all moisture

in the atmosphere which would fall so as to

become a part of the natural streams or percolated water of New Mexico, for use in accordance with its laws” (Clark 1987: 373).

1967 (August 10) Widespread thunderstorms produced peak discharges of 7,610 cfs on the Rio

Grande near Bernardo and 12,600 cfs on the

Rio Puerco (Heath 1983: 334).

1968 Another flood along the river in Santa Fe

washed away bridges and utility lines and

flooded some local residences, causing

$400,000 in damages in Santa Fe (Kutz 1989:

11; Welsh 1987: 208).

1971 (January 7) The lowest temperature ever recorded for Albuquerque, –17o F, occurred (Taft

1980: 9).

1971 This was a La Nina year (Crawford et al. 1993:

16; Fairchild-Parks et al. 1995).

1973 This was an El Nino year (Crawford et al.

1993: 16).

1973–94 There were 128 days when the temperature

was 100o F or more in Albuquerque. From

1893 to 1972 the total number of days was

only 83 (Liles 1994: 83).

1974 (June 28) The temperature reached 105o F in

Albuquerque (Taft 1980: 13).

1975 This was a La Nina year (Crawford et al. 1993:

16).

1976 (October 8) This is the earliest fall freeze date

ever recorded for Albuquerque (Taft 1980: 5).

1980 This was a dry year in the study region

(Crawford et al. 1993: 16).

1980 Albuquerque recorded 90°+ F temperatures

for a record 64 consecutive days and 100° F

or higher for a record 9 consecutive days (Liles

1994: 1).

1982 This was an El Nino year (Crawford et al.

1993: 16).

1985 This was an El Nino year (Crawford et al.

1993: 16).

1987 This was an El Nino year (Crawford et al.

1993: 16).

1989 This was the eighth-driest year in Albuquerque (Liles 1994: 9).

1980s This was the hottest decade on record for Albuquerque (Liles 1994: 53).

1990–94 Average annual precipitation for Albuquerque was 10.82 inches, 2.36 inches above the

1892–1994 average (Liles 1994: 9).

1994 (June 27) The highest temperature ever experienced in Albuquerque, 107o F, was recorded

(Liles 1994: 84).
82 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

This chapter presents an overview, in three main sections, of the ways in which each of the three major ecocultures of the area has adapted to the various ecosystems of the Middle Rio Grande Basin. These groups consist

of the American Indians, Hispanos, and Anglo-Americans.

Within the American Indian grouping, four specific

groups—the Pueblo, Navajo, Apache, and Ute—are discussed in the context of their interactions with the environment (Fig. 15). The Hispanic population is discussed as a

single group, although the population was actually composed of several groups, notably the Hispanos from Spain

or Mexico, the genizaros (Hispanicized Indians from Plains

and other regional groups), mestizos (Hispano-Indio

“mix”), and mulatos (Hispano-Black “mix”). Their views

and uses of the land and water were all very similar. AngloAmericans could also be broken into groups, such as Mormon, but no such distinction is made here.

In general, as Euro-Americans arrived and their populations grew, and as their new technology was introduced,

modification of the physical and biological environment

increased over time. Since the late 19th century, the Anglo

views, markedly different from the Native and Spanish

American views, have been dominant and therefore most

influential. This chapter not only documents the chronological evolution of these various environmental adaptations, but also offers a basis for understanding the impact,

change, and resulting resource management strategies

caused by these differing adaptations, which are addressed

in Chapters 4, 5, and 6.

NATIVE AMERICAN SETTLEMENT, POPULATION,

AND RESOURCE USE, 1400s–1960

Native American Environmental Views

The Pueblo, Navajo, and Apache groups in the region

had developed traditional views toward the physical and

biological world quite different from those of the Hispanos

and Anglos, whose historical views were derived from

western European experiences. Popovi Da, former governor of San Ildefonso Pueblo, commented on the Native

American view of their place in the biological world:

The Indian’s vital, organic attitude towards

man’s place within the framework of other living

creatures has an impact on his actions, thinking,

CHAPTER 3

HUMAN SETTLEMENT PATTERNS, POPULATIONS,

AND RESOURCE USE

reasoning, judgment, and his ideas of enjoyment,

as well as his education and government (Hughes

1983: 9).

This philosophy permeated all aspects of traditional

Pueblo life; ecology was not a separate attitude toward

life but was interrelated with everything else in life.

Another perspective on Native Americans was given by

Vecsey and Venables (1980: 23):

To say that Indians existed in harmony with nature is a half-truth. Indians were both a part of

nature and apart from nature in their own

world view. They utilized the environment extensively, realized the differences between human and nonhuman persons, and felt guilt for

their exploitation of nature’s life-giving life.

Indian environmental religions were means of

idealizing and attempting to attain a goal of

harmony with nature, for both participatory

and manipulative reasons, but inherent in their

religions was the understanding that they were

not in fact at perfect harmony with nature.

To understand a group’s view of the environment, one

must examine their cultural elements, such as religion,

government, music, and so forth. Perhaps religion is the

best expression of Pueblo attitudes toward and use of environmental resources. Traditional Pueblo religion is a

complex set of beliefs and practices that permeates every aspect of an individual’s life. For the Pueblo the basic concern is maintaining a continual harmonious relationship with the physical and biological world, or universe, through ritual and ceremony. Another significant

aspect of Pueblo religion is its explicit cosmological and

philosophical system, sometimes called world view, lifeway, or life-road (Beck and Walters 1977: 9; Ortiz 1969:

4; Sando 1992: 30).

Symbols in Pueblo religion are frequent and significant. Kachinas include corn mothers, corn, mothers for

life, plants, animals, foreign tribes, and a number of other

symbols. Cardinal directions are associated with mountains, animals, and colors. The four sacred mountains mark

the boundaries of center place, which the Pueblos found after

emerging from the underworld. The center is the open

community space within the village, where ritual dances
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 83

Figure 15—General locations of Pueblo and nomadic Native American groups 1598–1680.
84 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

and other communal activities take place. Around this

space is another space, enclosed by the four mountains

and the horizon, where sky and earth meet. This boundary

is denoted by markers consisting of inconspicuous stones

or groups of stones. Within this cosmos are other sacred

places—hills, mesas, caves, lakes, springs, streams, and

for some, refuse mounds. Spirits are believed to be residents on or in these natural features, and shrines are usually

present at these locales (Ortiz 1969: 19–21; Swentzell 1985).

Unusual landscapes in the region, such as El Malpais in

Cibola County, have long been used for religious activities

by the Zuni, Acoma, and Laguna Pueblos, as well as the

Ramah Navajo. Shrines are represented archeologically;

all three Pueblo groups maintain shrines there today. Other

traditional, religious uses of the area include pilgrimages,

collecting materials for religious use, and collecting medicinal plants. The basaltic flow itself is considered to be

the blood of a mythical giant killed by the Hero Twins

(Holmes 1989: 21–22).

The conception of this universe also included a religious perception of the sky with its meteorological and

astronomical phenomena such as clouds, lightning, and

the solstices. Celestial bodies were named and perceived

as anthropomorphic (Hewett and Dutton 1945: 22–29).

Traditional rituals and ceremonies include oratories,

prayers, songs, dances, pilgrimages, sacrificial retreats,

and other expressions, performed individually or communally. These may be quests for rains, bountiful crops,

and game; perpetuation of “natural” and astronomical

cycles; and other observances that occur during the annual, ritual calendar of events, or “cycle of works”

(Sando 1992: 31–32).

Due to Spanish domination and influence, Pueblos

have also been nominally Roman Catholic for almost 400

years. They maintain this religious duality through a

process that has been called “compartmentalization.”

The two religions are each distinct socio-ceremonial systems, although there has been integration through sharing or relating to various components, some of which

are sacred or “holy” water, religious objects (kachinas

and santos), sacred structures (kivas and churches), sacred spaces, and religious leaders (“medicine” men and

priests). Catholic elements that the Pueblos have generally

accepted are Sunday worship, confirmation, baptism, weddings, and celebration of saints’ days, Christmas, and Easter. Social dances in the churches and on the plazas dominate these latter three celebrations (Dozier 1983: 185–186;

Sando 1992: 32–33, 169–170).

Pueblo Settlement Patterns and Land Use

The major, historic Pueblo villages along the Rio

Grande and its tributaries generally had their beginnings

in the early to mid 1300s (Fig. 16). Movement from

smaller sites into larger sites where populations consolidated occurred after 1400 and before 1540. The largest

villages contained 1,000 to 2,000 rooms, maximum sizes

for prehistoric or historic pueblos. This growth appears

to have been correlated with the increasing development

of floodwater and irrigation farming on floodplains

(Dozier 1983: 41, Stuart 1986: 89–90).

The historic Tewa, Tiwa, Keresan, and Piro pueblos

were located along the banks of the Rio Grande or tributary drainages on slightly elevated land on floodplains

or on terraces or points of land adjacent to them. Many

of the pueblos, including those that have survived until

today (Table 20), are located at confluences of the Rio

Grande and perennial or semi-perennial tributaries. Proximity to water for domestic use and farming and proximity to fertile soils were clearly determinants in locating villages. As pueblos grew in size in the late prehistoric period and as competition for arable lands accelerated during the colonial period, agricultural production

shifted to more distant fields, where male residents

worked long days and stayed overnight in small one- or

two-room dwellings, referred to as field houses, during

the farming season (Stewart 1985: 92–96).

Prior to Spanish arrival in the study region, the abandonment of aboriginal villages and population movement

to another more favorable environmental site or area was a

relatively common adaptive strategy, particularly in marginal areas of limited environmental resources, particularly water or arable soils. Fluctuating climatic conditions,

particularly drought, were a primary cause of abandonment (Fosberg 1979: 166–167; Kelley 1952: 382–385; Zubrow

1974: 25, 64). Abandonment was also caused, in part or in

Table 20—Siting of extant Rio Grande Basin pueblos.

Pueblo Drainage Elevation (feet)

Taos Rio Pueblo de Taos 7,050

Picuris Rio Penasco 8,400

San Juan Confluence of Rio Grande

and Chama River 5,800

Santa Clara Rio Grande and Santa Clara Creek 5,600

San Ildefonso Rio Grande and Pojoaque Creek 5,560

Tesuque Rio Tesuque 6,800

Nambe Nambe River and Pojoaque Creek 6,095

Pojoaque Pojoaque Creek 5,845

Cochiti Rio Grande and Santa Fe River 5,600

Santo Domingo Rio Grande and Galisteo Creek 5,190

San Felipe Rio Grande and Tonque Arroyo 5,700

Santa Ana Rio Grande and north bank of

Jemez River 5,340

Zia Jemez River 5,450

Jemez Jemez River 5,600

Sandia Rio Grande and Sandia Wash 5,030

Isleta Rio Grande and Hell Canyon Wash 4,880

Laguna Rio San Jose and Encinal Creek 5,795

Acoma (near) Acoma Creek 7,000

Source: Burdett et al. 1990: 33, 34, 44–46, 56–57; Stubbs 1950:

23–90
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 85

Figure 16—Major historic Pueblo language groups and villages, 1598–1680.

Teypama (Socorro)
86 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

totality, by flooding, epidemic diseases, raids, warfare, and

political and social pressures exerted by the Spanish

(Schroeder 1968: 291, 303–304). During extended drought

periods, the Pueblo would sometimes rely more heavily on

hunting, gathering, and trade for subsistence (Upham 1984:

248–251). The length of the drought seems to have determined whether the abandonment was temporary or permanent. Earls (1985: 162) stated

A drought three years or less does not appear to

have caused the inhabitants to abandon their

villages. A drought three years or more did cause

some abandonment, usually temporary movement to other villages. Prolonged droughts of

5–10 years caused permanent abandonment.

Dobyns (1983: 310–11) and Palkovich (1985: 418) suggested the following as four major elements common to

abandonment, migration, and survival strategy:

1. abandonment of settlements located in marginally

productive environmental niches,

2. migration to environments that were more productive in terms of the basic subsistence technology of

the peoples involved,

3. amalgamation of survivors of abandoned settlements into a diminished number of continuing or

new ones, in an attempt to maintain a number of

inhabitants culturally defined as proper by each

group, and

4. amalgamation of survivors of diverse lineage and

even ethnic origins into a diminished number of

polities, resulting in

a. intermarriages, further diluting and erasing earlier ethnic distinctions,

b. adoption of locally determinant group languages, reducing linguistic diversity, and

c. sometimes very rapid changes in many conventional understandings formerly shared for the

purpose of adjusting to the survival demands of

quickly altering man:land ratios, colonial manipulation or domination, and so forth.

The Pueblo and other Native Americans also employed

relocation to higher, wetter (and cooler) sites as a survival strategy in extreme droughts. A change to colder

temperature regimes would sometimes cause movement

to lower, warmer locations. The movement of Pueblo

peoples from the Pajarito Plateau to the lower canyons,

such as Frijoles, or even the Rio Grande Valley, is one example. Contrastingly, during warmer-than-normal periods, groups sometimes moved to higher, cooler locations (Stuart 1985: 91–92).

The total number of occupied Pueblo villages at the

beginning of the historic period may have been as high

as 134. The maximum number of residents in each pueblo

was 800–1,000. With Spanish invasion and occupation,

this settlement system was disrupted, and a number of

pueblos were abandoned. By the early 1600s, about half

of these villages had been abandoned (Schroeder 1979:

254), and the remaining Pueblo settlements were restricted

to four square leagues each (6.75 square miles) for farming

and other resource uses. Some 90 missions were established

in as many pueblos, and Pueblo men and boys were required to herd livestock, farm, and collect firewood for the

missionaries. Civil authorities required them to work hides,

collect pinyon nuts and salt, and weave blankets and garments (Dozier 1983: 46–49; Simmons 1979a: 181–183). As

a rule, distant field houses and agricultural plots were ignored during the farming season.

In the Rio Arriba, Taos and Picuris, both northern Tiwaspeaking pueblos, have been occupied throughout the

historic period. Apparently no other pueblos in this Tiwa

area were occupied at the time of Spanish contact

(Schroeder 1979: 251; Fig. 16).

Of 12 extant Tewa villages in the Upper Rio Grande

Drainage around 1600, only eight remained occupied in

1630. Of this number, six have survived until today (Fig.

16): San Juan, Santa Clara, Pojoaque, Nambe, Tesuque,

and San Ildefonso. Ten large upland Keres village sites

were abandoned by 1630; seven Keres towns continued

to be occupied: Cochiti, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, Santa

Ana, Zia, Laguna (Fig. 17), and Acoma. Coronado recorded seven Tewa-speaking villages in the Jemez Mountains; only one, Jemez Pueblo, has survived until today.

Among the Tiwas, five large pueblos were abandoned by

1650, while eight survived until 1680. The only two surviving Southern Tiwa villages are Sandia and Isleta (Fig.

16). In all, some 20 large floodplain villages were abandoned between 1540 and 1680 in the Rio Abajo (Dryeson

1971: 89–92; Schroeder 1979: 238–239, 242–247).

As noted, availability of adequate, proximate surface

water was a primary determinant in siting of villages

and farmlands, as evidenced by the 18 extant pueblos in

the Middle and Upper basins (Table 20). This dependence

on water for personal consumption, farming, and livestock raising is also documented by the archeological and

archival records. For example, the Tano Pueblos lived in

seven early historic villages located near springs and

marshes along Galisteo Creek or its tributaries (Fig. 16).

The Tano abandoned the area by the late 1600s, primarily due to drought and nomadic Indian raids (Schroeder

1979: 238–239, 247–248).

To the south, at the north end and on the east side of

the Sandia Mountains, there was another small cluster

of 7–10 pueblos. They, too, were located near springs or

arroyos. These pueblos have been referred to as the

“Ubates” (Schroeder 1979: 248–250).

Farther south, in the Salinas Province, there were up

to 18 Tompiro pueblos recorded between 1581 and 1598
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 87

Figure 17—View northeast of Laguna Pueblo and landscape. Ben Wittick photo, ca.1883. Courtesy School of

American Research and Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe (negative no. 16051).

(Fig. 16). These were located in upland pinyon-juniper

or juniper-grassland savannah, near springs or small

ephemeral streams on the south and east sides of the

Manzano Mountains. Some of the pueblos depended on

wells for their domestic water supply. Here, more dependence was placed on rainfall, which was higher than that

of the Rio Grande Valley. The saline lakes of the Estancia

Valley lay to the east. During droughts, which brought

Apache raids and famine, surface water was virtually

nonexistent. By the 1660s only six pueblos were occupied, and within a decade only two remained. These last

two were abandoned sometime before the Pueblo Revolt;

refugees from all of the Tompiro villages joined with Piros

along the Rio Grande (Schroeder 1979: 237, 239–241).

To the west, along the middle Rio Puerco and Rio San

Jose, were the pueblos and fields of Laguna and Acoma.

Along with Zuni Pueblo, farther to the west and outside

the Middle Basin, these villages are referred to as the

Western Pueblo. Laguna Pueblo (1699), as the name suggests, was also located near a small lake, now dry. Acoma

was located on a mesa with springs at its base and potholes on top in which rain or snowmelt collected. A

nearby creek also provided water. The Navajo also lived

along the Puerco from the mid 1700s to mid 1800s, hunting and gathering and practicing limited farming. Utilization of springs and runoff water was the key to the

successful raising of crops in the area (Schroeder 1979:

239, 245–246; Scurlock 1990a: 320).

Ten ancestral villages located across the Piro, or Southern, Pueblo region (Fig. 16) continued to be occupied in

the 16th century, but nine other sites were abandoned

and new villages established. Most of these pueblos were

located on gravel benches and low alluvial banks adjacent to the river. Settlements placed away from the Rio

Grande floodplain were situated on mesas, ridges, or in

one instance, on an open alluvial flat at the mouth of a

canyon. Village plans consisted of large plaza communities, which were common in the preceding century, or

small pueblos of variable forms and 8–36 rooms, which

have been called the “colonial style.” Construction tech-
88 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

niques included puddled-coursed adobe, cobble masonry,

and rock-block masonry. At a few sites adobe blocks were

set on a masonry base (Marshall and Walt 1984: 139–140).

With the establishment of four Spanish mission churches

at Piro villages and four estancias, or large ranches, there

was major impact on the Pueblo residents. In addition to

experiencing a severe decline in population as indicated

above, large portions of various ancestral villages were

abandoned, and some groups moved to new sites. A relatively large number of Piro, about one-third of the total population, moved to three upland sites in the Magdalena area,

perhaps as a strategy to remove themselves from the devastating European diseases along the Rio Grande and to afford stronger protection from raiding Apaches or Spaniards (Marshall and Walt 1984: 141).

Following the reconquest of the Pueblos by the Spanish

in 1692–96, the new government forced the indigenous

population into large villages rather than the smaller, dispersed settlement clusters prevalent in the pre-revolt period (A.D. 1540–1680). This may have been an important

factor in the spreading of European diseases among the

Pueblo. Near the end of the 1700s, the total population had

declined to 9,453. This decrease continued throughout the

next century, but at a lesser rate (Palkovich 1985: 403, 410–

413).

In the early 1800s there were only 20 pueblos (not

counting the satellite villages of Laguna) within the Rio

Grande drainage. By the 1830s, this number had decreased to 18, the current number (Fig. 16). Agricultural

and grazing lands were lost to Spanish-speaking squatters in the 1700s and 1800s, even though this practice

was illegal. Only the highest of officials could authorize

the sale of Indian lands. Local officials did, however, allow Hispanics to obtain holdings on Pueblo lands in some

instances (Brayer 1939: 16–19). Most of this acreage,

about 10 percent of Pueblo holdings, was choice, irrigable

land (Simmons 1979b: 214–216).

The U.S. Surveyor-General approved the Pueblo land

grants in 1852 and recommended congressional confirmation. Ten years after the signing of the Treaty of

Guadalupe Hidalgo, Congress, in 1858, confirmed 35

land grants, totalling 700,000 acres, which had been

made by the Spanish to the Pueblo. President Lincoln issued patents to the Pueblos for these grants. Subsequently, territorial officials considered these lands to be

disposable property that could be purchased by non-Indians. Following litigation, the Supreme Court ruled in

1876 that the Pueblos had undisputed title to their lands

and could dispose of them as they wished; they would

not be protected by the Federal Government. This led to

usurpation of some Indian land by dishonest non-Indians (Brayer 1939: 21; Sando 1992: 110, 112; Simmons

1979b: 214). Trespass also continued on Pueblo lands.

Legislation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries established that the Pueblos were wards of the U.S. Government, which had a trusteeship relationship and jurisdiction over Pueblo land and water. As wards, the

Pueblos could not alienate their lands without approval

of the government. The government recognized that the

Pueblo had “a communal title to their lands” (Sando

1992: 112–122).

Since the late 1700s, and especially after 1859, most of

the Pueblos have significantly increased their land holdings (Table 21). Between 1877 and 1933, the Pueblos obtained new lands through acts of Congress, executive order, and community and individual initiative. Much of

this land was overgrazed, depleted rangeland. By 1944

the Pueblos, exclusive of Zuni, owned just over 1,000,000

acres, of which 19,022 were agricultural, and the remainder were used for grazing. At Santa Ana, new farmlands

were acquired to provide basic subsistence needs and

trade surpluses (Aberle 1948: 11, 84; Dozier 1983: 109).

The Santa Fe Railroad acquired rights-of-way across

Pueblo lands in the late 19th century (Fig. 18). Some of

this land was good agricultural acreage, especially at Laguna. The railroad also employed hundreds of Pueblos,

taking them away from traditional agricultural pursuits

(Ortiz 1980: 111).

The influx of Anglo settlers in the late 1800s resulted

in increased competition for water rights and arable land in

the region. In the Winters v. United States case, the Supreme

Court ruled that Indians “had prior and paramount rights

to all of the water they needed in the present and future.”

And, “in times of shortage, Indian rights had to be honored

before the claims of other users” (Bayer et al. 1994: 239).

The loss of productive land in the Middle Valley due to

waterlogging, high water tables, and salinization was also

a problem. These pressures and hardships led to impoverishment and dependency for the subsistence farmers among

the Pueblo and Hispano populations. The 1930s drought

compounded their problems, and many were forced to leave

or sell their farms and livestock and to find low-paying

jobs as laborers away from the reservation or village. Some

had to go out of state to find employment. For other Pueblos, crafts work supplemented, or eventually replaced, subsistence agriculture (Ortiz 1980: 109–111).

Navajo, Apache, Southern Ute Settlement

Patterns and Land Use

In general, nomadic groups in the region—the Navajo,

Apache, and Ute—selected campsites near surface water, fuelwood, and grass for their livestock, and in locations protected from adverse weather. Summer camps

of the Apache or Navajo practicing agriculture were near

plots of arable soils, and hunting and gathering camps

were located near the specific resources sought

(Jorgensen 1983: 687–688; Scurlock 1991a: 27).

In the historic colonial period, Navajos lived in the environment formerly occupied by Pueblo Indians from the
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 89

Pueblo Year Acreage

Taos 1858 15,400

1924 47,334

1990a 95,341

Picuris 1858 14,959

1939 15,359

1990a 14,947

San Juan 1858 12,213

1939 20,584

1990a 12,236

Santa Clara 1858 12,224

1905 45,742

1990a 45,828

San Ildefonso 1858 15,413

1929 19,844

1990a 26,198

Pojoaque 1858 11,593

1944 11,593

1990a 11,601

Nambe 1858 12,560

1902 18,788

1990a 19,124

Tesuque 1858 16,706

1937 17,024

1990a 16,813

Cochiti 1858 22,763

1938 26,491

1990a 50,681

Table 21—Pueblo land/grazing holdings, 1858–1990.

Pueblo Year Acreage

Santo Domingo 1858 65,571

1905 66,231

1990a 71,093

San Felipe 1858 30,285

1902 43,201

1942 51,211

1990a 48,930

Santa Ana 1869 15,406

1939 19,136

1990a 61,931

Zia 1858 16,282

1924 16,669

1938 57,807

1990a 121,600

Jemez 1858 17,314

1942 40,368

1990 89,624

Sandia 1858 22,884

1990a 22,870

Isleta 1858 109,362

1938 192,813

1990a 211,103

Laguna 1884 99,970

1942 244,733

1990a 484,495

Acoma 1858 94,159

1917 153,844

1942 88,197

1990a 211,103

a Does not include leased or fee lands.

Sources: Aberle 1948: 69–83; Sando 1992: 275

Middle and Upper Rio Grande basins, primarily along

the upper and middle Puerco and Chama rivers (Fig. 15).

Although this area had limited and erratic precipitation,

it was diverse enough to afford a relatively wide range

of exploitable resources. Temporary camp sites were established near reliable surface water sources and close

to potentially good hunting, farming, and plant-collecting areas (Bailey 1980: 40; Jorgensen 1983: 687). These sites

were generally located at the upper edge of Great Basin

grasslands or in the zone above, the pinyon-juniper woodlands on terraces, hills, and mesas. Some of these sites were

temporary encampments at pronghorn (antelope) capture

and kill sites or plant gathering-processing areas. Temporary shelters were constructed of forked-sticks, vertical posts,

or brush (Scurlock 1990a: 38).

Navajos were practicing corn horticulture when first

contacted by the Spanish in the late 1500s; they probably were cultivating beans and squash as well. Fields

were located on alluvial plains or valleys, washes, or near

springs. Floodwater farming was practiced along streams

and arroyos that carried seasonal runoff, which was diverted to the fields. Flats and mesa tops were sometimes

cultivated using dry-farming techniques (Scurlock 1990a:

38–39; Fig. 19).

Hunting was the most important Navajo method of

food procurement in the early colonial period. Seasonal

communal hunts of pronghorn, deer, perhaps bison (to

the east), and small game, such as rabbits, were conducted.

Pronghorn were driven into chute-and-pound enclosures.

Later, Navajo raids on Spanish and Pueblo settlements to
90 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 18—View to west showing Pueblo men and their wagons, Santa Fe rail line (center), Santo Domingo Pueblo, and

Rio Grande (line of trees above pueblo). Photo by John K. Hillers, ca. 1880. Courtesy Museum of New Mexico (negative no. 4359).

acquire livestock or produce increased. During times of

peace, trading for these and other items was practiced. Limited fishing may have provided meat as well (Scurlock

1990a: 38–39).

Some of the early droughts and Spanish raids (1709-

late 1740s) may have forced some Navajos to take refuge on the wetter northern and eastern slopes of Turquoise Peak (Mt. Taylor) in the Cebolleta-San Mateo

ranges before the mid 18th century. Also, between 1725

and 1745, Navajos were attracted to the springs and

small lakes in the valley between the Cebolleta uplands

and Chacra Mesa (Scurlock 1990a: 65, 67, 75, 77).

The most severe drought years were in the late 1740s,

when the entire region experienced meager crop yields, poor

forage for sheep herds, and decimated native plant and

animal populations. These environmental hardships, combined with those brought about by the Ute-Comanche raids,

forced the Navajos to completely abandon the San Juan

and Chama River basins by the early 1750s and to scatter

to the southwest and west (Scurlock 1990a: 67).

For most of their pre-reservation existence, the Apaches

were engaged in a predominantly seminomadic hunting

and gathering subsistence pattern over much of the region

(Fig. 15). Movement was correlated with the seasonal availability of resources, especially edible plants, and extended

from the higher mountain ranges (such as the Faraon

Apache in the Sandia Mountains), where they lived from

late spring to early fall, to lowland camp areas in the late

fall and winter (Gunnerson 1974: 240; Thomas 1940: 7).

This annual round, or “winter below” as it has been called,

ended in the mid to late 19th century with their placement on

reservations (Scurlock 1991a: 37). As with the Navajo, raiding became more important to the Apaches through time as a

means of obtaining food, sheep, horses, and mules.

Nicolas de Lafora, in 1766, described this subsistence

pattern for the “Gileno” Apaches in southwestern New

Mexico and southeastern Arizona:

. . . live separately and wander about subsisting

by hunting and gathering mescal through the
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 91

Figure 19—Pueblo floodwater corn field, Hopi, Arizona,

ca. 1919. Photo by Wesley Bradfield, courtesy Museum of

New Mexico, Santa Fe (negative no. 43289).

sierras of El Hacha, La Boca, El Alamillo, San

Policarpo, La Florida, El Tabaco, Corral de Piedras,

El Quinteros, Santo Domingo, El Capulin, La

Escondida, and the other intervening hills and

rugged mountains. . . . All those Indians are in the

neighborhood of the presidio of Janos, and their

rancherias encircle it especially in winter when

extreme cold forces them to abandon the sierras

of El Cobre and Los Mimbres. There are also other

Indians from the more northerly Gila. This group

maintains a sort of capital in Los Mimbres mountains where their chief, Chafalote, stays with many

families and horses as long as the season allows

(Kinnaird 1967: 78–79).

The general region occupied by Ute and Southern

Paiute Indians in the mid 1500s was referred to by the

Spanish as Copala, the mythical home of the Aztecs. This

same region, located west-northwest of the Middle and

Upper basins, later became known as Teguayo. Onate, at

San Gabriel-San Juan Pueblo, organized an expedition

to explore this country, where he and other Spaniards

thought they would find bountiful gold and silver. The expedition moved across western New Mexico and into central Arizona, where, not surprisingly, no such riches were

found, but contacts were made with Indians, probably Utes

or Paiutes, who said they were from Copala (Delaney 1974:

13–14; Milich 1966: 64–68, 114; Tyler 1954: 343).

Reference was made in a 1626 document to Capote Utes

who had visited Jemez Pueblo a few years before the first

Spanish colonists arrived at San Juan Pueblo in 1598. These

Utes reportedly had reached the pueblo via the Chama River

valley from their camps north of the San Juan River

(Schroeder 1965: 54). Later in the historic period, the Capote,

one of two bands of the Eastern Utes that ranged into the

study region, lived in northern New Mexico, around later

Chama and Tierra Amarilla, and southern Colorado, near

the headwaters of the Rio Grande (Fig. 15). The other band,

the Weeminuche, occupied the valleys of the San Juan River

and its northern tributaries in northwestern New Mexico

and adjacent southwestern Colorado into southeastern

Utah (Delaney 1989: 6–7).

Before acquisition of the horse, Ute bands had been divided into smaller family units for much of the year so that

they could more effectively procure food by hunting and

gathering. Hunting and gathering would take place in the

semiarid lower elevations of their territory in the spring,

then move to the mountains in summer and early fall

(Calloway et al. 1986: 336–337, 339; Delaney 1989: 7–8).

From early spring to late fall the men would hunt deer, elk,

pronghorn, and smaller mammals. The women would

gather various edible grass seeds, wild fruit, and pinyon

nuts. Occasionally they would cultivate corn, beans, and

squash in high mountain valleys or meadows (Calloway

et al. 1986: 343; Delaney 1974: 7–8).

Late in the fall, family units would begin to move out of

the higher mountains into sheltered areas within the southern part of their territory for the winter months. This was a

time for various social activities, culminating with the Bear

Dance in early spring (Delaney 1989: 10–11).

The Utes probably obtained horses soon after 1670 from

their encounters with the Spanish or from the Navajos or

Apaches. This newly acquired mobility brought more

changes for the Southern Utes. They were able to range

farther (east) on communal buffalo hunts and trading expeditions, and raids could be executed with greater swiftness

and efficiency. Individual bands apparently increased in size

with this new ability to obtain subsistence resources (Delaney

1974: 11–12, 16; Roe 1955: 75; Schroeder 1965: 54).

Their new raiding capabilities also produced an increased frequency of attacks on northern Rio Grande

communities, which apparently forced the Spanish to arrange a peace treaty with the Utes. This treaty seems to

have been in effect until the Pueblo Revolt in 1680

(Schroeder 1965: 54).

Native American Populations and Disease

Fluctuations in Native American populations occurred

due to birth rate, disease, famine, and warfare. Various

infectious diseases, such as smallpox, were introduced

early in the historic period by the Spaniards. Some researchers have suggested that this disease and perhaps

others, such as whooping cough, measles, and chicken

pox, were spread northward from Mexico through contact between regional Native American groups before first
92 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

contact with Spaniards in 1540. With no immunity or effective treatment for these infectious maladies, native populations were dramatically impacted in the 17th and 18th

centuries. During serious outbreaks of smallpox, such as

those in 1719, 1733, 1738, 1747, 1749, 1780–81, and 1788–

89, the mortality rate was as high as 50 percent of populations. As indicated previously, the forced concentration of

Pueblo populations into large villages may have been a

factor in this high percentage. In spite of the development

and diffusion of a vaccine for this disease by the turn of the

century, serious outbreaks occurred among the Pueblos in

1852, 1883, and 1898. The Navajo, various Apache groups,

and the Southern Ute also experienced population declines

during the historic period (Crosby 1973: 37–39, 42–43;

Thornton 1987: 76–79, 99–102).

Historic figures of the total Pueblo population vary

considerably for the early colonial period, depending on

the observer. A detailed breakdown of 66 different population estimates from 1539–41 to 1910 was compiled and

evaluated for accuracy by Palkovich (1985: 403–408). For

the late 1500s-early 1600s these estimates range from

15,850 to 60,000. The actual number probably falls in between, but probably nearer the lower figure. The compiled figures were for 34 extant and extinct pueblos, some

of which were or are out of the Basin, such as Zuni. The

highest population estimate made by Onate (60,000), an

estimate thought too high by many historians, was recently evaluated as relatively accurate by Palkovich

(1985: 408); this estimate included Hopi villages as well.

For the 17th century, a population estimate of 16,442 for

the Pueblos made by Fray Bartolome Marquez is also

viewed as reliable (Palkovich 1985: 408–409).

The 15th century Piro Pueblo, who inhabited the Rio

Grande and major tributaries from south of Belen to below San Marcial, underwent a significant increase in

population due to biological growth and emigrants from

surrounding regions. Piros expanded onto elevated areas along the river floodplain and the west bank of the

Rio Grande, mainly in the area below San Pedro Wash.

Irrigation systems were developed to support nearby

large villages. The estimated population at this time was

7,500 (Marshall and Walt 1984: 137–138, 140).

Piro population numbers recorded by early Spanish

observers vary from 6,000 to 12,000; historians generally discount the first, which was an estimate by Espejo

in 1583. Following Spanish settlement, a decrease in

population began. In 1630 Fray Benavides recorded the

figure of 6,000; the region was totally abandoned by 1680.

This decline was due to Spanish pressures, drought-famine, European diseases, and raiding and warfare (Earls

1985: 126–127, 133, 149–150).

In 1680 the Pueblos probably numbered almost 17,000;

European diseases, famine, and warfare were the principal causes of this decrease. By 1750 the Pueblo population declined to 12,000, while the nomad population

stayed the same. By 1821 the Pueblo population had declined to about 5,000 (Dozier 1983: 130; Earls 1985: 124–

125; Table 22).

The Pueblo population in the general study region was

5,400 in 1860–61 and increased to only 7,124 by 1904. By

1924 the total climbed to 10,565 and by 1964 to 20,822.

For the Pueblos in the Middle Basin, the 1964 total was

16,817 (Hewett 1925: 1–2; Simmons 1979b: 221; Table 23).

Table 22—Pueblo population in the Middle Rio Grande Basin,

1680–1821.

1680 1749 1798 1821

Galisteo 800 350 —a —a

San Marcos 600 —a —a —a

Cochiti 300 521 505 339

Santo Domingo 150 40 1,483 726

San Felipe 300 400 282 310

Santa Ana 300 600 634 471

Zia — 600 262 196

Jemez 5,000 574 272 330

Sandia 3,000 440 236 310

Alameda 1,500 —a —a —a

Laguna — 228 802 779

Acoma 2,000 960 757 477

Isleta 2,000 500 479 511

Tajuique 300 —a —a —a

Totals 16,750 5,213 5,712 4,449

a Abandoned.

Sources: Palkovich 1985: 401; Simmons 1979a: 185

Table 23—Pueblo population in the Middle Rio Grande, 1904–1968.

Pueblo 1904 1924 1932 1942 1950 1968

Cochiti 217 267 295 346 497 707

Santo Domingo 846 1,054 862 1,017 1,106 2,248

San Felipe 489 526 555 697 784 1,542

Santa Ana 224 224 236 273 288 448

Zia 116 154 183 235 267 517

Jemez 498 580 641 767 883 1,707

Sandia 79 92 115 139 139 248

Isleta 979 1,003 1,077 1,304 1,470 2,449

Laguna 1,366 1,901 2,192 2,686 2,894 4,996

Acoma 734 955 1,073 1,322 1,447 2,688

Total 5,548 6,756 7,229 8,786 9,775 17,550

Sources: Dozier 1983: 122; Hewett 1925: 1–2

Native American Resource Use

Over time the Pueblos and other regional Native American groups developed strategies and institutions to ensure an adequate subsistence base. One strategy that

evolved among the Pueblo prevented misuse of resources
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 93

Table 24—Annual cycle of Santa Ana and Cochiti land use.

Time Activities

Late February or

early March Clean ditches, plow fields.

April–May Plant and irrigate fields, water orchards,

move flocks and herds onto mesa,

Espiritu Santo tract, and east toward

Placitas.

June–August Tend fields and livestock. Hunt

(communally) rabbits.

September–October Harvest corn, wheat, melons, chiles, and

fruit. Thresh wheat and carry crops back

to old pueblo. Move livestock toward

valley.

October–November Hunt (communally) bison, deer, elk,

pronghorn, and rabbits.

November Process crops and store for winter.

December–February Conduct religious ceremonies, produce

arts and crafts, etc.

Source: Bayer et al. 1994: 169–170; Lange 1959: 124–131

through regulation of overuse and depletion. Pueblo villages had societies that were responsible for the maintenance of different aspects of their eco-cultural world—

weather, illness, agriculture, flora, and fauna. Another

strategy was based on balanced reciprocity, in which

mutual assistance and redistribution of food among all

levels within the village, through rituals and barter for

services performed, took place (Dozier 1983: 151–152;

Ford 1972: 8–10; Friedlander and Pinyan 1980: 18).

Pueblo harvests of cultigens were supplemented by

hunting of various vertebrate animals, gathering of an

array of native food plants, collecting of a variety of invertebrate organisms, fishing, and trading with other aboriginal groups, especially for meat (Dozier 1983: 127–

129; Earls 1985). An annual cycle of land use activities at

Santa Ana and Cochiti, basically common to all basin Pueblos, follows (Bayer et al. 1994: 169–170; Lange 1959: 124–

131; Table 24). The Navajo, Apache, and Southern Ute practiced horticulture but on a more limited scale.

Topographic variability as related to climate and resource availability was the key determinant of Pueblo and

other Native American use of upland areas, generally

above 7,000 feet. These higher altitudes were exploited for

their fauna, flora, rocks, and minerals. Temporary or seasonal camps were generally near water, in protective cover,

and near the target resource. For obvious reasons, impacts

on biotic resources here were generally less than those at

lower elevations, especially the intensively used riparian

locations. Shrines were located on prominent topographic

features, at springs or lakes, or at locales of mythological or

actual events of significance.

Agriculture

All of the early historic Pueblo groups were primarily

dependent on agriculture along the Rio Grande, its major tributaries and arroyos, and occasionally on alluvial

fans for their subsistence base. At the time of Spanish

exploration and early settlement, the Pueblos held most

of the productive farmlands in northern and central New

Mexico. Some Middle Rio Grande Pueblos did utilize

ditch irrigation in the valley, albeit on a limited scale. In

1591 Spanish explorer Espejo noted that the Tewa Pueblo

practiced irrigation agriculture (Schroeder and Matson 1965:

117). Also, the Pueblos were irrigating fields at the mouth of

Las Huertas Creek in the late 1500s (Wozniak 1987).

Clark (1987: 71) described the early historic Pueblo

method of irrigation farming:

Apparently the common method of watering was

periodic flooding of fields and certainly in advance of planting so that the plants could draw

water from the soil during the early growing season. On streams of considerable size, normally

there was no problem of supply during the spring

because of melting snows which fed them. Water

was simply conducted through wide but shallow

canals from which it was diverted by laterals

serving small plots. Later in the season, as the

flow diminished, temporary check dams of logs,

brush, mud, and stone retarded the flow, backing

the water into the canals and into the fields.

Associated with this practice were “private irrigation

organizations,” which maintained ditches and other water control structures and controlled the times and

amounts of water flows onto the fields. Their operations

influenced how the Spanish formed irrigation associations in the frontier communities, especially those made

up of genizaros (Ortiz 1980: 55–56).

Historic Pueblo field and irrigation systems, however,

became more similar to the engineering and organization of the Spanish in the early colonial period. Ditches

came from the Rio Grande or other perennial streams,

springs, or cienegas and were laid out for gravity-flow

of the water. Wing diversion dams were built of logs,

rocks, or brush. The Spanish field system based on the

“long lot,” long, narrow plots that were an adaptation

to local topographic and water resources and allowed

maximum access to water, was never really adopted by

the Pueblo (Carlson 1975: 53–54; Wozniak 1987). The Navajo selected locations for fields based on closeness to water, soil type, and levelness (Hill 1938: 26–27).

The limited Pueblo ditch farming along the upper and

middle main stem of the Rio Grande in the early historic
94 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

period was not as intensive as that practiced by the Spanish. The Spanish system, which the Pueblos basically

adopted, involved the use of a network of ditches that

carried water impounded by upstream diversion dams

and whose flow was controlled by gates. More labor was

required than that of floodwater farming, but average

crop yields were higher, notably for the native corn and

introduced wheat. The amount of irrigation possible was

related to various climatic elements, and the amount

temporally necessary was related to climatic variation.

Irrigation often prevented starving or even a decrease

in crop production; this was supplemented by trading

for food with distant groups, as previously mentioned

(Wozniak 1987; Zubrow 1974: 64).

Irrigation farming was less risky than floodwater or

dry farming and generally ensured adequate crops. More

intensive irrigation agriculture was required to grow

Spanish wheat, barley, oats, and various fruit in the colonial period. Irrigation systems of the Pueblos remained

essentially the same in organization and extent from

1846 to 1910. One reason for this was the decline in population until about 1900 (Wozniak 1987).

Estimates of the amount of land being cultivated by

the Middle Rio Grande Valley Pueblos in the 16th century

vary from 15,000 to 25,000 acres. With Spanish colonization beginning in 1598, the combined acreage steadily increased. By 1880 the amount of irrigated land began to decrease due to various environmental problems, but these

were basically corrected by 1940. Some 20,696 acres were

under cultivation by the Middle Valley Pueblos in 1945

(Harper et al. 1943: 51–52; Table 25; see Chapter 4).

The early historic Pueblos generally practiced floodwater farming, utilizing diversion structures, check dams,

reservoirs, contour terraces, grid gardens, and gravel

mulch gardens. All of these were elements of a soil and

moisture conservation system that maximized effective

use of surface water for crops in the semi-arid environment of the region (Cordell 1984: 203–204; Jorgensen

1983: 693, 696–697; Wozniak 1987).

The three major nomadic groups also engaged in floodwater farming but on a much smaller scale. Hydrologist

Table 25—Middle Rio Grande Valley Pueblo irrigation, 1945.

Avg. annual

water diversion

Pueblo Acreage (acre–feet)

Cochiti 1,867 9,335

Santo Domingo 4,278 21,390

San Felipe 3,836 19,180

Santa Ana 1,114 5,570

Sandia 3,418 17,090

Isleta 6,183 30,915

Source: Nelson 1946: 74

Kirk Bryan (1929: 445) described the basic method of Native American floodwater farming in the Southwest:

The areas utilized are variable in size and location, but each is chosen so that the local rainfall

may be reinforced by the overflow of water derived from higher ground. The selection of a

field involves an intimate knowledge of local

conditions. The field must be flooded, but the

sheet of water must not attain such velocity as

to wash out the crop nor carry such a load of

detritus as to bury the growing plants. Such conditions require a nice balance of forces that occur only under special conditions. Shrewd observations and good judgment are necessary in

the selection of fields.

There are a number of archeological and early historical documented examples of this type of farming in the

study region. In 1583 Espejo described sandy flats more

than 2.5 miles wide on each bank of the Rio Grande,

which were in cultivation by the Piro Pueblo. Other fields

were under irrigation. Furthermore, some fields were

located in or at the edge of marshes, probably to take advantage of the high water table (Earls 1985: 169–171, 180).

In the early to mid 1800s Cochiti still practiced floodwater farming at the mouth of arroyos, and the water was

spread by the construction of diversion structures of logs,

rocks, and brush. Probably more of this type of farming

was done than that of irrigation before 1800. Dry farming

was practiced at the base of the nearby Jemez Mountains.

Floodwater farming at the pueblo had been largely abandoned by the late 1800s, although a few resident farmers

practiced this technique until about 1930. Damaging floods

were a factor in discontinuing this farming method. In 1890

small plots of 1.5–2.0 acres were planted on an island in

the Rio Grande, a short distance below Cochiti (Lange 1959:

78–79).

In 1890 cultivated crops provided from 50 to 84 percent of the food consumed by the San Juan Puebloans

(Ford 1972: 7). The amount produced for the late prehistoric period was below 50 percent. Surplus crops were

stored to sustain them through one to three dry years in

which cultigens would fail. Also, wild plants were collected and various animals hunted to supplement agricultural produce. Trade was another mechanism used to obtain food. Among the Pueblos, women “owned” the land,

the seed, and the stored crops (Hughes 1983: 69).

Regional Pueblos were primarily cultivating corn,

beans, and squash when first contacted by the Spanish.

The Pueblos grew at least nine varieties of corn (Ford 1972:

7). Grain amaranth, bottle gourd, cotton, and common sunflowers were also grown, but these were of lesser importance (Nabhan 1979: 260–261). Of the cultigens introduced

by the Spaniards, the Pueblos adapted chile, wheat,
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 95

cantaloupe, melon, peach, and apricot into their farming

practice (Ford 1987: 76–82; Toll 1992; Table 26).

Pueblo irrigated lands and systems of the Middle Basin began to increase in acreage about 1905, when the

U.S. Indian Irrigation Service initiated programs. The

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District program, including construction of irrigation dams and ditches, also

reclaimed arable land. At Cochiti, irrigated lands increased from about 600 to 1,867 acres in 1950. Other

valley Pueblos experienced similar expansion of irrigated

lands (Lange 1959: 80; Nelson 1946: 74; Wozniak 1987).

The cycle of agricultural activities for each year was essentially the same for all of the historic Middle Rio Grande

pueblos; Cochiti farm activities are listed in Table 27. Field

Table 26—Historic Native American cultigens.

Cultivated vegetables Semi–cultivated vegetables

Maize (corn)—Zea mays (Chapalote and Maiz de Ocho vars.) Devil’s claw—Proboscidea parviflora

Cockscomb—Amaranthus cruentus Wild potato—Solanum spp.

Grain amaranth—A. hypochondriacus Zuni tomatillo—Physalis philadelphica

Calabasa verde—Cucurbita mixta Goosefoot—Chenopodium spp.

Crook–neck squash—C. moschata Rocky Mountain beeweed—Cleome serrulata

Pumpkin—C. pepo Hopi black dye sunflower—Heilanthus annuus

Bottle gourd—Lagenaria siceraria Common sunflower—H. annuus

Hopi short–stapled cotton—Gossypium hirsutum

Lima Bean—Phaseolus lunatus

Common bean—P. vulgaris

Sources: Ford 1987; Hewett and Dutton 1945; Robbins et al. 1916

Season Activity

February Sowing of wheat began.

Clans assist with planting.

Fields irrigated prior to sowing if ground is very dry.

March Completion of wheat sowing.

Irrigation ditches cleaned.

Spring dance just before or after cleaning to

assure good crops.

April Ground broken with plows and oxen.

Planting of corn began after the 20th.

Melons, watermelons, beans, squash, and chile

subsequently planted.

Clans assisted with planting.

Irrigation prior to planting.

Ground pulverized with shovel or hoe.

May–early Planting of corn completed.

June Punche (tobacco) planted.

June Corn fields pulverized.

Fields irrigated every 7 or 8 days.

Table 27—Annual traditional farming activities, Cochiti Pueblo, 1880.

Season Activity

July Last weeding of fields.

Wheat harvested just after July 14 feast day.

Livestock brought from ranges to village to thresh

wheat and other grains.

August Fields irrigated every 7 or 8 days.

Threshing of grains continued.

September Harvesting of corn, beans, chile, peaches, etc.

began.

Cacique’s field harvested ceremonially first.

Clans assist in harvesting.

October Last cutting of alfalfa in early part of month.

Harvesting of corn completed by mid–month.

November All Souls’ Day celebrated on the 2nd.

The “offering of the first fruits,” primicia, conducted

at church.

Feasts at homes.

Gifts of food made to children.

Source: Lange 1959: 85–87, 88–99, 101–102, 329–333, 341–346, 362–364, 439

preparation, irrigation, and sowing (of wheat) began in

February and accelerated with planting of more crop types

in March and early April and the planting of corn in mid to

late April, with periodic irrigation and weeding from late

spring and over most of the summer. Harvest occurred from

mid July (grains) through mid October, followed by the “first

fruits” ceremony on November 2.

Spanish livestock overgrazing on Pueblo and surrounding traditional use lands decimated cool-season, edible

grasses. However, with a new, dependable, and nutritional

wheat crop produced by irrigation, the Pueblos no longer

needed to collect native grass seeds. Reliance on wheat

and other introduced crops, as well as Spanish livestock,

led to a decrease in Pueblo hunting of indigenous fauna
96 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

and collecting of other native plants (MacCameron 1994:

31, 36).

Livestock Raising

Although Coronado brought sheep, cattle, and horses

with his expedition in 1540, and even left a few sheep

with each of the two or three friars who chose to remain

among the Pueblos in 1542, none of these animals appears to have survived. No livestock from later 16th century expeditions apparently survived either, until 1598,

when Onate brought the first colonists and some 4,000

sheep, 1,000 cattle, 1,000 goats, and 150 horses. Some died

from natural causes or were butchered en route, but many

survived and represented the beginnings of livestock raising in New Mexico (Baxter 1987: 2–4).

The herds around the early Spanish and Pueblo settlements generally increased on lush grasses little grazed by

wild mammals, and new herds of domesticated animals

were brought to New Mexico by the missionary caravans.

Flocks of sheep and other livestock were established at missions founded at the pueblos. By 1639 each priest possessed

1,000 to 2,000 sheep, considerably more than lay Hispanic

citizens. Here the Pueblos were taught the fundamentals of

livestock raising, and some readily incorporated the use of

meat, hides, and wool into their subsistence living. However, the considerable labor expended by the Pueblos in

caring for the mission stock fostered general resentment

among some villagers (Arnon and Hill 1979: 304–305;

Baxter 1987: 8; Campa 1987: 43–44).

Although the Spaniards prohibited the Pueblos and other

Native Americans from using horses, the Apaches, Navajos, and Utes had acquired horses through raiding and

Figure 20—Navajo shepherdess, 1887 (from Brooks 1887).

trading by the 1620s–70s. At first they

were used as food or beasts of burden,

but it was not long until these groups

were riding and successfully raising

these animals. For the Pueblos, oxen became the favored animal for pulling the

introduced plow and cart; mules and

burros were adapted as pack animals.

Livestock, primarily horses, were also

used in threshing grains, a custom

learned from the Spanish (Bailey 1980:

67, 69; Campa 1987: 44–45; Lange 1959:

98).

The Pueblos, in turn, introduced

sheep and goats to the Navajo, perhaps

through trade before the Pueblo Revolt,

and certainly during the Spanish reconquest of 1692–96. As refugees fleeing

from the Spanish army, the Jemez and

other Pueblos lived with the Navajo.

The latter, quickly learning to raise, eat,

and shear the sheep and goats, incorporated these practices, which soon became a significant part of their new nomadic lifeway (Fig.

20). By 1700 the Navajo had at least 1,000 sheep (Bailey

1980: 66–69, 76–77).

Following resettlement, Spanish herds were again built

up, and raids made on them by nomadic Indian groups

were resumed to increase their own stocks. As a result,

horses and mules, prized as mounts or food, were scarce

in the Rio Grande settlements (Bancroft 1889: 276;

Simmons 1985: 85). Sheep were a major target as well,

and pueblos like Laguna lost many animals to raiders

(Ellis 1979: 442). Overall numbers of livestock at some of

the pueblos in the 18th century grew slowly, in spite of the

raids and declining village populations due primarily to

disease and warfare. A partial inventory of Santa Ana’s

livestock in 1763 indicated a diversity of domesticated animals: more than 67 cows, a number of calves, 29 oxen, 8

bulls, 50 sheep, 74 goats, 8 horses, 1 mare, 1 colt, 3 mules,

and a number of pigs (Bayer et al. 1994: 80–81, 83).

The subjugation of nomadic groups by the army in the

1860s–70s and the opening of rail lines in the region led to

a sharp rise in livestock numbers at some of the Pueblo

villages and elsewhere in the region. For example, cattle

herds increased five-fold between 1880 and 1890 on Santa

Ana lands. Navajo sheep and goat herds also increased

sharply after their resettlement on reservation lands. Some

1.5 million sheep were counted on reservation lands in

1885 (Bailey and Bailey 1986: 41; Bayer et al. 1994: 174, 176).

The number of Pueblo sheep in the region decreased

by more than one-half between 1900 and 1930. Of all the

pueblos in the basin, Laguna emerged in this century as

the leading sheep raising village in terms of numbers. At

Acoma and Zuni, sheep also were an important source of
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 97

income. By 1935 there were 52,000 sheep on Laguna’s

rangelands. In this year the United Pueblos Agency

implemented a grazing management plan based on carrying capacity of the land, which had been exceeded not

only on Navajo and Laguna lands but also on all Pueblo

lands. A controversial livestock reduction program soon

followed (Aberle 1948: 19–20, 43; Ellis 1979: 443).Various organizations to administer livestock operations

evolved among the Pueblos during the early to mid 20th

century. Initially, the war captain was in charge of stock

and the rangelands. Subsequently, sheep and cattle officers replaced the war captain at some villages. A cattle

trust was established at Isleta, and eight holding groups

for sheep and cattle were organized in 1943 (Aberle 1948:

32; Hoebel 1979: 410).

In recent years, livestock raising has grown as an

important income through sales, as well as a food source

for the Pueblos (Table 28), although sheep have all but

disappeared. Among the Navajo, however, sheep, as well as

goats, are a major source of income. Cattle represent a large

percentage of the stock held by the Pueblos today.

Hunting and Gathering

Indigenous animals and plants were harvested for

food, medicine, arts-crafts, and construction by all Native

Americans throughout the protohistoric and historic periods. Even among the agriculturalists, such as the Pueblos, hunting and gathering have always been important

due to partial or total crop losses related to drought, insect infestations, and raids (Fig. 21). The hunting and

gathering system was based on three elements related to

production, consumption, and redistribution: sexual division of labor (males hunted, females gathered), almost

immediate consumption, and redistribution via kin connections within the group to which the producers and consumers belonged. These two activities involved extensive

Figure 21—Late prehistoric petroglyphs: Pueblo hunter (?) with lance, horned serpent, and rear paw print of a bear, Abo area.

 Photo by author.
98 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 22—Drawing of a bison by a member of the

Onate expedition, 1599.

Table 28—Pounds of meat sold and consumed, Acoma and Laguna, 1938–1943.

Livestock class 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943

Cattle 387,031 349,350 398,195 487,899 438,092 431,097

Sheep 749,596 1,129,464 986,088 857,114 867,330 624,545

Swine 6,700 19,780 6,716 11,132 16,936 24,165

Poultry 9,808 11,440 5,626 13,818 14,473 21,970

Total 1,153,135 1,510,034 1,396,625 1,369,963 1,336,831 1,101,777

Source: Aberle 1948: 87

utilization of landscape resources, with little labor expended, compared to irrigation agriculture.

Fauna

A wide range of large to medium-sized mammals were

hunted by historic Pueblo and other groups in the region.

Major species included buffalo, elk, deer (mule and

white-tailed), pronghorn, and bighorn sheep. Bands of

hunters traveled in the fall to hunt buffalo on the Llano

Estacado to the east of the Basin (Fig. 22); these animals

were important for meat and hides. Smaller meat and

fur animals hunted, trapped, or snared were beaver, rabbit (cottontail and jackrabbit), prairie dog, squirrel (rock,

ground, and tree), badger, weasel, and skunk (Basehart

1973: 148, 156; Hamilton 1975; Opler 1965: 316–327;

Tiller 1983: 441). As an example, mammals used historically by Santa Clara Pueblo are listed in Table 29.

For centuries Pueblo Indians have maintained a close

association with more than 200 species of indigenous birds,

as well as macaws and parrots imported from Mexico.

During this time birds were incorporated into virtually every aspect of community life. Various species of birds were

associated with “sacred” directions. Birds were related to

the sky, earth, sun, moon, snow, “life source,” crop plants,

water, seasons, rain, rainbows, and drought, death, day,

dusk, night, agriculture, hunting, racing, war, purification,

speech, and “balance of man and nature.” Some 100 different

birds, or their parts, were used in Pueblo ritual and ceremony.

Birds also have an essential place in Pueblo myth and folklore (Tyler 1979: xii-xiii, 3–12).

Birds were taken with bow-and-arrow, traps, snares, and

by hand. Eagles were taken from nests on cliffs or in trees

when young, then caged and raised in the village. Cochiti

and Jemez Pueblos captured adult eagles by hiding in a

plant-covered pit with a tethered rabbit as bait next to the

pit. When an eagle plunged and grasped the live bait, the

hunter raised up and grasped the eagle by both legs, then

covered the bird with a blanket or large skin (Tyler 1979:

xiii, 53–58). Eagles were either kept in cages or tethered to a

perch on roofs (Fig. 23).

In basic tasks such as planting a field or building a room, it

was necessary to make a presentation of feathers from

Table 29—Santa Clara use of mammals (non–food).

Mammals Body part Use

Buffalo Hide Robes, bedding, rugs

Deer Hide Clothing

Elk Hide Clothing

Pronghorn Hide Clothing

Bighorn sheep Hide Clothing

Bear Hide Robes, bedding, rugs

Jackrabbit Hide Robes, blankets

Cottontail Hide Robes, blankets

Mountain lion Hide Quivers

Bobcat Hide Clothing, robes, quivers

Wolf Hide Quivers

Gray fox Hide Ceremonial costumes

“Plains” fox Hide Ceremonial costumes

Beaver Hide Headbands, hats, hair ties,

dance costumes

Porcupine Quills Needles, clothing decoration

Otter Fur Headbands, collars

Rock squirrel Hide Dolls

Chipmunk Hide Hair ties

Weasel Hide Hair braid wraps

Source: Hill 1982: 49–54
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 99

Figure 23—Pueblo man with tethered eagle on cage, 1887 (from Bulletin of the Bureau of American Ethnology 1887).

appropriate birds. Birds and feathers were also used in

rituals that supported religious ceremonialism, and these

became counters that ordered a complex symbol system.

Certain birds were related to gods, acted as messengers

between Pueblos and their gods, or represented signals between individuals. Bird designs were commonly used on

pottery at Zuni, Acoma, and Zia. Domesticated turkeys,

golden eagles, macaws, and parrots were commonly kept

in villages. Their main use was providing skins or individual feathers; turkeys and golden eagles were sometimes

killed for ritual sacrifice (Bunzel 1972: 24, 32, 93–128;

Franklin 1968: 5–21; Tyler 1979: xi–15, 52–53, 54, 55).

Other major uses of feathers by the Pueblos included

robes, blankets, clothing, hunting fetishes, corn fetishes,

breath-feathers, prayer-sticks, ceremonial headdress, other

religious paraphernalia, quivers, shield, mask and basket

decoration, and arrow fletching (Hill 1982: 47–59; Table

30). Trade in feathers, especially those from macaws and

parrots to the south, was widespread. Eagle claws and turkey feet were also used in paraphernalia. The live birds

themselves were probably traded as well (Tyler 1979: 3–6,

44, 50, 52, 68, 91, 120, 170, 266).

A number of these birds were also used by the Apache

and Navajo (Mayes et al. 1977: 5). The Western Apache

ate wild turkeys, quail, dove, geese, ducks, some small

birds, and various bird eggs (Buskirk 1986: 137–142). Vulture feathers were also used by the Mescalero for adornment and ritual use (Basehart 1973: 156; Opler 1965: 327–

329).

The Navajo used feathers from various species of birds.

The feathers of eagles, which were ritually hunted, and

turkey feathers were used in fletching arrow shafts. Feath-
100 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Table 30—Santa Clara use of bird feathers.

Birds Use

Ducks Arrow fletching, ceremonial

paraphernalia, and costumes

Canada goose Arrow fletching

Sandhill crane Arrow fletching

Golden eagle Arrow fletching, ceremonial

paraphernalia, and dance

costumes

Bald eagle Arrow fletching, ceremonial

paraphernalia, and dance

costumes

Red–tailed hawk Arrow fletching, dance costumes

Cooper’s hawk Arrow fletching, dance costumes

Sharp–shinned hawk Arrow fletching, dance costumes

Turkey vulture Arrow fletching, dance costumes

Blue grouse Arrow fletching, ceremonial

paraphernalia, and dance

costumes

Wild turkey Arrow fletching, ceremonial

paraphernalia, and costumes

Scaled quail Arrow fletching

Greater roadrunner Ceremonial paraphernalia

Flycatcher Ceremonial paraphernalia

Stellar’s jay Dance, hair ornament

Pinyon jay Dance, hair ornament

Black–billed magpie Dance, hair ornament

Scott’s oriole Ceremonials?

Bullock’s oriole Ceremonials?

Western tanager Ceremonials?

Hepatic tanager Ceremonials?

Yellow warbler Ceremonials?

Grace’s warbler Ceremonials?

Yellow–breasted chat Ceremonials?

Mountain bluebird Ceremonials?

Western bluebird Ceremonials?

Source: Hill 1982: 47–59

ers from both species were also used in decorating baskets,

hats, masks, and other items. Hawk, crow, owl, bluebird,

warbler, and other small birds were used in decorating ceremonial clothing and paraphernalia. Eagle claws were

strung on necklaces (Kluckhohn et al. 1971: 415).

Most Pueblo groups and the Navajo and Apache groups

generally did not eat reptiles, amphibians, fish, or mollusks until recent times. However, faunal remains from Piro

archeological sites in the valley include snakes, turtles, and

frogs, as well as gar and buffalo fish. Rattlesnakes were not

killed by members of any of these groups. Live snakes were

sometimes used in Pueblo ceremonies, and tortoise shells were

used in making a rattle. Eel skins were used by the Tewa

Pueblo for making leggings and moccasins (Basehart 1973:

12; Buskirk 1986: 142; Earls 1985: 264–265, 273; Hewett and

Dutton 1945: 116–120; Opler 1965: 330–332).

Flora

Numerous plants were systematically collected for

wild food and other uses by the Pueblos (Table 31). Some

major foods included seeds or fruits from grasses, amaranths, pigweed, sunflower, hackberry, juniper, pinyon,

prickly pear, and yucca. Medicinal or arts-crafts material sources were cottonwood, willow, mountain mahogany, Apache plume, and juniper.

Wild food plants represented in Piro Pueblo archeological sites include, in decreasing order of importance,

yucca, prickly pear, hedgehog cactus, and mesquite. Cattail

pollen was abundant, indicating that it was an important

food. Pinyon nuts, a relatively important Pueblo and Spanish native food, have not been recovered archeologically

from Piro sites, but have been recovered from other Pueblo

sites in the Middle Valley north of Belen (Earls 1985: 268,

270). Fuel and construction woods used by all Pueblo groups

were cottonwood, pinyon, willow, juniper, and saltbush. Mesquite and creosote bush were also used by the Piro (Earls

1985: 268, 270; Scurlock and Johnson 1993: 277–278).

Throughout the prehistoric and historic periods of the

American Southwest, the various species of pinyon and

juniper have been commonly used woods for heating and

cooking fuel. Annual consumption of pinyon and juniper wood by a prehistoric Chaco Canyon family has been

estimated to be 1.55 to 2.35 cords (Samuels and

Betancourt 1982: 512; Weigle 1975: 13); this range was

probably the same for late prehistoric-historic Pueblos.

At the time of Spanish arrival in the 1500s, some northern Pueblos and other Native American groups were primarily using dead wood for fuel. With the introduction

of the metal axe and increase in Rio Grande Basin populations of Spaniards, green pinyon and juniper were increasingly harvested for fuelwood. By 1800–50, live

wood had been harvested around all of the northern

Pueblos for some distance. In this century, some Pueblos

have discouraged the cutting of green wood (Ford 1987:

74, 86; Hewett and Dutton 1945: 59; Hughes 1983: 5; Lange

1959: 145; Whiting 1966: 3, 62–63).

Several plants were important to the Apaches, Navajos,

and Utes as food. These were, in decreasing order of importance, acorns, pinyon nuts, datil yucca fruit, and prickly pear

tunas. Mescal, or agave, and mesquite beans were perhaps

the most important wild food sources for Southern Apache

bands. These wild food plants are perennial, which under

normal climatic conditions would be available annually. Other

food plants collected included sunflower seeds, walnuts,

juniper berries, various other edible berries, grass seeds,

roots, and green plants (“pot herbs”), as well as various

other seeds. The Navajos’ diet was made up of about 50–60

percent domestic plants (Scurlock 1990a: 39, 1991: 38–39).

Rocks and Minerals

A relatively large number of regional rocks and minerals

were utilized in various ways by the Pueblo and other Native

Americans. These uses included the manufacture of tools,

weapons, jewelry, pottery, paint, plaster, and house construction (Table 32).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 101

Table 31—Pueblo plant use.

Common English name Scientific name Medicinal Food Other

Willow Salix spp. X X

Cottonwood Populus spp. X X

Aspen Populus tremuloides X X

Mint Labatiae spp. X

Yerba buena Mentha spicata X X

Pennyroyal, poleo Mentha arvensis X

Horehound Marrubium vulgare X

Oregano Monarda methaefolia X X

Doveweed Croton texensis X

Spurge Euphorbia serpyllifolia X

Coyote gourd Cucurbita foetitissima X

Mormon tea Ephedra spp. X

Thistle, poppy Argemone spp. X

Caltrop Kallstroemia hirsutima X

Bearberry, Kinnikinnick Arctostaphylos uvaursa X X

Rabbitbrush Chrysothamnus spp. X X

Dandelion Taraxacum officinale X X

Blanket flower Gaillardia spp. X

Indian tea, cota Thelesperma spp. X X X

Western coneflower Rudbeckia spp. X

Cutleaf coneflower Rudbeckia laciniata X X

Gumweed Grindelia squarrosa X

Groundsel Senecio spp. X

Sneezeweed Helenium spp. X

Gay feather Liatris punctata X X

Sunflower Helianthus annuus X X

Sagebrush Artemisia spp. X X

Sand sagebrush Artemisia filifolia X

Wormwood Artemisia rhizomata X

Broomweed, snakeweed Gutierrezia sarothrae X

Yarrow Achillea lanulosa X X

Oak Quercus spp. X X X

Evening primrose Oenothera spp. X

Paintbrush Castilleja spp. X

Scarlet penstemon Penstemon barbatus X

Elderberry Sambucus spp. X X X

Santa Fe phlox Phlox spp. X

Rocky Mountain

beeplant Cleome serrulata X XX

Creosote bush Larrea tridentata X

Spider milkweed Asclepias asperula X

Milkweed Asclepias spp. X

Sand verbena Abronia fragrans X

Skunkbush Rhus trilobata X X

Wild flax Linum spp. X X

Colorado four o’clock Mirabilis multiflora X

Mustard Brassica spp. X

Dogweed Dyssodia spp. X

Barberry Mahonia repens X

Oregon grape Mahonia repens X X

Mountain mahogany Cercocarpus montanus X X

Stickleaf Mentzelia spp. X

Wild tobacco Nicotiana spp. X X

Mullein Verbascum thapsus X

Meadow rue Thalictrum fendleri X

Stonecrop Sedum spp. X

Jimsonweed, sacred daturaa Datura spp. X X

Wolfberry Lycium pallidum X X

Purslane Portulaca oleracea X

Western wallflower Erysimum capitatum X

Water cress Rorippa nasturtium X X

Cow parsnip Heracleum lanatum X

Wafer parsnip Cymopterus spp. X X

continued on next page
102 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Table 31—Pueblo plant use (continued).

Common English name Scientific name Medicinal Food Other

Osha Ligusticum porteri X XX

Yerba mansa Anemopsis californica X

Alfalfa Medicago sativa X X

Bullrush Scirpus spp. X X

Cattail Typha latifolia X X

Prickly pear Opuntia spp. X X

Spiny hedgehog cactus Echinocereus triglochidiatus X X

Cholla, walkingstick Opuntia imbricata X XX

Four–wing saltbush Atriplex canescens X XX

Mallow Malva neglecta X

Indian ricegrass Oryzopsis hymenoides X

June grass Koeleria cristata X

Dock Rumex spp. X X X

Lambsquarters Chenopodium spp. X X

Wormseed Chenopodium ambroisiodes X X

Onion, wild Allium spp. X X X

Ponderosa pine Pinus ponderosa X XX

Douglas fir Pseudotsuga douglasii X

Yucca Yucca elata, glauca, baccata X XX

Solomon’s seal Smilacina amplexicaulus X

Sego lily, mariposa lily Calochortus spp. X

Wild lily of the valley Smilacina stellata X X

Baneberrya Actaea arguta X

Boxelder Acer negundo X

Wild rose Rosa fendleri X XX

Wild strawberry Rosa fendleri X X

Chokecherry Prunus melanocarpa X XX

Wild plum Prunus americana X

Apache plume Fallugia paradoxa X X

Deer’s ears, green gentiana Swertia radiata X X(?)

Cranesbill Erodium cicutarium X

Mountain and Richardson’s geraniumGeranium caespitosa, G. richardsonii X XX

Rocky Mountain irisa Iris missouriensis X

Mountain lilac Ceanothus fendleri X XX

Scouring rush Equisetum X X

Spectacle pod Dithyrea wislizeni X

Vervain Verbena macdougalii X

Verbena Verbena spp. X

Serviceberry Amelanchier prunifolia X X

Hackberry Celtis reticulata X

Puffballs Cyucoperdon spp. X

Bracket fungus Polyporus halowii X

Walnut Juglans major X XX

One–seed juniper Juniperus monosperma X XX

Rocky Mountain juniper Juniperus scopulorum X XX

Alligator juniper Juniperus deppeana X X

New Mexico locust Robinia neomexicana X X

Wild pea, peavine Lathyrus decaphyllus X

Mesquite Prosopis glandulosa X X

Screw bean, tornillo Strombocarpa pubenscens X X

Indian potato Hoffmanseggia densiflora X

Locoweeda Astragulus spp. X

Vetch Vicia spp. X

Sweet clover Melilotus spp. X

Ground–cherry Physalis neo–mexicana X

Wild potato Solanum fendler, S. Jamesii X

Silverleaf nightshade Solanum elaeagnifolium X X

Wild grape Vitis arizonica X

Gooseberry Ribes leptanthum X

a Poisonous.

Sources: Castetter 1935; Robbins et al. 1916
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 103

Several types of rocks that could be flaked to make tools

and weapons were collected, including jasper, agate, chalcedony, chert, obsidian, quartz, and quartz sandstone.

These materials were quarried from outcrops or gathered

as surface nodules or cobbles. One of the best known quarry

sites for siliceous stone in New Mexico is Cerro Pedernal,

near Abiquiu. Quarrying was done with an assortment of

stone tools. Cores or preforms were usually produced at

the mine site, then transported back to activity areas or

nearby campsites or farther, to base camps or villages,

where complete tools or weapons were made (Bryan 1938;

Christiansen 1974: 9; Warren 1974).

One of the minerals long mined in New Mexico for jewelry or other ornamentation is turquoise; the earliest archeological context has been dated to pre–700 A.D. Most

of the turquoise recovered from Pueblo sites came from

quarries and mines in the Cerrillos area. Two major periods of mining in the Cerrillos district occurred: late

Pueblo II to early Pueblo III (A.D. 1000 to 1150 or 1200)

and Pueblo IV (ca. AD 1350 to 1700). Of the two, archeological evidence indicates that the latter period was the

most intensive one for Pueblo mining (Scurlock 1993b;

Snow 1981; Warren and Mathien 1985; Fig. 24).

Other rocks and minerals were used in making jewelry,

fetishes, paint, and inlay, including jet, quartz, azurite, galena, peridot, malachite, calcite, hematite, limonite, kaolinite, and gypsum (Ferguson and Hart 1985; Northrop 1959).

Pueblo fetishes of a variety of mammals were, and are still,

made; common mammals represented are mountain lion,

bear, deer, elk, and badger. Stone was the most popular

material from which fetishes were constructed, but bone,

Table 32—Pueblo use of rocks and minerals.

Rock/mineral Location Item

“Red clay” Nambe area Pottery

Clay Truchas, Canada de Cochiti, Santa Fe Canyon Pottery

Gypsum La Bajada area Whitewash, plaster

Volcanic sand/rock Various locations near pueblos Pottery temper

“Yellow stone” Valle Grande Pottery temper

Mica Taos – Petaca area Pottery paint

“Reddish sandstone” Canada de Cochiti Paint

Basalt Jemez Mountains Grinding implements, well foundations

“White mineral” Jemez Mountains Beads

Fibrolite Sangre de Cristo Mountains Axes

Obsidian Jemez Mountains Tools, weapons

Malachite Jemez Mountains Paint, jewelry

Copper Abiquiu area

Sandia Mountains

Jemez Mountains

Cerrillos Mountains Paint, jewelry

Azurite Jemez Mountains, Sandia Mountains,

Nacimiento Mountains, Cerrillos Mountains Paint, jewelry

Turquoise Cerrillos Jewelry, ornamentation

Sources: Friedlander and Pinyan 1980: 20–32; Riley 1987: 236–239, 267–277; Warren 1974

shell, wood, and clay (ceramic) were sometimes used

(Scurlock 1993b; Tyler 1975: 22, 66–67, 233, 240).

Galena, or lead, was mined in the Cerrillos area, the San

Pedro Mountains, at the north end of the Sandia Mountains, and in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, north of Pecos

Pueblo. Much of the lead mined from the early 1300s to

about 1700 in the Pueblo region was used in producing a

glaze to decorate ceramics. Between 1450 and the late 1500s,

Tonque Pueblo, located east northeast of Bernalillo, produced most of the lead-glazed wares for the northern Rio

Grande Pueblos (Scurlock 1993b; Warren 1969; Warren and

Mathien 1985).

Navajos also made tools and weapons from chert,

chalcedony, and obsidian. Turquoise, jet, and garnet were

used for making jewelry. Rock-alum, and sometimes gypsum, were used as a mordant in a dye preparation. White

clay, red ocher, and yellow ocher were used for dyes and

paints (Kluckhohn et al. 1971: 418–419).

Clays used in making ceramics by various native

groups usually came from deposits located relatively close

to pottery-making centers, although in some instances they

were imported. Sources were usually found in arroyo banks,

canyon walls, or hillside outcrops; some of the better documented deposits are east of Acoma, between Truchas and

Picuris Pueblo near Taos, and near Ramah. Temper of crushed

rocks or coarse sand grains was usually added to the clay

before firing. The pigment sources named above were used for

monochrome or polychrome decorations (Dittert and Plog

1980: 17–19, 23; Friedlander and Pinyan 1980).

Salt was used throughout the prehistoric and historic

periods and was harvested at several well-known loca-
104 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

tions—Zuni Salt Lake, Estancia Valley saline lakes, and at

the confluence of the Chama River and the Rio Grande.

Salt was used in preserving meat, as a food seasoning, as

a medicine, and for ritual purposes. Ceremonial pilgrimages to collect the salt at the above sites were made by

the Pueblos, Navajos, and other Native American groups.

The Cochitis collected the substance in loosely woven

baskets, which allowed the water to drain through, then

the salt was taken to shore and placed in sacks. At the

Zuni Salt Lake, western Pueblos and Navajos collected

throughout the historic period, and, for the Pueblos, in the

later prehistoric as well. Navajos sometimes stored the salt

in a pot with a flat stone lid, which was placed in a rock

shelter. The salt was ground on a metate prior to use

(Ferguson and Hart 1985; Hewett and Dutton 1945: 46–

48).

Sandstone and limestone were commonly used in masonry construction by the Pueblos throughout their history. On the Pajarito Plateau, the softer tufa was a popular

Figure 24—Prehistoric and early historic (?) Pueblo turquoise mine (upper left), Mount Chachahuitl.

Photo by D. B. Sterrett, U.S. Geological Survey, 1911. USGS Photo Archives, Denver.

building material. The Navajos, and to a much lesser extent the Apaches, used sandstone or limestone in construction of houses, storage buildings, corrals, and other structures. Building stone was picked up or quarried from bedrock, outcrops, and sometimes from abandoned structures.

Adobe became increasingly popular as a building material

during the historic period (Nabokov and Easton 1989;

Scurlock 1993b: 322, 334–335, 356, 364–370).

Resource Trade

During the historic period a variety of raw materials and

handicrafts was exchanged between villages and camps of

these regional groups: Navajo, Apache, Ute, Western Pueblos,

Rio Grande Pueblos, and various Southern Plains tribes. Indigenous and exotic raw materials and cultivated plant products, animal byproducts, feathers, shells, rocks, minerals, and

a variety of crafted items produced in one village were desired

by another community “because they were not locally available or because they confirmed social bonds” (Scurlock
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 105

1990: 39). Pottery, agricultural produce, horses, salt, and

other items were produced and traded by the Pueblos. Buckskins, elk hides, otter skins, buffalo robes, shields, and pitch

were acquired from the Utes. Navajos produced buckskin,

basketry, and woven items, especially blankets, for trade.

Deer, rabbit, and other animal meats were traded among

all of these groups. Various minerals were also exchanged;

alum was sought by the Spanish during this period (Delaney

1989: 12, 19, 1991: 38–39; Scurlock 1990a: 39; Table 33).

SPANISH EXPLORATION, SETTLEMENT,

POPULATION, AND RESOURCE USE, 1540–1846

Exploration and settlement of New Mexico was part of

Spain’s expansion into the new world, which began in

1492. Three primary driving forces behind this national

expansion were finding and mining of gold and silver, colonizing the new lands, and converting native peoples to

Catholicism. These interrelated objectives of the Spanish

conquest were carried out by men who embraced and introduced a new world view of “patron-client social relations, material wealth, iron tools, food markets, domesticated animals, Aristotelian logic, divine right and blessTable 33—Historic Native American trade items.

Item Use

Cornmeal Food

Barley flour Food

Wheat Food

Bread Food

Beans Food

Gourds Food

Corn Food

Chile Food

Punche Smoking tobacco

Sheep Food, woven items

Woven kilts Clothing, ceremonial

Belts Clothing

Mantas Clothing

Turquoise jewelry Adornment

Twilled yucca baskets Container, ceremonial

Willow wicker baskets Container, ceremonial

Pottery Container

Buckskins Clothing, miscellaneous

Elkskins Clothing, miscellaneous

Pronghorn skins Clothing

Tallow Candles

Osha Medicine

Cachana Amulet

Cottonwood Drums

Mica Pottery temper

Travertine Fetishes

Kaolin Pottery slip

Unidentified black mineral Pottery paint

Shell Beads

Sources: Ford 1983: 712–714; Lange 1959: 152; Scurlock 1990a: 39

ing” to New Mexico (Ford 1987: 73). This new system, and

an array of new, highly infectious diseases, would result in

relatively major changes in the Pueblo environment—the

people, fauna and flora, surface water, and other components—over the two and a quarter centuries of the colonial

period.

In addition to being driven by a desire for accumulating material wealth, the Spanish church and government

pursued, with righteous zeal, a program of aggressive

conversion of the region’s Native Americans to Christianity. Believing that providence sided with them and

that indigenous peoples in the New World were inferior,

16th century Spaniards led a moral crusade to spread

Spanish culture, centered in Catholicism, to these pagans

(Weber 1992: 21).

Weber (1992: 21) wrote this about the Spanish-Catholic view of the Native Americans and their environment

at the time:

Like other Christians, Spaniards understood

that their god had given them ‘dominion’ over

all creatures on the earth, including these infidels. The god of the Christians, according to

their holiest text, had ordered them to ‘be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and

subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of

the sea, over the fowl of the air, and over every

living thing that moveth upon the earth.’

Moreover, according to Weber (1992: 22, 48, 312), the

Spanish believed their god was extraterrestrial and had

created nature separate from themselves. Additionally,

they regarded the natural environment as made up of

various resources, which they could exploit as needed

for themselves.

Spanish Exploration

Following the 1519–20 Spanish conquest of the Aztecs

and their allies, colonization, complemented by the establishment of a missionary program, moved steadily

northward from Mexico. By the mid 1500s, the frontera

had reached what is now central and northwest Mexico,

from where exploration and colonization of Nuevo

Mexico, as it was soon to be called, was launched.

Spurred by stories of riches told by Cabeza de Vaca,

who may have wandered along the present New MexicoChihuahua border in late 1535-early 1536, and supported by a viceroy eager to expand Spain’s New World

territory northward, the first of several 16th century

entradas (expeditions) to the land of the Pueblo Indians,

as the Spaniards came to call them, was initiated in 1539.

An advance party of the expedition, led by Fray Marcos

de Niza, reached the Zuni village of Hawikuh, one of the

fabled Seven Cities of Cibola. The black leader of the
106 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

vanguard, Esteban, who had been with Cabeza de Vaca,

was killed by the Zunis. His Mexican Indian servants fled

back to Niza, who was leading the main contingent. Fear

for his own safety overcame his desire to visit one of the

villages, so Niza, who had seen the village only from a

distance, proceeded back to Mexico with reports as enthusiastically misleading as those of Cabeza de Vaca (Scurlock

1987: 92).

Soon a new Spanish expedition dedicated to finding gold

and silver and to Christian crusading was organized under the leadership of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. Entering New Mexico in July 1540 near the place of Esteban’s

death, Coronado, with some 300 Spaniards (including three

women) and 800 Mexican Indian allies, began a 2-year exploration and military campaign against the Rio Grande

Pueblos and Plains Apaches as far east as modern Kansas.

Expedition headquarters during the severe winter of 1540–

41 were made at Kuaua, a Tiguex pueblo on the west bank

of the Rio del Norte near the modern community of

Bernalillo. Coronado, faced with shortages of food, clothing, and fuel for heating in the extreme cold, began to appropriate these necessities from the inhabitants of nearby

pueblos. This soon led to conflict and escalated to retaliatory raids by the Pueblos and sieges by the Spaniards

until the Tiguex villages in the area were subjugated.

Following a lengthy exploration onto the Great Plains and

a second winter of hardship, the army broke camp on the

Rio del Norte and returned to Mexico in 1542. Although

the expedition was a failure from the viewpoint of those

who had expected the discovery of vast mineral wealth

in the region, information on the Pueblos and their waterand soil-rich river valley and flanking mountains with

abundant game, forests, and grasslands piqued the interest of some Spaniards. The possibility that mineral

riches might be found in the region also persisted

(Scurlock 1987: 92).

In 1581 a Franciscan lay brother, Agustin Rodriguez,

and a military captain, Francisco Sanchez Chamuscado,

led a small party of Spaniards from the new mining frontier of southern Chihuahua on a more direct route to New

Mexico, to La Junta on the Rio Grande, then upriver to

El Paso, then northward to the Piro, Tiguex, and other

Pueblo settlements. This river corridor was also a longtime natural route of movement for aboriginal peoples

in the region. After exploring the Zuni area, the Galisteo

Basin, and the plains east of the Pecos River, two friars

elected to remain in the Tiguex Province pueblo of

Puaray when the main body of the expedition returned

to Mexico the following year (Scurlock 1987: 92).

A few months after the return of the ChamuscadoRodriguez expedition, Antonio de Espejo, a wealthy

rancher, organized an expedition ostensibly to rescue

the two friars who had remained in New Mexico. Reaching New Mexico in late 1582, he learned of the death of

the two priests. While visiting a number of northern

pueblos, Espejo learned of mineral deposits in the region.

These stories led him on a search for gold and silver as

far west as present Prescott, Arizona, an area where he

did find a little silver in copper outcrops. Returning to

Mexico, Espejo embellished and exaggerated the information on the potential mineral riches of New Mexico

(Scurlock 1987: 92).

As Spanish civil authorities began considering colonization of New Mexico, Gaspar Castano de Sosa, lieutenant governor and captain general of Nuevo Leon, led his

own colonizing expedition of some 160 persons into the

territory via the Rio Pecos and the Pecos Pueblo in late

1590-early 1591. After subduing the population at Pecos,

Sosa led his party west to Santo Domingo Pueblo, where

he hoped to begin a permanent settlement. Before the

would-be colonists could become established, a contingent of soldiers from Mexico arrived, arrested them for

undertaking the expedition without a royal license, and

escorted Sosa’s ill-fated party back to Mexico (Scurlock

1987: 92).

In 1593 Captain Francisco Leyva de Bonilla led another illegal expedition into New Mexico from Chihuahua.

Forsaking his ostensible goal of campaigning against the

Toboso, Gavilan, and other Mexican Indian groups who

had been raiding ranchos and stealing livestock in northern Mexico, he marched as far north as San Ildefonso

Pueblo. There his party spent at least a year committing

depredations against the Pueblos, including the abduction

of women as slaves. In 1594 the Bonilla expedition traveled

eastward in hopes of rediscovering Coronado’s Quivira

(Kansas). On the Arkansas River, one of Captain Leyva’s

soldiers killed him and took command of the expedition.

Not long afterward the Spanish forces were attacked by

Wichita Indians; only a boy and a mulatto woman survived. Also surviving was the legend that the Spaniards

had found large quantities of gold in the area (Scurlock

1987: 92).

Settlement Patterns

Following the five Spanish exploratory expeditions conducted in the region during the previous 58 years, Juan

de Onate brought the first Hispanic settlers up the Rio

del Norte to northern New Mexico in 1598, reaching San

Juan Pueblo on the east bank of the river, just above the

confluence with the Rio Chama. Here he founded the colony

and the Spanish seat of government for the province of New

Mexico. Subsequently, the capital, named San Gabriel, was

moved to Yunge Pueblo, across the Rio Grande. Like those

Spaniards before him, Onate did not find abundant precious minerals in the region, but he did carry out a relatively successful colonization and mission program of the

Pueblo region over the next 9 years. In addition to religious activity, the basic purpose of the new seat of government and colony was to secure the Spanish frontier,
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 107

which here marked the most northerly of settlements at

that time, against indigenous or foreign threats. In the first

few years of colonization, the Spanish settlers relied to a

great extent on the Tewa Pueblos for housing and food production, primarily corn, and some wheat grown from seeds

brought by Onate’s expedition (Ford 1987: 74–75).

Spanish settlement subsequently spread southward

down the river, into the Middle Rio Grande Valley at

Cochiti and stretching as far south as the Socorro area

(Fig. 25). The Spanish later named this reach Rio Abajo,

and that above Cochiti, to Taos Pueblo, the Rio Arriba.

The capital was moved from San Gabriel to Santa Fe in

1609–10. Missions reached the Bernalillo to Isleta section of the valley by the 1620s (Simmons 1982: 36–39).

Estancias, or large ranches, or more rarely, haciendas,

were established on some 35 encomiendas, formal grants

of portions of Pueblo lands made to Spaniards who ostensibly were to care for these Indians. In return, they

were to receive a tribute from residents of the nearby

pueblo. Annual tribute was basically a manta (blanket)

or a hide and a fanega (1.5 bushels) of corn from each

Pueblo Indian (Ortiz 1980: 32). The encomenderos oversaw livestock raising, farming, and programs involving

the Pueblos, whose villages were near the ranches. Although it was illegal, these Indians were commonly

forced to work for the encomendero, as well as to pay

tributes (Anderson 1985: 353–363).

Prior to the Pueblo revolt of 1680, there were 23 extant estancias or haciendas in the study region (Hackett

and Shelby 1942: 228, 380). In addition, there were scattered settlements of ranchos, or small farms-livestock operations, which were basic subsistence units of the average colonists. Labores, square tracts measuring 1,000

varas on each side, were given to farmers. Also part of

this early colonization were small (about 106 acres) land

holdings known as caballerias, which cavalry men or

officers received from the government. A foot soldier

received about one-fifth of this acreage; this parcel was

called a peonia (Carlson 1990: 6). Those who were primarily livestock raisers were granted at least a sitio, or a square

league (about 6.76 square miles). Five sitios, about 34 square

miles, composed an estancia or hacienda.

There were also 35 missions established at pueblos in

the study region by the 1630s. The missionaries introduced

stock raising, adobe brick construction, and new crafts, such

as the weaving of wool on European looms and leather

working, to Pueblo residents. Some were “employed” as

livestock herders and gardeners (Dozier 1983: 49). This

usurpation of Pueblo time and effort by missionaries and

Spanish officials meant they had little or no time for work

in their own fields or to hunt and gather (Jones 1979: 109–

110; Simmons 1969: 10–11; Westphall 1983: 3–4, 8, 123–124).

As mentioned, the new Spanish province was divided

into two administrative units, the Rio Arriba and the Rio

Abajo. These two areas were also environmentally distinct; the upper river (Rio Arriba) extended from Taos to

La Bajada near Cochiti Pueblo and consisted of higher,

colder, and narrower valleys in the Rio Grande drainage. The lower river (Rio Abajo) reached from Cochiti to

below Socorro and was lower in elevation, milder in climate, and richer in broad and fertile bottom land in the

river valley than the first district. These basic differences in

resources and climate determined that smaller and less influential land holders characterized the Rio Arriba, whereas

larger land holders with considerably more socio-political

power evolved in the Rio Abajo (Westphall 1983: 8–9).

The new colony was further divided into six rural districts, or alcaldias, each of which was administered by

an alcalde mayor. His duties included overseeing the distribution and use of lands, waters, and laborers. Some

alcaldes could not read or write, and therefore land and

water transactions in their jurisdiction were not always

recorded, which led to conflicts of ownership and use.

They also illegally took Pueblo land and water and allowed

Hispanic settlers to “squat” or otherwise use Pueblo lands

(Tainter and Levine 1987: 89; Westphall 1983: 15, 112, 126).

As stated previously, the earliest communities and

estancias were located at or near Pueblo villages, which

in turn were situated along streams, on some of the best

arable lands with dependable supply of surface water

(Simmons 1969: 10). Poorer settlers lived in scattered

ranchos, due in part to scarce arable lands in the Rio

Arriba, located on or near irrigable streams or other surface water, such as springs or cienegas (marshes), with

fields nearby. This settlement pattern was thus determined by the “lay of the land,” especially in the Rio

Arriba. Irrigation ditches, field locations, pastures, and

the settler’s home itself were laid out in relation to local

topography, available water, vegetation types, and arable soils.

Located immediately around the rancho home were outbuildings for food storage or livestock, irrigated gardens,

orchards, and small meadows called vegas. Fields were

generally located farther from the settler’s house, and grazing lands still farther away. The topography of the land

determined, in part, drainage, wind movement, and temperature variations, something the farmer-rancher had to

know and understand if he were to successfully grow crops

(Briggs and Van Ness 1987: 158–159, 181; MacCameron

1994: 27, 29; Simmons 1969: 13, 17).

A new seat of government, Santa Fe, was established in

1609–10 and declared a villa, or formal administrative

town. About a century later, Santa Cruz and Albuquerque

would be established with this designation (Jones 1979:

10–11, 115–118).

After Spanish reconquest of New Mexico in 1693–96,

the capital was reestablished at Santa Fe, and some residents resettled old pueblo, estancia, and hacienda sites

and fields. Resettlement was accomplished primarily

through government land grants (Fig. 26). There were

two basic types of land grants (mercedes reales) made to
108 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 25—Some early Hispanic settlements, 1598–1680.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 109

Figure 26—Major Hispano settlements, 1693–1821.
110 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Spaniards in the 1700s-early 1800s—those to individual citizens and those to a group of settlers. These private individuals were usually prominent men who were former military

personnel or their descendants to whom the government owed

salary payments. These grants were given to foster and maintain a livestock industry, and owing to the relatively low carrying capacity of the land, they were large in size.

Private grants usually evolved to share some of the same

settlement characteristics of communal grants through the

giving of arable tracts by the private grantee to any newcomer or male coming of age who wanted farm and limited

grazing land. Settlers shared produce with the grant owner,

which generally limited them to a subsistence level of living (Carlson 1990: 9, 11).

The communal grants were generally given to poor,

landless families. Agricultural villages, either in the form

of fortified plazas or clusters of scattered ranchos, known

as poblaciones, were spawned by these grants. This settlement pattern fulfilled the government’s strategy of “establishing effective political control with an assumed defensive bulwark [better] than did the sparsely populated

private grants” (Carlson 1990: 9). In all, there were 113

private and community grants, totalling 7,294,190 acres,

given by the Spanish government between 1693 and 1821

(Westphall 1983: 11). Those granted in the Middle Rio

Grande Basin between 1693 and 1846 are shown in Fig.

27 and listed in Table 34.

Land grants required the same basic ecological elements as the early settlements: arable soils, relatively

abundant surface water, grazing lands, gathering and

collecting areas for building materials, fuelwood, and

medicinal and edible plants. Every land grant resident

had communal rights to use pasture and wooded lands,

collectively called ejidos. Residents could also hunt on

these lands. Water holes, known as aguajes, springs, and

all subsurface water (wells and springs) were also for

communal use for watering livestock (Briggs and Van

Ness 1987: 17–19; Carlson 1990: 32–33; Westphall 1983:

10). Following harvest, grazing of stubble on private

farmlands was also a communal right. This system, which

embraced the principle that no individual had the right

to monopolize and use these natural resources, provided

for community subsistence and individual well-being

(Briggs and Van Ness 1983: 189; Westphall 1983: 198).

Prior to making a grant, a local administrator, the

alcalde mayor, determined if the action would adversely

affect any Pueblo settlement or third party, as well as

the capacity of the land’s resources (arable, grazing, and

wood-producing) to support the proposed number of settlers. This system, although developed to ensure the economic survival of the colony, resulted in the long-term use

or conservation of land and water in the region

(MacCameron 1994: 29).

A third type of landholding prominent in this period

was the small holding claim occupied by a ranchero.

These were individual plots of land held by squatters on

public or Pueblo lands. By 1846 there were more than 6,000 of

these tracts in the region (Westphall 1983: 11, 193–194).

The historical relationship between Spaniards and the

land is partially reflected in place names. Spanish laws

of settlement, enacted in 1573, called for the naming of

geographic features (Schroeder and Matson 1965: 5).

Steele (1983: 293, 298–299) noted that the Spanish, by

naming landscape features, “incorporated hitherto profane space into the sacred cosmos of order and beauty.”

Thus, these elements were elevated from the “natural

world into their Spanish world.” The function of a place

name for a natural feature was to denominate and to

dominate. Examples of common names of topographical or

other ecological features include cuesta (slope) angostura

(narrows), cieneguilla (little marsh), atrisco (place of the

waters), and algodones (cotton fields). Settlements at or

near these features commonly took that name.

Natural features or villages were also named for animals, such as mosca (fly), gallinas (turkeys), pajarito

(little bird), ojo del oso (bear spring), and las nutrias (the

beavers). Some locations or settlements were named for

plants, such as Alameda (cottonwood grove), Jarales (willows or oshiers), and Pinos (pines) (Pearce 1965: 4, 75,

105, 113, 121; Steele 1983: 298–299). Native American

names for geographical locations were generally retained, but they were frequently assimilated into Spanish sounds, syllables, and spelling. Examples include

chaco, taken from the Navajo name chahatquel, meaning

wash or river; nacimiento (nativity) from the Navajo name

nazisetgo (gopher water); and Tesuque (the pueblo) from

tat unge onwi (spotted dry place) from the Tewa Pueblo.

Spanish Population, Hygiene, and Disease

The first group of settlers, led by Onate in 1598, numbered 600–700 individuals; they lived at or around San

Juan Pueblo. Death and desertion kept the growth rate

relatively low in the early 1600s, but the Hispanic population, including “mixed bloods,” did increase to about 2,900

by the 1670s (Table 35). These citizens were scattered from

Taos to Socorro, west to Laguna-Acoma, and east to Gran

Quivira and Quarai. Of this total, over 400 Spaniards were

killed during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 (Jones 1979: 119).

Vargas brought 100 soldiers and 70 families to resettle

New Mexico beginning in 1693. By 1744, the estimated

Hispanic population had grown to 505 families, totalling

about 2,500 (Jones 1979: 120–123; Table 35). About 1,000 of

these were residents of the Middle Basin in 1749 (Tjarks

1978: 60). By 1752 the total provincial population had more

than doubled to 7,666; about 4,233 Hispanics were living

in the Middle Basin in 1776 (Jones 1979: 61). In 1790, census

figures vary from 9,172 to 15,000. For the Middle Rio Grande

Basin there were minimally 5,991 persons of Spanish origin

in 1790 (Jones 1979: 127; Tjarks 1978: 60–61; Table 35).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 111

Figure 27—Spanish–Mexican land grants in the Middle Rio Grande Basin, 1693–1846.
112 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Date Grant Location

Northern Rio Abajo

1700 Ranchos and

other towns North of Bernalillo

1701 Town of Bernalillo North of Albuquerque

1710 Town of Alameda South of Bernalillo

1728 Canada de Cochiti North of Cochiti Pueblo

1742 Ramon Vigil Frijoles Creek at Rio Grande

1742 Caja del Rio Frijoles Creek at Rio Grande

1745 Angostura North of Bernalillo

1754 Town of Pena Blanca North of Galisteo Creek

1765 Las Huertas East of Bernalillo

1766 Bosque Grande South of Albuquerque

1768 Town of Atrisco Southwest of Albuquerque

1819 Canon de Carnue East of Albuquerque

1839 San Pedro East of Bernalillo

1840 Town of Tejon East of Las Huertas

Santa Fe area

1693 Cieneguilla Southwest of Santa Fe

1699 Juan de Mestas Tesuque Valley

1699 Cuyamungue Pueblo Tesuque Valley

1702 Jacona Tesuque Valley

1715 Cienega Southwest of Santa Fe

1731 Cuyamungue Tesuque Valley

1731 Taloya Hill East of Santa Fe

1742 Cerros Negros East of Santa Fe

1744 Santiago Ramirez East of Santa Fe

1752 Canon del Rio

Tesuque Tesuque Valley

1754 Las Truchas Northeast of Santa Fe

1785 Canada de Los Alamos South of Santa Fe

1806 Sierra Mosca Northeast of Santa Fe

1808 Arroyo Hondo North of Taos

1808 Sebastian de Vargas South of Santa Fe

1820 Lady of Light Southeast of Santa Fe

1820 Gotera Southwest of Santa Fe

1844 Canon del Agua Southwest of Santa Fe

1846 Sierra Mosca Northeast of Santa Fe

Galisteo Basin

1744 Aguilar North of Galisteo Creek

1754 San Marcos Spring North of Galisteo Creek

1782 Mesita de Juana Lopez East of Santo Domingo Pueblo

1788 Cerrillos North of Galisteo Creek

1814 Town of Galisteo On Galisteo Creek

1827 San Cristobal On San Cristobal Creek

1833 Ortiz Mine South of Galisteo Creek

Table 34—Private land grant claims in the Middle Rio Grande Basin, 1693–1846.

Rio Puerco Basin

1753 San Fernando &

San Blas Straddles Rio Puerco

1762 Las Lagunitas North of Salado Creek

1768 Santa Teresa de Jesus North of Las Lagunitas

1769 Canada de los Junction Rio Puerco and

Apaches San Jose River

1769 Canada de los Alamos West of Rio Puerco

1769 Agua Salada South of Salado Creek

Rio San Jose Valley and Mount Taylor

1767 San Miguel Spring Northwest of Laguna Pueblo

1767 Nuestra Senora del Pilar Northwest of Laguna Pueblo

1768 San Mateo Spring Northwest of Laguna Pueblo

1769 Encinal Northwest of Laguna Pueblo

1800 Town of Cebolleta North of Laguna Pueblo

1834 Town of Cubero West of Laguna Pueblo

Jemez Valley

1768 Borrego Spring East of Jemez Pueblo

1768 San Jose Spring Northeast of Jemez Pueblo

1769 San Joaquin del

Nacimiento Northwest of Jemez Pueblo

1777 Town of Vallecito Northeast of Jemez Pueblo

1786 Town of San Isidro South of Jemez Pueblo

1788 Canon de San Diego North of Jemez Pueblo

1798 Canon de San Diego North of Jemez Pueblo

1807 Vallecito Northeast of Jemez Pueblo

1809 San Isidro South of Jemez Pueblo

1815 Espiritu Santo Spring West of Jemez Pueblo

1860 Baca Location #1 Between Jemez Pueblo

and Los Alamos

Southern Rio Abajo

1716 San Clemente West of Los Lunas

1718 Tajo North of Isleta Pueblo

1739 Town of Tome Southeast of Los Lunas

1740 Town of Belen South of Los Lunas

1790 Santa Teresa North of El Paso

1817 Town of Socorro Around Socorro

1819 Pedro Armendariz South of Socorro

1819 Town of Sevilleta North of Socorro

1820 Pedro Armendariz South of Socorro

1823 Town of Casa Colorado South of Los Lunas

1825 San Lorenzo Arroyo Northwest of Socorro

1826 San Antonito South of Socorro

1839 Dona Ana Bend North of Las Cruces

1845 Bosque del Apache South of Socorro

Source: Sayles and Williams 1986

Date Grant Location

Spanish population growth in the 18th century was relatively slow due to deaths caused by various diseases and

New Mexico’s isolation, limited tillable soil, and lack of rich

mineral deposits (Westphall 1983: 7). Hostile Indian groups

and lack of adequate surface water were other factors.

As the regional settlement reached its maximum expansion to the north, east, and south in the mid 1700s, the

government granted communal land along these frontier

boundaries to genizaros, non-Pueblo Indians who had been

converted to Christianity and who were the poorest class in

the province. They provided some security against nomadic

Indian raids; their communities commonly had to be abandoned then resettled one or more times due to attacks by the

Comanche, Navajo, or Apache (Ortiz 1980: 47–48).

In 1817 the population, Spanish and mixed bloods, had

increased to almost 28,000 (Table 35). Mixed bloods were
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 113

Table 35—Colonial Spanish population: Middle and

Upper Rio Grande Basins (Rio Arriba – Rio Abajo).

Year Population

1680 2,900

1744 2,500

1752 3,402

1789 13,982

1800 8,173

1810 26,926

1817 27,791

Source: Jones 1979: 119–131

called castas, colores quebrados, mestizos, coyotes, or lobos,

depending largely on local use (Jones 1979: 129, 132). By 1846

the Hispanic population of the Middle Rio Grande Basin was

about 54,000 (Harper et al. 1943: 57; Jones 1979: 129).

Hygiene practices were one cause of illness, which sometimes resulted in death, among settlers. Personal bathing

and washing clothes were commonly done in irrigation

ditches. Soaps used included those from local resources

such as yucca or Apache plume root or plant ashes and

tallow. These substances would have produced little water

pollution. Refuse and dead animals were thrown in

acequias, however, and did become a problem in some villages. Contaminated water from the ditches and food, bearing intestinal bacteria and protozoa, commonly caused

infectious diarrhea, gastritis, and colic. Visitors or newcomers to New Mexico were especially prone to such ailments. Infectious diseases, such as diarrhea, increased in

incidence during drought periods. The reduced water supply concentrated the infecting organism, and the associated limited food supply would cause malnutrition, which

would decrease immunity to the agents (Kunitz 1976: 19).

Respiratory infections were a common malady, especially

in communal populations among the Pueblos and

Hispanos. Colds were common, and whooping cough was

prevalent among the young, as was measles (Simmons

1992: 208–209, 211–215).

Spanish Resource Use

Agricultural Fields and Irrigation Systems

In wider valleys, agricultural fields were long, narrow,

generally rectangular in shape, and stretched from the

higher edge of the floodplain to the lower, center of the

valley, sometimes close to the stream that provided the

necessary irrigation water. Alvar Carlson (1990: 31) wrote

on the ecological uniqueness of these plots, which he called

long-lots: “. . . [they] developed in the Rio Arriba apparently as a result of local assessments of physical conditions. They represent a practical and equitable method of

partitioning irrigable land; antecedent of these riverine

farms are not to be found in Spain, which did have communal grazing lands.”

Irrigated fields were generally measured by varas (33.3

inches, or 2.8 feet); long-lots varied from 357 varas (1,000

feet) to 1,886 varas (5,300 feet) in length. The average

width of these parcels was about 150 varas (420 feet).

Allotted fields were controlled by the individual, but the

construction and maintenance of the irrigation system

was a community effort (Simmons 1969: 13–14;

Westphall 1983: 199–200).

A main ditch, or the acequia madre, was dug from the

water source above the village or rancho, usually created by damming a creek or spring (Figs. 28 and 29) with

a brush, log, or stone diversion structure. Water from

larger streams, such as the Rio Grande, was sometimes

diverted into ditches by a wing dam. Ditch construction

avoided removal of large trees and obstacles, which resulted in a winding configuration for this acequia. This

ditch followed the Upper Valley edge contour to the longlot (suerte). Water was released into the acequia at the dam,

then moved by gravity flow through the ditch to gated laterals, or sangrias, which distributed the water over the

fields. These acequias were also used to water livestock

(Carlson 1990: 31–33, 36–37, 69–70; Westphall, 1983: 9, 183).

One of the best historic descriptions of acequia systems

in New Mexico is that of W.W.H. Davis (1983: 196–197),

who wrote

The system of acequias, or irrigating ditches, is

a subject so new to the American farmer, that

an explanation at some length of the manner in

which the land is cultivated by means of them

may not be uninteresting. It must be borne in

mind, as we have already remarked, that all the

land capable of being farmed lies in the valleys

through which runs a river or other stream large

enough to supply the necessary quantity of water. Now, supposing the arable land to lie on both

sides of the stream, as is the case of the valley of

the [Rio Grande] Del Norte, the first thing for

the proprietors to do is to dig a large ditch on

each side of the river, called acequia madre, or

mother ditch, from three to five yards wide, and

from two to six feet deep, with strong banks. It

is necessary to tap the river sufficiently high up,

so that the level of the water in the acequia will

always be above the land to be irrigated, else it

could not be overflowed. The valleys are generally narrow, approached on either side by hills,

and it is customary to cut the ditch along their

base, when only one is required for a given tract

of country, so that after the water shall have

been distributed, the surplus can find its way back

to the river. The main ditch is sometimes several

miles in length, and resembles a miniature Erie

Canal; and it is dug by the joint labor of all the

proprietors along the line, each one being required
114 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 28—Hispanic farmer cleaning acequia, northern New Mexico, 1930s. Courtesy Museum of New Mexico,

Santa Fe (negative no. 58870).

to furnish a number of hands in proportion to his

land to be irrigated.

The acequia madre being completed, in the next

place the inferior proprietors dig smaller ditches

tapping the main one, for the overflow of their

lands that lie adjacent to the point of junction.

These are called contre acequias, or cross ditches.

Still smaller ditches are constructed to convey the

water on to the land of the individual owners,

being always dug upon the highest part of that

intended to be irrigated.

The irrigated field system served to integrate “man,

land, and water over time and space” and “contributed

enormously to the maintenance of ecological boundaries

that correspond physically to the geographical limits of

the microbasins drainage system” (Briggs and Van Ness

1987: 187). This system assured the individual farmer

and his community of access to and virtual control over

the local water supply. This configuration also ensured

that population growth and close-knit social organizations

were facilitated as well (Carlson 1990: 23). Diversion damacequia systems adequately provided a means of replenishing topsoils eroded by wind and water and nutrients

used by crops; rich silt carried in the irrigation water was

disseminated over the fields. Some low-lying fields and

pastures were also subjected to the deposition of rich sediments carried by overbank flooding of area streams. Conversely, severe flooding washed out irrigation systems, damaged crops, and cut into fields. Like the Pueblo, however,
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 115

Figure 29—Stone dam–reservoir bed, Ojo del Oso, Placitas,

Sandoval County. Photo by author.

the ranchero generally adapted to these vagaries successfully (Simmons 1991b: 71).

In 1600 there were an estimated 22 ditches, irrigating

some 25,555 acres, in the Middle Valley (Table 36). Between 1600 and 1700, some 39 new ditches were constructed in the Middle Valley, bringing the total to 61

ditches irrigating about 73,580 acres. Over the next century there were 9 more ditches constructed and an additional 26,800 acres of irrigated land. By 1850 there were

10 more ditches and 22,935 more irrigated acres. The

total number of ditches peaked at 82 in 1880, after which

time there was a decline due to environmental problems—a rising water table, a build-up of salts in and

waterlogging of soils, and a lack of sufficient water because of upstream diversions, mainly in the San Luis

Basin of southern Colorado (Sorenson and Linford 1967:

154, 156).

Spanish Livestock Raising

The grazing of livestock began in the study region in

late 1598, the year that Juan de Onate led the first Spanish

settlers and 4,000 sheep, 1,000 cattle, 1,000 goats, and 150

mares with colts to the Upper Rio Grande Basin. Some of

the wealthier individuals brought their own livestock as

well. These parent flocks of early Spanish herds grew, and

from these animals new livestock grazing operations were

begun at a number of missions and other settlements in

northern New Mexico. As early as 1630 overgrazing occurred at some of these locales (Baxter 1987: 4; Ford 1987:

85–86; Simmons 1991: 96).

As indicated, livestock raising became an important component of the subsistence economy of the average Hispanic

settler. Sheep, goats, cattle, oxen, mules, horses, burros, and

pigs provided meat, hides, wool, lard, and transportation.

They also produced manure, which fertilized fields, and

provided hoof action, which trampled grain on the threshTable 36—Irrigation in the Middle Rio Grande Valley.

Year No. of ditches Acres

1600 22 25,555

1700 61 73,580

1800 70 100,380

1850 80 123,315

1880 82 124,800

1910 79 45,220

1925 60 40,000

1950 ? 172,400

Source: Sorenson and Linford 1967: 154, 156

ing floor (Fig. 30). The average settler’s herds and flocks

were generally small (20–100 animals), while those of the

wealthier land holders were large (several hundred to many

thousands) (Briggs and Van Ness 1987: 188–189).

Sheep, not cattle, soon became the principal Spanish livestock raised in the region, for three primary reasons: (1)

high protein meat, hides, and tongues of buffalo were commonly available through trade with the Indians or hunting

on the eastern plains; (2) the nomadic Indian raiders preferred cattle to sheep; and (3) mining settlements in Chihuahua and Durango to the south provided a strong market for New Mexico sheep, which were annually driven

down the Rio Grande Valley to these areas (Simmons 1988:

7). Also, the most popular breed of sheep, the churro, was

well adapted for the semi-arid rangelands found in the

region. Having the ability to obtain moisture from plants,

this breed could survive drought conditions better than

other sheep or cattle (Baxter 1987: 20). Their long, staple

wool also provided protection against severe winter conditions.

The Spanish employed a transhumance system of livestock grazing based on seasonal availability of forage plants

and water. Beginning in the spring, the sheep, goats, and

cattle were moved from their lower, protected winter pastures and herded into the grant uplands, or commons, following the appearance of spring grasses and shrubs from

the pinyon-juniper to the mixed conifer zone. By early summer the stock had been herded as high as subalpine meadows, or even up to the tundra above 12,500 feet in northern

New Mexico. These uplands, with their understory and

meadow grasses, were common lands shared by the Hispanic villagers. In the 18th century some land grants in

northern New Mexico were made exclusively for the purpose of grazing livestock (Bailey 1980: 54; Briggs and Ness

1987: 160–161, 166–167, 189).

In general, livestock numbers increased over most of

the 17th century and dropped sharply during the post

revolt-reconquest period. The successful Pueblo Revolt

of 1680, which drove the Spanish south to El Paso, interrupted the development of livestock raising in New Mexico

for 13 years. In 1693 the Spaniards reoccupied New
116 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 30—Hispanos threshing grain with horses, San Luis, Sandoval County. Photo by W. T. Lee, U.S. Geological Survey, 1917. USGS

Photo Archives, Denver.

Mexico and, with 4,820 sheep, cattle, and goats, began

livestock raising again. By the middle of the next century

Spanish herds and flocks had increased to more than

100,000 animals, distributed from Taos to Belen. However,

the total number declined to 69,000 in 1777 and prompted

Governor Mendinueta to impose an embargo of exports of

sheep and processed wool. Subsequently, under Governor

Chacon from 1794 to 1805, sheep numbers increased

sharply (Baxter 1987: 13, 16, 42, 51–52, 60–64; Table 37).

Pastures, rangelands, and meadows on virtually every

Spanish land grant in northern and central New Mexico

were grazed intensively throughout the 18th century until

the mid 1900s (Fig. 31). As an example, goats and sheep

from the villages of San Jose de las Huertas and Placitas at

the north end of the Sandias, and from San Antonio and

Tijeras on the south and east side of the mountains, were

grazed in this range from about 1785 to the early part of

this century. Meadows and springs were camping areas

for herders and bedding grounds for their herds. Some 6,000

goats were in the Sandias prior to the establishment of the

Manzano Forest Preserve, later designated part of the Cibola

National Forest in 1908 (Cooper 1988: 4; Montoya 1983:

20–21; Nordhaus 1966: 17; Quintana and Kayser 1980;

Scurlock 1983: 14, 16).

Table 37—Livestock numbers in New Mexico, 1598–1830. a

Year Sheep Cattle Goats Horses Mules Totals

1598 4,000 1,000 1,000 150 — 6,150

1694 2,100 — — — — 3,000

1697 4,000 650 170 — — 4,820

1757 112,182b 16,157 c 7,356 — 135,695

1777 69,000 — — — — 69,000

1820s 1,000,000 5,000 — 850 2,150 1,008,000

a Does not include Navajo flocks.

b Includes Hopi flocks.

c Included with sheep.

Sources: Baxter 1987; Denevan 1967; Simmons 1988: 12

By the early 1700s Navajos in northwestern New Mexico

adapted the Spanish sheep herding techniques learned from

Pueblo refugees from the reconquest. Numbers of Navajo

sheep ranged from 8,000 head in 1721 to 64,000 by 1742. In

1789, as a result of an order by Governor Concha that

ewes would no longer be slaughtered or exported to

Mexico, Navajo and Spanish flocks began to increase

rapidly (Bailey 1980: 77, 111). This mushrooming in flock

numbers was also probably due to above-average
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 117

Figure 31—Hispanic brush corral with lambs on ranch near Santa Fe, 1892.

precipitation in the 1790s, which produced better grazing

and browsing conditions. These larger livestock numbers,

and the Navajo strategy of grazing sheep outwardly and

radiantly from hogan or village sites during the day and

then returning them to associated corrals at night, perhaps

initiated the first major, regional overgrazing west and

north of Spanish and Pueblo settlements. An average grazing area around hogan-village sites was probably about 5

square miles. When forage was depleted at a site, residences

were simply moved (Scurlock 1990a: 70).

By 1820 there were at least one million Spanish sheep in

New Mexico. An even higher number of sheep, up to three

million, was reached between this time and the mid 1800s

(Table 37). There were about 240,000 sheep and goats, 5,000

cattle, and 3,000 horses and mules in the Santa Fe-Albuquerque area alone. Apache and Navajo raids on Spanish and

Pueblo sheep flocks reduced the sheep numbers to 377,000 by

1850. Losses due to droughts, blizzards, and predators also

contributed to the decline. A major increase followed, with the

total reaching five million sheep by 1880. This sharp rise in

sheep was due to subjugation of nomadic Indian raiders,

market demands from the east and west coasts, and the construction of the first railroad across the territory (Baxter 1987:

63, 90–91; Denevan 1967: 691, 696; Dortignac 1956: 56, 61).

Logging and Wood Use

Native Americans and Hispanos never logged on a large

scale prior to 1846. Pinyon, juniper, ponderosa, spruce, and

fir logs and poles were used for building houses, shade

shelters, roofing, fences, and door-window framing by various historic Native American groups, and by Hispanos as

well. Local logging and wood cutting occurred throughout

the colonial and Mexican periods, and the amount of lumber produced by Spaniards in New Mexico was small due

to limited technology.

Ponderosa pine was the primary wood used as building material; this included vigas, portales, corbels, and

furniture. This wood was also used in making tool

handles, ox yokes, cupboards, and santos. Vigas were sometimes made from Douglas fir, which was also used for plow

shafts and bridge timbers. Pinyon pine was used for

fuelwood and the manufacture of saddletrees, spinningwheel legs, and plowshares. Juniper, a hard and strong

wood, was used for lintels, short beams, corrals, and jacales.

Juniper, too, was a preferred fuelwood (Jones 1932: 272–

273; Scurlock and Johnson 1993: 277–278).

Cottonwood, found along rivers and streams in the region, was used in making dippers, ladles, spoons, mixing

bowls, and wine barrels. It was also used in making
118 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

carreta wheels, door and window lintels, and vigas. Frames

were made from Gambel oak, as were stirrups and stays of

blacksmith bellows (Jones 1932: 273).

Following the example of Southwestern Indians, Spanish colonial villagers preferred pinyon and juniper for

their fuelwood. The surrounding pinyon-juniper woodlands were intensively exploited around settlements. As

nearby fuelwood was exhausted by increasing populations at places like Santa Fe and Albuquerque, pack

mules, burros, and horses were used to transport pinyon

and juniper from up to 20 miles away (Fig. 32). Hispanic

woodcutters and haulers sold or bartered their firewood

in the villages and to missions located at pueblos. “Pitch

pine,” no doubt pinyon, was used for heating and cooking at one of New Mexico’s three villa churches, Santa Cruz

de la Canada, in the late 1700s. As more land grants were

made on the llanos (plains) and mesas of eastern New

Mexico, local residents derived some income from packing

fuelwood back to population centers on the Rio Grande

(Adams and Chavez 1956: 75; Cordell 1980: 45, 48; deBuys

1985: 257–258, 275; 103; Scurlock and Johnson 1993: 278–

279).

Charcoal was sometimes used for cooking during the

same period, and for blacksmithing, an old tradition

brought from Spain. This fuel was produced not only

from pine and juniper but also from oak and mesquite.

Taught by the Spanish, Navajo jewelry makers used charcoal in their iron work as well. Although mining in Spanish New Mexico was limited, there was demand for charcoal for use in the smelting process at mines such as Dolores

in the Ortiz Mountains and the New Placers at Tuerto in

the San Pedro Mountains. A special-shaped axe was employed by the charcoal makers, or carboneros, in cutting

the needed wood (Adams and Chavez 1956: 311–312;

Christiansen 1974: 25–26; Simmons and Turley 1980: 7, 48).

The Spanish residents of Albuquerque, Atrisco, Alameda,

Bernalillo, and the surrounding area cut trees in the nearby

Figure 32—Burros carrying fuelwood, hay, and water (?) barrels,

1867 (from Richardson 1867).

Sandia Mountains for vigas, posts, and firewood beginning in the early 1700s. Residents on the Elena Gallegos

grant, which extended from today’s North Valley of Albuquerque to the foothills of the Sandias, commonly used the

pinyon-juniper and ponderosa pine, spruce, and fir in

higher vegetation zones. In the early years of the Manzano

Forest Reserve, later the Sandia District of the Cibola National Forest, grazing and logging permits were generally

issued upon request. Grazing and timber and fuelwood

cutting continued until termination in the 1950s (Nordhaus

1966: 17).

Mining

As previously stated, potential mineral wealth was a

major reason for Spanish exploration and settlement of

the study region. Based on their experience in South

America and central Mexico, Hispanics thought gold

and silver would be easy to find and mine in New Mexico,

but that was not the case. Beginning with Coronado, the

region’s streambeds, canyons, and mountain ranges were

searched for rich mineral deposits. He and Espejo, Sosa,

and Onate, who came later in search of gold and silver,

found no substantial amounts of these precious metals.

These men and early missionaries did determine that

lead, sulphur, alum, and garnet deposits existed in the

region (Northrop 1975: 8–10). After early settlement, a

number of mines, primarily silver-bearing deposits, were

recorded by various Spaniards during the colonial period (see chronology at end of this chapter). Most of these

recorded mines were only claims to locales suspected of

having mineral deposits. Some were prospected, but only

a few were actually mined, and production was small

(Christiansen 1975: 12–17; Schroeder 1977: 23).

Perhaps the earliest Spanish mining in the Middle Basin was for lead and turquoise in the Placitas and

Cerrillos districts, long worked by the prehistoric Pueblo

(Schroeder 1977: 21). From the mid 1600s to early 1800s,

lead and a little silver and copper were mined by Spaniards at Tecolote in the Las Huertas drainage at the north

end of the Sandia Mountains. This lead was made into

musket shot for use by the Spanish military (Scurlock

1983: 12). Also in this general location, at La Mina del

Tiro, gold may have been worked by the Spanish before

the Pueblo Revolt; ore was definitely mined by the second decade of the 18th century. This was the only underground lode mining by Spaniards in the region documented to date. Lead was also produced from this mine;

it, too, was primarily used for casting musket balls

(Christiansen 1975: 17–18; Warren and Weber 1979: 8–9).

Non-precious minerals and rocks were also mined by

the Spanish in the colonial period, such as mica from

Petaca in Rio Arriba County. Sheets of this translucent

mineral were used to cover window openings. Native copper deposits in Rio Arriba County near Abiquiu, and in

Sandoval County in the San Diego Canyon of the Jemez
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 119

Mountains, were worked for the making of copper containers, utensils, and other items. Salt was procured from the

lakes of the Salinas Province, a long-time source mined by

the Pueblos and other Native Americans dating from the

prehistoric period. Although undocumented, evidence of

Spanish mining in the Rio Hondo near Taos and on Socorro

Peak in the Rio Abajo was reported by later Anglo miners

(Christiansen 1975: 20; Pratt and Snow 1988: chapt. 3, 58–

60; Scholes 1937: 394–395).

The disruption of Pueblo mining and the usurpation

of mines and ores by the Spanish were causal factors in

the revolt of 1680. The Spanish took over the TonqueCerrillos area lead ore deposits, which had been mined

by the Pueblo for use in manufacturing lead glaze for

decorating pottery (Schroeder 1977: 24, 31). As a result,

the Pueblo had to revert to use of mineral pigment paint

(Peckham 1940: 122).

Hunting and Fishing

The first Spanish hunting in the region was that of soldiers, members of the early entradas. They, and later settlers, hunted bears, bighorn sheep, deer, elk, pronghorn,

hares, rabbits, geese, ducks, and grouse for their meat,

even though most had only bows and arrows or lances.

Maulings of hunters, farmers, and herders by grizzly

bears were not uncommon in the colonial period. More

commonly, Spanish settlers relied on bartering with the

Indians for wild animal meat and hides, except for the

buffalo. Like the Pueblo, groups of Spanish hunters,

known as ciboleros, traveled onto the plains of eastern

New Mexico and western Texas in the fall to hunt these

animals for their meat, marrow bones, tongues, hides, and

tallow. Rarely, government personnel or the military were

called upon by the highest authorities, including the King

of Spain, to capture bison and elk and ship them to Mexico

City, or even Madrid (Simmons 1991b: 19–22, 99–101).

Beginning in 1598, Hispanics fished in the Rio Grande

and major tributaries with hook and line or throw nets

(Simmons 1978: 35). Trout, catfish, “stickleback,” and eels

were the common species caught and eaten. Unidentified species of turtles, along with tortoises, were also

taken as food (Bustamante and Simmons 1995: 12–13).

ANGLO AMERICAN PENETRATION,

SETTLEMENT, POPULATION,

AND RESOURCE USE, 1821–1960s

Introduction

The earliest non-Spanish people of European descent

in the region were French or French-Canadian trappers

and traders from the Mississippi Valley, who came to the

region in the 18th and early 19th centuries. As foreigners, they were not allowed to remain in New Mexico, and

when discovered, they were arrested, their equipment

and furs were confiscated, and they were banned from

New Mexico. Another foreigner, Zebulon Pike, an officer

in the U.S. Army scouting the U.S.-Spanish boundary,

and a few of his soldiers were arrested in 1807 in southern Colorado (then claimed by Spain). They were taken

to Santa Fe and on to Chihuahua, where they were released. Pike kept a journal while in the region, which he

used in preparing a relatively detailed report for the U.S.

Government, which included references to precious minerals, furs, and other resources. His report caught the

attention of Washington officials, politicians, and entrepreneurs. Subsequently, the first Anglo-Americans were

attracted to New Mexico in the early 1800s, not to prospect for gold or silver, but primarily to trap or trade for

furs and pelts from animals such as the beaver and river

otter. Beaver pelts were bringing up to $4 apiece at this

time; they were made into hats, which were popular on

the East Coast and in Europe. These traders and trappers were freewheeling entrepreneurs, and their primary

motivation was to make as much money in as short a

period as they could. Most of these men, like the earlier

French-Canadians, were arrested and sent back east because they violated a law prohibiting foreigners from

trading in New Mexico (Weber 1971: 30, 31, 37, 41–48).

Fur Traders and Trappers

Trade with the United States was legalized when

Mexico (including New Mexico at the time) gained independence from Spain in 1821. The Santa Fe Trail from

Missouri to New Mexico was quickly “opened” over a

route long used by Native Americans and Hispanos.

Thus, at Santa Fe the trail linked with the old Camino

Real, or Chihuahua Trail, which followed the Rio Grande

into the State of Chihuahua (Figs. 33 and 34). Unlike

other trails across the West, the Santa Fe Trail was not an

emigrant road, but a route of commerce over which Anglos,

and later Hispanic New Mexicans, introduced a variety of

new trade goods and made large profits either by retailing,

wholesaling, or bartering. Some items taken back to the

states included furs, buffalo hides, and mules. Also, the

trail was used heavily by fur trappers, who took thousands

of beavers (sometimes illegally, without a Mexican permit)

and many fewer river otters from the Rio Grande, Chama,

Santa Fe, Pecos, and Gila drainages in New Mexico. The

Anglo market also induced Native Americans to harvest

furs, which they traded for metal tools, beads, alcohol, and

other items (Beck 1962: 104–118).

The strong market for beaver felt spurred these Anglo

trappers to roam over hundreds of miles of main stem and

tributary reaches in search of fur-bearing animals. The large

number of beaver methodically taken by the trappers

caused a severe reduction or extirpation of local populations, as well as the river otter. Most regional streams have

never recovered in terms of beaver populations reaching
120 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 33—Major trails and roads, 1821–1880.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 121

Figure 34—Route of the Camino Real–Chihuahua Trail, Sandia Pueblo, Sandoval County.

The Santa Fe rail line (right center) follows this old road in the Middle Valley. Photo by author.

pre–1820 levels. Frequently, these trappers also hunted

black bears, grizzly bears, elk, and deer for their hides and

meat or simply for sport. The independent, free-spirited

lifestyles of these men frequenting the mountainous West

earned them the label of “Mountain Men.” Taos became a

supply center and southern Rocky Mountain rendezvous

site for these individuals from the 1820s to the early 1840s.

It also became the home of such colorful trappers-traders

as Kit Carson, Charles Bent, and “Old Bill” Williams (Weber 1971: 51–65).

Three other old trade routes connecting Taos and Santa

Fe to northwest Mexico, California, and eastern markets

were used by Anglos for trading and trapping (Fig. 33).

The first was the Sonora Trail, which left the Rio Grande

near later Hatch and extended southwest to the Santa Rita

mine near later Silver City, then followed the Gila River

into southern Arizona and Sonora or southern California.

Another, the Old Spanish Trail to the Great Basin and California, went northwest from Santa Fe, across southwest

Colorado and central Utah, then branched in central Nevada, with one trail to San Francisco and the other to Los

Angeles. New Mexicans drove sheep and mules and carried Navajo blankets over this route to trade in California.

In exchange they generally received horses or gold. In 1849

both of these routes were used by Anglo Americans to reach

the gold fields of California. The last trail was along the

Canadian River, which had been used for hundreds of years,

connecting with Pecos Pueblo and the Santa Fe-Albuquerque areas (Weber 1971: 68–69, 116–117; Fig. 33).

Anglo Settlement and Land Grant

Adjudication

The Anglo settlers who followed the trader-trappers

and the U.S. Army to New Mexico in the mid to late 19th

century were looking for relatively cheap or free land,

water, and other resources, with little or no regulatory

use laws. Some dreamed of getting rich through making

maximum profit aided by inexpensive local labor; some

attained this goal, but most did not. As a group, they
122 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

brought new land use ideas and technologies for farming, ranching, mining, and transporting marketable resources.

Settlement

Some Anglos obtained land and water rights by trading with or purchasing from Hispanic owners, by marrying into Hispano families with land, by litigation and

settlement of Spanish land grants, or by “squatting” on

Spanish land grants or Pueblo lands. A few Anglos had

received large land grants from the Mexican government

prior to 1846, primarily in the Rio Arriba, or Upper Basin.

With the outbreak of the U.S.-Mexican War in 1846, American troops invaded and occupied New Mexico. The cessation of this conflict was formalized by the signing of the

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. A major component

of this treaty was the responsibility of the United States to

protect the property and rights of Hispanic citizens in the

new territory, especially land grant heirs. Subsequent court

litigation as to who held legal title to the grants occurred

over the remainder of the 19th century and into this century. However, congressional and judicial concerns led to

“strict legalistic guidelines were drawn and equitable rights

of the villagers were excluded. Legal procedures were

lengthy and expensive. The most important policy which

emerged was the denial of community ownership of the

common pasture lands. These lands were declared public

domain and thrown onto the market for homesteading . . .”

(Ortiz 1980: 13, 90).

About 77 percent of the land-grant acreage, almost 9

million acres, held by Hispano and Indian subsistence

farmers of northern and central New Mexico was lost to

non-native interests. Of about 1,000 land grant claims

in New Mexico, totalling some 10 million acres, only

about 2 million acres were patented and confirmed. Most

of the grant lands became public domain, state land, and

railroad land. Much of the public domain in the mountains later became national forests. Location of surface

water played a role in the resolution of these land claims

and subsequent distribution of parcels. Attorney Thomas

B. Catron, the most prominent land grant attorney of the

time, controlled a substantial amount of land with significant natural resources in the region (Ortiz 1980: 92–

93, 96; Westphall 1983: 143–144, 234).

To administer this public lands program and to establish the township-range grid, the Office of the U.S. Surveyor-General was created on July 22, 1854, in Santa Fe.

The first duty of the Surveyor-General was to survey the

public domain, primarily arable lands, but he was also

responsible for making recommendations to Congress on

land claims of Hispanos and Pueblos for resolution of

ownership. Most of the township-range surveys in the

region were not completed until 1876–84; some were not

finished until much later. Although the SurveyorGeneral’s office could not legally survey grazing lands,

this was done under the direction of Surveyor-General

Henry M. Atkinson from 1876 to 1883, probably as a result of pressure from powerful cattle raisers. He had various financial interests in a number of New Mexico land

and cattle corporations, himself (Westphall 1965: 1–4,

17–18, 24–28, 162–165).

The distribution of the public domain was based on a

system of uniform-sized grids, imposed on the land, and

effected through the use of modern surveying and map

making. Unlike the Spanish custom of imprecise documenting and recording of land boundaries, ownership,

and land transfers, the Anglo system entailed precise recordation and detailed transaction records (Briggs and

Van Ness 1987: 193–194). The township, range, and section grid system inaugurated by the Anglos ignored regional topography and hydrology in terms of parcel

boundaries. A particular square or rectangular parcel

might contain no surface water or arable land, or fragmented

resources. Thus, unlike the Hispanic system of land tenure

based on a subsistence economy, the Anglo system encouraged the use of land and water resources as market commodities to be exploited for immediate profit (Briggs and

Van Ness 1987: 194).

Anglo and Hispano settlers secured 160-acre tracts of

public land through the Donation Act of 1854. However,

claimants of Spanish or Mexican land grants were not

allowed to file for a donation claim. Land holders under

this act also could not acquire land under the Pre-emption Act, the Homestead Act of 1862, or the Mining Act

of 1872. The 1862 act was amended in 1909 to allow individuals to file on and claim 320 acres (Brown 1970: 13;

Westphall 1965: 1, 37, 43; Worster 1979: 87). The General

Revision Act, passed by Congress in early 1891, authorized the President to set aside any part of the public

domain. Many ranchers, lumbermen, and miners protested vigorously (Athearn 1985: 129).

Anglo homesteaders filed on public domain outside the

land grants and otherwise claimed unoccupied land.

Most of the public land available for homesteading in

the study region was therefore away from the floodplains

of lower, permanent streams, in upland valleys with

grasslands, in canyons or on mesas with pinyon-juniper

woodlands, and in the foothills or mid elevations of

mountains at or near meadows and open forests. Homestead certificates in northern New Mexico increased from

only three in 1879 to 263 in 1882. Homesteading in the

region peaked during the following 10 years, spurred by

completion of transcontinental railroads across New

Mexico. Many homesteaders failed due to adverse

weather, floods, inadequate water supplies, and lack of

sufficient knowledge about farming or livestock raising

in arid and semi-arid environments. Much of this public

land was acquired by ranchers, private developers, or,

later, the Forest Service (Kelly 1955: 396–397; Perrigo 1982:

107; Westphall 1965: 44–47, 168–169).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 123

Anglo Population and Disease

As noted, the earliest and most rapid Anglo population

growth over the entire period occurred in and around the

existing Spanish communities along the Rio Grande, notably Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Belen, and Socorro. Following

the U.S. Army occupation and the first Anglo settlers, 1846–

50, there was a total of 61,547 non-Indian persons in the

territory, which at that time included Arizona (Table 38).

The large majority of the inhabitants counted were 54,000

Hispanics. Some 2,923 of these residents were born in other

parts of the United States or in foreign countries.

By 1860 the total population, again including Arizona,

had increased to 93,516. Among these were 6,647 persons born outside of New Mexico. There were 156 settlements in the region in that year; 107 of these had populations of less than 500. Ten years later, after New Mexico

and Arizona were made separate territories, the total population was 91,874 (Bancroft 1889: 642; Clark 1987: 29; Harper

et al. 1943: 57; Workers of the Writers’ Program 1940: 329,

429, 431–432; Table 38). Over the remainder of the decade,

1871–80, population increased by 30 percent to 119,565;

non-Indians numbered 109,793. This figure included 1,015

blacks, who were mainly soldiers or ex-military personnel,

and Native Americans.

Following completion of the Santa Fe Railroad and subsidiary trunks, Anglo migration to the basins accelerated

sharply (Fig. 35). In 1883 there were about 130,000 residents in the territory; Anglos numbered about 32,500

(Bancroft 1889: 723). The 1890 census counted 160,282, and

the 1900 census, 195,310 persons (Table 38). Most of these

individuals lived on farms and ranches or in settlements of

less than 1,000 population. During the first decade of this

century, the territorial population almost doubled when it

Table 38—New Mexico population, 1850–1910.

Year Hispanos/Anglos Indians Blacks MRGB

1850 61,571a 30,000+b

1860 93,516a

1870 91,874

1874 7,000c

1880 119,565 1,015

1883 130,000d

1890 160,282

1900 195,310

1910 327,301 75,036e

a Arizona territory included.

b All Native Americans.

c Pueblo.

d Combined populations of Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Belen,

Socorro. e 32,500 Anglos.

Sources: Bancroft 1889: 459, 642, 723; Larson 1968: 116; Sayles

1986: 132; Westphall 1965: 27; Williams 1986b: 153, 156; Workers of

the Writers’ Program 1940: 329, 429, 431–434

reached 327,301. Most of this rapid growth was due to individuals homesteading, seeking cures for ailments, and

ranching and farming in the southern part of the study

region (Westphall 1965: 27; Workers of the Writers’ Program 1940: 432–433).

Improvement of existing roads and construction of new

ones also facilitated Anglo movement into the study region (Fig. 35). The first surfaced highway in New Mexico

was built in 1915 from Raton to El Paso. From Santa Fe

south, this route followed the old Camino Real, for which

the new road was named.

Although medical practice was improving, older diseases still persisted. Smallpox, which had caused so many

deaths in the colonial period, especially among the Pueblo,

struck them and Hispanics again in 1852, killing hundreds

(Thornton 1977: 99). In 1877 at Santo Domingo, about 20

men and 100 boys were killed by the same disease. Smallpox struck at Las Vegas that same year, where 82 people

died, and also struck Arroyo Hondo, where mining was

stopped due to the epidemic (Pearson 1986: 10; Perrigo

1982: 78–79). From late 1882 until 1898 outbreaks of smallpox occurred in Pueblo and Hispanic communities (Lange

and Riley 1966: 383, 1970: 14; Thornton 1987: 102; White

1962: 101–102, 322). Other diseases that resulted in deaths

included measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, and influenza, especially during the worldwide outbreak of 1918.

Tuberculosis, introduced by Anglos, began to spread to

Native Americans and Hispanics in the early 1900s (Baca

1995: 237–238; Simmons 1982: 345; Tiller 1983: 454).

Anglo Resource Use

Agriculture and Water

Many Anglo farmers brought new farm techniques,

crops, and technology. Maximum commercial returns

were pursued using steel plows, which penetrated the

ground more deeply than Spanish plows. Other more efficient equipment and seeds of new crop varieties were

also introduced. New farming techniques included crop

rotation and wire fencing to protect fields from livestock.

There was a marked increase in the number, size, and value

of farms in the 1850s, due primarily to Anglos entering the

region’s agricultural industry. This technological investment and increase in farms and farm size was spurred by

population growth, the increasing influx of military personnel, and the brisk traffic on the Santa Fe Trail (Bancroft

1889: 644–645; Beck 1962: 263–265; Sunseri 1979: 20–23).

In 1848 and 1850–51 the U.S. and territorial legislatures passed laws to protect existing irrigation systems,

farm fields, and traditional water use rights. A number

of other irrigation laws were passed in the 1880s and

1890s, primarily in response to population growth and

associated pressures on agriculture (Clark 1987: 25, 31,

65; Westphall 1965: 25, 84; Wozniak 1987).
124 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 35—Major railroads, roads, and highways, 1879–1915.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 125

The Federal Desert Land Entry Act of March 3, 1877,

was intended to stimulate irrigation development

through individual enterprise. A settler could buy a section of land for $1.25 an acre, up to 640 acres, if the claimant irrigated the land within 3 years (Buchanan 1988: 29).

Claims could be made on unsurveyed public land. One

problem with this act in New Mexico was the strict interpretation of the law by the General Land Office, which required irrigation of the entire 640 acres, something difficult

to do in the region. This size tract was simply too large for

most individuals to irrigate on their own. One result of the

legislation was the control of substantial grazing land

around surface water for the 3 years. Also, at the time of

filing on the land, payment of only 25 cents per acre was

required, so individuals could control sizable tracts along

streams for 3 years before making proof of reclamation and

completing payment. Because of these and other abuses,

the law was revoked in 1892 (Westphall 1965: 77–81).

The newly created U.S. Geological Survey (1879) began

a survey of the irrigation systems in the region in late 1888

(Follett 1896). This agency also established its first

streamflow gauging station at Embudo in January of the

following year (Beal and Gold 1988: 99; Wozniak 1987). A

number of irrigation companies were organized locally,

some of which failed by constructing ditch systems in environmentally unsuited areas (Westphall 1965: 82). Another

important piece of legislation affecting irrigation was the

Reclamation Act passed in 1902. This law authorized the

Secretary of the Interior to construct irrigation projects in

the western territories and states, and it established the U.S.

Reclamation Service as a separate agency from the Geological

Survey. Irrigation works were significantly expanded over

the next 2 decades. Also, a small farmer could irrigate up to

160 acres with water from federal irrigation projects (Clark

1987: 79–82, 110, 168; Wozniak 1987).

An estimate of the land in cultivation in the Middle Rio

Grande Valley when the U.S. Territory of New Mexico was

created in 1850 was 87,880 acres, of which 40,185 were

irrigated (Table 39). This land was planted primarily in

corn, wheat, beans, and melons. The demand for Rio Grande

water at this time averaged 2.75 acre-feet per acre (Hedke

1925: 15; State Engineer Office 1967: 78, 81).

In 1860 there were some 54,500 acres under irrigation,

and 57,200 at the end of the decade. By 1870 there were

143,007 acres of “improved land” with 4,480 farms valued at

over two million dollars. In 1870, the estimated number of

acres of irrigated farmland in the territory was 57,200. About

85 percent of the farms in New Mexico during this period

were less than 50 acres; in the study region, farms averaged

61 acres. By 1880 irrigated acreage had increased to 94,900

(Clark 1987: 29; Dryeson 1971: 181; Miller 1989: 81;

Table 39). Corn, wheat, oats, barley, sorghum, rye, beans,

peas, potatoes, hay, and tobacco were the major crops grown

by Anglos, Hispanos, and Pueblos (Bancroft 1889: 768;

Clark 1987: 29; Miller 1989: 132; Table 39).

Table 39—Irrigation agriculture in the Middle Rio Grande

Valley, 1850–1942.

Number of Irrigated Agricultural

Year ditches acreage land acreage

1850 80 40,185 87,880a

1880 82 94,900 100,000 to 124,800a

1896 71 31,700 50,000

1910 79 45,220 ?

1918 55 47,000 ?

1925 60 40,000 ?

1942 8b 60,000 118,000

a Estimated figures

b Main canals

Sources: Clark 1987: 29; Hedke 1924: 19–20, 1925: 15; Wozniak

1987

Ten years later there were 95,000 to near 125,000 acres in

cultivation in the Middle Rio Grande Valley. Environmental problems, such as waterlogging, caused this total to

drop to about 31,700 acres in 1896 (Table 39). Along the Rio

Puerco Valley, from Casa Salazar to Cuba, the cultivated

acreage varied from more than 18,000 in the late 1800s to

3,000 acres in the early 1940s due to incising of the river

and lowered water table, erosion, increase in flood intensity and frequency, and drought (Harper et al. 1943:

51–53). The amounts of irrigated acres on this and other

tributaries for 1898 are listed in Table 40. The completion of

the Santa Fe Railroad and other major lines from 1879 to

1882 brought a large wave of Anglo farmers to the region.

New, introduced crops included millet, sorghum grains,

and kafir corn, all drought resistant. By 1900 there were

more than five million acres under cultivation in the territory, and in 1910 there were 35,676 farms averaging

Table 40—Irrigation agriculture in the

Middle Rio Grande Basin, 1898.

Drainage area Number of Irrigated

Drainage (square miles) ditches acres

Santa Fe River 480 44 5,920

Galisteo River 1,400 23 2,240

Rio Grande (White Rock

Canyon to Albuquerque) 830 22 8,070

Jemez River 900 27 5,790

Rio Grande (Albuquerque

to confluence with the

Rio Puerco) 940 33 17,840

Rio Puerco 6,400 62 18,380

Rio Grande (Confluence of

Rio Puerco to San Marcial) 800 16 5,790

Total 11,750 227 64,030

Source: Follett 1898: 81–88
126 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

316 acres (Beck 1962: 265–267). Major crops cultivated over

the next 3 decades are shown in Table 41.

Livestock Raising

Anglo ranchers, like Hispano and Native American livestock raisers, faced a number of environmental problems,

such as droughts, floods, windstorms, erosion, nutrient

depletion of soil, accumulation of salts in soil, and insect

infestations. Early in the period, a lack of adequate transportation to markets was also a problem. Anglo livestock

raisers, primarily from Texas, brought the first large cattle

herds to the Middle Basin since the early Spanish entradas.

Sheep, however, remained the dominant livestock on pastures and rangelands in the region until the coming of the

railroad in 1880. Demand for wool and mutton locally and

in California gold fields after 1848 spurred Anglos, as well

as Hispanos, to produce more sheep. Rio Abajo sheepmen

drove thousands of sheep to the mines in California from

1849 to the late 1850s.

There were almost 400,000 sheep along the Middle Valley and on flanking uplands in 1846–50, not withstanding

the loss of about 453,292 sheep to Indian raiders during

this period. Jose Leandro Perea of Bernalillo alone owned

200,000 sheep. Some observers noted that “the hillsides

and the plains . . . covered with sheep and cattle.” In 1870

there were 435,000 sheep in the Middle and Upper Rio

Grande basins (Carlson 1969: 28; Espinosa and Chavez

n.d.: 75–78; Table 42; Abert 1962: 60–62, 65, 96–97).

By 1880 there were some 400,000 head of cattle in the

territory. As mentioned, most of the cattle belonged to

Texas ranchers, who had driven their cattle into the region to support the growing demand for beef, especially

at logging camps, mining camps, railroad camps, and

military posts. New breeds of cattle and sheep, better proTable 41—Principal crops in the Middle Rio Grande Valley,

1919–1942.

Crop type Acres

Corn 13,334

Wheat 5,900

Oats 708

Barley 354

Sorghum grain 354

Sorghum fodder 1,416

Mixed grain 236

Alfalfa 19,234

Hay (misc.) 3,540

Irrigated pastures 5,310

Truck garden 1,416

Miscellaneous 1,888

Orchard 1,652

Total 55,342

Sources: Scurlock et al. 1995: 93; Workers of the Writers’ Program

1940: 82–83.

Table 42—Livestock numbers in New Mexico, 1850–1900.

Year Sheep Cattle Totals

1850 377,000a — 377,000

1860 830,000 — 830,000

1870 619,000 137,314 756,314

435,000b 14,000b 449,000 b

1880 2,000,000 400,000 2,400,000

to to

3,000,000 3,400,000

1890 4,000,000 4,000,000

1,517,000b 210,000b 1,717,000b

1900 3,500,000 843,000 4,343,000

1,732,000b 211,000b 1,943,000b

a Does not include Navajo flocks.

b Middle and Upper Valley.

Sources: Baxter 1987; Carlson 1969; Denevan 1967; Miller 1989:

198; Simmons 1988

ducers of meat and wool, were also introduced in the late

1800s (Athearn 1985: 130; Baydo 1970: 113, 125; Clark 1987:

54). By 1890 the total number of cattle in the Upper and

Middle basins had sharply increased to 210,000 head (Bayer

et al. 1994: 174; Harper et al. 1943: 49; Williams 1986: 120;

Table 42).

Bernalillo County rangelands had 475,000 sheep and

41,700 cattle alone in 1883. By 1890, the total number of

sheep in the Middle Valley had risen to 1,717,000 animals (Table 42). By 1900 the sheep population had increased to 1,732,000 head(Bayer et al. 1994: 174; Harper et

al. 1943: 49; McCall 1851: 5; Ortiz 1980: 80; Rothman 1982:

28, 33; Simmons 1988: 8; Tiller 1992: 101–103; Fig. 36).

Most of the rangeland close to Middle Valley population

centers had been overgrazed prior to 1846, and the sharp

increase in livestock that occurred over the next 5 decades

exacerbated the environmental decline. Three years after

its organization in 1881, the Southwestern Stockmen’s

Association and local livestock groups attempted to control overgrazing in the region to some extent. In 1889 the

Territorial Assembly passed an act to prevent overstocking,

and the General Land Office began requiring ranchers to obtain permits to graze on public lands. The introduction of

barbed wire, which led to the end of open range, generally

prevented trespass and overgrazing of some ranges (Baydo

1970: 113, 125; Clark 1987: 54).

Most of the livestock in the region from the late 1800s to

early 1900s were grazed on homesteaded or leased public

lands, land grants in dispute, new forest reserve lands, or

in trespass on Hispano and Indian grant lands. Texas

cattlemen were especially aggressive in taking or
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 127

Figure 36—Sheep at the mouth (?) of Coyote Canyon, Manzano Mountains. Cobb photo, ca. 1900.

Courtesy Albuquerque Museum (negative no. 1981.2.57).

trespassing on Pueblo and Jicarilla Apache lands.

Hispanos also continued to trespass on Indian lands to

graze their livestock. National forest reserves were created

from old Spanish grant land or the public domain, much of

which had been grazed for a long time. Many local residents, especially Hispanics who lost their free grazing

rights on common lands, grazed their stock on the new

forest reserves, for which permits were required beginning

in 1912 (Bahre 1991: 116; Brown 1985: 124; Carlson 1969:

29, 33, 37, 39; deBuys 1985: 237–241; Denevan 1967: 699;

Roberts 1963: 115–116).

Beginning in the 1920s, the Forest Service had to deal

with permittees grazing more animals than agreed upon.

Also, large livestock owners, many of whom were Anglo,

were leasing or buying permits from smaller livestock raisers, who were primarily Hispano. The Forest Service

stepped up enforcement to solve these two problems. Additionally, to prevent control of large areas of rangeland by a

small number of wealthy individuals, the Forest Service

began limiting the maximum number of animals that could

be grazed on a single permit. For the Carson and Santa Fe

national forests this was about 400 livestock units in the

early 1980s (deBuys 1985: 242–246).

In the 1940s Hispano users of the public woodlands,

forests, and meadows in New Mexico and southern Colorado began to abandon labor-intensive sheep herding and

to switch to cattle, which can range over an area without

human herders. The overgrazed ranges supported fewer

animals; thus, there were fewer permits issued by the Forest Service. A changing economy, from a subsistence to a

cash situation, also resulted in a steady decline in the number of Hispano permittees on forest lands (deBuys 1985:

247–249).

Logging and Timber

Native New Mexicans and Hispanos never logged on

a large scale prior to the territorial period. However,

population growth, military activities, mining, and other

activities stimulated the development of the timber industry by Hispanos and Anglos. The demand for logs to

saw into lumber was generated by the boom in building—

military posts, houses, businesses, bridges, mine timbers,

and railroad construction. Wood was especially needed

on the treeless grasslands for use as building materials

and fuelwood. Clear-cutting was generally practiced in

mountain forested areas; only steep slopes were untouched
128 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

in logging areas. A variety of logging tools and equipment,

including cross-cut saws, double-bitted axes, large wagons and industrial harnesses, and draft horses, were introduced by Anglos. Portable and permanent steam-driven

motors, rip saws, tables, and other equipment for sawmills

were also introduced. Felling, hauling, and in some instances, floating logs in the Rio Grande were techniques

new to the territory as well.

As early as the mid 1850s, Anglo American settlers

were operating sawmills at Glorieta Pass and near Taos.

The first planing mill was established at Las Vegas, New

Mexico, in 1879, the year the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa

Fe Railroad reached this community (Jones 1932: 3–4).

Harvesting ponderosa and other mountain timber for use

as lumber, railroad ties, or mine timbers caused relatively

significant reduction in local woodlands and forests in the

late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cross-ties for regular gauge

rail lines were 8 to 8.5 feet in length, 6 to 7 inches in thickness, and 7 inches in width and were made from “green”

timber. One railroad company constructing a line across

New Mexico in 1885 used 937,240 feet of “native pine,”

which included pinyon as well as ponderosa pine, for ties.

An estimated five million board-feet of lumber was consumed in New Mexico in 1886 (Bunting 1964: 11; Ensign

1888: 76, 80; Perry 1922: 521; Tratman 1889: 55).

The Santa Fe Railroad constructed a second set of tracks

across northern New Mexico in 1914; a minimum of 16

million new ties were needed. The construction and maintenance of the first track in 1879–1907 had resulted in the

exhaustion of tie timber on lands adjacent to the right-ofway. To supply the needed ties, the Santa Barbara Tie and

Pole Company was started near the Santa Fe National Forest in 1909, and over the next 17 years all timber from the

pinyon-juniper zone to timberline was cut on 65,750 acres

of land (deBuys 1985: 227–230).

Stumpage price in 1932 was estimated to be $3 per thousand feet. About this same time, a Taos County company

was selling narrow-gauge ties for 6 cents and standard

gauge for 8 cents to the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad.

About 4,000 ties a year from the Carson National Forest

were sold by this company. In 1935 the volume of ties

doubled over the earlier figure. Other ties were cut on a

privately owned, old land grant along the Rio Pueblo and

Santa Barbara valleys. Some 30 individuals clear-cut over

600 or 700 acres in these locations, which initiated erosion

(Perry 1922: 521, 523; Weigle 1975: 209–210).

Fuelwood

An estimated 10,000 cords of fuelwood were used in

the southern Rocky Mountain region in 1760–69 for cooking and heating. This figure doubled in 1770–79, remained

about the same in 1780–89, then increased to 25,000 in

1790–99. With the arrival of relatively large numbers of

Anglo-American settlers in New Mexico after 1846, demands for fuelwood accelerated. A burro load from the

Sangre de Cristo Mountains, about half a cord, cost 25 cents

in nearby Santa Fe at this time. Over the late 1800s Hispano

woodcutters were the primary suppliers of fuelwood in communities, and some woodcutters were contracted by the U.S.

Army at forts in the region, where wood consumption for

heating and cooking was high. In 1861 fuelwood delivered to

garrisons some distance from pinyon-juniper woodlands was

bringing $3.75 for a cord of pinyon (Balcomb 1980: 52–53;

Dobyns 1981: 96; Frazer 1983: 11, 180).

By the middle of the 19th century, following the Anglo

conquest and settlement, annual fuelwood consumption

had increased to 105,000 cords, and by about 1870 had

increased to over five million cords. The estimate of fuelwood

consumed by New Mexicans was 170,000 cords in 1879.

Throughout the remaining years of the 1800s and into the

20th century, Hispano wood cutters from villages and towns

in central and northern New Mexico, eastern Arizona, and

southern Colorado supplied pinyon and juniper fuelwood

to regional residents. Wagons, burros, or pack horses were

used to transport pinyon and juniper wood from the mountains to towns such as Taos, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque

until World War II. Cutters sold their fuelwood and fence

posts at wood yards in these communities. Fuelwood use

peaked in the region at 675,000 cords in 1918 (Reynolds and

Pierson 1942: 9–10, 17–18). A decline followed due to the widespread use of natural gas for cooking and heating (Balcomb

1980: 52–53; Waters 1981: 36).

Mining in Territorial New Mexico generated extensive

commercial use of pinyon, juniper, pine, and fir in the

historic period. Vast stands of pinyon were consumed to

make charcoal for fuel used in the smelting or roasting

processes; “green” trees down to 2-inch diameter were

preferred over dead wood. Sometimes horse or cattle

manure was added to the fuelwood. One source stated

that the pinyon, juniper, and other conifer wood was the

best when at least 80 to 90 percent dry. Pinyon killed by

fire was the next preferred source for smelting fuel

(Christiansen 1974: 95; Ensign 1888: 77–78).

Charcoal for smelting and roasting was made by partially burning wood in virtually airtight kilns that could

systematically and gradually exclude oxygen. Kilns varied in construction and design; fired brick, beehive-shaped

stone kilns (Fig. 37) or simple pits covered with earth were

used. Green wood was allowed to dry before it was burned

in the kiln. Depending on the size of the kiln, burning varied from 3 weeks to more than a month, then the ovens

were allowed to cool between a week and 10 days before

removal of the charcoal. Juniper required a higher temperature for conversion to charcoal, so this wood had to be

processed in a fired-brick kiln. A charcoal pit “kiln” produced from 2,800 to 3,300 bushels of charcoal from 100

cords of wood. An estimated 300 bushels of charcoal per

acre of pinyon-juniper woodland were produced by charcoal makers in the late 19th century (Lanner 1981: 122, 125;

Young and Budy 1979: 116–117).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 129

Figure 37—Charcoal kilns at Lamy, Santa Fe County. Eldred Harrington photo, 1922. Courtesy New Mexico Bureau of Mines

Photo Archives, Socorro.

Pinyon and juniper, with their array of branches from

near ground surface to the peak of their crowns, were

difficult to fell and buck into cordwood by hand, requiring

an estimated two to three times as much labor as that needed

to cut and buck ponderosa. Fuelwood yields of pinyonjuniper woodlands varied from less than one cord in sparse

stands to more than 25 cords per acre in the densest stands.

Smelter furnaces at large mining sites working at capacity

would consume from 15,000 to about 18,000 bushels of

pinyon-juniper charcoal a day (Lanner 1981: 124–125;

Randles 1949: 346; Young and Budy 1979: 117).

Mining

Major changes in the mining industry also resulted with

the coming of the Anglos to New Mexico. New mining

equipment, techniques, and markets, backed with investment money, opened many new mining areas and increased

production at existing mines. New mining technology included several environmentally destructive techniques of recovering precious metals, such as hydraulic nozzling, which

used a powerful stream of water to wash away soil in placer

deposits, separating it from gold and silver. Shortage of water

needed in processing was a general problem, however, and

flooding of some mining operations was an infrequent obstacle (Beck 1962: 245, 247; Christiansen 1974: 23–26).

Almost all of the mine deposits proved to be small in

extent or to have low grade ores. Prospective mining areas, located on disputed land grants, had to wait development until the courts ruled. Roads were poor, so transportation was limited until the main railroad and spur lines

were constructed in 1879–90s. No significant amount of gold

or silver (compared with Colorado or California) was ever

mined. Owing to a general lack of safety and health concerns,

illness and mortality rates among miners were high (Beck

1962: 246; Christiansen 1974: 26–27, 34–35, 95).

Some of the best producing areas were the Mexican period gold mines in the Ortiz and San Pedro mountains.

New, relatively productive mines were located at

Elizabethtown (gold, 1870s), Cerrillos (silver, lead, and some

gold, 1870s–80s), Bland-Albemarle (silver, gold, 1889–1910),
130 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Table 43—Major mining areas/activities, 1600 to 1945.

Mining district County Materials mined

Baldy (A)

(Aztec, Baldy Mountain, Cimarron Copper Park, Eagle Nest, Maxwell’s Mount Baldy,

Old Baldy Mountains, Ute Creek, Virginia City, Willow Creek) Colfax Gold, silver, copper, lead

Cimarroncito (A)

(Bonito, Cimarron Canyon, Urraca, Urraca Creek) Colfax Gold, silver, copper

Elizabethtown (A)

(Cimarron, Eaglenest, E–Town, Hematite, Iron Mountain, Moreno, Moreno Valley,

Moreno Creek, West Moreno) Colfax Gold, silver

Red River (A)

(Questa) Taos Molybdenum

Harding (A) Taos Tantalum

Anchor (A)

(Keystone, La Belle, Midnight, Red River) Taos Gold

Picuris (A)

(Copper Hill, Copper Mountain, Dixon, Glenwoody, Harding Mine, Hondo Canyon,

Penasco, Picuris, Rinconada, West Picuris) Taos Copper, gold, silver, optical

calcite, sillimanite

Red River (A)

(Alum Gulch, Black Copper, Black Mountain, Lower Red River, Moly, Questa,

Sulphur Gulch) Taos Gold, silver, copper

Rio Colorado Placers (A)

(Colorado Creek) Taos Gold

Rio Grande Valley (A)

(Rio Grande placers) Taos Gold

Twining (S and A)

(Amizette, Arroyo Hondo, Rio Hondo) Taos Copper

Abiquiu (S and A)

(Cobre Basin, Cobre Canyon, Copper Canyon) Rio Arriba Copper

Abiquiu Stone (S and A) Rio ARriba Building stone (sandstone

and tuff)

Bromide No. 2 (A)

(Bromide, Headstone, Tusas Mountain) Rio Arriba Gold, silver, copper, lead,

zinc

Chama Placers (A)

(Rio Chama Placers Region) Rio Arriba Gold

Gallina (A)

(Coyote, Gallina Prospect Region, Jarosa, Mesa Alta Mining Mountain, Youngsville) Rio Arriba Copper, silver, clay

Cerro Pedernal (P and S) Rio Arriba Chert

Hopewell (A)

(Eureka, Good Hope, Headstone, Tres Piedras) Rio Arriba Gold, silver, lead, copper,

zinc

Ojo Caliente No. 1 (A)

(Ojo Caliente) Rio Arriba Mica

(A) = Anglo (1846–1945) continued on next page
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 131

Table 43—Major mining areas/activities, 1600 to 1945 (continued).

Mining district County Materials mined

(S) Spanish (1699–1846); (P) Pueblo (1450–1945) continued on next page

Petaca (S and A)

(Alamos, Cribbenville, La Madera, Las Tablas, Ojo Caliente, Paloma Canyon

Prospect, Servilleta, Tres Piedras, Vallecitos) Rio Arriba Gold, silver, lead, copper

Mora (A) Mora Gold

Rociada (A)

(Hadley, San Carlos, Upper Rociada) Mora – Copper, gold, lead,

San Miguel silver, zinc

Elk Mountain (A)

(Bull Creek, Cow Creek, Elk Creek, Las Vegas, Rio de la Vaca) San Miguel Mica

El Porvenir (A)

(Hermit Mountain, Mineral Hill, Porvenir) San Miguel Copper

Tecolote (A)

(Las Vegas, Las Vegas Mines, Mineral Hill (?), Ribera, Ribera Copper Prospects,

Rivera, Salitre, San Miguel, San Pablo) San Miguel Copper

Willow Creek (A) Zinc, lead, copper, gold,

(Cooper, Cowles, Hamilton, Pecos, Pecos River, Tererro, Valley Ranch) San Miguel silver

Aspen Mountain (A) Gold, silver, copper, lead,

(Aspen Ranch) Santa Fe zinc

Cerrillos (P, S, and A)

(Bonanza City, Carbonateville, Cerrillos, Galisteo Creek, Hungry Gulch, Los Cerrillos, Santa Fe Turquoise, zinc, lead, silver,

Los Cerrillos, Mountain Chalchuihuitl, Turquesa, Turquois(e), Turquoise City, copper, gold, clay

Turquoise Hill)

Cerrillos Coal Field (A) Santa Fe Coal—anthracite and

bituminous

Glorieta (P and A) Santa Fe Copper, mineral paint

(Glorieta, Glorieta Mesa, Mailleuchet Mesa) (ocher)

Nambe (A)

(Chimayo, Cordova, Santa Fe Mountains, Truchas) Santa Fe Mica

New Placers (S and A)

(Alamillo, Carnahan Golden, Golden Placers, Lazarus Gulch, Nero Placers (?),

Placer Mountains, San Isidro (?), San Lazaro, San Lazarus Placers, San Pedro,

San Pedro Mountain(s), Santa Fe, San Ysidro Mountains, San Zaro, Silver Butte(s),

Tuerto Mountain(s), Tuertos Range) Santa Fe Copper, silver, gold

Old Placers (S and A)

(Cunningham Gulch, Dolores, El Real de Dolores, Lone Mountain, Ortiz, Ortiz

Mountains, Rio Galisteo, San Lazaro (?), San Zaro (?), Sierra del Oro, Silver Butte(s)) Santa Fe Gold, copper

Santa Fe (S and A)

(Dalton–Maho, Mailleuchet (?), Mikado, Montezuma, Penacho Peak Prospects, Santa Fe Copper, silver, gold, clay,

Santa Fe Mountains, Tencaho) limestone

Cochiti (A)

(Albemarle, Bland, Peralta Canyon) Sandoval Gold, silver, lead, copper

Hagan Coal (A)

(Hagan, Una del Gato) Sandoval Coal

Jemez Springs (S and A)

(Jemas, Jemes, Jemez Mountain, Jemez Plateau, Jemez Pueblo, Spanish Queen) Sandoval Copper
132 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Nacimiento Mountains (A)

(Copper City, Cuba, Eureka Mine, Nacimiento, San Francesca, San Miguel,

San Miguel Mine, Senorita, Senorito, Sierra Nacimiento) Sandoval Copper, silver

Placitas (P, S, and A)

(Algodones, Bernalillo, Capulin Peak, Juan Tabo, La Luz, La Luz Mine, La Madera,

Las Placitas, Montezuma, New Placers (?), Placitas–Montezuma, Sandia,

Sandia Mountains, Sandia–North Manzano Prospect Region, Sandia No. 1) Sandoval Lead, copper

Tijeras (S? and A) Bernalillo Gold, silver, copper, iron

Laguna (A) Cibola Uranium, fluorspar, pumice,

scoria

Grants (A) Cibola Uranium, fluorspar, pumice,

scoria

Zuni Mountains (A) Cibola Uranium, fluorspar, pumice,

scoria

Scholle (A) Torrance Copper, uranium

Cat Mountain (A) Socorro Gold

Chupadera (A) Socorro Copper, lead

Council Rock (A) Socorro Silver, lead

Hansonburg (A)

(Carthage) Socorro Copper, lead

Hop Canyon (A) Socorro Gold

Iron Mountain (A) Socorro Iron, tungsten, beryllium

Jones Camp (A) Socorro Iron

Joyita Hills (A)

(Canoncito) Socorro Lead

Ladron Mountains (A) Socorro Lead, zinc, manganese,

uranium

Lemitar Mountains (A) Socorro Lead, zinc, uranium

Luis Lopez (A) Socorro Manganese

Magdalena (A) Socorro Gold, silver, zinc, lead,

copper, manganese, vanadium

Magdalena Mountains (A) Socorro Gold, silver, copper,

manganese, zinc

Mill Canyon (A) Socorro Gold, copper

North Magdalena (A) Socorro Copper

Ojo Caliente (A) Socorro Copper, lead

Rayo (A) Socorro Copper

Table 43—Major mining areas/activities, 1600 to 1945 (continued).

Mining district County Materials mined

continued on next page
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 133

Table 43—Major mining areas/activities, 1600 to 1945 (continued).

Mining district County Materials mined

Rosedale (A) Socorro Gold

Mockingbird Gap (A) Socorro Copper, lead, zinc

San Jose (A)

(Nogal, San Mateo) Socorro Gold, silver

San Lorenzo (A)

(San Acacia) Socorro Copper, uranium

Scholle (A) Socorro Silver, copper, uranium

Socorro Peak (A) Socorro Silver, lead

Water Canyon (A)

(Silver Mountain Socorro Gold, silver, copper,

Sources: Christiansen 1974; Cordell 1979: 125–128; Jones 1904: 191–192; Northrop 1959: 571–596; Tainter and Levine 1987: 130–131

Figure 38—Mining operation, Kelly, Socorro County, 1905. Courtesy Mary Louise (Brown) Dillard and New Mexico Bureau of

Mines Photo Archives, Socorro.
134 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Socorro-Magdalena (silver, lead, 1881–90s) (Fig. 38), and

Carthage (coal, 1880s–90s) (Christiansen 1974: 35–70). The

locations of these and other mining sites, and rocks or minerals mined, are shown in Figure 39 and Table 43.

Military Resources

The establishment and garrisoning of military posts

throughout the region with several thousand troops and

many more draft animals from 1861 to the late 1800s created a new demand for other local resources such as horses,

mules, oxen, beef, mutton, agricultural products (mainly

wheat and corn), salt, native “hay,” and lumber (Frazer

1983; Miller 1989). With rapid growth of livestock generated not only by the demands of the army, but also by a

rapidly increasing emigrant and settler population, lowland grasslands were quickly depleted, and demand for

native hay (gramas, galleta, tobosa, bluestems, etc.) increased accordingly. Army horses usually received a daily

ration of 14 pounds of hay; 4,950 tons of hay were consumed in 1870. These hay grasses had to be hand cut, usually with sickles and scythes, in mountain meadows such

as the Valle Grande, or in valleys such as those of the Rio

Puerco and Santa Fe River. By 1885 most hay for regional

posts was freighted from Kansas, even though local farmers were raising substantial amounts of alfalfa by this time.

Horses, as well as mules and oxen, also required a large

amount of corn, grains, and fodder. Horses received 12

Figure 39—Major mining districts and towns, 1600–1945.

pounds of grain daily (Frazer 1983: 50; Keleher 1982: 43;

McNitt 1972: 184–185; Meketa 1986: 205–206; Miller 1989:

92–95, 99, 104).

One contractor promised 200,000 pounds of corn for livestock and military men in 1870. For that year, some 77,854

bushels of corn were contracted from local growers by the

army. Flour was also procured by the military for soldiers

to consume. Flour from grist millers totalled 1.5 million

pounds in 1861. About 161,000 pounds of beans were provided by 10 local farmers to regional posts in 1866 (Frazer

1983: 50, 179; Miller 1989: 57–58, 92, 145, 151; Perrigo 1982:

15).

Healing and Hot Springs

Throughout the historic period, Native Americans and

Hispanics utilized hot springs in the region for treating

various ailments. Ojo Caliente, San Antonio, Jemez

Springs, Montezuma, and Coyote Canyon were favorites of later Anglo residents. Some of these springs became sites of health resorts and remain so today (Cahill

1988: 39–45, 55–57, 77).

With the arrival of the first railroad in 1879–80, New

Mexico’s reputation as a place to recuperate from certain illnesses and to live a long life began to grow. This

belief was based primarily on the sunny, dry climate, relatively mild temperatures, scenic landscape, clean air, and

hot and cold mineral springs. All of these were important elements of the territory’s image as a curative environment, and along with Arizona, it became known as

the “well country.” Persons suffering from consumption,

or tuberculosis, were especially attracted to the region.

Tour boosters and railroad officials began to promote the

region, and sanitoria resorts were established at Las Vegas, Ojo Caliente, Santa Fe, Jemez Springs, Albuquerque,

Coyote Springs, and Socorro. At the end of the century

the military built large hospitals and sanatoria at several posts in the region (Williams and Fox 1986).

SUMMARY

Native Americans in the region viewed the landscape,

including the Rio Grande, as “sacred.” Their relationship

with the environment was meant to be based on harmony

with physical and biological elements maintained through

ritual and ceremony. This world view, combined with lowlevel technology, produced impacts on the environment that

were considerably less than those of later Euro-American

populations.

Major Pueblo villages were generally on or near the

edge of floodplains. Seasonal hunting, gathering, or farming camps were usually near the target resource, close to

water, as well as to the indigenous human populations

of the basin. Prior to Spanish arrival, abandonment of

villages due to drought or other factors was relatively

common. The outer limits of Pueblo settlement within the
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 135

region was shrinking in the late prehistoric period, with populations concentrating in large villages at or close to dependable water sources, such as the Rio Grande.

When the Spanish arrived, they settled at or near Pueblo

villages and forced the residents to assist them in farming,

livestock raising, and maintaining households and mission churches. New field configurations, irrigation systems

(including diversion dams and gates), and crops were introduced. Sheep, goats, cattle, horses, wheeled vehicles,

metal tools, firearms, and metal-tipped plows were introduced. These innovations, along with new infectious diseases, brought dramatic changes in Native American populations, lifeways, and landscape. Spanish policies and disease forced even more abandonments and consolidation,

with each extant pueblo eventually receiving a grant of

four square leagues as its exclusive use area. This represented a much smaller resource area than previously used,

but this was offset to some degree by significant declines in

population due to European diseases, warfare, famines,

and severe droughts.

With acquisition of the horse from the Spanish, nomadic

Indian groups extended their range of resource exploitation, including raiding for livestock and agricultural produce. Sheep and cattle provided a more dependable supply of meat than game animals for these groups. Spanish

sheep and their husbandry were adopted by the Pueblos,

who in turn passed this resource and associated management skills to the Navajo. Sheep not only provided meat

but also wool for weaving. Navajo flocks increased over

time, while Pueblo sheep raising generally declined, especially over the last 100 years, except at Laguna and Acoma.

Grazing around settlements and camps was intensive.

The Pueblos practiced floodwater farming and limited

irrigation at the time of early Spanish contact. Through

association with these Europeans, the first technique was

virtually abandoned for a more intensive and effective diversion structure-ditch based agricultural system. As production of introduced wheat and traditional corn, beans,

squash, and so forth increased, there was less dependence

on gathering of wild plant foods.

Although hunting and gathering were no longer as important to the Pueblos as they were in the prehistoric period, these activities remained significant to the Navajo,

Apache, and Southern Ute in the region. A variety of mammals and birds provided food, hides, sinew, tool material,

skins, and feathers. Wild plants provided food, medicine,

shelter, fuel, and arts-crafts materials. Several hundred indigenous species were used by these Indian groups as well

as the Pueblos in the study region.

The region also provided an array of rocks and minerals used by Native Americans in the manufacture of tools,

weapons, jewelry, pottery, and so forth. Chalcedony, obsidian, jet, galena, malachite, hematite, and turquoise

were some of the more important minerals collected and

used. Clays from a number of locations were used in

making pottery, the most important art-craft endeavor

of the Pueblo. Sandstones and limestones were used by

groups as tool and building materials.

If one or more of the above resources were not available within a group’s area, they were obtained through

trade with another group. Some of the more common

materials or goods traded were buffalo and other animal hides, agricultural produce, livestock, pinyon nuts,

shell, turquoise, woven items, and minerals.

The Spanish brought an array of new settlement and

resource use strategies and technologies, and new attitudes toward the environment. Unlike Native Americans, Spaniards saw themselves as having dominion over

nature and superior to the indigenous peoples.

Redistribution of Pueblo lands and distribution of

other lands to Spanish settlers were accomplished

through land grants. Some of these grants were made to

private individuals as encomiendas (17th century) and

grazing use (18th–19th centuries). After 1694, most were

communal grants made to families who were subsistence

farmers and livestock raisers. Water, arable soils, grass, and

woodland or forest resources were environmental determinants in selecting and making these grants. Encroachment

by Spaniards on Pueblo lands was a continuing problem.

By the mid 1700s most of the best farmlands along the

Rio Grande and major tributaries were under irrigation.

Adjacent grasslands were supporting more than 135,000

head of sheep, goats, cattle, and horses, not counting those

animals herded by the Navajo and Apache. Some one million sheep were being exported annually to Mexican states

to the south. By the mid 1800s there were probably three

million sheep in New Mexico.

Indigenous woody plants were used locally by the Spanish for house construction, furniture, tools, carts, and

fuelwood, to name just a few examples. Wild plants were

used as food, medicine, and arts and crafts; these uses were

primarily learned from the Pueblos and other Native American groups. Bosque and upland woodlands and forests were

sometimes burned to create pastures or meadows. Owing to

the limitations of available weapons, hunting was not a major subsistence activity among Hispanics, except for the fall

buffalo hunts to the east of the study region. Hides and meat

of various other mammals, as well as bison, were commonly

obtained through trade with Native Americans.

Although the Spanish made intensive forays in search

of mineral wealth, there were few mining operations in the

colonial period. Deposits mined by the Pueblo for a considerable time, such as the lead and turquoise, were exploited

by Hispanics in the Cerrillos-Las Huertas area. Limited

amounts of gold and silver were extracted from lodes in

various mountain ranges, the best known being in the Ortiz

Mountains. Mica, for window coverings, and copper, made

into containers and utensils, were mined on a limited scale.

Salt was commonly collected in the Salinas Province and

at the confluence of the Chama River and Rio Grande.
136 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Furs and trade over the Santa Fe Trail attracted the first

wave of Anglos to the basins beginning in the early 1820s.

This marked the beginning of intensive exploitation of beaver and otter, populations of which were decimated or extirpated. The second wave of Anglos began in 1846 with

occupation of New Mexico by U.S. troops. Subsequent settlement was generally concentrated in and around existing

communities. These soldiers and settlers, like the trapperstraders, brought an environmental view and technology

quite different from those of Native Americans and

Hispanics; resources were to be exploited for monetary

gain. Besides more efficient weapons and steel traps,

Anglos introduced steel plows, machine-made fabrics, new

cultigens, large numbers of cattle, and new modes of transportation. By 1880, the first railroad had been constructed

along the Middle Rio Grande, and intensive settlement on

newly surveyed public domain and mining of an array of

minerals followed. Several other railroads were completed

over the next 3 decades, and extensive forest areas were

logged on old grant lands and national forests for construction materials. New mining technologies made extraction more economically efficient but more environmentally

destructive. A new judicial system and some unscrupulous lawyers took hundreds of thousands of acres of grant

land claimed by Hispanos, much of which ended up under

U.S. Government control as public lands in national forest

preserves.

A rapidly growing population placed added pressures

on resources such as water, grass, timber, fauna, and farmland. When major environmental problems began to appear at the turn of the century, a conservation movement at

the federal and territorial (later state) levels began. Depletion of in-stream flows, soil erosion due to overgrazing and

clear-cutting, and extirpation of a number of wild animals

continued into the early part of this century. During this

time the Pueblos and their supporters were engaged in several legislative and judicial “battles” to keep their land base.

Grazing permits and restrictions on logging of public

lands followed in the early 1900s and marked the beginning of some environmental recovery. Subsequently, more

resource management agencies and regulations were established, especially during and following the 1930s–50s

droughts and the environmental movement of the mid

1960s-early 1970s. Major concerns since then have focused

on establishing wilderness, endangered species, grazing

on public lands, logging, water quantity and quality, and

mitigation or preservation of eco-cultural resources (see

chapters 4 and 5).

CHRONOLOGY

1490–1525 Tonque Pueblo produced virtually all of the

lead-glazed pottery used in the Pueblo region

(Snow 1981: 363).

1400s– Pueblos mined and collected turquoise and

1500s lead for paint from the Cerrillos area, fibrolite

for axes from the southern Sangre de Cristo

Mountains, obsidian for tools and weapons

from the Jemez Mountains, malachite and azurite for jewelry from various northern mountain ranges, travertine for jewelry (?) from the

Los Lunas area, salt for food seasoning and

preservation from the Estancia Basin, and

Pedernal chert for tools and weapons from the

Chama Valley (Snow 1981: 364).

1400s–1680 San Marcos Pueblo, called “Turquoise Pueblo

Ruin” by later Tewas, was so-named due to its

proximity to Mount Chalchihuitl, or “Place of

Turquoise.” Turquoise, as well as lead, and

probably copper were mined here by the Pueblos (Schroeder 1977: 21–23).

1400s– Based on archeological evidence, 54 species

1600s of birds were used at Las Humanas and Pueblo

del Encierro for meat, feathers, and personal

adornment (Snow 1981: 364).

1500–50 A group of mines and quarries along the

Cuchillo de San Francisco in the Placitas mining district were worked by Pueblos. Various

tools and Rio Grande glaze-paint sherds are

associated (Warren and Weber 1979: 10).

1539–40 At first European contact, the Pueblos were

growing corn, squash, beans, amaranth, pumpkins, and sunflowers. Corn varieties included

flint, dent, flour, sweet, and popcorn (Sando

1992: 43).

1540 (pre) Some Pueblos, who were inhabiting mesa

tops, maintained catchment reservoirs. In some

instances these were filled by rolling large

snowballs into them during winter (DuMars

et al. 1984: 7).

1540 (pre) European diseases may have spread

north from Mexico to New Mexico via trade

routes. By the end of the 16th century these

maladies had severely impacted Pueblo and

other Native American populations and had

caused a decline in trade (Riley 1987: 325).

1540 (pre) The Pueblo Indians used an ancient trail

along the Rio Grande, between Taos and El

Paso, for travel and trade. This later became

the upper Camino Real (Riley 1993: 13–14).

1540 (late October) The main body of the Coronado

expedition found a “horn — six feet long and

thick at the base as a man’s thigh. It seemed to

be more like the horn of a goat than of any

other animal” on a river in east-central Arizona (Hodge 1946: 305–306).

1540 fall Coronado’s livestock caused serious damage

to Tiguex Pueblo fields and crops (Flint and

Flint 1992: 135).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 137

1540–1700 Pueblos were mining lead in the Cerrillos area

for use as lead-glaze paint decoration on pottery (Schroeder 1977: 21).

1541 (February 20-March 31) Coronado laid siege

to Moho Pueblo in the Tiguex Province. After

the snow stopped falling, the Pueblo inhabitants suffered from little or no water. They eventually abandoned their village, and some

fought their way through the Spanish lines

(Bolton 1964: 219–230).

1541 July Part of the Coronado expedition found a “great

deal of food” and “many bowls full of a carefully selected shining metal with which they

glazed the earthenware” in two Jemez villages

(Hodge 1946: 340).

1541 (summer) One of Coronado’s contingents traveled up the Rio Grande to Taos on a food collecting trip. At this pueblo they found a

wooden bridge of large, heavy, square pine timbers spanning the Taos River (Riley 1987: 225–

226).

1549 The Spanish Crown deleted the “labor grant”

from the encomienda but retained the right of

the encomendero to demand tribute of goods

or foodstuffs. Spaniards also had the right of

repartimiento, that is, to use Indians for limited work time in fields, on ranches, and in

mines (Jenkins 1987: 65).

1550–90 The Pueblo population of the Rio Grande Basin declined, perhaps due to European diseases introduced by Spanish explorers

(Patterson-Rudolph 1990: 6).

1573 The Spanish Laws of Settlement called for the

naming of geographic features and becoming

familiar with the foods of an area. Early settlers learned the latter from the Pueblos

(Schroeder and Matson 1965: 5). A royal ordinance specified that municipal governments

of new settlements were responsible for protecting water supplies, keeping streets clean,

and maintaining cemeteries (Simmons 1992:

223). Another ordinance set forth requirements

for siting Spanish towns such as “healthful

environment, clear atmosphere, pure air, and

weather without extremes.” Also, the “land

had to be suitable for farming and ranching;

there had to be mountains and hills with an

abundant supply of stone and wood for

building materials and an adequate source

of water for drinking and irrigation. Waters

inside the town were to be held for the common benefit of the inhabitants, but the source

of supply was to be common to all persons”

(Engstrand 1978: 323). New laws promulgated by the Council of the Indies declared

1540 (fall to 1541) Castaneda reported a large number of cranes (probably sandhill), wild geese,

crows, and “starlings” (probably a species of

blackbird) in the Tiguex Province. He also

noted that there were “a great many native

fowl in these provinces, and cocks with great

hanging chins” (wild turkey) (Hodge 1946:

353–354).

1540 (December-January 1541) Under siege by

Coronado’s troops for 50 days, residents of a

Tiguex pueblo dug a well, or cistern, in the

village, but the walls collapsed before they

found water. Some 30 Pueblos were killed in

the cave-in (Hodge 1946: 322).

1540 Castaneda, one of the chroniclers of the

Coronado expedition, reported an abundance

of turquoise near Pecos. This location was probably the long-exploited deposits at Cerrillos

(Northrop 1975: 8).

1540 Alvarado, another one of Coronado’s chroniclers, wrote this description of the Tiguex Province (Isleta to near San Felipe): “This river of

Nuestra Senora flows through a broad valley

planted with fields of maize and dotted with

cottonwood groves. There are twelve pueblos,

whose houses are built of mud and are two stories high. They have a food supply of maize, beans,

melons and turkeys in great abundance” (Bolton

1964: 184; Hammond and Rey 1940: 183, 255–

256). Cotton was being grown by the Tiguex

Pueblo (Riley 1987: 234).

1540 The Pueblos gathered “large quantities of

herbs . . .” (Hammond and Rey 1940: 256).

1540 From first European contact and throughout

the historic period, the main items traded by

the Pueblos to other Native American groups

were corn flour, pollen, and husks; pinyon

nuts; turquoise; salt; feathers of eagles, hawks,

turkeys, and a number of small birds; and woven baskets and pottery (Sando 1992: 37, 44).

1540–83 Regional pueblos were involved in the manufacture, procurement, and trade of turquoise,

cotton blankets, feather blankets, various animal hides, fibrolite axes, lead-glazed ceramics, copper, obsidian, malachite, azurite, and

iron ores. The Pueblos were receiving considerable amounts of buffalo meat and hides from

the Southern Plains Indians in trade (Riley

1987: 237–243).

1540–94 Spanish explorers noted the abundance, utility, and trade value of furs and skins (Weber

1971: 14).

1540 (ca.) Some 20,000–25,000 acres of land in the

Middle Rio Grande Valley were in cultivation

by Pueblo villagers (Hedke 1925: 9).
138 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

missionization as an important goal, and

priests joined soldiers, miners, and settlers in

expeditions to exploit human and natural resources (Riley 1987: 23). Guidelines as to how

and to whom water and cropland were to be

distributed were specified. A subsequent law

specified that prior to allocating water for individual residents, the settlement itself should

secure its own water needs (Meyer 1984: 29).

To protect Indian agricultural fields and villages, Spanish law required that cattle and

horse herds were to be no closer than a league

and a half (about 4 miles) and farms for sheep

and goats at a distance of half a league (1.3

miles) (Engstrand 1978: 323). Another ordinance gave nomadic Indians certain rights or

reducciones (reservations) to arable land, water, and wood, and common land for livestock,

separating them from Spanish herds (Jenkins

1987: 65).

1573 (December 1-October 1618) The Spanish government defined the areas and rights of the

Pueblos (DuMars et al. 1984: 19).

1574 The Mesta, established earlier, was reorganized and passed laws regulating the branding of horses and cattle, the disposing of unbranded livestock, the regulating of slaughter

houses, and other related activities. The Spanish government claimed ownership of wild

horses and cattle (Dobie 1952: 95–96).

1576–79 The European-introduced plague decimated

the Indian population in Mexico, causing a

shortage of labor in agriculture and industry

(Ringrose 1970: 47).

1581 (July) The Chamuscado-Rodriguez expedition

explored the eight leagues of marshes and

swamps along the west bank of the Rio Grande

below El Paso. When they crossed the river at

the ford above the pass, they became the first

Europeans to do so. In reaching the ford, they

had to leave the river north of El Paso and

swing westward around the pass because it

was too narrow for the men and pack trains to

get through. They then moved back northeastward to the river and the crossing (Sonnichsen

1968: 4).

1581 (August 21–22) Moving upriver, ChamuscadoRodriguez reached an abandoned Piro Pueblo

village ruin, perhaps in the San Marcial area.

The next day they reached another pueblo

which had been abandoned the night before.

Here the Spaniards found turkeys, cotton, and

corn in the houses, and beans, calabashes, and

cotton in the nearby fields (Hammond and Rey

1966: 141).

1581 (August 23) Members of the ChamuscadoRodriguez expedition were given corn, beans,

squash, cotton blankets, and tanned buffalo

skins by Piro Pueblos near historic San

Marcial. In return, the Spaniards gave the Indians “iron, sleigh bells, playing cards, and

various trinkets . . .” (Hammond and Rey 1966:

142).

1581 (early September) At the south end of the southern Tiwa villages along the Rio Grande, the

Chamuscado-Rodriguez expedition noted the

crops of corn, beans, and squash; they also

related that the Pueblos had extensive cotton

fields. Also, every man had a pen of 100 turkeys and “small, shaggy dogs,” which they

housed in “underground huts” (Hammond

and Rey 1966: 83).

1581 (mid September) At the Galisteo pueblos

Chamuscado and Rodriguez were told of

Plains Apaches to the east who subsisted on

buffalo meat in winter and harvested prickly

pear and yucca fruit in summer. They lived in

buffalo hide tipis and also traded hides, meat,

and deerskins for corn and blankets at the

Pueblo villages. The buffalo, they said, were

“as numerous as the grains of sand in their

hands, and there were many rivers, water

holes, and marshes where the buffalo

ranged.” The Pueblos also said that the buffalo seasonally came within 20–25 miles of

their villages (Hammond and Rey 1966: 86–

87).

1581 (late September) The Chamuscado-Rodriguez

expedition reached the salt lakes east of the

Manzano Mountains and visited five pueblos

in the area to the west and southwest of the

lakes (Hammond and Rey 1966: 106–107).

1581 Hernan Gallegos wrote this about the pueblos

along the Rio Grande: “These pueblos were

located on excellent sites with good level

land...” (Hammond and Rey 1966: 142).

1582 (early) Moving down the Rio Grande on their

return to Mexico, the Chamuscado-Rodriguez

expedition found “very good veins,” a reference to potential mining locales (Northrop

1975: 8).

1583 (January) Espejo reported “many cottonwood

groves and some patches of white poplars four

leagues wide” and “quantities of grapevines

and Castilian walnut trees” as he traveled up

the Rio Grande from the San Marcial area to

the Keres pueblos (Hammond and Rey 1966:

219).

1583 (February 1) At the Piro village of San Felipe

the Antonio de Espejo expedition recorded its
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 139

inhabitants as wearing cotton cloth and

tanned deerskin clothing, buffalo hide moccasins, cotton blankets, and turkey feather robes.

Espejo’s expedition found corn stubble in Piro

fields, which he said “was the salvation of our

horses” (Hammond and Rey 1966: 172).

1583 (February 10–12) The Salinas Pueblos had

“abundant corn, turkeys, and other supplies” and wore clothes made from buffalo

hides, cotton blankets, and “chamois skins.”

Their villages were located on the west edge

of the buffalo range (Hammond and Rey

1966: 222).

1583 (February) In the Isleta Pueblo area, Espejo

found two villages stocked with abundant

corn, beans, “green and sun-dried calabashes,” and other “dried vegetables”

(Hammond and Rey 1966: 176, 178).

1583 (late February) Near Cochiti Pueblo the Espejo

expedition gave inhabitants of the area sleigh

(hawk?) bells and “iron articles” for tortillas,

turkeys, pinoles, and buffalo hides (Hammond

and Rey 1966: 179, 238).

1583 (late February) Espejo noted a magpie in a cage

at a Keres pueblo (Hammond and Rey 1966:

223).

1583 (March 5–6) At Acoma, Espejo was given

“blankets, tanned deerskins, turkeys, and a

quantity of corn” (Hammond and Rey 1966:

182).

1583 (March 7) Luxan, with the Espejo expedition,

described Acoma’s irrigated fields at the Rio

San Jose: “We found many irrigated cornfields

with canals and dams, built as if by Spaniards.” Espejo wrote “These people have their

fields two leagues distant from the pueblo, near

a medium-sized river, and irrigate their farms

by little streams of water diverted from a marsh

near the river” (Hammond and Rey 1966: 182,

224).

1583 (March 15-April 7) Espejo noted that the Zunis from Hawikuh were planting their fields.

Showers, mainly in the form of snow, fell frequently. The expedition was provided with

“plenty of hares and rabbits” (Hammond and

Rey 1966: 184–185).

1583 (June) Cottonwoods were growing near Kuaua

Pueblo (Riley 1987: 228).

1583 The Espejo expedition reported “antimony”

(probably galena) along the Rio Grande Valley, possibly in the Manzano, Caballo, and

Organ mountains. At Zia, Espejo was given

copper ore from the Jemez Mountains

(Northrop 1975: 8).

1591 (January 10–11) Explorer Castano de Sosa recorded that six northern pueblos, including

Pecos, Pojoaque, and Nambe, had irrigation

ditches. He also found an extensive irrigation

system and wood-burning “ovens” at San

Ildefonso Pueblo (Riley 1987: 235; Schroeder

and Matson 1965: 116–117, 120).

1591 (March 7–16) Members of the Sosa expedition

spent 17 days prospecting around San Marcos

Pueblo, where they found evidence of silver.

Pueblo Indians were mining turquoise and

lead in the same area (Schroeder 1977: 22–23).

1591 (March 11) As Sosa approached, the Tiwa Pueblos abandoned their villages on the west side

of the Rio Grande, but some could not cross

the flooding river (Hammond and Rey 1966:

292).

1598 (pre) The Tewa Pueblo of San Juan had engaged in ditch irrigation of fields over the last

300 years (Ellis 1987: 17).

1598 (late May) North of the Jornada del Muerto,

corn was procured from the Piro Pueblo of

Qualacu, which helped alleviate the food

shortage for the Juan de Onate expedition.

Travel continued to be arduous due to the soft,

deep sand. The wheels of the supply carts sank

to their hubs. As the expedition moved northward, a rainstorm provided needed water, as

well as substantially decreasing the air and

ground temperature (Simmons 1991a: 105–

106).

1598 (June 14) As the Onate expedition continued

northward through Piro country, they found

the pueblos deserted and the grain storerooms

cleaned out by their residents. As the food

shortage became more critical, the expedition

found an occupied pueblo known as Pilabo

on the west side of the river. After the expedition crossed the river, the Pueblos welcomed

the Spaniards and gave them a large supply of

corn. For this act, Onate named the Pueblo

Socorro (aid, help) (Fugate and Fugate 1989:

66; Simmons 1991a: 106).

1598 (June) Onate, leading his army and colonists,

marched north from Sevilleta Pueblo and

passed many pueblos, mostly abandoned, and

fields on both banks of the Rio Grande before

reaching Isleta (Hammond and Rey 1953, I:

318–319).

1598 (July) Onate and some of his soldiers learned

of Pueblo turquoise and lead mines near the

San Marcos Pueblo (Simmons 1991a: 113).

1598 (August 11) Onate initiated the construction

of an irrigation system at San Juan using 1,500

Pueblo Indians as laborers (Clark 1987: 13).

1598 (September) Onate learned of a promising
140 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

cluster of mines close to the El Tuerto Pueblo,

located east of the Sandia Mountains

(Simmons 1991a: 150).

1598 (early October) Onate led some of his soldiers

southeastward from San Juan along the east

side of the Sandia and Manzano mountains to

the saline lakes in the Estancia Valley. Besides

salt, Onate was also searching for precious

minerals in these mountains (Simmons 1991a:

125).

1598 Onate recorded deposits of sulfur and alum,

perhaps calcareous tufa, in the Jemez Hot

Springs area. One of his commanders,

Marcos Farfunn, was sent to explore the Zuni

Salt Lake, which he described as having extensive deposits of superior quality (Northrop

1975: 9).

1598 The rotation of crops, common in medieval

Europe, was not practiced by the Spanish in

New Mexico (Beck 1962: 263).

1598–99 Onate and the Spanish colonists brought

churro sheep to northern New Mexico. This

breed was small with limited, coarse, longstaple wool, but they were selected over Merino

because the churro’s meat was better, its fleece

more suited to hand processing, and it could

survive drought better than cattle (Baxter 1987:

20). A grass native to Eurasia, sheep fescue

(Festuca ovina), may have been introduced to

New Mexico via the fleece and droppings of

these sheep (deBuys 1985: 225).

1598–99 Onate’s colonists complained about living in

Pueblo rooms which they found poorly ventilated and infested with bedbugs and other biting insects (Ellis 1987: 19).

1598–99 Chile, tomato, and cultivated tobacco were introduced from Mexico (Simmons 1991a: 66–

67).

1598–1608 Reports of silver lode and limited silver mining by various Spaniards were recorded for

the Cerrillos-San Pedro Mountains area

(Schroeder 1977: 23).

1598–1610 Loss of arable land and food reserves to the

Spanish resulted in accelerated development

of irrigation agriculture by the Pueblos. Movement of villages to new, more productive sites

was almost precluded by the Spanish presence. Some residents of Taos, Picuris, and

Santa Clara did temporarily move onto the

plains of eastern New Mexico (Snow 1981:

366).

1598–1630 With the construction of more irrigation systems and the introduction of livestock by the

Spanish, the demand for surface water increased significantly (Meyer 1984: 50).

1598–1630 By growing winter wheat brought by the

Spanish, the Pueblos extended the farming season, and by adopting livestock, they had to

hunt less for meat and hides. The use of cow

dung for firing pottery and heating homes may

have begun during this period (Schroeder 1975:

53).

1599 (early) Onate moved his headquarters and

capital from San Juan to the west side of the

Rio Grande to San Gabriel Pueblo. Most of the

Pueblo inhabitants left, but some remained to

haul water and fuelwood for the Spaniards

(Simmons 1991a: 148–149).

1599 (late October) Juan de Onate described the Rio

Puerco-of-the-West in the Cabezon Peak area

as having many cottonwoods and fairly deep

water where he crossed the stream. He named

the river “La Torriente de los Alamos” and

described the valley as “lush, rich, and fertile”

(Lopez 1980: 71, 77).

1599–1600 (late) Onate and his men continued their search

for gold and silver. Low-grade silver was found

near San Marcos Pueblo and at several locales

near the El Tuerto Pueblo close to the east side

of the Sandia Mountains (Simmons 1991a:

150).

1599–1680 New Mexico’s governors dominated the export trade in furs and skins, such as buffalo,

antelope, elk, and deer (Weber 1971: 18–19).

1600 (post) The area along the east side of the Rio

Grande between Alameda Pueblo lands and

the Mexia “swamps” was called “Bosque

Grande” (Adams and Chavez 1956: 145).

1600–1634 Spanish livestock herds nearly doubled every

15 months (Gutierrez 1991: 57).

1600–1650 The Spanish conquistadores and military officers brought mastiffs and large greyhounds

to New Mexico. These “war dogs” were used

in combat, which terrorized Native Americans.

They were also used in hunting, especially the

greyhound (Simmons 1991b: 36).

1600–80 Disputes over land and water rights between

the church and state were common during this

period (Scholes 1935: 109).

1600–80 The Spanish mined lead for making rifle ball

ammunition in the Cerrillos area (Warren and

Weber 1979: 8–9).

1600–80 The granting of lands around Pueblo villages

and the encroachment of ranches on their land

precluded migration as a traditional option in

mitigating environmental stress (Snow 1981:

366).

1600–80 About 48,000 acres of irrigated land were

brought into production by the Spanish in the

Middle Rio Grande Valley (Hedke 1925: 23).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 141

1601 (September) Food shortages continued to cause

suffering among the colonists at San Gabriel.

Some of the soldiers and settlers began to protest their plight. The priests also spoke out about

the maltreatment of the Pueblos (Simmons

1991a: 165–167).

1601 The Pueblos in the Rio Abajo and Rio Arriba

were reduced to “poverty” due to the corn,

blankets, and other tribute taken by the

encomenderos and other Spaniards (Oppenheimer 1962: 11).

1601 By this year the Spanish colonists in the San

Gabriel area had consumed all of the food reserves that nearby pueblos had stored prior to

the Spanish arrival in 1598. Both cultural

groups were forced to venture greater distances

to procure food (Hammond and Rey 1953: 680–

688, 693).

1602 The Council of the Indies set encomienda as

either a manta or a hide and a fanega (1- bushels) of corn per year for each household (Jenkins

1987: 67).

1604 Spanish carpenters trained Pecos Pueblo men

in woodworking skills. The accessibility and

diversity of woodlands and forests in the area

provided the basis for a vigorous craft over the

next 150 years. Carved corbels and vigas, doors,

window frames, and furniture were crafted to

meet local and regional demands (Kessell 1979:

132–133).

1610 Each resident of Santa Fe received “two lots

for a house and garden, two suertes (field lots)

for a vegetable garden, and four caballerias

(each 100 to 125 acres) for grazing” (Jones

1979: 147).

1610 The supply service caravans, known as

conductas, began operating over the Rio

Grande route opened by ChamuscadoRodriguez, Espejo, and Onate expeditions.

Known as the Camino Real, this road connected the central and northern Mexico settlements with Santa Fe. Much-needed supplies

were brought up this road every 3–7 seven

years, usually in 32 wagons escorted by 12–14

soldiers and a herd of livestock and spare draft

animals (Moorhead 1958: 28–33).

1600s (early) Under the encomienda system, Spaniards took Pueblo lands for grazing of livestock.

Overgrazing and soil erosion resulted. Water was also directed to Spanish fields, causing a shortage for Pueblo crops (Sando 1992:

60).

1600s (early) By this time the Spanish had so disrupted Pueblo agriculture and trade with other

Native American groups that they were

starving. One Franciscan priest claimed that

Pueblos were surviving by eating tree bark and

leaves or by mixing dirt and ashes with a little

corn (Kenner 1969: 12).

1600s (early–1680) Pueblo residents were forced to

collect firewood, salt, and pinyon nuts in large

quantities, to prepare hides, and to manufacture cotton blankets, causing stress among the

villagers (Snow 1981: 368).

1600s (early–1680) Life expectancy, disease rate, and

decrease in stature were all experienced by

Pueblo people in the Salinas Province due, in

part, to drought and European diseases

(Tainter and Levine 1987: 56, 72).

1600s (early–1680) Items exported south from New

Mexico included sheep, raw wool, hides (buffalo, deer, and antelope), pinyon nuts, salt, Indian blankets, and El Paso brandy (Moorhead

1958: 49).

1620–80 “Each mission friar had one to two thousand

sheep ...” (Hackett 1937: 69; Scholes 1935: 107–

108). In 1621 encomenderos were grazing livestock near the pueblos and their agricultural

lands. Stock roamed onto these fields, causing

damage to the crops and stubble (Bloom 1928:

368).

1621 Fray Benavides wrote “the abundance of game

appears infinite.” He noted that wolves, mountain lions, wildcats, jackrabbits, and cottontail rabbits were numerous. Bighorn sheep were

common in the uplands (Ayer 1965: 37).

1625 By this year encomenderos were levying tributes on their Indian charges, usually corn,

cotton cloth, or animal hides (Westphall

1983: 4).

1626 (pre) Benavides recorded the destruction of

crops by rabbits. The Tewa Pueblos were experiencing famine due to insufficient irrigation

water (Hodge, Hammond, and Rey 1945: 39,

69).

1628 The mission supply caravan had four dozen

chickens for New Mexico missionaries among

its cargo (Schroeder 1972: 55).

1629–30 Fathers Salmeron and Benavides reported various mineral deposits in north and central New

Mexico, including silver, copper, lead, alum,

sulfur, turquoise, garnet, and salt (Northrop

1975: 10).

1620s Missionaries successfully cultivated vineyards in the Socorro district. Wines produced

included red and white; brandy was also

manufactured (Simmons 1991b: 72).

1620s (to early 1700s) An extensive stand of cottonwoods was found along the Rio Grande in the

Albuquerque area. It was known as the Bosque
142 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Grande de San Francisco Xavier. South of this

woodland were the open wetlands called

Esteros de Mejia (Simmons 1982: 40).

1630 Fray Benavides listed the following fish found

in the Rio Grande Basin: bagre (blue catfish,

Ictalurus furcatus), trucha (trout, Salmo spp.),

yellow bullhead, Ictalurus natalis), anguila (eel, Anguilla rostrata), boqeinete (sucker,

Moxostoma sp.), sardina (chub, Notropis sp.),

aguja (gar shovel-nose sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus playtyrhynchus), cazon (longnose

gar, Lepisosteus osseus), and matalote (Gila chub,

Gila intermedia) (Ayer 1965: 37, 261–

262).

1631 A conducta from Mexico to New Mexico carried 48 domesticated hens for food for those

who became ill on the trip (Schroeder 1968:

106).

1630s (early) Grasshoppers and rabbits destroyed

crops at various Rio Grande pueblos

(Schroeder 1972: 5).

1633 Spanish settlers were establishing farms in

Pueblo fields, impacting arable lands by constructing houses, outbuildings, and corrals

and introducing livestock (Hackett 1937: 127–

131).

1635–37 Governor Francisco Martinez de Baeza

forced converted Indians to collect and pack

large quantities of pinyon nuts for shipment

down the Camino Real (Kessell 1979: 155–

156).

1638 A widespread outbreak of European diseases

struck Native Americans (Palkovich 1985:

417).

1639 Governor Rosas shipped 122 painted buffalo

hides and 198 “chamois” skins south on the

mission supply caravan (Weber 1971: 20).

1639–40 Raiding Apaches attacked Rio Grande settlements and burned some 52,000 bushels of

Pueblo corn (Gutierrez 1991: 112; Vivian 1964:

25).

1641 Thousands of Native Americans died from

smallpox (Horgan 1954, I: 261).

1650–60 Spaniards began mining silver, copper, and

lead in the Tecolote area at the north end of the

Sandia Mountains (Scurlock 1983: 12).

1600s (mid) Prairie chickens were found in the Salinas Province (Schroeder 1968: 102).

1659 Several Tewa Pueblos complained to the Spanish governor about damage to their crops

caused by an encomendero’s livestock (Anderson 1985: 363).

1659 Some priests traded with various Indian

groups for pronghorn skins (Weber 1971: 19).

1660 The annual trade caravan, which passed by

Tome Hill, included 10 new carts, at least 160

oxen, and more than 60 pack mules. Among

the cargo were 1,350 deerskins, buffalo hides,

600 pairs woolen stockings, 300 fanegas of

pinyon nuts, salt, and quantities of clothing

(Minge 1979: 11).

1660 Governor Mendizabel received a shipment of

23 fanegas of pinyon nuts from Pecos Pueblo

(Kessell 1979: 156).

1660 Governor Lopez de Mendizabel shipped

1,350 deer skins and hides to Parral to market.

He sent two other large shipments of skins

during his term. Some 1,200 pronghorn skins

and four bundles of elk skins were found at

his property in Santa Fe (Weber 1971: 20–

21).

1661 Some 60 Pueblo laborers from Quarai were

conscripted by the Spanish to harvest and

transport loads of pinyon nuts. Some 40 Indians of Jemez Pueblo were forced by the Spanish to transport pinyon nuts to “depots” at

Santa Fe, Cochiti, and San Felipe. Nineteen

Indians from Abo worked for 6 days carrying

maize from Tabira and Las Humanas pueblos

to the house of Captain Nicolas de Aguilar in

the Rio Abajo (Scholes 1937: 394–395).

1661 Pueblos from Tabira harvested salt from a

nearby “salt marsh” and transported it to the

estancia of Sargento Mayor Francisco Gomez

in the Middle Rio Grande. Sixty-three Pueblos

carried salt from the east bank of the Rio

Grande to Socorro Pueblo (Scholes 1937: 394–

395).

1661 An organ for the church at Abo was purchased

with money made by selling pinyon nuts

(Toulouse 1949: 4).

1662 Encomienda system payments made by Indians at Pecos included 66 pronghorn skins, 21

white buckskins, 16 buckskins, and 18 buffalo

hides (Weber 1971: 18).

1663–66 There were 14 estancias in the Isleta-Sandia

Pueblo area (Oppenheimer 1962: 12).

1664 Governor Penalosa decreed that “enemy” Indians, even though at peace, would no longer

be allowed to enter into the pueblos to trade.

This exacerbated significantly Apache food

shortages, which led to accelerated hostilities

between them and the Pueblos and Spanish

(Forbes 1960: 158–159).

1667 Locusts devastated crops, especially at Santo

Domingo Pueblo (Kessell 1979: 218).

1660s Lead ores continued to be mined by the Spanish at the north end of the Sandia Mountains

in the Tecolote-Las Huertas valley areas

(Scurlock 1983: 12).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 143

1671 An unidentified epidemic disease virtually

struck every Indian group in the province

(Forbes 1960: 166).

1672–79 Tajique, Chilili, Abo, Quarai, and Las Humanas

pueblos were abandoned due to drought,

which caused loss of crops and interrelated

Apache raids (Tainter and Levine 1987: 86–

87).

1675–1710 The pueblo and later land grant of Alameda

was located on the west side of the Rio Grande.

Sometime after this, and before 1769, the river

shifted westward, leaving the village of

Alameda on the west side of the Rio Grande

(Sargeant 1987: 38–40).

1680 (pre) On the east side of the Rio Grande, now

part of Albuquerque’s Barelas-South Valley

area, there was an area of cienegas and charcos

known as the Esteros de Mejia (Simmons 1982:

40).

1680 (pre) The father of Roque Madrid reportedly

worked a lead mine near Santa Fe (Schroeder

1977: 24).

1680 A collapse in the Chalchihuitl turquoise mine

killed a number of Indian slaves. This may

have been a factor causing the Pueblo Revolt

later in the year (Tyler 1964: 184).

1680 (August 10) The Pueblo Revolt, caused partly

by food shortages due to drought and interrelated raiding by nomadic groups, began

(Sando 1979: 195).

1680 (post August 10) Reportedly, Pueblo Indians

in the area sealed the gold mine known as the

Montezuma Mine during the revolt (Batchen

1972: 36).

1680 (September 13) The Pueblos, who had attacked

and skirmished with Otermin’s troops trying

to hold the provincial capital, diverted the

Santa Fe River away from the Spaniards for 2

days and a night. This loss of water supply

was a factor in Otermin’s decision to retreat

southward (Hackett and Shelby 1942, I: lxiiilxiv).

1681 ( pre-December) Owing to lack of rain, the

northern Pueblos experienced famine and

abandoned their villages (Hackett and Shelby

1942, I: cxxxvii).

1681 Governor Otermin discovered that the Pueblos had kept part of the sheep flocks and cattle

herds following the revolt of the previous year.

This suggested that they had acquired a taste

for mutton and beef and that wool had replaced

cotton as the preferred material used in weaving (Baxter 1987: 13).

1681 There were domesticated chickens at Puaray

and Alameda pueblos (Schroeder 1968a: 106).

1687 (June 4) The Spanish royal cedula defined the

areas of land granted to the Indians (DuMars

et al. 1984: 19).

1692 (September 4) The Spanish army of the reconquest, led by Diego deVargas, rested at the

abandoned rancho of Felipe Romero near the

abandoned Sevilletta Pueblo. This site was

selected for its excellent grasses and adequate

water (Espinosa and Chavez n.d.: 22).

1692 (late October) Diego de Vargas, who crossed

the Rio Puerco west of later Albuquerque,

with his reconquest command, noted that the

water was so deep that the soldiers had to

carry provisions and equipment on their

shoulders (Lopez 1980: 71; Twitchell 1963, I:

381).

1692–93 The Esteros de Mejia, which extended along

the east side of the Rio Grande from the present

Central Bridge to the Barelas Bridge, was the

site of a hacienda on the Camino Real. Made

up of charcos (small lakes) and cienegas

(marshes), which supported lush grasses,

sedges, and other forage plants, the esteros was

utilized by legal and trespass livestock

ranchers. This led to a near fatal altercation

among several individuals (Simmons 1982: 10,

40, 87, 112).

1692 (to early 1700) The Pueblo population declined

as much as 50 percent due to war and disease

(Thornton 1987: 77).

1692 (post) The Pueblo Indians had chickens

(Schroeder 1968a: 102).

1693 There was no late summer-fall harvest because of worms and grasshoppers at Santa

Ana, San Felipe, and Zia pueblos (Bailey

1940: 95–98).

1693 (late) Governor Diego de Vargas led his reconquest army and more than 800 settlers up the

Rio Grande from El Paso to the Middle and

Upper Rio Grande settlements (Kessell et al.

1995: 383–387).

1694 (May) Plains Apaches visited Governor

Vargas at Pecos Pueblo and presented him

three buffalo hides and an elk-hide camp tent

as gifts. They promised to bring buffalo, elk,

and deer hides to trade in the fall (Weber 1971:

22).

1694 (June) Sixty-four more families from Mexico arrived in northern New Mexico, and their presence exacerbated the troublesome food shortage. Vargas deemed it necessary to raid the

pueblos for food, which caused more bitter

battles and sieges (Sonnichsen 1968: 71).

1694 (summer) Vargas destroyed the Jemez villages

of Astiolakwa and Pebulikwa and collected
144 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

more than 500 bushels of stored corn. Most of

the corn was given to the Keresans who had

helped the Spanish campaign (Sando 1992:

72).

1694–1700 During the reconquest, or in the first few years

following, the Spanish commandeered the

lead-ore mines in the Cerrillos Hills for use in

making musket balls and perhaps other items.

Without lead for making their glaze-decorated

pottery, the Pueblos were forced to revert to

their old tradition of making mineral pigment paint for decoration (Peckham 1990:

122).

1695 (July 12) The Spanish royal cedula amended

the 1687 act by reducing areas granted the Indians (DuMars et al. 1984: 19).

1695 (summer) An infestation of worms ate most of

the crops, which contributed to a famine in the

following year (Twitchell 1963, 1: 409).

1695 Crops failed at San Juan Pueblo (Whitman

1940: 392).

1695 Two years after resettlement, Spanish families

had been reduced to 328 due to an epidemic,

hostilities with Native Americans, and desertions (Reeve 1961, I: 302).

1695 A grant of one fanega of planting land and

pasture for 200 sheep and 20 cattle at La

Cieneguilla was made to Joachim Anaya de

Almayor (Wozniak 1987).

1695 (post) A Spanish cart-wagon road, which extended southeast from the Bernalillo area

along the west base of the Manzanos, linking

springs along a fault line, crossed Abo Pass to

the Salinas villages (Simmons 1973a: 148).

1695–1748 Spanish colonists settled on abandoned

Sandia Pueblo lands along the Rio Grande,

which were fertile and well watered. Most of

these settlers were on the west side of the river

across from the old pueblo. Following resettlement by the Sandia Indians in 1748 on the east

side of the river, the Spanish on the opposite

side retained their lands (Clark 1987: 22).

1696 The famine impacted Pueblo and Hispanic

settlements. Various wild animals and plants

from the valleys and the mountains were eaten

(Twitchell 1963, 1: 409).

1696 Under the direction of Vargas, a silver mining

camp was established at the former Los

Cerrillos settlement, and it was named Cerro

de San Marcos. Three mines were worked at

this location, located near the deserted pueblo

of San Marcos (Schroeder 1977: 24).

1690s Owing to concerns that there were not adequate

unclaimed lands and waters to meet the needs

of new Hispanic settlements, farms, and

ranches, new regulations on the granting and

use of these resources were put in place (Bayer

et al. 1994: 75–76).

1600s The Spanish mined turquoise on Mount

Chalchiuitl, site of prehistoric Pueblo mines

(Christiansen 1974: 17).

1600s The Camino Real caravans carried 500 pounds

of tallow to lubricate wheels and axles of carts

and wagons (Moorhead 1958: 33).

1600s The Jicarilla Apache believed that the bighorn

sheep of northern New Mexico were driven

from their valley habitat into the mountains

by the guns of the Spaniards (Tiller 1992: 22).

1600s Bones of the smallmouth buffalo (fish) were

found in archeological sites dating to this period along the northern Rio Grande drainage

(Sublette et al. 1990: 222).

1600s (late) Four smelters were operated in the New

Placers district by area Pueblos to produce lead

glaze for ceramics. Spanish materials for mining and smelting of this ore occurred in the

nearby San Pedro Mountains (Warren and

Weber 1979).

1600s (late) Obregon wrote that the Rio Grande was

“swift and beautiful, surrounded by numerous meadows and farms...” (Hammond and

Rey 1927: 291).

1600s (late) Rafts were used to cross the Rio Grande

to reach the pueblo of San Felipe located on

the west bank of the Rio Grande (Strong 1979a:

392).

1600s (late) The market for buffalo hides in Mexico

sharply increased demand. Spanish traders

by-passed the Pueblo middlemen and dealt

directly with Plains Indians for the hides. Colonists and government agents exerted pressure

on the Pueblos to procure even more hides,

causing more stress among the villages (Snow

1981: 367–368).

1700 (May 24) Jose Trujillo took possession of a grazing grant on the uplands between Santa Cruz

de la Canada and San Ildefonso. Some farmland along the lower Arroyo Seco was also

included in the grant (Wozniak 1987).

1700 By this year the Rio Grande-Galisteo Pueblos

ceased mining, smelting, and using lead to

decorate their pottery. This may have been a

result of the Spanish requiring so much lead

for ammunition during the reconquest and

conflicts with various Native American

groups in the 18th century (Schroeder 1977:

24, 31).

1700–1800 About 27,000 new acres were put into cultivation by the Spanish in the Middle Rio Grande

Valley (Hedke 1925: 23).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 145

1700–1800 By 1700, there were an estimated 62 acequia

madres, and some 102 more were constructed

by the end of the period (Clark 1987: 16).

1700 (post) Pueblo agriculture flourished, especially

the cultivation of wheat, corn, and other vegetables. Santo Domingo and Cochiti regularly supplied chile, lettuce, and garlic to

Spanish villages. Acoma, Laguna, and Zuni

had large flocks of sheep (Simmons 1979a:

190).

1703 A grant of arable and grazing lands in the

Rio Grande Valley above San Juan Pueblo

was taken by Sebastian and Antonio Martin. An acequia madre from the river to their

floodplain fields was constructed (Wozniak

1987).

1704–76 The acequia madre at San Ildefonso was constructed of terrones, with the grassy side facing the water. This ditch fed a pool from which

the Pueblos irrigated their kitchen gardens

(Adams and Chavez 1956: 59).

1706 April The area settled by the new residents of Albuquerque was known as the Bosque Grande de

San Francisco Xavier, which extended along

the valley from Old Town to Alameda. The

Esteros de Mexico, located just south of Old

Town, was avoided by the Mejia settlers

(Oppenheimer 1962: 15). The site of Albuquerque was chosen for the availability of good

water, tillable land, good grazing grasses, and

fuelwood. This location was also selected owing to its being on slightly elevated ground

and on the Camino Real and having a good,

close ford over the Rio Grande (Simmons 1982:

81–82).

1706 The east bank of the Rio Grande was heavily

wooded from modern Ranchos de Albuquerque to below Central Avenue (Simmons 1980:

202).

1709–39 The channel of the Rio Grande between

Algodones and Bernalillo shifted westward.

The church and several homes at colonial

Bernalillo (near present Llanito) were washed

away in 1735 or 1736 (Snow 1976: 172–175).

1709–63 Santa Ana Pueblo purchased lands from Spanish settlers at Ranchitos, located on the east

side of the Rio Grande, along the north boundary of the Bernalillo Grant. Some of the land

was used for irrigation farming, and the remainder was used for livestock grazing. The

latter area was covered with cottonwood trees

(White 1942: 27).

1710 (January 27) Montes Vigil was given possession of a land grant on the west side of the Rio

Grande opposite Sandia Pueblo. Following his

failure to settle the grant, Vigil conveyed the

land to Captain Juan Gonzalez on July 18,

1712. Vigil began to raise cattle (Adams and

Chavez 1956: 152; Eisenstadt 1980: 2–3).

1710 The earliest mine registered in the region was

the San Miguel, located about 38 miles south

of Santa Fe (Warren and Weber 1979: 9).

1710 (post) The Rio Grande, then located east of

Alameda, began shifting westward. By 1768

the channel had moved to its present location,

placing the village of Alameda on the west side

of the river (Sargeant 1987: 38–39).

1700s (early) Because of to continuing flood damage

to their agricultural fields, Santa Ana Pueblos

began buying land along the Rio Grande where

they established ranchos. They moved to these

new settlements from spring planting to fall

harvest and then returned to the old pueblo

for the winter. Later, in the next century, these

Keresans established permanent residence at

the Ranchos de Santa Ana and returned to their

Jemez River pueblos only for ceremonies

(Kessell 1980: 168).

1700s (early) The Rio Grande shifted its channel and

at times ran east of Bernalillo, Alameda, and Albuquerque. After 1720 the Bernalillo church was

washed away by a flood (Chavez 1957: 3).

1700s (early) Overgrazing had become a problem

around the older plazas such as Atrisco,

Albuquerque, and Corrales (Baxter 1987:

24).

1700s (early) Grasses and other wetland vegetation

were abundant in the cienega located in the

eastern part of Santa Fe. This was a special

use property, where these plants were

“mowed” and fed to the horses of the presidial

troops, who escorted town residents to the

mountains, where they collected fuelwood or

timber (Ebright 1994: 90).

1700s (early) A decree by the governor declared that

every Santa Fe area farmer had to allow livestock from the community to graze on crop

stubble from just after harvest until spring

planting (Ebright 1994: 90).

1700s (early) The recently arrived Comanches raided

Jicarilla, Lipan, and Mescalero Apache villages

at or just after the fall harvest (Dobyns 1973:

17–18).

1700s (early) The Pueblos, who became allies with

the Spanish against the Apache, Navajo, and

Comanche, performed as scouts, interpreters,

and informants, as well as soldiers. They made

reports to the Spanish commanders on weather,

field food sources, water, and topography

(Sando 1992: 80).
146 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1700s (early to mid) The dispersed Spanish settlement in the Chama Valley was due in part to

the topography, vegetative communities, and

lack of adequate tools. Benchlands of

pinyon-juniper above the river could not be

cleared easily, so cultivated lands were located

on the narrow disjunct, floodplain plots

(Swadesh 1974: 133–134).

1700s (early to mid) To catch dirt falling from the ceiling in churches, decorated animal hides were

stretched and nailed across the vigas. Priests

chased away swallows that were nesting in some

churches (Kessell 1980: 12).

1712–14 Spanish settlers took possession of agricultural land on the lower Chama River, which

was planted in corn. The town of Chameta

(Chamita) was founded here (Wozniak 1987).

1712–76 Albuquerque was a string of farms along the

east side of the Rio Grande, from Alameda to

south of the village plaza (Simmons 1980: 203–

204).

1713 A mine in the Sierra de San Lazora in present

Rio Arriba County was registered with the

governor (Northrop 1975: 13).

1714 The Neustra Senora de los Reyes Linares mine

was registered to Miguel de Coca. It was located on the San Lazaro Mountain at El Tuerto

(Warren and Weber 1979: 9).

1716 Spanish resettlement of the Valencia area began. Antonia Sandoval y Manzanares received a grant of land that had been the

encomienda of Juan de Valencia before the

Pueblo Revolt. Apparently, Valencia had

transferred the title to his estanciaencomienda to Sandoval’s husband before

the revolt. This grant included the Pueblo of

San Clemente, later the site of Los Lunas

(Espinosa and Chavez n.d.: 30, 53; Wiseman

1988: 17).

1716 A grant of grazing and agricultural lands was

made near the abandoned pueblo of San

Clemente, south of Isleta Pueblo. Another grant

in the area, located on the west side of the Rio

Grande, was made to Antonio Gutierrez, who

farmed and ran livestock on the lands (Wozniak

1987).

1717 A grant was made for a lead mine located five

leagues from Santa Fe between Cienega and

La Cieneguilla. This mine may have been located at the late 19th century mining camp of

Bonanza (Schroeder 1977: 24–25).

1718 (May) Diego de Padilla received a land grant

located east of the Rio Grande and south of

Isleta lands. Padilla grazed sheep here until

1751. This was the later site of Peralta and

the Juan Antonio Otero home (Espinosa and

Chavez n.d.: 64; Taylor 1989: 4–5).

1718 Spanish livestock encroached on fields belonging to San Juan Pueblo. The governor

ordered ranchers to remove their stock from

the Indian land. The Leyes Reales specifically

forbade such trespass (Baxter 1987: 23–24).

1719 Localized smallpox epidemics occurred

(Thornton 1987: 79).

1720 (ca.) Santa Ana Pueblo potters began to use

fine river sand as a substitute temper for

crushed basaltic rock used at nearby Zia

(Frank and Harlow 1990: 101–102).

1720–30s Settlement of grazing and farming lands along

the Rio Chama, upstream from Chamita, occurred (Wozniak 1987).

1722 Captain Antonio Cobian Busto reported “From

the city of San Felipe el Real [Chihuahua] to

Santa Fe in New Mexico...there are innumerable valleys, streams, and plains, very rich and

suitable for breeding cattle and sheep, and

sowing wheat, corn, and other foodstuffs...”

(Baxter 1987: 19).

1722 Gold was mined at La Mina del Tiro in the

Cerrillos Mountains (Christiansen 1974: 17;

Northrop 1959: 46).

1726 Pedro de Rivera visited the Valencia area noting spacious, fertile valley land with extensive cottonwood bosques. He passed several

ruined ranches in the Valencia area that were

still uninhabited following the Pueblo Revolt

(Rivera 1946: 51).

1727 A measle epidemic struck Zia, Jemez, and Santa

Ana pueblos. This may have been a factor in

the rebellion of residents, who fled to nearby

mesa tops (Swadesh 1978: 42).

1727 The Tafoya family received a grazing lands

grant along the Canada de Santa Clara,

above the Pueblo of Santa Clara. Over much

of the rest of the century there were disputes

between the settlers and the Pueblos over water rights to the Rio Santa Clara (Wozniak

1987).

1728 (December) Measles killed 109 Jemez Pueblo

Indians (Stockel 1993: 34).

1728–29 An epidemic of measles struck Zia Pueblo.

Residents and those of Jemez, Santa Ana, and

Cochiti rebelled against the Spaniards and

sought refuge in the mountains (White 1962:

25).

1720s Comanches “discovered” a better route over

the Sangre de Cristo Mountains from the Arkansas River Valley to Taos. This trail followed a branch of the Huerfano River to the

Sangre de Cristo Pass, down Sangre de Cristo
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 147

to the San Luis Valley, and south to Taos

(Lecompte 1978: 57).

1731 (January) Bernardino de Sena and Luis Lopez

took possession of grazing land at the abandoned pueblo of Cuyamungue (Wozniak

1987).

1731 Taos leaders lodged a complaint against Spanish settlers, who had encroached on Pueblo

lands and were using their brands on Indian

livestock (Gunnerson 1974: 216).

1731–35 Settlers in the lower Chama River Valley and

the Santa Cruz area, facing shortages of farm

and grazing lands, as well as water, petitioned

for and received grants higher up the Chama

(MacCameron 1994: 29).

1730s (early) Jose de Riano obtained rights to grazing lands in the Piedra Lumbre Valley

(Wozniak 1987).

1733 Localized smallpox epidemics occurred

(Thornton 1987: 79).

1734 (May 30) Ten settlers took possession of a grant

of agricultural lands along the Rio Chama at

Abiquiu (Wozniak 1987).

1735 Various settlers received land grants for farming and grazing in the Abiquiu-Piedra Lumbre

area (Wozniak 1987).

1735 The Galvan ranch, located near Zia Pueblo,

had 700 sheep, 18 cattle, and an unknown

number of horses (Swadesh 1978: 43).

1736 (early) Five Albuquerque farmers requested

that the alcalde allow them to move their livestock back to the Isleta area, where better grazing conditions existed (Baxter 1987: 24).

1738 Smallpox killed 26 young children in 18 weeks

at Pecos Pueblo (Kessell 1979: 378).

1739 (July 30) A grant of about 122,000 acres was

made to petitioners from Albuquerque, who

said they had a scarcity of wood, water, and

pasture and could not extend their farmlands

or livestock range “on account of the many

footpaths encroaching upon us” (Ellis 1955:

9; Espinosa and Chavez n.d.: 29, 92; Twitchell

1914: 285). The boundaries of the Tome grant

were the Rio Grande on the west, Los Tres

Alamos on the south, the “main ridge” of the

Manzano Mountains on the east, and a cienega

on the north side of Cerro de Tome (Ellis 1955:

92).

1739 Vicente Duran y Armijo claimed he suffered

crop failure along the Santa Fe River due to a

scarcity of water (Wozniak 1987).

1739 Nicolas Duran y Chavez received a grant of

grazing land between the Rio Grande and the

Rio Puerco, south of the Gutierrez grant

(Wozniak 1987).

1739 (post) Along a fault line at the west base of the

Manzano Mountains were three communal

springs—Los Ojuelos, Ojo de Alamita, and Ojo

de los Barrendos. Livestock owned by Tome

residents watered here, and a small acequia

carried water from these springs to watering

tanks constructed some distance to the west

on the bajada (Ellis 1955: 103).

1730s (to early 1742) Pedro Sanchez claimed that

wolves attacked and bit his sheepherders on

the Ramon Vigil grant and caused him to remove his sheep (Ebright 1994: 229).

1740 (November 15) The governor granted land to

settlers who founded Belen, Jarales, and other

area communities. Ditches from the Rio Grande

to fields were dug with palas de palo (wooden

shovels). The uplands along the Rio Puercoof-the-East and the Manzano Mountains were

common lands for grazing livestock, collecting fuelwood, and hunting (Espinosa and

Chavez n.d.: 33–36, 75–78).

1742 Due at least in part to the drought of the previous decade, all of the Rio Grande Pueblo refugees (except residents of Hano) fled the Hopi

area and returned to their former villages on

the river (Adams 1981: 326).

1742 Nicolas Ortiz received the Caja del Rio grant

of grazing lands on the east side of the Rio

Grande and along the lower reaches of the

Santa Fe River (Wozniak 1987).

1742–43 Several grants of agricultural lands along the

middle Santa Fe River were made (Wozniak

1987).

1743 (September) Four residents of Chimayo received grants of arable and grazing lands near

Cundiyo (Wozniak 1987).

1743 Land grant settlements of farm and grazing

lands were made along the lower Rito de Ojo

Caliente (Wozniak 1987).

1744 A grant of agricultural and grazing lands,

north of Cochiti Pueblo, on the west side of the

Rio Grande was made to Juan Jose Moreno

(Wozniak 1987).

1744 Albuquerque experienced an infestation of

moths, which were eating large stores of raw

wool. Fortunately, a buyer from Mexico City

arrived and purchased the wool before the insects destroyed very much (Simmons 1982:

114–115).

1744 Valley cottonwoods extended more than 10

miles along the Rio Grande around Alameda

(Galvin 1972: 58).

1744 Several mines near Picuris Pueblo were registered with the governor (Northrop 1975: 15).

1745–60 Abundant irrigation water produced good
148 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

harvests at Nambe Pueblo (Adams 1954: 55;

Hackett 1937: 466).

1747 (August) All settlements west of the Rio

Grande were attacked by nomadic Indians

(Swadesh 1974: 35).

1747 Localized smallpox epidemics occurred

(Thornton 1987: 79).

1748 (April 5) A grant was made to Sandia Pueblo

by the Spanish governor. The grant was

bounded on the west by the Rio Grande and

on the east by the “ridge of the Sandia Mountains” (Brayer 1938: 68–69).

1748–71 Almost 4,000 Spaniards and Pueblos were

killed by Apaches, Navajos, and Comanches

in New Mexico (Thomas 1932: 6).

1748–1846 Sandia Pueblo lost a significant portion of its

lands to Hispanics owing to its fertility and

available water (Clark 1987: 22).

1749–54 Gold was mined in the Cerrillos area southwest of Santa Fe (Workers of the Writers’

Program 1940: 71).

1740s Comanches, Apaches, and Utes frequently

raided villages, fields, and livestock herds in

the study region. The eastern frontier north of

Albuquerque was depopulated (Sonnichsen

1968: 77).

1750 (pre) Santa Ana Pueblos began acquiring better farmlands along the Rio Grande because

their fields near the pueblo were periodically

destroyed by Jemez River floods (Kessell 1980:

168).

1750 By this year Albuquerque and nearby communities were experiencing some pressures

of overpopulation. Suitable agricultural land

was taken, and livestock overgrazed some

pastures and outlying rangelands. Outmigration to “new” lands, such as the Rio

Puerco-of-the-East, began (Simmons 1982:

106–107). The bajada between Albuquerque

and the Sandia-Manzano mountains was

virtually denuded of grass by livestock

(Simmons 1988: 7).

1750–1820 Problems due to overgrazing in the Upper and

Middle Rio Grande basins were exacerbated

by “hostile,” nomadic Indians and denial of

land grant petitions by government officials

(MacCameron 1994: 22–23).

1700s (mid) Intensive livestock grazing and fuelwood

cutting led to decimation of vegetative cover

and soil erosion along Abiquiu Creek. Water

from the stream tasted and smelled like cattle

manure (McDonald 1985: 120).

1700s (mid) The Jicarilla Apache were confined to

the northern mountains by the Comanches

and other Plains Indians. As a result, the

Apache were unable to hunt buffalo and large

game on the plains to the east. Game in the

mountains became increasingly scarce due to

Indian and Spanish hunting pressure. At the

same time, arable land in mountain valleys

was increasingly occupied by Spanish settlers

(Gunnerson 1974: 237).

1751 Governor Velez Cachupin noted that because

of overpopulation of Santa Fe, some town farmers had no agricultural land or water for irrigation. To help remedy this problem, he approved the Las Trampas grant to the north of

Santa Fe (Ebright 1994: 146).

1752 Juan de Gabaldon received a grant of arable

land on the Rio Tesuque. He had been unable

to find farmland near Santa Fe because of a

scarcity of irrigation water (Wozniak 1987).

1753 (October 21) Several Albuquerque families,

seeking adequate grazing for their livestock,

petitioned the governor for a grazing grant on

the Rio Puerco (Simmons 1982: 106–107).

1753 A ranch near Zia Pueblo had 330 goats and

sheep, 42 cows and calves, 38 heifers and

steers, 3 bulls, 6 oxen, 31 mares and stallions, a jenny, and a jack mule (Swadesh

1978: 43).

1753 Governor Cachupin ordered Spanish settlers

near Taos to fence their farms to keep their stock

off of traditional Pueblo grazing lands (Baxter

1987: 24).

1754 Faraon Apaches raided the Albuquerque area

from the Sandia Mountains and via the Bocas

de Abo at the south end of the Manzano Mountains (Thomas 1940: 143).

1754 A priest reported that there were “fine melon

patches” and fields that produce several

“fanegas of wheat and one cuartilla of corn”

at Cochiti Pueblo (Lange 1959: 86).

1757 Pueblos and Hispanos had 112,182 sheep, 16,157

cattle, and 7,356 horses (Weber 1992: 310).

1757 There were 112,182 sheep and goats, 16,157

cattle, and 7,356 horses in Spanish New Mexico

(Baxter 1987: 42).

1758 A Spanish government decree required landholders to provide proof of title to retain land

and water rights to their property (Clark 1987:

12).

1750s As the Navajos were forced south by Utes, conflict over resource competition in the Rio Puerco

basin with Hispanos accelerated (Lopez 1980:

72).

1750s (to 1760) Major Spanish settlement of lands

along the middle and upper Rio Puerco and

on the south and west sides of the San Mateo

Mountains occurred (Wozniak 1987).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 149

1750s (to 1760s) Clemente Gutierrez, a wealthy trader

and rancher, suffered heavy sheep losses on

lands along the Rio Puerco-of-the-East. These

losses were due to a parasitic skin disease of

sheep known as scab (lepe), as well as Navajo

raids, which intensified into the 1770s (Baxter

1987: 48).

1760 Bishop Tamaron, with all of the people in his

entourage, and the livestock, were ferried

across the Rio Grande at El Paso on a raft pulled

by Indian swimmers (Jones 1979: 144).

1760–61 Residents of the Belen grant claimed to “have

suffered many hardships in order to drive the

enemy away from this frontier [such as] eating

rats, badgers, and wild herbs” (Ebright 1994:

7–8).

1761 (May 4) The Los Quelites, or San Francisco del

Valle, grant was made. This land bordered the

Tome grant (Pearce 1965: 92).

1763 (July) Santa Ana Pueblo paid “more than 67

cows and calves, 8 bulls, 29 oxen, 50 sheep, 74

goats, 8 horses, 3 mules, 1 mare, 1 colt, 2 new

bridles, 4 blankets, and 1 pot” to Bernalillo

residents for a tract of land lying between the

river and the base of the Sandia Mountains

(Bayer et al. 1994: 80).

1763–64 Two grants for silver mines in the Cerrillos area

were made; one was known as Nuestra Senora

de los Dolores (Schroeder 1977: 25).

1764 (October) The town council of El Paso and the

Suma Indians of San Lorenzo had a dispute

over the latter’s common woodlands south of

the villa of El Paso. Hispanics had used the

land in gathering building materials (latias and

vigas), fuelwood, and willows used to construct diversion dams. Additionally, Spanish

sheepherders were grazing their flocks on

Suma land and were setting fire to trees and

shrubs to produce better grazing ranges. The

governor ordered the El Pasoans to stop their

use of the land and to plant trees and willows,

graze their livestock, and gather firewood on

their own common lands (Ebright 1994: 5).

1765 Eight residents of the Los Quelites grant on the

Puerco and San Jose rivers requested Governor

Capuchin’s permission to withdraw from the

grant, claiming that there was insufficient and

salty water in the two streams. Water from springs

and a cistern were used for watering their corn,

chile, and cotton (Ebright 1994: 10).

1766 (August 14) Opposite the ruins of Sevilleta

Pueblo on the Rio Grande, Nicolas Lafora

wrote about the mouth of the Rio Puerco

“whose waters always flow muddy and turgid” (Kinnaird 1967: 89).

1766 (August 15–16) Lafora continued to travel

north up the east bank of the Rio Grande. His

expedition reached Las Nutrias, then Tome,

passing over a “good level road.” The population of Tome was given as 70 Spanish residents. Lafora noted that “all kinds of grain

abound, as well as sheep, and there is plenty

of good pasture everywhere in the vicinity.”

On the next day he traveled 10 leagues north

over “a plain extensively forested with poplar

trees along the river’s edge” (Kinnaird 1967:

89–90).

1766–1873 Zia, Jemez, and Santa Ana pueblos grazed

sheep on the 382,849-acre Espiritu Santo land

grant (Bayer et al. 1994: 157).

1767–70 Governor Pedro Fermin de Mendinueta issued

15 land grants during his administration. He

instructed the appropriate alcalde to survey

the grant and place “permanent” markers on

the boundaries, usually mounds of stone and

mud. On the Paulin Montoya grant each family head was given 70 square varas of land for

a house and corral and 300 square varas for

planting. At the request of Santo Domingo and

San Felipe pueblos, Mendinueta allotted each

of them a league of land for cultivation between

the grant lands of the two pueblos. He reserved

the remaining land and water for use by both

pueblos (Patrick 1976: 10–11, 13).

1768 (April) Residents of Atrisco received a grant of

grazing lands to the west, along the Ceja de

Puerco (Wozniak 1987).

1768 The Marques de Rabi recommended that new

presidios be located at sites with adequate

water and grazing land for the horses (Meyer

1984: 96).

1768 Six families were granted land on Vallecitos

Creek in the Jemez Mountains. In 1776 the

settlement was known as San Toribio del

Vallecito, inhabited by 11 families (Adams and

Chavez 1956: 181–182).

1771–72 Some 170 inhabitants were killed, and 7,000

horses and mules stolen, by raiding Indians

in New Mexico (Thomas 1932: 5–6).

1773 Governor Meninueta reported that the

Pueblos produced abundant crops, especially grains, which Spanish settlers and

government officials could purchase when

needed. The Pueblos were raising maize,

wheat, and vegetables; Santo Domingo and

Cochiti were also growing lettuce, chili, and

garlic. They were supplying Spanish residents in the area with these and other garden crops. Also, the western Pueblos were

successful sheep raisers and wove fine
150 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

woolen blankets. The governor repeatedly

warned Spanish residents to keep cattle and

horses at least 3 leagues (about 8 miles) from

Pueblo fields, but the rule was commonly violated, and their farmland was constantly damaged by untended livestock (Simmons 1979a:

190).

1775 (June 23) A major Comanche raid on Sandia

Pueblo destroyed all of the crops and livestock

and resulted in the death of 32 residents

(Chavez 1957: 3). These Comanches also

raided Alameda, then fled eastward to the

Galisteo area. They took refuge in a narrow

canyon with a trench filled with trees and

rocks. Behind this fortification were more

smaller trenches, concentrically arranged with

a dug well in the center. Here the Comanches

held off a Spanish-led contingent, which withdrew from the conflict (Thomas 1940: 181–182).

1775 Comanches attacked Belen and other settlements (Espinosa and Chavez n.d.: 93).

1775 So many mares were stolen by nomadic Indians that the Spanish could not breed more

horses (Loomis and Nasatir 1967: 17).

1775 Bernardo Miera y Pacheco, an officer of the

Royal Garrison at Santa Fe, made the first detailed map of New Mexico (Espinosa and

Chavez n.d.: 37).

1776 (pre) There were “good orchards of fruits such

as pears, grapes, peaches, and others that had

resisted the cold...” at Santa Cruz. Beans and

chile were not being raised at Picuris Pueblo

owing to the short growing season; also, corn

was sometimes killed by the cold. There were

three agricultural fields in which wheat,

green vegetables, and corn at Nambe Pueblo

were planted. San Juan Pueblo maintained

“fertile” agricultural fields on both banks of

the Rio Grande for a league above and a

league below the village. The pueblo usually

harvested 60 fanegas of wheat, about 30 of

maize, and some legumes. Five small fields

at Santa Clara Pueblo yielded a fanega of

wheat in each, or an almund of corn. Three

other small plots produced “legumes.” At

San Ildefonso Pueblo there were five fields,

which usually yielded 30 fanegas each of

wheat, maize, and legumes. Water was carried in a ditch from “a little swamp” to a

“great pool,” water from which was used to

water a garden and a small field. Wheat,

corn, legumes, green vegetables, melon, watermelons, and apricots were cultivated at

Santa Fe. Agricultural fields at Cochiti

Pueblo were productive, especially those

along the east side of the Rio Grande, downstream from the village (Adams and Chavez

1956: 41, 55–56, 69, 83, 88, 90, 98, 103, 117,

142, 157, 159, 163, 165).

1776 (pre) The mission at San Felipe Pueblo had

fields on both sides of the river, a league upstream and a league downstream from the

church, and a large “kitchen garden” across

the Rio Grande. They had yielded “many good

crops” (Adams and Chavez 1956: 163, 165).

The apricots, peaches, and grapes at Sandia

Pueblo were killed by frosts in most years.

1776 The altar screen at San Geronimo de Taos

church was “painted with earth as iridescent

as cinnabar and flowered with mica” (Adams

and Chavez 1956: 103).

1776 The Galisteo Pueblo and mission had about a

square league of farmlands, and almost all was

dry farmed. One plot of land to the west of the

village was irrigated by water from the Nieto

spring. The drought and Comanche raids had

caused many of the residents to flee. Those who

remained were eating the “hides of cows, oxen,

horses, etc., in a sort of fried cracklings, and

when they do not find this quickly they strip

the vellum from the saddle trees or toast old

shoes. They do not have one cow; there is

not a single horse.” Jemez Pueblo grew wheat

and corn, raised hogs, and fed their livestock

corn stubble and husks. Their harvests were

normally 60 fanegas of wheat and 40 of

maize. Bernalillo, located about 2 leagues

north of Sandia Pueblo, consisted of scattered ranchos and “not very good lands” irrigated by water from the Rio Grande. Across

the river, to the west, was upper Corrales,

and it too was made up of scattered ranchos

and relatively poor lands. Agricultural fields

of Sandia Pueblo extended along the east

side of the river, a league above and a league

below the village. The upper fields, which

were sandy, were not as productive as the

lower fields. Crops were watered by irrigation ditches from the Rio Grande. The mission at Albuquerque had fields that yielded

100 fanegas of maize, 50 of wheat, 16 of

beans, 16 of other legumes, 30 strings of chile,

and a cartload of onions. Good crops were

harvested from the fields of the village and

from the orchards of apricot, peach, apple,

and pear and from the vineyards. The village was located “about two musket shots”

from the Rio del Norte. Owing to the sandy

soil, the fields at Atrisco were not productive, although they yielded “reasonable
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 151

crops” because of the intensive efforts of resident farmers. Farmlands and crops at Isleta

were similar to those at Atrisco and Albuquerque. The Isleta Pueblo were farming the entire

floodplain a league upstream and a league

downstream from the village. These fields produced “very copious crops.” There were also

“many orchards of fruit trees as well as

vinestocks, and they usually make a little

wine.” Peaches, wheat, corn, and cotton were

also raised. Father Dominguez noted that

Valencia was the place of the 17th century hacienda of Francisco de Valencia. A settlement

of ranchos totalling 17 families, some 90 persons in all, was situated on a “meadow.” Belen

had good, irrigated farmlands that yielded

“copious crops.” According to Dominguez,

the farmlands at Sabinal were better than

those at Belen (Adams and Chavez 1956: 103,

142–144, 151, 153, 154, 179, 205, 207–208,

217, 312–313).

1776 Comanches raided Tome, killing 23 people and

nearly destroying the town (Espinosa and

Chavez n.d.: 38–39).

1777 (summer) A Comanche raid on Sandia Pueblo

killed 32 residents and destroyed all of their

crops and livestock (Chavez 1957).

1777 Twenty-three persons were killed in an Indian

raid on Valencia (Taylor 1989: 3).

1778 An Apache raid on Tome killed 30 people.

Isleta Pueblos came to their rescue and prevented destruction of the town. Surviving residents took refuge in the church (Espinosa and

Chavez n.d.: 17; Taylor 1989: 3).

1778 The lands at El Sabinal were so fertile that the

citizens of Belen requested permission from

Governor Mendinueta to begin farming there

(Simmons 1977a: 35).

1778 Genizaros commonly hunted deer for their

subsistence meat (Simmons 1977a: 34).

1779 There were 69,366 sheep, 7,676 cattle, and 1,773

oxen in the province (Simmons 1988: 7).

1770s Spanish livestock, left untended, caused constant damage to Pueblo fields (Simmons 1979a:

190).

1770s Domesticated chickens were well established

in New Mexico (Schroeder 1968: 107).

1780–81 A smallpox epidemic struck New Mexico following the drought of the previous 3 years.

This disease and the resulting famine resulted

in the death of 5,025 Pueblo Indians, which

constituted more than a quarter of New

Mexico’s population (Kessell 1979: 348;

Simmons 1966: 79; Workers of the Writers’ Program 1940: 69). As a result of the smallpox

epidemic, eight Spanish missions were reduced to visitas (Bloom 1913b: 135). Some 500

Indians died in a 2-month epidemic of smallpox at Santa Clara and San Juan (Arnon and

Hill 1979: 296). About one-third of the residents of San Juan Pueblo died during the smallpox epidemic (Ortiz 1979: 281). Smallpox

killed 142 residents of Santa Fe (Stockel 1993:

34). A smallpox epidemic struck Galisteo, causing abandonment of the pueblo. Most survivors emigrated to Santo Domingo; some appeared at Pecos Pueblo in the 1790s (Kessell

1979: 543). More than 250 residents of Santo

Domingo died of smallpox (Stockel 1993: 34).

There were 130 deaths recorded at San Felipe

Pueblo; almost all of these were smallpox related (Simmons 1966: 322). Following the decimation of Santa Ana’s population during the

severe outbreak, the pueblo was reduced to a

visita of the Zia mission (White 1942: 28). A

severe smallpox epidemic killed a number of

Spanish settlers at Bernalillo (Chavez 1957).

Albuquerque lost 31 citizens to the disease,

and San Felipe recorded 130 deaths (Simmons

1966: 322). The epidemic swept across Navajo

country, causing a noticeable decrease in the

Navajo population. This disease was perhaps

a factor in the abandonment of portions of the

Navajo region (Brugge 1968, 1986: 142).

1781 (February 23) The Spanish government issued

a decree expressly prohibiting the unlicensed

sales of real property by Indians (DuMars et

al. 1984: 19).

1782 Residents of Santa Fe received a grant of grazing lands along the Galisteo River (Wozniak

1987).

1782 Fray Morfi reported that Santo Domingo Pueblos cultivated cotton (Thomas 1932: 99).

1782 Albuquerque was described as a rancheriastyle settlement extending along the Rio

Grande Valley for about 2.5 miles. Agricultural

fields extended for almost 20 miles along the

banks of the Rio Grande. Much of the farmland was fallow because of Indian raids. Scarcity of wood forced residents to use horse manure for fuel (Thomas 1932: 101).

1782 Fray Morfi reported that “a long time ago large

haciendas” existed at the spring of El Espiritu

Santo but were subsequently deserted (Thomas

1932: 100).

1782 A Spanish trader brought a parrot into New

Mexico for the Indian trade (Thomas 1932: 113).

1782 Santa Fe had plenty of farm and range lands,

but the river was “poor and can only fertilize

some fields” (Thomas 1932: 92).
152 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1782–94 Galisteo Pueblo, resettled by Tanos after the

Pueblo revolt, was abandoned for the final time

due to disease and raids by Comanches and

Plains Apaches (Dozier 1983: 64).

1785 Eight residents of the Los Quelites grant on

the Puerco and San Jose rivers requested Governor Capuchin’s permission to withdraw

from the grant, claiming that there was insufficient and salty water in the two streams.

Water from springs and a cistern were used

for watering their corn, chile, and cotton

(Ebright 1994: 10).

1788 A grant of agricultural lands at the confluence

of the Rio Jemez and Rio Guadalupe was made

(Wozniak 1987).

1788–89 A smallpox epidemic caused Pueblo population

losses up to 50 percent (Thornton 1987: 7).

1789 Governor Concha believed that the range in

northern New Mexico would support more

sheep, so he prohibited the slaughter or exportation of ewes to increase flocks. A rapid increase in the number of sheep between that

year and the early 1800s occurred as a result

(Bailey 1980: 111).

1780s New land grants were made in the Santa Fe area

and along the Rio Jemez (Wozniak 1987).

1790 There were some 927 farmers, 113 persons

associated with livestock raising, and a few

hunters in the province (Jones 1979: 133–

134).

1790 There were 120 households in Tome. Occupations listed in the census included, in order of

importance, farmers, livestock raisers, carpenters, and sheepherders. Seven weavers, two

tailors, two carders, and a silversmith were

also listed. Some woven goods were shipped

south over the Chihuahua Trail for trade

(Espinosa and Chavez n.d.: 95; Minge 1979:

21).

1790 Two residents of Santa Fe were listed as lumbermen (Olmstead 1975: 68, 75).

1791 Twenty-four adults and 21 children died from

smallpox at Nambe Pueblo (Stockel 1993: 54).

1791 (post) A bridge was constructed at Belen using

sacks filled with heavy rocks and sunk in the

Rio Grande. Vigas, hauled to the site by oxen,

were laid on the sacks to form the superstructure (Jones 1979: 144).

1793–1846 Periodic epidemics of infectious diseases accounted for 30 percent of all Catholic deaths

recorded in the Tome parish. All of the deaths

were children under the age of 13 (Baca and

Baca 1994: 5).

1794 The San Miguel del Vado land grant was approved by Governor Chacon; he also

distributed irrigated tracts to 48 Spanish heads

of families (Hall 1984: 4–5).

1795 (February) Twenty Spanish families took possession of agricultural lands at Cieneguilla on

the Rio Grande above Embudo (Wozniak

1987).

1796 Grants of land were made to settlers at Santa

Barbara, La Canada, and San Fernando de

Taos (Wozniak 1987).

1798 Spanish settlers living in the San Diego and

Guadalupe canyons received a grant north of

Jemez Pueblo. Later, 110,000 acres were confirmed by the Surveyor-General of New Mexico

(Leonard 1970: 110).

1799 (November to March 1800) Smallpox epidemics struck north and central New Mexico

(Stockel 1993: 35).

1799 (post) Mestizos and genizaros from the Belen

area moved to San Miguel del Vado in search

of good farmland (Jones 1979: 116–117).

1700s (late) Settlers on community land grants employed more intensive use of land near

streams for agriculture and homes. Less intensive exploitation of resources, such as

livestock grazing, was practiced away from

these water courses onto the common lands.

Encroachment of livestock onto crop fields

was a fairly common problem (Ebright 1994:

26).

1700s (late) Animal hides and tallow were frequently

shipped down the Camino Real to Chihuahua

and Durango (Weber 1971: 21).

1700s (late) Santa Ana residents were using “boats

made of logs from the Jemez Mountains tied

with rawhide and sealed with a mixture of

pinyon pitch and crushed bark” to cross the

Rio Grande between their village and agricultural fields east of the river. These craft were

tied to “huge cottonwood trees on the east bank

of the Rio Grande.” Near these fields the “farmers built small huts of cottonwood, in which

they stored their tools and supplies” (Bayer et

al. 1994: 81).

1700s Ranchers and farmers traditionally raised

sheep rather than cattle because nomadic raiders could more easily and quickly drive the

latter away in their escape. Also, when attacked, herders would scatter the sheep to reduce losses. Goats were raised in areas where

the grazing terrain was rougher, such as those

in the Sandia Mountains (Montoya 1983;

Simmons 1982: 114).

1700s Owing to poor soils, the pueblos of Santa Ana,

Zia, and Jemez experienced little land encroachment by Spaniards (Clark 1987: 22).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 153

1800 By this year, an estimated 164 acequias madres

were in use (Clark 1987: 16).

1800 By this year Bernalillo farmers were known

for their abundant produce, especially grapes

(Chavez 1957).

1800 A grant at a mine location known as San Pedro

in the San Pedro Mountains was made

(Schroeder 1977: 25).

1800-07 New Mexico sheep raisers annually drove

about 30,000 sheep south for sale in Nueva

Vizcaya, Sonora, and Sinaloa (Coues 1987, 2:

739).

1800–50 About 25,000 new acres were placed in cultivation in the Middle Rio Grande Valley (Hedke

1925: 23).

1801 The first Merino sheep were brought into New

Mexico (Baxter 1987: 91).

1803 Cultivated tobacco was smoked or dipped as

snuff. Dipping was practiced by most of the

clergy (Simmons 1991b: 165).

1803 Mica and gypsum were being used for window coverings. The latter was used in making a whitewash for walls (Simmons 1991b:

167).

1804 The new smallpox vaccine was brought from

Chihuahua City to New Mexico. Because

refrigeration was unavailable it at the time,

the vaccine was transported to New Mexico

via small children who had been inoculated

(Kessell 1979: 456; McDonald 1992: 9–10).

1805 An estimated 3,610 Spanish and Pueblo children were inoculated against smallpox (Jones

1979: 140).

1805 An epidemic of measles struck Cochiti Pueblo

(Stockel 1993: 35).

1805-08 Unrest among Spanish citizens, to the point of

near rebellion, was due to the government’s

limiting what goods could be taken on the

annual caravan to Chihuahua, prohibiting

the selling of sheep to the Navajo, and collecting of grain from the poor citizens of the

Rio Arriba to feed the Santa Fe garrison

(Kessell 1979: 435).

1807 (early) Eight residents of Abiquiu, which

lacked sufficient arable land, cleared 2,000

varas of land in the Canon de los Pedernales.

They received a grant of this land about a year

later (Wozniak 1987).

1807 Abiquiu residents complained about livestock

from Vallecito de San Antonio damaging their

crops. The alcalde ordered residents of both

settlements to fence their fields and to keep

their livestock from wandering (Swadesh 1974:

49).

1807 Zebulon Pike noted that there were “numerous heads of goats, sheep, and asses” in the

valley around Santo Domingo Pueblo (Coues

1987, II: 616).

1808 (March) A grant of agricultural lands at the

Canon del Rio Chama was made to 26 spanish

settlers (Wozniak 1987).

1811 (January 5) The Spanish government issued a

decree protecting the Indians in “their person

and real property” (DuMars et al. 1984: 19).

1811 (February 9) The Spanish government issued

a decree guaranteeing full political equality

for the Indians of New Mexico (DuMars et al.

1984: 19).

1811 The following items were woven in New

Mexico: “heavy baize, serge, blankets (bed covers), serapes (panchos), regular baize, sack

cloth, coarse carpeting, cotton stockings, and

table coverings” (Bustamante and Simmons

1995: 16).

1813–35 Several grants of arable lands were made to

settlers of Arroyo Hondo and the San Cristobal

drainage (Wozniak 1987).

1815 (December) Eighteen adults died from smallpox at Pecos (Kessell 1979: 457).

1815 A group of Spaniards occupied lands at Arroyo Seco and began irrigating with water from

the arroyo and Rio Lucero. Taos Pueblos protested, as they depended on the same water for

farming. Eight years later the ayuntamiento

upheld the prior right of the Indians (Clark

1987: 21).

1816 (spring) A smallpox epidemic struck San Juan

Pueblo (Stockel 1993: 35).

1816 (September) The Zia Pueblo governor complained about a Spanish rancher’s cattle trespassing on the pueblo’s corn fields, causing

extensive damage (Swadesh 1978: 45).

1818 (pre) A Taos resident mined copper near the

town and manufactured the metal into

kitchen utensils (Moquin and Van Doren

1972: 170).

1818 With the passing of the Apache threat east of

the settlement, a group of Albuquerque citizens applied for a land grant to resettle

Carnue, just inside the mouth of Tijeras Pass

(Simmons 1982: 111).

1818 Government officials ordered that lead should

be extracted from deposits near Las Huertas,

north of Placitas, for the making of musket

balls (Schroeder 1977: 24).

1818 Governor Melgares appealed for the donation of woven goods to the military posts.

Residents of Belen, Tome, and probably

Valencia contributed serapes and sheep

(Minge 1979: 20).
154 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1819 (January-February) Twenty settlers from Albuquerque reoccupied and received possession

of the Carnue grant at the mouth of Tijeras

Canyon (Wozniak 1987).

1819 (February 25–26) The village of San Antonio

de Padua was founded on the new Carnue

land grant close to Tijeras Canyon. Some 24

families built their homes, a church, and irrigation ditches and cleared fields for 3 miles

along the valley (Quintana and Kayser 1980a:

46).

1819 Don Bartolome Baca was granted 1,282,000

acres of land in the Estancia Valley (Towne

and Wentworth 1945: 63).

1819 Pedro Armendaris took possession of a large

grazing grant on the east side of the Rio

Grande, at the north end of the Jornada del

Muerto. The governor made the grant to facilitate travel and livestock drives across the

Jornada (Wozniak 1987).

1820–30 Ranchers in the Belen-Tome area owned an

average of 1,000 sheep (Minge 1979: 23).

1820–46 New Mexican Hispanic traders carried the

hides of elk, pronghorn, bear, mountain lion,

and beaver to Mexico for trade. Native Americans collected many of these hides (Minge

1979: 25).

1820–30s A number of grants of grazing and farm lands

located on the east sides of the Sangre de Cristo,

Sandia, and Manzano mountains were made

(Wozniak 1987).

1800s (early) Settlers at San Jose de las Huertas were

running goats in the area. Nomadic Indians

sometimes raided the herds and drove the animals away (Batchen 1972: 83).

1800s (early) As the Pueblo population decreased in

northern Rio Grande villages, irrigated lands

were abandoned. Spanish residents in the area

began to acquire these fields from the Pueblo

largely through exchanges of livestock, agricultural products, and goods (Carlson 1979:

30).

1800s (early) Hispanics of the northern frontier began to herd sheep eastward toward St. Louis

for trade (Swadesh 1974: 63).

1800s (early) (to 1825) Bartolome Baca established a

ranch in the Belen area. He acquired huge land

holdings in the Estancia Valley, where he pastured large herds of sheep, cattle, and horses.

Baca became alcalde of Tome and Belen, captain of the Rio Abajo militia, and governor

(Espinosa y Chavez n.d.: 95).

1800s (early to mid) H.S. “Harry” Buckman opened

a sawmill and began timbering operations on

the Petaca grant, near Tierra Amarilla. In 1886

he established a sawmill below Espanola and

began cutting on the Pajarito Plateau

(Rothman 1989: 203).

1800s (early to mid) There was a smelter at Cienega

for processing metal ores (Boyd 1974: 268, 270–

271).

1821 (August 24) The new, independent Mexican

Congress adopted the Plan of Iguala, which

in part made it legal for non-Indians to buy,

lease, or use Indian lands as collateral. Unscrupulous bureaucrats and politicians produced phony titles to Indian land and overlooked Mexican encroachment (Sando 1989:

71).

1821 (November 16) The first Anglo-American

traders from Missouri reached Santa Fe with

their goods, opening the Santa Fe Trail and

linking with the Chihuahua Trail. New

American markets became available for New

Mexico merchants, and residents had access

to a whole new range of U.S. manufactured

goods (Minge 1979: 24–27; Moorhead 1958:

7–8).

1821 The Comanches made widespread raids

across New Mexico, probably due in part to

the drought (Bancroft 1889: 302; Denevan

1967: 701).

1821–46 Sometime during this period the Mexican government gave four metal axes to Santa Clara

Pueblo. These were used in turn by families as

needed (Hill 1982: 42).

1821–46 The Mexican administration in Santa Fe provided less protection for Pueblo land and water rights, and the expanding Hispanic population put more pressure on available farmland and trespassed more on Indian lands

(Simmons 1979b: 207).

1821–46 Sheep and efectos del pais were shipped down

the Chihuahua Trail to various points in Chihuahua, Sonora, Durango, and Zacatecas. The

latter items, locally produced or manufactured,

included woven goods such as serapes, mantas, jerga, sabanilla, frazadas, and colchas

(Minge 1979b: 8–9).

1821–50 Most Pueblo populations continued to decline,

due mainly to diseases (Minge 1976: 44).

1821 (post) Hispanic authorities of the now independent Mexico retained control of trapping,

hunting, and trading through licensing (Weber 1971: 29).

1821 (post) The opening of trade with the United

States was a major cause of the increasing

stratification of New Mexico society (Swadesh

1974: 59).

1821 (post) A dispute over certain islands in the
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 155

Rio Grande claimed by Tome and Belen broke

out between the two communities (de la Vega

1976: 28).

1822 (January-June) A party of some 22 Anglo trappers took fur-bearing animals around Taos

(Connor and Skaggs 1977: 32–33).

1822 James Baird came back to New Mexico and

within 3 years was operating a distillery near

Taos. In 1826 he moved to El Paso and began

to trap beaver. Subsequently, he complained

about Anglo trappers wiping out the beaver

populations, taking pelts worth $100,000 over

a year-and-a-half period of trapping

(Sonnichsen 1968: 102).

1822 Arroyo Hondo villagers protested the construction of a ditch by Arroyo Seco residents,

claiming that it usurped irrigation water

needed for their fields (Wozniak 1987).

1822 The area around Albuquerque, a 38-milelong and 8-mile-wide tract, was under the

administration of the town’s ayuntamiento.

This land was used primarily for livestock

grazing and fuelwood collecting (Simmons

1982: 129).

1822–24 The first area within the study region to be

intensively trapped was the southern Sangre

de Cristo Mountains between Santa Fe and

Taos (deBuys 1985: 93).

1823 (September) Some 43 residents of Manzano

received a grant of farm and grazing lands

between Tome and the abandoned settlement

of Las Nutrias (Wozniak 1987).

1823 The governor ordered the settlers of San Jose

de las Huertas to abandon their village “to

save them from Navajo raids” (Batchen 1972:

31).

1824 (June 26) An official in Mexico City directed

the governor of New Mexico to prohibit foreigners from trapping in the territory. This

regulation was virtually ignored, and trapping

by Americans continued (Weber 1971: 66–67).

1824 Several Anglo Americans began operations

distilling “Taos Lightning” for trade with Hispanics and Native Americans (Muldoon 1987:

69–70).

1824 Santa Fe Trail traders began to carry their goods

south to Chihuahua (Walker 1966: 140).

1824 Some 2,000 pelts and furs that went back east

over the Santa Fe Trail were valued at about

$15,000 (deBuys 1985: 97).

1824 Grants of farmlands were made in the

Chama Valley at Vallecito de Lovato, near

Rito Colorado, at Las Casas del Riano,

above Canones, and at Vallecito (Wozniak

1987).

1824 A provincial law decreed that cattle owners

would pay two reales per head of livestock

that wandered onto agricultural fields and any

damages they inflicted on farmland (Simmons

1988: 7).

1824–46 Numerous small grants of Sandia Pueblo land

were made to non-Indians, including settlers

of present Bernalillo (Brayer 1938: 71).

1825 Native cotton was still being grown at Valencia

and Belen, but this crop soon went out of production (Minge 1979: 24).

1826 Some Hispanic families settled on a grant in

the Manzano area on the east side of the

Manzano Mountains. This grant and settlement were under the jurisdiction of Tome (Ellis

1955: 97).

1826 By this year, Taos trappers virtually took all of

the beaver in the Sangre de Cristo and Jemez

mountains (Flores 1992: 8). Although the official policy of the Mexican government was

to prohibit trapping by foreigners, Governor

Narbona allowed Americans to continue

trapping in New Mexico (Weber 1971: 111–

115).

1827 Over 1,100 beaver skins taken by Ewing Young

and associated trappers were confiscated by

government officials in Santa Fe. The pelts

were threatened with deterioration when “a

great rain” saturated them. To save their value,

the pelts were sold (Cleland 1950: 217, 220,

224).

1827 Anglo trappers harvested beaver on float trips

down the Rio Grande from Cochiti Pueblo to

El Paso. At El Paso, they dismantled their rafts

and sold the “lumber” and logs to local residents. The trappers then turned eastward to

the Anglo frontier, thus avoiding payment of

export fees (Weber 1971: 157).

1827 Anglo and Franco-American trappers had

harvested virtually all of the beaver in the

Sangre de Cristo Range by this date (Ungnade

1972: 48).

1827 Antonio Sandoval constructed an acequia

along the foothills on a land grant near Las

Lagunitas and south of Las Barelas (Wozniak

1987).

1827 Some 293,000 head of Mexican livestock were

in northern New Mexico (Oppenheimer 1962:

20).

1827 There were about 240,000 sheep and goats,

5,000 cattle, and 3,000 horses and mules in the

Santa Fe-Albuquerque area. Locally, ranges

were being overgrazed, and an erosion cycle

was started. Overall, the rangelands in New

Mexico remained in relatively good condition
156 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

(Baydo 1970: 34; Dortignac 1956: 56, 61; Towne

and Wentworth 1946: 56).

1827–46 Taos was the most important market for the

fur trade in the southern Rocky Mountains

(Weber 1971: 192, 204, 225–227).

1828 Placer gold was reportedly discovered by a

sheepherder at the Old Placers site in the Ortiz

Mountains. Mule trains loaded with gold reportedly made trips south down the Chihuahua Trail to Ciudad Chihuahua (Northrop

1975: 16, 32).

1828 (December to 1832) Grants of arable and grazing lands were made to Spanish settlers at

Canada de las Mestanas near Rito San

Cristobal and on the upper Rio del Pueblo

south of Taos (Wozniak 1987).

1829 Farmers at Sabinal, with a population of 207,

raised some 700 bundles of tobacco, 18 bushels of cotton, corn, beans, chile, wheat, and

onions. Residents owned 309 sheep and some

cattle (Minge 1979: 27).

1820s (to early 1830s) Some foreign trappers told

government authorities that they had purchased furs from Native Americans or Hispanic residents, when in fact they had trapped

the animals. Then they would sell them to

Santa Fe Trail traders, who would transport

them back to Missouri (Weber 1971: 159).

1820s–30s Fur trappers and early freighters came to rely

on the mule rather than the horse for transportation. The latter “could not keep up its strength

over a long period of time on a diet of nothing

but buffalo grass, and grain was not readily

available.” Horses were also subject to a number of diseases, and they were not as resistant to

the “rigors of prairie heat, cold, and dust” as

were mules. Mules had a working life of about

18 years and required one-third less food than

oxen (Walker 1966: 102–103).

1820s–30s Santa Fe Trail caravans would usually stock

up with beef, in case the buffalo were scarce or

absent on the Southern Plains (Gregg 1966, I:

97).

1820s–46 Goods produced locally for export included

sheep, wool, and woven goods and buffalo,

pronghorn, antelope, bear, and elk hides. Pinyon nuts and salt were also collected for trade

(Minge 1979: 25).

1830 (pre) At the Los Ojitos de Zia, or Los Ojitos

Hervidores as they were also known, Pueblo

and Hispano residents and travelers in the

area drank the water from these springs for

medicinal purposes. These coldwater springs

were also a popular bathing site (Swadesh

1978: 19–20).

1830s (early to late) Fewer beaver were taken as a

result of population reduction due to trapping

and falling pelt prices. The taking of buffalo

robes increased due to demand and rising

prices (Weber 1971: 208–210, 215).

1830s (early) (to 1840) Three grants of farmlands in

the Chama Valley were made to Spanish settlers (Wozniak 1987).

1830 Abiquiu residents were mining copper in the

area and “fashioned certain kitchen utensils

by hammer [from it]” (Potash 1949: 339).

1830 There were 250,000 cattle in New Mexico (Williams 1986a: 120).

1830–31 Simeon Turley started a distillery 12 miles

north of Taos on the Rio Hondo. He grew and

milled wheat and corn (McTighe 1984: 6–7).

1830–45 Francisco Sandoval of San Ysidro owned the

Spanish Queen Copper Mine in San Diego

Canyon. A smelting furnace was located near

the mine, and up to 250 pounds of copper ore

were extracted by one miner. Some gold was

associated with the copper-bearing veins

(Swadesh 1978: 47).

1831 (February) Nerio Antonio Montoya of Valencia

petitioned the ayuntamiento of Tome for onehalf league of land in a canyon near Manzano.

He took possession of the land in December

and built a three-room wood house, constructed an acequia system, and planted a vineyard and orchard of peach and apple trees over

the next few years (Tainter and Levine 1987:

103).

1831 (summer) William Sublette, a Santa Fe Trail

trader, exchanged his merchandise for 55 packs

(1,705) of beaver pelts and 800 buffalo robes,

which he took back to Missouri (Weber 1971:

147).

1831 Cotton was being cultivated in El Paso, Tome,

and Bernalillo (Potash 1949: 336).

1831–33 Trading and trapping by Anglos and

Hispanos resulted in the shipment of a substantial amount of beaver pelts east over the

Santa Fe Trail (Weber 1971: 206).

1832 About 90 packs (2,790) of beaver pelts went

east over the Santa Fe Trail (Weber 1971: 206).

1832 Pablo Salazar, from Tome, drove two flocks of

wethers to northern New Mexico (Baxter 1987:

103).

1832–44 Father Martinez complained to the provincial

government that the liquor being illegally

traded to Southern Plains tribes was resulting in “these Indian nations [becoming] extremely demoralized and were prompted to

greater destruction of buffaloes in order to

satisfy their appetites for strong drink, which
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 157

they obtained in exchange. They also made

raids in New Mexico, in order to steal cattle

which were bought off them by the proprietors

of these forts” (Lavender 1954: 229–230).

1832 (post) Stock raisers from Abiquiu periodically

grazed their flocks of sheep in the Tierra

Amarilla area (Wozniak 1987).

1833 The governor authorized local residents to use

the water from Ojo del Oso for machinery at

the Ortiz mine (Tyler 1991: 299).

1834 Each caravan from Santa Fe took $15,000 worth

of beaver pelts and 50 packs of buffalo robes

back to Missouri (Weber 1971: 218).

1835 A short distance north of the Ortiz Mountains

near lake Madrid, coal mining developed in

response to the need for smelting ores at Old

and New Placers. The coal was used to fuel

the adobe smelting furnaces (Christiansen

1974: 26).

1830s (mid) The popularity of buffalo hides as sleigh

lap robes and floor rugs was growing in the

eastern United States. As a result, the price of

robes increased (Barsness 1985: 93).

1836 A Santa Fe trader took 1,000 beaver pelts and

1,000 buffalo robes to Missouri (Weber 1971:

219).

1837 Another Santa Fe trader carried 200 buffalo

robes and two packs of beaver pelts to Missouri (Weber 1971: 219).

1837 Over 40,000 sheep were driven down the Chihuahua Trail to northern and central Mexico.

Most of these came from the Rio Abajo, especially the Valencia-Belen area (Baxter 1987:

105).

1837 Rumors circulated among New Mexico residents that new Governor Perez would tax them

by taking half of a family’s property and the

water, wood, and pasture of the common lands

(Lecompte 1985: 18).

1837 Smallpox killed about 10 percent of New

Mexico’s population (Bayer et al. 1994: 115).

1837–40 An epidemic of typhoid, followed by an outbreak of smallpox, resulted in the death of 10

percent of the province’s residents (Gregg 1966,

I: 147).

1838 (July 5) The U.S. Corps of Topographical Engineers was created by congressional act

(Goetzmann 1991: 6).

1838 A band of French trappers went into the Sangre

de Cristo Mountains above Mora, but due to

prior trapping along area streams, they caught

no beaver (deBuys 1985: 159).

1839 Another gold rush began in the San Pedro

Mountains, located southwest of the Ortiz

grant. The site of this new discovery became

known as the New Placers to differentiate it

from the Old Placers near Dolores, and a mining camp, known as Tuerto, was founded

(Northrop 1975: 17; Schroeder 1977: 25). Lack

of water was a problem that limited production. Most of the mining occurred in the winter, when snow melt water was used. At other

times of the year, water was transported in at

exorbitant prices (Meketa 1986: 70).

1839–46 Spades and shovels made from the wood of

white fir, pinyon, and ponderosa pine were

used by Hispanic miners at the El Tuerto and

Dolores mines. Sometimes, when available,

iron blades were attached to replace wooden

ones that had broken off. A kind of crowbar or

pry rod was fashioned from oak wood. The

mines also manufactured spoons of wood and

deer antler (Meketa 1986: 71).

1830s A new medical belief, that a change of climate

could result in miraculous recoveries of one’s

health, began to evolve. Josiah Gregg began

his Santa Fe Trail adventures as a successful

cure for his poor health (O’Connor and Skaggs

1977: 89–90).

1830s In dry grasslands, shepherds drove their flocks

to water once every 2 or 3 days, or they loaded

gourds filled with water and transported them

on burros to the flocks for drinking. Gregg noted

that goats were “found in great abundance” in

New Mexico, and their milk was commonly consumed. Domestic turkeys and pigeons were few

in number (Gregg 1966, I: 188, 191). Gregg recorded the following cultivated crops: corn,

beans, chile, wheat, apples, peaches, apricots,

and grapes. Wild plants gathered and eaten included pinyon nuts and prickly pear tuna (fruit)

(Gregg 1966, I: 157–158).

1830s Gregg wrote that the only successful mine in

New Mexico was El Real de Dolores or El

Placer. He reported that gold was discovered

at this location by a mule herder in 1828 (Gregg

1966, I: 166–167).

1830s The lakes, Las Salinas, near Abo and Gran

Quivira, were important sources of salt, according to Gregg. He described their significance

as “an inexhaustible supply of this indispensable commodity, not only for the consumption

of this province, but for portions of the adjoining departments.” He also described a causeway that had been constructed across the

middle of the “principal lake,” which afforded

access to the salt deposits. Gregg stated that

the dry season, when the lakes were low, was

the best collecting time (Gregg 1966, I: 175–

176).
158 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1830s Most of the buffalo robes collected by Hispanos

went down the Chihuahua Trail to interior

Mexican states, where they were exchanged

for manufactured goods. Smaller numbers of

elk, deer, and bear skins were also shipped

south (Weber 1971: 217–218).

1830s The various ojos calientes were popular bathing sites for Hispanos suffering from “rheumatisms and other chronic diseases.” Those

with sulphur content were especially known

for their efficacy (Gregg 1966, I: 176–177).

1830s Gregg observed that the Santa Fe wagon trains

were especially welcomed in the capital during droughts because they brought relief to

area residents. Some Hispanics thought the

Americans brought rain, but Gregg remarked

that this was a “superstition” as the traders

arrived in the rainy season of July and August

(Gregg 1966, I: 148).

1830s Gregg (Gregg 1966, I: 140) noted that the Rio

Puerco was dry at its mouth part of the year.

1830s (late) Almost all felt for hats was made from

furs like raccoon, which were much cheaper

than beaver. With a decreased price in the beaver market, large trapping companies went out

of business (Murray 1979: 32).

1830s–40s New Mexicans were forbidden to sell punche,

a locally grown tobacco, to Santa Fe traders

(Walker 1966: 138).

1830s–70s Hispanic residents from the Las Huertas Valley were running goats in the Sandia Mountains (Batchen 1972: 42–46).

1840s (early) Fur and hide traders competed intensively for the Indian trade, commonly using

alcohol in the exchange. The consumption of

liquor was a detrimental factor for the Southern Cheyenne and other Indian groups in the

region (Berthrong 1963: 90).

1840 (spring) An epidemic of “fever” struck adults, and

smallpox struck children at San Juan Pueblo

(Stockel 1993: 35).

1840 (November 17) The Tejon grant, located east of

the site of Tonque Pueblo, was granted for livestock grazing (Wozniak 1987). A plaza was

founded on a “flat, fertile, well-watered tract

not far from the place where Tejon Canon sudden emerges from the mountains [Sandias].”

The plaza also was named Tejon. This area

had abundant grass for goats, and an “old

watering place” known as Una de Gato

(Batchen 1972: 11–12).

1840 There were an estimated 1.5 million sheep in

the territory (Gonzalez 1969: 48).

1840 (ca.) San Felipe Pueblo constructed a footbridge

over the Rio Grande. The bridge consisted of

huge willow baskets filled with rocks and

spaced about 12 feet apart. These caissons were

spanned by 2-by–12 planks, which were removed when threatened by flood. The bridge,

reportedly, never washed out, but was replaced

by a steel truss bridge built by the U.S. Indian

Service. It was severely damaged by floodwater the next year, however (Balcomb 1980: 42–

45).

1840–41 A fatal typhoid epidemic, followed by a smallpox epidemic, may have killed 10 percent of

New Mexico’s population (Meketa 1986: 77,

366–367).

1841 (January 8) The Maxwell land grant included

sacred mountains, streams, and forests of Taos

Pueblo (Wood 1989: 61).

1841 (March 20) Santiago Padilla and 26 other heads

of households received a tract of 41,481 acres

known as the Chilili grant (Eastman and Gray

1987: 78).

1841 (July-September) Botanist William Gambel

came over the Santa Fe Trail and collected

plants in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and

the nearby Rio Grande Valley. His specimen of

Quercus gambelli was later named in his honor

(Dickerman 1985: 163–164).

1841 Julian and Antonio Donaldson obtained a

grant of land with hot springs just north of

Las Vegas, and some 5 years later they constructed a bathhouse, which could be used by

the public for a fee (Perrigo 1982: 22).

1841–43 A number of American traders and trappers

were using “Taos lightning,” a whiskey made

locally in northern New Mexico, in trade with

Native Americans for hides. Its sale or exchange was illegal in Indian territory, but the

traffic of liquor for furs continued in the region

(Weber 1971: 225–226). The consumption of

liquor was a detrimental factor for the

Southern Cheyenne (Berthrong 1963: 90).

Simon Turley, who operated a distillery at

Taos, exchanged liquor for furs with traders

who then used the whiskey to obtain more furs.

He was killed by Taos Pueblos during their

January 1847 uprising (Weber 1971: 218, 227–

228).

1843 Taos Pueblo lost some of its sacred land when

Governor Armijo, ignoring protests of the Indian villagers, granted a huge tract of sacred

mountain land to two Mexican citizens

(Simmons 1979b: 207).

1843 (ca.) Sixteen families from the Algodones area,

seeking adequate farmland and water, had

settled Placitas near the Ojo del Oso (Batchen

1972: 2).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 159

1843–45 Gold production at the Old and New Placers

remained high (Northrop 1975: 18).

1844 Publication of Commerce of the Prairies by Josiah

Gregg boosted travel on the Santa Fe Trail as a

means in regaining one’s health (Barbour 1990:

47).

1845 Governor Manuel Armijo made a grant of almost one-half million acres in the middle of

the 1819 grant to Don Bartolome Baca (Towne

and Wentworth 1945: 63).

1845 Don Juan Otero petitioned the Mexican government for a land grant including the Ojo de

la Cabra, located northeast of Isleta and

claimed by its residents. The grant was authorized, but later this decision was reversed by

the U.S. Court of private Land Claims. Otero

used this land for grazing livestock (Brayer

1938: 59–60; Reeve 1961, II: 430).

1840s (mid) (to 1900) Bernalillo was a major winemaking center in the territory (Olson 1976: 43).

1846 (early) U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton used

the term “manifest destiny” to justify westward

expansion into traditional Native American

and Hispano American lands. He said, “It

would seem that the white race alone received

the divine command, to subdue and replenish

the earth for it is the only race that has obeyed

it—the only race that hunts out new and distant lands and even a New World to subdue

and replenish” (Grinde and Johansen 1995:

9–10).

1846 (March 7) A grant of land, the Bosque del

Apache, was made to a sheep raiser and farmer

(Wozniak 1987).

1846 (May) Captain Donaciano Vigil noted that

Anglo trappers were shipping $200,000 worth

of beaver skins annually from Abiquiu and

Taos (Cleland 1963: 153).

1846 (July 10) Water had to be hauled into the New

Placer mine, south of Santa Fe, for the “gold

washing” (Wislizenus 1969: 31).

1846 (July 11) There was a small Indian pueblo 10

miles north of San Antonio on the east side of

the Sandia Mountains. The residents were

practicing irrigation farming (Wislizenus 1969:

33).

1846 (July 15) Part of the north-south main road

(Chihuahua Trail) in the valley near Albuquerque was nearly impassable due to rain.

Wislizenus (1969: 34) took the “upper eastern

road, which was sandy, and difficult to

traverse. Artemisia and similar shrubbery, but

without grass,” was the dominant vegetation

along his route.

1846 (July 18-August 8) Frederick Adolphus

Wislizenus, a physician from St. Louis, accompanied Santa Fe trader Albert Speyer on a trip

to New Mexico and northern Mexico. A keen

observer and botanist, Wislizenus and his

party passed through Peralta, Valencia, and

Tome recording observations on the natural

environment, towns, and residents of the area

(Wislizenus 1969: 5, 14–40).

1846 (July 26) Wislizenus (1969: 36) noted the occurrence of mesquite and narrow-leaf yucca,

or amole, south of La Joya de Sevilleta.

1846 (August-September) Lt. William Emory collected plants along the Rio Grande Valley

from Santa Fe to present Elephant Butte dam

and west to the Gila River. An oak species

and a mesquite species were subsequently

named for him by John Torrey. Emory also

found a new genus of sunflower (Baileya) and

nine new species of wildflowers (Dickerman

1985: 167–168).

1846 (September 4–5) Corn was the major crop at

San Felipe Pueblo and Algodones. Grapes and

wine were found at Bernalillo. At Alameda

there were “grapes, melons, and eggs”; nearby

were “swarms of wild geese and sand cranes”

(Calvin 1968: 67–69).

1846 (September 28) Several kinds of meat, eggs,

cheese, pinyon nuts, chile, onions, watermelons, corn husks, tobacco, peaches, and grapes

were for sale at the Santa Fe plaza (Abert 1962:

46).

1846 (September 30) Residents of Tuerto were running “large flocks of sheep” in the upper Pecos

River valley (Abert 1962: 51).

1846 (October 1) Emory (Calvin 1968: 82) observed

that below Tome, to Belen, the width of the valley increased, and the crops were better than

those upriver.

1846 (October 1) Abert (1962: 51) visited copper, lead,

and gold mines in the San Pedro Mountains.

1846 (October 2) Abert (1962: 54) found the water at

Cienega “delicious.”

1846 (October 7) Abert (1962: 60–62), traveling

from Taos to Santa Fe, noted that there was

“no grass.” At Embudo, a village of 300 or

400 ranchers, there were herds of sheep and

goats, but only a small number of horses

and cattle owing to the shortage of grass. At

San Juan Pueblo he saw “very fine fields of

corn” and “orchards of peach and plum

trees.”

1846 (October 9) In the Santa Fe River valley Lt.

Abert (1962: 65) observed numerous flocks

of sheep and goats. Also seen were “some

large grullas [sandhill cranes], blue cranes
160 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

[great blue herons?], in the low grounds, and

several flocks of wild geese.”

1846 (October 14) Abert (1962: 73) saw a herd of

4,000 sheep and goats at Atrisco.

1846 (October 21) Abert’s (1962: 82, 87) contingent

traveled south to Acoma Pueblo. Along the

road they met a Hispanic pack train carrying

“peaches, water melons, and dried fruit,”

which they had purchased at Acoma. A new

species of yucca (baccata) was observed, as was

juniper mistletoe. “Many flocks of sheep grazing” were also passed, as were Pueblos with

burros laden with peaches. Abert (1962: 88)

camped below Acoma and beside some wells

dug into a drainage. There were “large flocks

of sheep, herds of cattle, and droves of horses”

on the surrounding plain.

1846 (October 25) Navajos ran off 5,000 to 6,000

sheep owned by Don Antonio Jose Otero, who

lived at Valencia and had a ranch nearby. Two

sheepherders were killed in the raid (McNitt

1972: 101).

1846 (October 26) Abert (1962: 96–97) learned that

Navajos had taken 50,000 sheep only a few

miles south of Atrisco. Trying to cross Tijeras

Arroyo on the east side of the river, some of his

animals were nearly mired in “treacherous

quicksand.”

1846 (October 29) Moving down the west bank of

the Rio Grande, Abert (1962: 99–100)

reached Isleta Pueblo. He noted “extensive

vineyards” and some Pueblos making wine.

Crossing the river here, and moving south,

the contingent reached Peralta, located at the

“south skirt of a large round grove of cottonwood trees.” There were several flour mills

in the area. Abert returned to Isleta, where

buffalo robes were offered as trade goods.

Grapes and melons were common produce

among the residents.

1846 (November 2–3) At Tajique there were several Hispanics digging in an Indian ruin for

earth to make adobe bricks. Moving south,

Abert (1962: 105–107) reached Torreon and

made camp on a large stream “that bursts

forth at once from a grand spring in the side

of a ravine above town.” Teal and mallard

ducks were flushed from the water. Corn was

purchased in Tajique, before continuing

southward to Manzano. As they traveled

along the road, several small lakes were seen

in the Estancia Basin to the east. At Manzano

Abert camped on an acequia that powered

the town’s mill and near a “large grove of

apple trees.”

1846 (November 3) Lt. Abert described a grist mill

and a dam-reservoir to create water power for

the molino at Manzano. The dam was constructed of logs, stones, and earth; the small

reservoir was drying up, and there was not

enough water power to turn the stone (Abert

1962: 107–108).

1846 (November 3–4) Abert (1962: 108–110) met

Don Pedro Baca, “who was in charge of the

silver mines.” He said there were mines “of

silver, copper and iron” in the Manzano

Mountains. An employee of Baca brought

Abert “numerous specimens of silver ore.”

Abert led his men to Quarai to visit the

church and pueblo ruins. Later in the afternoon they reached the ruins of Abo, where

camp was made.

1846 (November 11–14) Abert (1962: 121–125)

turned east to the Rio Grande Valley and

crossed the river to Socorro, where he learned

that gold, silver, copper, and lead were found

in the nearby mountains. Continuing down

the east bank of the river, more sand hills were

encountered. The first night’s camp was made

in “some large cottonwood trees, overgrown

with bunches of mistletoe,” a half-mile south

of Bosquecito. Navajos had been raiding sheep

herds; one flock of 3,000 was taken. Abert continued south to San Pedro, then farther on

reached the Bosque del Apache, where he and

his men camped. Near there, he killed “two

large swans.”

1846 (November 19–20) Ruxton was told that drinking water from the Rio del Norte prevented

kidney diseases and stones. He also noted that

various “medicinal herbs of great value,”

found in the Organ Mountains, were sometimes brought to El Paso by Apaches to sell or

trade (Hafen 1950: 166).

1846 (November 28–30) There were 2 days of drizzling rain, which hampered construction of

temporary quarters for Abert’s (1962: 128–129)

men at Valverde. Two unarmed soldiers were

killed by Navajos with “reed arrows”

[Phragmites?] nearby.

1846 (December 16–19) Abert (1962: 135–137) and

his command continued north through

Socorro and on to Lemitar, where some residents had mules for sale. He bought two of the

animals.

1846 (fall) The army at Santa Fe procured firewood

from local Hispanics, who cut and transported

the fuel from the foothills and higher slopes of

the Sangre de Cristo Mountains above the town

(Frazer 1983: 11).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 161

1846 (fall) (to 1849) Mules as mounts and draft animals were purchased from local owners by the

U.S. military (Frazer 1983: 249).

1846 (fall-winter) Owing to the large amount of local food crops consumed by Kearny’s Army of

the West, there was a near famine in the Middle

Valley over the winter (Sunseri 1979: 22).

1846 A grant of agricultural lands along the

Rito Lama, between the Rito San Cristobal

and Rio Colorado, was made (Wozniak

1987).

1846 A Hispanic couple opened a small bathhouse

at the Montezuma Hot Springs, but within

10 years poor management ended their business. Reopened by an Anglo in 1864, the

waters were proclaimed as a cure of “syphilitic and kindred diseases, Scrofula, Cutaneous diseases, Rheumatism, etc.” (Perrigo

1982: 22).

1846 Santa Ana farmers, using walking plows, hand

sickles, and hand-threshing, spent 50 to 60

hours producing only 20 bushels of wheat

(Bayer et al. 1994: 229).

1846 There were about 54,000 Hispanics in the

Middle Rio Grande Valley. The Pueblo population was 7,000 to 8,000 (Harper et al. 1943:

57).

1846 Jose Leandro Perea of Bernalillo owned 200,000

sheep, which were divided into 2,500 flocks,

or 80 in each flock (Ortiz 1980: 80).

1846 Large caravans from Santa Fe annually travelled in the “dry season” to the salt lakes east

of the Manzano Mountains (Wislizenus 1969:

25).

1846–50 Whiskey for the men and “wild marsh grass”

for the livestock were delivered by local Hispanics to the U.S. military in Santa Fe (Dickey

1970: 15).

1846–50 Some 453,292 sheep and 31,581 cattle were

taken by various Indian raiders (Simmons

1988: 8).

1847 (September-December) The soldiers stationed

at Santa Fe were struck by an epidemic of typhoid fever, ten men died (Stockel 1993: 44).

1847 (December) The first sawmill in New Mexico

was erected at Santa Fe, on the river of the same

name (Workers of the Writers’ Program 1940:

429).

1847–61 The army set up a number of sawmills across

the region. Some lumber was contracted from

private sources, but soldiers cut and sawed

most of the lumber used in construction (Frazer

1983: 187).

1847–67 The army contracted with local sheep raisers

for mutton. Flocks of sheep often accompanied

troops on campaigns into Indian country as a

moving commissary (Frazer 1983: 9, 51; Miller

1989: 187).

1848–51 The placement of a detachment of cavalry in

Las Vegas and the establishment of Fort Union

east of Mora bolstered local economies. The

army needed flour, corn, and beef, and ranchers and farmers increased their production of

these resources and also built several gristmills

in the area. Freighting on the Santa Fe Trail

and feeder roads boomed as well (Perrigo 1982:

15).

1848–65 James L. Hubbell of Pajarito was freighting cut

grama grass in 48 oxen-drawn wagons to regional military and civilians (Moyer 1979: 65).

1849 Manuel Otero and Antonio and Jesus Luna

from the Rio Abajo drove 25,000 sheep to California (Carlson 1969: 28).

1849 Hay was scarce in Santa Fe; it cost $60 a ton

(Keleher 1982: 43).

1849 (August 20) Lt. Simpson visited the abandoned

Spanish Queen copper mine, located just below Jemez Springs. He was told that the

springs would cure “cutaneous or rheumatic”

illnesses (McNitt 1964: 15–17).

1849 Emigrants to the California gold fields made

demands for food at the Pueblo villages. One

party of forty-niners kidnapped the governor

of Laguna Pueblo when he refused their demand for sheep. He was tied and taken to Zuni

before his kidnappers released him (Simmons

1979b: 209).

1849–54 Salt from the Salinas lakes in the Estancia

Basin was delivered by contractors to military posts in the region. Some 600 bushels

sold for $4.50 per unit (Frazer 1983: 109,

156).

1849–50s It was recommended that wagons pulled by

mules depending on native grasses for feed

should not exceed a 2,000-pound load. If the

mules were fed transported grain, the load

could exceed this weight (Marcy 1988: 27).

1840s Some 30,000 to 40,000 sheep were driven south

annually from New Mexico to Mexico (Weber

1982: 139).

1840s After the crop harvests, many farmers in the

area of the Placer or Real de Dolores set up

“cafes” to feed the large number of miners and

others who came to the mine in the late fall

and winter (Meketa 1986: 70).

1840s–70s Each year the men from Placitas traveled to

the Salinas area to collect salt (Batchen 1972:

19).

1850 Based on an estimated 100,000 acres in cultivation in the Middle Rio Grande Valley, the
162 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

net area demand for river water was 2.75 acrefeet per acre (Hedke 1924: 15).

1850 Brevet Lieutenant Colonel George A. McCall

reported that “the hillsides and the plains that

were in days past covered with sheep and cattle

are now bare in many parts of the state, yet the

work of the plunder still goes on” (McCall 1851:

5).

1850 There were 185,000 sheep in Bernalillo County

(Dortignac 1960: 47)

1850 The number of sheep in the territory declined

to an estimated 377,000 (Gonzalez 1969: 48).

1850 The U.S. Census Bureau recorded 61,547 persons in the New Mexico Territory, which included present Arizona and a small portion of

Colorado’s San Luis Valley (Workers of the

Writers’ Program 1940: 429). There were more

than 30,000 Indians in the territory (Bancroft

1889: 459).

1850 (post) Hispanos cut poles and timber in the

less accessible parts of Pino Canyon on the

west side of the Sandia Mountains (Baisan

1994: 2).

1800s (mid) Family sheep flocks at Laguna Pueblo

commonly numbered 50 to 100 head. A few

families managed herds of 500 to more than

1,000 head (Eastman and Gray 1987: 95).

1800s (mid) The Oteros of the Los Lunas area were

grazing their livestock in the Estancia Basin

and New Plains areas (Espinosa and Chavez

n.d.: 75–78).

1800s (mid) A priest in northern New Mexico reported

that other priests were prospecting and mining gold in the Pecos District of the Santa Fe

National Forest. A “Father Tafoya” supposedly recovered enough gold to buy land in the

Picacho area (Barker 1953: 158).

1800s (mid) Hispanic women of the village of Tejon

carried water in tinajas from a spring 2.5 miles

away (Batchen 1972: 12).

1800s (mid to late) A Hispanic Taos trader, who also

raised sheep, grew grain and collected hides,

would periodically transport these products

to the Rio Abajo. There he traded for chile, fruit,

and other agricultural produce (Brown 1978:

72).

1851 (summer) The Territorial Legislature passed

legislation empowering owners of tillable

lands to take water from the most convenient

source and move it across the properties of others, assessing damages on owners of livestock

that trespassed onto another’s fields, making

the creation of a footpath across a field punishable by reprimand or fine, forbidding the

building of any structures, such as mills, that

would interfere with irrigating crops, and providing that “the course of ditches or acequias

already established shall not be disturbed”

(Clark 1987: 25).

1851 The army contracted with Domingo Baca of

Santa Ana County to deliver 20,000 arrobas

(507,200 pounds) of grass and fodder to four

locations along the old road between Albuquerque and Santa Fe (Frazer 1983: 50).

1851 The U.S. Army had a “hay camp” on the East

Fork of the Jemez River in the Valle Grande

(McNitt 1972: 184–185).

1851 The Territorial Assembly passed a memorial

requesting the U.S. Congress to reserve all salt

lakes, mines, and springs and to prevent them

from passing into private ownership. Also, all

fuelwood and timber in the mountain should

be reserved for the common use of the people

(Clark 1987: 32).

1851 Residents of the territory were raising wheat,

oats, corn, melons, onions, grapes, and several other fruits (Dillon 1970: 62).

1851 A territorial statute regulating the property

procured in war against Plains Indians was

passed. Encouraging Hispanics to participate

in the hostilities, the law stipulated that all

captured property, including captives, would

be divided equally among the members of any

war party (Sunseri 1979: 62).

1852 (January 7) The territorial assembly enacted

legislation that detailed the administration of

community acequias (Clark 1987: 25).

1852 (May or June) Suffering from rheumatism,

Franz Huning went to the hot springs north of

Las Vegas. At the springs he described a twostory log cabin with a “bathing tub in each of

the two rooms below....” In front of the cabin

“was a swamp place full of warm springs and

always green.” He tied his mule on the edge of

this cienega to feed on the grasses, but the animal “ventured too far and sank down to his

belly” (Browne 1973: 53).

1852 A smallpox epidemic killed hundreds of Pueblo

Indians (Thornton 1977: 99).

1853 (October) Lt. A.W. Whipple commented on the

valley between Bernalillo and Albuquerque:

“... but between Bernardillo [sic] and this place

are the finest ranchos and vineyards to be

found in the Territory” (Foreman 1941: 111).

1853 Lt. A.W. Whipple (Foreman 1941: 119) crossed

the Puerco near present Interstate 40W and

described the river as “quite wide” and “contained pools of water.” He observed that the

streambed was 18 feet below the valley floor

(Rittenhouse 1965: 27–28).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 163

1854 (spring) Much of the valley above and below

Bernalillo was in cultivation; vineyards were

common, and two varieties of grape vines were

thriving (Davis 1982: 349–350).

1854 (July 22) Congress passed the Donation Act,

providing for the appointment of a State Surveyor-General and gave every citizen over the

age of 21 and residing in New Mexico before

1853, or settling in the territory prior to 1858, a

donation of 160 acres. These donations were

made to promote the military strength of settlements exposed to attacks by Indians. William

Pelham was appointed the first Surveyor-General (Westphall 1965: 1, 37).

1854 (December) The first U.S. Surveyor-General

arrived in the territory to begin the public land

surveys. The policy of his office was to only

survey arable or agricultural land (Westphall

1965: 1, 17).

1854 W.H.H. Davis visited a warm spring in the foothills above Socorro. He described the pool at

the spring as “some twenty feet long by fifteen

wide, and eighteen inches deep. The temperature of the water is about that of new milk, and

it is said to possess some medicinal qualities

that render bathing in it conducive to health”

(Davis 1982: 369–370).

1854–59 Sorghum crop varieties from China and African countries were introduced into the Southwest (Ryerson 1976: 251).

1855 (mid) By this time most baled hay for New

Mexico military posts was imported from Kansas, even though local farmers were growing

substantial amounts of alfalfa for hay (Miller

1989: 104).

1855 (July) The U.S. military was operating a ferry

at or near the Barelas ford 3 miles south of

Albuquerque. A “rickety old scow that could

accommodate but one wagon at a time” constituted the ferry. This dugout was made from

a cottonwood log (Davis 1982: 361, 390).

1855 (July) Davis (1982: 390) purchased eggs, three

chickens, and a log for use as fuel at one of the

Atrisco plazas on the west side of the Rio

Grande.

1855 During a dry period, survey of the principal

meridian south of the base line near Socorro

was discontinued due to the high price of water (75 cents/gallon) for the survey crew and

their mules. Work did not resume “until the

rains came” (Westphall 1965: 10).

1855–70 (winters) Jose Leandro Perea of La Ventana ran

50,000 to 150,000 sheep on the Espiritu Santo

land grant (Bayer et al. 1994: 158).

1856 A smallpox epidemic resulted in the death of

110 individuals, nearly half of them infants, in

Mora Parish (deBuys 1985: 139–140).

1856 The Donaldsons built a six-room, log bathhouse at Montezuma hot springs (Perrigo 1982:

22).

1858 (December 22) The U.S. Congress confirmed

the land grants made to the Pueblos by Governor Cruzate in 1689, and 8 years later the General Land Office issued patents (Brayer 1938:

21; Sando 1992: 110, 112). The San Ildefonso

Pueblo grant of 15,413 acres was confirmed by

Congress (Aberle 1948: 78).

1858–59 The U.S. Topographical Engineers constructed

a road along the route of the old Camino Real

from Santa Fe to Dona Ana (Jackson 1952: 109–

111, 116–117).

1858–1913 Fr. John Baptist Ralliere was priest at Tome

and a leader in agriculture—introducing

grapevines, better seeds, and farming methods. He established one of the first parish

schools, which was coeducational (Valencia

Co. Historical Society 1982: 17).

1859 A survey by the Surveyor General’s Office

placed the east boundary of Isleta Pueblo land

along the base of the Manzano Mountains,

rather than the highest points in the range.

The Pueblos were deprived of 21,415 acres of

grazing, fuelwood and timber, and hunting

lands. A 1918 resurvey set the east boundary

along the “backbone” of the Manzanos, restoring the claimed acreage (Brayer 1938:

58–59).

1859–65 Some gold dust was being recovered by

Hispano and Anglo miners panning in the

Arroyo Hondo (Pearson 1986: 4).

1850s The reports of railroad surveys stated that the

shortage of surface water was a major drawback to establishing a route along the 32nd

parallel (Clark 1987: 73).

1850s Antonio Jose Luna and Antonio Jose Otero of

Valencia drove sheep to California market for

higher prices. In one drive there were over

50,000 sheep. This successful venture led to

wealth and political power for the two men

(Espinosa and Chavez n.d.: 55).

1850s A sawmill was operating near Glorieta Pass

and another near Taos (Bunting 1964: 11).

1850s U.S. Army personnel stationed at forts in the

Socorro area mined coal at Carthage. Three

decades later Carthage coal was used in

smelters in the same area (Christiansen 1974:

69).

1850s Anglo prospectors ripped out beaver dams in

search of gold in streams in the Abiquiu area

(McDonald 1985: 121).
164 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1850s Sometime during this decade the first public

bath cabins were built at Jemez Springs

(Browne 1973: 63–64).

1850s (late) (to 1860) More Hispanic settlers from

Alameda settled at Placitas and helped construct an irrigation system, including a large

reservoir called El Tanque de la Ciruela, located just to the east of the village (Batchen

1972: 2–3).

1860 (March 12) The U.S. Congress passed the Preemption bill, giving free land to individuals in

New Mexico and adjoining territories (Brown

1970: 13).

1860 The U.S. Census Bureau counted 93,516 persons in New Mexico Territory, which included

present Arizona and a small portion of

Colorado’s San Luis Valley (Workers of the

Writers’ Program 1940: 329).

1860 There were 830,000 cattle in the territory (Williams 1986a: 120).

1860 There were 306,000 sheep in Bernalillo County

(Dortignac 1960: 47).

1860 The heirs of Luis Maria Baca received a grant

of 100,000 acres, which included the Valle

Grande in the Jemez Mountains (Scurlock

1981a: 138).

1860–70 Due to the demand at army posts, corn production in Valencia County increased from

53,587 to 77,854 bushels, even though the

population decreased from 11,321 to 9,093

(Miller 1989: 57).

1861 (March) The commander of the Union troops

in Santa Fe said that the town could not be

defended “because it was commanded on all

sides by hills” (Keleher 1982: 176).

1861 Some 1.5 million pounds of flour, 1,098 head

of beef, and 1,400 bushels of beans were contracted from local suppliers by the U.S. Army

(Frazer 1983: 179).

1861 U.S. troops from Fort Craig found coal on the

site that was later named the Carthage coal

field (Christiansen 1974: 39).

1862 (spring) The Confederate invasion from Texas

resulted in depletion of livestock, crops, and

food reserves along the Rio Grande Valley

(Christiansen 1974: 32).

1862 (spring-summer) Mining operations were reduced sharply in New Mexico during the Confederate invasion (Christiansen 1974: 31–32).

1862 (summer) At the military post of Los Valles

de la Sierra de San Ildefonso in the Jemez

Mountains, soldiers dug out a hot and a cold

artesian spring, which were used for bathing and drinking, respectively (Meketa 1986:

207).

1862 (winter) Because so many men had been serving in the Union Army to stop the advance of

Confederate troops, and because much of the

livestock, fodder, and foodstuffs had been consumed, stolen, or burned by the Confederates,

the general populace of New Mexico experienced hardships (Meketa 1986: 187).

1862 Military personnel were cutting “hay” (native

bunch grasses) in the Valle Grande. Some 400

tons of hay were cut around the headwaters of

the East Fork of the Jemez, Santa Rosa, and

San Antonio rivers (Meketa 1986: 205–206).

1862 The Homestead Act was passed by Congress,

allowing a settler to take out a homestead of

160 acres on public lands. A patent to the land

could then be obtained either by living on it for

5 years or by commuting it through payment

of cash in 6 months (Westphall 1965: 43).

1862 A hill in the Valle Grande, Jemez Mountains,

was a source of obsidian, which the penitentes

in the area fashioned into sajadas, blades used

to make incisions (Meketa 1986: 206).

1862–90 Intensive grazing by sheep herds in the upper

Rio Puerco basin accelerated erosion (Maes

and Fisher 1937: 10–15).

1863 Ordinances related to animal and traffic control, sanitation, public works, and zoning were

passed by Albuquerque’s board of aldermen

(Simmons 1992: 24).

1863 The first significant discovery of silver in the

territorial period was made at Pueblo Springs,

near Magdalena (Northrop 1975: 23).

1863 U.S. troops from the military post of Los Pinos

pursued unidentified Indians who had stolen

cattle from near Valencia. The army captured

about 100 head of cattle near Abo pass but

saw no Indians (Stanley 1966: 13).

1864 (November 1) A patent for the Sandia Pueblo

grant of 24,034 acres was issued. The east

boundary was at the “top of the Sandia Mountains” (Brayer 1938: 72).

1864 President Lincoln issued patents to all of the

Pueblos who had grants confirmed in 1858

(Sando 1992: 112).

1864–66 Estanislao Montoya of San Antonio farmed a

large tract of land above Fort Craig, raising

corn, barley, and oats (Miller 1989: 40).

1864–79 A new owner acquired the Montezuma hot

springs and constructed the Adobe Hotel on

the site. In 1879 the Santa Fe Railroad built a

two-story stone bathhouse (Perrigo 1982: 22).

1864 (post) Following subjugation of the Navajo by

the U.S. Army, and consequently fearing no

more raids by this group, Laguna Pueblo livestock herders expanded onto distant range-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 165

lands. The governor assigned herding areas

for a year’s use; this was “a conservation area

designed to preserve the grass” (Ellis 1979:

442).

1865 (January 18) The Territorial Mining Act was

passed. It opened public lands to mining

claims, provided the basis for patenting lode

claims, and set forth a provision recognizing

and protecting water rights (Christiansen

1974: 87–89).

1865 (May 25) Miners met and organized the Chama

Mining District and adopted laws to regulate

mining. These affected placer and lode claims

and water rights (Christiansen 1974: 86–87).

1865 Gold was discovered near Nogal (Northrop

1975: 21).

1865–66 (winter) Fort Craig used bituminous coal from

mines south and east of Socorro for heating

fuel (Miller 1989: 120–121).

1866 (April 1) The Congress overrode President

Johnson’s veto of the Civil Rights bill, which

gave equal rights to every person born in the

United States except Native Americans (Brown

1970: 121).

1866 (July 27) The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad

Company received a grant of 3,565,730 acres

in New Mexico (Westphall 1965: 92).

1866 (late July) James Meline’s party, passing

through San Felipe Pueblo fields, saw another

traveler turn his livestock to forage in a corn

patch (Meline 1966: 118).

1866 (August 4) Meline described the Santa Fe plaza

as “some three hundred and fifty feet square,

was an open space of mud and dust...” and

noted that some Americans had planted cottonwoods on the north side of the plaza. It had

been more recently planted with a “rich carpet

of alfalfa (known in some parts of the United

States as chili clover) growing three feet high

and bearing a purple blossom...” (Meline 1966:

152–153).

1866 (late fall) The new settlers of San Francisco

Xavier on the Rio Puerco used cottonwood

along the stream to construct their houses and

outbuildings. This new town was located at a

spring, El Ojito del Rio Puerco (Lopez 1980:

72–76).

1866 Some 161,000 pounds of beans were provided

to territory posts by 10 local farmers (Miller

1989: 145).

1866 Salvador Armijo had manure hauled from

his sheep corrals and spread on his agricultural fields around Albuquerque. Up to 2,000

wagon loads were used in a year (Armstrong

1984: 5).

1866 Some of the major mines in the territory included Old and New Placers for gold, Cerrillos

for silver, San Adelia and Stevenson in the

Organ Mountains for lead, Santa Rita and

Hanover for copper, Pinos Altos and Stone

Corral for lead, Taos for silver, Jemez for copper, and Estancia Basin for salt (Meline 1966:

171, 173–177).

1866 Lead-silver ores were discovered at Magdalena (Northrop 1975: 22).

1866 Rio Grande Pueblos were cultivating corn,

chile, tobacco, onions, melons, peaches, apricots, plum, and grapes. They also were gathering pinyon nuts for food and trade. Hispanics

were cultivating wheat, corn, oats, beans,

pumpkins, melons, tomatoes, cabbage, onions,

chiles, and beets along the Rio Grande. About

250 square miles were in cultivation in the territory. Manure was rarely used as fertilizer

(Meline 1966: 156, 160, 162–163).

1867 An outbreak of scurvy occurred at military

posts (Miller 1989: 43).

1867–83 Government forage agencies were established

at Belen and Los Lunas. These civilian agents

furnished forage such as hay, corn, oats, and

barley for military animals, as well as water

and corrals. They also prepared meals for express men and supplied fuel to army teamsters and small detachments of soldiers (Jensen

and Miller 1986: 142–143).

1868 (June 1) The U.S. treaty with the Navajo was

signed. A large reservation was to be established in their old homeland, farm implements

and seeds were to be given to every head of a

family who selected 160 acres of land as a home

and began farming, and sheep and goats were

to be distributed to families. Also, Navajos

could hunt on lands contiguous to the reservation (Dale 1949: 61).

1868–75 Oak, pinyon, juniper, and mesquite (roots) were

the primary fuelwoods supplied by contractors to the army (Miller 1989: 122).

1869 (September 23) An executive order creating the

Fort Craig military reservation of 24,895 acres

near San Marcial was issued (Westphall 1965:

146).

1869 Mesquite and pinyon were replacing coal as the

heating fuel at military posts (Miller 1989: 121).

1869 The army paid Tomas Valencia for use of a

bridge that he had constructed over the Rio

Puerco on the road between Albuquerque and

Socorro (Miller 1989: 311).

1869–71 Governor William A. Pile sold about threequarters of the Spanish archives in Santa Fe

for waste paper (Hill 1982: 10).
166 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1869–73 The Navajo suffered crop failures (Dale 1949:

62).

1869–81 All of the salt supplied to military posts in the

territory came from local sources (Miller 1989:

143).

1869 (to ca. 1900) Water from the La Constancia mill

fell “20 feet onto a bed of volcanic boulders

spread out over the fields and an orchard below” (Ellis 1955: 105).

1860s Lead ore was mined in the Sandia foothills

east of the Las Huertas Valley to make rifle

balls (Batchen 1972: 57).

1860s–70s A relatively large influx of new Spanish settlers to the upper Rio Pueblo valley led to overgrazing and scarcity of irrigated cropland

(Carlson 1990: 34).

1860s–70s Most of the hay cut for the military by private contractors was harvested with hand

sickles and scythes. Hoe-cut hay was frequently refused because large amounts of

dirt and roots were mixed with the grass.

In times of scarcity, however, it was sometimes accepted. The preferred grama grass

hay was usually cut in the fall, while “bottom grass” was cut in June and July. “Inferior grasses” (such as vega and sacaton)

were sometimes accepted. Army horses

usually received a daily ration of 14

pounds of hay and 12 pounds of grain. The

hay was cut native grasses. In 1870 some

4,950 tons of hay were contracted to private residents. It was believed that early

frosts destroyed the nutritional content of

native hay (Miller 1989: 92–95).

1860s–70s Malarial fevers, diarrhea, dysentery, and venereal diseases were common illnesses among

the military (Miller 1989: 43).

1870 (pre) Agricultural fields at Santa Clara Pueblo

were primarily located in the vicinity of Santa

Clara Creek. Subsequently, when the Rio

Grande ditch was constructed, field locations

were moved closer to the river (Hill 1982: 26).

1870 (pre) Santa Clara Pueblos traded cornmeal,

wheat, barley flour, and foodstuffs made from

these to Plains Indians for buffalo robes, jerked

meat, buckskins, buckskin clothing, and

horses (Hill 1982: 63–65).

1870 (to early 1900s) Santa Clara farmers selected

field sites of sandy loam. Alkaline or clayey

soils were avoided. New fields were cleared of

rocks and smaller trees, and weeds were

pulled or burned. Large trees and boulders

were left in the fields. Santa Clara farmers

treated their agricultural seeds with “blue

stone,” a wild plant ground and mixed with

other indigenous species, to protect the crop

from insects and worms and to stimulate

growth. Ashes were sometimes sprinkled

around pumpkin plants as an insecticide (Hill

1982: 26–29).

1870 (July 9) The Placer Mining Act, an amendment

to the 1866 Act, providing for the patenting of

placers, was passed by Congress (Christiansen

1974: 88).

1870 The estimated number of acres of farmland

under irrigation in the territory was 57,200, an

increase of 2,700 acres over that of 1860 (Clark

1987: 29). Eighty-five percent of the farms in

New Mexico were less than 50 acres. Contractor Jacob Schwartz promised the army 200,000

pounds of corn from fields near Tome. Thirtysix gristmills were operating in the territory;

30 were powered by water, four by steam, and

two by horses. Some 55,000 pounds of flour

provided to the army by Socorro mill owner

Manuel Vigil were unfit for use. The army fed

its work animals and cavalry horses more than

4,950 tons of hay and grain during the year

(Miller 1989: 58, 81, 92, 132, 151).

1870 It was reported that there were 60 million acres

of public land that could be cultivated in the

territory, a requirement for pre-emption. This

total exceeded the available public lands

(Westphall 1965: 70).

1870 By this year Mariano Otero and Pedro Perea

had established their headquarters for sheep

operations on the Rio Puerco and Espiritu

Santo grant lands (Bayer et al. 1994: 158). Jose

L. Perea and Otero ran over 24,000 sheep in

the Cabezon-Bernalillo area (Maes and Fisher

1937: 11).

1870 At Camp Apache, the army, using Apache

workers, cut 15 tons of hay and 30 cords of

firewood per day (Worcester 1979: 129).

1870 The invention of the refrigerated rail car

spurred the growth of the cattle industry in

the region. This expansion was partially financed by British capitalists (Ortiz 1980:

100).

1870 The U.S. Census Bureau counted 91,874 persons in New Mexico (Workers of the Writers’

Program 1940: 431).

1870 There were 435,000 sheep and 14,000 cattle in

the Middle and Upper Rio Grande basins

(Harper et al. 1943: 49).

1870 There were 57,000 cattle in the territory (Williams 1986a: 120).

1870–73 A Hispanic individual was living at Espiritu

Santo Spring. The land grant of the same

name had been used for grazing since 1766
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 167

by the pueblos of Jemez, Zia, and Santa Ana

(Bayer et al. 1994: 157).

1870–80s (early) Some of the best grass stands cut for

hay were located near forts Union, Craig, and

Santa Fe (Miller 1989: 99).

1871 (fall) Some 150 residents of Galisteo and Agua

Fria harvested hay (Miller 1989: 101). Nathan

Bibo of Cebolleta contracted to deliver 100,000

pounds of corn to Fort Wingate (Miller 1989:

57).

1872 (December 3) Four members of the Christian

Brothers arrived in Bernalillo to open a school.

They also established vineyards and a winery

(Olson 1976: 42–43).

1872 Cabezon was founded on the old trail from

Santa Ana Pueblo, across the Espiritu Santo

land grant, and on to Fort Wingate. The Star

Line Mail and Transportation Co. established

a stage line operation along this route in 1875

(Bayer et al. 1994: 171, 173).

1872 The Mining Act passed this year updated

the 1866 federal law. Both the earlier law and

this piece of legislation were based on the

view that mining “was the most important,

if not the only reasonable, use of public

land.” Under the acts, any person could enter unreserved public domain and much of

national forests to prospect and stake out as

many claims as he wanted. The placer or lode

claim remained valid as long as the miner

recovered a minimum of $100 income from

working the claim. A patent was obtained if

the miner complied with surveying and other

provisions of the Mining Law and then paid

either $2.50 or $5.00 per acre for the claim

(Clawson 1971: 123–124).

1872–78 Silver, gold, copper, and lead were discovered

in the Raton Basin (Murray 1979: 79).

1870s (early) New Mexico farmers were raising more

hogs owing to the abundance of corn grown

the previous 2 years (Miller 1989: 135).

1873 Pedro Armijo of Albuquerque drove 12,000

sheep to the central Colorado gold mines to

sell as meat (Towne and Wentworth 1945: 65).

1873 New Mexico Surveyor-General Proudfit openly

supported the cattle industry in the territory

(Westphall 1965: 23).

1873 A gristmill was operating at Isleta pueblo. It

was abandoned and a second mill built, but it

fell into disuse before 1893 (Poore 1894: 113).

1873 The Timber Culture Act, which allowed an individual to acquire a quarter-section of land

through planting, protecting, and maintaining 40 acres of timber, was passed. Five years

later the act was amended to reduce the acquired area to 10 acres. The act was a failure in

New Mexico because the planting and cultivating of trees was not feasible without irrigation, and irrigated land was more valuable if

farmed for crops and not trees (Baydo 1970:

156; Westphall 1965: 72).

1873–79 This was the first year that all military posts

procured fuelwood from private contractors.

Wood delivered included ponderosa pine, pinyon, juniper, oak, and mesquite (roots); prices

ranged up to $1 a cord (Miller 1989: 122–125).

1874 The Pueblo population was about 7,000

(Larson 1968: 116).

1875 (March 3) The Right of Way Act provided for a

200-foot right-of-way for railroads and 20 acres

for station grounds every 10 miles across public domain (Westphall 1965: 93–94).

1876 Territorial officials considered Indian lands to

be disposable property, and as such, they could

be purchased by non-Indians. The Supreme

Court ruled that the Pueblos had undisputed

title to their lands and could dispose of them

as they saw fit. The Court also declared that

they would not be protected by the Federal

Government. Thus, their lands were subject to

usurpation by dishonest non-Indians

(Simmons 1979b: 214).

1876 The Territorial Assembly restated the traditional rights of travelers to free access to natural waters for themselves and their animals

but excluded persons traveling with a large

number of animals. Persons with migratory

herds could not use the water of any natural

spring or lake without obtaining permission

from the owner and assuming responsibility

for any damage done to his fields or private

property (Clark 1987: 50).

1876 (post) A homesteader established a turbinepowered sawmill at Battleship Rock on the

Jemez River. He logged the surrounding mountain slopes, hills, and mesa tops (Scurlock

1981a: 138).

1877 (March 3) Congress passed the Desert Land

Act, which “extended the doctrine of prior

appropriation to water used in the reclamation of arid public lands by irrigation” (Clark

1987: 38). The purpose of the act was to stimulate irrigation through individual enterprise.

A settler could buy up to a section of land for

$1.25 an acre if the claimant irrigated the acreage within 3 years (Buchanan 1988: 29;

Westphall 1965: 76).

1877 Smallpox struck Las Vegas, and 82 deaths

were recorded. Work in Old Town halted until the outbreak subsided (Perrigo 1982: 78).
168 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Smallpox killed about 20 men and 100 boys at

Santo Domingo Pueblo (Lange and Riley 1966:

93).

1877 (to late 1890s) Santa Ana, Zia, San Felipe, and

Santo Domingo pueblos reported numerous

squatters and livestock trespass (Bayer et al.

1994: 177–178).

1877–78 An outbreak of smallpox struck the Arroyo

Hondo Mining District, and most mining operations were halted (Pearson 1986: 10).

1870s Excellent quality sheet mica was mined in the

Petaca district and sold as window “panes”

at Espanola and Santa Fe (Christiansen 1974:

53).

1878 Under the Organic Act, any timber cut on public lands and exported from the territory was

liable to seizure by the U.S. Government (Ritch

1968: 43).

1878 The Timber and Stone Act was passed by Congress. Under this act, settlers and miners could

buy up to 160 acres of land with potential timber or mineral resources for $2.50 an acre

(Oakes 1983: 27).

1879 The first planing mill in New Mexico was established near Las Vegas (Bunting 1964: 11).

1879 New strikes of gold and silver-lead ores in

the Cerrillos area led to the founding of

Carbonatesville, Bonanza City, Turquoise

City, Golden, and Cerrillos (Christiansen

1974: 62).

1879 The Alary family moved to Corrales from

France and began cultivation of various crops

and operation of a winery. The family also

fished and caught frogs for food (Eisenstadt

1980: 12, 14).

1879 The U.S. Geological Survey was created by an

act of Congress (Swift 1958: 45).

1879 (to August 1880) A Boston company purchased the Hot Springs property and built a

stone, two-story bathhouse, walled up 20 of

the 40 springs, and pumped hot water into

the 14 bathrooms. The company also constructed a three-story hotel (Perrigo 1982:

22).

1879–82 Homestead certificates in northern New

Mexico increased from 3 to 263 (Perrigo 1982:

107).

1879–82 The construction of the Southern Pacific and

the Santa Fe railroads opened markets for

working mines and brought in new prospectors (Northrop 1959: 26).

1879–80s Lack of adequate water hampered mining in

the Cerrillos-San Pedro area. Wells and a 13-

mile-long pipeline were basically unsuccessful ventures (Christiansen 1974: 63).

1879–89 Gas, electric lights, and telephone service became available at Las Vegas (Perrigo 1982: 30–

31).

1879–91 Some 24,550 acres were taken by railroads from

the public domain in the territory. By 1891,

622,684 acres of public domain were granted

to individuals under the land laws (Westphall

1965: 93–95).

1870s The Perea family had a “fine vineyard” in

Bernalillo. Nathan Bibo had a store and prospected for gold in the area (Olson 1976: 187–

188).

1870s (late) Mariano Otero bought 25,000 to 30,000

pounds of corn annually at Cabezon (Maes

and Fisher 1937: 14).

1870s–80s Hispanic farmers, would-be colonists, and

Anglo miners from Pena Blanca and La Jara

moved onto the Espiritu Santo land grant,

hoping to use water from the Rio Puerco to

irrigate their crops (Bayer et al. 1994: 158–

159).

1870s–80s Truck gardens in the North Valley of Albuquerque, especially the one operated by Herman

Blueher, which was located at the site of

present Tiguex Park, furnished much of the

produce for Albuquerque and surrounding

communities. Some was shipped by train to

the eastern United States. (Simmons 1982: 246,

273–274).

1880 (pre) Crude furnaces built of stone or adobe

were used to roast or smelt gold and silver ores.

A variety of fuels were used in New Mexico,

but green pinyon or pinyon charcoal was preferred. Sometimes, manure from horses or other

livestock was added to the fuelwood

(Christiansen 1974: 95).

1880 (February 12) A general act provided that

“every person who shall foul the water of

any stream in the Territory of New Mexico,

or throw into any ditch, river or spring of

flowing water any dead or pestiferous animal or other filth, dirty vessels or other impurities that might injure the health of the

inhabitants of any town or settlement of this

Territory, on conviction thereof would be

fined not less than one nor more than ten

dollars” (Clark 1987: 31).

1880 (April 15) The Territorial Bureau of Immigration was organized. “Valuable mines of gold

and silver” and grasslands “capable of producing sheep for the million” were extolled

(Bureau of Immigration 1881: 7–8, 53).

1880 (spring-summer) There were some 10,000 acres

under irrigation in the upper Rio Puerco valley (Cuba to Casa Salazar) (deBuys 1985: 217).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 169

1880 The Denver and Rio Grande Railway, commonly known as the Chili Line, was constructed from Alamosa into northern New

Mexico. The route passed Conejos to the new

railroad town of Antonito across the Rio

Grande and to the terminus at the new railroad town of Espanola. Some 160,000 spruce

or pine cross-ties were used in construction

between Alamosa and the New Mexico state

line (Chappell 1969: 3–7).

1880 Mining activity in the Sandias and Manzanos

increased sharply with the arrival of the railroad at Albuquerque. The Coyote Canyon and

Hell Canyon mining districts were soon formed

(Simmons 1982: 212, 238).

1880 Construction of the Atchison, Topeka, and

Santa Fe Railroad was completed to Albuquerque (Marshall 1945: 142–143).

1880 New Mexico ranked fifth in wine production

in the United States; 908,500 gallons were produced from 3,150 vineyards. In the following

years the wine industry declined rapidly due

to floods, drainage and salizination problems,

frosts, and competition. Prohibition was the

final blow to the business (Brown 1988: 8).

1880 White wine and hand-cut hay were being sold

at Cabezon (Rittenhouse 1965: 64).

1880 One source reported 44,000 acres under irrigation in the Middle Rio Grande Valley

(Wozniak 1987).

1880 By this year the total of irrigated acres was

94,900 (Clark 1987: 29).

1880 There were about 124,800 acres of land under

irrigation in the Middle Rio Grande Valley

(National Resources Committee 1938, pt. VI:

71).

1880 There were 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 sheep and

more than 350,000 cattle in the territory (Williams 1986a: 120). Between 2 and 5 million

sheep and 400,000 cattle were in New Mexico

(Carlson 1969: 33; Gonzalez 1969: 48; Simmons

1988: 12; Wentworth 1948: 242). There were

583,000 sheep in Bernalillo County (Dortignac

1960: 47).

1880 A conservative group of Pueblos from Laguna

left and established the village of Oraibi, southwest of Isleta (Dryeson 1975: 109).

1880 The U.S. Census Bureau recorded 119,565 persons in New Mexico (Workers of the Writers’

Program 1940: 432).

1880 There were 1,015 blacks in the territory

(Bancroft 1889: 723).

1880 (ca.) This year marked the beginning of fire

suppression in the ponderosa pine-pinyonjuniper-oak zones of the mountains. Intensive

logging and fuelwood cutting also began at

this time. Intensive grazing continued. All of

these activities have produced many changes

in these montane forests. Currently, they are

represented by early or middle successional

stages—oak-juniper thickets and young ponderosa stands (Dick-Peddie 1993: 69).

1880–81 The mining of gold at The New Placers District developed, and pipelines to bring needed

water from reservoirs and springs in the

Sandia Mountains were under construction

(Northrop 1975: 27).

1880–82 Building stone was brought into Albuquerque

on the train from the west. During the first 5

months of 1882, more than 5,000 tons of stone

were shipped to the town (Oppenheimer 1962:

34).

1880–82 Santa Fe Railroad tenders had a capacity of

2,000 to 4,000 gallons of water. They had to be

refilled every 30 miles (Glover 1990).

1880–87 The Las Vegas Land and Cattle Company expanded its land holdings where it grazed sheep

and cut “hay.” Some of this land, on the old

Las Vegas land grant, was in dispute (Perrigo

1982: 108–109).

1880–90 Cattle in the territory increased from 347,000

to 1,630,000 head, while sheep increased to

5,000,000 head (Bayer et al. 1994: 174).

1880–90 A decreasing supply of irrigation water due to

increased upstream use contributed to a decrease in cultivated acreage in the Middle Rio

Grande Valley (Hedke 1925: 10).

1880–1900 Narcisco Zamora was ferrying wagons across

the Rio Grande at Bernalillo on his flatboat

(Bayer et al. 1994: 174).

1880–91 Several trading posts and a general store were

operating in Cabezon, serving local residents,

travelers on the Star Line Stage Route, Navajos, and area Pueblos. These Hispanic residents

owned herds of 16,000 and 10,000 sheep. The

first also owned 2,000 cattle. By 1891 the village residents owned enough sheep to fill 17

freight wagons with wool (Rittenhouse 1965:

16–17, 31, 33, 36–39, 64–67, 70, 79).

1880–1900 (and 1919–20) Copper was mined in the foothills of the Sierra Nacimiento, a few miles northeast of La Ventana. Coal from the latter site was

used to fire the boilers and the smelting furnaces

at the copper mine (Glover 1990: 46).

1880–1916 Cattle from southern New Mexico were

shipped north to grazing lands in Colorado’s

forests (Gjevre 1969: 19).

1881 (January 15) The Southwestern Stockmen’s

Association was formed at Silver City (Baydo

1970: 113).
170 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1881 (November 2) Corn, onions, bread, cakes, pies,

cantaloupe, watermelons, apples, and grapes

were crops and prepared food items at Isleta

Pueblo (Kessell 1980: 218).

1881 The residents of Taos Pueblo were raising corn,

wheat, pumpkins, melons, chile, beans, apples,

plums, peaches, grapes, and apricots. The Taos

valley was “noted for its large production of

wheat” (Nims 1980: 92, 94).

1881 Lt. John G. Bourke, visiting the Pojoaque

Pueblo church, wrote “Within bowshot, is the

orchard and vineyard of the pueblo and here

growing in full luxuriance were apples, pears,

peaches, apricots, plums, grapes, and different kinds of vegetables” (Kessell 1980: 72).

1881 Franz Huning planted some 1,500 trees on his

land in Albuquerque. He operated the Molino

de la Glorieta near his home known as

Huning’s Castle (Baxter 1885: 696).

1881 The spring water at Ojo Caliente reportedly

cured “rheumatism, skin diseases, derangement of the kidneys and bladder, and especially of all venereal diseases” (Nims 1980: 90).

1881 Silver and placer gold were discovered in the

Hopewell Mining District in Rio Arriba County

(Christiansen 1974: 65).

1881 Fired brick became a favorite building material for houses and commercial buildings, especially among Anglos. Two new brick-making companies furnished this newly available

construction material (Sonnichsen 1968: 232).

1881 Construction of the Santa Fe rail line through

Lemitar caused the Rio Grande channel to shift

eastward. The elevated rail bed acted as a levee;

sections were washed out in 1884 and 1886

(Scurlock 1982a: 13).

1881–82 Mariano S. and Miguel Antonio Otero erected

bathhouses and a hotel at Sulphur Springs just

outside the west boundary of the Baca No. 1

grant (Otero 1935, I: 237–238, 241–277).

1882 (early) The California Placer Company was

erecting sawmills on the lower Red River to

produce lumber for mining flumes (Pearson

1986: 15–16).

1882 (April) The Montezuma Hotel opened under

the management of Fred Harvey. Among the

food imports for the dining room were green

sea turtles (Perrigo 1982: 24).

1882 (September 22) The New Mexico Mining Association was organized at Albuquerque

(Northrop 1959: 30).

1882 This may have been the last year that the Spanish scratch plow and oxen were used by Jemez

Pueblo farmers (Poore 1894: 107).

1882 Las Vegas was again struck by smallpox outbreaks; at least 28 people died (Perrigo 1982:

78–79). An outbreak of smallpox struck Chilili

late in the year (Lange and Riley 1966: 383).

1882 Copper and gold dust were being mined in the

Tijeras District east of Albuquerque (Northrop

1959: 31).

1882 Depot Park was established in Albuquerque

but became an environmental problem according to a story in the local newspaper. In the

article it was written “the privy of the depot

gives [the park] a very disagreeable odor and

should be looked after” (Oppenheimer 1962:

35).

1882 There were an estimated 3 million head of livestock in the territory; horses and mules were

not included. The average stocking rate was

20-animal-unit-years per section (Donart 1984:

1240).

1882–84 Cattle in Socorro County increased from 9,000

head to 60,000. Severe overgrazing in some

areas ensued (Gehlbach 1981: 110).

1880s (early) The San Felipe de Neri church had “a

beautiful garden in Albuquerque, with long

alleys densely shaded by fruit and nut trees,

and bordered with all sorts of small fruits”

(Baxter 1885: 697).

1883 (January) Smallpox was “raging” at Punta de

Agua (Lange and Riley 1970: 14).

1883 (March 24) The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that

Indians by birth were aliens and dependents

(Brown 1970: 391).

1883 Cattlemen were pressing for lands with water

to be surveyed by the General Land Office

(Westphall 1965: 27).

1883 Texas ranchers and their cattle forced Hispano

and Pueblo livestock raisers off most of the

Pajarito Plateau (Rothman 1992: 28).

1883 Bernalillo County had 475,000 sheep and

41,700 cattle on rangelands (Bancroft 1889:

787; Bayer et al. 1994: 174).

1883 A community water works began operating in

Albuquerque (Simmons 1982: 228).

1883 The territorial population was about 130,000,

which included some 97,500 Hispanics and

Native Americans (Westphall 1965: 27).

1883–86 S.S. Farwell contracted with H.S. Buckman to

cut 27 million board-feet on the Petaca grant.

Crews employed by Buckman clearcut the

Petaca land grant near Tierra Amarilla for railroad ties used in construction of the Chili line

to Santa Fe. This cutting initiated an adverse

cycle of environmental changes which is still

evident today (Gjevre 1969: 27; Rothman 1989:

203).

1883–1907 Frank and George Bond acquired and logged
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 171

the Las Trampas land grant (deBuys 1985:

185–186).

1884 There were about 2.5 million sheep and 400,000

cattle in New Mexico (Carlson 1969: 37).

1884–86 Livestock associations attempted to control

overgrazing (Baydo 1970: 125).

1885 Some unidentified Pueblos were using a canoe, alternately paddling and hauling it with

a rope, to cross the Rio Grande at their villages

(Lange et al. 1975: 394).

1885 The Santa Fe Railroad’s operation consumed

27,984 tons of coal per month (Glover 1990).

1885 (ca.) The priest at the San Juan Pueblo had

planted currants, black cherries, and apricots

in the garden of the church (Kessell 1980: 93).

1886 An estimated 5 million feet of lumber were used

in the region (Ensign 1888: 141). The Pecos

Lumber Co., headquartered at Glorieta, cut and

milled 60,000 feet of bridge timber used in construction of the Chili rail line (Chappell 1969:

19–20).

1886 Officers at Fort Wingate incorporated and purchased 40,000 acres of the best land, claimed

by Zuni Pueblo, from the railroad. The commander of the garrison became president of

the Cibola Land and Cattle Company, which

placed 12,000 cattle on the Zuni River watershed (Hart 1991a: II/3).

1886 At the Otowi siding of the Denver and Rio

Grande Railroad the company constructed a

water tank for replenishing locomotives. In the

process of developing and using this facility, a

natural pool, fed by a spring, was destroyed.

This was San Ildefonso Pueblo’s source of sacred water from the south (Hewett and Dutton

1945: 38–39).

1887 (pre) Anglo settlers had homesteaded and

usurped the best lands, which became the

Jicarilla Apache Reservation in north-central

New Mexico. They had settled on arable land

with control of water resources. Their livestock

were overgrazing, so they cut grass for feed on

other parts of the reservation. Jicarilla attempts

to dry farm on poorer lands failed (Tiller 1983:

101–103, 453).

1887 (February 24) An act was passed by the Territorial Assembly authorizing the incorporation

of companies to supply water for mining and

milling as well as irrigation. They were granted

right-of-way across territorial lands and the

privilege of taking timber and stone from them

(Clark 1987: 64, 132).

1887 The Santa Fe Railroad was completed from

Albuquerque to Belen (New Mexico Historical

Records Survey 1940: 24).

1888 (October 2) The New Mexico Legislative Assembly delayed immediate exploitation of the

territory’s water resources by some irrigation

developers (Clark 1983: 65).

1888 Congress passed legislation that provided for

the withdrawal of irrigable land from entry.

Under this act, some 39 reservoir sites amounting to 40,170 acres were selected in New

Mexico (Westphall 1965: 84).

1888 Saw logs of ponderosa pine up to 4 feet in diameter were being removed from the Manzano

Mountains. An estimated 280 square miles

constituted the well-timbered area of this range

(Ensign 1888: 148).

1888 There were 3.5 million sheep and almost a million cattle, mostly from Texas, grazing New

Mexico’s ranges (Flores 1992: 8).

1888–91 A total of 88 irrigation companies were incorporated, and their irrigated land represented

40 percent of the new irrigated acreage for the

1890s (Westphall 1965: 82).

1888–92 Several sawmills operated in the Tres PiedrasEmbudo area, providing railroad ties for the

Denver and Rio Grande, or Chili Line

(Chappell 1969: 32).

1889 (January 31) The Territorial Legislature passed

a law providing for the election of three commissioners to protect springs and build appropriate dams (Westphall 1965: 25).

1889 (March 1) The International Boundary Commission, United States and Mexico, was created. This commission determined the volume

of water in the Rio Grande, its conservation

and use, hydroelectric power generation, flood

control, and sanitation and pollution (Clark

1987: 227).

1889 The New Mexico Territorial Assembly passed

an act to prevent overstocking of ranges. A person or corporation could graze on public lands

only so much livestock as could be supported

by waters for which the person or company

had title. Others entering the range had to have

sufficient permanent, living, and unfenced

water to take care of their stock (Clark 1987:

54).

1889 The New Mexico School of Mines was created

by the Territorial Legislature. The college, located in Socorro, held its first classes in 1892

(Christiansen 1974: 70).

1889–90 Responding to threats to their traditional grazing lands by Anglo ranchers, Hispanos formed

Las Gorras Blancas. They cut barbed wire

fences and telegraph wires and burned ranches

of Anglos or Hispano sympathizers (Rothman

1992: 33).
172 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1889–96 After Texas cattle left the Pajarito Plateau, Hispanic ranchers moved back, some patented

homesteads (Rothman 1992: 29–30).

1880s The Territorial Legislature passed an ordinance that levied fines against anyone convicted of dumping trash in irrigation ditches

or rivers (Carlson 1990: 37).

1880s Zia Pueblo had a meager supply of water because Jemez Pueblo and upstream Hispanic

villages diverted most of the Jemez River water (White 1962: 85).

1880s The acreage in cultivation along the Middle

Rio Grande continued to decrease due primarily to water-logging and increasing alkalinity (Scurlock 1988a: 136).

1880s Don Jose Leandro Perea of Bernalillo “had

many flocks of sheep” in the Sandia Mountains area. A severe blizzard killed a large flock

between Bernalillo and Placitas. Perea sent out

the word to area residents that they could have

the animals for their meat (Batchen 1972: 69).

1880s The completion of transcontinental railroads

created a new, huge market for livestock; this

resulted in a sharp increase in animal numbers (Brown 1985: 97).

1880s Anglo lumbermen established tie-cutting

camps in the southern end of the Sangre de

Cristo Mountains. Some of these were fenced

and were located on traditional common lands

of land grants (Perrigo 1982: 100, 108). Extensive cutting of trees in the hills around Lamy

for the production of charcoal occurred (Bullock 1973: 38).

1880s Coal was mined at Monero and Amargo west

of Chama (Christiansen 1974: 83–84).

1880s At Joseph’s Hot Springs at Ojo Caliente in

Rio Arriba County, mineral water was marketed, and several thousand gallons were

sold. Sales here and at other hot springs locales increased in the next decade

(Christiansen 1974: 66).

1880s (to early 1900s) Lumberman H.S. Buckman,

who made a practice of cutting timber on land

grants that had fallen into Anglo ownership,

clear-cut timber on the Petaca and Ramon Vigil

land grants (Rothman 1992: 29–30).

1880s (to early 1900s) Cochiti Pueblo grew corn,

wheat, oats, alfalfa, pinto beans, string

beans, havas, garbanzas, peas, chile, onions,

cabbages, beets, muskmelons, watermelons,

peaches, apples, apricots, plums, cherries,

grapes, tobacco, and cotton (Lange 1959: 93–

100). At Ranchitos de Santa Ana, now known

as Santa Ana No. 1, there were two villages

a half-mile apart. Each was surrounded by

peach, apple, and plum orchards and small

vineyards. The corn crop was “one of the

finest to be seen on the Rio Grande.” Some

750 acres were in cultivation, and other land

was used for livestock grazing. Both fields

and bosques-vegas were irrigated (Poore

1894: 432). Isleta Pueblo had 60 acres of

peach, plum, and apricot trees. These fruits

were eaten, dried for winter use, or sold (Ellis

1979: 356).

1880s–90s Railroads were granted almost 3,600,000 acres

in New Mexico, which included usurpation

of Hispanic and Pueblo grant lands (Westphall

1983: 144). Coal mined at Dawson was primarily used by the Santa Fe Railroad

(Christiansen 1974: 83).

1880s–90s The first commercial agricultural development

in the Middle Valley occurred in the Belen area

(Wozniak 1987).

1880s–1908The American Lumber Company, headquartered in Albuquerque, owned and logged 1.5

billion board-feet of virgin pine timber in the

Zuni Mountains. Thirty to forty carloads of

logs were shipped to the Duke City daily over

55 miles or rail line. By 1908 it was the largest

manufacturing firm in the Southwest

(Simmons 1982: 332).

1880s–1920s Hot springs were considered to be healant

and therapeutic for rheumatism, eczema, psoriasis, and acne. Spas were developed at sites

with hot springs over much of the state (Fox

1983: 218).

1890 An irrigation company in Tijeras Canyon failed

because it selected land that was not suited to

irrigation development (Westphall 1965: 82).

1890 By this year a total of 113 Hispanic land grants,

totalling 5.4 million acres, were confirmed in

the Upper and Middle Rio Grande basins

(Dortignac 1956: 72).

1890 There were 1,517,000 sheep and 210,000 cattle

in the Middle and Upper Rio Grande basins

(Harper et al. 1943: 49).

1890 Cattle were grazing on the mesa above and to

the west of San Felipe Pueblo. Horses were

grazing on the floodplain around the village

(Strong 1979a: 395).

1890 A 15-foot vein of lignite coal, as well as copper,

gold, and silver, were discovered on or near

the Rio Puerco on the Espiritu Santo grant

(Bayer et al. 1994:159).

1890 The U.S. Census Bureau counted 160,282 residents in New Mexico (Workers of the Writers’

Program 1940: 432).

1890 (ca.) An old Spanish coal mine was reopened

near Las Huertas, north of Placitas. Santa Ana
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 173

Pueblo herders were grazing their stock in the

area (Bayer et al. 1994: 174).

1890–1910 Santa Ana Pueblo had 600 horses, 150 burros,

2,000 cattle, as well as 30 yoke of work oxen

and a large number of sheep and goats (Bayer

et al. 1994: 170).

1890–1945 Hispanic residents from the Carnue grant

grazed on Manzano Forest lands until the Forest Service closed it to grazing (Quintana and

Kayser 1980a: 50).

1891 (March 2) The General Revision Act, passed

by the U.S. Congress, authorized the President

to “reserve any part of the public lands” and

establish boundaries. Many lumbermen,

ranchers, and miners protested vigorously

(Athearn 1985: 129).

1891 The Forest Reservation Act was also passed

by Congress, marking the beginning of the

national forest system (Udall 1963: 104–105).

1891 The Territorial Assembly passed a statute requiring all persons, associations, or corporations who constructed or enlarged any ditch,

canal, or reservoir taking waters from a natural stream to make a sworn written statement

of such diversion, to be filed with the county

probate court within 90 days after commencement of the work. Construction had to be completed within 5 years of commencement (Clark

1987: 117).

1891 The Timber Culture Act was repealed because

of abuses and difficulty in successfully growing trees in the West (Walker 1977: 3).

1892 (January 11) The President created the Pecos

Forest Reserve (Tucker 1982: 107; Workers of

the Writers’ Program 1940: 432).

1892 (May 12) The capitol building burned in Santa

Fe, destroying many public records and documents (Hill 1982: 10).

1892 A logging company purchased 300,000 acres

of timbered lands in the Zuni Mountains (Hart

1991a: II/3).

1892–93 Jemez Pueblo grew 10,000 bushels of wheat

and almost as much corn. The fields were fertilized with livestock manure from old corrals.

Forty barrels of wine were made each year.

(Poore 1894: 107).

1890s (early) Jose Ignacio Suazo of Taos cut railroad

ties above Cuba in the Nacimiento Mountains

(Swadesh 1974: 120).

1890s (early) Water shortages began to occur in the

Mesilla and El Paso valleys. The Mexican government alleged that these shortages were due

to increased diversions from the Rio Grande

by residents of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico (Clark 1978: 72).

1893 (March 11) Placido Romero of Tome drowned

in the Rio Grande (Baca and Baca 1994: 97–

98).

1893 San Felipe Pueblo had more irrigable land than

any other pueblo; grains were the major crops.

Cattle and burros were grazed on the mesa

above the village. A few years before, a foot

bridge was built over the Rio Grande, but since

that time floods had partially destroyed it. At

Ranchitos de Santa Ana Pueblo there were two

villages, each surrounded by peach, apple, and

plum orchards and small vineyards. Their corn

fields produced “one of the finest [crops] to be

seen on the Rio Grande.” These and their pasture lands were irrigated. They had 2,000

cattle, 600 horses, 150 burros, and 30 yoke of

oxen, which grazed on various tracts here

and on the land grant. Zia Pueblo residents

were cultivating only about 100 acres of

wheat, corn, and chile. They complained that

livestock from Santa Ana Pueblo had invaded and damaged their fields and irrigation ditches. Zia Pueblo’s lands totalled

17,515 acres. Jemez Pueblo was cultivating

some 1,400 acres, mainly on the west side of

the Jemez River. They were fertilizing their

fields with livestock manure. About 10,000

bushels of wheat, almost as much corn, other

vegetables, and various fruit, including

grapes, constituted the major crops. Their

livestock, with that of Zia and Santa Ana

pueblos, were pastured on a tract of land 50

miles long and 12 miles wide. Isleta Pueblo

was cultivating about 2,500 acres of floodplain land stretching north from the village

and west of the Rio Grande for 2.5 miles.

Wheat, corn, and fruit, including grapes,

were grown. The Espiritu Santo land grant

was grazed by livestock from Jemez, Zia, and

Santa Ana pueblos, as well as animals belonging to Hispanic residents of San Ysidro

and the U.S. Cavalry. Recently, lignite coal,

copper, gold, and silver had been found in

the Rio Puerco valley portion of the grant

(Poore 1894: 107–110, 113, 160).

1893 Thomas Catron owned 2 million acres of land

grants and served as attorney or part owner

for some 4 million acres. He also held interests

in 75 grants (Bayer et al. 1994: 160).

1893 Livestock herders at Zia Pueblo were taking

woodrats and other small game for food with

bows and arrows and clubs (Poore 1894: 108).

1893 The U.S.D.A. Division of Forestry reported

“without forest management no national water management is possible” (Clark 1987: 71).
174 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1893 An earthquake hit the Los Lunas area, and

some 20 adobe buildings in that community

were destroyed and many others damaged

(Northrop 1976: 85).

1893–1912 Accidents killed 287 coal miners in New

Mexico. Most (146) died because of rock and

coal falls, while 72 were killed in explosions.

These figures were considerably higher than

the national averages (Whiteside 1989: 172).

1894 Oil began to replace coal as fuel in Santa Fe

Railroad locomotives (Worley 1965: 24).

1894–1909 A store owner in Lamy operated several charcoal kilns to provide the fuel for broiling steaks

that were served in dining cars of the Santa Fe

Railroad (Rittenhouse 1965: 71).

1895 (pre) Native grasses, watered by overbank flooding of the upper Rio Puerco, were cut and dried

for use as hay. Some of this hay was hauled to

Albuquerque and sold (Bryan 1928a: 278).

1895 (February 28) The Territorial Assembly passed

one of its most significant pieces of legislation.

This measure defined the meaning of acequia,

or community ditch, and detailed its legal status. These multiple-owner ditches were to be

considered to be “corporations or bodies corporate, with power to sue and be sued as such”

(Clark 1987: 30).

1895 The Surveyor-General’s Office surveyed Lot 1,

small holding claim no. 869, owned by Vicente

Lujan of Valencia. The land was described as

being level with sandy loam soil. There were

cottonwoods with willows along an acequia,

and there were three houses, fences, stables,

and cultivated lands, all valued at $1,400

(Sanslock 1990b).

1895–1925 Acreage for the raising of alfalfa and tree fruit

decreased due to a reduction in available irrigation water in the Middle Rio Grande Valley

(Hedke 1925: 35).

1890s (mid) A reservoir was built on the upper Santa

Fe River, below the 1866 dam and reservoir.

The new reservoir was far superior to the old

one, but population growth eventually rendered it inadequate (Clark 1987: 33).

1896 By this year, irrigated acreage in the Middle

Rio Grande Valley had decreased from an estimated 44,000 acres to 32,000 acres, primarily

as a result of agricultural development in the

San Luis Valley and the ongoing drought

(Wozniak 1987).

1896 (July) Water at Taos Pueblo, usually adequate

at this time, was scarce (Zubrow 1974: 18).

1896 There were about 105,000 acres of irrigated

acreage in tributary drainages of the Rio

Grande (Dortignac 1956: 30).

1896 There were 39 pre–1800 irrigation ditches, 9

pre–1850, 7 pre–1880, and 12 pre–1896 maintained by the Pueblos (Hedke 1925: 18).

1896 A few Santa Clara Pueblo families had chickens (Hill 1982: 37).

1896 Promotional pamphlets and brochures produced by the Territorial Bureau of Immigration proclaimed that gold, silver, copper, lead,

iron, and coal deposits were inexhaustible

(Northrop 1959: 31, 33).

1897 (February) President Grover Cleveland set

aside more than 21 million acres of land in the

western states as part of national forest preserves (Rothman 1992: 61).

1897 (June 4) Congress passed the Organic Act for

National Forests, which embodied the concept

of multiple-use of resources in conformity with

state laws and federal rules and regulations

(Clark 1987: 140). The act also authorized the

Forest Service to manage grazing on public

reserve lands. This soon resulted in the loss of

free grazing for livestock owned by nearby land

grant occupants in northern New Mexico

(Brown 1978: 254).

1897 Otero gave out 60,000 sheep on a partido basis

in the upper Rio Puerco basin (Maes and

Fisher 1937: 14–15).

1897 The New Mexico Sheep Sanitary Board was

created by the Territorial Legislature. Board

inspectors had the power to quarantine infected sheep and to inspect all incoming and

outgoing sheep as well. In 1904 the board ordered all sheep to be dipped to prevent the

spread of rabies (Grubbs 1961: 287).

1897 Cochiti Pueblo built a bridge of wicker-woven

basketry cribs, vertical wooden posts, and log

planks across the Rio Grande (Lange 1959: 57–

60).

1897 Cochiti farmers had constructed “summer

huts,” or field houses, of usually a one-room

adobe or brush. Some had “a little shelter of

boughs in front: one or two have little dome or

arched brush huts erected on the flat roof of

the hut proper” (Lange 1959: 102).

1897 An epidemic of eye disease broke out at Zia

Pueblo (White 1962: 60).

1897 (late) (to late 1898) Some 118 Catholics died of

smallpox in the Tome parish. Most of these

deaths were children under the age of 13 (Baca

and Baca 1994: 6, 111).

1898 (June 21) The President signed the Fergusson

Act, which in part, earmarked 500,000 acres

in New Mexico for the establishment of permanent reservoirs for irrigation purposes. On

March 16 of the next year the Territorial
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 175

Assembly responded by creating the office of

Commissioner of Public Lands and a Board of

Public Lands. They were responsible for leasing, selling, and managing the lands. Under

the act, federal public lands were transferred

to the territory for schools and certain other

public institutions (Clark 1987: 84).

1898 Less than 26,750 acres of an estimated 115,000

acres of arable land, from Cochiti to Sandia

pueblos, was in cultivation. Some 32,000 fallow acres had been abandoned due to alkali

accumulation and the formation of marshes

in the soil (Follett 1898: 87–88).

1898 Some 632 Pueblo Indians were infected with

smallpox; 42 of these individuals died

(Thornton 1987: 102).

1898–1903 The Raymond Vigil grant was leased to

timberman H.S. “Harry” Buckman, who employed “tie-gangs” to begin clearcutting of the

ponderosa on this part of the Pajarito Plateau.

Buckman illegally cut trees that were less than

8 inches in diameter at the base. As part of his

logging operation on the Pajarito Plateau, he

built an access road with a bridge over the Rio

Grande. This structure was taken out by floods

each year (Rothman 1992: 32, 33, 179).

1898–1920s Sweet potatoes, as well as alfalfa, apples, and

grapes, were being grown in Corrales

(Eisenstadt 1980: 17–18).

1898–1932 George Rinaldi developed a copper mine at La

Bajada until about 1900, then moved to Bland,

then Pena Blanca, where he began farming in

1904. He introduced cauliflower to the area. In

1918 he and his family moved to a ranch in

Bernalillo. Rinaldi became involved in growing vineyards and orchards until his death in

1932 (Olson 1976: 201–203).

1899 (pre) The Indian agent reported that smallpox

and diphtheria had severe effects at Zia Pueblo

(White 1962: 101).

1899 The U.S. Congress declared it a misdemeanor

to discharge refuse into any navigable streams

or their tributaries, although the law did not

apply to waste from properly supervised public works or waste in liquid state from streets

or sewers (Clark 1987: 268).

1899 San Felipe Pueblo was located on both banks

of the Rio Grande. The east bank settlement

included numerous cultivated fields at the very

edge of the river (Strong 1979a: 394).

1899 The cyanide process of ore reduction was first

used in New Mexico at Albemarle in Colla

Canyon in the Jemez Mountains (Scurlock

1981b: 51).

1890s–1902The Zia Pueblo population grew from 92 to

only 109 due to disease, inadequate water for

farming, and poor crop harvests (White 1962:

101–102, 322).

1890s– Louis Gross maintained large vineyards and

1940s fruit orchards in Bernalillo. Peaches and

apples were his main tree fruit. Gross made

wines from all three fruits and also sold them

as produce (Olson 1976: 195–196).

1800s Residents of Adelino, across and down the

river from Tome, would take a San Juan santo

to the river to “look” at the dry sand in hopes

he would bring rain (Ellis 1955: 106).

1800s Vegas near the Rio Grande in the Tome area

were the source of terrones used in the construction of houses and buildings. The best

cutter of terrones, reportedly, was an unidentified man who cut 1,000 blocks a day. Volcanic

rock was hauled from Cerro Tome and used

for low foundations of homes and other buildings in the area. These rocks helped protect

the terron walls of structures against flood and

marsh waters (Ellis 1955: 104).

1800s (late) Hispanic farmers in Frijoles Canyon reused prehistoric irrigation ditches (Rothman

1992: 115).

1800s (late) There was an increasing shortage of

Spanish cropland on the south side of the

Pojoaque River (Carlson 1979: 32).

1800s (late) The average Santa Clara farm was 6 acres,

including lowland and highland plots (Hill

1982: 27).

1800s (late) Farming at San Ildefonso began a decline

that lasted into the early 1930s. This resulted

from a population decrease and Anglo and

Hispano disregard for Pueblo land and water

rights (Edelman 1979: 312).

1800s (late) As fenced rangelands became more common, cowboys spent less time chasing cattle

and more time maintaining windmills, small

irrigation ditches, and hay for winter feed

(Murray 1979: 94).

1800s (late) A hotel and bathhouse were built at Ojo

Caliente in Taos County. The five hot springs

constituted a significant sacred place to the

Tewa Pueblo (Hewett and Dutton 1945: 39–

40).

1800s (late) Firewood wagons generally used the precursor of Highway 14 south of Tijeras. This

old trail commonly gullied and became hard

for wagons to negotiate (McDonald 1985: 21).

1800s (late) (to early 1900s) There was coal mining

activity in the Tijeras area (Quintana and

Kayser 1980: 50).

1800s (late) (to early 1900s) The Tewa Pueblo owned

very few sheep, goats, and pigs. Each family
176 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

had a few head of cattle, including oxen; one

or two residents of Santa Clara owned as

many as 60 head of cattle. Dogs, rabbits,

ducks, and deer fawns were kept as pets (Hill

1982: 37).

1800s (late) (to mid 1900s) Sheepherders and other

residents of the Tome area collected osha and

other herbs in the Manzanos, especially at

Osha Springs (Chavez 1972: 2–3, 21).

1900 (pre) “A good cover” of galleta, blue grama,

and alkali sacaton grasses was found over

much of the Rio Puerco watershed (Dortignac

1963: 508).

1900 (pre) Sorghum was grown at Santa Clara

Pueblo; it was used in making syrup

(Harrington et al. 1916: 110). Cotton was also

grown at this pueblo (Hill 1982: 33).

1900 There were 3.5 million sheep and 843,000 cattle

in the territory (Carlson 1969: 39).

1900 There were 1,732,000 sheep and 211,000 cattle

in the Middle and Upper Rio Grande basins

(Harper et al. 1943: 49).

1900 By this year the Upper Rio Grande “carried

533,000 animal units” (Bayer et al. 1994: 176).

1900 The U.S. General Land Office required ranchers to obtain permits to graze on public lands

(Athearn 1985: 130).

1900 A stage line ran from Albuquerque to Jemez

Springs via Santa Ana Pueblo. Narcisco

Zamora ferried wagons across the Rio Grande

at Bernalillo (Bayer et al. 1994: 174).

1900 The U.S. Census Bureau counted 195,310 persons in New Mexico (Workers of the Writers’

Program 1940: 433).

1900 The populations of major Middle Valley towns

were as follows: Santa Fe, 5,603; Albuquerque,

8,848; Belen, 673; and Socorro, 1,512 (Sayles

1987: 132).

1900 (ca.) At springs in Coyote Canyon at the west

foot of the Manzano Mountains, water reportedly good for kidney and bladder problems

was bottled and sold. Topham bottled 10,000

gallons in 1903; Harsch bottled 25,000 gallons

(Jones 1904: 3303).

1900 (ca.) The Reliance Gold Mining Co. was organized to mine the placer gold in Hell Canyon

in the Manzanos (Jones 1904: 192).

1900-04 The Pino family of La Cienega used Frijoles

Canyon as a base for their sheepherding. Some

of the family members lived in prehistoric

cavate rooms (Rothman 1992: 63).

1900–30 Loss of common lands, loss of access to those

lands, and reduced surface water contributed

to the decline of Hispanic villages in the Las

Vegas area (Perrigo 1982: 129–130).

1900–39 Spanish New Mexicans lost about 70 percent

of their private or community land grants

(Eastman and Gray 1987: 96).

1900–45 Alameda stock raisers were grazing their

herds, primarily sheep, on common lands

across the Rio Grande, west of the community,

and on the east side of the railroad tracks

(Gerow 1992: 49).

1901 (December 3) President Teddy Roosevelt delivered a message on the need for conservation of natural resources, the first such speech

by the Nation’s leader. His emphasis was on

reclamation and forest reserves (Clark 1987:

134).

1902 June Congress passed the Federal Reclamation Act

to assist irrigation development in the western states. The U.S. Reclamation Service was

also established. This agency’s major responsibility was to construct irrigation works for

the reclamation of arid lands (New Mexico

State Engineer Office 1967: 78, 81). The act authorized the Secretary of the Interior to construct irrigation projects in New Mexico and

15 other territories or states. Users of irrigation

waters would repay the costs of construction

over a 10-year period, and small farmers could

irrigate 160 acres or less with water from federal irrigated projects (Clark 1987: 79–82;

Wozniak 1987).

1902 (summer) In the upper Arroyo Hondo, new

mine-related developments were underway.

These included the erection of a four-story mill

and smelter using fired bricks made onsite.

Charcoal was also being made (Pearson 1986:

41).

1902 Theodore Roosevelt created the San Isabel Forest and San Juan Forest reserves in southern

Colorado (Athearn 1985: 130).

1900s (early) Crop plants cultivated at Jemez Pueblo

included corn, wheat, alfalfa, melons, gourds,

chile, grapes, and cotton (for ceremonial use).

Domesticated animals included the horse,

burro, goat, dog, cat, turkey, and chicken. Crop

plants cultivated at Laguna and Acoma included corn, wheat, alfalfa, beans, squash,

pumpkins, melons, gourds, chile, cabbage,

beets, and carrots. Livestock raised included

sheep, goats, cattle, horses, mules, pigs, turkeys, and ducks (Bandelier and Hewett 1937:

97, 104).

1903 Valencia was a sheep-raising and farming

community with a population of 900. Gurule

Feliz and Jesus Sanchez were owners of general merchandise stores, and Sanchez was also

postmaster (Ives 1903: 496).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 177

1903 Margarito Romero of Las Vegas was cutting

timber for railroad ties on the Pecos Forest Reserve and in Gallinas Canyon. He claimed the

latter area was part of the Las Vegas land grant,

and his family had rights to cut on the acreage

(Perrigo 1982: 116).

1903 Prosperous gold mining in the Cochiti District

was a factor in creating the new county of

Sandoval, formerly the northern part of

Bernalillo County (Northrop 1959: 35).

1904 There were 30,000 sheep owned by small operators grazing in the Cabezon-Cuba area. One

sheep man in Cuba owned 32,000 animals,

and another had 20,000 (Maes and Fisher

1937: 15, 18–19).

1904 The Las Vegas land grant board reserved all of

the unoccupied grazing lands for use of residents and declared all common watering

places were to be kept open and accessible to

them. One person was limited to 4,000 sheep

and 400 cattle, which could be grazed on the

old grant (Perrigo 1982: 118–119).

1904 The wine and brandy produced in Valencia

County was a highly regarded commodity

(Gallegos 1970: 74).

1905 (July 29) The Santa Clara Reservation, some

33,044 acres, was created by executive order

(Lange 1982: 2).

1905 (September 30) The crop harvest at Nambe Pueblo

was reported as good (Kessell 1980: 66).

1905 (October 12) The Jemez Forest Reserve was created, precluding continuance of traditional

grazing and other activities on this former ejido

land. The period of fire suppression was also

begun (Rothman 1989: 208–209; Tucker 1992:

107).

1905 (November 4) Father Ralliere of Tome collected

“a large amount of grass [hay] from the

Rinconada lands and from the swamps of

Manuel and Julian Torres” (Ellis and Baca

1957: 21).

1905 The Legislative Assembly enacted a code that

declared natural waters as belonging to the

public, and all citizens had the right to appropriate them for beneficial use (Clark 1987:

117).

1905 The principal crops grown in Valencia County

included wheat, barley, oats, alfalfa, corn, and

grapes (Frost and Walter 1906: 375).

1905 (late) Edgar Hewett drafted an “Act for the

Preservation of American Antiquities” and

sent it to Congress, where it was passed. In

early June of the next year, President

Theodore Roosevelt signed it into law

(Rothman 1992: 80).

1905-07 Ranchers, including Governor George, Miguel

A. Otero, and Solomon Luna, “believed that

federal land use regulations were detrimental

and were administered with discrimination

against ranchers.” Some of these ranchers considered the defeat of grazing regulations on

public lands more important than securing

New Mexico statehood (Richardson 1958:

278–280).

1905–10 Fire suppression became Forest Service policy;

heavy stocking of the national forest reserves

was thought to be desirable due to the resulting destruction of vegetation that might fuel a

fire (Brown 1985: 124).

1905–25 The Jicarilla Apache population decreased

from 815 to 635 due to tuberculosis and other

diseases (Tiller 1983: 454).

1906 (January 1) A new regulation charging a grazing fee for livestock on national forest reserves

went into effect (Rowley 1985: 60–63).

1906 (June 11) The Forest Homestead Act, which

allowed individuals to file on any forest reserve land considered unfit for timber, was

passed by Congress (Rothman 1992: 85).

1906 (June 25) The Fergusson Act was amended by

permitting the Secretary of the Interior to approve grazing leases in excess of the 640-acrelimit. Following this enactment, grazing leases

became the primary source of revenue from territorial lands (Clark 1987: 85).

1906 (November 5) The Magdalena and San Mateo

national forest reserves were created by Presidential Proclamation (Baker et al. 1988: 25;

Tucker 1992: 107).

1906 (November 6) The Manzano National Forest

Reserve was created by Presidential Proclamation. Manzano became Cibola National Forest

on December 3, 1931 (Tucker 1992: 107, 109, 112).

1906 (November 7) The Taos Forest Reserve was created by President Theodore Roosevelt. Some

330,000 acres, including the Taos Blue Lake,

composed the reserve land. Less than 2 years

later this reserve was redesignated as the

Carson National Forest (Baker et al. 1988: 25;

Tucker 1992: 108; Wood 1989: 74).

1906 There were 5,875,000 sheep, 1,050,000 cattle,

225,000 goats, and 100 horses in the territory

(Frost and Walter 1906: 376).

1906 There is some evidence that extensive logging

of the Manzano and Gallinas administrative

units of the present Cibola National Forest had

occurred prior to its establishment date (Tainter

and Levine 1987: 150). A timber operation was

begun on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation

(Tiller 1983: 453).
178 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1906 Congress passed the Antiquities Act giving

presidents the power to create “national monuments for the preservation of historic landmarks ... and other objects of historic or scientific interest” (Udall 1963: 132).

1907 The loss of traditional grazing lands on the

old Las Vegas land grant caused 500 Hispanic

villagers to seek redress (Perrigo 1982: 121).

1907 The Las Trampas Lumber Company purchased the grant of the same name from Frank

Bond. In a subsequent agreement, the lumber

company gave use-rights to Hispanic heirs on

the grant for grazing, wood gathering, and

cutting of unmerchantable timber. However,

the company did not live up to the agreement.

(Ebright 1994: 155, 158–160).

1907 A.B. McGaffey purchased 24,750 acres of the

Santa Barbara land grant and 41,000 acres of

the adjacent Mora grant not long afterward.

Workers from his Santa Barbara Tie and Pole

Company cut every tree to timberline that

would make ties. Cutting continued until 1926

(deBuys 1985: 227).

1907 The Jicarilla Apache began to summer pasture

their livestock in the higher, northern part of

the reservation and to winter pasture them in

the lower, summer part (Tiller 1983: 453).

1907 Construction on the railroad from Clovis to

Belen was completed (Myrick 1970: 35–36).

1907-08 (summers) At Buckman’s, near Cochiti Pueblo,

logs floated down the Rio Grande were being

taken out of the river. It was also known as

“The Boom,” and a camp for the workmen was

located on the east bank of the river (Harrington

1916: 441).

1907-08 (winter-spring) Some 100,000 ties were cut in

the Jicarilla Mountain Rio del Pueblo area.

Spring runoff was too low to float the logs

down the Rio Embudo to the Rio Grande until

a thunderstorm created enough water to make

this possible (Gjevre 1969: 37).

1908 (February 6) Congress passed a measure prohibiting the assignment of entries to corporations or associations, limiting them to individuals who were qualified desert entrymen

under the Desert Land Act (Clark 1987: 136).

1908 (April 16) The Manzano National Forest was

created from the forest reserve of the same

name and also included the Mt. Taylor Forest

Reserve (Tucker 1992: 112).

1908 (June 26) The Carson National Forest was created by combining the Taos National Forest

with part of the Jemez National Forest (Tucker

1992: 109, 112, 114).

1908 (July 2) The Pecos River National Forest

Reserve was designated a national forest

(Tucker 1992: 113).

1908 The Ramon Land and Lumber Company purchased the Ramon Vigil grant and cut some

$25,000 worth of timber. A large amount of this

was seized by the Federal Government during

a dispute over the north boundary of the grant

(Ebright 1994: 243).

1908 A dozen different, independent mining operations were working in the Sandia Mountains

(Northrop 1959: 36–37).

1908-09 (winter) Logging operations were begun on the

Jicarilla reservation, and 80,000 board-feet of

timber were cut. The sawmill produced railroad ties, primarily for the Rio Grande and

Southwestern Railroad (Tiller 1992: 110–112).

1909 The Enlarged Homestead Act provided that

320 acres could be acquired when all provisions were met (Worster 1979: 87).

1909 The U.S. Bureau of Soils announced “The soil

is the one indestructible, immutable asset that

the nation possesses. It is the one resource that

cannot be exhausted; that cannot be used up”

(Worster 1993a: 73).

1909 Cuba sheepmen petitioned for the elimination

of 150,000 acres from area national forests for

their use as grazing lands (Richardson 1958:

281).

1909 The Territorial Legislature authorized two

types of voluntary organizations: water users’

associations and irrigation districts. For the

latter, irrigation systems could be constructed

for their members. The assembly also passed a

provision for the drainage of seepage and other

waters in unincorporated towns and villages

by action of the county commissioners on petition of a majority of the residents and after investigation by the county surveyor (Clark 1987:

110, 112).

1909 William Howard Taft issued a Presidential

Proclamation establishing Gran Quivira National Monument (Carroll et al. 1991: 1).

1909–18 F.J. Otero grazed up to 200,000 sheep and several thousand cattle on the Baca No. 1 location

(Scurlock 1981a: 142).

1910 H.W. Yeo recorded 55 pre–1540 irrigation

ditches, two pre–1700, six pre–1800, five pre–

1850, six pre–1881, and five pre–1911 construction dates (Hedke 1925: 20).

1910 Hispanics and Native Americans in Albuquerque began to contract tuberculosis from incoming “lungers.” Most victims were female

housekeepers (Simmons 1982: 345).

1910 A sawmill was established at the Jicarilla

Apache agency. Two years later the Navajo
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 179

Lumber Company contracted for 130 million

board feet of timber (Christiansen 1974: 63).

1910 The Peterson dam and reservoir were constructed on the Gallinas River to furnish Las

Vegas with water. Water for the reservoir was

supplied by a wooden flume extending from

an upstream diversion dam (Perrigo 1982: 28).

1910 A group of Santo Domingo residents, claiming

“ownership” of the Chalchihuitl Mine, removed turquoise. At the time, the American

Turquoise Company had title to the mine; the

Tiffanys of New York were the principal stockholders (Tyler 1964: 185).

1910 The U.S. Census Bureau counted 327,301 persons in New Mexico (Workers of the Writers’

Program 1940: 433).

1910 The populations of major Middle Valley towns

were as follows: Santa Fe, 5,072; Albuquerque,

13,163; Belen, 1,733; and Socorro, 1,560 (Sayles

1986: 132).

1910–11 The Office of Grazing Studies was established

by the U.S. Forest Service in 1910. Regional

Offices of the OGS were organized at Denver

and Albuquerque (Price 1976: 7).

1911 Congress passed the Weeks Law, calling for a

cooperative fire protection plan between the

Forest Service and participating states.

The legislation also authorized funds for acquisition of forest lands to protect stream

watersheds (Buchanan 1988: 30; Otis et al.

1986: 5).

1911 Measles killed 22 Catholic children in the Tome

parish (Baca and Baca 1994: 6).

1912 On the 1-million-acre Carson National Forest

there were 200,000 sheep, 7,000 cattle, and 600

homesteads (Flader 1978: 9).

1912 The State Legislature passed a mining law

governing operators, supervisors, and miners.

The basic ventilation standard to 100 cubic

feet of air per man per minute and 300 cfm for

each animal. “Gassy” mines had to be inspected daily (Whiteside 1989: 174).

1912 The Tonque Brick and Tile Company was established at the Tonque Pueblo site on the

Tonque Arroyo, east of present I–25. “Large

areas of the banks of Tonque Arroyo were processed for clay” until the operation closed in

1942 (Barnett 1969: 27).

1912–17 The Forest Service increased its effort to control grazing to protect rangelands, watersheds,

and wildlife. Livestock numbers were reduced

(Roberts 1963: 115–116).

1912–26 Timber for railroad ties was harvested from

65,000 acres in the Santa Barbara and Mora

areas. More than 2 million ties were produced

from ponderosa pine, spruce, and fir (Cook

1954: 36).

1913 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Sandoval

case that the Pueblos had no right to alienate

their land, and consequently all titles to lands

purchased from them were invalid. In the

settlement of the Sandoval case, the Pueblos

were recognized as Indian tribes under federal trusteeship. As a result, the imposition

of various debts and liens against the Pueblos occurred. Irrigation works, drainage of

land, and construction of bridges and roads

were constructed by the Bureau of Indian

Affairs. The Pueblos were charged for these

services, even though some of the ditches

were dug where there was no water. From

this time to passage of the Pueblo Lands Act

of 1924, non-Indian claimants evaded return

of lands to the Pueblos (Brayer 1938: 26;

Sando 1992: 120).

1913–33 New Mexico coal mine deaths for this period

rose to 8.8 per thousand, with a total of 734

fatalities (Whiteside 1989: 174–175).

1914 (spring-summer) Excessive water in the Caribel

Mine near Red River halted mining during this

period (Pearson 1986: 120–121).

1914 A firm purchased logging rights to 117 million

board feet of timber in the Carson National

Forest. Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir were

the two principal species harvested and sent

to the company’s sawmill at La Madera

(Chappell 1971: 129–130).

1917–18 The Sherwin-Williams Paint Company financed mining of lead and zinc in the

Magdalena Mountains (Fergusson 1951: 307).

1918 (fall) The worldwide influenza epidemic

spread to the Tome area. This Spanish flu

struck more than one-half the population of

Belen (Melzer 1982: 216–228).

1918 Some 47,007 acres of farmland were being irrigated in the Middle Rio Grande Valley (Hedke

1925: 20).

1918–45 Hundreds of burros that had been used by the

military in World War I were released on rangeland west of Alameda, where they grazed until the population disappeared by the end of

World War II (Gerow 1992: 49).

1920 The U.S. Census Bureau counted 360,350 persons in New Mexico (Workers of the Writers’

Program 1940: 434).

1920 (ca.) The first wells were dug at Santa Clara

Pueblo by the government. A well in the northwest plaza of the village was drilled and installed with a hand-pump, which was replaced by a windmill in 1925 (Hill 1982: 41).
180 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1900s (early) Jemez Pueblos brought grapes to the

Guadalupe area along the Rio Puerco, which

they traded for other agricultural produce with

Hispano residents. The latter took their wheat

to Jemez to be milled (Garcia 1992: 115, 121).

1900s (early) Good harvests of a variety of crops were

common in the Guadalupe area in Sandoval

County, including wheat, corn, beans, squash,

cabbage, tomatoes, chile, pumpkins, and cantaloupes (Garcia 1992: 113, 121, 123).

1900s (early) The Santa Ana flour mill operated at

Llanito, in Sandoval County (Olson 1976: 93).

1900s (early) The American Lumber Company was

established in Albuquerque. Logs for the mill

came from the Zuni and San Mateo mountains

north of Grants (Balcomb 1980: 56).

1900s (early) Hispanic homesteaders in the Sandia

Mountain foothills ran goats instead of sheep

because of the rugged terrain (Davis 1986: 103–

104, 109; Scurlock 1983: 14).

1900s (early) Coal from the Gallup and Madrid mines

was a primary fuel used in Albuquerque.

Wood collected by Spanish Americans from

the Sandia Mountains was another principal

heating and cooking fuel at this time (Balcomb

1980: 52–53).

1900s (early) Bear Canyon on the west flank of the

Sandia Mountains was a favorite recreational

area for residents of Albuquerque. The cold,

pollution-free stream, lined by cottonwood and

box elder, was the major attraction (Balcomb

1980: 63–64).

1900s (early) Diphtheria epidemics struck Lemitar,

causing loss of life (Scurlock 1982: 14).

1923–24 Rancher Robert Thompson purchased the

55,000-acre Alameda land grant. The ranch

headquarters was located on the north edge of

Corrales. Some 3,000 to 5,000 herefords were

grazed on the surrounding grasslands

(Eisenstadt 1980: 21–22).

1926 The major crops in the Middle Rio Grande

Valley included corn, alfalfa, grain, fruits, and

truck garden vegetables. Some cotton was

grown south of Albuquerque, and tobacco was

being considered as a commercial crop (Rodey

and Burkholder 1927: 3).

1926 The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad

contracted to provide 34,256 linear-feet of

trestle piling, 237,498 board-feet of native pine

bridge timber, 81,610 board-feet of native pine

box culvert timber, and 60,000 native pine track

ties for construction of the Cuba Extension rail

line from San Ysidro to north of Cuba (Glover

1990: 48).

1926 Large-scale development of mining operations

at Willow Creek was begun by the American

Metal Company (Northrop 1959: 39).

1928 The Cleary coal mine produced 10,500 tons of

coal during the year (Glover 1990: 51).

1930 By this year Frank Bond controlled the best

grazing lands in the Jemez Mountains. He

leased land for grazing his sheep from the Forest Service, and after 3 years of use, his forest

grazing rights became permanent (Rothman

1990: 129).

1930 By this year the Cochiti reservation was completely fenced (Lange 1959: 219).

1930 The U.S. Census Bureau reported the population of New Mexico as 423,317 (Workers of the

Writers’ Program 1940: 434).

1935 Two marijuana dealers were operating in

Dixon. In addition to being smoked for its hallucinogenic properties, marijuana was used

as a remedy for rheumatism and other maladies (Curtin 1965: 127; Weigle 1975: 185).

1930s (mid) Most of the residents from the middle

Rio Puerco-of-the-East valley moved upstream

to the higher Cuba area, where agriculture was

still relatively reliable (Calkins 1937: 18–19).

1940 The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land

Management began to fence federal land in

the Rio Puerco-of-the-East valley and traditional grazing lands on Mesa Prieta and the

San Mateo Mountains, including Mount Taylor (Garcia 1992: 23).

1941–43 Each family on the Rio Puerco was permitted

to graze 15 head of sheep in its grazing precinct by the Grazing Service. This number of

livestock was considered below the minimum

needed for subsistence (Forrest 1989: 159).

1942 There were 14,972 acres under cultivation in

the Rio Puerco basin (Harper et al. 1943: 11).

1950 There were about 240,000 residents in the

Middle Rio Grande Basin (Williams 1986b:

153).

1960 There were about 400,000 residents in the

Middle Rio Grande Basin (Williams 1986b:

153).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 181

This chapter provides an overview of the historical conditions of the Middle Rio Grande Basin, with emphasis

on the main stem of the river and its major tributaries in

the study region, including the Santa Fe River, Galisteo

Creek, Jemez River, Las Huertas Creek, Rio Puerco, and

Rio Salado (Fig. 40). A general reconstruction of hydrological and geomorphological conditions of the Rio

Grande and major tributaries, based primarily on firsthand, historical descriptions, is presented. More detailed

data on the historic hydrology-geomorphology of the Rio

Grande and major tributaries are presented in Chapter 5.

Historic plant communities, and their dominant species, are also discussed. Fauna present in the late prehistoric and historic periods is documented by archeological

remains of bones from archeological sites, images of

petroglyph and pictograph sites, and recorded observations. Three major classes of vertebrates are discussed—

mammals, birds, and fishes. A brief section on insects

follows.

This chapter provides historical baseline data and context for determining environmental change, which is addressed in Chapter 5. Additional data are presented in

the chronology at the end of the chapter.

GEOLOGY-PHYSIOGRAPHY-SOILS

The Rio Grande and its parent landform, the Rio Grande

rift, dominate the physical setting of the study region. Both

extend roughly north and south from southern Colorado

through New Mexico to the Texas border, a total reach of

500 miles (Fig. 40). The upper part of the rift, or the Upper Rio Grande Basin, is included in the Southern Rocky

Mountain Physiographic Province, while the remaining

reach, or the Middle Basin, is part of the Basin and Range

Province. The Upper and Middle basins are divided into

smaller, structural subbasins, such as the Espanola and

Albuquerque subbasins. These subbasins are separated

by old terraces or basalt flows that constrict the Rio Grande

to a narrow valley. These topographic units vary from 30

to 100 miles in length and from 10 to 35 miles in width (at

their widest points). Constricting narrows occur near or

at Cochiti, San Felipe, and Isleta pueblos; San Acacia, just

north of Socorro; and north of San Marcial. The San Luis

basin, which is closed, and the Taos Gorge, are special

physiographic features in the Upper Basin (Crawford et

al. 1993: 7; Fox et al. 1995: 52–54; Hawley 1986: 26).

CHAPTER 4

THE MIDDLE RIO GRANDE BASIN:

HISTORICAL DESCRIPTIONS AND RECONSTRUCTION

The main two basins are flanked by fault-block mountains, such as the Sandias (Fig. 40), or volcanic uplifts,

such as the Jemez, volcanic flow fields, and gravelly high

terraces of the ancestral Rio Grande, which began to flow

about 5 million years ago. Besides the mountains, other

upland landforms include plateaus, mesas, canyons, piedmonts (regionally known as bajadas), volcanic plugs or

necks, and calderas (Hawley 1986: 23–26). Major rocks in

these uplands include Precambrian granites; Paleozoic

limestones, sandstones, and shales; and Cenozoic basalts.

The rift has filled primarily with alluvial and fluvial sediments weathered from rock formations along the main

and tributary watersheds. Much more recently, aeolian

materials from abused land surfaces have been and are

being deposited on the floodplain of the river.

The Middle Rio Grande—including major tributaries

such as the Santa Fe River, Las Huertas Creek, Jemez River,

Rio Puerco, and Rio Salado—drains 24,760 square miles

(Fig. 41). Headwater elevations range from 8,000 to 12,000

feet, and the Rio Grande channel in the Middle Valley

reach descends from 5,225 feet at Cochiti to 4,450 feet at

San Marcial (Crawford et al. 1993: 7).

Four broad soil types occur in the study region: entisols,

which occur on the Rio Grande floodplain; aridisols, which

occur over the warmer and drier portions in the lower

elevations of the basins; mollisols, which occur on the

cooler and wetter upland portions of the basin; and

inceptisols, which occur in the higher elevations of the

Sangre de Cristo and Taos mountains and in the San Juan

Mountains of Colorado, at the headwaters of the river

(Maker and Daugherty 1986: 65).

Entisols are recent occurrences of soil formation on

floodplains, so no major soil horizons have developed.

Derived primarily from transported sediments that historically were deposited by overbank flooding, they are

relatively rich soils that have supported agriculture for

centuries. The texture of arid soils ranges from loamy

sands to clays, usually calcareous, and they are not suitable for dryland farming. They are subject to abuse by

various land-use activities, resulting in relatively severe

water and wind erosion. Mollisols, with deep, organic,

surface-subsurface matter, are dominantly grassland soils.

These are fertile soils of high organic content, but they are

subject to severe erosion if abused. Inceptisols are young

soils that occur on relatively steep mountain slopes where

annual precipitation is above 14 inches. They are formed
182 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 40—Study region: streams and mountain ranges.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 183

Figure 41—Middle Rio Grande Basin: major streams, mountain ranges, and historic settlements.
184 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

from weathered rock sediments, including volcanic pumice (Maker and Daugherty 1986: 66).

HYDROLOGY-GEOMORPHOLOGY

Rio Grande

The Rio Grande, the fifth largest river in North America,

flows 1,885 miles from southern Colorado to extreme

southern Texas, where the river empties into the Gulf of

Mexico. Across New Mexico, the river extends for some

470 miles from just above Ute Mountain to Anthony at

the Texas border (Fig. 40). Its discharge area in the state is

32,207 square miles. For the Middle Valley, the Rio Grande

flows for about 160 miles, with a total drainage area of

24,760 square miles (Fig. 42); the direct tributary drainage area is about 12,800 square miles (Crawford et al. 1993:

7; Snead and Reynolds 1986: 57; Table 44).

Early in the historic period the various Spanish expeditions applied different names to the Rio Grande

(Hammond and Rey 1966):

Year Expedition Name

1540 Coronado Tiguex

1540 Coronado Tibex

1540 Coronado Nuestra Senora

1581 Rodriguez-Chamuscado Guadalquivir

1582–83 Espejo Rio del Norte,

Rio Turbio

1590 Sosa Rio Bravo

1598 Onate Rio Bravo and

Rio del Norte

The only descriptive name for the physical condition

of the river among these is turbio, which in English means

“muddy.” This term was no doubt used when the Rio

Grande was carrying runoff water.

From 1598 until the arrival of the Americans, the river

in New Mexico was generally known as the Rio del Norte.

In the colonial period, the name Rio Grande was usually

given to the stretch of the river below the mouth of the

Rio Concho, below Big Bend National Park, to the Gulf of

Figure 42—The Rio Grande at Albuquerque. Cottonwood,

Russian olive, salt cedar bosque (center), Sandia Mountains

(center back). Photo by author.

Mexico. Between this confluence and El Paso, the river

was called the Rio Bravo. Early Anglos in New Mexico

and Texas named the entire river the Rio Grande (Ayer

1965: 213; Pearce 1965: 134; Sanchez 1991, personal communication).

Some time later, in 1776, Fray Dominguez explained

the name Rio del Norte: “The river is called the Rio del

Norte because it comes from the north many leagues beyond Taos. . . . It is so many leagues long that even though

the settlers of these regions have penetrated very far north

for various purposes again and again, they have not found

the source of this river” (Adams and Chavez 1956: 7).

When the first Hispanics reached the Middle Rio

Grande, the valley ecosystem had been impacted relatively

little by human activity. Perhaps some 25,000 acres of

floodplain had been cleared by the Pueblo for cultivation,

primarily irrigated by bank overflow or runoff from tributary streams or arroyos. Wing diversion dams and irrigation ditches were probably few in number. This ecosystem was one of dynamic equilibrium defined by a collection of environmental processes predicated on change.

These processes included varied flow, including floods

and associated shifting channels, erosion, and deposition

Table 44—Principal tributaries of the Rio Grande in the Middle Valley.

Drainage Confluence

Length area Mountain with Rio Stream

Tributary (miles) (sq. mi.) sources Grande character

Rio Santa Fe 35 250 Sangre de Cristo Below Cochiti Perennial

Las Huertas Creek 15 29 Sandia Below Algodones Perennial in headwaters

Rio Jemez 60 1,060 San Pedro and Jemez Above Bernalillo Perennial in headwaters

Rio Puerco 140 6,220 Nacimiento At La Joya Ephemeral

Rio Salado 70 1,381 Datil Above San Acacia Ephemeral

Source: Harper et al. 1943: 7
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 185

Figure 43—Meanders and multiple channels (braided) of the Rio

Grande east and southeast of Lemitar, 1906. USGS 7.5–minute

quadrangle map.

of sediments. The Rio Grande was a “braided, slightly

sinuous aggrading river with a shifting sand substrate.”

Riparian vegetation evolved and changed with these

floods, deposition, and low flow caused by seasonal or

more extended drought conditions (Crawford et al. 1993:

16, 19; Fig. 43).

Prehistoric and early historic evidence of large fish species in the river indicates that the Rio Grande “was a

clearer, larger, and more stable stream than it is known to

have been during the past century.” These riverine conditions supported large fish species such as the longnose

gar and shovelnose sturgeon, now extinct due presumably to the historic reduction in the river’s flow (Gehlbach

and Miller 1963: 7, 16–19). Historical flows were generally perennial, except for those periods of severe, extended

drought. Flow levels were also seasonal, as they are today, with greatest flows in the late spring during peak

runoff from snow melt, or in mid to late summer from

rain runoff. Low runoffs usually occurred in June and

October-November (Bullard and Wells 1992: 23–25). During high flows the river would sometimes shift from a

higher channel to one of lower elevation on the valley

floor, a process known as avulsion. Even during extended

dry periods there probably was some flow, and relatively

deep water holes in the streambed were maintained.

The Rio Grande above the mouth of the Jemez River

was probably characterized by cooler water than that of

the more recent past. The streambed was composed of

mostly cobble and gravel. Below this confluence, the river

was primarily a warmwater habitat characterized by shifting sand substrate. By the late 1800s this condition may

have extended upstream, replacing the cooler water, as

flows were depleted and sedimentation increased, resulting in a more shallow river (Crawford et al. 1993: 38).

A few early historical descriptions of the Middle Rio

Grande follow:

Alvarado, 1540:

“This river of Nuestra Senora flows through a

broad valley planted with fields of maize and

dotted with cottonwood groves” (Bolton 1969:

184). He also described it as “a large and mighty

river” (Hodge 1946: 352).

Espejo, 1583 (near San Marcial):

“. . . along the river banks there were many

cottonwood groves and some patches of white

poplars four leagues wide” (Hammond and Rey

1966: 219).

Castano de Sosa, 1590:

“A deep river” and “the river with much water” (Schroeder and Matson 1965: 129, 144).

Obregon, late 1500s:

“. . . swift and beautiful, surrounded by numerous meadows and farms . . .” (Hammond and

Rey 1928: 291).

Fray Benavides, 1630:

“It has likewise many rivers in which fish are

in great abundance; and great sloughs [esteros],

and particularly the Rio del Norte” (Ayer 1965:

36–37).

Mention was made in the 1600s of an extensive stand

of cottonwoods, which stretched from Alameda Pueblo

to Albuquerque along the east side of the river (Adams

and Chavez 1956: 145). Known as the Bosque Grande de

San Francisco Xavier, it was a prominent feature in the

valley until at least the early 1700s. South of this gallery

forest were the open wetlands called the Esteros de Mejia.

This mosaic of cienegas (marshes), charcos (ponds), and

esteros (swamps) was located in the Albuquerque neighborhood of Barelas (Simmons 1982: 40). These riparian

features were sustained by a high water table and periodic flooding of the Rio Grande.
186 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Floods commonly caused shifts in the course of the river.

The westward shift of various reaches of the Rio Grande

from San Felipe to south of Belen in the early 1700s to

about 1769 is relatively well documented. Before 1709 the

Rio Grande flowed east of present Bernalillo, which was

founded in the early 1800s. Earlier Bernalillo settlement

sites were located to the north and on both banks of the

river, at Angostura and Llanitos. As the channel shifted

westward several hundred yards between 1709 and 1739,

the church and several homes were washed away at colonial Bernalillo, then located on the west side of the Rio

Grande. Another consequence of this avulsion was a subsequent boundary dispute between Santa Ana and San

Felipe pueblos. By 1763 residents of upper Bernalillo had

been forced to move upriver to higher land at Algodones

(Adams and Chavez 1956: 152; Bayer et al. 1994: 90; Bowen

and Sacca 1971: 51; Chavez 1957: 3; Sargeant 1987: 38–40;

Snow 1976: 172–175).

In 1766, at the south end of the present Bosque del

Apache National Wildlife Refuge, Royal Engineer Nicolas

de Lafora found “plenty of pasture” in the valley, all the

way north to San Acacia. He also noted “swampy ground

with a great deal of coarse grass and reeds” (Kinnaird

1967: 88; Fig. 44). North of Tome, he continued to travel

up the east side of the Rio Grande over “a plain extensively forested with poplar trees [cottonwood] along the

river’s edge” (Kinnaird 1967: 89–90).

The benefits of flood deposition of sediments rich in

nutrients was long known to Pueblo and Hispano farmers. A Spaniard from the Rio Abajo commented “The water brings with it a thick mud which serves as manure for

the land, leaving on top of the irrigated earth a glutinous

scum resembling lard” (Simmons 1982: 96).

Fray Atanasio Dominguez, a fairly keen observer from

the colonial period, recorded descriptions of the Rio

Figure 44—Wetlands near Iselta Pueblo. Note cattail in

foreground and cottonwood bosque in background.

Photo by author.

Grande and various reaches in 1776. For the entire river

reach in the region he wrote

From the places where the headwaters on this

river are to be seen, one observes a great abundance of water. As it declines toward the south

it acquires more and more water from the many

rivers (large and small) that keep joining it from

the east and west from above Taos to below El

Paso, where it joins still others (Adams and

Chavez 1956: 7).

From Santo Domingo he wrote “The pueblo is located

very near the Rio del Norte on a plain on the east bank....

It has a very fine view in all directions, made pleasant by

the river and its woods and poplar groves” (Adams and

Chavez 1956: 137).

And for the Albuquerque area he observed

It stands on the same plain [as Santo Domingo]

and so near to the Rio del Norte that the church

and convent are about two musket shots from it.

. . . The rest of what is now Albuquerque extends

upstream to the north, and all of it is a settlement

of ranchos on the meadows of the said river for the

distance of a league. . . . Some of the lands are good,

some better, some mediocre. They are watered by

the said river through very wide, deep irrigation

ditches. . . . (Adams and Chavez 1956: 144, 151).

And at Isleta he observed “The little rise on which the

pueblo stands is as small as I said in the beginning, and it

lies on the very meadow of the Rio del Norte, which sometimes overflows its bed up above the pueblo when it is

very high and forms a very wide branch at a distance from

it” (Adams and Chavez 1956: 207).

He also noted that the Rio Grande had shifted eastward

from its channel, which had run close to Belen in 1769.

Part of Tome’s houses and agricultural fields were destroyed by this avulsion; some Belen residents subsequently planted cultigens in the abandoned river bed

(Adams and Chavez 1956: 8).

In 1782 Fray Agustin de Morfi described the river:

The Rio Grande del Norte crosses the kingdom

from north to south, almost in a straight line. Its

source is not yet known. . . . The river receives

within and without the kingdom many others

[tributary streams] which increase its flow. . . .

From its sources [the Rio Grande] as far as the

presidio of La Junta, its banks are shady . . . (Thomas 1932: 90).

Some observations were clearly made in drought years,

such as 1803, when Governor Chacon wrote “. . . it does
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 187

not carry much water upon crossing it as is believed”

(Simmons 1985: 164). Zebulon Pike, who traveled

downriver from Taos in March 1807, described the Rio

Grande as a navigable stream above Santa Fe, but found

its flow diminished below, which he “attributed to numerous canals and the dry sand soil through which the

river courses, where much of the water which flows from

the mountains must be absorbed and lost.” Even so, he

noted the river to be 3 to 4 feet deep and about 300 yards

wide at the Santo Domingo Pueblo ford, and 3 feet deep

and 400 yards wide at the Barelas crossing south of Albuquerque (Coues 1987, II: 615, 621, 729–730).

Don Pedro Bautista Pino described the river in 1812 as

follows:

This imposing Nile is, so to speak, the heart of

the territory, for the richest settlements are located on its banks, which are truly picturesque.

The variety of its luxuriant groves, the beautiful

forests that embellish it, the diverse perspectives

presented by its vegas which are cultivated by a

multitude of laboring men . . . The thousands of

birds that live there, as well as the many palatable fish that live in its waters. . . . The waters

. . . are in themselves sparkling and clear, but the

Puerco de Abiquiu river, which flows into it at

Chama, muddies them (Carroll and Haggard

1942: 21).

The channel of the Rio Grande changed again in the

early 1800s in the Bernalillo-Alameda area. A westward

shift of the channel forced Hispanic residents north of the

Kuaua ruins from their homes. In about 1814, some residents resettled on the new east bank of the river on the

north edge of Sandia Pueblo land in the Los Cocinitas part

of present Bernalillo (Bowen and Sacca 1971: 48–49, 60;

Lange and Riley 1970: 176).

In the 1820s farmers in the Middle Rio Grande Valley

began to notice that cienegas and esteros were forming

on the floodplain, apparently due to the dumping of excess water from irrigation ditches (Wozniak 1987). This

phenomenon may have contributed to the increasing

waterlogging of the valley throughout the remainder of

the century.

More detailed descriptions of the Rio Grande and its

valley were recorded with the coming of more AngloAmericans in the 1830s and 1840s. Santa Fe Trail trader

Josiah Gregg (1966, v. I: 140–141) observed

The Rio del Norte . . . decreases in volume of

water as it descends. In fact, above the region of

tide-water, it is almost everywhere fordable during most of the year, being seldom over kneedeep, except at the time of freshets. Its banks are

generally very low, often less than ten feet above

low-water mark; and yet, owing to the disproportionate width of the channel (which is generally three or four hundred yards), it is not subject to inundations. Its only important rises are

those of the annual freshets, occasioned by the

melting of the snow in the mountains.

His estimate on the width of the river is consistent with

earlier observations but inconsistent with later ones. For

example, A. Wislizenus (1969: 34–35) described the Rio

Grande near Albuquerque in mid July 1846 as “about 100

yards wide, and as usual, sandy, shallow, everywhere fordable and nowhere navigable, not even for canoes.” Had

this not been a drought year with apparently no or little

summer rain on the watershed, the river flow would have

been greater and therefore wider and deeper. Wislizenus

did find a pond about 6 miles south of Valencia on the

east side of the river.

In late September Lt. William Emory crossed the river

just south of Albuquerque, where “its width was about

twenty-five yards, and its deepest part just up to the hubs

of the wheels” (Calvin 1968: 79).

Between Lemitar and Socorro, a doctor with the U.S.

Army described the Rio Grande as “. . . a rapid stream,

about 120 or 200 feet wide, dividing off, so as to make

many islands, the water is muddy and reddish, near the

color of the Red River” (Ames 1943: 20). The same individual described the river valley south of Cochiti Pueblo:

“In one place it looked a little like the Missouri Bottom,

the river here is a rapid stream, about 120 or 200 feet wide,

dividing off as to make many islands, the water is muddy

and reddish, near the color of the Red River” (Ames 1943:

20).

In October 1846 Lt. J.W. Abert (1962: 66, 72, 127) noted

that the river near San Felipe “runs with great rapidity,

and is from three to four feet deep.” At Valverde on

November 24 he observed “The river here is full of sand

bars” and “the water is very low.” He also recorded

several ponds along the road between Bernalillo and

Albuquerque.

The late summer rains of 1849 were probably at or above

seasonal normals, as the Rio Grande was “over six feet

deep” at La Joyita (Hannum 1930: 223–224), and “probably three hundred yards wide, the stream rapid, its depth

four feet” at the Barelas crossing (McNitt 1964: 153).

Four years later, on November 10, Lt. A.W. Whipple

described the river at the Barelas Ford:

The bed of the stream is about 500 yards wide,

with a channel upon each side from three to four

feet deep, and a temporary island of sand and

clay in the centre, occupying about one third of

the width. In one or two places there were quicksands sufficient to make the passage laborious.

The current of the stream is rapid. . . . Our own
188 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

observations made the fall five feet per mile at

this place (Foreman 1941: 119).

This “quicksand” was sometimes a problem for other

wagon caravans crossing at the Barelas ford, then just

south of Albuquerque in the mid 1800s (Hall 1960: 169;

McNitt 1964: 153).

In the early 1850s, a U.S. Army surgeon noted that the

river in the Socorro area varied from 200 to 600 yards wide,

depending on runoff amounts from upstream. He also

observed that a change in the stream’s channel occurred

every year (Hammond 1966: 24–25).

At Atrisco, on the west bank of the river near the Barelas

Ford, and to the south in the La Mesilla area, the river

shifted to the west in 1860 and 1867–68, respectively. At

Atrisco the avulsion was temporary, as the Rio Grande

moved back to its former channel after a few weeks (U.S.

Surveyor General and U.S. Court of Private Land Claims

1894). At Mesilla, it moved from the west edge of the town

to the east side, where it flows today (Bell 1965: 242;

Cozzens 1988: 277).

The severity and frequency of major flooding along the

Rio Grande began to increase in the 1870s due to the aggrading riverbed and more rapid runoff in the watershed

caused primarily by intensive grazing and logging.

(Wozniak 1987).

In 1873 a traveler crossing the river at Barelas found

the river to be about 4 feet deep and 200 yards wide (Beadle

1973: 491). Later in the decade another traveler along the

Rio Grande crossed the river at Isleta, finding it about 300

feet wide and 3 to 4 feet deep (Cozzens 1988: 274–275).

Just to the south, the 1884 flood caused a westward shift

in the river’s channel in the Los Lunas-Los Lentes area

(Crawford et al. 1993: 24).

The aggradation of the river bed continued to increase

over the last quarter of the 19th century due to increased

sedimentation and diversion of water for irrigation, especially in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado. In

the summer of 1879 the Rio Grande ceased flowing from

Albuquerque to El Paso, as it did often in the 1880s (Clark

1987: 89; Miller 1879: 69). During this period, before construction of any major dams in or above the Middle Valley, an estimated 75 billion pounds of sediment was carried annually in irrigation systems and floodwaters

(Simmons 1991b: 69, 77). The sediment load carried by

streams in the basin continued to increase into the early

1900s (Sullivan 1924: 6–7).

In 1893 Indian agent Henry R. Poore (1894: 111) described the river near Sandia Pueblo as having several

large islands, which rose about 6 feet above the level of

the river and were covered by cottonwood groves. The

uppermost island was estimated to be 700 acres.

In 1907, W.T. Lee (1907: 31) described the Rio Grande

north of El Paso as “mainly a floodwater stream subject

to great fluctuations in volume.”

The first streamflow gauging station in New Mexico

and the United States was established by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) on the Rio Grande near Embudo

in January 1889. A number of others were established

along the river and major tributaries from 1895 to 1941

(Table 45).

Santa Fe River

The Santa Fe River, which has its headwaters at Santa

Fe Lake in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains some 5,000

feet above Santa Fe, has a valley long occupied by various human groups (Fig. 45). As a result, this riparian system has been impacted severely, and the river’s ecosystem has been modified greatly. The stream flows through

the core of historic Santa Fe, westwardly, through Agua

Fria, which in the early colonial period was a settlement

of Hispanics on the Camino Real and before that the site

of Quemado Pueblo. Now, Agua Fria is a neighborhood

of the capital city. From this old village site the river continues its westerly flow, through new, scattered homes and

businesses, past the airport, and on to Cieneguilla, the site

of the late prehistoric-early historic pueblo and historic

Spanish settlement. Flowing at the base of a basaltic mesa,

the river moves west past ruins of corrals and field walls,

the early colonial settlement of Cienega, and on to east of

Tetilla Peak, an important landmark on the “Royal Road.”

Near here the stream receives waters from Cienega Creek

and begins to flow through a canyon on La Majada Mesa,

which eventually deepens to some 300 feet. At the south

edge of the mesa’s escarpment, the river leaves the canyon. This disengorgement was first named Las Bocas by

the early Chamuscado-Rodriguez expedition of 1582. The

near-deserted, 18th century land grant village of La Bajada,

Table 45—Upper and Middle Rio Grande

streamflow gauging stations.

Station Establishment date

Red River (near Questa) April 1910

Near Taos December 1916

Embudo January 1889

Rio Chama below El Vado Dam 1913

Rio Chama near Chamita October 1912

Otowi Bridge February 1895

Santa Fe River (near Santa Fe) June 1910

San Felipe October 1925

Jemez River (near Jemez Dam) June 1936

Albuquerque October 1941

Near Bernardo June 1936

Rio Puerco July 1951

Bluewater Creek (near Bluewater) June 1927

Rio San Jose (at Grants) October 1912

Rio Puerco (near Bernardo) November 1939

San Acacia April 1936

San Marcial 1936

Source: Cruz et al. 1993
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 189

named for the steep escarpment that extends about 9 miles

east-west from just below the Waldo interchange to almost the Rio Grande, is found here, and across the river

are the ruins of San Marcos Pueblo. The river now turns

even more westerly over its narrow, bosqueless floodplain

until it meets the Rio Grande across from Cochiti Pueblo.

From this confluence to its headwaters at about 12,000 feet

elevation in the mountains, the river flows about 37 smiles.

As indicated above, the Camino Real followed the Santa

Fe River from later Santa Fe through the canyon to La

Bajada. Prior to the opening of this important Spanish

road, which would link colonial New Mexico with Mexican settlements, Pueblo Indians had long followed the

river from local and distant villages to trade, hunt, or

gather various resources prior to Spanish arrival. They

continued to use this route into the early colonial period

and to occupy the villages of Tze-nat-ay (San Marcos),

Tzi-gu-ma (Cienega), near the confluence of the river with

Cienega Creek, Cieneguilla, and Quemado (PattersonRandolph 1990: 6).

The first European to reach the upper Santa Fe River

may have been Castano de Sosa on January 8, 1591. He

described the event: “It was bitterly cold and snowing.

When we emerged from the sierra, we came to a river,

frozen so hard that the horses crossed on the ice without

breaking through” (Hammond and Rey 1966: 280).

Eight years later the first Spanish colonists settled at

San Juan Pueblo on the east side of the Rio Grande near

its confluence with the Chama River, about 30 miles northwest of Santa Fe. After a few months, they moved across

the river to a second pueblo called Yunque. The seat of government for the New Mexico Province remained here until

1609, but abuse of and conflict with the Tewa Pueblos, as

well as competition for limited and decreasing natural resources, forced the Spanish viceroy to order relocation of

the capital to the Santa Fe River, some 23 miles to the southeast. Here, the town of Santa Fe was founded on the banks

of the mountain stream, at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo

Mountains (Horgan 1965: 5, 14, 16–18; Simmons 1991: 182).

With the new provincial capital established at the northern terminus of the Camino Real, the road along the Santa

Fe River was traveled frequently by residents, traders, and

government officials. For example, in July 1613 Fray Isidro

Ordonez walked from Santo Domingo Pueblo to Santa

Fe, a trip of 9 hours (Sanchez 1987: 81). The mission supply caravans traversed this route every 2 or 3 years from

1620 to 1679, stopping at the paraje of the Alamo hacienda or nearby Rancho Golondrinas. Mission churches

had been established at Cieneguilla, Cienega, and San

Marcos pueblos along the Santa Fe River by the 1620s

(Patterson-Randolph 1990: 6; Schroeder 1979: 244–247).

By the early 1660s Cienega had also become a Spanish

village, consisting of scattered estancias or haciendas, like

Alamo (Hackett 1937: 261). Sheep, cattle, and horses from

these establishments were grazed along the river as well

as in nearby uplands, and the floodplain and terraces were

farmed by irrigation. Within 2 decades, however, the entire Santa Fe valley was depopulated by the Spaniards

when driven out by the Pueblo uprising of August 1680

(Sando 1989: 55).

In late 1692, when Governor and General Diego de

Vargas marched up the Camino Real to the Cieneguilla

Pueblo, its inhabitants fled to nearby mesas (Bailey 1940:

138). In the following year, following reconquest and

reoccupation by the Spanish, Vargas issued a land grant

for the Cieneguilla area. Cienega and Quemado were also

reoccupied on the grant early in the next century

(Westphall 1983: 20). At this time, according to descendants of the original grantees, the Santa Fe River ran “full,”

and cottonwood and willow grew along its banks (Munoz

1945: 73). A cienega east of the Palace of the Governors

was a prime, spring-fed habitat for livestock grazing

(Ebright 1994a: 90–91). The river’s water was noted to be

clear in 1726, and in this same year the Pino Ranch was

founded at the mouth of Cienega Creek, a major tributary.

Eighteen years later, the river was described as having

“crystalline waters and abundant trout” within the capital village (Hackett 1937: 27, 34, 399). Santa Fe had by this

time evolved into a rancheria, or a scattering of houses

and fields along the river valley (Simmons 1974: 61). By

1760, the river was generally dry during the summer due

to diversion for irrigation. Continuing cold temperatures

caused the river to freeze over in winter (Adams 1954: 47,

65, 105). Periodically, the river flooded, as in 1767, when

property was damaged and destroyed in Santa Fe and

the river channel shifted into the Rio Chiquito, now covered by Water Street (Twitchell 1963, I: 447). Subsequently,

a stone embankment was built to prevent flood damage

in the village (Adams and Chaves 1956: 40).

River flow continued to be insufficient for irrigation

farming along the reach below Cienega, according to Fray

Dominguez in 1776. The springs at this location did result in a flow to the Rio Grande confluence the rest of the

year, and the farmlands around the old pueblo of

Quemado (later Agua Fria) and Cieneguilla were “fertilized” by overbank flooding of the Santa Fe (Adams and

Chavez 1956: 41, 43). In 1782 Father Morfi provided basically the same description and referred to “excellent” trout

in the river (Thomas 1932: 92).

By the late 1700s the Upper Valley population had so

severely impacted the surface water, grazing lands, and

fuelwood sources that the governor recommended moving the capital to the confluence of the river and the Rio

Grande, across from Cochiti Pueblo (MacCameron 1994:

35). The center of government was not moved, of course.

As the flow of the river diminished from use, and as

woodlands and forests were cut, the river ecosystem

continued to decline (Hewett and Dutton 1945: 147). Around

Cienega, especially at Rancho de las Golondrinas, however,

the springs continued to flow, and harvests were good into
190 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

the 19th century. The area was known throughout the province for its dependable productiveness in the early to mid

1800s (Baxter 1987: 74–75). In October 1846 Abert (1962: 65)

described Cienega as “well settled” and “a well watered

place . . . and the neighboring hills are full of springs.”

Degradation of the water quality of the river due to

refuse and dirty streets in Santa Fe apparently was a problem by 1833, as the City Council issued regulations forbidding the throwing of trash or dead animals into irrigation ditches and streams and mandating the cleaning of

streets. The burning of rubbish piles was also prohibited

(Simmons 1992: 224).

When the American army arrived in the late summer

and fall of 1846, during an extended drought, various

military units found little or no grass for their livestock or

wood for fires. Fodder and fuelwood were purchased at

Santa Fe or Agua Fria, as Quemado was now called (Abert

1962: 65; Denevan 1967: 701; Frazer 1983: 11; Sunseri 1979:

75). No water was found in the river below Cienega on October 19 (Cooke 1964: 92–93). Four years later, however,

troops found “good grass and water” and “sufficient fuel”

at Agua Fria (McNitt 1964: 7). In contrast, a group of Anglo

immigrants found denuded grasslands in 1849 from Santa

Fe to Galisteo and noted that the area had been cut by deep

arroyos, some to a width of 12 feet (deBuys 1985: 216–217).

In the 1850s Santa Fe experienced critical water shortages (Clark 1987: 33). The available river water, nonetheless, was described as “excellent” for drinking. Trees “for

miles around” had been cut for fuelwood and construction (U.S. Surgeon-General’s Office 1856). A dam was constructed near the headwaters of the Santa Fe River in 1866,

but the water supply was still not sufficient to meet the

town’s needs (Clark 1987: 33).

Another flood struck, this one on the lower reach of the

river, on July 13, 1866. Two years later, on April 18–20,

rainstorms over the watershed caused the river to flood,

and a bridge was washed out. This event was followed

by still another flood on September 7 (Lange and Riley

Figure 45—Cattle grazing along the Santa Fe River, ca. 1915. Note willow (left center) and cottonwoods (left back).

Photo courtesy Museum of New Mexico Photo Archives, Santa Fe (negative no. 135254).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 191

1966: 339; Lange, Riley and Lange 1975: 107, 144, 445). On

August 19, 1872, the river peaked at more than 1,000 cfs

(USGS 1994). Eight years later the flow again could not

meet the demands of the residents of Santa Fe, and reservoirs were subsequently constructed and wells drilled. A

piped-water system was also constructed from one of the

reservoirs above town in 1881 (Simmons 1992: 206; Thomas et al. 1963: D–10).

By 1899 irrigation farming on the Cieneguilla grant

ceased, perhaps due to overuse of surface water upstream

and general degradation of the ecosystem (Pratt and Snow

1988, Chap. 4: 46). Upstream wetlands, such as the cienega

in Santa Fe, had been desertified by this time. Only

Cienega Street remains as physical evidence of this marsh

(Ebright 1994: 99–101).

Periodic floods continued, such as the one of September 29 or 30, 1904, and that of 1919, which had the highest

annual daily flow recorded from 1910 to 1993. A flood on

September 23, 1929, was estimated to be above 1,500 cfs

(USGS 1994). In more recent years, the flow of the Santa

Fe River has continued to diminish. In 1960, the acequia

madre at Cienega flowed at 650 gallons per minute; in

1993 it flowed at only 133 gpm.

Grazing of the watershed continues, as does the development of houses and businesses in the valley (Fig. 45).

The once “excellent” trout populations have long since

disappeared, as have most of the fertile soils. Some

cienegas occur, however, on the Ranchos Golondrinas

property. Above Cienega, cottonwoods no longer occur

along the river; some Russian olive is growing on the

floodplain and appears to be spreading.

Jemez River

In February 1583 Espejo described the Jemez River near

Zia Pueblo as “a fine river with a good volume of water”

(Hammond and Rey 1966: 180). This general description

suggests that the river was clearer and carried more volume than in the recent historic period. The Jemez, as other

tributary streams, flooded periodically. These bank overflows damaged or destroyed Santa Ana Pueblo fields,

which by the early 1700s, or perhaps even earlier, forced

the residents to find better fields at its confluence with

the Rio Grande (Kessell 1980: 168).

At Zia Pueblo in 1776 Fray Dominguez noted that the

Jemez water was alkaline and, combined with sandy field

soil, was at times unproductive. He also observed that

the Jemez River at Jemez Pueblo was less alkaline and the

fields more productive (Adams and Chavez 1956: 175,

181). At Santa Ana he wrote that the river flow was too

Figure 46—Jemez River sandy streambed and floodplain at Santa Ana Pueblo ca. 1920–30. Photo by Jessie L. Nusbaum,

courtesy Museum of New Mexico Photo Archives, Santa Fe (negative no. 158158).
192 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

erratic to reliably produce crops each year (Adams and

Chavez 1956: 170).

Much later, in October 1846, Lt. J.W. Abert (1962: 71)

described the Jemez River valley below Santa Ana as “. . .

very sandy; the bed of the stream three-quarters of a mile

in width, contains, in many places, no water . . .” (Fig. 46).

In 1893 the river was divided into two channels above

the Santa Ana Pueblo. These channels undoubtedly

changed with floods. There was a major flood in 1890,

and another slightly less severe flood, about 15,000 cfs,

swept along the lower Jemez in 1900 (USGS 1994). The

most severe flood of this century occurred May 6–15, 1941;

2 years later the Jemez daily mean flow on May 24 was

zero. That was the lowest level reached since flow measurements were begun in 1936 (USGS 1994). The highest

mean daily flow since that time, some 3,640 cfs, occurred

on the lower reach of the river in 1958 (USGS 1994).

Las Huertas Creek

Las Huertas Creek originates at about 8,600 feet on the

north side of the Sandia Mountains below Capulin Peak

in the Cibola National Forest (Fig. 41). Several springs

occur at this location, and many of them are situated on

the Cooper-Ellis Ranch, a privately owned, late 19th-century homestead about 5 miles south of Placitas. The creek

flows down a canyon along the north slope of the Sandias

following a south-trending fault zone between the uplifted

Montezuma Mountain block and the main Sandia block

(Kelley and Northrop 1975: 90–91). The canyon has been

formed by downcutting of the stream and is long and

narrow with cliffs of Pennsylvanian Madera limestone.

At about 6,000 feet, just outside the boundary of the national forest, the creek turns to the west past Ojo de la

Casa, and the late Spanish Colonial site of San Jose 1768–

1821, about a mile north of Placitas. Here the creek opens

into a relatively wide valley bordered by hills and ridges

covered with pinyon-juniper woodland, which becomes

increasingly sparse at lower elevations downstream. The

width of the valley floor varies from about 300 to 750 feet.

Elevation in the valley ranges from 6,100 feet at Ojo de la

Casa to 5,680 feet at San Jose to 5,480 feet at the south end

of the study area (US Geological Survey 1954).

The valley fill is composed of alluvial fan material,

which at some locations, such as San Jose, is made up of

gently sloping (0–3 percent), silty clay loam soil derived

from shale and sandstone, known as Haverson Loam. The

adjacent terraced uplands consist of gravelly Ildefonso

Sandy Loam on 10 to 35 percent slopes or Harvey Loam

on 10 to 15 percent slopes (Soil Conservation Service n.d.).

Chert nodules found eco-cultural contexts in the valley

probably came from the Madera formation; Pedernal chalcedony and other cherts were brought from quarries

in the Jemez Mountains (Hibben 1941: 28–30; Kelley and

Northrop 1975: 97–98). Obsidian for some artifacts

noted on the surface may have been obtained in the same

range.

Several major springs are located in the drainage, and

all were used historically for domestic and agricultural

purposes (Delara and Delara 1983; Scurlock 1995b: 4–5).

These springs are Rosa Castilla, San Francisco, Oso Negro, and Ojo de Casa. Not surprisingly, flows of these

springs and Las Huertas Creek were reportedly greater

in the past than at present (Delara and Delara 1983;

Montoya 1983); trout were found in the deeper pools of

Las Huertas Creek as late as the 1930s (Hibben 1941: 8;

Jim Iknayan 1983, personal communication).

Five major plant communities were present during the

historical period—mixed conifer, above 7,800 feet; pinyonjuniper, above 6,200 feet; a savannah pinyon-juniper

woodland on the valley terraces, upper slopes, and ridge

and mesa tops, above 5,800 feet; and a riparian or mesophytic plant community along Las Huertas Creek and

around the springs (Naylor 1964: 95–95). Valley or narrow-leaf cottonwood and willow species were the major

floral constituents. Below 6,000 feet were Great Basin

grasslands, now a juniper-bunch grass savanna, down to

about 5,500 feet (Fig. 47). Below this and extending across

the bajada to the Rio Grande floodplain, the zone has been

modified to a grassland-shrubland. Both of these communities have been altered by human activity such as overgrazing, farming, house construction, and the introduction of exotic species. The dominant plants of the terraces

and mesas/ridges today include blue grama, ring muhly,

galleta, three awn, sand dropseed, rabbitbush, broom

snakeweed, pinyon, and juniper. During the historical

period, dominant plants included black grama, sideoats

grama, blue grama, New Mexico feathergrass, galleta,

western wheatgrass, alkali sacaton, Indian ricegrass,

Apache plume, winterfat, and sparsely scattered one-seed

juniper and pinyon (Soil Conservation Service n.d.).

The dominant plants in the riparian community below

6,000 feet today include watercress, spearmint, willow, valley cottonwood, salt cedar (or tamarisk), and, along the margins, Apache plume. Watercress and spearmint were introduced by the Spanish in the early historic period; salt cedar

was introduced by Anglos in the early 20th century

(Campbell and Dick-Peddie 1964: 499; Scurlock 1983a: 7–8).

The fauna found in the valley and the adjacent bajada

and Sandia Mountains also has changed during the last

400 years, primarily as a result of human activity. A number of large mammals hunted by the various eco-cultural

groups of the area before 1900 have been decimated or

extirpated, including the Merriam elk, pronghorn antelope, gray wolf, bighorn sheep, grizzly bear, and mountain lion (Bailey 1931: 22, 40, 310–312, 326, 362–363).

Smaller mammals such as the coyote, rock squirrel, red

squirrel, jackrabbit, desert cottontail, gray fox, badger, rock

squirrel, and porcupine can still be found in varying numbers (Clothier 1957).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 193

More than 100 species of birds have been recorded in

the Las Huertas canyon and valley and in the Placitas area

(Scurlock 1995b). Two of these, the bald eagle and peregrine falcon, are considered endangered by the U.S. Fish

and Wildlife and the New Mexico Game and Fish Commission. There remains some habitat for the rare and endangered willow flycatcher. Species that were important

for their meat or feathers in the historic period include

various ducks and geese, sandhill crane, wild turkey, blue

grouse, scaled quail, mourning dove, band-tailed pigeon,

golden eagle, red-tailed hawk, common raven, greathorned owl, and red-shafted flicker (Smith 1973: 96; Tyler

1979: 8, 52–53, 253).

Two invertebrates, the Sandia hairstreak butterfly and

the blue silverspot butterfly, have been considered for inclusion on the federal list of endangered species.

In the century preceding Spanish arrival in northern

New Mexico in 1540, there were a number of relatively

large Pueblo villages along drainages east of Sandia and

San Felipe pueblos. Some of the archeological manifestations of these include San Antonio, Paako, San Marcos,

and Tonque. Tonque Pueblo, a pottery-making center located about 7 miles northeast of Placitas, supplied most

of the glazewares that are found on sites in the area dating to these periods. Some of the lead used for the glaze

decorations may have come from Sierra de la Mina, near

Tecolote, about a mile northeast of Placitas. Along the entire

“spring belt” of Tonque Arroyo, on which this village was

located, are numerous “one- or two-room glaze sites situated on narrow stream terraces.” These probable field house

sites indicate that the people of Tonque were farming some

distance from the main pueblo (Warren 1972: 36–38, 41).

Located on opposite sides of Las Huertas Creek in the

center of the study area was a 15–20 room pueblo site dating to A.D. 1350–1450 on the south side, and a

protohistoric pueblo on the north side, which later became

the site of the land grant village of San Jose de las Huertas.

Also present along these streams and large arroyos are

numerous “field houses” dating to the late prehistoric and

early historic periods (Scurlock 1995b).

The Pueblo population probably peaked in the valley

between A.D. 1400 and 1650. During this 250-year period

much of the canyon and valley floors was probably in

cultivation, with the Pueblos living seasonally in small

pueblos or one- or two-room field houses situated along

both sides of the valley and located on geological terraces

or benches. Runoff waters down tributary arroyos were

directed onto agricultural fields, as probably were the

floodwaters of the Las Huertas Creek during the spring

snow melt upstream in the Sandias and following summer thunderstorms. Irrigation ditches may have been utilized in controlling some of this water, but certainly not

to the extent nor with the sophistication that the Spanish

later employed. Ditch irrigation was noted at the mouth

of Las Huertas Creek by an early Spanish expedition of

the late 16th century (Wozniak 1987).

This seasonal activity pattern among area pueblos continued into the recent past and was documented a little

more than a century ago by anthropologist Adolph

Bandelier. An informant at Santo Domingo related to him

that almost all of the villagers were gone from the pueblos from April to September or October to work in the

outlying farms or ranchos (Lange and Riley 1966: 265).

Based on the relatively large number of Pueblo field house

sites dating to this period, this land use pattern seems to

have been the dominant one in the Las Huertas valley at

the time of Spanish contact.

The first Spaniards probably visited the valley in the

late 16th century, and within a few decades after Hispanic

colonization, a few miners were working deposits of lead,

copper, and silver in the northern portion of the Sierra de

Sandia and living in the Tecolote area. Probably during

this period the valley was named Las Huertas, or the gardens, by these early Spaniards. Rancho de Las Huertas

was probably established in the area during the mid 17th

century (Scurlock 1983a: 12–13).

Following their expulsion by the Pueblo Revolt, reconquest, and resettlement of the Middle Rio Grande Valley,

some Hispanos returned to Las Huertas valley to raise

livestock, mine, and perhaps trade with resident Pueblos.

There is a 1714 reference (Chavez 1957: 4) to a watering

hole (aguaje) known as Naranjo close to the north end of

the Sandias. This landmark was probably along Las

Huertas Creek because in the same document there is a

reference to the minas paraje de las Guertas (Huertas)

found within the vicinity of the aguaje (Chavez 1957). In

1765 nine Spanish families petitioned the governor to grant

them land in the valley; 2 years later the San Antonio de

las Huertas land grant was granted and settled. The village founded by the grantees, San Jose de las Huertas,

prospered until intense Apache raids, and perhaps

Figure 47—Juniper savanna on ridges above Las Huertas Creek.

Sandia Mountains (center back). Photo by author.
194 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

drought, forced the settlers to retreat to more protected

and well-watered settlements along the Rio Grande in

1823–26 (Scurlock 1983: 13–15).

The settlers soon constructed an irrigation system utilizing the waters of Las Huertas Creek, the nearby Ojo

Rosa Castilla, and runoff from tributary arroyos (Fig. 48).

Fruit trees and grapevines were planted, and corn, wheat,

beans, squash, onions, and chile were cultivated. Cotton

and punche, a local variety of tobacco, also were grown

(Smith 1973: 90).

Livestock raising, primarily goats and sheep, was also

a major subsistence activity. In summer, villagers herded

their flocks on common grant lands or up Las Huertas

canyon to meadows along the north slope of the Sandias.

Winter grazing lands were located on lower areas of the

grant or on nearby mesas between the grant and the river.

The hunting of deer, bear, and small mammals and the

gathering of wild edible plants supplemented the food

produced by farming and ranching (Smith 1973: 90–95).

Trade was conducted with area Pueblos and, at times

of peace, with the Faraon Apaches and Comanche. Spanish livestock and grain were exchanged for Pueblo pottery and woven items. Residents of San Felipe Pueblo

brought pottery to later Placitas to trade as recently as the

early 1900s (Delara and Delara 1983). The same items and

punche were traded to the Apache and Comanche for

hides, dried buffalo meat, and sometimes captives, who

were adopted as household servants (Jones 1979: 143).

San Jose’s isolation and nearness to the Faraon Apaches,

who lived in the Sandia Mountains, did not preclude more

families from coming to the village. By the first decade of

the early 19th century the population had risen to 284

(Olmstead 1981: 144–147).

In 1810 the Faraon Apaches stepped up their raiding in

the Rio Abajo, including the village of San Jose. Raids conFigure 48—Abandoned acequia madre (center) at Spanish

colonial site of San Jose de las Huertas. Photo by author.

tinued over the next few years, not only by the Apaches

but also by the Navajos. As a result, the Alcalde of

Alameda received an order to increase the mining of lead

in Las Huertas for the production of musket shot “to castigate the enemies of the state” (Spanish Archives of New

Mexico 1818). Nevertheless, the raiding continued, and

in 1823 the governor ordered the residents of San Jose to

abandon their village and to move to more protected settlements along the Rio Grande. Within a short time, most of

the settlers had moved to the east bank of the river and

established the settlement of Los Algodones, just south of

San Felipe Pueblo (Smith 1973: 49–50). Others moved to

Albuquerque, Cienega, or Socorro. A few families remained in the village, but they too left by 1826 (Smith

1973: 50–51). One informant (Montoya 1983) cited drought

conditions as the reason for abandonment, while to others “there was not enough room to plant” (Delara and

Delara 1983). The drought of 1815–21 and the onset of long,

cold winters were probably causal factors of Apache and

Navajo raiding.

Within 15 years, some original and some new land grant

settlers had returned to the valley, but instead of concentrating at the site of San Jose, which probably had fallen

into ruin by this time, they dispersed over the land grant

to establish ranchos and new plazas. Also, perhaps, the

valley had been overfarmed and overgrazed to the point

that relatively large numbers of individuals could no

longer subsist at San Jose. However, a few families, some

descended from original land grantees, continued to farm

and raise livestock on a small scale in the Las Huertas

valley using the colonial period irrigation system and a

new ditch system that was constructed on the south side

of the creek in the late 1840s. By the mid 19th century a

new central village, the Plaza of San Antonio, or Las

Placitas, was founded (Scurlock 1983: 15–17).

Following U.S. occupation and acquisition of New

Mexico as a territory in 1846 and establishment of the

Surveyor-General’s Office in Santa Fe in 1854, villagers

of the San Antonio de las Huertas land grant petitioned

for confirmation of their title. They were denied because

of confusion over the exact location of the east boundary.

In 1881 the land grant heirs petitioned the Surveyor-General again, but they were refused for the same reason. In

1891 the Surveyor-General’s office had been replaced with

the Court of Private Land Claims to litigate the outstanding land grant claims. With Thomas Benton Catron as their

attorney, the heirs’ claim was heard by the court in 1897.

Of the 130,000 acres claimed, the Court of Private Land

Claims confirmed only 4,763 acres. As payment for his

services, Catron received the east one-quarter, or 1,191

acres, of the grant (Montoya 1983; Smith 1976: 40–41).

Traditional irrigation farming and livestock raising continued throughout the first half of this century, although

some of the homesteads in the valley were abandoned,

perhaps due in part to the dry conditions of the 1940s–
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 195

50s. In the 1960s and 1970s the hippie commune of

Tawapa, one of the largest in New Mexico, was concentrated along Las Huertas Creek from just south and east

of San Jose to near Ojo Rosa Castilla. In more recent years,

the area has experienced a housing boom, which has further degraded environmental conditions.

Rio Puerco-of-the-East

The Rio Puerco is a 170-mile-long tributary (the longest) of the Rio Grande with a drainage area of 6,220 square

miles in the Middle Basin (Snead and Reynolds 1986: 57;

Fig. 42). This river is the best documented of all of the

tributaries in terms of associated land use and resultant

environmental impact and change. It has been called the

“abused basin” in recent decades, and as such, the environmental conditions of the drainage are still being studied by the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the state’s Environmental Improvement

Division, to name just three concerned public agencies

(Dortignac 1963; Harper et al. 1943).

The earliest historical description of the Puerco drainage

is that of Juan de Onate in late October 1599. When he crossed

the stream near Cabezon Peak on that date, Onate noted that

the water was deep and had many cottonwoods along its

banks. He called the stream “La Torriente de los Alamos” (a

rapid stream with cottonwoods) and observed that the valley was “lush, rich, and fertile” (Lopez 1980: 71, 77).

Almost 100 years later, in 1692, General and Governor

Vargas crossed the Rio Puerco west of the later site of Albuquerque, noting that the water was so deep that the

soldiers had to carry provisions and equipment on their

shoulders (Lopez 1980: 76; Twitchell 1963, I: 381). The Rio

Puerco valley at this time was rich in grasses, bosques,

springs, and charcos, small lakes or ponds. The floodplain

was periodically inundated by overbank flows from the

shallow stream channel (Lopez 1980: 71). Subsequent governors granted community and grazing grants within the

drainage in the 1740s–60s. Also, the Navajo, with their

many sheep, had moved into the area in the early part of

this period (Bailey 1980: 98–99, 113; Lopez 1980: 72;

Simmons 1982: 106–107; Wozniak 1987). In 1766 a Spanish traveler at the mouth of the stream noted that its waters were always “muddy and turgid” (Kinnaird 1967: 89).

Intensive grazing by both groups and droughts resulted

in topsoil erosion in the basin and the beginning of entrenchment of the Puerco during this period (Bailey 1980:

89–90; Love and Young 1983).

In 1774 a Spanish priest reported that poor crop harvests in the valley due to drought and related Navajo raids

forced Hispanic settlers to abandon the upper and middle

Rio Puerco. He wrote this about the river in 1776: “Its water

is as dirty as the gutters of the streets, since its bed is of

black clay and its bottom very treacherous with mire”

(Adams and Chavez 1956: 254).

Spaniards, including the Montoyas, moved back to a

grazing grant near Cabezon Peak on the Puerco in 1818,

but fled when Navajos again stepped up their raiding on

livestock in 1821. A member of the family returned in 1827

or 1828, but he and his family were forced to leave 6 or 7

years later (Rittenhouse 1965: 19).

Apparently recovered somewhat because of the Spanish hiatus, the environment of the upper Puerco valley

was a “grassy wilderness” with “swampy vegas,” “clear

water,” and “willow-lined banks” in the 1830s and 1840s

(Maes and Fisher 1937: 10; Quaife 1967: 133). Seasonal dry

periods and larger droughts caused the river to dry up

over its lower reach part of each year, as it does now. In

mid October 1846, west of Atrisco, Lt. Abert (1962: 74–78)

described the valley as “wide, flat, overgrown with varieties of artemisias and coarse grass” and the river banks

as “10 or 12 feet high” and “a few cottonwood trees” in

the river bed, which was dry. To the north, near the abandoned town of Poblazon, the banks were 30 feet high. A

short time later, 2 to 3 miles below the mouth of the Rio

San Jose, Abert (1962: 92–93) noted that the Puerco’s water was thick with mud.

North of Cabezon Peak in 1849, Lt. J.H. Simpson (McNitt

1964: 29) commented on the thin fringe of cottonwood

along the Puerco and “water only here and there, in

pools—the fluid being a greenish, sickening color, and

brackish to the taste.” He estimated the height of the river

bank to be 20 to 30 feet and the width of the river at about

100 feet. Another member of Simpson’s expedition wrote

“The Puerco was a miserably dirty and little stream of

brackish water lined with high cut soil banks and cottonwoods” (McNitt 1964: 29).

In 1853 the Puerco near present Interstate 40 was described at 100 feet wide and its streambed 18 feet deep

with scattered pools of water (Foreman 1941: 119;

Rittenhouse 1965: 27–28). About this same time, the channel at La Ventana was about 8 feet deep and in the lower

reach of the river about 20 feet (Bryan 1928: 276; Dortignac

1962: 588).

A few years later, to the north, in the Cabezon-Casa

Salazar area, the upper Puerco valley had marshy meadows (Maes and Fisher 1937: 1–4). This condition may have

resulted from “rest from grazing” and “wet years” in the

1850s. By 1862, with the threat of Navajo raids almost nil,

Hispanics and Anglos began to graze the upper Puerco

intensively (Maes and Fisher 1937: 10–15). Irrigation facilities—dams, ditches, and headgates—were constructed

in the valley. Water was easy to divert and relatively abundant because of the shallow channel and vegetation, which

mitigated damaging floods (Maes and Fisher 1937: 12;

Tuan 1966: 588–589).

In the Cabezon area, in the 1870s, the Rio Puerco channel was shallow, with a wagon road crossing marked by

large logs laid in the stream bed. There were “large groves

of cottonwood trees, high grass, and weeds.” The chan-
196 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

nel at La Ventana was about 8 feet deep (Dortignac 1963:

507). By 1877 there were “high banks marked by recent

cave-ins and falling trees” (Bryan 1928a: 268, 273). At the

end of the decade there were some 10,000 acres under

cultivation in the upper river drainage, and cut, native

hay was being sold in Cabezon (deBuys 1985: 217;

Rittenhouse 1965: 64). A major flood, which undoubtedly

eroded banks and downcut the river channel more, occurred in the area in 1880 (USGS 1994). The farming and

ranching communities of Cabezon, San Luis, Guadalupe,

and Casa Salazar had a combined population of over 700

residents at this time (Garcia 1992: 5).

During this decade the number of sheep in the area increased to over 100,000, and there were about 9,000 cattle

(Scurlock 1990a: 18; Fig. 49). Many of these animals were

owned by ricos Jose L. Perea of Bernalillo and Mariano

Otero of Las Vegas. By the turn of the century sheep numbers had increased to several hundred thousand head.

Harvests of corn and other irrigated crops were good

during this period, probably due to moister conditions

from above-normal precipitation (Maes and Fisher 1937:

11–12, 14). By the turn of the century there were some

10,000 acres under irrigation in the upper Rio Puerco valley (deBuys 1985: 217).

Accelerating entrenchment of the Rio Puerco was underway, and irrigation farming became more difficult as

the water level of the river dropped in the 1880s (Bryan

1928: 274, 279). Various facilities of an extensive irrigation project were constructed by the Rio Puerco Irrigation

Company in the early 1890s, which were destroyed by

flash floods (Bryan 1928a: 274; Dortignac 1962). Three

Hispanic villages in the middle and lower reaches of the

Figure 49—Sheep grazing near Rio

Puerco (center) and Cabezon Peak

(back), 1880s. Note denuded soil

(foreground). Photo by Henry Schmidt,

courtesy Center for Southwest Research,

University of New Mexico.

basin were abandoned between 1887 and 1894 (Bryan

1928a: 276–277).

In spite of the increasing number of livestock on the

basin’s rangelands, “good” bunch grass cover was present

in the 1890s, probably due to two wet years during the

decade (Bryan 1928; Dortignac 1963: 508). Intensive grazing continued into the early decades of the next century;

in 1937 there were relatively large numbers of livestock

on 75,284 acres of public lands in the Upper Basin.

Droughts and intensive floods contributed to severe erosion during this period (Calkins 1937: 6; Maes and Fisher

1937: 15–19, 34; Fig. 50). Continued entrenchment of the

river became a problem for irrigation farmers in the

Cabezon area (Bryan 1928a: 274). Irrigated lands in the

same area dropped to 3,000 acres, a decrease of 70 percent in less than 3 decades (Harper et al. 1943: 52). Some

farmers may have shifted their operations to the Puerco

valley above Cuba, where there were 5,500 acres under

irrigation in 1939 (Dortignac 1960: 48).

A surveyor referred to a “new channel” for the river at

Cabezon in 1899; it was 198 feet wide. Seven years later

the channel at the same location had widened to 244 feet,

with a depth of 20 feet. At nearby San Luis the depth of

the Puerco channel was the same (Bryan 1928a: 271–273;

Tuan 1966: 589; Fig. 49). To the north, at La Ventana, the river

channel was 15 feet deep in 1913 (Dortignac 1962: 588).

As the river dropped farther below its floodplain, water for irrigation farming became increasingly difficult to

obtain. Only about 3,000 acres were in cultivation in the

valley from Cuba to Casa Salazar in 1925 (deBuys 1985:

217: Harper et al. 1943: 52). Two years later the depth of

the Puerco channel was 22 feet at San Luis and about 40
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 197

Figure 50—The Rio Puerco in flood near San Luis (?), 1905. Photo by R. H. Chapman,

courtesy U.S. Geological Survey Photo Archives, Denver.

feet at La Ventana (Bryan 1928: 275; Dortignac 1962: 588;

Tuan 1966: 589). To the south, below the Santa Fe Railroad tracks, the channel was also about 40 feet deep that

year (Tuan 1966: 593). The following year, 1928, the channel

depth at Cabezon had increased to 40 feet (Bryan 1928a: 274).

A major flood occurred on the Rio Puerco, contributing

to the ongoing downcutting, at least in the upper and

middle reaches of the river (Tuan 1966: 593; USGS 1994).

Alluviation occurred on the lower Puerco, sometime between 1930 and 1940, and the river channel was raised

about 14 feet (Tuan 1966: 593). The volume of the Puerco

channel was 267,000 acre-feet (Dortignac 1960: 47).

Continued, intensive grazing and resulting erosion contributed to this process. In 1936–37 there were 14,500 cattleunits on the 150,715 acres of Upper Valley rangelands;

the grazing capacity was estimated to be only 4,300 units.

These lands included 56,240 acres of public domain, 19,044

acres of Forest Service land, and 75,431 acres of private

land (Calkins 1937: 6; Maes and Fisher 1937: 34).

In an attempt to control grazing, the U.S. Forest Service

began to fence its lands in the valley, as well as on Mesa

Prieta and the Mount Taylor area in 1940 (Garcia 1992:

23). The newly created Grazing Service began reducing

the numbers of livestock grazing on public lands in the

basin through the issuance of permits (Forrest 1989: 159).

Residents of San Luis, Cabezon, Guadalupe, and Casa

Salazar continued to leave as environmental conditions

worsened in the late 1930s-early 1940s. Floods in 1941 and

1943 helped spur this exodus, as did the drought years of

1944–48. The most severe drought of this century followed

in 1951–56 (Tuan et al. 1973: 58, 143–145; USGS 1994). By

the 1960s the population had decreased to its lowest level

over the past century.

Entrenchment continued in the 1950s and early 1960s

in the Upper Valley (Tuan 1966: 589). The channel was

about 55 feet deep at La Ventana in 1962 and 36 feet at

San Luis, 43 feet at Poblazon, and 36 feet at San Ignacio in

1964 (Dortignac 1960: 47, 1962: 588; Tuan 1966: 589).

A summary of chronological change for the Puerco is given

in Table 46. Impacts and changes are addressed in Chapter 5.
198 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Table 46—Rio Puerco–of–the–East: historical conditions and environmental changes, 1599–1964.

Descriptions of Channel

Date vegetation/water Channel depth width Source

1599 “Many cottonwoods” Lopez 1980: 71

1700s mid “Belly–high grasses, vast

bosques, and wooded thickets” Lopez 1980: 71

1760s Lower R.P. began entrenchment Love and Young 1983:

1845 “Grassy wilderness, swampy

vegas, willow–lined banks” Maes and Fisher 1937: 10

1846 “Few cottonwood trees”; 10–12 feet (lower) Abert 1962: 74

“Overgrown with varieties of

artemisias and coarse grass”;

“Little pools of water”

1846 “Thick with mud” 30 feet (Poblazon) Abert 1962: 77, 92–93;

Tuan 1966: 589

1849 “Slightly fringed with 20–30 feet (near San Luis) 100 feet McNitt 1964: 29

cottonwoods”

1850s (early) 8 feet (La Ventana) Dortignac 1962: 588

1853 18 feet (Interstate 40 W) Rittenhouse 1965: 27–28

1855 20 feet (lower river) Bryan 1928a: 276

1860 “Marshy meadows” Maes and Fisher 1937: 1–4

1860s “Shallow” (Cabezon) Maes and Fisher 1937: 12

1874 8 feet (La Ventana) Dortignac 1963: 507

1875 “Shallow” (San Luis) Tuan 1966: 588–589

1876–1880 “Shallow” (Cabezon) Bryan 1928: 273

1877 “High banks” (San Luis) 26.4–29.2 feet Bryan 1928a: 268, 275

1870s “Large groves of cottonwood “Shallow” (Cabezon) Bryan 1928a: 273

trees, high grass, and weeds”

1880 ca. “Hand–cut hay” 8 feet (Cabezon) Bryan 1928a: 274

1881 “Deepening” (lower) Bryan 1928a: 277

1887 3 feet (Guadalupe) 30 feet Bryan 1928a: 274– 275

1890 “Deepening” (Cabezon) Bryan 1928a: 274

1895 “Native hay cut” Bryan 1928a: 278

1899 198 feet (Cabezon) Bryan 1928a: 271– 273

1900 “A good cover of bunch grasses” Dortignac 1963: 508

1906 20 feet (San Luis and Cabezon) 244.4 feet Bryan 1928a: 271–274

(Cabezon); 405.9 feet

(near Guadalupe)

continued on next page
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 199

1913 15 feet (La Ventana) Dortignac 1962: 588

1927 40–41 feet (La Ventana) Bryan 1928a: 275

1927 22 feet (San Luis) Tuan 1966: 589

1927 40 feet (lower) Tuan 1966: 593

1928 40–41 feet (Cabezon) Bryan 1928a: 274

1940 26 feet (lower) Tuan 1966: 593

1959 50 feet (La Ventana) Dortignac 1960: 47

1964 55 feet (La Ventana) Dortignac 1962: 588

1964 36 feet (San Luis) Tuan 1966: 589

1964 30 feet (Poblazon) Tuan 1966: 589

1964 36 feet (San Ignacio, lower) Tuan 1966: 589

Table 46—Rio Puerco–of–the–East: historical conditions and environmental changes, 1599–1964 (continued).

Descriptions of Channel

Date vegetation/water Channel depth width Source

Table 47—Changes in width of Rio Salado, 1882 and 1918.

Width (feet)

Location (sections in T2N, R4W) 1882 1918

Sections 23 and 24 13.20 525.00

Sections 14 and 23 18.48 330.10

Sections 14 and 15 11.88 441.30

Sections 15 and 16 48.84 550.00

Rio Salado

The Rio Salado rises on the north side of the Datil Mountains and flows south-south eastward, between the Ladron

Mountains and the Bear Mountains. This stream empties

into the Rio Grande near San Acacia.

Lorenzo Padilla, the first settler who came to Santa Rita

on the river in 1880, said the channel was “inconsiderable, and the broad flat of the valley seemed a propitious

place for farming.” The area was surveyed into townships

by Daniel Currey in 1882. About 100 inhabitants resided

in Santa Rita at this time. The width of the stream bed varied from about 12 to 49 feet at one location. An intense rain

and a flood in 1883 washed out the road and formed a new

stream channel. A 1918 survey by Paul B. Moore of Magdalena at the same place reflects a radically different river

than that recorded by Currey in 1882; the width of the Rio

Salado ranged from 330 to 550 feet (Bryan 1927; Table 47).

Since 1918 the channel has continued to widen, and most of

the agricultural land in the valley has been destroyed.

FIRE

The Southwest is an excellent region to study fire patterns and statistics in montane woodlands and forests,

owing to long and well-preserved tree-ring records. Forest lands have evolved since the last ice age with the influence of relatively frequent, episodic fires that were generally of low intensity. Fire frequency is correlated with

the occurrence of fuel sufficient to effectively spread the

fire over the landscape. This frequency, for pre–1900 fires,

varies from 2 to every 10 years for ponderosa and mixedconifer forests. Fires in the higher spruce-fir and lower

pinyon-juniper occurred between 50 and 300 years and

were of high intensity. These conflagrations generally

killed most of the overstory trees, leaving some patches

of live trees, with regeneration of conifers or aspen in the

burned areas. Forest fires in this zone were generally

large—5,000 to 50,000 acres (Baisan 1994: 1). Many of these

large fires burned for months at a time, some beginning

as early as April and persisting into August (Swetnam

1990: 9).

Fire history for the Southwest, regionally and in specific locales, has been examined by Ahlstrand (1979, 1980),

Bahre (1991), Dieterich and Hibbert (1990), Humphrey

(1974), Komarek (1969), Robinson (1990), Swetnam (1990),

Swetnam and Baisan (1995), and Young and Evans (1980).

Climatic patterns of wet-drought cycles also affected

the frequency and extent of forest fires in the region. Generally, the fire history of the study region is characterized

by large, widespread fires occurring during drought years,

but not all severe years were large regional fire years. The
200 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

most favorable conditions for fires in ponderosa pine forests were extremely dry years, preceded by wet years,

which produced above normal amounts of vegetative fuels. During these wet periods, fires were small and infrequent. Conversely, smaller areas were burned in summer

or fall after exceptionally wet springs. Most fires were

probably low intensity which, spread generally up drainages and across grassy areas. Pre–1900 settlement fires

maintained open stand conditions, and this thinning action prevented catastrophic crown fires, which have occurred in this century (Baisan 1993: 6; Swetnam and Baisan

1995: 2, 3, 5; Swetnam and Betancourt 1990).

Recent studies on the effects of sheep grazing on fire

regimes of ponderosa pine forests in northern New Mexico

indicate a correlation between the extent and duration of

grazing and a decline in fire frequency. This decline occurred prior to organized fire suppression, which generally began about the turn of the century. Intensive grazing by sheep severely reduced grasses, which were the

fuel necessary for the spread of fire in the regional, high

frequency fire regimes of these forests. In some instances,

the complete elimination of fires occurred due to this intense grazing (Savage and Swetnam 1990); Touchan et al.

1994: 1, 5, 8–9).

The largest fire year for the Southwest, documented by

tree-ring analyses, was 1748, the second largest 1851, and

the third largest 1773. These were all associated with extended drought periods. For 1700 to 1900 the “regional

fire occurrence times series ... shows a pattern of about 20

large regional fire years (more than 19 sites) occurring

against a background of smaller fire years” (Swetnam and

Baisan 1995: 16, 18). In mixed-conifer forests, large fires

occurred in extreme drought years with no consistent lagging relations.

Regional national forests have experienced the highest

number of annual, lightning-caused fires in the United

States (Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1017). In the southern Rocky Mountains thunderstorms with lightning occur on 70 or more days a year (Keen 1987: 43). Fires caused

by lightning normally begin in the spring and reach their

highest incidence late June to early July. A significant decrease usually follows as summer rains progress

(Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1017).

Fire frequency in the study region generally declined

sharply after 1880 until about 1900–10, when fire suppression became common. This change, according to Touchan et

al. (1994), was also due to intensive grazing and trampling

by livestock, which reduced or removed potential fuels.

In some specific areas, such as the El Malpais National

Monument, where islands of lava rock were virtually inaccessible to livestock, fire frequency remained about the

same throughout the protohistoric and historic periods.

From 1407 to 1991 there were some 66 fires, or a fire every

8.2 years. At two sites in the Jemez Mountains, one in the

central portion of the range and the other on the west slope

where grazing was intensive at various times, the averages were 9.9 and 11 years, respectively. There was a decline in fire frequency beginning at the end of the 19th

century at the first site, probably due to intensive grazing

and initiation of fire suppression, while there was a decrease in fire occurrence in the late 18th and early 19th

centuries at the other site, which also coincided with a

period of heavy grazing (Touchan et al. 1994: 2–9).

Fire history studies on the Pajarito Plateau, in the southeastern part of the Jemez Mountains, revealed a fire frequency in the ponderosa forest of 15.1 years prior to 1894.

This date marks the beginning of the ongoing period of

fire suppression for the area. Tree-ring samples taken from

Burnt Mesa and Escobas Mesa showed a fire frequency of

14 years between 1786 and 1792. Post-suppression fire frequency for 1894–1977 was 41.9 years, and none of these

was a major fire until the La Mesa fire of 1977 (Foxx 1981:

7, 35). Fires were specifically dated to 1797, 1806, 1822,

1842, 1870, 1878, and 1893 (Robinson 1990: 142).

The forests and woodlands of the Sandia Mountains

have been protected from fire since the early part of this

century by the National Forest Service. There was one fire

in the Juan Tabo-La Cueva canyons area early in July 1965

and a smaller fire in June 1990 near the headwaters of Las

Huertas Creek. The earlier fire was the most extensive fire in

the Sandias in this century; 550 acres were burned up the

canyon to the crest at 10,678 feet elevation (Cooper 1988:4).

Preliminary work on the fire history of the La Luz area

on the west side of the Sandia Mountains revealed a somewhat different pattern (Baisan 1993, 1994). From 1506 to

1675 fires were very frequent but patchy. No fire-scarred

trees dating 1675 to 1706 were found. Fires for the period

1706 to 1781 were less frequent and patchy. No fire scars

were found after 1781 until the present (Baisan 1994: 2).

Fires for the first period have been interpreted as a combination of natural (i.e., lightning-caused) and incendiary fires started by Pueblo or Apache groups. The hiatus

from 1675 to 1706 may have been due to lack of fuel, as a

result of fires in the previous period. The less frequent

and patchy fires for the third period (1706–81) have been

attributed to natural fires quickly sweeping through the

area. The grazing of sheep on the site probably reduced

the available grass fuels to the point that after 1781 no

fires occurred (Baisan 1994: 2).

Another factor in reducing fuel loads was the herding

of goats in the Sandias from the late 1700s to the mid 20th

century. Their browsing pattern of feeding on shrubs

would have removed even more fuels, virtually precluding any fires in the area. Also, intensive fuelwood cutting

by residents of Albuquerque, Corrales, Alameda,

Bernalillo, and Sandia Pueblo throughout the 19th century would have removed much of the pinyon-juniper and

scrub oak species. Following establishment of the Cibola

National Forest in 1906, a policy of fire suppression was

another major factor in fire cessation here.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 201

A fire history study in the northern Manzano Mountains indicates a period from 1550 to 1636 when relatively

frequent, spreading fires occurred. This was followed by

a period (1637–1723) of infrequent, spreading fires, and

then, from 1724 to 1773, by a period of episodic, widespread fires. From 1773 to about 1810, there were no fires

in the area. This absence of fires may have been due to

intensive livestock grazing, especially sheep, and

fuelwood cutting by Hispanic residents in the greater Albuquerque area (Baisan 1993: 4).

Fires did occur in the northern Manzanos from 1811 to

1842, then frequency declined until 1904, after which time

no more fires occurred. Lack of intensive grazing and firewood cutting may have created the fuel to sustain fires

until 1842. Sharp increases in grazing and cutting after

that year may have caused the decrease, and organized

fire suppression probably accounts for the cessation of

fires after 1904 (Baisan 1993: 4–5).

PLANT COMMUNITIES

The following brief reconstructions of historic plant

communities in the study region are based primarily on

the work of Brown (1982), Brown and Lowe (1980),

Crawford et al. (1993), Dick-Peddie (1993), Gross and DickPeddie (1979), Leopold (1951), and Watson (1912) and secondarily on various historical sources cited in the following pages. Changes in floodplain communities, and their

dominant species, are presented in Table 48. Following

these community descriptions are selected historical observations on the region’s flora, included as supplemental material. The next section will deal with impacts on

these communities over the last 150 years.

Riparian

As long as 2 million years ago a riparian cottonwood

woodland, or bosque, existed along the Rio Grande. The

cooler, wetter conditions that prevailed at that time in New

Mexico also supported several associated plants, including

birch (Betula sp.), western chokecherry (Prunus virginiana),

willow (Salix spp.), and cattail (Typha sp.). When the Spanish arrived in the 16th century the banks, sand bars, and

adjacent floodplain areas were vegetated with scattered

bosques of varying-age valley cottonwood (Populus deltoides

ssp. wislizeni) (Fig. 51), with a willow (Salix sp.) and salt grass

(Distichlis spicata)-dominated understory (Table 48). Open,

grassy areas, or vegas, were also present. Cattails and other

wetland species grew in and around ponds, marshes, and

swampy sites. Other major plants associated with the

bosques included New Mexico olive (Forestiera pubescens var.

pubescens), baccharis (Baccharis wrightii), false indigo bush

(Amorpha fruticosa), wolfberry (Lycium andersonii), and, in

southern reaches, mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa). All of these

plant communities were considerably modified by human

activity during the historic period (Crawford et al. 1993: 27–

28; Dick-Peddie 1993: 151–152; Table 48).

Besides cattails, other common plants such as sedges

(Carex spp., Eleocharis sp.) rush (Juncus sp.), scouring rush

(Equisetum hyemale), buttercup (Ranunculus cymbalaria),

pepperwort (Marsilea vestita ssp. vestita), mosquito fern

(Azolla mexicana), reed grass, or carrizo (Pragmites australis), and yerba mansa (Anemopsis californica) grew around

wetlands or on areas with high water tables. The deeper

water of swamps and ponds held floating plant communities of algae (Spirogyra, Vaucheria, Oedogonium) and duckweed (Lemna minor). The submerged species of water

plants were milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) and hornwort

(Ceratophyllum demersum) (Crawford et al. 1993: 28; Table 48).

These plants and the communities they made up were

adapted to a dynamic, moist, floodplain environment with

an unstable substratum. Relatively high moisture availability originated from periodic floods, standing surface water,

and shallow ground water. These floods scoured new and

old channels, washed away stands of trees and understory

vegetation, created new wetlands, and formed new channels and sand bars. Flood actions resulted in the creation of

gradients across the floodplain, which resulted “in a dynamic

successional sequence in a riparian habitat continuum”

(Reichenbacher 1984: 15, 20). Flooding is basically an erosionaldepositional process promoting “forest and age diversity on the

floodplain” and in its meandering “creates the distribution of

the different communities and age classes” (Crawford et al. 1993:

28). Fire, natural and human caused, probably played a lesser

role in the creation, composition, distribution, and age structure

of these communities. These dynamic processes were present

until their alteration and modification in the early 1900s

(Crawford et al. 1993: 29; Table 48).

Grasslands

Grasslands covered much of the study region between

stream floodplains and up to 6,000 to 7,000 feet elevation

in the early historic period. This botanical zone has been

called desert grassland, desert-grassland transition, desert

savanna, desert shrub grassland, and grassland transition.

These various names suggest the obvious transitional nature of this plant community (Brown 1982: 122–131; DickPeddie 1993: 106–107). With intensive grazing of these

communities for 200 to 400 hundred years, forbs and

shrubs have replaced various bunch grasses favored by

livestock. Various grama species and other bunch grasses

were the dominant types in these “seas of grass,” as they

were sometimes called in the historic period. Prior to the

arrival of the Spanish, various Native American groups

intentionally burned these grasslands periodically. Lightning-caused fires may have occurred even more frequently. These burns may have killed encroaching woody

forbs and shrubs and stimulated vigorous growth. The

complete role of fire in the maintenance of these grass-
202 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Table 48—Historic floral community dominant plant species, Middle Rio Grande Valley.

Period Communities/dominant species

Spanish Colonial (1540–1680) Bosque (riparian woodlands)

Cottonwood groves—Populus deltoides ssp. wislizeni (discontinuous)

Willows—Salix exigua, S. gooddingii, S. amygdaloides (understory areas and river edge)

New Mexico olive—Forestiera pubescens var. pubescens (isolated understory areas)

Seepwillow—Baccharis salicifolia (isolated understory areas)

False indigo bush—Amorpha fruticosa (isolated understory areas)

Wolfberry—Lycium andersonii (isolated understory areas)

Mesquite—Prosopis sp. (southern reach; isolated understory areas)

Salt grass—Distichlis spicata (understory areas)

Common reed grass—Phragmites australis

Cienegas, esteros, charcos (wetlands)

Algae—Spirogyra, Vaucheria, Oedogonium (deeper water)

Duckweed—Lemna minor (deeper water)

Chara spp. (shallow water)

Water–milfoil—Myriophyllum spicatum (shallow water)

Hornwort—Ceratophyllum sp. (shallow water)

Cattail—Typha latifolia (shallow water margins)

Sedge—Carex sp., Eleocharis sp. (shallow water margins)

Rush—Juncus sp. (shallow water margins)

Scouring rush—Equisetum hyemale (shallow water margins)

Buttercup—Ranunculus cymbalaria (shallow water margins)

Pepperwort—Marsilea vestita ssp. vestita (shallow water margins)

Mosquito fern—Azolla mexicana (shallow water margins)

Coyote willow—Salix exigua (wet banks)

Cottonwood (wet banks)

Vegas (meadows)

Sedges (wet meadows, water edges)

Rush (wet meadows)

Common Reed Grass (wet meadows)

Salt grass (wet meadows)

Yerba Mansa—Anemopsis californica (wet meadows)

Appearance of naturalized exotic plants such as alferillo (Erodium cicutarium), horehound

(Marrubium vulgare), dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), mallow (Malva neglecta), etc.

Middle–late Spanish Colonial–Mexican Similar to plant communities distribution above but fewer or no stands of cottonwoods

Republic (1681–1846) around settlements, more ditches with Chara, sedge, rush, bullrush, and willow species.

Territorial (1846–1912) Bosque (riparian woodlands)

Similar to above but fewer stands of cottonwood, with generally smaller trees; more

ditchside habitat.

Cienegas, esteros, charcos (riparian wetlands)

Increase due to rising water table and increasing soil alkalinity, dense ditchside thickets and

stands of willow, senna (Senna bauhinioides), sunflower (Helianthus annuus), and

goldenrod (Solidago spp.).

Vegas (meadows)

Appearance and spread of exotic species such as curly dock (Rumex crispus), Russian

thistle (Salsola kali), and Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense) (southern reach).

continued on next page
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 203

Statehood (1912–present) Bosque (riparian woodlands)

More extensive stands of young and maturing cottonwoods and understory willow species

dominant until 1940s. Major reduction in wetland and aquatic species.

Bosque eradicated in local areas inundated by major reservoirs or by floodplain clearing

for development.

Cienegas, esteros, charcos (wetlands)

Extensive until 1930s drainage and reclamation or inundation by reservoirs.

Appearance of tamarisk, or salt cedar (Tamarix spp.), Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia),

Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila), and tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) and spreading rapid.

Increase in four–wing saltbush (Atriplex canescens), Russian thistle.

Sources: Crawford et al. 1993: 28; Hedke 1925: 23; Watson 1912, Hink and Ohmart 1984, Scurlock 1988a, 1993a, and Soil Conservation

Service 1994

Table 48—Historic floral community dominant plant species, Middle Rio Grande Valley (continued).

Period Communities/dominant species

Figure 51— Three men in a “ferry” boat on the Rio Grande, 1880s. Note honey mesquite (left center), valley cottonwood seedlings on

sandbar (upper center), and scattered, older cottonwoods (back). This locale is now inundated by Elephant Butte

Reservoir. Photo courtesy New Mexico Bureau of Mines Photo Archives, Socorro.
204 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

lands, however, is uncertain (Bahre 1991: 138–141; DickPeddie 1993: 106–107). Intensive grazing has so denuded

many stands that today their scant, patchy condition will

not carry extensive fires. Other factors, such as climatic

change and fire suppression, probably have a role in compositional change in this community (Bahre 1991: 42–53).

Various travelers across the region in the early to mid

historic period commonly referred to the vast stretches of

densely growing grama and other bunch grasses. By the

middle 1800s, recorded historic observations, and particularly field notes from public land surveyors later in the

century, indicate that changes in plant composition had

already occurred or were in progress. The species of grass

more palatable to livestock had been decimated, followed

by encroachment of shrubs and woody or herbaceous species, including introduced ones. For determining more

Figure 52—Reconstructed primeval vegetation types, 1870–1900 (after Gross and Dick–Peddie 1979).

recent changes, the technique of repeat photography (i.e.,

rephotographing a view of vegetation at the same historical location) has been used to document these changes

(Dick-Peddie 1993: 9–20).

Using surveyors’ notes on public lands in New Mexico

from the 1870s and 1880s, Gross and Dick-Peddie (1979)

reconstructed “primeval vegetation types,” including

grasslands, for about 1880 (Fig. 52). Based on this map,

desert grassland and sand scrub were generally found east

of the Middle Rio Grande Valley, reflecting a subsequent

change by an invasion of saltbush, creosotebush, juniper,

sand sagebrush, or yucca. West of the river, juniper and

pinyon at higher elevations constituted the major invader

species into grasslands (Dick-Peddie 1993: 11). In some

locations, the present composition has led to classification of this community as savanna.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 205

Desert Grassland

The desert grassland community flanks the Middle Rio

Grande Valley from the Cochiti Pueblo area to about

Socorro (Fig. 53). Much of the desert grassland occupies

sites that were previously plains-mesa grasslands. Intensive grazing, fire suppression, and perhaps other factors

have resulted in the invasion of forbs and shrubs; their

composition is highly variable. The dominant grass of this

community is black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda). Other

grama species are present, as are the dominants tobosa

(Hilaria mutica), fluff grass (Erioneuron pulchellum), and

bush muhly (Muhlenbergia porteri). Some common, associated shrubs and forbs include saltbush (Atriplex spp.),

prickly pear (Opuntia spp.), Yucca spp., feather peabush

(Dalea formosa), and snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae)

(Brown 1982: 112, 115–131; Dick-Peddie 1993: 106–108,

117–118; Fig. 51).

Plains-Mesa Grasslands

Generally occurring on intermountain mesas and

bajadas at elevations between 5,500 and 6,500 feet are the

plains-mesa grasslands, which were historically more extensive, but human disturbance over the last 200 years

has reduced their range. These communities were made

up of 90 percent grass species such as blue grama

(Bouteloua gracilis) across the region, western wheatgrass

(Pascopyrum smithii) and galleta (Hilaria jamesii) on northern mesas, and Indian ricegrass (Oryzopsis hymenoides) on

bajadas. Various dropseed (Sporobolus spp.) species, along

with Indian ricegrass, occur on some sandy northern and

central mesas. At the extreme south end of the study region black grama and various dropseed species occur.

Alkali sacaton (Sporobolus airoides) dominated swales

Figure 53—Desert grassland near Isleta Pueblo. Bunch grasses,

broomweed, and scattered four–wing saltbush

(behind fence) are dominant species. Photo by author.

across the region, sometimes in association with tobosa.

A number of other shrubs, forbs, and herbaceous plants,

such as Yucca spp., saltbush, sagebrush (Artemisia spp.),

and rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus spp.), make up the other

ten percent of the vegetative cover. Due to climate and

land forms, the plains-mesa grassland vegetation of New

Mexico demarks the southwestern boundary of the continental grassland (Dick-Peddie 1993: 105–106; Soil Conservation Service 1994)..

Scrublands

Four scrubland plant communities have been recognized in the region: Great Basin desert scrub, Chihuahua

desert scrub, plains-mesa sand scrub, and montane scrub

(Dick-Peddie 1993). Intensive grazing, fire, fire suppression, and climatic variations have shaped these associations in the historic period. These communities are dominated by shrub species adapted to lower moisture availability and other poor or severe climatic, geomorphologic,

and edaphic conditions. The Great Basin desert occurs to

the west and northwest of Albuquerque. Dominant species in the Great Basin community are shadscale (Atriplex

confertifolia), fourwing saltbush (A. canescens), sagebrush,

winterfat (Krascheninnikovia lanata), and rabbitbrush (DickPeddie 1993: 129–130; Soil Conservation Service 1994).

The Chihuahua desert scrub community occurs in the

southern part of the study region, extending from Socorro

south to the boundary below San Marcial. Originally

smaller in extent, intensive grazing coupled with climatic

fluctuations and fire suppression have resulted in extensive enlargement of its historical range in the last century

or more. This increase has included the replacement of

the two previously discussed grassland communities. The

two major plant species are creosotebush (Larrea tridentata)

and tarbush (Flourensia cernua), with soaptree yucca (Y.

elata), white thorn (Acacia spp.), and various cacti species

in association (Dick-Peddie 1993: 131–132; Soil Conservation Service 1994).

The third community, the plains-mesa sand scrub, flanks

the Middle Valley from Cochiti to Socorro and is also

found to the east of the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. This vegetative type is determined by deepsand areas, as well as by climatic conditions. Common

plants include sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia), broom

snakeweed, and estafiata (Artemisia frigida). Dominant

grasses include hairy, blue, and sideoats grama (Bouteloua

hirsuta, gracilis, curtipendula), alkali sacaton, and mesa

dropseed (Sporobolus flexuosus) (Dick-Peddie 1993: 128–129).

The last scrub community, the montane scrub, generally occurs in patches or strips within more extensive types

of upland vegetation. This community occurs on exposed

rocky slopes or ridges subject to variable and severe climatic conditions. A number of species of common shrubs

are present: mountain ninebark (Physocarpus monogynus),
206 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

buckbrush (Ceanothus fendleri), Mormon tea (Ephedra

torreyana), mountain mahogany (Cerocarpus montanus),

Apache plume (Fallugia paradoxa), scrub oaks (Quercus

spp.), banana yucca (Y. baccata), and gooseberry (Ribes

spp.) (Dick-Peddie 1993: 123–127).

Juniper Savanna

The juniper savanna community is an ecotone between

grasslands and woodlands in the region; widely scattered

juniper or oak species (less than 130/acre) occur in a grass

matrix (Fig. 47). All of the regional juniper savanna is composed primarily of one-seed juniper (J. monosperma) and

several major grasses, including three grama species,

plains lovegrass (Eragrostis intermedia), galleta, sixweeks

threeawn (Aristida adscensionis), and Indian ricegrass.

Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) or gray oak (Q. grisea) in

place of juniper are less common in grassland stands. This

community, which may have formed in the historic period, has expanded extensively due to intensive livestock

grazing, climatic variation, and fire suppression (DickPeddie 1993: 87, 91–93).

Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands

The pinyon-juniper woodlands occur on lower mountain slopes and higher mesas, generally between 6,000 and

7,500 feet. The community is dominated by pinyon (Pinus

edulis) and one-seed juniper or alligator juniper (J.

deppeana) (Fig. 54). Blue grama grass is generally present,

and in some instances understory shrubs such as mountain mahogany, skunkbush (Rhus trilobata), and Gambel

or wavy leaf (Quercus undulata) oaks. The Gambel oak may

be codominant with the conifers. This community has also

extended its range into grasslands over the past 100 years

or so, owing primarily to overgrazing and fire suppression (Dick-Peddie 1993: 87–90). This zone has been heavily

used since the late prehistoric period for collecting of

fuelwood, construction materials, and medicinal and edible plants. Understory grasses were intensively grazed

throughout the historic period.

Ponderosa Pine

Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), the most important

commercial species in the region, is dominant in this community, which occurs from about 7,200 to 8,500 feet. Other

tree species, such as Gambel oak, pinyon pine, and Rocky

Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum), sometimes occur in association. Common understory shrubs include

Fendler buckbrush (Ceanothus fendleri) and gooseberry

(Ribes spp.). A number of grasses are found here, including Arizona fescue (Festuca arizonica), bluestems

(Schizachyrium spp.) and gramas, mutton grass (Poa

fendleriana), mountain muhly (Muhlenbergia montana), and

pine dropseed (Blepharoneuron tricholepis). Severe disturbances, such as intensive logging or fires, have often led

to prolonged midsuccessional dominance by oaks, junipers, or pinyon. Intensive grazing and fire suppression

have also led to an interruption in successional stages in

this community (Dick-Peddie 1993: 66–68, 76–78; Soil

Conservation Service 1994).

Subalpine and Mixed Coniferous Forest

These forests generally occur in the region between 8,500

and 12,000 feet, where there is relatively heavy snow accumulation and a short growing season. These communities are important to the watershed because of their storage of water and discharge from deep snowpack. The two

diagnostic tree species in the subalpine are corkbark fir

(Abies lasiocarpa) and Engelmann spruce (Picea

engelmannii). Engelmann spruce, Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga

menziesii), and white fir (Abies concolor) form communiFigure 54—Pinyon–juniper at El Malpais National Monument,

Cibola County. Photo by author.

Figure 55—Mixed conifer forest above riparian zone (leafless

boxelder trees on right), Sandia Mountains. Photo by author.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 207

ties in the lower part of this zone (Fig. 55). Limber pine

(Pinus flexilis), Douglas fir, boxelder (Acer negundo), Rocky

Mountain maple (Acer glabrum), and aspen are present in

some ecological situations. Meadows with a diversity of

grasses, sedges, and wildflowers occur in this community. Numerous grasses (32 species) are found scattered

through the forest as well. The subalpine forest has been

utilized historically for logging, hunting, plant gathering

(medicinal and edible), and recreation, primarily hiking

and skiing. These uses, and fire suppression since the turn

of the century, have modified the composition of this community (Dick-Peddie 1993: 51–66, 76–77).

Alpine Tundra

The alpine tundra, which is the highest of all plant communities, is found in only one area in the Middle Basin,

on the higher peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

north of Santa Fe. This virtually treeless zone is found above

12,000 feet and is made up of several sub-communities, or

associations, determined by microclimates, topography,

and soil types or surface rocks (Dick-Peddie 1993: 47–48).

Perhaps the most common plant association is the

“cushion,” composed of several low-growing species, including Carex rupestris, a rhizomatous sedge that helps

form sod. Some of the other dominant plants include alpine sage (Artemisia scopulorum), cushion yellow aster

(Tonestus pygmaeus), and bistort (Polygonum bistortoides)

(Dick-Peddie 1993: 49).

Another association is fellfield, or rock field, which supports cushion-like, perennial plants that “hug” the ground.

Some of these plants include alpine forget-me-not

(Eritrichium nanum), alpine clovers (Trifolium spp.), and

moss-pink (Silene acaulis) (Dick-Peddie 1993: 48).

A third association is known as kobresia turf, named

for the principal species found there, Kobresia myosuroides

Another common plant of this sub-community is alpine

avens (Geum rossii) (Dick-Peddie 1993: 48–49; Soil Conservation Service 1994).

Still another association is the rock outcrop, or

rubbleland, made up of talus, stone-stripe, or rock-detritus. Characteristic plants include a groundsel (Senecio

atratus) and two yellow, flowered saxifrages (Saxifraga

chrysantha and S. flagellaris). A variety of lichens are widespread in this association (Dick-Peddie 1993: 49).

Native Americans camped and hunted in the tundra of

the Sangre de Cristos as early as 3,000 years ago, perhaps

to hunt bighorn sheep and snowshore hare in summer. In

the historic period, Pueblo, perhaps Apache, and Hispano

people hunted and herded their livestock here. The Pueblos

also maintained shrines (and still do) on some of the higher

peaks. In more recent years recreational use has caused

some adverse impacts, especially affecting vegetation

along trails and around camps (deBuys 1985: 21–27, 31–38).

FAUNA

Mammals

From the late prehistoric period to the arrival of the

Spanish, Native Americans hunted virtually every species of mammals in the region for food, hides, or body

parts. Bones and other physical remains of various mammal species, as well as various birds, reptiles, and amphibians, have been identified and recovered from a large

number of late prehistoric archeological sites (Hewett and

Dutton 1945; Hibben 1975; Marchiando 1977; Schaafsma

1980; Young 1980). Petroglyphs, pictographs, and especially kiva wall murals also document some of the local

fauna (Table 49). From this evidence, and from early historic observations, the species, their ranges, and their relative numbers can be reconstructed to varying degrees.

The pre-Spanish Middle and Upper basins supported a

diverse number of vertebrate species with relatively abundant populations. More than 140 mammals, more than

400 birds, a fair number of reptiles and amphibians, and

31 fishes were found in the study region. Important as

game animals to Native Americans were bison, pronghorn, elk, deer, bighorn sheep, and various rabbit species.

These mammals, as well as others such as grizzly bear,

and black bear, wolf, beaver, and river otter, were hunted

and trapped for their hides and furs by Indian groups, as

well as by the later Spanish and early Anglo Americans.

At one Anasazi archeological site of the same period,

Pottery Mound, near Los Lunas, 33 animal species have

been identified, including bear, jaguar, mountain lion,

wolf, coyote, fox (?), bald eagle, parrot, macaw, and

whooping crane (Table 50). Macaws and parrots represent border or interior “Mexican” species, probably

brought up the Rio Grande as caged or skinned specimens.

The early Spanish explorers and missionaries, in the

period 1540–1766, primarily described the common large

mammals, species that were of interest for their meat,

hides, or coarse furs. These species included bison, mule

deer, and white-tailed deer, elk, pronghorn, bighorn sheep,

gray wolf, and Mexican wolf, black bear, grizzly bear,

mountain lion, bobcat, cottontail, and jackrabbit. Two of

these—buffalo and the elk—were curiosities, and live

specimens of each were even shipped to the King of Spain

(Simmons 1978: 19, 22). Other species, such as pine marten, ermine, beaver, river otter, porcupine, fox, and jaguar, are mentioned less frequently in the documents (Ayer

1965: 37; Bolton 1946: 353; Espinosa 1942; Hodge 1946:

350; Kinnaird 1958: 95; Weber 1971: 12–13).

Terms such as “large numbers, abundant, infinite, and

inexhaustible” were used by various Spaniards in describing mammal populations. These descriptors were used

into the early 19th century, especially for bear, bison, deer,

elk, bighorn sheep, and rabbits. Wild horses were also

present on grasslands in relatively large numbers (Ayer
208 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Table 49—Fauna identified from faunal remains and kiva murals—Kuaua Pueblo.a

Reptiles and

Mammals Birds amphibians Insects

Pronghorn antelope Goose sp. Rattlesnake sp. Butterfly sp.

Badger Cooper’s hawk Water snake sp. Caterpillar sp.

Bat Red–tailed hawk Tortoise Cricket sp.

Bear Sparrow hawk Frog sp. Bedbug sp.

Bison Hawk sp. Tadpole sp. Worm sp.

Bobcat Bald eagle Newt sp.

Coyote Golden eagle

Deer Quail sp.

Elk Turkey

Fox Sandhill crane

Gopher Macaw (introduced through trade)

Cottontail sp. Roadrunner

Jackrabbit Owl sp.

Mole Hummingbird sp.

Mountain lion Swallow sp.

Bighorn sheep Jay sp.

Crow

Magpie

Mountain bluebird

Loggerhead shrike

a Occupied ca. 1325–1600.

Sources: Dutton 1963

Table 50—Fauna identified from Pottery Mound kiva murals.

Mammals Birds Reptiles Insects

Jaguar Mallard Rattlesnake Dragonfly

Mountain lion Whooping crane Gila monster? Mosquito

Wolf Red–tailed hawk Grasshopper

Coyote Bald eagle

Skunk Quetzal

Bear Military macaw

Fox Thick–billed parrot

Pronghorn Roadrunner

Deer Magpie

Great horned owl

Pileated woodpecker

Swallow

Raven or crow

Yellow–headed blackbird

Yellow warbler

Yellow–breasted chat

Horned owl

Phainopepla

Bluebird

Source: Hibben 1975: 65–67, 110–111, 115

1965: 37; Carroll and Haggard 1942: 99–100; Coues 1987:

597; Hodge 1946: 350; Kinnaird 1967: 95; Simmons 1991b:

168; Thomas 1941: 112–113).

Hunting of mammals by Spaniards was generally at a

subsistence level, and sport hunting, practiced by only

the well-to-do explorer, landholder, or government official, was even rarer in the 16th and 17th centuries. Obviously, there was some impact on animal populations; for

example, the Jicarilla Apache believed that bighorn sheep

were driven from the valleys into the mountains of northern New Mexico by Spanish hunting pressure. Much more

impact on these mammal populations was generated by

governors, encomenderos, and traders, who obtained

meat, furs, and hides for consumption, export, or personal

use from various Native American groups. The most important meat and hide animals were bison, mule deer, elk,

and pronghorn, but the total number of animals taken is

unknown, although it was undoubtedly less than the Santa

Fe Trail trade in hides that occurred from 1821 to the 1850s.

For example, in 1639 the governor shipped 122 painted

buffalo hides and 198 chamois skins (pronghorn? bighorn

sheep?) south to present northern and central Mexico. In

1660 another governor exported 1,350 deerskins and a

quantity of buffalo hides to Parral. At the end of his term

he had 1,200 pronghorn hides and four bundles of elk

skins. Under the encomienda at Pecos Pueblo in 1662, 18

buffalo hides, 37 buckskins, and 66 antelope hides were

collected in 1 month from resident Indians (Weber 1971:

12–21).

Hispanic settlers used hides and robes primarily for

clothing and bedding. Other uses included the manufacture of teguas (moccasins, from skin), furniture (skin), picture “canvas” (skin), musical instruments (bone), and bedding (hide) (Boyd 1974: 118, 251, 256; Reeve and

Cleaveland 1979: 155–156).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 209

Pueblo and Spanish hunters, sheepherders, and farmers were sometimes attacked and mauled by grizzly bears.

This species, as well as mountain lions and wolves, preyed

on sheep, goat, and horse herds, but very limited attempts

were made to control this predation. Dogs, which could

fend off all but grizzly bears, were a deterrent to livestock

losses of this kind (Ebright 1994: 229; Simmons 1978: 35).

Following Spanish resettlement in 1693–1700, trade in

animal hides with regional Native American groups increased relatively sharply. Nomadic Indians brought skins

to the settlements for trade, as well as to an annual summer or fall trade fair, where a brisk exchange in hides and

meat occurred. Bison, elk, deer, and pronghorn remained

the key barter items. The exchange of skins and coarse

furs, encouraged by government officials and stimulated

by market demand, increased over the century, and by

the early 1800s they were probably the main export items

of New Mexico (Adams and Chavez 1956: 252–253;

Scurlock 1991b; Weber 1971: 22, 28, 30–31).

Bison ranged seasonally as far west as the San Agustin

Plains and the grasslands of northeastern Arizona in the

late prehistoric period (Callenbach 1996: 17–18) and the

Salinas and Galisteo provinces in the early colonial period (Bailey 1971: 152–156). A herd was also reported in

the Chama River valley as late as the 1690s. There was a

mountain race of bison in the southern Rockies in Colorado, but whether they occurred in northern New Mexico

is speculative (Christman 1971: 46). All of these bison were

either exterminated or driven eastward due to pressure

by Navajo, Apache, Pueblo, and Hispanic hunters. By the

late 1700s, intensified hunting pushed them farther eastward, across the Pecos River (Bailey 1971: 12–13;

Hammond and Rey 1966: 87; Weber 1988: 126). The

Estancia valley and upper Galisteo basin were two areas

so impacted. By the early 1800s, Hispanic buffalo hunters

from the Rio Grande drainage, called ciboleros, were taking 12,000 animals annually from the Pecos River onto

the Southern Plains. By the mid 1800s the hide trade,

spurred by Anglo traders, began to decimate the Southern Plains herd. During this period remnant, small herds

or individual bison sought refuge in secluded valleys and

high mountains across the region. For example, two buffalo were killed near Santo Domingo Pueblo in the early

1800s (Christman 1971: 44–47; Griffin 1947: 22, 51;

Henderson and Harrington 1914: 13–14).

Two species of mammals, the Norway rat and house

mouse, that were introduced in the colonial period have

been naturalized. The horse and burro, also brought by

the Spanish, became feral by the 1700s (Findley 1987: 107–

108, 149–150).

At the time of the opening of the Santa Fe Trail in 1821,

with its subsequent flood of traders and trappers entering New Mexico (Hafen and Hafen 1993: 93), populations

of hunted and trapped mammals, except for the buffalo,

were probably near their early historic (1500s) levels. Trappers found beaver, black bear, and grizzly bear, deer, and

elk to be common along unsettled riparian corridors and

in the mountains. By 1826, however, beaver populations

in the Upper and Middle Rio Grande and adjacent mountain ranges, especially the Sangre de Cristo and Jemez,

were decimated overall and extirpated in reaches of many

streams (de Buys 1985: 93; Flores 1992: 8; Weber 1971:

65,215, 224). Trapping of beaver, however, remained relatively intense in some areas of the region over the next 20

years, owing to the continued market demand back east.

Traders also continued to obtain pelts through a brisk

trade with Native Americans. Some 5,000 beaver skins

were transported over the Santa Fe Trail from New Mexico

in 1834 (Table 51).

A couple of trappers during this period saw “great numbers of bears,” up to 220 in a single day, and a third trapper claimed to have seen 50 or 60 grizzly bears in a day in

the region (Cleland 1963: 44; Pattie 1966: 52). The former

number is probably an exaggeration, but the latter may

be accurate. For the 1830s and 1840s bears, as well as

wolves, were described as common. Deer and elk were

noted by one observer as only fairly common regionwide,

while another referred to them, as well as bear, as “well

stocked” in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Bodine 1979:

255; Gregg 1966, I: 192–195; II: 207–210). Bighorn sheep

were also still relatively common in some canyon and

mountain locales, and pronghorn were still commonly

found on the bajadas and other grasslands of the study

region in the mid 1800s (Henderson and Harrington 1914:

Table 51—Beaver (pelts) trapped or shipped over the

Santa Fe Trail,1824–1841.a

Year Pounds/peltsb Valuec

1824 4,820/ $14,460

1825–26 33,333/ $100,000

1826 2,044/

1827 1,843/1110

1827–28 398/240 $1,194

1828 1,200/ $5,000

1829 951/240 $4,298

1831 993/ $2,980

1831–32 13,182/

1832 4,700/ ca. $14,100

1833 3,088/1,860 $9,264

1834 8,300/ca. 5,000 $15,000

1836d 1,660/1,000 ca. $3,000

1837d 103/62 ca. $309

1839d 383/ ca. $1,149

1841d 365/

a Almost all from central and northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. b An average beaver pelt weighed about 1.66 pounds, a pack

of beaver fur averaged about 31 pelts or 52 pounds. c The 1823–33 mountain price averaged $3.00 per pound.

d From only one trader.

Source: Weber 1971
210 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

15). All of these mammals were reported to be common

in the northern parts of the Sandia Mountains. These

population numbers probably held until the 1860 or even

into the 1870s.

By 1832 the illegal exchange of alcohol for furs had become a problem for Native Americans on the plains. Father Martinez of Taos complained to government officials

that this trade was resulting in “these Indian nations [becoming] extremely demoralized and were prompted to

greater destruction of buffaloes in order to satisfy their

appetites for strong drink . . .” (Lavender 1954: 229–230).

Increasing demands back east for robes dictated a rise in

price, which exacerbated the alcohol trade and decimation of buffalo herds (Lavender 1954: 13; Carroll and Haggard 1942: 102). Most of the robes collected were shipped

east over the Santa Fe Trail or south down the Chihuahua

Trail, formerly called the Camino Real (Weber 1971: 217).

Based on his observations in the early 1830s, Josiah Gregg

(1966, II: 149, 212) warned that the buffalo might become

extinct.

In late 1846–47, at the time of the arrival of the U.S. military and the first Anglo settlers, wildlife populations, excluding the buffalo, were still relatively high away from

the region’s settlements. Travelers commonly reported

seeing black bears and grizzly bears, deer, elk, pronghorn,

wolves, coyotes, prairie dogs, rabbits, and wild horses.

Raccoons, mountain lions, bobcats, weasels, bighorn

sheep, and beaver, which were still being trapped, were

also recorded in army reports and diaries of civilians

(Abert 1962: 18, 22–23, 29, 31, 33–35, 116–118, 138–139,

144–145; Bailey 1971: 310, 357, 364; Brown 1983: 15; Cooke

1952: 54; Hannum 1930: 221–222; Ligon 1961: 8; Marcy

1988: 244, 252; Ruxton 1973: 178; Weber 1971: 224;

Wislizenus 1969: 33).

By the 1850s the Anglo instigated robe trade and hunting had severely reduced buffalo populations. No buffalo were reported in New Mexico, and hunters from the

Rio Grande were having to travel at least 250 miles to find

them. This situation existed until the late 1870s-early

1880s, when a few stragglers from the almost extinct

Southern Plains herd wandered into the eastern part of

the territory. Because of this scarcity, many Hispanic families increased the size of their sheep and goat herds (Bailey

1971: 14; Batchen 1972: 64–65; Weber 1982: 98). The Territorial Legislature had passed an act in 1880 to protect the

buffalo, but it was too late and the last buffalo was seen in

New Mexico in 1889 (Bailey 1971: 13–14; Gard 1960: 216).

Populations of other mammals were also subjected to

increased hunting, as well as to loss of forage due to growing livestock herds and loss of habitat as a result of the

growth of old settlements and the establishment of new

ones in the 1860s and 1870s. Nevertheless, elk, bighorn

sheep, pronghorn, and grizzly bear remained relatively

common in isolated areas. In other locales there were reports of reduced populations, especially of deer and elk

(Bailey 1971: 15–17; Barker 1953: 88; Batchen 1972: 49–50,

64, 66, 68; Henderson and Harrington 1914: 2, 16; Lange

1959: 130; Lange and Riley 1966: 167, 170–172).

At the time of the coming of the first railroads to the

territory, 1879–81, several local extinctions of mammals

occurred. For example, native elk were extirpated in the

Jemez Mountains, primarily due to commercial hunting

for railroad construction workers (Scurlock 1981: 31). Also,

bighorn sheep disappeared from the Jemez Mountains and

Merriam’s elk from the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, primarily due to hunting pressure (Barker 1953: 88;

Hewett and Dutton 1945: 105; Lange and Riley 1966: 94).

By 1890 market hunters had killed the last Merriam’s elk

in northern New Mexico. Hunting pressure also severely

reduced the pronghorn in a number of grassland locations

(Barker 1976: 107; Tyler 1975: 32, 42, 55–56).

Overgrazing began to adversely impact wildlife as well,

and livestock raisers also hunted and trapped such predators as the gray wolf, and Mexican wolf, and grizzly bear.

These animals were increasingly preying on livestock as

a result of the reduction of their prey species (Brown 1983:

31). Grizzlies were more heavily impacted than wolves

by stock overgrazing, as they depended partly on grasses,

forbs, and shrubs for food (Brown 1985: 100).

Federal involvement in predator control was initiated

in 1885, when the Department of Agriculture began to

study the use of poison on these animals (Dunlap 1984:

143). Also, a new steel leghold trap for grizzly bears was

first used in the region at this time (Brown 1985: 114). By

the 1890s bounties were offered on wolves and other

predators, and professional trappers, known as “wolfers,”

began working in the region (Brown 1983: 43; Burbank

1990: 98). Wolves numbered several thousand over the

entire territory at this time (Bennett 1994: 200).

The Territorial Legislature also passed the first game

laws to regulate hunting of meat and hide animals during the 1890s (Findley et al. 1975: 329), but populations

continued to decline. Bighorn sheep were exterminated

in the Sandia Mountains by the end of the century, and

beaver had been exterminated in virtually all of the

region’s mountain ranges by fur trappers and meat hunters by this time (Bailey 1971: 215; Findley 1987: 86; Pickens

1980: 83). Pronghorn and deer populations continued to

decline in the study region and were reduced further due

to ever-increasing hunting pressure.

In 1905 the U.S. Forest Service began to hire trappers to

take wolves on federal forest lands, and 3 years later a

bounty of $20 for black bears and up to $50 for grizzly

hides was paid. The Territorial Legislature enacted a $15

bounty for wolves in 1909 (Barker 1953: 153; Burbank 1990:

98; Dunlap 1984: 143). These species, as well as mountain

lions, bobcats, and coyotes, were hunted and trapped in

increasing numbers, especially on forest lands (Brown

1985: 123–124). Perhaps the last grizzly was exterminated

in the Sandia Mountains in 1906, and the species was re-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 211

duced to small numbers in other more isolated ranges

(Bailey 1971: 365; Barker 1953: 33; Cooper 1989). A total of

510 coyotes were killed on national forest lands in 1907,

and some 271 bobcats were trapped or shot on these same

public lands (Bailey 1971: 293, 212; Table 52).

In 1900, Congress passed the Lacey Act, which prohibited market hunting and illegal importation of exotic wildlife (Borland 1975: 122). The New Mexico Game and Fish

Department was created by the Territorial Legislature in

1904 (Barker 1970: 185). Black bears and wolves remained

relatively common, but bighorn sheep were extirpated in

several mountain ranges (Bailey 1971: 17, 309, 349–368;

Barker 1953: 88; deBuys 1985: 280).

Northern Rocky Mountain elk were introduced to

Vermejo Park by its owner in 1908, and within a few years

to the Pecos District of the Santa Fe National Forest (Barker

1953: 93–95; Ligon 1927: 71). Pronghorn, reduced to a

couple of thousand animals statewide, were removed from

the legally hunted game list (Barker 1970: 1982; Matthieson

1959: 283). However, the pronghorn population in the state

dropped to a low of 1,200 to 1,700 in 1915–16. This contrasts with an estimated population of 100,000 animals

around 1850 (Barker 1970: 192; Findley et al. 1975: 334).

Competition with cattle, sheep, and goats, as well as intensive hunting, caused this decrease (Table 52).

Mountain lion and black bear populations were holding their own in the Jemez and Carson National forests,

but gray wolves and grizzly bears were becoming rare in

the period 1910–20 (Bailey 1971: 286; Henderson and

Harrington 1914: 29; Rothman 1992: 140). Increased trapping and poisoning was spurred by congressional action

Table 52—Mammal populations, 1900–1935.

Species 1900 1905 1910 1915 1920 1925 1930 1935

Merriam elk VR E Ra RR U UU

Grizzly bear U U R VR VR VR E E

Black bear C C C C U U U U

Gray/Mex.

wolf U U R VR VR VR VR E

Coyote C C C C C U U U

Mountain lion C C U R R R R R

Pronghorn U R R R R R U U

Bighorn

sheep R R VR VR VR VR VR R

Beaver R R R R R R R R

Bobcat C C U U U U U U

Pine marten U U R R R R R R

A = abundant, C = common, U = uncommon, R = rare, VR =

very rare, E = extinct. a Reintroduced.

Sources: Bailey 1971; Barker 1970; Brown 1983, 1985; Findley et

al. 1975; Ligon 1927

in 1914 mandating the U.S. Biological Survey to take

wolves and other livestock predators on public lands. Aldo

Leopold of the Forest Service and J. Stokely Ligon with

the New Mexico Game and Fish Department were in

charge of the program to eradicate wolves in the state.

Some 300 trappers and hunters were employed by this

program in 1914–15 (Brown 1983: 52, 126–127). Fifty-seven

gray wolves and Mexican wolves were killed on national

forest lands in 1915, and over 100 were killed in 1916.

Mountain lions, coyotes, grizzly bears, and black bears,

and bobcats also were taken in relatively large numbers

during these 2 years. Loss of some 24,350 cattle, 165,000

sheep, and 850 horses, valued at almost 3 million dollars,

was attributed to wolves, mountain lions, grizzly bears,

coyotes, bobcats, and “wild dogs” in 1916 (Brown 1983:

57). These livestock figures, which were probably inflated,

were used to justify increased hunting, trapping, and poisoning of predators (Brown 1983: 54–57, 1985: 127–133).

The grizzly bear population declined to only 48 animals by 1917. Predator control intensified this year and

the next to help produce more beef for U.S. soldiers fighting in Europe in World War I. An estimated 33 black bears,

84 mountain lions, and 103 wolves were killed in 1917,

and 123 wolves were trapped in 1918. Poisoning of grizzly bears was initiated by the U.S. Biological Survey in

1918; 28 animals were killed (Bailey 1971: 272, 287, 307,

311, 313, 353; Brown 1983: 57–58; Table 52).

Government trapping-poisoning and private trappingpoisoning, motivated in part by bounties, continued at an

intensive pace into the 1920s (Bailey 1971: 307; Brown 1983:

58, 64, 67, 137, 272; Burbank 1990: 106). The grizzly bear,

Mexican wolf, and gray wolf were near extinction in the

region. Trapping and hunting had also severely reduced

the deer, pronghorn, beaver, pine marten, mountain lion,

bobcat, coyote, and prairie dog populations (Bailey 1971:

29, 215, 296; Findley 1987: 86; Ligon 1927: 15). By the early

part of the 1930s the grizzly bear was probably extinct in

the study region, and the gray wolf was extirpated in central and northern New Mexico. The last grizzly in the state

may have been killed in 1931 (Barker 1953: 189–190; Brown

1983: 25, 1985: 155–156; 1985: 150, 160–161; deBuys 1985:

280; Ligon 1927: 15; Scurlock 1981a: 148).

Small numbers of pronghorn were reported near Santa

Clara Pueblo and about 10 miles south of Santa Fe in the

early 1940s (Hewett and Dutton 1945: 108; Hill 1982: 52).

A few mink were observed in the Middle Rio Grande Valley in 1947, the same year that the bullfrog, which was

probably introduced in the 1930s, was commonly reported

in the area (Pillow and DeVaney 1947: 16–17; Sargeant

and Davis 1986: 41).

The New Mexico Game and Fish Commission had been

given full regulatory powers to manage the wildlife of

the state, including establishing hunting seasons and bag

limits (Barker 1970: 188; Findley et al. 1975: 29; Flader 1978:

105). Black bears were given protection by the state in 1927,
212 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

and in 1933 bighorn sheep from Banff National Park were

released into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Six years

later the Federal Aid to Wildlife Act was passed by Congress, and the state acquired some 30,000 acres of wildlife

habitat with available funds (Barker 1970: 100–101). Thirtyseven elk from Yellowstone National Park were released

in the Sangre de Cristos, and other elk from Oklahoma

were released on Mount Taylor in 1940–42 (Barker 1970: 109–

110; deBuys 1985:356). La Joya State Waterfowl Refuge was

also established during this period (Barker 1976: 104).

Federal and state programs to control or eradicate

predators in parts of the region continued into recent decades. With the wolf and grizzly bear eliminated, the focus was primarily on the coyote, which preyed on game

species and livestock. The bobcat and mountain lion were

also targeted in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1949 the federal

Predatory Animal Control introduced the compound 1080,

a highly lethal rodenticide, for control of predators and

rodents. In 1954 the Federal Government outlawed the

indiscriminate use of poison to kill livestock predators.

Some sheep raisers began using the “coyote getta,” a tube

that was stuck in the ground and baited on the end, such

that when a coyote, fox, or bobcat bit the bait, a cyanide

pellet was propelled by a charge into the animal’s mouth.

A number of other nontarget mammals, such as badgers,

skunks, domestic dogs, and cats, were killed by this apparatus (Brown 1983: 103; Schaefer 1975: xxiii-xxiv).

Trapping, poisoning, and hunting by personnel from

various public agencies continued as well. For example,

in 1963 over 6,300 coyotes were killed, but notably, there

was no decrease in the statewide population. Larger

“problem” animals such as black bears or mountain lions

were trapped or tracked down and shot by government

hunters (Findley et al. 1975: 281–282; McDonald 1985: 12;

Moyer 1979: 71).

Birds

Uses of birds by Native Americans were discussed in

Chapter 3. Twenty-nine species have been identified in

late prehistoric kiva murals; they are listed in Tables 49

and 50. The close relationship between the Pueblo and

birds was discussed by Henderson and Harrington (1914)

and Tyler (1979).

As with mammals, early Spanish explorers only commented generally on species that occurred in large numbers, such as sandhill cranes, geese, turkeys (domesticated

and wild), crows, and starlings (blackbird sp. ?). Spanish

hunting of birds was limited; turkeys were usually acquired through trade with the Pueblos. Hunting of “quail,

partridges . . . grouse” is mentioned in documents, but

apparently this activity was limited (Carroll and Haggard

1942: 99). Numbers of species such as wild turkey, prairie

chicken, and “partridges” (probably grouse) appear to

have been greater than in more recent history, and their

ranges were more extensive (Bolton 1946: 353; Hodge 1956:

353–354; Kinnaird 1967: 95).

Early Anglo American accounts, such as that by Gregg

(1966, I: 195) in the 1830s, refer to large numbers of sandhill

cranes, Canada and snow geese, and various ducks. Gregg

may have been the first Anglo to record roadrunners in

the region. In October 1841 Texan George Kendall (1935)

wrote the following about birds in the Middle Valley:

“Among the stubble, on either side of the road, we noticed immense flocks of blue and white herons and wild

geese, so exceedingly tame that we could approach within

a few yards of them. The Mexicans seldom kill them, and

hence their tameness.” Five years later another traveler

down the river noted “an abundance of geese, ducks, and

pelicans . . .” (Wislizenus 1965: 34).

In 1846 Lt. William Emory (Calvin 1968: 79, 83) recorded

“myriads of sand crane, geese, and brant” between Albuquerque and Padillas, and “immense flights of sand cranes

and geese” up and down the valley from Padillas to La Joya.

Of the early American observers, Lt. James Abert was

the most keen and comprehensive in respect to collecting

and describing animal species, recording a number of

mammals and 26 species of birds along the Middle Rio

Grande (Abert 1962: 65–142; Table 53).

Sandhill cranes remained common throughout the valley over the remainder of the century, and Merriam’s turkeys were found in virtually every isolated riparian reach in

the study region (Henderson and Harrington 1914: 33, 35).

In addition to the above species, army personnel in the 1850s

also recorded a single whooping crane, swans, pelicans, blue

herons, bitterns, quail, doves, blackbirds, meadowlarks, cardinals (Pyrrhuloxia ?), robins, bluebirds, and “snow-birds”

(?) (U.S. Surgeon-General’s Office 1857: 250–251).

Perhaps the earliest trained naturalist to collect and report on mammals and birds of the region was Samuel

Washington Woodhouse, Assistant Surgeon, U.S. Army.

He accompanied an army expedition in 1850–51 that

Table 53—Birds recorded by Abert

(Alameda to south of Socorro), fall 1846.

Loon sp. Red–winged flicker (common)

Swan (C. americanus) Sapsucker (yellow–bellied?)

Brant Gold–winged woodpecker (?)

Goose–snow Steller’s Jay

Teal sp. Raven

Mallard Creeper (brown)

Duck Robin

Merganser Mexican blue bird

(western? mountain?)

Bald eagle Butcher bird (loggerhead shrike?)

Sparrow–hawk (kestrel) Blackbird

Wild turkey Meadowlark (western)

Quail (scaled or Gambel)

Blue crane (great blue heron?)

Source: Abert 1962: 71–99, 117–125
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 213

marched up the Rio Grande from El Paso to Santa Fe (Ligon 1961: 7). Another army doctor, T. Charlton Henry

(1856), recorded 170 species of birds while stationed at

forts Thorn, Fillmore, and Webster in 1853–54. His lists

include comments on range and seasonal occurrences.

In 1853 U.S. Army surgeon Caleb Burwell Kennerly followed the same route as Woodhouse but only upriver to

Albuquerque. Leaving the Ives expedition at this point,

he joined the Whipple railroad survey party that marched

west to El Morro and Zuni Pueblo via Laguna and Ojo

del Gallo. He, too, observed and collected birds in the region (Ligon 1961: 8).

The best known ornithologist of the historic period who

worked in New Mexico was Florence Merriam Bailey. She

reported trumpeter swans as a rare migrant to New

Mexico; whistling swans, once a rare migrant, apparently

were extinct by the time she published her Birds of New

Mexico. She recorded goshawk as an uncommon nester,

golden eagles as common residents in the mountains, and

ferruginous hawks as a common summer resident on the

St. Augustine Plains. Bald eagles were common in western Socorro County. Sage grouse were recorded as common about 1900–08 but soon were extirpated. Band-tailed

pigeons, according to Bailey, were fairly common in the

higher ranges of the regions, and loggerhead shrike were

common nesters in lower elevations (Bailey 1928: 103, 104,

156, 172, 177, 180–181, 211, 297, 597).

By the late 1800s hunting, poisoning, and development

had reduced many bird populations and contributed to

the extirpation of others, such as the whooping crane, sage

grouse, trumpeter swan, and whistling swan. Some locales still supported relatively large numbers of ducks, geese,

blue grouse, and turkeys until the early part of this century

(Henderson and Harrington 1914: 34–35, 37, 45; McDonald

1985: 22; Nims 1980: 126). A relatively comprehensive list of

birds of the region was compiled by Fannie Ford at this time

(1911); she reported 314 species and subspecies.

J. Stokely Ligon (1927), who with Aldo Leopold directed

the predator control program, headed up a wild game

survey of the state in 1926–27. Birds covered included

golden eagles, which Ligon viewed as “a serious enemy

of certain species of game,” as well as the young of cattle,

goats, and sheep. He noted the “slaughter” of hawks,

which he considered both beneficial and harmful, had

severely reduced their populations. He called for legislation that would protect all birds of prey because of their

controlling rodents through predation. Magpies were considered “enemies” of quail, pheasants, and turkeys, and

Ligon recommended that federal and state wildlife personnel initiate control programs for magpies (Ligon 1927:

31, 49–52, 55, 58–59, 114–119, 134).

Ligon (1961) later published his New Mexico Birds and

Where to Find Them, which included historical data on 399

bird species in the study region. Included with species

descriptions are notes on former ranges and status of rare,

endangered, or threatened species. Ligon (1961: 3, 6–13)

also discussed earlier ornithologists and their works

(Chapter 6).

Fish

The indigenous fish fauna of the Upper and Middle Rio

Grande in the late prehistoric and early historic periods

was much more diverse than that of today. The native fish

fauna of the two basins at the beginning of the historic

period numbered about 27 species (Sublette et al. 1990:

2). Six large species, now extinct, are evidenced by bone

or scale remains in prehistoric Anasazi sites or identified

from early Spanish records. At least five other species were

extirpated later in the historic period (see Chapter 5, Table

62) by morphological and hydrological changes in the

basin’s drainages, high siltation, overfishing, introduction

of aggressive exotic fishes, construction of dams and reservoirs, climatic changes, and probably introduced pollutants (Gehlbach and Miller 1961; Miller 1961: 365, 394–

398; Sublette et al. 1990: 2, 9–11).

The late prehistoric-historic Pueblo harvested fish from

the Upper and Middle Rio Grande drainages, probably

in limited numbers (Hewett and Dutton 1945: 132, 136).

Early Spanish reports are replete with superlative adjectives for the size of native fish populations, such as

“abound,” “large quantities,” “teemed,” and “great abundance” (Ayer 1965: 37; Espinosa 1936: 34; Kinnaird 1967:

94). Some members of these early expeditions, as well as

later colonial travelers and settlers, caught and ate fish,

including eels, from the Rio Grande and tributary streams

(Adams and Chavez 1956: 40, 58–59; Espinosa 1936: 34;

Galvin 1972: 55, 57). Thirteen species have been identified from early Spanish records (Table 54).

Trout, unidentified as to species, were “abundant” in

the Santa Fe River according to Dominguez (Adams and

Chavez 1956: 40) in 1776 and Gregg (1966, I: 142) in the

1830s. In 1782 Fray Morfi described the Rio del Norte

(Grande) as “crystalline” above the mouth of the Chama

River. On fish in the river, he wrote

It is stocked with fish that are quite good, some

of them more than three quarters of a vara [=

33.3 inches] long, having a small mouth placed

where other fish have the gill, very few bones

and being very appetizing. Matalote, species of

barbel larger by a third [of a vara] is a delicious

fish, very bony; bagre, a rock fish like sea-brim

and of its large size, without more bones than

those serving as ribs. It is most pleasing. Cat-fish

does not have scales nor bones but in place of

these a long nerve from the head to the mouth,

ending in a pyramidal point like three fingers.

The largest will be about a third of a vara in

length (Thomas 1932: 112).
214 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Table 54—Fish identified from Spanish records.a

bagre—channel catfish (Ictalurus furcatus), yellow cat

(Ameiurus natalis)

corbina—“sea trout” (?)

matalota—“suckers,” bony–tail chub (humpback?)

(Gila robusta, G. elegans)

casona, cazon—gar–pike (Lepisosteus platystomus)

sardina—“shiner,” “silvery” chub (Notropis dilectus)

mojarra—“sardine” (?)

trucha—trout (Salmo spilurus)

anguila—eel (Anguilla chrysypa)

boquinete—sucker (Moxostoma congestum)

aguja—long gar pike or shovelnose sturgeon

(Scaphirhynchus platyrhynchus)

pescadito—Rio Grande chub (Leuciseus nigrescens)

corcobado—“hunchback” buffalo fish

gaspregou—sheepshead (Aplodinotus granniensa)

a Scientific name identifications were made by Dr. David Star

Jordan pre 1916.

Sources: Ayer 1965: 37, 261–262; Espinosa 1936: 34, 38; Hodge

and Lummis 1916

During this period trout were reported to be abundant

in various locales in the region, a condition that continued into the 19th century.

Six large species of fish were extirpated in the early territorial period (1846–1912). The shovelnose sturgeon was

last taken from the Rio Grande near San Ildefonso in 1874

by members of the Wheeler Geographical and Geological

Exploration Survey. They also noted the occurrence of

American eel near Santa Fe. Some 14 years later an unidentified species of catfish, weighing from 75 to 100 pounds,

probably now extinct, was being caught in the Rio Grande

near Rincon (Clark 1987: 32; Schissel et al. 1989: 159).

After the early influx of Anglo settlers (1846–79) into

central and northern New Mexico, which placed new pressures on water and fish populations, the Territorial Legislature passed a law in 1880 making it a misdemeanor to

use drugs, explosives, or artificial obstructions in taking

fish. Trout could be taken only by hook and line. Additionally, operators of mills or factories could not legally

discharge harmful waste into trout waters. Another act,

passed 9 years later, authorized fish wardens for every

county to assist sheriffs and commissioners in enforcing

fish laws, including a closed season for fishing, except for

members of needy families. This legislation also directed

that a sluice for the passage of fish had to be maintained

at all dams (Clark 1987: 32).

In spite of the new laws passed in the late 19th and early

20th centuries, native trout and other game fish populations began to decrease in various locations. The exotic

and competitive rainbow trout and brook trout were introduced into many rivers and creeks in the region in 1907–

08 and 1928. Other species were introduced by the Game

and Fish Department in later years (Barker 1953: 54–56;

Kuykendahl 1994: 3; Sublette et al. 1990: 67, 77, 166, 331).

Still other exotic species, used as bait, were introduced

accidentally by fishermen in this century.

Between the early 1900s and the 1940s native trout

populations were decimated, or even extirpated, in many

locales in the study region due to overfishing, diminishment of stream flows, increasing sedimentation, pollution,

and introduction of aggressive exotic species (Hewett et

al. 1913: 35; Pillow and DeVaney 1947; Sublette et al. 1990:

49–74; Fig. 56).

Only limited scientific collections were conducted in the

early part of this period, until the work of William J. Koster

Figure 56—Fishermen on Brazos River, Rio Arriba County. Photo

courtesy Museum of New Mexico Archives,

Santa Fe (negative no. 72377).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 215

at the University of New Mexico began in 1939. Koster published an overview of his work in 1957 (Crawford et al. 1993:

37). In recent years the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and

the New Mexico Game and Fish Department have worked

to control exotic species and have reintroduced some native

fishes, especially trout, to several streams in the region.

Insects

Except for mosquitoes, insects are mentioned infrequently in the Spanish colonial, Mexican, and territorial

periods (1540 to 1912) in New Mexico. Chinch bugs and

grasshoppers (or locusts) were the most common insects

alluded to by observers. In 1846 George Ruxton recorded

75 varieties of grasshoppers and locusts (Hafen 1950: 150).

“Worms,” moths, honey bees, “lantern bugs,” beetles, lice,

tarantulas, mosquitoes, and flies were less commonly

mentioned. Mosquitoes were a nuisance, and moths, on

at least one occasion, destroyed a large amount of wool in

a warehouse in Albuquerque (Simmons 1982: 115). Apparently, the common house fly was introduced to New

Mexico between 1840 and 1915 (Gregg 1966, I: 195).

SUMMARY

The Middle Rio Grande Basin, as well as the inseparable Upper Basin, had sustained millennia of human use

by the time of first European contact in 1540. Environmental forces such as droughts, floods, and erosion were

the primary determinants of the physical and biological

conditions over time.

Pueblo, Navajo, Apache, and Southern Ute Indians had

modified the landscape, as they, or their predecessors, had

for centuries hunted, gathered, farmed, burned, and done

other activities. Changes were minimal, temporally and

spatially, compared with later modifications generated by

the coming Spanish and Anglo Americans due to world

view, small populations, and limited technology of these

Native Americans. These indigenous peoples were, in fact,

as they viewed themselves, entities interrelated with other

environmental components of the region. This was reflected in their rituals, songs, languages, and other ecocultural traits. Also, changing environmental conditions

significantly shaped the behavior and activities of these

indigenous human populations.

Following the later arrival and settlement of two dominant Euro-American groups, historical conditions began

to change more dramatically. The Spanish and Anglo

views of the environment, their introduced infectious diseases, metal weapons and tools, new cultigens, and exotic plants, and their rapidly expanding populations (after 1750) brought new and extensive impacts to the study

region. These impacts resulted in even more complex

changes, sometimes extreme, not only for the physical

landscape and associated biological components but also

for the indigenous peoples as well. Attempts to regulate

and manage the forces at work began in the late 1800s,

but effective efforts of new laws, agencies, and programs

were not able to reverse some processes such as species

extinction. More recently, management and preservation

of environmental conditions have been more successful,

owing to changing environmental views of the private

sector, as well as those of government agencies. Clearly,

the historical conditions of 1540, or 1750, or even 1920

will never be replicated.

CHRONOLOGY

1400s– Based on archeological evidence, 54 species

1600s of birds were used at Las Humanas and

Pueblo del Encierro for meat, feathers, and

personal adornment (Snow 1981: 364).

1540 Alvarado, one of Coronado’s chroniclers,

wrote this description of the Tiguex Province

(Isleta to near San Felipe): “This river of

Nuestra Senora flows through a broad valley

planted with fields of maize and dotted with

cottonwood groves. There are twelve pueblos, whose houses are built of mud and are

two stories high. They have a food supply of

maize, beans, melons and turkeys in great

abundance” (Bolton 1969: 184). He also described the Rio Grande as “a large, mighty

river” (Hodge 1946: 352).

1540 From first European contact and throughout

the historic period, the main items traded by

the Pueblos to other Native American groups

were corn flour, pollen, and husks; pinyon

nuts; turquoise; salt; feathers of eagles, hawks,

turkeys, and a number of small birds; and woven baskets and pottery (Sando 1989: 29–30, 38).

1540 The Rio Grande floodplain was 35 to 40 feet

lower than the 1962 levels (Titus 1963: 11).

1540 The Pueblos gathered large quantities of herbs

. . .” for food (Hammond and Rey 1940: 256).

1540 The Tiguex Pueblo kept poisonous snakes

(probably rattlesnakes) in their villages. Poison was extracted from the snakes and placed

on arrow-points to facilitate killing of prey

animals (Bandelier and Hewett 1937: 169).

1540–41 The Pueblos collected pine nuts, and some

were stored for later consumption (Hodge

1946: 350).

1540–94 Spanish explorers noted the abundance, utility, and trade value of furs and skins (Weber

1971: 14).

1541 (fall) Castaneda reported a large number of

cranes (probably sandhill), wild geese, crows,

and “starlings” (probably a species of black-
216 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

bird) in the Tiguex Province. He also noted

that there were a “great many native fowl in

these provinces, and cocks with great hanging

chins [wild turkey]” (Hodge 1946: 353–354).

1541 Alvarado, with the Coronado expedition, reported “There are large numbers of bears in

this province, and lions, wildcats, deer, and

otter [beaver ?]” (Hodge 1946: 350).

1581 (late September) At the Galisteo pueblos,

Chamuscado and Rodriguez were told of

Plains Apaches to the east who subsisted on

buffalo meat in winter and harvested prickly

pear and yucca fruit in summer. They lived

in buffalo hide tipis and also traded hides,

meat, and deerskins for corn and blankets at

the Pueblo villages. The buffalo, they said,

were “as numerous as the grains of sand in

their hands, and there were many rivers, water holes, and marshes where the buffalo

ranged.” Residents of the San Marcos Pueblo

told members of the expedition that “during

certain seasons of the year the buffalo came

within eight leagues of the settlement”

(Hammond and Rey 1966: 86–87).

1581 The Chamuscado-Rodriguez expedition

called the lower Galisteo valley “Valle Vicioso

because of its fertility . . .” (Hammond and

Rey 1966: 59).

1583 (February 1) At the Piro village of San Felipe

the Espejo expedition recorded its inhabitants

as wearing cotton cloth and tanned deerskin

clothing, buffalo hide moccasins, cotton blankets, and turkey feather robes (Hammond and

Rey 1966: 172).

1583 (February 10–12) The Salinas Pueblos had

“abundant corn, turkeys, and other supplies”

and wore clothes made from buffalo hides,

cotton blankets, and “chamois skins.” Their

villages were located on the west edge of the

buffalo range (Hammond and Rey 1966: 222).

1583 (February) A member of the Espejo expedition described the Jemez River near Zia

Pueblo as “a fine river with a good volume of

water, though it was not so large as the Del

Norte” (Hammond and Rey 1966: 180).

1583 (February) Espejo reported “many cottonwood groves and some patches of white poplars four leagues wide” and “quantities of

grapevines and Castilian walnut trees” as he

traveled up the Rio Grande from the San

Marcial area to the Keres pueblos (Hammond

and Rey 1966: 219).

1583 (late February) Espejo noted a magpie in a

cage at a Keres pueblo (Hammond and Rey

1966: 223).

1583 (late February) Near Cochiti Pueblo the

Espejo expedition gave inhabitants of the area

sleigh (hawk?) bells and “iron articles” for

buffalo hides (Hammond and Rey 1966: 179).

1583 (early) In the San Marcial area Espejo noted

“... along the river banks there were many

cottonwood groves and some patches of

white poplars four leagues wide” (Hammond

and Rey 1966: 219).

1583 (March 5–6) At Acoma, Espejo was given

“blankets, tanned deerskins, turkeys, and a

quantity of corn” (Hammond and Rey 1966:

182).

1583 (March 7) Antonio de Espejo wrote this about

Acoma, “These people have their fields two

leagues distant from the pueblo, near a medium-sized river, and irrigate their farms by

little streams of water diverted from a marsh

near the river” (Hammond and Rey 1966: 182,

224).

1583 (June) Cottonwoods were growing near

Kuaua Pueblo (Riley 1987: 228).

1583 Diego Perez de Luxan, with the Espejo expedition, wrote “This province ... has many forests of pine and juniper trees....” On the way

to Pecos, he noted their travel “through a forest of pines, mostly juniper and white pines.

The pine trees were all laden with cones the

size of unshelled walnuts. Each cone contains

at the most about thirteen or fourteen goodsized kernels” (Hammond and Rey 1966: 176,

206). From about San Marcial to Socorro,

Espejo himself noted “mesquite groves and

cactus fields, and over mountains wooded

with pine forests producing pinon nuts like

those of Castile, as well as with savins and

junipers” (Hammond and Rey 1966: 219).

1583 Espejo’s expedition exchanged iron and small

bells for corn, tortillas, turkeys, pinoles, and

buffalo robes at Cochiti (Riley 1987: 238).

1591 (January 8) Castano de Sosa may have been

the first European to reach the Santa Fe River.

He described the event: “It was bitterly cold

and snowing. When we emerged from the sierra we came to a river, frozen so hard that

the horses crossed on the ice without breaking through” (Hammond and Rey 1966: 280).

1591 (late January) South of Pecos Pueblo, in the

Galisteo area, Sosa’s expedition traveled

“through thick pine forests, then camped “for

the night at a ravine with many juniper trees”

(Hammond and Rey 1966: 287).

1591 (early) Wood-burning “ovens” were noted by

Castano de Sosa at San Ildefonso (Riley 1987:

235).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 217

1591 Explorer Sosa referred to the Rio Grande at

San Juan Pueblo as a “deep river,” and later

as “the river with much water” (Schroeder

and Matson 1965: 129, 144).

1598 (late May) North of the Jornada del Muerto,

the Juan de Onate expedition procured corn

from the Piro Pueblo of Qualacu, which

helped alleviate the food shortage for the

Onate expedition. Travel continued to be arduous due to the soft, deep sand. The wheels

of the supply carts sank to their hubs. As the

expedition moved northward, a rainstorm

provided needed water, as well as substantially decreasing air and ground temperatures

(Simmons 1991: 105–106).

1598 (spring) Onate found “many pueblos and

planted fields on both sides of the Rio

Grande” from Casa Colorado to north of Albuquerque (Moorhead 1958: 24–25).

1598–99 Onate’s colonists complained about living in

Pueblo rooms, which they found poorly ventilated and infested with bedbugs and other

biting insects (Ellis 1987: 19).

1598–1602 Onate recorded wild turkeys in the province

and listed the following mammals for the region: “buffalo, goats with hideous horns [bighorn sheep], lions, bears, wolves, tigers [jaguars ?], penicas, ferrets, porcupines, and other

animals” (Bolton 1946: 353).

1598–1630 With the construction of more irrigation systems and the introduction of livestock by the

Spanish, the demand for surface water increased significantly (Meyer 1984: 50).

1598–1630 By growing winter wheat brought by the

Spanish, the Pueblos extended the farming

season, and by adopting livestock, they had

to hunt less for meat and hides. The use of

cow dung for firing pottery and heating

homes may have begun during this period

(Schroeder 1975: 53).

1598–1680 New Mexico’s governors dominated the export trade in furs and skins, such as those of

buffalo, antelope, elk, and deer (Weber 1971:

18–19).

1598 (post) A grass native to Eurasia, sheep fescue

(Festuca ovina), may have been introduced to

New Mexico via the fleece and droppings of

domestic sheep brought by Onate (deBuys

1985: 225).

1599 (early) Onate moved his headquarters and

capital to the west side of the Rio Grande to

San Gabriel Pueblo. Most of the Pueblo inhabitants left, but some remained to haul

water and fuelwood for the Spaniards

(Simmons 1991a: 1458–149).

1599 (late October) Juan de Onate described the Rio

Puerco-of-the-East in the Cabezon Peak area

as having many cottonwoods and fairly deep

water where he crossed the stream. He named

the river “La Torriente de los Alamos” and

described the valley as “lush, rich, and fertile” (Lopez 1980: 71, 77).

1599 Hunters with Onate shot a large number of

ducks and geese (Espinosa 1936: 34).

1500s (late) Obregon wrote that the Rio Grande was

“swift and beautiful, surrounded by numerous meadows and farms...” (Hammond and

Rey 1927: 291).

1600 (post) The area along the east side of the Rio

Grande between Alameda Pueblo lands and

the Mexia “swamps” was called “Bosque

Grande” (Adams and Chavez 1956: 145).

1600–34 Spanish livestock herds nearly doubled every 15 months (Gutierrez 1991: 57).

1600–50 The Spanish conquistadores and military officers brought mastiffs and large greyhounds

to New Mexico. These “war dogs” were used

in combat, which terrorized Native Americans. They were also used in hunting, especially the greyhound (Simmons 1991b: 36).

1604 Spanish carpenters trained Pecos Pueblo men

in wood-working skills. The accessibility and

diversity of woodlands and forests in the area

provided the basis for a vigorous craft over

the next 150 years. Carved corbels and vigas,

doors, window frames, and furniture were

crafted to meet local and regional demands

(Kessell 1975: 132–133).

1610 Villagra, who accompanied Onate’s 1598 expedition, wrote “The rivers abound with fish,

turtles, eels, trout and sardines. These exist

in such quantities that a single Spaniard with

a large bare hook was able to catch six arrobas

[240 pounds] weight” (Espinosa 1936: 34).

1600s (early) Under the encomienda system, Spaniards took Pueblo lands for grazing of livestock. Localized overgrazing and soil erosion

resulted. Water was also diverted to Spanish

fields, causing a shortage for Pueblo crops

(Sando 1989: 53).

1600s (early) (to 1680) Pueblo residents were forced

to collect firewood, salt, and pinyon nuts in

large quantities, to prepare hides, and to

manufacture cotton blankets, causing stress

among the villagers (Snow 1981: 368).

1600s (early) (to 1680) Items exported south from

New Mexico included sheep, raw wool, hides

(buffalo, deer, and antelope), pinyon nuts,

salt, Indian blankets, and El Paso brandy

(Moorhead 1958: 49).
218 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1610 (post) According to Aldo Leopold, mountain

meadows and foothills were overgrazed by

Hispanic livestock (Brown and Carmony

1995: 230).

1626 (pre) Fray Alonso de Benavides recorded that

the Tewa were experiencing famine due to insufficient irrigation water (Hodge,

Hammond, and Rey 1945: 39, 69).

1620s (to early 1700s) An extensive stand of cottonwoods was found along the Rio Grande in

the Albuquerque area. It was known as the

Bosque Grande de San Francisco Xavier.

South of this woodland was the open wetlands called Esteros de Mejia (Simmons 1982:

40).

1630 Fray Benavides (Ayer 1965: 36–37) described

the regional rivers as having “... fish in great

abundance; and great sloughs [esteros], and

particularly the Rio del Norte. This, when it

carries least water, and we can ford it, comes

up to the saddle; and when it goes swollen, it

is of rapid and great current, with the water

it receives from the melted snows alone.”

1630 As an endurance test, a candidate for membership in one of the secret Pueblo societies

or orders had to sit naked all day on a large

ant hill and endure stinging bites without

making a sound (Ayer 1965: 31–32).

1630 Fray Benavides wrote “The abundance of

game appears infinite.” He noted that foxes,

wolves, mountain lions, wildcats, jackrabbits,

and cottontail rabbits were numerous. Bighorn sheep was a common species in the uplands (Ayer 1965: 37).

1630 Fray Benavides listed the following fish found

in the Rio Grande Basin: bagre (blue catfish,

Ictalurus furcatus), trucha (trout, Salmo spp.),

yellow bullhead, Ictalurus natalis), anguila

(eel, Anguilla rostrata), boqeinete (sucker,

Moxostoma sp.), sardina (chub, Notropis sp.),

aguja (gar shovel-nose sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus playtyrhynchus), cazon (longnose gar, Lepisosteus osseus), and matalote

(Gila chub, Gila intermedia) (Ayer 1965: 37,

261–262).

1630s (early) Grasshoppers and rabbits destroyed

crops at various Rio Grande pueblos

(Schroeder 1972: 5).

1635–37 Governor Francisco Martinez de Baeza forced

converted Indians to collect and pack large

quantities of pinyon nuts for shipment down

the Camino Real (Kessell 1979: 155–156).

1639 Governor Rosas shipped 122 painted buffalo

hides and 198 “chamois” skins south on the

mission supply caravan (Weber 1971: 20).

1600s (mid) Prairie chickens were found in the Salinas Province (Schroeder 1968: 102).

1600s (mid to late) The market for buffalo hides in

Mexico sharply increased demand. Spanish

traders by-passed the Pueblo middlemen and

dealt directly with Plains Indians for the

hides. Colonists and government agents exerted pressure on the Pueblo to procure even

more hides, causing more stress among the

villages (Snow 1981: 367–368).

1659 Some priests traded with various Indian

groups for pronghorn skins (Weber 1971: 19).

1660 Governor Mendizabal received a shipment of

23 fanegas of pinyon nuts from Pecos Pueblo

(Kessell 1979: 156).

1660 Governor Lopez de Mendizabal shipped

1,350 deer skins and a number of buffalo hides

to Parral to market. He sent two other large

shipments of skins there during his term.

Some 1,200 pronghorn skins and four bundles

of elk skins were later found at his property

in Santa Fe (Weber 1971: 20–21).

1661 Some 60 Pueblo laborers from Quarai were

conscripted by the Spanish to harvest and

transport loads of pinyon nuts. Nineteen Indians from Abo worked for 6 days carrying

maize from Tabira and Las Humanas pueblos to the house of Captain Nicolas de Aguilar

in the Salinas District (Scholes 1937: 394–395).

1661 Also, some 40 Indians of Jemez Pueblo were

forced by the Spanish to transport pinyon nuts

to “depots” at Santa Fe, Cochiti, and San

Felipe (Scholes 1937: 394–395).

1661 Pueblo Indians from Tabira collected salt at a

nearby salt marsh and transported it to the

Las Barrancas estancia of Sargento Mayor

Francisco Gomez (Scholes 1937: 395).

1661 The mission livestock were moved from Las

Humanas to Abo because the Pueblos exhausted themselves hauling water for the

stock from deep wells to the west of the village (Scholes 1937: 401).

1661 An organ for the church at Abo was purchased with money made by selling pinyon

nuts (Toulouse 1949: 4).

1662 At Tome, the Rio Grande channel was located

east of its present location (Kessell and

Hendricks 1992: 480).

1662 Encomienda system payments made by Indians at Pecos Pueblo included 66 pronghorn

skins, 21 white buckskins, 16 large buckskins,

and 18 buffalo hides (Weber 1971: 18).

1667 Locusts devastated crops, especially at Santo

Domingo Pueblo (Kessell 1979: 218).

1675–1706 No fires appear to have occurred on the west-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 219

central slopes of the Sandia Mountains during this period (Baisan 1994: 2).

1675–1710 The pueblo and later land grant of Alameda

was located on the west side of the Rio

Grande. Sometime after this, and before 1769,

the river shifted westward, leaving the village of Alameda on the west side of the Rio

Grande (Sargeant 1987: 38–40).

1680 (August) Revolting Pueblo Indians forced

Spanish Governor Otermin to abandon his

defense of Santa Fe by cutting off the

settlement’s water supply from the Santa Fe

River (Sando 1989: 55).

1681 (December 11) The Spanish army found little

firewood in the vicinity of Alameda Pueblo

(Hackett and Shelby 1942: 224).

1681 At Puaray Pueblo, near the Rio Grande, there

were meadows on either side of the river.

They provided “good pasturage and stubble,

and there is an abundance of firewood on the

other side” (Hackett and Shelby 1942: 220–

221).

1692 (pre) Blue catfish occurred in the Rio Grande

in the Espanola-Santa Fe area. It is now only

found south of Albuquerque, and populations

are dwindling (Sublette et al. 1990: 238).

1692 (late August) The condition of the Camino

Real was degraded following 12 years of little

or no traffic. In many places grasses, forbs,

and shrubs had grown up in the road bed.

Vargas sent the sheep, cattle, and horses

ahead to trample the vegetation, providing a

clearer and smoother road for the wagons and

settlers in the caravan. In some places, the

road was gullied due to water runoff, and

Vargas had men ready to repair the road

(Hendricks 1993: 81).

1692 (September 4) The Spanish army of the reconquest rested at the abandoned rancho of

Felipe Romero near the abandoned Sevilletta

Pueblo. This site was selected for its excellent

grasses and adequate water (Espinosa and

Chavez n.d.: 22).

1692 (September 6) General Vargas led his army

up the Camino Real over a “very sandy” road

and camped within sight of the hacienda of

Tome Dominguez, which then was on the

west bank of the Rio Grande. The condition

of the road prompted the commander to send

the pack animals back for cargo on the laboring wagons so there would be provisions in

his camp (Kessell and Hendricks 1992: 375–

376, 480).

1692 (late October) Diego de Vargas, who crossed

the Rio Puerco west of the later site of Albuquerque with his command, noted that the

water was so deep that the soldiers had to

carry provisions and equipment on their

shoulders (Lopez 1980: 71; Twitchell 1963, I:

381).

1692 (late) Vargas reported that “the river has ruined the fields” of Senecu Pueblo (Kessell et

al. 1995: 114).

1692 (late) Vargas described the environment of Zia

Pueblo as having “alkaline soil, bad water, no

firewood, and is infertile . . .” (Kessell et al.

1995: 113).

1692 (late) Vargas described the environment of La

Cienega Pueblo and the El Alamo hacienda

as “the terrain and soil are of dry, fine gravel,

are well drained, and where the sun shines

from the time it comes up . . .” (Kessell et al.

1995: 111).

1692–93 The Esteros de Mejia, which extended along

the east side of the Rio Grande from the

present Central Bridge to the Barelas Bridge,

was the site of a “hacienda” on the Camino

Real. Made up of charcos (small lakes) and

cienegas (marshes), which supported lush

grasses, sedges, and other forage plants, these

wetlands were utilized by legal and trespass

livestock ranchers. This led to a near fatal altercation among several individuals

(Simmons 1982: 10, 40, 87, 112).

1693 (late summer-early fall) The pueblos of San

Felipe, Santa Ana, and Zia lost their potential

crop harvest due to “worms and the many

locusts” (Kessell et al. 1995: 408).

1693 (November 10) Vargas found a “good” campsite at a ford opposite the abandoned hacienda of Ignacio Baca on the Rio del Norte

(Kessell et al. 1995: 403).

1693 (November 15) Spanish soldiers and settlers

were camped in an “ancon opposite Isleta

Pueblo” (Kessell et al. 1995: 407.

1693 (November 19) Vargas ordered his troops and

Spanish settlers to the outpost he designated

“Plaza de Armas,” at the abandoned hacienda

of Cristobal de Anaya. This site was north of

present Bernalillo and had “abundant firewood and pasture, near the Rio del Norte...”

(Kessell et al. 1995: 421).

1693 (December 10) Vargas (Espinosa 1942: 148)

described a watering place at San Marcos

Pueblo in the Galisteo basin as “. . . where the

bountiful water hole and crystal clear stream

were certainly a blessing.”

1693 There was no late summer-fall harvest due to

worms and grasshoppers at Santa Ana, San

Felipe, and Zia pueblos (Bailey 1940: 95–98).
220 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1694 (January) Vargas described Jemez Pueblo as

on “a height” and “in a good location” with

“the necessary conveniences of pasture, water, and firewood” (Kessell et al. 1995: 558).

1694 (May) Plains Apaches visited Governor

Vargas at Pecos Pueblo and presented him

three buffalo hides and an elk-hide camp tent

as gifts. They promised to bring buffalo, elk, and

deer hides to trade in the fall (Weber 1971: 22).

1694 (July) Vargas found bison between the Rio

Grande and Rio Chama (Bailey 1940: 152–154;

Bailey 1971: 152–156).

1695 (summer) An infestation of worms ate most

of the crops, which contributed to a famine

in the following year (Twitchell 1963, I: 409).

1696 A famine impacted the Pueblo and Hispanic

settlements. Various wild animals and plants,

in the valleys and the mountains, were commonly harvested and eaten (Twitchell 1963,

v. 1: 409).

1600s Bones of the smallmouth buffalo (fish) were

found in archeological sites dating to this period along the northern Rio Grande drainage

(Sublette et al. 1990: 222).

1600s The Jicarilla Apache believed that the bighorn

sheep were driven from their valley habitat

into the mountains by the guns of the Spaniards (Tiller 1992: 22).

1600s (late) Rafts were used to cross the Rio Grande

to reach the pueblo of San Felipe located on

the west bank of the Rio Grande (Strong 1979:

392).

1600s–1706 A bosque extended south from the Alameda

Pueblo, along the Rio Grande, to the swamps

or marshes of Mexia on the south side of Albuquerque (Adams and Chavez 1956: 145).

1700–1800 About 27,000 new acres were put into cultivation by the Spanish in the Middle and Upper Rio Grande valleys (Hedke 1925: 23).

1701 The Rio Grande channel was several hundred

yards east of its late 19th century position in

the Bernalillo area (Bowen and Sacca 1971: 51).

1705 The Rio Grande was located east of present

Bernalillo, and at times, the river flowed along

the east side of the valley from Angostura to

below Albuquerque (Chavez 1957: 3).

1706 April The site of Albuquerque was chosen for the

availability of good water, tillable land, good

grazing grasses, and fuelwood. This location

was also selected due to its being on slightly

elevated ground, on the Camino Real, and

having a good, close ford over the Rio Grande

(Simmons 1982: 81–82).

1706 The east bank of the Rio Grande was heavily

wooded from modern Ranchos de Albuquerque to below Central Avenue (Simmons 1980:

202). The area settled by the new residents of

Albuquerque was known as the Bosque

Grande de San Francisco Xavier. The Esteros

de Mexia, located just south of Old Town, was

avoided by the settlers (Oppenheimer 1962:

15).

1709 Wildfires were common and widespread

(Swetnam and Baisan 1995: 18).

1709–39 The channel of the Rio Grande between

Algodones and Bernalillo shifted westward.

The church and several homes at colonial

Bernalillo (near present Llanito) were washed

away in 1735 or 1736 (Snow 1976: 172–175).

1709–63 Santa Ana Pueblo purchased lands from

Spanish settlers at Ranchitos, located on the

east side of the Rio Grande, along the north

boundary of the Bernalillo Grant. Some of the

land was used for irrigation farming and the

remainder for livestock grazing. The latter

area was covered with cottonwood trees

(White 1942: 27).

1710 (January 27) The Alameda land grant was

given to Captain Francisco Montes Vigil. At

this time the village and grant land was located on the west side of the Rio Grande

(Adams and Chavez 1956: 152).

1710 (post) The Rio Grande, then located east of

Alameda, began shifting westward. By 1768

the channel had moved to its present location,

placing the village of Alameda on the west

side of the river (Sargeant 1987: 38–39).

1700s (early) The Rio Grande shifted its channel and

at times ran east of Bernalillo, Alameda, and

Albuquerque (Chavez 1957: 3).

1700s (early) Due to continuing flood damage to

their agricultural fields, Santa Ana Pueblos

began buying land along the Rio Grande, to

the east, where they established ranchos. They

moved to these new settlements from spring

planting to fall harvest and then returned to

the old pueblo for the winter. Later, in the next

century, these Keresans established permanent residence at the Ranchos de Santa Ana

and returned to their Jemez River pueblo only

for ceremonies (Kessell 1980: 168).

1700s (early) Residents of Agua Fria reported to

geologist Oscar Loew (1875) that the Santa Fe

River had run “full” and that cottonwood and

willow species grew along its banks.

1700s (early) Overgrazing had become a problem

around the older plazas such as Atrisco, Albuquerque, and Corrales (Baxter 1987: 24).

1700s (early) Sedge grasses and other wetland vegetation were abundant in a cienega located in
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 221

the eastern part of Santa Fe. This was a special-use property where these plants were

“mowed” and fed to the horses of the

presidial troops, who escorted town residents

to the mountains, where they collected

fuelwood or timber (Ebright 1994: 90).

1700s (early to mid) As the flow of the river diminished, which Loew attributed to the disappearance of extensive forests at the river’s

headwaters and a decrease in precipitation

over the area mountains, the trees diminished

(Hewett and Dutton 1945: 147).

1713 A lagoon (estero) was located near Bernalillo

(Mayer et al. 1994: 80).

1714–17 At least one crop failure due to drought occurred (Simmons 1982: 111).

1715–16 Wildfires were common and widespread during these years (Baisan 1994: 3; Swetnam and

Betancourt 1990: 1019).

1722 Captain Antonio Cobian Busto reported

“From the city of San Felipe el Real [Chihuahua] to Santa Fe in New Mexico... there are

innumerable valleys, streams, and plains,

very rich and suitable for breeding cattle and

sheep, and sowing wheat, corn, and other

foodstuffs...” (Baxter 1987: 19).

1724–25 Wildfires were common and widespread

(Swetnam and Baisan 1995: 18).

1726 Pedro de Rivera visited the Valencia area noting spacious, fertile valley land with extensive cottonwood bosques. He passed several

ruined ranches in the Valencia area still uninhabited following the Pueblo revolt (Rivera

1946: 51).

1729 Wildfires were common and widespread

(Swetnam and Baisan 1995: 18).

1736 (early) Five Albuquerque farmers requested

that the alcalde allow them to move their livestock back to the Isleta area where better grazing conditions existed (Baxter 1987: 24).

1739 (July 30) The alcalde of Albuquerque, who

presented the governor’s decree on the Tome

land grant, noted that the location was “very

damp and in danger of being inundated

again” (Ellis 1955: 91–93).

1739 Some residents of Albuquerque, who were

experiencing scarcity of wood, insufficient

pasture for livestock, a scarcity of irrigation

water, and encroachment of footpaths on their

land, requested and received the Tome land

grant (Ellis 1955: 91; Oppenheimer 1962: 16).

1739 (ca.) The Rio Grande shifted westward in the

Angostura area, which resulted in a later

boundary dispute between Santa Ana and

San Felipe (Bayer et al. 1994: 90).

1730s (late) (to early 1742) Pedro Sanchez claimed

that wolves attacked and bit his sheepherders on the Ramon Vigil grant and caused him

to remove his sheep (Ebright 1994: 229).

1740 (November 15) The governor granted land to

Hispanic settlers who founded Belen, Jarales,

and other area communities. Ditches from the

Rio Grande to fields were dug with palas de

palo (wooden shovels). The uplands along the

Rio Puerco-of-the-East and the Manzano

Mountains were common lands for grazing

livestock, collecting fuelwood, and hunting

(Espinosa and Chavez n.d.: 75–78).

1744 The Santa Fe River was described as a flowing stream with crystalline waters and abundant trout within the capitol (Hackett 1937:

27, 34, 399).

1744 Valley cottonwoods extended more than 10

miles along the Rio Grande around Alameda

(Galvin 1972: 58).

1744 Albuquerque experienced an infestation of

moths, which were eating large stores of raw

wool. Fortunately, a buyer from Mexico City

arrived and purchased the wool before the

insects destroyed very much (Simmons 1982:

114–115).

1748 The frequency of wildfires was substantially

above normal (Swetnam and Betancourt 1990:

1019).

1748–1846 Sandia Pueblo lost a significant portion of its

lands to Hispanics because of its fertility and

available water (Clark 1987: 22).

1749 Belen residents were in a legal dispute with

Nicolas Duran y Chavez, whose cattle, they

claimed, were damaging and fouling the

acequia madre. He said that finding pasture

for his cattle and sheep was difficult (Horvath

1980: 111).

1700s (mid) Intensive livestock grazing and

fuelwood cutting led to denudation and soil

erosion along Abiquiu Creek. Water from the

stream tasted and smelled like cattle manure

(McDonald 1985: 120).

1700s (mid) The Rio Puerco Valley at this time was

rich in grasses, bosques, springs, and lakes.

There were “belly-high grasses, vast bosques,

and wooded thickets.” The floodplain was

broad and flat, and flood waters overflowed

the low banks and spread out over the valley.

Many lakes dotted the valley, and springs

were numerous (Lopez 1980: 71).

1750 Santa Fe had evolved to a rancheria of houses

and fields distributed along three leagues of

the Santa Fe River valley. Residents wanted

to be near their fields for convenience and to
222 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

protect their crops against thieves and foraging animals (Simmons 1974: 61).

1750 By this year Albuquerque and nearby communities were experiencing some pressures

of overpopulation. Suitable agricultural land

was taken, and livestock overgrazed some

pastures and outlying range lands. By this

year, the bajada between Albuquerque and

the Sandia-Manzano mountains was virtually

denuded of grass by livestock. Outmigration

to “new” lands, such as the Rio Puerco-of-theEast, began (Simmons 1982: 106–107, 1988: 7).

1751 Timber for use as vigas in the Sandia Pueblo

church then under construction was cut in the

Sandia Mountains. Since the pueblo had no

oxen to pull the logs down from the mountains to the village, residents of the five Keres

pueblos to the north and Spaniards from

Bernalillo were recruited to do this. In about

20 years, the roof of this new church collapsed

due to poor engineering or shoddy construction (Kessell 1980: 136).

1752 Wildfires were common and widespread

(Swetnam and Baisan 1995: 18).

1753 (October 21) Several Albuquerque families,

seeking adeuate grazing for their livestock,

petitioned the governor for a grazing grant

on the Rio Puerco (Simmons 1982: 106–107).

1754 A priest described the Rio Grande as “a beautiful image of the celebrated Nile” (Timmons

1990: 39).

1750s As the Navajos were forced south by Utes,

conflict over resource competition in the Rio

Puerco basin with Hispanos accelerated

(Lopez 1980: 72).

1750s (late) (to 1760) Major Spanish settlement of

lands along the Middle and Upper Rio Puerco

and on the south and west sides of Mount

Taylor occurred (Wozniak 1987).

1760 Bishop Tamaron noted that the Santa Fe River

was dry during the summer months prior to

harvest, and the Rio Grande had ice during

the severely cold winters (Adams 1954: 47, 65,

105).

1763 July 7 Representatives of Santa Ana Pueblo exchanged over 200 head of livestock and several items for a tract of land south of Angostura and extending from the Rio Grande to

the foot of the Sandia Mountains (Bayer et al.

1994: 80–81).

1763 By this time, an “upper” and a “lower”

Bernalillo were recognized. Soon, however,

the upper settlement was forced upriver to

Algodones, a location of higher elevation, by

floods (Snow 1976: 175).

1763 Wildfires were common and widespread

(Swetnam and Baisan 1995: 18).

1765 Eight residents of the Los Quelites grant on

the nos Puerco and San Jose requested Governor Capuchin’s permission to withdraw

from the grant, claiming that there was insufficient and salty water in the two streams.

Water from springs and a cistern were used

for watering their corn, chile, and cotton

(Ebright 1994: 10).

1765 Wildfires were common and widespread

(Swetnam and Baisan 1995: 18).

1766 (August 12–13) Nicolas de Lafora passed the

Senecu and San Pasqual pueblo ruins, and

found “plenty of pasture” in the area. From

here to the Vueltos de Acomilla, he passed

through “swampy ground with a great deal

of coarse grass and reeds,” which included

the Bosque del Apache (Kinnaird 1967: 88).

1766 (August 14) Opposite the ruins of Sevilleta

Pueblo, Lafora wrote about the mouth of the

Rio Puerco “whose waters always flow

muddy and turgid” (Kinnaird 1967: 89).

1766 (August 15–16) Lafora continued to travel

north up the east bank of the Rio Grande. His

expedition reached Las Nutrias, then Tome,

passing over a “good level road.” The population of Tome was given at 70 Spanish residents. Lafora noted that “all kinds of grain

abound, as well as sheep, and there is plenty of

good pasture everywhere in the vicinity. On the

next day he traveled 10 leagues north over “a

plain extensively forested with poplar trees

along the river’s edge” (Kinnaird 1967: 89–90).

1766 Lafora (Kinnaird 1967: 95) wrote “There is a

great variety of birds. Partridges are abundant

and are caught by hand after their first flight.”

1766 Lafora noted “large quantities” of fish in New

Mexico’s rivers (Kinnaird 1967: 94).

1766 Lafora reported for central and northern New

Mexico that “There is more than enough pasture, which is grama grass for the most part”

and “There are several rivers containing a

large quantity of fish, particularly the Rio

Grande del Norte” (Kinnaird 1967: 94–95).

1766 Lafora listed buffalo, bear, wolf, coyote, bighorn sheep, elk, deer, and “partridges”

(grouse ?) as game animals. He noted that the

fur-bearing beaver, ermine, and marten,

which were abundant, were ignored by Hispanic residents (Kinnaird 1967: 95).

1767 A severe flood on the Santa Fe River impacted

Santa Fe. The river channel shifted into the

Rio Chiquito, which is now covered by Water Street (Twitchell 1963, I: 447).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 223

1768 (April) Residents of Atrisco received a grant

of grazing lands to the west, along the Ceja

de Puerco (Wozniak 1987).

1769 Dominguez related a report “... in the year

’69 of this century the river flooded (turning

east) the greater part of Tome, to the total destruction of houses and lands. It follows this

course to this day [1776], and as a joke (let us

put it so) it left its old bed free for farmland

for the citizens of Belen, opposite Tome (and

they still have it, and Father Claramonte, from

whom I heard this tory, has seen it planted)”

(Adams and Chavez 1956: 8).

1760s The lower Rio Puerco began entrenchment, a

process that continues today (Love and Young

1983).

1771–75 The annual crop harvests at San Ildefonso

Pueblo were diminished due to infestations

of “locusts” (Adams and Chavez 1956: 71).

1771–76 Locusts caused losses in crop production

(Adams and Chavez 1956: 71).

1770s (early) To prevent depletion of provincial resources, New Mexico governors banned exports of wool and livestock. Sheep flocks increased, and officials allowed sale of woolen

products and wethers. Late in the century,

sheep numbers increased until export of the

animals increased dramatically. Ranchers

brought their animals to la Joya de Sevilleta

in August to begin the drive south down El

Camino. As this was the rainy season, the

flocks and men would have adequate water

on their journey (Baxter 1993: 109).

1773 A New Mexican of the Rio Abajo commented

on a positive aspect of Rio Grande floods:

“The water brings with it a thick mud which

serves as manure for the land, leaving on top

of the irrigated earth a glutinous scum resembling lard” (Simmons 1982: 96).

1774 Spaniards at San Juan de los Caballeros, Rancho

del Embudo, and Picuris Pueblo were taking

trout and eels for food (Galvin 1972: 57).

1774 O’Crouley recorded trout, eels, ahujas, and

besugos as food fish caught by residents

(Galvin 1972: 55, 57).

1774 Don Pedro Alonso O’Crouley described the

Alameda area as “a plain that for a distance

of four leagues is covered with poplars [cottonwoods] (hence its name), which beautify

the country. The Rio Grande crosses its central region, making it fertile. On its banks is a

settlement of a few families under the spiritual care of a friar attached to the mission of

Albuquerque, three leagues away” (Galvin

1972: 58).

1774 Poor harvests in previous years, due to the

drought, and Navajo raids, forced Hispanos

to abandon the Rio Puerco from San Luis to

Casa Salazar. The Rio Puerco was reported to

be so named because “its water is as dirty as

the gutters of the streets, since its bed is of

black clay and its bottom very treacherous

with mire” (Adams and Chavez 1956: 254).

1775 (May 13) A party of Taos Pueblos left their

village “to round up some wolves,” but a

battle with Comanches diverted them (Thomas 1940: 181).

1776 (pre) The flow of the lower Rio Nambe had

been reduced to a trickle due to upstream use

(Adams and Chavez 1956: 71) and probably

the drought.

1776 (pre) At the village of Canada de Cochiti, composed of scattered ranchos along the canyon

floor, crop harvests were small due to the intermittent flow of the Rio Chiquito (Adams

and Chavez 1956: 159).

1776 (pre) Zia Pueblo depended primarily on upland dry farming in raising crops; there were

irrigated plots along the Jemez River, but

water was only available following intense

rains (Adams and Chavez 1956: 98).

1776 (pre) The farmlands of Zia Pueblo were located “in several small canadas of the hills to

the south and for two leagues along the Jemez

River. The alkaline river water and sandy soil

was relatively unproductive, especially in

drier years (Adams and Chavez 1956: 175).

1776 (pre) Jemez Pueblo farmlands along the Jemez

River were relatively rich and produced good

crops. The river water was less alklaine than

at Zia and Santa Ana pueblos. A large number of fruit trees also were productive (Adams

and Chavez 1956: 181).

1776 (pre) Groves of cottonwoods grew along the

Rio Grande at Santo Domingo, and agricultural fields were located along both banks of

the river above and below the pueblo. These

fields were irrigated by Rio Grande water.

Other fields along the Camino Real from the

river to Santa Fe were dry farmed. Good harvests of various crops, including melons and

watermelons, were common, as were “very

tasty peaches and apricots” (Adams and

Chavez 1956: 137).

1776 (pre) A stone embankment had been built on

the Santa Fe River to prevent flood damage

to property in the villa (Adams and Chavez

1956: 40).

1776 (pre) The Chama River at Abiquiu had “very

fine meadows on both banks, with corre-
224 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

sponding groves of beautiful poplars” (cottonwoods). The farmlands were “extremely

fertile,” including those at a small plaza near

the shrine of St. Rose of Lima. Fields were irrigated with water from the Chama River. At

the foot of the hill, where the Genizaro occupants of the pueblo were located, there were

“two little springs of very good water, and

since it was good, it is used for drinking”

(Adams and Chavez 1956: 126).

1776 (pre) Plagues of “locusts” periodically adversely impacted crop harvests (Adams and

Chavez 1956: 30).

1776 (late October or early November) A trade fair

was held during this and previous years at

Abiquiu. Utes brought deerskins to trade for

horses; 15 to 20 good deerskins would get a

horse. They also brought deer or buffalo meat,

which they exchanged for corn or corn flour.

Sometimes they brought young captives from

other nomadic groups to trade with the Spanish (Adams and Chavez 1956: 252–253).

1776 Residents of Jemez Pueblo were using charcoal for heating (Adams and Chavez 1956:

179).

1776 An extensive cienega was located a short distance west of Taos Pueblo. Cattle were pastured there to graze the lush plants, and some

sedge and grasses were cut as “hay” for other

livestock. This marsh vegetation was burned

each spring to foster vigorous growth of new

plants (Adams and Chavez 1956: 111).

1776 Fray Dominguez reported that farmlands

around Quemado and Cieneguilla were “fertilized” by overbank floodwaters of the Santa

Fe River (Adams and Chavez 1956: 41).

1776 Fray Dominguez described the Rio del Norte,

or Rio Grande: “From the places where the

headwaters on this river are to be seen, one

observes a great abundance of water. As it

declines toward the south it acquires more

and more water from the many rivers (large

and small) that keep joining it from the east

and west from above Taos to below El Paso,

where it joins still others” (Adams and

Chavez 1956: 7).

1776 Fray Dominguez (Adams and Chavez 1956:

40–41, 43) described the Santa Fe River: “...

although it carries enough water to be called

a river,it is not overabundant. Indeed, it is

usually insufficient, and at the best season for

irrigating the farms, because there are many

of them, it does not reach the lowest ones ...

only in a very rainy year is there enough for

all.” Springs in the Cienega area produced a

flow in the river, most years, all the way to its

confluence with the Rio Grande near Cochiti.

1776 The priest at San Felipe de Neri in Albuquerque pastured his horse in a marsh “back of

the convent on the Rio del Norte” (Adams and

Chavez 1956: 150).

1776 Fray Dominguez (Adams and Chavez 1956:

170), at Santa Ana Pueblo, reported: “They are

really dependent on the rains, because in addition to the inadequacy of the river, which

sometimes helps irrigation when there is

heavy rain, the uneven site, now uphill, now

off at a distance, does not permit the formation of pools to quicken and fertilize the

plants. This results in completely unfavorable

crops.”

1776 Dominguez described the location of Isleta

Pueblo: “The little rise on which the pueblo

stands is as small as I said in the beginning,

and it lies on the very meadow of the Rio del

Norte, which sometimes overflows its bed up

above the pueblo when it is very high and

forms a very wide branch at a distance from

it. This cuts off the settled part as if it were an

island, which is doubtless the reason why it

was named Isleta. This place stands, as has

been said, on the very meadow, open to the

plain which slopes down from those hills I

mentioned at Atlixco of Albuquerque”

(Adams and Chavez 1956: 207).

1776 Father A. Dominguez referred to the lake,

four-tenths of a mile from Laguna Pueblo, as

“almost round and very large” and estimated

it to be over 100 feet deep, with bulrushes on

one shore (Adams and Chavez 1956: 187).

1776 The skins of buffalo, mountain lions, wolves,

and sheep were used as floor coverings, sleeping pads, and covers at Nambe Pueblo

(Adams and Chavez 1956: 50).

1776 There were trout in the river at Quemado,

near Santa Cruz, at Picuris, and Pecos, which

Spanish residents caught and ate (Adams and

Chavez 1956: 83, 91, 213).

1779 The meadows south of Cochiti Pueblo were

severely damaged by overgrazing of livestock

(Lange 1959: 37).

1770s Albuquerque residents resorted to the use of

horse manure as a fuel because of the scarcity of wood in the area. Threat of attacks by

Comanches or Navajos may have precluded

their venturing from the village to collect firewood (Moorhead 1958: 24; Thomas 1932: 101).

1781 Teodoro de Croix, commander general of the

interior provinces of New Spain, wrote “The

species of deer, antelope, and bison there
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 225

[New Mexico] are inexhaustible” (Thomas

1941: 112–113).

1782 Taos Pueblo was described by Fray Morfi as

having extensive, fertile fields watered by

more than 300 springs and 4 streams. Timber

for use in construction and as fuelwood was

close by (Thomas 1932: 96).

1782 Near Taos was a large pond, located at “a little

more than a musket shot north of Taos Pueblo,

where are estimated more than three hundred

springs of good water which irrigating the

lands nearby produce the best pastures of the

Kingdom. The timber for construction and

fuel is close to the pueblo and in abundance”

(Thomas 1932: 96).

1782 About 8 miles south of Taos Pueblo there was

a Spanish ranch “with abundance of arable

lands even more fertile than those of the

pueblo.... There is a free-flowing spring of hot

water” (Thomas 1932: 97).

1782 Fray Morfi described the Santa Fe in relation

to its river of the same name: “It occupies a

plain on the western skirt of a sierra and is

distant about a league and a half (!) from its

summit where there is a pool which provides

the source for a river, meager in truth, the

waters of which in years of little rain are dissipated before reaching the Rio Grande del

Norte. However, it provides abundantly the

Villa...” (Thomas 1932: 91). Further on, he reported “... the river is poor and can only fertilize some fields. It has besides excellent

trout...” (Thomas 1932: 92).

1782 The banks of the Rio del Norte were described

as “shady” (Thomas 1932: 90).

1782 Sandia Pueblo was described as located on

“a plain upon the meadow” that had “sufficient cultivated lands with ordered and abundant pastures” (Thomas 1932: 101).

1782 Around the ruins of Tonque Pueblo were “fine

lands and three springs for its use” (Thomas

1932: 97).

1782 There were several hot springs between

Sandia Pueblo and the Espiritu Santo spring

along the Rio Salado (Thomas 1932: 111–112).

1782 At the site of a former Spanish ranch, known

as Encinal, Navajos were cultivating land.

They also used good grazing lands to the

south (Thomas 1932: 106).

1782 Fray Morfi recorded beaver, otter, and “water-dogs” in the region (Thomas 1932: 112).

1782 King Charles III of Spain requested that eight

elk be captured in New Spain and shipped to

the royal zoo in Madrid. This task fell on Governor Juan Bautista de Anza in Santa Fe, and

the elk were captured in nearby mountains

and brought to pens behind the Governor’s

Palace, then sent south with the fall caravan

to Mexico City. All but one of the eight animals reached Madrid safely (Simmons 1969:

41–44).

1782 Fray Morfi recorded the following fish in the

region: matalote (humpback chub), barbel (?),

and bagre (catfish) (Thomas 1932: 112).

1782 “Excellent trout” were present in the Santa

Fe River (Thomas 1932: 92).

1785 Regional fires were common and widespread

(Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1019).

1780s (late) Hispanic authorities encouraged Navajos to bring pelts to settlements to trade (Weber 1971: 28).

1791 Grass for livestock around Belen was scarce

(Espinosa and Chavez n.d.: 177).

1797 Based on tree-ring evidence, a forest fire occurred on the Pajarito Plateau (Robinson 1990:

142).

1799–1800 The Montoya family on the La Majada grant

protested to the governor that the large cattle

herds and sheep flocks of Miguel and Manuel

Ortiz had destroyed a spring that the

Montoyas had tapped to irrigate their fields.

Paulo Montoya, part owner of the La Majada

grant, filed suit against the two men (Snow

1979; 228; Wozniak 1987).

1700s (late) Decimation of grasslands and fuelwood,

and total appropriation of water in the Santa

Fe area, caused the governor to recommend

moving the capital to the confluence of the

Santa Fe River and the Rio Grande

(MacCameron 1994: 35).

1700s (late) (to early 1800s) Pedro Baptista Pino ran

“a large-scale livestock operation in the Galisteo

Basin ...” (Bustamante and Simmons 1995: xiii).

1800 By this year residents of Abiquiu were traveling up to 20 miles to gather fuelwood

(McDonald 1985: 121).

1800–46 Raids by nomadic Indians forced ranchers to

keep their stock close to settlements, and

grasslands were soon overgrazed as a result

(Kelly 1955: 395).

1801 Wildfires were common and widespread

(Swetnam and Baisan 1995: 18).

1803 Governor Chacon described the Rio del

Norte: “... it does not carry much water

upon crossing it as is believed” (Simmons

1991: 164).

1803 Elk, deer, bighorn sheep, buffalo, bears,

mountain lions, wolves, foxes, and coyotes

were reported as common in the region

(Simmons 1991: 168).
226 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1805 (ca.) The channel of the Rio Grande, which

ran past the pueblo ruins of Alameda,

changed its location (Lange and Riley 1970:

176).

1805 (ca.) (to 1824) The Rio Grande’s channel was

located at the present site of Bernalillo. At this

time the old village was situated upstream,

some 2 miles to the west. The river began a

shift to the northwest. Two groups of

Bernalillo citizens living on the west bank of

the Rio Grande north of Kuaua were forced

from their homes by a westward shift in the

flow of the Rio Grande. Landless, they petitioned for tracts of land on the new east bank

of the river at the north edge of Sandia Pueblo

land. Overgrazing of the area on the west side

of the Rio Grande during the colonial period

may have been a factor in their move as well

(Bowen and Sacca 1971: 60). Some 20

Hispanos, displaced by a westward shifting

Rio Grande, moved onto a tract of land

“loaned” to them by Sandia Pueblo. This land

was south of the present, old church of

Nuestra Senora de Dolores in Bernalillo on

the east side of the new Rio Grande channel.

This cluster of residences was called “Los

Cocinitas” (Bowen and Sacca 1971: 48–49).

1806 Wildfires were common and widespread

(Swetnam and Baisan 1995: 18).

1807 (March 2) Zebulon Pike (Coues 1987, II: 602–

603) reported that Father Baptiste Lalande at

San Juan Pueblo was “a great naturalist, or

rather florist; he had large collections of flowers, plants, etc., and several works of his favorite studies, the margins and bottoms of

which were filled with his notes in the

Castilian language.”

1807 (March 5) There was a ford across the Rio

Grande at Santo Domingo Pueblo. At normal

flow the river was 3 to 4 feet deep and about

300 yards (feet?) wide (Coues 1987, II: 615).

1807 (March 7) Pike described the Rio Grande at

the Barelas ford as “400 yards wide, but not

more than three feet deep and excellent

fording” (Coues 1987, II: 621).

1807 (March) Pike described the Rio Grande in general: “It cannot ... be termed a navigable

stream, owing to the sand-bars,” and “In the

mountains above Santa Fe it afforded amply

sufficient water for canoe navigation, and

even more than appeared to be flowing in its

bed in the plains. This must be attributed to

numerous canals and the dry sandy soil

through which the river courses, where much

of the water which flows from the mountains

must be absorbed and lost” (Coues 1987, II:

729–730).

1807 According to Pike, the Rio Grande was called

the Rio del Norte above El Paso and Rio Bravo,

or Rio Grande, below (Coues 1987, II: 641).

1807 Elk were reported as common by Pike (Coues

1987, II: 597).

1800s (early) Some 20 Hispanos, displaced by a

westward shifting Rio Grande, moved onto a

tract of land “loaned” to them by Sandia

Pueblo. This land was south of the present, old

church of Nuestra Senora de Dolores in

Bernalillo; this cluster of residences was called

“Los Cocinitas” (Bowen and Saca 1971: 48–49).

1800s (early) Rancho de las Golondrinas, located

south of Santa Fe on the Chihuahua Trail, was

known throughout the province for its productive agricultural fields and always dependable springs (Baxter 1987: 74–75).

1800s (early) A shortage of lead for ammunition continued, and the governor ordered the residents

at San Jose de las Huertas to extract the ore from

the north end of the Sandia Mountains and in

the Cerrillos area (Schroeder 1977: 24).

1800s (early) Pinyon nuts gathered in the Ojo

Caliente area were shipped down the Camino

Real in large quantities (Swadesh 1974: 61).

1800s (early) Animal skins, hides, and furs were

probably the main export items to Mexico

(Weber 1971: 30–31).

1800s (early) A Tewa Pueblo Indian reportedly

killed two buffalo near Santo Domingo

Pueblo (Bailey 1971: 13).

1800s (early to mid) An elderly San Ildefonso man

claimed to have hunted pronghorns near Rio

Grande Canyon on the Pajarito Plateau

(Henderson and Harrington 1914: 15).

1811 Hispanics were hunting elk, pronghorn antelope, mule deer, buffalo, rabbits, jackrabbits,

quail, and “partridges” (Bustamante and

Simmons 1995: 12–13).

1812 Pino recorded buffalo, elk, deer, bighorn

sheep, jackrabbit, wild turkey, grouse (blue?

sage?), and quail as common game animals

(Carroll and Haggard 1942: 99–100).

1811 “Trout, eels, catfish, stickleback, cardume,

land turtle, and water tortoise” were found

in New Mexico’s rivers (Bustamante and

Simmons 1995: 13).

1812 Wild horses, or mustangs, were reported “in

great abundance” in the province (Carroll and

Haggard 1942: 100).

1813 (pre) Santa Ana’s governor charged San Felipe

Pueblo with destruction of timber on some of

its land at Angostura (Bayer et al. 1994: 91).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 227

1813 The alcalde mayor of the Jemez jurisdiction

issued a proclamation calling for livestock

raisers to keep their animals away from fields

from planting to harvest time and off the

banks of irrigation ditches. He further stated

that an adequately strong bridge must be constructed where livestock must cross (Simmons

1968: 8–9).

1815 (fall) A French trapper wrote that the streams

of northern New Mexico “abounded with

beaver” (Weber 1971: 46).

1815 Three Anglo Americans were trapping in the

Sangre de Cristo Mountains in southern Colorado (Connor and Skaggs 1977: 30).

1817–30s Adequate water was a problem at Carnue at

the west end of Tijeras Canyon. As a result,

the population shifted to higher settlements

in the Sandias (Quintana and Kayser 1980: 48).

1817–80s Wood cutting was a common activity of

Tijeras Canyon Hispanic settlers (Quintana

and Kayser 1980: 48).

1819 Wildfires were common and widespread

(Baisan 1994: 3; Swetnam and Baisan 1995: 18).

1820–40 There were few or no fires over much of the

region during this period. This may have been

due to generally wetter conditions and intensification of sheep grazing, which reduced

fuel (Swetnam 1990: 10).

1821 Most rangelands around settlements in the

Rio Grande basin had become overgrazed by

this year. Some livestock owners sent their

flocks to the llano east of the Pecos River

(Rebolledo 1987: 100).

1821 The ruins of the Felipe Romero house were

located south of Belen and about 200 yards

east of the Rio Grande. By early 1897 the river

shifted eastward, to within 5 yards of the ruins (Wilson 1977: 14).

1821 With independence from Spain, the Mexican

government viewed Pueblo Indians as citizens, and therefore they had the right to sell

land either as individuals or as a tribe

(Carlson 1975: 100).

1821 Three parties of Anglo traders came over the

Santa Fe Trail, and members of these groups

trapped beaver and other fur-bearing animals

on the Rio Grande from below Santa Fe and

north into the San Luis Valley (Hafen and

Hafen 1993: 93).

1822 (January-June) A party of some 22 Anglo trappers took fur-bearing animals around Taos

(Connor and Skaggs 1977: 32–33).

1822 Wildfires were common and widespread in

the region (Baisan 1994: 3).

1822 Based on tree-ring data, a forest fire occurred

on the Pajarito Plateau (Robinson 1990: 142).

1822–23 James Baird came back to Mexico and within 3

years was operating a distillery near Taos. In

1826 he moved to El Paso and began to trap beaver. Subsequently, he complained about Anglo

trappers wiping out the beaver populations, taking pelts worth $100,000 over a year-and-a-half

period of trapping (Sonnichsen 1968: 102).

1822–24 The first area to be intensively trapped was

the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains between Santa Fe and Taos (deBuys 1985: 93).

1822–26 Taos trappers virtually took all of the beaver

in the Sangre de Cristo and Jemez mountains

(Flores 1992: 8).

1824 (December 3) In the Rio Grande valley, below Socorro, James O. Pattie (1966: 52) saw

“great numbers of bears, deer, and turkeys.”

One bear, which charged one of the members

of his trapping party, was killed.

1824 Two groups of Bernalillo citizens living on the

west bank of the Rio Grande north of Kuaua

were forced from their homes by a westward

shift in the flow of the Rio Grande. Landless,

they petitioned for tracts of land on the east

bank of the river on the north edge of Sandia

Pueblo land. Overgrazing of the area on the

west side of the Rio Grande during the colonial period may have been a factor as well

(Bowen and Sacca 1971: 60).

1824 Some 2,000 pelts and furs that went back east

over the Santa Fe Trail were valued at about

$15,000 (deBuys 1985: 97).

1824 Some trappers took 1,500 pounds of beaver

pelts from New Mexico (Weber 1971: 84).

1824 Beaver populations in the Rio Grande and

Pecos River basins were rapidly decreasing

due to Anglo trapping (Weber 1965: 65).

1825 Twelve beaver pelts obtained from the

Comanches were sold at Abiquiu (Weber

1971: 163).

1825 (late) (to October 1826) Several groups of trappers illegally took $100,000 worth of furs out

of New Mexico (Weber 1971: 118).

1826 James O. Pattie, a trapper, wrote “When the

dry season returns, this grass [native bunch]

may be said to be cured standing. The cattle

feed and fatten upon it, when in its state of

verdant tenderness. It afterwards sustains

them as substantial hay” (Pattie 1966: 268).

1826 A Santa Fe Trail caravan transported 2,044

pounds of beaver back east (Weber 1971: 100).

1826–41 William Workman operated a still at Taos and

may have been involved in smuggling hides

and pelts (Weber 1971: 156–157).

1827 (September to February 1828) Two Hispanics
228 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

and two Frenchmen trapped eight tercios (240

pelts) of beaver fur on the headwaters of the

Rio Grande and the Conejos River (Weber

1971: 161).

1827 (November) A French American trader

bought an unknown amount of furs at

Abiquiu. These had been obtained by Hispanics in an exchange with Ute Indians (Weber

1971: 163).

1827 Anglo and Franco trappers virtually harvested all of the beaver in the Sangre de Cristo

Range by this date (Ungnade 1972: 48).

1827 Anglo trappers harvested beaver from

wooden rafts while floating down the Rio

Grande from Cochiti Pueblo to El Paso. At the

latter settlement, they dismantled their rafts

and sold the “lumber” and logs to local residents. The trappers then turned eastward to

the Anglo frontier, thus avoiding payment of

export fees (Weber 1971: 157).

1827 Over 1,100 beaver skins taken by Ewing

Young and associated trappers on the upper

Pecos and San Juan rivers and confiscated by

government officials in Santa Fe were threatened with deterioration when “a great rain”

saturated the pelts. To save them, they were

sold. This rain also “almost ruined all the

houses in town” (Cleland 1963: 217, 220, 224).

1828 Some 1,200 pounds of beaver pelts, valued at

over $5,000, were shipped over the Santa Fe

Trail (Weber 1971: 173).

1829 A single trapper returned over the Santa Fe

Trail with 951 pounds of beaver pelts valued

at $4,297 (Weber 1971: 175).

1820s Local farmers began to notice formation of cienegas

and esteros in the Middle Rio Grande Valley. These

resulted from the dumping of excess water from

irrigation ditches (Wozniak 1987).

1820s Trapper George Yount claimed to have seen

50 or 60 grizzly bears in a day. James Ohio

Pattie claimed to have observed 220 in a single

day (Cleland 1963: 44).

1820s (late) (to early 1830s) Some “foreign” trappers

told government authorities that they had

purchased furs from Native Americans or

Hispanic residents, when in fact they had

trapped the animals. Then they sold them to

Santa Fe Trail traders, who transported them

back to Missouri (Weber 1971: 159).

1830 (late) (to spring 1831) Gervais Nolan led a

trapping expedition from Taos to an unidentified area and returned with 50 pounds of

beaver fur (Weber 1971: 183).

1831 (summer) William Sublette, a Santa Fe Trail

trader, exchanged his merchandise for 55

packs of beaver pelts (1,705) and 800 buffalo

robes, which he took back to Missouri (Weber 1971: 147).

1831 About $50,000 worth of beaver pelts and bison robes were shipped east over the Santa

Fe Trail. Some $17,500 worth of these were

harvested in New Mexico, amounting to 55

to 60 packs of beaver and 200 robes (Weber

1971: 206).

1831–33 Trading and trapping by Anglos and

Hispanos resulted in the shipment of a substantial amount of beaver pelts east over the

Santa Fe Trail (Weber 1971: 206).

1832 (fall) The Charles Bent and Company returned from Santa Fe with 13,182 pounds of

beaver, representing at least 131 packs of pelts.

These were taken over the past 2 years. There

were also 355 buffalo robes included with this

shipment (Weber 1971: 206–207).

1832 About 90 packs, or about 2,790 beaver pelts,

went east over the trail from Santa Fe. About

one-third of these were trapped in New

Mexico (Weber 1971: 206–207).

1833 The city council of Santa Fe issued a proclamation with regulations requiring draining

of stagnant pools, cleaning of streets, and removal of garbage. Throwing trash or dead

animals into irrigation ditches and streams

and burning of rubbish piles were prohibited

(Simmons 1992: 224).

1833 An estimated 60 packs of beaver were

shipped from Santa Fe (Weber 1971: 207).

1834 The annual caravan from Santa Fe carried

$15,000 worth of beaver pelts and 50 packs of

buffalo robes (500) east over the trail (Weber

1971: 218).

1830s Fewer beaver were taken as a result of population reduction due to trapping and falling

prices. The taking of buffalo robes increased

due to demand and rising prices (Weber 1971:

208–210, 215).

1830s (mid) Hat-making technology improved, and

techniques to substitute raccoon, rabbit, and

nutria for beaver were found back East, resulting in the rapid decrease in beaver pelt

prices (Muldoon 1987: 70).

1830s (mid) The popularity of buffalo hides as sleigh

lap robes and floor rugs was growing in the

eastern United States. As a result, the price of

robes increased (Lavender 1987: 13).

1835 Coal mining in the Cerrillos area was begun

(Elston 1961: 166).

1836 One merchant transported 1,000 beaver skins

and 1,000 buffalo robes over the Santa Fe Trail

(Weber 1971: 219).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 229

1837 Another Santa Fe trader carried 200 buffalo

robes and 2 packs of beaver pelts to Missouri

(Weber 1971: 219).

1837 Regional fires were common and widespread

(Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1019).

1838 A band of French trappers went into the

Sangre de Cristo Mountains above Mora, but

owing to prior trapping along the streams,

they caught no beaver (deBuys 1985: 159).

1839 Businessman Manual Alvarez shipped 383

pounds of beaver pelts over the Santa Fe Trail

to St. Louis (Weber 1971: 219).

1839 No significant trapping apparently occurred

in New Mexico (Weber 1971: 225).

1830s Josiah Gregg described the Rio del Norte (Rio

Grande) as “so shallow for the most part of

the year, that Indian canoes can scarcely float

in it” (Gregg 1966, I: 138).

1830s Gregg (Quaife 1967: 133) noted that the Rio

Puerco was dry at its mouth part of the year.

1830s Gregg (1966, I: 160–161) wrote the following

on the grama species in New Mexico: “... it

cures upon the ground and remains excellent

hay—equal if not superior to that which is

cut and stacked from our western prairies. Although the winters are rigorous, the feeding

of stock is almost entirely unknown in New

Mexico; nevertheless, the extensive herds of

the country, not only of cattle and sheep, but

of mules and horses, generally maintain

themselves in excellent condition upon the

dry pasturage alone through the cold season,

and until the rains start up the green grass

again the following summer.” Gregg (1966, I:

159) also noted that mesquite, pinyon, and

cottonwood were the most popular

fuelwoods in New Mexico. Pinyon resin was

used to make lamp oil. Cottonwood along

streams was described as “scantily scattered

along their banks.” He also commented

“Those [banks] of the Rio del Norte are now

nearly bare throughout the whole range of the

settlements and the inhabitants are forced to

resort to the distant mountains for most of

their fuel.”

1830s Josiah Gregg (1966, II: 202) wrote the following about fire’s role in maintaining grasslands: “It is unquestionably the prairie conflagrations that keep down the woody growth

upon most of the western uplands. The occasional skirts and fringes which have escaped

their rage, have been protected by the streams

they border. Yet may not the time come when

these vast plains will be covered with timber?

... Indeed, there are parts of the southwest

now thickly set with trees of good size, that,

within the remembrance of the oldest inhabitants, were as naked as the prairie plains; and

the appearance of the timber in many other

sections indicates that it has grown up within

less than a century. In fact, we are now witnessing the encroachment of timber upon the

prairies, wherever the devastating conflagrations have ceased their ravages.”

1830s Wolves were reportedly taking cattle, horses,

and sheep in the region (Gregg 1966, I: 194).

1830s Gregg (1966, I: 192–195; II: 207–210) noted that

black bears and grizzly bears were relatively

common in the region and the wolf abundant

in northern New Mexico. Elk and deer, according to him, did not occur in large numbers. Gregg also mentioned pronghorn, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, and wild horses.

1830s Gregg (1966, I: 195–196) observed that geese,

ducks, and cranes were the most numerous

birds in the territory, and turkey were numerous in some mountain ranges. Partridges and

quail were scarce.

1830s Trout were reported as abundant in the Santa

Fe River (Gregg 1966, I: 142).

1830s–40s Hispanic settlers, who were descendants of

residents of San Jose de las Huertas, came

from the Rio Grande to start a new village in

the valley. They found that the old fields were

no longer fertile and that the creek flow had

decreased (Batchen 1972: 86).

1830s (late) Almost all felt for hats was made from

furs like raccoon, which were much cheaper

than beaver. With a decreased price in the

beaver market, large trapping companies

went out of business (Murray 1979: 32).

1840s (pre) The bison may have ranged west to the

Rio Grande in northern New Mexico and

across the grasslands of north-central and

northwestern New Mexico to the San Francisco Peaks-Grand Canyon area (Henderson

and Harrington 1914: 13–14).

1840 The Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Taos

Pueblo were “well stocked with deer, elk,

bear, turkey, grouse, and squirrel” (Bodine

1979: 255).

1841 (early) Santa Fe merchant Stephen L. Lee sold

365 pounds of beaver fur to Charles Bent

(Weber 1971: 182).

1841 (October 21) Falconer (1963: 93–95), traveling

near Sandia Pueblo observed “The Rio

Grande, even at this distance N., is very broad,

running over a bed of red sand, but very shallow.” A few days later he crossed the river at

Parida, where its depth was about 2 feet. He
230 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

described the Rio Grande above Alameda as

“very broad, running over a bed of red sand,

but very shallow.”

1841 The European honey bee had not yet reached

New Mexico (Gregg 1966, I: 195).

1841 Notes and the mineral collection of Thomas

Falconer, a member of the Santa Fe expedition and a Fellow of the Geological Society of

London, were seized by Mexican officials

(Northrop 1961: 85).

1842 Wildfires were common and widespread

(Swetnam and Baisan 1995: 18).

1842 Based on tree-ring data, a forest fire occurred

on the Pajarito Plateau (Robinson 1990: 142).

1843 Father Martinez of Taos reported that buffalo,

deer, and other game were becoming more

scarce due to increased hunting pressure,

which in part was fostered by traders on the

Southern Plains. He warned that extinction

would eventually take place (Keleher 1982:

68–69).

1844 Josiah Gregg (1966, II: 149, 212), based on observations made in the early 1830s, also

warned that the buffalo might become extinct

in the West and decried their slaughter.

1845 The upper Rio Puerco was a “grassy wilderness” with “swampy vegas and clear water”

and “willow-lined banks” (Maes and Fisher

1937: 10).

1845? Lorenzo Labadie established a temporary

ranch at Los Ojuelos, 10 miles east of Tome

Hill (Simmons 1973: 147).

1840s (mid) As beaver trapping continued to decline, coarse furs again dominated the hide

trade in New Mexico (Weber 1971: 227).

1846 (May) Captain Donaciano Vigil stated that

Anglo trappers were shipping $200,000 worth

of beaver skins annually from Abiquiu and

Taos (Cleland 1963: 153).

1846 (July 9) Frederick A. Wislizenus (1969: 29)

noted Artemisia, or sagebrush, as he traveled

south through the Galisteo Basin. Near the

“foot of the Placer Mountains” he recorded

“dwarfish cedars.”

1846 (July 11) Wislizenus (1969: 33) found excellent grass and water 3 miles south of San Antonio on the east side of the Sandias. That night,

in his camp, “wolves, deers, and other innocent

animals” frightened his picketed horse.

1846 (July 14?) Rain made the valley branch of the

Rio Grande, 3 miles above Albuquerque, virtually impassable. Some of the wagon traffic

shifted to the upper branch, which ran northsouth near present Edith Boulevard, N.E.

(Wislizenus 1969: 34).

1846 (July 18) Returning to the main valley road

near Albuquerque, Wislizenus (1969: 34) described the landscape: “The Rio del Norte is

here about 100 yards wide, and as usual,

sandy, shallow, everywhere fordable and nowhere navigable, not even for canoes. In the

river we saw an abundance of geese, ducks,

and pelicans; the latter bird is very common

all along the water. Fishes and shells appear

to be very scarce. On the banks of the river,

heretofore quite bare of trees, occasionally a

few cotton trees are seen.”

1846 (July 18) Wislizenus (1969: 34) recorded large

numbers of geese, ducks, and pelicans (probably white) on the Rio Grande south of

Albuquerque.

1846 (July 19) Wislizenus (1969: 35), traveling

down the river, “reached a fine grove of cotton trees, called bosque, or alamos de Pinos

...” on the east bank of the Rio Grande south

of Isleta Pueblo.

1846 (July 21) From the Chavez “hacienda” near

Pinos, south to 6 miles below Tome,

Wislizenus (1969: 35) described the area along

the route: “soil and road getting better.” He

and his party stopped at a pond about a mile

from the river.

1846 (July 22–24) About 6 miles south of Valencia,

Wislizenus (1969: 35) stopped at a pond at

noon. Farther south, below Casas Colaradas,

he found “tolerable grass,” and below that

“good grass.”

1846 (July 23) Four miles below Casas Coloradas

and one-half mile east of the river, Wislizenus

(1965: 35) noted “tolerable grass.”

1846 (July 24–26) Near La Joya, Wislizenus (1969:

93–95) collected creosotebush (Larrea

tridentata), mesquite (Prosopis juliflora), and

narrow-leaf yucca (Yucca angustifolia [glauca]).

1846 (July 28) In the mountains west of Socorro,

Wislizenus (1969: 37, 39) found a new species

of yucca (Y. baccata). A week later he discovered a new species of Echinocactus along the

trail near Dona Ana. This cactus was 4 feet

high and more than 6 feet in circumference.

1846 (July 30–31) At Bosque del Apache,

Wislizenus (1969: 37) “camped in a fine grove

of cotton trees near the river.” Below Valverde,

he camped in another grove of cottonwoods

and on the next day found “many wild turkeys” in the bosque.

1846 (August 1–2) Traveling the Jornada del

Muerto, Wislizenus (1969: 38) found no water but “tolerable grass, and an abundance of

mezquite and palmillas.” The latter two spe-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 231

cies were collected and used as fuel. En route

to the Ojo del Muerto east of the road, “many

antelopes” were encountered.

1846 (mid August) The U.S. Army found grass,

water, and wood from Las Vegas to Santa Fe.

These resources were characterized as “abundant” near the recently abandoned Pecos

Pueblo (Clarke 1966: 71–72).

1846 (August) Grass around Santa Fe was scarce;

the U.S. Army had to send their horses from

12 to 15 miles to graze (Calvin 1968: 60).

1846 (late August-September) Lt. Abert (1962: 18,

22–23, 29, 31, 33–35) recorded the following

mammals in northern and central New

Mexico: grizzly bear, gray wolf, black-tailed

deer [mule], white-tailed deer, elk, pronghorn,

raccoon, cottontail, rabbit, and prairie dog.

1846 (September 2) South of Santa Fe, Emory

reached the Galisteo River, “...which, at that

time, was barely running. The bed of the creek

is sand and pebbles of the primitive rock....

From this place to its mouth there is scarcely

the sign of vegetation. At the dry mouth of

the Galisteo...” (Calvin 1968: 62–63).

1846 (late August-September) Lt. James Abert

(1962: 25, 27, 29–33, 36, 39, 42) recorded the

following birds in northern and central New

Mexico: duck spp. hawk sp., night heron sp.,

turkey, “skylark,” cowbird sp., yellowheaded blackbird, raven sp., Stellar’s jay, and

western meadowlark.

1846 (September 6) A contingent of the Army of

the West stopped for lunch at “a beautiful

cotton-wood grove,” Bosque de Pinos, south

of Isleta Pueblo. Later, they passed a section

of the river where “grass was only moderate—wood scarce” (Connelly 1907: 232).

1846 (September 6–7) From Los Padillas to Peralta

to the Chihuahua Trail on the east side of the

Rio Grande there was “deep sand, and the

country is perfectly barren” (Calvin 1968: 70).

1846 (September 23) Abert (1962: 37–38) noted

“very good pasture grounds along the Rio

Moro[a].”

1846 (September 26) Soldier Henry Smith Turner

(Clarke 1966: 76–77) described the landscape

south of Santa Fe: “past the Del Gado Rancho,

plenty of water in the creek that crossed the

road near it.” He found water at the crossing

of Galisteo Creek, but it was dry a “few hundred yards below,” and no grass on the road

today “until camp was made across from San

Felipe pueblo.”

1846 (September 29) Lt. William Emory crossed the

Rio Grande at Albuquerque where “its width

was about twenty-five yards, and its deepest

part just up to the hubs of the wheels” (Calvin

1968: 79).

1846 (September 29) Between Albuquerque and

Los Padillas, Emory recorded “myriads of

sand crane, geese, and brant.” He also found

“a sandy plain, destitute of wood, and with

little grass” (Calvin 1968: 79).

1846 (September 29) On the road from Santa Fe to

the old Placer mine, Abert (1962: 46) recorded

juniper, pinyon, cactus, yucca, and “a scant

growth of grass.”

1846 (September 30) Emory (Calvin 1968: 81) found

hawks building nests in holes in the basalt

escarpments west of Isleta. In the valley

around Peralta he recorded “a considerable

growth of cottonwood; among which are

found some signs of beaver.”

1846 (September 30) Traveling west from Los

Padillas, Emory (Calvin 1968: 80) recorded “a

succession of rolling sand hills” with walking stick cholla, sagebrush, and “scrub cedar,

about as high as the boot-top.”

1846 (September) Near Tome was “a filthy lake

hard by [the river] ...” (de la Vega 1976: 39).

1846 (late September-early October) Henry Smith

Turner noted a lack of wood for fuel along

the Rio Grande from San Felipe Pueblo and

south to almost Socorro, although good grass

and water were found. Only a few sparse cottonwood groves were seen. These were “preserved with great care.” Numerous sandhill

cranes, wild geese, and ducks were observed.

He found less sand on the road below Barelas

along the west side of the river (as opposed

to the east side) (Clarke 1966: 76–79).

1846 (October 3) Camped on the Rio Grande, near

La Joya de Sevilleta, Emory (Calvin 1968: 82–

83) described the river bank as “fringed with

large cottonwoods growing at intervals.”

Flocks of geese and sandhill cranes, ducks,

plovers, doves, and meadowlarks were observed. Several “large cat-fish and soft-shell

turtles were caught” in the river.

1846 (October 4) In the La Joya area, Emory (Calvin

1968: 85) recorded cholla, mesquite, romeria,

a composite, stickleaf, and chamisa. Below the

village, and on either side of the Rio Grande,

the grass was described as “excellent.” Cottonwood along the river became more common as he moved downstream.

1846 (October 5) Emory (Calvin 1968: 86) encountered creosotebush and “a little stunted acacia near Socorro, and cane grass [Phragmites]

and salt grass in the river valley.”
232 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1846 (October 6) About 11 miles below Socorro,

Turner’s army contingent encamped “where

grass and wood were abundant on the bank

of the Del Norte” (Clarke 1966: 79).

1846 (October 7) Abert (1962: 59–60) was told that

snow fell every month in the Taos area.

Wheat, corn, beans, pumpkins, melons, and

chiles were the main crops. Surrounding hills

were “covered with very good grass, which

furnishes subsistence to herds of cattle and

horses, as well as to fine flocks of sheep and

goats.”

1846 (October 7–8) Traveling down the Rio Grande,

north of the Fray Cristobal Range, Emory

(Calvin 1968: 88–90) noted that the cottonwood was larger and denser and the grama

grass adjacent to the floodplain taller. He shot

two or three quail (scaled ?), a small hawk

(merlin ?), and a deer. A “few black tailed rabbits” were seen as well. He commented on

the scarcity of game in the territory.

1846 (October 8) Along the road from Santa Fe to

Agua Fria, Lt. Abert (1962: 65) noted threadleaf groundsel, sagebrush, and several species of cactus. He had to purchase “fodder and

wood” for his camp near Agua Fria.

1846 (October 9) Emory (Calvin 1968: 91), west of

the Fray Cristobal Range and north of San

Diego, surveyed the Rio Grande; its width

was 118 feet, with a mean depth of 14 inches.

1846 (October 9) Abert (1962: 65) left camp at Agua

Fria and passed through Cienega, which he

referred to as “well settled” and a “well watered place . . . the neighboring hills are full

of springs.” He recorded cranes and wild

geese in the area.

1846 (October 10) Abert (1962: 65) recorded narrow-leaf yucca as abundant along the road

from Galisteo Creek to San Felipe Pueblo. The

Rio Grande at this point was “three to four

feet deep,” and “large flocks of geese and blue

cranes; also some teal” were seen.

1846 (early October) Below Socorro, Captain

Turner noted that trees were much more

abundant than upriver, and the grass remained good (Clarke 1966: 80–81).

1846 (October 12) Magoffin’s caravan experienced

slow travel through sand just north of Isleta

Pueblo (Drumm 1962: 152).

1846 (October 12) Moving up the Jemez River from

Ranchitos, Abert (1962: 71) described the valley as “very sandy; the bed of the stream

three-quarters of a mile in width, contains, in

many places, no water. . . .”

1846 (October 12) Lt. Abert (1962: 71) found Santa

Ana Pueblo virtually abandoned; most of the

residents were gathering corn from fields at

the confluence of the Jemez River and the Rio

Grande. The military contingent camped near

the pueblo, where they found little firewood

or forage for their mules. No grass was found

in the vicinity of the camp.

1846 (October 13) Back at Ranchitos on the Rio del

Norte, Abert (1962: 71 72) wrote that the river

“was full of wild geese,” and at Bernalillo, he

saw “large flocks of blue cranes; they kept up

a great whooping.”

1846 (October 14–15) Ponds along the road from

Bernalillo to Albuquerque “were filled with

ducks, geese, and cranes” (Abert 1962: 72).

1846 (October 16–17) West of Atrisco, Abert (1962:

74) and his men followed the Rio Puerco upstream over a sandy road. He initially described the valley as “wide, flat, overgrown

with varieties of artemisias and coarse grass,

fit only for sheep and goats.” The river banks

were “stiff loam; they are 10 or 12 feet high,

and stand vertically.” He described the surrounding landscape as “broken with sand

hills, that are overgrown with cedar trees, the

only kind of timber to be seen, except a few

cotton-wood trees that are found in the bed

of the river.” Abert moved his men and wagons slowly up the river through deep sand

and, in some places, dense stands of sagebrush. They encountered a corn field or

forked-pole hogan and archeological ruins.

The height of the river banks where they

crossed was 30 feet; this was near the abandoned town of “Poblazon.”

1846 (October 18–19) Having crossed the Puerco,

Abert (1962: 77–78) found no water in a tributary of the river as he moved west, and the

valley around seemed “destitute of grass.”

Lacking wood for fuel, the men used “dry

branches of the artemisia to build a cooking

fire.” On the second day Abert reached

Moquino, a Laguna Pueblo village. Here, his

mules ran off in search of grass and water.

1846 (October 20) Abert (1962: 81–82) moved on to

Paguate Pueblo, where he “saw several large

flocks of sheep and goats.” Following the Rio

Paguate south, he passed through corn and

pumpkin fields where “large flocks of cranes

were whooping.” At Laguna, the lake to the

west of the pueblo held only a small pool of

water. Along the Rio San Jose were large

flocks of snow geese. To the northwest was

the village of Cubero, which Abert was told

had good grass and water. At the pueblo
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 233

Abert noticed turkeys, chickens, and “tame

macaws.”

1846 (October 22) A contingent of the U.S. Army

reached the Galisteo River and found water

for themselves and their animals (Cooke 1964:

94).

1846 (October 22–23) Abert (1962: 92) moved northeast from Acoma, toward El Rito, and found

travel to be difficult in the deep sand. Light

rain fell on their camp on a sandy knoll, and

there was no grass for the animals. On the

next day the ruins of El Rito were reached;

the village was abandoned some years before

when residents had their irrigation water diverted upstream. Camping near the ruins,

Abert found “plenty of wood and of water”

and “the pasturage was good.”

1846 (October 24) Susan Magoffin put on rubber

boots and waded into the Rio Grande near

Bosquecito. She wrote of this experience: “...

I found myself standing on a sand-bar and

the wide Rio Grande curling its dark waters

around me. There is something wildly sublime in the deep murmur of a mighty river,

as it rolls by us with stately pride, its course

pending to the fearful Ocean” (Drumm 1962:

161–162).

1846 (October 24) Abert (1962: 92–93) traveled eastsoutheast, down the Rio de San Jose to its

confluence with the Rio Puerco. Two to 3 miles

down the Puerco “some water, that was quite

thick with mud” was found.

1846 (October 25) Abert’s (1962: 95) command

awoke to a “heavy frost and a skim of ice on

the water.” Moving toward the Rio Grande,

they “collected enough wood to last a couple

of days.” Atrisco was reached, and a camp

was made.

1846 (October 25) Abert (1962: 96) wrote “. . . no

wood is to be obtained within less than 9 or

10 miles of Albuquerque. . . .”

1846 (October 27–28) A rain and windstorm struck

Abert’s (1962: 99) party camped at Pajarito,

and the temperature dropped. In the morning and early afternoon, Canada and snow

geese were “very abundant” and incessantly

“honking.”

1846 (October 30) Moving west from Isleta Pueblo

into the Manzano Mountains via Infierno

Canyon, Abert (1962: 100) described the road

as “fine” and “compact.” In the foothills were

“several species of yucca and cacti.” The

Manzanos were “covered with snow, and the

temperature dropped.” A “stream of cold

water” flowed through the canyon, and “cottonwood trees and grape vines” grew along

its banks. Juniper and pinyon were noted on

canyon slopes.

1846 (October 31) A “terrible storm,” accompanied

by “rain, hail, snow, and great gusts of wind”

struck Abert’s (1962: 103–104) camp. He recorded “holly” [agarita or Mahonia?], juniper,

fir, and “some stunted oaks” along the trail,

as well as “numerous signs of bear.” As the

party left the canyon and the Manzanos, and

took the road south toward the “salt lakes,”

the strong, cold winds forced Abert to make

camp in the “densest grove of pine trees” and

to build a huge fire of “pitch pine” (pinyon?).

“A number of Mexicans, with eleven carretas

loaded with corn, stopped and encamped”

nearby.

1846 (October) Near La Joya, Emory (Calvin 1968:

83) saw “immense flights of sand cranes and

geese,” which were feeding near houses and

villages, not only here, but up and down the

Rio Grande.

1846 (late October-early November) Captain P. St.

George Cooke (1952: 54) noted that beaver,

bear, and deer were present in and along the

Rio Grande from just below Socorro to San

Diego.

1846 (November 1) Abert (1962: 104–105) moved

south over “an extended plain” on the road

to Chilili, which in recent years had moved

up the drainage from an earlier village site in

order to find a more reliable water supply.

Around the community were “flocks of sheep

containing several thousand [animals].” The

rangelands here afforded “excellent pasturage.” At Tajique, the party camped above the

village near a stream.

1846 (November 2–3) Col. P. St. George Cooke

(1952: ) and his U.S. troops camped in an

“open grove of the river bottom” with “plenty

of fuel” south of San Marcial. On the second

day, camp was on “a high plain, covered with

grama grass.” For the last 40 miles of travel

south along the valley he noted “the flat river

bottom is perhaps two miles in width” and

with “forests covering perhaps one-fourth of

the bottoms, and the mountains also covered

with cedar very near.” He also observed mesquite and cactus (?) 10 feet high along the route.

1846 (November 5–6) After visiting the Abo ruins,

Abert (1962: 116–118) followed the road west,

through Abo Pass, and on to Casa Colorado

on the Rio Grande. On the bajada he saw a

“large band of antelope dash across the road.

Farther along the route, cattle were found
234 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

grazing near “several little ponds of water,”

where the party camped. North of the village

were several large ponds whose “surfaces

were covered with ducks and geese, and longlegged cranes” and a number of vineyards.

1846 (November 7–8) From Casa Colorado, Abert

(1962: 118–119) turned south, down the east

side of the Rio Grande for about 12 miles,

where camp was made “on a salt plain, by

the side of the river, close by some cottonwood trees.” There were “some pools of beautifully clear water,” which was “perfectly

saturated with salt.” A windy weather front

struck, bringing colder temperatures. Abert

stopped at La Joya, where corn was purchased

for the mules and horses. He continued

downriver and made camp in “a large grove

of cottonwood trees in the vicinity of an

acequia.” During the day’s march, “great quantities of mezquit” and creosotebush were seen.

1846 (November 9) From La Joya south, Abert

(1962: 119–120) noted that the river banks

were “heavily timbered with cotton wood,

and the weather was warmer.” Along the road

were scattered mesquite and four kinds of cactus.” Many flocks of sheep that the pastores had

driven in from the mountains” were observed.

Below Sabino there were goats, in addition to

sheep. Below Parida the route became more

sandy and traversed some steep hills.

1846 (November 10) Lt. Abert (1962: 120–121)

noted “cockle burs” (Xanthium strumarium

var. canadense) and “sand burs” (Cenchrus sp.)

in New Mexico. These were nuisances, as they

stuck to clothing, blankets, the manes of

horses, and the tails of mules. The screw-bean

mesquite was also recorded.

1846 (November 15–19) While hunting near

Valverde, Abert (1962: 125–126) and a few

men killed several merganser ducks, and a

bald eagle was sighted on a sand bar in the

middle of the Rio Grande.

1846 (November 19–28) The livestock of Ruxton’s

party suffered from a lack of grass and severe

cold as they traveled from El Paso to Valverde

(Hafen 1950: 167).

1846 (November 20–27) The river at the Valverde

camps was “full of sand bars,” and the river

level was low. Carrizo grass, or Phragmites,

grew along the banks. As the weather turned

colder, Abert (1962: 126–28) moved camp to

“a more sheltered position” with “plenty of

cotton wood trees. Construction of houses

was begun, and adobes for the chimneys from

the ruins of Valverde” were collected.

1846 (November 28) At Valverde large cottonwoods extended a half-mile back from the Rio

Grande “without any undergrowth of

bushes” (Hafen 1950: 167).

1846 (November) A U.S. soldier reported that many

of the horses from his unit were perhaps becoming ill from browsing cottonwoods. He

also noted that the “cotton-wood trees here are

so thickly clad with mistletoe, that they present

a green appearance” (Stanley 1950: 62).

1846 (late November) George Ruxton (1973: 179)

and two hunting companions saw about 30

turkeys in the bosque at Valverde.

1846 (November-December) The large number of

U.S. troops and Santa Fe Trail traders camped

at Valverde almost exhausted the fuelwood,

grass, and game in the area (Moorhead 1958:

167–168).

1846 (December 1–9) A hunting party at Valverde

“saw many deer and wild turkeys,” but were

able to kill none. Several coveys of quail in

the area were hunted (Abert 1962: 129–130).

1846 (December 14) Ruxton (1973: 183) crossed the

river to the west bank at the Valverde ford and

described the village of San Antonio: “Crossing Del Norte, we proceeded on its right bank

ten or twelve miles, encamping in the bottom

near the new settlement of San Antonio, a little

hamlet of ten or twelve log-huts, inhabited by

pastores and vaqueros—shepherds and cattleherders. The river is but thinly timbered here,

the soil being arid and sterile; on the bluffs, however, the grass is very good, being the gramma

or feather-grass, and numerous flocks of sheep

are sent hither to pasture from the settlements

higher up the stream.”

1846 (December 14–19) Three different contingents

of the invading U.S. Army, under Colonel

Doniphan, marched south, staggered over

these 6 days so there would be adequate forage for their animals (McGaw 1972: 158).

1846 (December 16–19) Abert (1962: 135–137) and

his command continued north through

Socorro and on to Lemitar, where some residents had mules for sale. He bought two of

the animals. At the Jose Chavez “hacienda”

Abert bought hay for his animals. At Belen,

he obtained specimens of selenite, which was

used locally for covering windows.

1846 (December 19) A physician in Albuquerque

related that many Hispanic children had died

from measles and whooping cough (Abert

1962: 135–137).

1846 (fall) The U.S. military could find no cattle

feed within 50 miles of Santa Fe, owing partly
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 235

to recent fires set by Indians (Frazer 1983: 11;

Sunseri 1979: 75).

1846 (fall) (to summer 1847) Augustus Fendler, a

Prussian botanist, collected 1,026 plant specimens along the Santa Fe River and the Rio

Grande Valley to the west. Two genera in the

saxifrage family were named for him, Fendlera

and Fendlerella (Dickerman 1985: 168–169).

1846 (December 21) Camped above Galisteo Creek,

George F. Ruxton (1973: 187) noted there was

no grass or “timber” at this site.

1846 (December 21–23) About a mile north of San

Felipe, Abert (1962: 138–139) and his command camped in an “old cultivated field,

which afforded grazing for our animals.” On

the road the next day, near Santo Domingo,

they shot at four coyotes. At Galisteo Creek

there was “plenty of water,” and the command camped there. Near Cieneguilla,

Abert’s mule became mired in marsh mud,

but the animal was extricated with some effort. Santa Fe was reached around noon of the

23rd.

1846 (December 22–23) Abert (1962: 138–139)

reached the Galisteo River, where “we found

plenty of water, which, although covered with

ice, yet that could be easily broken.” The next

day was cold, and the ground was covered

with snow.

1846 (December) Ruxton (1973: 178) reported deer,

pronghorn, hares, and rabbits as abundant in

the Valverde area. He also killed a mountain

lion in this locale.

1846 Santa Fe-Chihuahua trails trader James Josiah

Webb noted that the area roads were so bad

that they made only 2 to 10 miles a day (Bieber

1931: 188–189).

1846 Abert described the Tierra Amarilla grant as

having “prime stock range” (Swadesh 1974:

62).

1846 Ruxton recorded 75 varieties of grasshoppers

and locusts, “lantern bug,” an “endless variety” of beetles, and tarantulas (Hafen 1950:

150).

1846 Three years after cura Antonio Jose Martinez

warned that the Anglo-spurred market for

buffalo hides would severely reduce, if not

exterminate, this animal, New Mexico hunters had to travel over 250 miles east to find

only small herds. He also warned that Plains

Indians would increase their raiding on New

Mexico as their food base, the buffalo,

dwindled (Weber 1982: 98).

1846 Governor Charles Bent reported that Jicarilla

Apache were stealing livestock for their meat

because there was little game in the region

(Worcester 1979: 44).

1846 (post) Several plants collected and described

by Frederick Wislizenus were named in his

honor: Ferocactus wislizeni, valley cottonwood

(Populus deltoides ssp. wislizeni), and spectacle

pod (Dithryea wislizeni) (Dickerman 1985:

166).

1847 (January 2–3) After crossing the Rio Gallinas,

Abert (1962: 144–145) saw “large herds of

antelopes, apparently from two to three hundred animals in each herd. . . .”

1847 (January 29) General Sterling Price found the

old camino militar near Embudo impassable

for his wagons and artillery. Opposing rebels

had deployed among the junipers, pinyons,

and boulders, making an attack on them difficult (Twitchell 1963, II: 240).

1847 (March 18) An Anglo trading party, below El

Paso, burned the tall grass around their camp

so fire would not sweep across them while

asleep (Drumm 1962: 224).

1847 (April 26) G. Gibson and his companions traveled north from Valverde on the Chihuahua

Trail to camp, 1 mile above the ford of the road

to Socorro. Here, they found water, wood, and

grass at their camp in cottonwoods. The Rio

Grande was running high, precluding their

crossing the river to Socorro to procure

needed items (Frazer 1981: 33).

1847 (April 27) Ducks and geese were plentiful

along the Rio Grande from the Socorro ford

to north of Bosquecito (Frazer 1981: 33).

1847 (April 29) From north of Bosquecito to above

La Joya de Sevilleta, George Rutledge

Gibson’s unit found no grass for their animals

or wood for fuel (Frazer 1981: 35).

1847 (May 1) From 3 miles south of Tome to near

Isleta Pueblo, Gibson reported there was no

wood or water and little grass (Frazer 1981:

36).

1847 Regional fires were common and widespread

(Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1019).

1847–61 The army set up a number of sawmills across

the region. Some lumber was contracted from

private sources, but soldiers cut and sawed

most of the lumber used in construction

(Frazer 1983: 187).

1848 (August 27-September 1) A party of trappers

found no grass for their horses and mules

from Santa Fe to Abiquiu. They did find “fine

grass” on the Chama River above Abiquiu

(Hafen and Hafen 1993: 344–345).

1849 (June 13–19) Anglo travelers found “very poor

grazing” and “no grass” from Cerrillos to San
236 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Antonio, on the east side of the Sandia Mountains (Bloom 1945: 146).

1849 (June 20) Emigrant William H. Chamberlin

also observed that there was no fuelwood “in

the neighborhood of the place,” and that gathered at some distance from Albuquerque sold

for $30 per cord. Traveling south from Albuquerque on the next day, Chamberlin wrote

“For the most part of the time we traveled

through very heavy sand beds and hills,

which was drifting, and almost suffocated us

at times” (Bloom 1945: 146–147).

1849 (June 20) William Chamberlin (Bloom 1945:

146) described the Rio Grande at Albuquerque as a “noble river, so celebrated in history

of late years, is nearly a mile wide at this

point. Its waters have been higher this season than ever known before, and although

considerably abated, is still very much swollen, and more than bank full in many places.

. . . The current is very swift, the water cold,

and of a muddy or turbid nature.”

1849 (June 21) Following the old Camino Real

south from Albuquerque, Chamberlin’s party

encountered “heavy sand beds and hills,

which was drifting,” and “as far as the eye

can reach nothing but a bleak, barren continuation of sand hills is visible” (Bloom 1945:

148).

1849 (June 22) Chamberlin described the Rio

Grande environment in the Valencia-Tome

area: “The channel of the river frequently narrows to 150 yards, where it runs very rapid,

boiling, foaming and roaring, as its turbulent

waters rush along. The sand hills frequently

extend into the river, obliging us to cross

them, and at times we cannot find the bank

of the Rio Grande, where we had pretty good

grazing for our stock, but were very much

annoyed by mosquitoes, which swarm along

the river in myriads ...” (Bloom 1945: 148–149).

1849 (June 22) South of Peralta, Chamberlin and

his compan-ions camped on the bank of the

Rio Grande, where they found “pretty good

grazing” for their livestock. Swarms of mosquitoes were a nuisance (Bloom 1945: 149).

1849 (June 25) At, or near, Parida, Chamberlin and

his com-panions crossed the Rio Grande in a

“large dug out” operated by a “ferryman.”

The river apparently still flowing above normal was “about 250 yards wide...” (Bloom

1945: 150).

1849 Camped south of San Antonio, Chamberlin

June 28 recorded “good grass, lots of mosquitoes . . .”

(Bloom 1945: 151).

1849 (June 30) In the San Marcial area, Chamberlin

wrote “The bottom land along the river becomes narrower as we travel down,” and “the

growth of cottonwood on its banks becomes

more extensive,” and at camp “we had plenty

of grass” (Bloom 1945: 152).

1849 (June 30) South of San Marcial, Chamberlin

described the vegetation on the uplands, adjacent to the river, as short, dry grass “. . .

which affords good pasture for sheep. The

hills and plains are covered with a great variety of mezquite and other bushes, plants and

flowers peculiar to the country . . .” (Bloom

1945: 152).

1849 (summer) The Abo ruins were “inhabited by

owls and coyotes” (Hannum 1930: 222).

1849 (August 16) Colonel John M. Washington’s

troops found “good grass and water” and

“sufficient fuel” at Agua Fria on the Santa Fe

River (McNitt 1964: 7).

1849 (August 17) From the mouth of the Santa Fe

River to the east bank of the Rio Grande,

across from Cochiti, Lt. James H. Simpson

recorded grassland with no trees (McNitt

1964: 8).

1849 (August 20) Lt. Simpson saw a small, gray

wolf close to Canoncito on the Rio Guadalupe

(McNitt 1964: 15).

1849 (August 22) Lt. Simpson camped near San

Ysidro, where there was “good water, tolerable pasturage, and wood in the vicinity”

(McNitt 1964: 24).

1849 (August 24) Lt. Simpson described the Rio

Puerco, above San Luis, as about 100 feet wide

at the bottom of its channel. The vertical banks

were 20 to 30 feet high; they were graded

down by the contingent so that the artillery

and pack animals could cross the river. The

river was “slightly fringed with cottonwood”

and with “water only here and there, in pools

—the fluid being a greenish, sickening color,

and brackish to the taste.” (McNitt 1964:

29).

1849 (August 24) Another member of the SimpsonWashington contingent, Richard Kern, wrote

in his journal “The Puerco was a miserable,

dirty and little stream of brackish water lined

with high cut soil banks and cotton woods”

(McNitt 1964: 29).

1849 (August 24) The 15-mile march north from the

Rio Puerco passed through “pine and cedar

of a dwarf growth, very thinly scattered; and

the artemisia [sagebrush] has been seen everywhere” (McNitt 1964: 30–31).

1849 (August 24–25) After passing over grasslands
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 237

and scattered juniper and pinyon pine, Lt.

Simpson camped on the Torreon Arroyo. A

few cottonwoods along the arroyo were noted

(McNitt 1964: 32).

1849 (summer) Wild horses were seen north of San

Pedro. Near this settlement, “grass was

scarce.” Wolves were common along the road

east of the Sandias (Hannum 1930: 221–222).

1849 (late summer) Fuelwood, grass, and water

were found at La Joya (Hannum 1930: 223).

1849 (late summer) About 15 miles south of San

Antonio, on the Chihuahua Trail, “there was

good grass . . .” Opposite Valverde, there was

a “patch of timber . . .” (Hannum 1930: 226).

1849 (late summer) Near La Joyita the Rio Grande

was over 6 feet deep. The nearest “timber”

was 3 miles away, and local residents gathered “brushwood” there for fuel (Hannum

1930: 223–224).

1849 (September 20) The Rio Grande, at the Barelas

crossing, was described as “probably three

hundred yards wide, the stream rapid, its

depth four feet, and its bottom of a quicksand

character” (McNitt 1964: 153).

1849 (September 21–22) Lt. Simpson reported that

residents of Albuquerque had to travel 25

miles to find fuelwood. There were scattered

trees sparsely distributed along the Rio

Grande (McNitt 1964: 152, 154).

1849 (late September) Lt. Simpson wrote in his

journal “The valley of the Rio Grande for a

number of miles above Albuquerque presents

the finest agricultural and pastoral country I

have yet seen in New Mexico. The breadth of

the valley under cultivation is, probably, not

quite a mile.” Farther north, he wrote “The

face of the country today has presented, with

some trifling exceptions—along the Rio

Grande, at Delgado’s, and between Agua Fria

and Santa Fe—one extended barren waste of

uncultivable soil” (McNitt 1964: 154, 158).

1849 Rangelands around Santa Fe, perhaps for up

to 20 miles, had been denuded of grass by

livestock of wagon trains. At nearby Galisteo,

erosion, which began at this time, had been

cut by deep arroyos, and the Galisteo Creek

has eroded to a depth of 12 feet. The channel

today is about 200 feet wide; in 1849 a plank

spanned the creek (deBuys 1985: 216–217).

1849 A military officer who had been stationed at

Socorro recommended the Canadian RiverGila River route to southern California as best

because the Santa Fe area had little grass to

support emigrant caravans (Bearss and

Gibson 1979: 207).

1849 Several cattle died from eating poisonous

plants in the Abo area (Hannum 1930: 222–

223).

1849 A wolf with rabies reportedly attacked a party

of men and bit six of them; one later died (Cox

1925: 135–136).

1849–50s A U.S. military officer noted “Horses and

mules turned out to graze always prefer the

grass (grama and other bunch grass) upon the

mountain sides to grass of the valleys” (Marcy

1988: 113).

1849–50s In some valleys in and near the southern

Rocky Mountains, “immense herds of pronghorn antelope” congregated. Mounted Native

Americans in the region surrounded the

herds, then ran the animals until they tired.

Large numbers of the exhausted animals were

then approached and killed (Marcy 1988: 244).

1840s Corn was a popular exchange item in the fur

trade with Native Americans (Muldoon 1987:

71).

1840s Most beaver pelts going over the Santa Fe

Trail were obtained in New Mexico through

trading rather than trapping (Weber 1971:

224).

1840s–60s (falls) Parties of men from the Placitas area

went east onto the Southern Plains to hunt

buffalo. These hunters carried ground corn,

dried peas, beans, onions, and raisins as provisions. Buffalo hides were used in making

clothing, moccasins, rugs, and balls used in a

game. The meat was dried while on the plains

and transported back to the home villages.

As the buffalo became increasingly scarce,

families increased the size of their goat and

sheep herds (Batchen 1972: 64–65).

1840s–70s Bears in the Sandia Mountains were reportedly common and were considered a menace

to the goat and sheep herds and their herders. Attacks on these livestock occurred, and

a few herders were mauled or killed. Wildlife such as deer, wild turkey, and grouse were

abundant in the northern reaches of the

Sandia Mountains. Pronghorns were common

on the Bajada de Sandia. They were hunted

with guns, bows and arrows, and box traps

by Placitas area Hispanics (Batchen 1972: 49–

50, 64).

1850 About 100,000 acres were in irrigated cultivation in the Middle Rio Grande Valley. “Native hay” was a major crop (Hedke 1925: 5).

1850 Colonel McCall (1851: 5) wrote the following

about New Mexico livestock: “There are in

New Mexico grazing lands of great extent,

where countless flocks and herds may be
238 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

reared at a very trifling expense. They require

neither stabling nor forage during the winter; the numerous ‘gramma,’ a species of grass

found on the mountain sides and the adjoining uplands, affording abundant sustenance

during that season.”

1850–51 The U.S. Assistant Surgeon accompanied Lt.

Lorenzo Sitgreaves on his expedition from El

Paso to Santa Fe, then west to El Morro and

the Zuni area. He was the first scientist to collect birds and mammals in the region. He collected and described, for the first time, greyheaded junco (now lumped with two former

species into one), black-capped vireo, Cassin’s

sparrow, Abert’s squirrel, Ord’s kangaroo rat,

and the coyote (Hume 1942: 497–503).

1850–1911 Sandhill cranes were common along the Rio

Grande during migration (and probably late

fall-winter) (Henderson and Harrington 1914:

33).

1851 (April 19–20) About 30 miles north of El Paso

the dominant vegetation on the uplands bordering the Rio Grande was mesquite chaparral, creosotebush, sagebrush, two species of

yucca, and patches of grama grass. On the

floodplain were cottonwood trees. About 50

miles north of the same town, the river valley supported “fine groves of large cottonwood, with occasional mezquit” (Bartlett

1965, I: 199–200).

1851 (April 27) Bartlett’s (1965, I: 215–216) party

crossed “the old fording place” at San Diego.

He described the crossing: “In fording the

river, one of the wagons, in consequence of

diverging a little from the proper course, got

into a quicksand, and was near being lost.”

1851 (April 27) Part of the boundary survey contingent crossed the Rio Grande at the old ford

site at San Diego. The entire valley in this area

was described as being “more or less wooded

...” with “excellent grass.” The party camped

at Santa Barbara, above San Diego, near a

mile-long lake that was probably a former

channel of the Rio Grande (Bartlett 1965, I:

216–217).

1851 (August 17) Galisteo Creek, east of present I–

25, “was barely running.” From here to its

confluence with the Rio Grande there was

“scarcely the sign of vegetation” (Dillon 1970:

53).

1851 Regional fires were common and widespread

(Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1019).

1851 J. R. Bartlett noted that wolves were abundant

on the plains and valleys of southern New

Mexico (Brown 1983: 15).

1851–52 The Territorial Legislature declared that the

acequia alignments in use at the time should

not be disturbed and should remain public,

and their use for irrigation should take precedence over all other uses, such as grist mills

(Wozniak 1987).

1851–60 Based on tree-ring evidence, precipitation was

below 20th century means (Fritts 1991: 155).

1852 At Albuquerque, Franz Huning described the

water used for domestic activities as “always

more or less oily and in winter hard to get at”

(Browne 1973: 57).

1852 Merriam’s turkey was found on every

wooded riparian reach in the territory (Henderson and Harrington 1914: 35).

1852 Grizzly bears were reported common in the

valleys of southwest New Mexico and the Rio

Grande in the south-central part of the state

(Bailey 1971: 357).

1852 Naturalist S.W. Woodhouse reported that

wolves were common across New Mexico

(Bailey 1971: 310).

1852 (ca.) The El Tajo ditch was constructed to “relieve the high water overflows at Albuquerque.” The de los Padillas acequia, on the other

side of the river, was primarily used for flood

control (Wozniak 1987).

1852–55 Army doctor Thomas Charlton Henry described New Mexico’s wildlife: “The plains

swarm with antelopes; the hills with deer and

‘grizzlies’; the rivers with swans, ducks, and

wild geese; while among the timber generally, are to be found many curious birds, peculiar to the country, some specimens of

which are undescribed. There is a great profusion of lizards, salamanders, and chameleons; I should say more than thirty species...”

(Hume 1942: 210).

1852–55 Army surgeon Henry wrote “This is a curious and unique country—New Mexico, full

of ... lizards, tarantulas, and flies in profusion

(Hume 1942: 209–210).

1850s (early) A U.S. Army surgeon described the Rio

Grande in the Socorro area as 200 to 600 yards

wide, depending on runoff amounts from the

basin above. High water occurred from the

first of May to late July, and more severe

floods destroyed “hundreds of acres” of agricultural fields. Change in the channel reportedly took place every year (Hammond

1966: 24–25).

1850s (early) The Rio Puerco channel at La Ventana

was about 8 feet deep (Dortignac 1962: 588).

1853 (May 2) A military contingent crossed the Rio

Grande at Cieneguilla, located about 18 miles
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 239

southwest of Taos. The men dismounted and

swam the horses across the river (Bennett

1948: 36).

1853 (October 3) Lt. A.W. Whipple (Foreman 1941:

109) described the Rio Galisteo: “The channel is sandy, and several hundred feet wide,

evidently bearing much water at certain seasons. The flowing stream is only a few feet in

width.”

1853 (November 7) Lt. Whipple (Foreman 1941:

116) described the Rio Grande at Pajarito: “...

the river bottom is wide and low as at Albuquerque.” And further south at Isleta “The

bed of the river is sandy, and the depth of

water three to four feet. The usual ford is

about one hundred yards below. Few trees

occur in the valley, except at Bosque de los

Pinos, five miles below Isleta, where the wide

bottom lands are covered with quite a forest

of mesquites and cotton-woods.”

1853 (November 7) Between Albuquerque and

Bosque de los Pinos, Lt. Whipple noted that

there were few trees in the valley. At the latter location, 5 miles below Isleta, he noted

“. . . the wide bottom lands are covered with

quite a forest of mesquites and cotton-woods”

(Foreman 1941: 116).

1853 (November 10) At the Barelas ford, just south

of Albuquerque, Lt. Whipple described the

Rio Grande: “The bed of the stream is about

500 yards wide, with a channel upon each side

from three to four feet deep, and a temporary

island of sand and clay in the centre, occupying about one third of the width. In one or

two places there were quicksands sufficient

to make the passage laborious. The current

of the stream is rapid. . . . Our own observations made the fall five feet per mile at this

place” (Foreman 1941: 119).

1853 (November 12) Leaving the Rio Grande and

moving westward, Lt. Whipple (Foreman

1941: 120) reached Sheep Springs, also known

as El Alamo, 17 miles east of the Rio Puerco

and on the road to Laguna Pueblo. He wrote,

“The water seems to issue from beneath a stone

ledge, but is neither palatable nor abundant.”

1853 (November 12–16) Lt. Whipple (Foreman

1941: 120–129) and his men reached the Rio

San Jose, which he described as a “... fine wide

valley ... the stream that now flows by the foot

of the hill is narrow, and, a short distance below, shows strong symptoms of sinking below the surface. The banks are covered with

a rich soil, which, in some places, is white with

efflorescent salts. Ascending the narrow valley, the stream became larger . . . forming lagunas, and fertilizing some very broad bottoms.” Farther west, he refers to the San Jose

as “. . . a pretty brook . . .” and beyond, at the

“Hay Camp,” probably near modern

McCarty, wrote “The valley spreads out into

a wide vega, covered with an abundance of

grama, which is occasionally cut to supply

hay to the military posts.” The Ojo del Gallo

was reached on the next day.

1853 Zoologist C.B.R. Kennerly observed that black

bears and grizzly bears were common in the

foothills from Mount Taylor to the Zuni

Mountains. He also reported that both species, when food shortages occurred in the

mountains, came down to the valley and

frightened away sheepherders and attacked

their flocks (Bailey 1971: 364).

1853 Indian Agent E.A. Graves of Dona Ana reported that the buffalo population was still

decreasing due to Plains Indian-trader activities (Keleher 1982: 89).

1853–54 Indian agent Steck reported that game was

scarce due to Anglo-American hunting and

other activities. Older Gila Apaches recalled

the time when buffalo were near (Cole 1988:

80–81).

1853–54 Lt. Col. Henry (1856) recorded 170 species of

birds while stationed at forts Thorn, Fillmore,

and Webster (Ligon 1961: 7–8).

1854 (spring) The only large tract of cottonwoods

found along the Middle or Upper Rio Grande

Valley was located below Isleta Pueblo on the

east side of the river according to W.W.H.

Davis (1982: 356). He wrote “Wood is exceedingly scarce all over the country. The valleys

are generally bare of it.”

1854 (April 28) Bartlett (1965, I: 217–218) and his

party camped at Santa Barbara, on the west

bank of the Rio Grande, near a “pond or laguna, extending a mile or more.” He commented “. . . I think it must have been formerly the channel of the Rio Grande . . . it is

continually changing its bed, where great

bends occur. The laguna is now supplied by

overflows from the river.”

1854 W.W.H. Davis (1982: 353) described Albuquerque “As a place of residence it is far less pleasant than Santa Fe. At some seasons of the year

high winds prevail, when the sun is almost

obscured by the clouds of fine dust that is

whirled through the air, and which finds an

entrance into the houses through every nook

and cranny. Then there are flies and mosquitoes, which swarm in and out of doors in un-
240 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

told millions, which neither day nor night allow man or beast to live in peace. The weather

is oppressively warm in the summer season.

The water used for all purposes comes from

the river, and is so muddy that you can not

see the face in it until it shall have settled several hours.”

1854 Perhaps the last whooping crane in New

Mexico, prior to its reintroduction in 1975,

was recorded by Henry near Fort Thorn in

the Rio Grande Valley (Ligon 1961: 106).

1854 On a river cut-off at Santa Barbara, Bartlett

1965, I: 218) noted “many wild fowl. . . .”

1855 (July) A bosque was present in the Rio Grande

Valley near Algodones (Davis 1982: 389).

1855 On the Rio Puerco, south of the Santa Fe Rail

line, the channel was 20 feet deep (Bryan 1928:

276).

1857 Santa Fe was described as “pleasantly situated on an extensive plateau” and produced

“good crops of wheat, corn, beans, red pepper, and many of the vegetables . . .” and

“apples and the smaller fruits. . . .” The area

around “for miles” was destitute of trees. The

“large growth” was reportedly “cut away, at

an early date in the history of the place, for

fuel and for better security against hostile Indians . . .” but “stunted cedars are very common.” Pinyon was “the almost sole supply of

fire-wood,” which was “brought for miles on

the backs of donkeys and sold by the load, in

the plaza, at from twenty-five cents to one

dollar....” The “river-water is very extensively

used for drinking purposes, and is excellent.”

Potable water was found by digging wells 10

to 40 feet deep (U.S. Surgeon-General’s Office 1857).

1857 Lieutenant E.F. Beale (1858) described the vegetation along the Rio Grande near Ft. Craig:

“The grass on the river bottoms is not good, and

we therefore camped on the nearest hills to the

river, where we found excellent gramma.”

1857 Near Fort Craig were black bear, grizzly bear,

gray wolf, mountain lion, bobcat, and weasel. Birds included “swans, pelicans, wild

geese, brant, and almost every species of duck

. . . as well as sand-hill cranes, blue herons,

bitterns, and several species of snipe.” Away

from the post in the foothills and mountains

there were “turkey, quail, blackbird, meadowlark, robins, doves, sparrows, bluebird, cardinal bird, snow-bird, and many others. The

Rio Grande abounded in “catfish, buffalo, and

white fish,” and “beavers and muskrats” were

“found in great numbers within a mile of the

post.” Drinking water was collected from the

Rio Grande (U.S. Surgeon-General’s Office

1857: 250–251).

1857 Fort Wingate was situated in an “open and

grassy” valley “with some pine timber and

scrubby oak scattered through it, and has

well-wooded hills back of it.” The fauna was

composed of “antelope, black-tailed deer,

black bear, large gray wolf, coyote, wild cat,

fox, beaver.” Birds included various species

of ducks, ravens, blackbirds, “Canada” jay,

“speckled” woodpecker, northern flicker,

kestrel, several species of hawks and owls,

mourning dove, a flycatcher, western meadowlark, magpie, mountain and western bluebird, and a swallow. There was “very little game

in the neighborhood of the post, it having been

thinned out of late years by the Navajo Indians” (U.S. Surgeon-General’s Office 1857: 311).

1858 The first Hispanic families began to settle Ojo

de la Casa east of Placitas, where there was

fertile soil and water from Las Huertas Creek

(Batchen 1972: 6).

1859 (summer) At Isleta Pueblo, Samuel W.

Cozzens (1988: 274–275) noted “acequias

nicely kept, and the vineyards yielding abundantly.” He and his two companions forded

the river, which was 3 to 4 feet deep, about

300 feet wide, and muddy. They camped for

the night on the bank of the river at the

pueblo. On awakening the next morning, the

Rio Grande was flowing between the men and

Isleta, a half mile away. Part of a vineyard and

a corn field were destroyed during the movement of the river. Cozzens (1988: 275) described the ford at Isleta: “Its bottom is nothing less than a mass of quicksand; and as we

had been informed that the ford here is hazardous and very uncertain it was with no enviable feeling that we looked at the muddy,

turbid water, and realized the difficulties we

might encounter in getting our mules and

heavily-laden wagon safely across the stream

and up the steep bank on the opposite side.”

1859 On the road from Isleta to Laguna Pueblo,

Cozzens (1988: 279) described the landscape

as “quite destitute of vegetation, and presenting altogether a most barren and cheerless

aspect.” Reaching the Rio Puerco he noted

that “the valley is quite extensive and very

flat, and is covered with a species of coarse

grass, valuable for sheep and goats, thousands of which were seen grazing on every

side.” Shepherds and their dogs were with

each flock.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 241

1859 Near the ruins of Valverde, Cozzens (1988: 77)

observed that “cottonwood trees ... line[d] the

banks of the Rio Grande” and he camped at a

location “where there was a prospect of our

poor animals obtaining a supply of grass.”

1859 Captain Randolph Marcy (1988: 252) wrote

this about bighorn sheep meat: “The flesh of

the bighorn, when fat, is more tender, juicy,

and delicious than that of any other animal....”

1859 The imposition of duties on imported goods

ended the annual trade caravans of Pueblo

Indians to Sonora. They took serapes, buffalo

hides, and other items to exchange for

rebozos, oranges, and so forth (Lange and

Riley 1966: 237).

1859–76 No buffalo were observed in New Mexico

(Bailey 1971: 14).

1850s Santa Fe experienced critical water shortages,

and a search for a new source was initiated.

A dam was constructed at the headwaters of

the Santa Fe River in 1866, but the resulting

reservoir did not supply all of the needed

water (Clark 1987: 33).

1850s (late) Manuel Chaves moved his family to the

Ojuelos Ranch, east of Tome Hill. An upper

and lower spring provided water, and their

livestock fed on abundant grass. The ranch

was located on an old trail connecting Tome

and Comanche Canyon on the west side of

the Manzano Mountains (Simmons 1973: 147–

149).

1860 The Rio Grande shifted to a new channel,

which left La Mesilla and Las Cruces on the

same side of the river (Cozzens 1988: 277).

1860 (ca.) Floodwater runoff in the upper Rio

Puerco drainage was “lost” in marshy meadows at the lower end of the Cuba Valley in

the Cabezon-Casa Salazar area (Maes and

Fisher 1937: 1–4).

1861 Wildfires were common and widespread

(Swetnam and Baisan 1995: 18).

1862 (February 25) There was a river ford east of

Lemitar (Hall 1960: 193).

1862 (March 5) Confederate soldier A.B. Peticolas

found wood to be “very scarce near Judge

Spruce Baird’s in Albuquerque’s South Valley.” “Dry cow chips” were used instead for

fuel (Alberts 1993: 59).

1862 (March 5) In the Padillas area there was a road

on the floodplain along the west side of the

Rio Grande; this road was “very sandy.” Paralleling this road was an upland road, located

along the edge of the floodplain. This was “a

much better road for wagons” (Alberts 1993:

59).

1862 (March 8–9) Sergeant Peticolas’ unit camped

at “Soda Spring” in Tijeras Canyon, where the

men burned dead wood and green “cedar”

(juniper). The weather “was bitter cold and

disagreeable” and “windy, with frequent

showers of snow . . .” (Alberts 1993: 67).

1862 (March 11) Sergeant Peticolas described the

route north, along the east side of the Sandia

Mountains, as “altogether the best road I have

traveled for many a day. The mountains on

either side are covered with a dense growth

of pine and cedar...” (Alberts 1993: 68).

1862 (late March) Some 11,000 sheep were taken

from Chavez’s Ojuelos Ranch by Navajo raiders (Simmons 1973: 186).

1862 (April 12) Sergeant Peticolas’ unit crossed the

Rio Grande at the Barelas ford on a “flatboat”

(Alberts 1993: 101).

1862 (April 14) The road, wrote Sergeant Peticolas,

from the South Valley to Los Lunas, along the

west side of the Rio Grande, was “very heavy

with sand,” and the wagons could not travel

very fast” (Alberts 1993: 102).

1862 (April 16) Peticolas’ unit found “plenty of

wood” at a Hispano rancho near Belen. The

severe dust storm continued all day (Alberts

1993: 107).

1862 (April 17) At Magdalena the “pines were plentiful all along the road.” The men camped at

Ojo del Pueblo, where three bears were

flushed but not shot (Alberts 1993: 110–113).

1862 (April 19) A Confederate contingent reached

the Saracino Spring near the confluence of the

Rio Salado and the La Jencia Creek. The

Salado Valley was “very boggy where the salt

creek seeps, or crawls sluggishly along down

the valley.” Continuing northwestward, the

contingent shot three pronghorns and a bear

(Alberts 1993: 110–111).

1862 May) The Los Pinos rancho, owned by Governor Henry Connelly, was leased by the U.S.

Army for use as a supply depot. The army

had rights to cut and use shrubs and trees on

the property (Miller 1989: 214).

1862 (spring) The cottonwood bosque in the Peralta

area provided protection for the Confederate

troops being assaulted by Union forces (Cook

1993: 6).

1862 There was a ford on the Rio Grande at Mesilla

(Horgan 1954, II: 831).

1862–90 Sheep herds in the upper Rio Puerco basin

produced intensive grazing pressure, and erosion was accelerated (Maes and Fisher 1937:

10–15).

1863 June Captain Rafael Chacon and a military contin-
242 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

gent camped at Cebolleta, where they found

“wood, water, and grass in abundance.” Moving southwest the next day, they found water

in arroyos and holes, abundant grass, but no

wood (Meketa 1986: 227).

1863 (summer) Camping at Gallinas Spring in the

Gallinas Mountains, military personnel found

an abundance of trout, some of which they

caught and ate (Meketa 1986: 235).

1864 A father and son from Ojo de la Casa were

herding goats and sheep in a “grassy canyon

above La Madera.” Late in the afternoon, as

they were setting up camp, they discovered a

flock of turkeys roosting in a pine tree. They

started a grass fire below the tree, and the

smoke caused the turkeys to panic and become disoriented. As a result, the two herders managed to capture over a dozen of the

birds (Batchen 1972: 68–69).

1865 The military experimented with using mesquite beans as livestock feed (Miller 1989: 95).

1866 (July 12) James F. Meline (1966: 101) saw four

large flocks of sheep near Ocate. A gray wolf

was seen later in the day.

1866 (late July) Meline (1966: 118). described the

plant environment south of Santa Fe: “... we

found ourselves, at the end of four miles, out

on the sandy plain covered with cactus, scattered and stunted cedars, and liberally intersected by arroyos....” Fourteen miles farther

south, he noted “little grass” and still farther,

crossing Galisteo Creek, “we see but little

water.”

1866 (late fall) The new settlers of San Francisco

Xavier on the Rio Puerco used cottonwood

along the stream to construct their houses and

outbuildings. This new town was located at

a spring, El Ojito del Rio Puerco (Lopez 1988:

72–76).

1866 The Santa Fe River was dry 5 miles below the

town of Santa Fe (Meline 1966: 151–152).

1866 A new road from Santa Fe to El Paso, which

was periodically covered by blowing sand,

was constructed, “replacing the old road”

(Bayer et al. 1994: 171).

1866 James F. Meline (1866: 151–152) noted that the

Santa Fe River had “a wide pebbly bed, showing capacity for frequent mountain torrents,”

and “in ordinary seasons its waters are lost

in the granite sands, some five miles below

town.”

1867 (April 3) Bell (1965: 241–242), traveling below

Albuquerque, observed “The greater part of

the valley is here almost entirely destitute of

trees. This may be partly accounted for by the

fact that the banks of the river are of a sandy,

friable nature, and that the bed of the stream is

always changing its position, sometimes to one,

sometimes to the other; thus destroying fields

of corn, irrigating canals, and villages....”

1868 Just below Albuquerque, the Middle Rio

Grande changed its course, moving westward, close to Atrisco. The river only ran here

for a few weeks, and when it shifted back, a

remnant channel was left (U.S. Surveyor-General and Court of Private Land Claims 1894).

1869 The 40-stamp mill at the Ortiz mine in the Old

Placers district was operating (Elston 1961:

155).

1869–77 There were two charcos, or small lakes, near

Tome. One of these, on Father Ralliere’s land,

was drained in 1877 (Ellis and Baca 1957: 25–

27).

1860s An estimated 18,000 acres of new irrigated

land was developed in the Middle Valley

(Wozniak 1987).

1860s Constructing successful irrigation facilities on

the upper Rio Puerco, in the Cabezon area,

was easy because the stream channel was relatively shallow (Maes and Fisher 1937: 12).

1860s The influx of Anglo traders, trappers, military hunters, and miners reduced populations

of various game animals on which the Jicarilla

Apache depended for food. They turned more

to raiding as a means of subsistence (Tiller

1992: 64–66).

1860s (late) Elk herds of more than 100 animals were

seen in the Rociada Valley. Hunting pressure

subsequently reduced these herds dramatically (Barker 1953: 87).

1860s–70s A relatively large influx of new Spanish settlers to the upper Rio Puerco valley led to

overgrazing and scarcity of irrigated cropland

(Carlson 1979: 34).

1860s–70s The women of Placitas harvested a “tall,

brown, tender grass and tied it into neat

bundles and exchanged it for whatever they

could get in Bernalillo” (Batchen 1972: 43).

1860s–70s Malarial fevers, diarrhea, dysentery, and venereal diseases were common illnesses among

the military (Miller 1989: 43).

1860s–1912 The river bed at San Marcial aggraded between 12 and 14 feet due to the reduction of

the Rio Grande’s historic flow, which had,

before, scoured out the stream channel (Clark

1987: 205).

1870 By this year, silt and sand from arroyo runoff

were adversely impacting irrigable lands on

the end of the Galvan-Sanchez-Sandoval

grant near San Ysidro. Some members of these
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 243

families were forced to move due to the loss

of these arable lands. The silt deposits probably resulted from intensive grazing of sheep

and goats and resulting erosion on surrounding uplands (Swadesh 1978: 46–47).

1870 Wildfires were common and widespread

(Swetnam and Baisan 1995: 18).

1870 Based on tree-ring evidence, a forest fire occurred on the Pajarito Plateau (Robinson 1990:

142).

1870 Jose L. Perea and Mariano Otero grazed over

24,000 sheep in the Cabezon-Bernalillo area

(Maes and Fisher 1937: 11).

1871 (July) “Chinch” bugs were damaging cabbage

plots in the Albuquerque area. A priest suggested sprinkling lime water on the infested

plants, which apparently was successful

(Steele 1983: 84).

1871 Mice were causing so much damage to food and

clothing at military posts that the Quartermaster General issued orders to keep rat terriers and

cats around storage areas (Miller 1989: 231).

1872 (August 19) The Santa Fe River flooded near

Santa Fe with a flow that probably exceeded

1,000 cfs (US Geological Society 1994).

1872 J.H. Beadle (1973: 486, 488) described the mesa

above San Felipe Pueblo as “treeless” and

grassless.” He compared the Middle Rio

Grande Valley to the Nile.

1873 Bighorn sheep were common in the Sangre

de Cristo Mountains northeast and east of

Santa Fe and Taos (Bailey 1971: 16–17; Barker

1953: 88).

1874 (pre) Informants stated that there had been

two varieties of buffalo in New Mexico; one

lived on the plains, and the other inhabited

the mountains (Bailey 1971: 15).

1874 The Rio Puerco channel at La Ventana was

about 8 feet deep (Dortignac 1963: 507).

1874 Elk were reported on a high plateau near

Tierra Amarilla (Henderson and Harrington

1914: 16).

1874 A shovelnose sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus

platorynchus) was taken from the Rio Grande

near Albuquerque. No other specimens have

been reported since (Koster 1957: 23).

1874–75 Severe arroyo cutting had begun by these

years as a result of overgrazing and droughts

(Harris et al. 1967: 11).

1874–98 Prairie dog and jack rabbit populations generally increased on regional rangelands due

in part to the widespread killing of wolves

and coyotes by ranchers, homesteaders, and

government trappers. As rangelands were

overgrazed, prairie dog and rabbit populations were forced to move onto previously

unoccupied areas and compete with livestock

for the grass there. Less desirable range

plants, such as cactus and thorny shrubs,

spread due to the overgrazing and drought

(Smith 1899: 14–15).

1875 (March 3) The Right of Way Act provided for

a 200-foot right-of-way for railroads and 20

acres for station grounds every 10 miles across

public domain (Westphall 1965: 93–94).

1875 Joseph Rothrock, south of Gallup reported the

following: “Gaining the summit a thousand

feet above Fort Wingate, we were at an altitude of about 8000 feet above the sea, a fine,

open, park-like region with a large growth of

yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa) and fir covering the hillsides. A diversified herbaceous

vegetation was out in the most brilliant colors, beautifying alike the woods and open

grounds.... Good forage was abundant” (Cooper 1960: 130).

1875 The Rio Puerco channel at San Luis was shallow; a low irrigation dam of “brush and

poles” easily diverted water from the stream

(Tuan 1966: 588–589).

1875 Bears, probably both black and grizzly, were

reported as common in the Sandias. Placitas

area herders and their goats and sheep were

sometimes attacked by bears, but being poorly

armed, the herders usually let one or two of their

animals be taken (Batchen 1972: 49–50).

1875 (ca.) Most bajadas were still covered by grassland, but intensive livestock grazing, followed by soil erosion, and later fire suppression, resulted in three changes—reduced

grass cover, the invasion of juniper from the

adjacent woodlands, and the proliferation of

desert shrubs (Dick-Peddie 1993: 29).

1875–85 The volume of silt in the Middle Rio Grande

Valley peaked (Hedke 1925: 28).

1876 (to ca. 1880) The Rio Puerco channel near

Cabezon was shallow, and a road crossing

was marked with large logs laid parallel

(Bryan 1928a: 273).

1877 The Rio Puerco near San Luis was described

as having “high banks marked by recent caveins and falling trees.” An older stream channel was situated to the east (Bryan 1928: 268).

1877 The Rio Puerco near Guadalupe was between

26 and 29 feet wide (Bryan 1928a: 275).

1877 A military officer with the U.S. Geographical

Exploration and Survey reported that elk,

once plentiful in the Jemez and Ortiz mountains, were rarely seen (Henderson and

Harrington 1914: 2).
244 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1877–78 (summers) Grasshopper infestations destroyed most of the wheat in the Taos Valley

(Miller 1988: 157).

1878 Based on tree-ring data, a forest fire occurred

on the Pajarito Plateau (Robinson 1990: 142).

1878 J.W. Powell issued his Report on the Lands of

the Arid Region of the United States, in which

he observed that there was more potentially

irrigable lands than the water necessary to

irrigate them (Worster 1985: 133).

1878 A young bear was killed by a sheep herder on

the north end of the Sandias while attempting

to eat the herder’s cheese (Batchen 1972: 67).

1878–79 Native Americans (Pueblo?, Jicarilla Apache?)

were burning forests and woodlands in northern New Mexico to drive deer down into canyons where they could be more easily hunted

(Cooper 1960: 138).

1879 (summer) The Rio Grande ceased flowing

from Albuquerque to El Paso due to diversion from the river by farmers in southern

Colorado (Miller 1989: 69).

1879 John Wesley Powell believed the sole major

problem inhibiting maximum timber production in the western forests was fire (Cooper

1960: 137).

1879 Regional fires were common and widespread

(Swetnam and Betancourt 1990: 1019).

1879 A resident of Laguna stated that extensive

cutting of timber for railroad ties or locomotive fuel had occurred in the area. He also

noted that those forests in the Santa Fe area

had been “destroyed” (U.S. Lands Commission 1880: 455–458).

1879 Commercial mining of the lead-zinc veins in

the Cerrillos district began (Elston 1961: 155).

1870s As El Paso’s population increased significantly, using more and more water, the level

of the Rio Grande began to fall. The major

cause, discovered later, however, was the diversion of the river’s waters by numerous

new settlers in southern Colorado, who had

been lured to the area by the Denver and Rio

Grande Railroad (Sonnichsen 1968: 382).

1870s Bear, deer, blue grouse, and turkey were plentiful in the Sandia Mountains. Pronghorn antelope were common on the foothill and

bajada grasslands. Increase in the number of

hunters and the availability of better weapons, resulted in the depletion of these game

animals by the end of the decade (Batchen

1972: 64, 66).

1870s Bears were relatively common in Canon de

Agua, at the north end of the Sandia Mountains (Batchen 1972: 67–68).

1870s The Rio Puerco was described as “without a

deep channel” and having “large groves of

cottonwood trees, high grass, and weeds.” A

small bridge spanned the river near Cabezon,

and a diversion dam of cottonwood logs,

limbs, and poles was constructed for irrigation at San Luis (Bryan 1928a: 273).

1870s (late) Mariano Otero brought 25,000 to 30,000

pounds of corn annually at Cabezon (Maes

and Fisher 1937: 14).

1870s (late) Intensive hunting of deer in the north

end of the Sandias forced the last of these

animals to take refuge around Osha Springs

(Batchen 1972: 66).

1870s–80s Hispanic farmers, would-be colonists, and

Anglo miners from Pena Blanca and La Jara

moved onto the Espiritu Santo land grant,

hoping to use water from the Rio Puerco to

irrigate their crops (Bayer et al 1994: 158–159).

1870s (to about 1900) Good harvests of wheat, corn,

and beans were realized along the Rio Puerco,

and “natural hay” was cut for local use or sold

in Albuquerque (Bryan 1928a: 278).

1870s (to early 1900s) Fires on Anglo rangelands

were suppressed by a “beef drag,” slaughtering the nearest steer, splitting it, attaching

forelegs to one saddle horn and the hind legs

to another, then dragging the carcass, with

loose skin flopping behind, along the edge of

the fire. Back fires were begun by dragging a

rope soaked in kerosene and ignited, especially along cow trails. Fuel breaks, or “fire

guards,” were sometimes made by plowing

two or three strips about 100 feet apart (Pyne

1982: 93–94).

1880 (pre) The flow of the Rio Grande was sufficient to scour sediment from its channel. After this year, the stream bed began to aggrade

due to continued decreasing flow and increasing silt load (Harper et al. 1943: 49).

1880 (pre) Las Vegas residents got their water from

the Gallinas River, but with the formation of

the Agua Pura Co., water was piped from a

small reservoir on the river. This water soon

became “dirty” compared with the clear, clean

water from the free-flowing river (Perrigo

1982:28).

1880 (pre) Deer, bighorn sheep, and turkeys were

common in Frijoles Canyon (Lange and Riley

1966: 167).

1880 (pre) Cochiti Pueblos hunted buffalo in the

Estancia Valley. Hunters from this village also

“trapped” pronghorn and deer in a tributary

canyon of the Rio Grande above present

Cochiti Dam (Lange 1959: 130).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 245

1880 (spring-summer) There were some 10,000

acres under irrigation in the upper Rio Puerco

valley (Cuba to Casa Salazar) (deBuys 1985:

217).

1880 (April 15) The Territorial Bureau of Immigration was organized. “Valuable mines of gold

and silver” and ranges “capable of producing sheep for the million” were extolled (Bureau of Immigration 1881: 7–8, 53).

1880 (October 14) Adolph Bandelier noted that the

vegetation below, or south of, the La Majada

Mesa was more “destitute” than that on the

mesa (Lange and Riley 1966: 145).

1880 (October 25) Bandelier encountered some

Cochiti Pueblo men who had been gathering

zacate, or popote, grass (Stipa sp.) on the

Potrero de las Vacas for making into brooms.

This area was also utilized for pinyon nut

gathering (Lange and Riley 1966: 170–172).

1880 (October 25) Bandelier observed that most

game, including bears, was “abundant” in the

Jemez Mountains (Lange and Riley 1966: 170–

172).

1880 By this date, the flow of the Rio Grande had

been so reduced by upstream use that irrigation systems and hundreds of acres in the

Mesilla Valley-Las Cruces area were abandoned (Wozniak 1987).

1880 The flow of the Santa Fe River had become

insufficient for the needs of Santa Fe residents.

Reservoirs had to be constructed and wells

drilled in this century to meet community

needs (Thomas et al. 1963: D–10).

1880 Cottonwoods (common?) were found in and

around Pena Blanca (Lange and Riley 1966:

91).

1880 A major flood occurred along the Rio Puerco

(US Geological Survey 1994).

1880 Some 64,034 acres of forests burned regionally (Ensign 1888: 82).

1880 By this year bighorn sheep were extinct in the

Jemez Mountains (Hewett and Dutton 1945:

105). This species was an important source of

meat and figured in ritual ceremonies and

mythology (Tyler 1975: 118–131).

1880 A resident of Santo Domingo Pueblo related

that bighorn sheep “were driven out of the

Sierra del Valle, etc., by the Apache” (Lange

and Riley 1966: 94).

1880 The New Mexico Territorial Assembly passed

an act to protect the buffalo, but this species

was virtually exterminated by this date, and

enforcement of the statute was impossible

(Gard 1960: 26).

1880 The Santa Fe railroad line was constructed a

few miles east of the Rio Grande because company officials thought the land in the valley

north of Albuquerque was too soft to adequately support the tracks (McDonald 1992:

12).

1880 White wine and hand-cut hay was being sold

at Cabezon (Rittenhouse 1965: 64).

1880 Los Lunas residents Louis and Henry Huning

and Solomon and Tranquilina Luna ran 60,000

to 70,000 sheep and over 150,000 cattle, respectively (Roberts 1963: 9).

1880 A fish and game law was passed by the Territorial Legislature that made it a misdemeanor

to take fish by use of drugs, explosives, or

artificial obstructions. Trout could be taken

only by hook and line. Operators of mills or

factories could not discharge any waste harmful to trout. Commercial sale of fish was also

limited (Clark 1987: 32).

1880 Commercial mining of sandstone copper deposits began in the Nacimiento Mountains

(Elston 1961: 155).

1880 Mining of the fluorspar-barite-galena veins

in the Placitas district occurred (Elston 1961:

160).

1880 (ca.) Jose Antonio Padilla and his family

moved from Belen to Rito Quemado, located

west of Magdalena. The creek was so-named

either because of the sagebrush and rabbitbrush had been burned off by Indians or because of the volcanic landscape in the area

(Pearce 1965: 128).

1880–85 Bandelier (1892: 150) reported that black bears

climbed into the top of pinyon trees in search

of nuts in the Jemez region.

1880–87 EuroAmerican settlers moved onto the public lands that became the Jicarilla Apache Reservation in 1887. Overgrazing decimated

much of the rangeland. All of the arable lands

and surface water were claimed as well (Tiller

1992: 87–97).

1880–91 Several trading posts and a general store were

operating in Cabezon, serving local residents,

travelers on the Star Line Route, Navajos, and

area Pueblos. Calico, other fabrics, “fancy”

metal buttons, perfume, tobacco, tools, candy,

cookies, coffee, sugar, and flour were sold or

traded. Navajos brought weavings, jewelry,

and sheep to trade for these goods. Two Hispanic residents owned herds of 16,000 and

10,000 sheep. The first also owned 2,000 cattle.

By 1891 the village residents owned enough

sheep to fill 17 freight wagons with wool

(Rittenhouse 1965: 16–17, 31, 33, 36–39, 64–

67, 70, 79).
246 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1880–91 Trout were common in Frijoles Creek, which

was described as a “gushing brook, enlivened

by trout.” The stream also had “many pools

. . .,” which were nonexistent by 1910

(Henderson and Harrington 1914: 54).

1880–98 Poor drainage and alkaline build-up caused

abandonment of farmlands in lower areas.

There were about 75,000 acres of arable lands

between Albuquerque and the mouth of the

Rio Puerco, but only about one-fourth was in

cultivation. Some tracts were abandoned because the farmers went to work for the Santa

Fe Railroad (Follett 1898:87–88).

1880–1900 Lateral arroyos to the Rio Grande carried

large quantities of silt into the acequia madre

at San Pedro. An elevated canal siphon was

constructed to correct this problem (Marshall

and Walt 1984: 284).

1880–1905 Overgrazing removed the main source of the

grizzly bear’s diet—herbaceous vegetation.

For survival they turned to predation of livestock (Brown 1985: 100).

1880–1910 The combined population of Casa Salazar and

Guadalupe averaged 359 persons; about the

same number was recorded for Cabezon-San

Luis (Garcia 1992: 5).

1880–1924 The Rio Grande river bed aggraded 7 feet at

the Isleta bridge, 8 feet near San Antonio, and

9 feet at San Marcial (Sullivan 1924: 7).

1880–1925 Increasing volumes of silt were due to decreasing flows of the Rio Grande and overgrazing and subsequent erosion in the Upper and Middle River basins (Hedke 1925: 11).

1880–1929 The bed of the Rio Grande began to aggrade

and subsequently the river bed was 2–3 feet

above the level of San Marcial. The construction of Elephant Butte dam and reservoir and

dense growth of tamarisk and other riparian

vegetation increased the volume of silt deposition from 1915 to the 1920s. The August 1929

flood destroyed the adobe and frame structures and buried the village in silt (Calkins

1937a: 9–10; Marshall and Walt 1984: 283–284).

1880–1940 Livestock grazing, farming, mining, and other

land use resulted in deterioration of land, which

caused some settlements to be abandoned in the

Middle Rio Grande Basin. The carrying capacity of rangelands decreased 50 to 75 percent

during this period (Kelly 1955: 308).

1880 (post) Extensive clear-cutting on the Rio

Chama drainage, primarily on private lands,

removed the ponderosa pine forest (Harper

et al. 1943: 55).

1880 (post) The Chili Rail Line, completed south

from Colorado to Espanola, carried sheep,

cattle, hogs, pinyon nuts, apples, mica,

quartzite, lepidolite, and mica from northern

New Mexico (Gjevre 1969: 18–19).

1881 Santa Fe completed a piped-water system,

which included damming the Santa Fe River

above town (Simmons 1992:206).

1881 There were no trees growing along the Santa

Cruz River near the town of the same name

(Kessell 1980: 87).

1881 The railroad extended rail construction across

the Zuni reservation, and contract lumbermen

built logging roads and cut “tens of millions

of board feet of lumber” on the Zuni River

watershed (Hart 1991: II/3).

1881 A “sacred grove” of cottonwood trees, about

2 by 0.5 miles, was located near Taos Pueblo

(Nims 1980: 95).

1881 The San Luis Valley had “a profusion of wild

geese and ducks” and “swans, also, are found

there, and white brant, or snow geese, as well

as sand-hill cranes” (Nims 1980: 126).

1881 A. Bandelier reported that beaver were common along the Rio Grande in the Pena Blanca

area; much less common here were river otters. However, he noted that both species were

more abundant in the Valle Grande (Lange

and Riley 1966: 214).

1881–83 The last native elk in the Sangre de Cristo

Mountains northeast of Santa Fe were observed or reported (Barker 1953: 88). Elk were

extirpated in these mountains by settlers, miners, and market hunters (deBuys 1985: 280).

1881–84 A hunter and specimen collector found beaver dams common near the headwaters of the

Pecos River. In the pools formed behind the

dams he found the “best trout fishing of any

locality I have ever visited in the Rocky

Mountains” (Bailey 1971: 214).

1882 (July 13) The Santa Fe River, carrying high

water, flooded part of the valley across the

Rio Grande from Cochiti (Lange and Riley

1966: 339).

1882 Bandelier noted that the Rio Grande was

“treacherous” and divided into five narrow

and swift-running branches at Pena Blanca.

Also, he observed that the river “changes its

bed almost daily” (Lange 1959: 79–80).

1882 There were a “considerable number of bears”

in the Manzano Mountains (Lange and Riley

1966: 383).

1882 The General Land Office in Washington, D.C.,

ruled that “when a mountain was a boundary [of a land grant] the summit was to be

taken as the dividing line, unless otherwise

indicated” (Ebright 1994: 239).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 247

1882 A. Bandelier recorded the exotic Ailanthus, or

tree-of-heaven, growing at the plaza of Ojos

Calientes, 3 miles from Socorro (Lange and

Riley 1966: 318).

1882–1900 Coal production in Santa Fe County increased

from 3,600 tons to 252,731 tons (Elston 1961:

155).

1880s (early) The Newhouse, steel leghold no. 6,

grizzly bear trap was first used (Brown 1985:

114).

1880s (early) Elk were extirpated in the Jemez

Mountains by commercial hunters working

for the “Chili” Railroad and local subsistence

hunters (Scurlock 1980: 31).

1883 (pre) Taos Pueblo hunters reported there were

two kinds of bison—a smaller variety in the

mountains and a larger one on the Southern

Plains in the past (Bailey 1971: 14–15).

1883 (March) A. Bandelier described the Agua Azul

spring near Grants as “A large pool of deep,

crystalline water, extensive enough to allow

skiffing, and many ducks in it” (Lange and

Riley 1970: 64).

1883 (November 1) Bandelier (Lange and Riley

1970: 155) wrote “At Alamillo, cottonwoods

cover the river bottom, and thence on they

continue to beyond San Marcial, with much

more vegetation besides....At San Antonio ...

the east bank is exceedingly bleak and denuded.”

1883 (December 21) Bandelier described the Rio

Grande Valley below Rincon as “... wooded

up to four miles from Rincon, ‘alamos.’” He

also observed open and marshy conditions

(Lange and Riley 1970: 181).

1883 Texas cattleman W.C. Bishop concentrated his

3,000 cattle in Pajarito and Water canyons,

which had perennial springs, on the Pajarito

Plateau (Rothman 1992: 29).

1883 The Franz Huning property, south of the

“castle” in Albuquerque, was “open fields

with bosques, lagoons, and occasional clumps

of cottonwoods dotting it” (Browne 1973:

136).

1884 (May 23-June 3) The Rio Grande shifted and

cut a new channel between the Socorro railroad station and the center of town. Residents

were able to divert the river back to its original channel (Carter 1953: 21).

1884 (May 31) By this time, the ongoing flood had

increased the capacity of the Rio Grande channel through scouring action (Carter 1953: 19).

1884 When the Rio Grande shifted its course to the

west between Los Lentes and Los Lunas, the

river cut the acequia madre and left it on the

east side of the river. Three other ditches

“moved” from west of the river to the east

side in the area (Wozniak 1987).

1884 Commercial mining of the “contact-metamorphic copper” deposit in the San Pedro Range

began (Elston 1961: 155).

1884–1957 Brick and tile were made at the old State Penitentiary near Santa Fe. The raw material used

in making bricks was shale mined from a deposit east of Palace Avenue (Elston 1961: 163).

1885 (July) The Rio Grande between Cochiti and

Santo Domingo ran in three channels, with

“the main channel reaching to above the knee

on horseback.” And, “The river is constantly

encroaching on the right hand side” (Lange

et al. 1975: 59).

1885 (August 1) The Rio Grande, south of Santo

Domingo, was falling, and crossing was difficult due to “quicksand” (Lange et al. 1975:

75).

1885 (September 26) Adolph Bandelier described

the flow of the Santa Fe River through its canyon of the same name as “like a small

stream...” (Lange, Riley, and Lange 1975: 107).

1885 The main, still discontinuous, channel of the

Rio Puerco had a volume of about 17,000 acrefeet (Dortignac 1960: 47).

1885 Federal involvement in predator control began when the Department of Agriculture began to study ways of poisoning rodents, pest

birds, and predators (Dunlap 1984: 143).

1885 Clarence E. Dutton’s geological work on the

Mount Taylor and Zuni Plateau areas was

published (Northrop 1961: 85).

1885–1905 Some competent ranchers and observers considered the grizzly’s reputation as a stock

killer undeserved, particularly on the larger

ranches before overgrazing became widespread (Brown 1985: 101).

1885–1963 An estimated 600,000 to 800,000 acre-feet of

sediment washed from the Rio Puerco watershed into the Rio Grande (Hay 1972: 290).

1880s (mid) Intensive hunting severely reduced

pronghorn numbers; by the end of the decade

they were not found on many grassland locales where they formerly were common. The

pronghorn was an important meat source and

played a significant role among the western

Pueblos and at Hopi (Tyler 1975: 32, 42, 55–56).

1886 (April 18–20) Wind and rainstorms hit central and northern New Mexico. The Santa Fe

River flooded on the 20th, and at least one

bridge washed out (Lange et al. 1975: 144,

445).

1886 (September) A severe thunderstorm struck
248 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Santa Fe, causing flooding of the Santa Fe

River. High winds and hail accompanied the

storm (Lange et al. 1975: 175).

1886 The Texas, Santa Fe and Northern Railroad

Co. was formed to construct a rail line from

Espanola to Santa Fe. A.J. Hager had a sawmill in dense timber above Santa Fe and furnished trestle timber for the line (Chappell

1969: 13–18).

1887 (pre) Residents of Los Ranchos lost their

acequia due to a “rise of the river.” One individual, Guadalupe Gutierrez, stated that the

high water table and wetlands had been

caused by “surplus water from the acequias”

(Wozniak 1987).

1887 (May-July) The largest recorded fire in the

Sangre de Cristo Mountains started in

Tesuque Canyon. It burned north to Santa Fe

Baldy and east to the Las Vegas Range, where

it was stopped by a railroad tie-cutting crew

(Ungnade 1972: 73).

1887 The Rio Puerco channel at Guadalupe was

about 3 feet deep and 30 feet wide (Bryan

1928a: 274–275).

1887 Some 74 Acoma hunters killed 744 pronghorn

antelope in 1 day near Datil (Tyler 1975: 37–

38).

1888 About one-fourth to three-eighths of the forest area of Rio Arriba County had burned (Ensign 1888: 145, 148).

1888 An unidentified species of catfish, weighing

from 75 to 100 pounds, was being caught in

the Rio Grande near Rincon (Schlissel et al.

1989: 159).

1888 The river was dry at Socorro (Hedke 1925: 26).

1888 Citizens from southern New Mexico and El

Paso organized a company that advocated the

construction of a reservoir on the Rio Grande,

above the Palomas Valley. From the reservoir

they wanted water to be conveyed to the

Mesilla and El Paso valley to relieve their

shortages of irrigation water. By this year, irrigated acreage along the Dona Ana ditch

decreased form an initial 7,000 acres to about

4,600 (Wozniak 1987).

1888–91 John W. Powell, head of the U.S. Geological

Survey, initiated irrigation surveys in river

basins of the West. The Rio Grande was studied in 1889–1900, which also included surveys

for reservoir sites (Wozniak 1987).

1888–1913 The total capacity of acequias diverting water from the Santa Fe River was 117 cfs. Flow

of the river was affected by the 4,000-acre-foot

capacity reservoir located above the town.

This structure enabled “much of the flood

water to be utilized for irrigation which

would otherwise flow to the Rio Grande.”

River flow only reached the Rio Grande during floods (Follansbee and Price 1915: 424).

1889 (January 31) Springs used by the village of

Tome were protected by territorial legislation

(Clark 1987: 29).

1889 Legislation was passed to create fish wardens

in every county to assist county sheriffs and

commissioners in enforcing the fish laws, including a closed season of fishing, except fishing by members of needy families. The law

also directed that a sluice for passage of fish

had to be maintained at all dams or other obstructive facilities constructed for purposes

other than irrigation. Also, operators of mills

or factories could not discharge waste of any

kind, injurious to trout, into any stream (Clark

1987: 32).

1889–1930 A few river otters were recorded near Espanola, Rinconada, and Cieneguilla (Bailey 1971:

324).

1880s Due to overgrazing and logging in the Zuni

Mountains, the upper Zuni watershed began

to seriously erode (Hart 1991a: II/3).

1880s A large fire burned for weeks in the mountains above Santa Fe until it went out on its

own (Tucker and Fitzpatrick 1972: 49).

1880s Trout were reported in Rito de los Frijoles

(Hewett and Dutton (1945: 118–119).

1880s With most of the prey animal populations

decimated, wolves became dependent on

livestock for sustenance (Brown 1983: 31).

1880s Meat from a deer killed near the Ellis Ranch

in the upper Las Huertas drainage was sold

in Madrid for $13 due to the scarcity of wild

meat (Batchen 1972: 66).

1890 (about July 14) Charles Lummis described the

feast day dance at Santo Domingo as taking

place during a “furious sand-storm” of 2

hours, followed by an intense rainstorm that

ended the dancing (Lange 1959: 344).

1890 J.W. Powell (1891: 271) reported “From Albuquerque to San Marcial, drainage of the lower

of the Rio Grande Valley is exceedingly poor.

Many ponds, some of them 8 or 10 acres in

extent, are full of water during the early part

of the year, and others show by the alkali coating on their sides and bottoms that the water

has but recently left them.”

1890 The soil at Santa Ana Pueblo was “sandy and

untillable”; the village had been “long since

abandoned” and was only used “for autumn

and winter residence.” There was a single

cottonwood tree at the old pueblo. Beyond the
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 249

Jemez River, to the south, there were “undulating plains of wind-swept sands, dotted by

stunted cedars growing at intervals, and often forming the nucleus of new mounds during wind storms” (Poore 1894: 431–432; White

1942: 29).

1890 From just north of Albuquerque to Los Lunas

the valley was “bordered by barren hills of

blown sand” (Powell 1891: 271).

1890 Market hunters killed the last elk in northern

New Mexico (Barker 1976: 107).

1890 The American Turquoise Company began

mining operations in the Cerrillos area (Elston

1961: 155).

1890–91 According to J.W. Powell (1891: 272), a number of houses in the low-lying areas of the

valley south of Los Lunas “have fallen in by

the sinking of the foundations. A large part

of the valley ... is overgrown with cottonwood

thickets or bosques, as they are called.”

1890–91 On the east side of the river, below Bernalillo

and Belen, once productive fields were “alkali flats” caused by a “lack of drainage”

(Powell 1891: 270).

1890–91 Powell (1891: 270–271) described the Rio

Grande: “The river from Pena Blanca to San

Marcial occupies a broad sandy bed, dividing in low stages into a number of narrow and

crooked channels, but in flood covering in

many places nearly half of the valley.”

1890–91 Drainage of the low-lying valley land from

Albuquerque to San Marcial was “exceedingly poor.” Numerous ponds, 8 to 10 acres

in size, were full of water during the early

part of the year. Extensive deposits of alkali

along the valley between Los Lunas and Belen

appeared as “light snow” (Powell 1891: 271).

1890–91 Low-lying ditches in the Tome-Los Lunas area

were subject to “frequent overflow” and “being washed out or being filled with silt”

(Powell 1891: 271).

1890–95 The Rio Puerco Irrigation Company constructed masonry and earthen dams, canals,

acequias, and pipelines from below Cuba,

south to the Lagunitas land grant. Before the

system was fully operational, flash floods

washed out the dams (Dortignac 1962).

1890–1900 The deepening Rio Puerco channel became a

problem for irrigation farmers in the Cabezon

area (Bryan 1928a: 274).

1890–1900 A trapper took wolverines “in considerable

numbers” on the headwaters of the Rio

Grande (Warren 1942: 68).

1890–1904 In areas of rugged terrain, homesteaders

herded goats, which resulted in the overgrazing of the steepest slopes (Brown 1985: 98).

1890–1906 Deer, rabbits, blue grouse, wild turkeys,

eagles (probably golden), and mourning

doves were common in the Bosque Peak area

of the Manzano Mountains (McDonald 1985:

22).

1890–1915 Most wolves killed during this period were

killed because of the widespread use of bounties (Brown 1983: 43).

1891 Some 12 million acres of forest burned in the

Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Ungnade 1972:

48).

1892 The Rio Grande flow was depleted as far upstream as Los Lunas (Hedke 1925: 26).

1893 (pre) Santa Ana Pueblo was abandoned in the

spring and summer due to poor fertility of

farmlands and high winds. Farming was

practiced at Ranchitos on the Rio Grande. The

village was reoccupied in the fall and winter.

Santa Ana cattle grazed on the mesa above,

but there was little grass. Duning was caused

by lack of vegetative cover and high winds.

Coyotes and rattlesnakes were common in

this area, which was “dotted by stunted cedars growing at intervals, and often forming

the nucleus of new mounds during wind

storms” (Poore 1894: 108).

1893 Based on tree-ring data, a forest fire occurred

on the Pajarito Plateau (Robinson 1990: 142).

1893 The agricultural fields of Sandia Pueblo were

located below the village. The acequia madre

began at the Rio Grande, 2 miles above the

pueblo. Large cottonwoods grew along most

of the length of the ditch. Several large islands, rising about 6 feet above the river level,

and covered by “groves of cottonwood and

willows,” were located below Sandia. The uppermost island was some 700 acres in size

(Poore 1894: 111).

1893 By this year the exotic cheat grass had spread

across much of the state (Frome 1962: 253).

1893 San Felipe Pueblo had extensive agricultural

lands along the Rio Grande. Perhaps the most

productive was located a mile south of the

village, where the Rio Grande divided. An

“island” of loamy soil, 1.5 miles long and

about a third of a mile wide, was found at

this location (Poore 1894: 110).

1893 A large island “overgrown by cottonwood

trees” in the Rio Grande at Santo Domingo

served the pueblo as a “park.” The valley was

1 to 1.5 miles in width here, and the pueblo

lands occupied a 5.5-mile reach. The old

church and many houses were destroyed in

recent years. Some orchards and “small plots”
250 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

of corn and vegetables were located on the

east bank of the river, but low-lying tracts of

land were not being farmed due to threat of

flood damage. Santo Domingo had about

1,200 horses, 1,200 cattle, some oxen, and a

few goats. The horses ranged on land covered

with sagebrush, south of the cultivated lands

(Poore 1894: 109–110).

1893 The legislature passed the Territorial Bounty

Act, authorizing counties to pay bounties on

“predatory wolves, big bears [grizzlies],

mountain lions, bobcats and coyotes” (Brown

1983: 43).

1893 The New Mexico Territorial Legislature

passed a law allowing counties to raise money

for paying “wolfers” and other predator hunters for their services (Burbank 1990: 98).

1894 (October) The first confirmed report of Russian thistle in New Mexico was made (Wooton

1895: 3).

1894 Zia Pueblo lacked adequate potable water

owing to the salinity of the Jemez River

(White 1962: 54).

1894–96 San Francisco and San Ignacio on the

Montano grant in the Rio Puerco basin were

abandoned (Bryan 1928a: 276).

1895–1924 The mean flow of the Rio Grande at Buckman

was 1,444,000 acre-feet (Hedke 1925: 37).

1895 (pre) Native grasses, watered by overbank

flooding of the upper Rio Puerco, were cut

and dried for use as hay. Some of this hay was

hauled to Albuquerque and sold (Bryan

1928a: 278).

1895 By this year virtually every acre of available

grassland in the region was stocked with sheep

or cattle. Rangelands that should have been

stocked with one cow on every 40 acres were

stocked with four animals (Barnes 1926: 7).

1896 Ditches with a capacity of 406 cfs were diverting water from the Rio Grande between

Embudo and Buckman (Follansbee and Dean

1915: 120).

1896 The irrigation ditches between Buckman and

San Marcial diverted an estimated capacity

of 1,779 cfs of water from the Rio Grande

(Follansbee and Dear 1915: 141).

1896 There were about 105,000 acres of irrigated

acreage in tributary drainages of the Rio

Grande (Dortignac 1956: 30).

1896 There were some 14,000 acres under irrigation along the main stem of the river above

the Middle Valley (Dortignac 1956: 30).

1896 Drought and increasing use in the San Luis

Valley caused a decline in irrigated farmland

in the Middle Rio Grande Valley to 32,000

acres (Wozniak 1987).

1896–1910 Irrigated acreage in the Rincon Valley decreased from nearly 10,000 acres to less than

4,500 acres due to shortages of irrigation water (Wozniak 1987).

1897 The Organic Act authorized the sale of timber on forest reserves, granted local residents

free use of timber and stone on these lands,

set forth broad directions for management of

the reserves, and appropriated funds to regulate them (Clary 1986: 2, 29).

1897 Otero gave out 60,000 sheep on a partido basis in the upper Rio Puerco basin (Maes and

Fisher 1937: 14–15).

1897 The Santa Rosa de Cubero acequia, located

between San Felipe and Santo Domingo pueblos, had disappeared due to a change in the

course of the Rio Grande (Wozniak 1987).

1897 The first game laws to regulate hunting of

meat animals such as mule deer were passed

by the Territorial legislature. Nevertheless,

populations continued to decrease to less than

20,000 animals statewide by 1924. Two years

later a bag limit of one buck deer was set

(Findley et al. 1975: 329; Huey et al. 1967: 42).

1898 About 19 percent of New Mexico was forested

according to a USGS study (Baker et al. 1988:

34).

1898 There were an estimated 70,000 wolves in the

territory (Bennett 1994: 200).

1899 A surveyor described a “new channel” of the

Rio Puerco at Cabezon that was 198 feet wide.

Seven years later the channel at the same location was 244 feet wide and 20 feet deep.

These changes were attributed, in part, to land

use activities by residents of the area (Bryan

1928a: 271–273).

1899 (ca.) Irrigation farming on the Cieneguilla

grant ceased (Pratt and Snow 1988, chapter

4: 46).

1890s Widespread forest fires, probably started by

railroad operations or ranchers creating

meadows, burned in the mountains between

the lower Chama River and the Colorado border, west of the Rio Grande (McDonald 1985:

122).

1890s The Newhouse steel trap, with a doublespring and offset jaws, sometimes with teeth,

proved to be very effective in catching wolves

(Burbank 1990: 99).

1890s (late) Bighorn sheep were exterminated in the

Sandia Mountains (Pickens 1980: 83).

1800s (late) The Mexican Government complained

to the U.S. Government about shortages of irrigation water at Ciudad Juarez. The Mexi-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 251

cans advocated construction of a reservoir in

the narrows of the Rio Grande above El Paso.

New Mexicans did not support this site location (Wozniak 1987).

1800s (late) Two grizzly bears charged into a flock

of sheep in the Pecos high country, and the

herder shot one of the bears and wounded

the other. This animal turned and mauled the

young man, who was able to kill the bear with

a knife (Barker 1953: 193–194).

1800s (late) All five races of southwestern wolves

were extant in the state (Brown 1983: 24–25).

1800s (late) (to early 1900s) Florence Merriam and

Vernon Bailey conducted research and wrote

a number of books on the birds and mammals

of New Mexico (Ligon 1961: 11).

1800s (late) (to early 1900s) Brook trout were introduced into the Rio San Jose near Laguna, then

into the Rio Grande and drainages in the territory (Sublette et al. 1990: 72).

1800s Mosquitoes caused widespread malaria in the

area (Stanley 1966: 13).

1900 (pre) “A good cover” of galleta, blue grama,

and alkali sacaton grasses was found over

much of the Rio Puerco watershed (Dortignac

1963: 508).

1900 (pre) Fires created extensive stands of aspen,

ponderosa pine, and Douglas fir in the upper

montane coniferous forest zone, about 8,000–

10,000 foot elevation (Dick-Peddie 1993: 58).

1900 (pre) Native trout disappeared from El Rito

de los Frijoles on the Pajarito Plateau (Hewett

et al. 1913: 35).

1900 (pre) Before the construction of major dams

on the Rio Grande, an estimated 75 billion

pounds of sediment was carried annually in

irrigation systems and floodwaters. This silt

was rich in phosphate, potash, and nitrogen

(Simmons 1991b: 69, 77).

1900 (pre) An old San Ildefonso man claimed he

had hunted antelope on the eastern side of

the Pajarito Plateau (Hewett and Dutton 1945:

108).

1900 May The Lacey Act, ending market hunting for

pelts, plumage, eggs, meat, and so forth, and

outlawing illegal importation of foreign wildlife, was passed by the U.S. Congress

(Matthiessen 1964: 172).

1900 May A jaguar was trapped near Grafton in Socorro

County (Bailey 1971: 283).

1900 Extensive use of cottonwoods for fuel, construction, and livestock feed in the Middle Rio

Grande Valley had subsided by this year

(Dick-Peddie 1993: 151).

1900 In precinct 12, “Lower Tome,” there were 593

residents. In precinct 29, “Upper Tome,” there

were 325 residents (U.S. Census Bureau 1900).

1900 The decrease in rangeland productivity due

to overstocking and overgrazing over the previous 4 decades began. The number of head

of livestock continued to increase to a high of

177,000 animals in 1930. By 1935 the total had

dropped to 54,000, but it began to increase

again after the 1930s drought (Dortignac 1956:

59–60).

1900 There were 533,000 head of livestock grazing

in the Middle and Upper Rio Grande basins

(Hay 1972: 290).

1900 By this year residents in the Mesilla Valley

were promoting the Elephant Butte site for

construction of a dam and reservoir. The Reclamation Service favored this site and began

studies (Wozniak 1987).

1900 By this year beaver had been virtually exterminated by trappers and hunters in all of the

territory’s mountain ranges (Findley 1987:

86). Also by this year, elk became extinct in

southern New Mexico, primarily as a result

of commercial and sport hunting (Findley et

al. 1975: 328).

1900 A huge swarm of grasshoppers descended on

Bland Canyon, drowning in the stream and

polluting the water. Reportedly, they were

piled over a foot deep along the stream’s

banks, and residents of Bland were forced to

dig out springs for their drinking water

(Sherman and Sherman 1975: 13).

1900 Thomas A. Edison tried unsuccessfully to

work the Old Placers deposits using a dry

method of extraction (Elston 1961: 155).

1900–10 Overgrazing and logging on the Zuni River

watershed accelerated soil erosion (Hart

1991a: II/3).

1900–10 Black bears were reported as common in most

mountain ranges in New Mexico. Grizzlies

were less common, but they still inhabited the

more remote mountains (Bailey 1971: 349–

368).

1900–16 Non-Pueblo grazing and road-building, as

well as overgrazing and timber cutting on

adjacent lands, damaged Santa Ana Pueblo

lands (Bayer 1994: 183–185).

1900–26 Construction of railroads, bridges, and dikes

and levees prevented the Rio Grande channel from shifting (Rodey and Burkholder

1927: 15).

1900–41 Only a few records of the river otter were recorded in southern Colorado, where populations were more common in the 19th century

(Warren 1942: 72).
252 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1900–50 The ponderosa forests on the east side of the

Sandia Mountains disappeared due to logging and fire suppression (Baisan 1994: 2).

1900 (ca.) Fire suppression, which began about this

time, resulted in an increased proportion of

Engelmann spruce and corkbark fir in the

subalpine coniferous forest zone, 9,500 to

12,000 feet elevation (Dick-Peddie 1993: 51,

56).

1900 (post) Pinyon-juniper woodlands spread at

lower elevation ecotones onto grasslands

during this century as a result of fire suppression, livestock grazing, and other factors

(Dick-Peddie 1993: 91–92).

1902 The first Yellowstone cutthroat trout were introduced into northern New Mexico (Sublette

et al. 1990: 56).

1902 The last Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep in the

Taos Mountains was shot. This subspecies

had been reported as abundant a quarter of a

century before this event (Bailey 1971: 17).

1903 (summer) Elliott Beatty and two companions

caught 438 trout in 6 hours from the Valdez

Creek and the Mora River (Barker 1953: 54–

56).

1903 By this year Russian olive had been introduced at Mesilla Park (Freehling 1982: 10).

1903 Gray wolves were “fairly common” in the

Manzano Mountains (Bailey 1971: 309).

1903 Mountain lions were reported as common on

the headwaters of the Pecos River (Bailey

1971: 286).

1903 Black bears were relatively common along the

headwaters of the Pecos River (Bailey 1971:

352).

1903 Bighorn sheep were seen for the last time in

the Truchas Peak area (Barker 1953: 88).

1903 The last bighorn sheep were extirpated in the

Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Competition

with domestic sheep for grazing, diseases

transmitted from the domesticated to the native sheep, and hunting were the primary

causes of their demise (deBuys 1985: 280).

1903–04 Intensive trapping of beaver occurred along

the Rio Grande north of Santa Fe (Bailey 1971:

215).

1903–06 Black bears were reported as common in most

mountain ranges in New Mexico (Bailey 1971:

350–351).

1903 (and 1905, 1909) The Territorial Legislature

passed acts authorizing counties to levy taxes

to be used for paying bounty claims on predatory animals (Hagy 1951: 91).

1904 (pre) There was no bosque at Corrales except

at one location (Eisenstadt 1980: 13).

1904 (October 11) A peak discharge of 50,000 cfs

occurred on the Rio Puerco (Snead and

Reynold 1986: 57).

1904 There were 30,000 sheep owned by small operators grazing in the Cabezon-Cuba area.

One sheepman in Cuba owned 32,000 animals, and another had 20,000 (Maes and

Fisher 1937: 15, 18–19).

1904 The New Mexico Game and Fish Department

was created by the Territorial Assembly

(Barker 1970: 185).

1904 (ca.) A jaguar was killed on the west slope of

the Caballos Mountains (Bailey 1971: 284).

1904–06 The Rio Grande carried an estimated annual

sediment load of 14,580 acre-feet. A USGS

employee observed “The deposition of sand

and silt in the erosion basins causes frequent

changes in the course of the river, so that bayous, sloughs, and oxbow lakes are common

in the bottom lands” (Lee 1907: 24).

1904–06 Turquoise mining in the Cerrillos district “declined sharply” (Elston 1961: 160–161).

1905 (spring) At the north end of the Mesilla Valley, floods caused the river to move about a

mile to a new channel (Lee 1907: 24).

1905 (summer) (to 1908) The Reclamation Service

completed work on the Leasburg diversion

structure and ditch system, which served

Dona Ana, Las Cruces, and Mesilla acequias

(Wozniak 1987).

1905 Between Albuquerque and Cabezon several

large herds of sheep and goats were seen

along the freight road. Prairie dog villages

were relatively common along the route, as

were associated burrowing owls, rattlesnakes,

hawks, and eagles (Schmedding 1974: 90–92).

1905 Exotic trout species were introduced into the

Santa Fe River (Kuykendahl 1994: 3).

1905 The Forest Service began to hire trappers to

kill wolves on national forest grazing land

(Dunlap 1984: 143).

1905 A few resident black bears and grizzly bears

were reported in the San Mateo Range near

Grants (Bailey 1971: 365).

1905–08 The freight road between Albuquerque and

Cabezon traversed sand hills, clay soils, deep

arroyos, and quicksands at fords. Some

wagon ruts, especially on steeper grades, became arroyos (Schmedding 1974: 78–79, 88–

90).

1905–15 U.S. forest rangers trapped or shot grizzly

bears, wolves, and mountain lions to help

maintain good relations with local ranchers

and to collect bounties (Brown 1985: 123–124).

1906 A ford across the Rio Grande was in use at
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 253

Las Canas, located on the east bank of the

river south of Parida (Marshall and Walt 1984:

276–277).

1906 “Cattle barons” were opposed to statehood

because free-grazing on the public domain

would be disallowed, and they would be

forced to make rental payments to the state

fund. “Lumber barons” were opposed because large timber holdings were assessed at

less than 10 percent of their value (Larson

1968: 243).

1906 The Rio Puerco channel at San Luis was 20

feet deep (Tuan 1966: 589).

1906 A moderate earthquake caused severe damage to Socorro and the surrounding area

(Northrop 1980: 85).

1906 The church of San Antonio de Aquinas was

destroyed in an earthquake (Marshall and

Walt 1984: 303).

1906 Homesteader Fred Rhea, concerned about fire

in the tall grass surrounding his home on

Bosque Peak in the Manzano Mountains,

moved his sheep onto this vegetation and

they “grazed it down” (McDonald 1985: 22).

1906 Perhaps the last grizzly bear in the Sandias

was killed by Augie Ellis near the Ellis Ranch

(Cooper 1989).

1906–07 A series of earthquakes occurred in the

Socorro area (Sanford 1986: 19).

1907 (pre) Local Hispanics grazed cattle and cut

the indigenous grasses for hay along Abo

Creek (Clark 1987: 329).

1907 (January 16) An agreement between the

United States and Mexico was ratified; it gave

Mexico the right to divert up to 60,000 acrefeet of water from the Rio Grande for agricultural use (Hay 1972: 299).

1907 W.T. Lee (1907: 31) described the Rio Grande

north of El Paso as “mainly a floodwater

stream subject to great fluctuations in volume.”

1907 This was perhaps the last year that the lower

Rio Puerco-of-the-East was perennial (Titus

1963: 81).

1907 The first rainbow trout, an exotic species, were

stocked in the Santa Clara Creek and Rio

Puerco near Espanola (Kuykendahl 1994: 3).

1907 Five hundred ten coyotes were killed on national forest lands (Bailey 1971: 312).

1907–10 Snakeweed, Gutierrezia spp., had invaded the

grasslands of the mesa and foothill zones by

this time (Watson 1912: 202).

1908 (April 16) The name, Manzano Forest Reserve, was changed to Manzano National

Forest (Tucker 1992: 112).

1908 (June) Elliott Barker (1953: 33) killed four grizzly bears on Spring Mountain in the Sangre

de Cristo Range.

1908 The Rio Grande was dry just below Cochiti

Pueblo (Harrington 1916: 101).

1908 Most of the timberland in the Manzano National Forest had been cut for ties and other

railroad construction material (Baker et al.

1988: 78).

1908 Salt cedar, or tamarisk, was “commonly

planted” in Albuquerque as an ornamental

plant (Watson 1912: 80).

1908 The exotic brook trout was introduced into

the Rio Grande at Embudo, Santa Barbara,

and Pueblo (Kuykendahl 1994: 3).

1908 A $20 bounty was paid for dead bears, and

up to $50 was paid for grizzly bear hides.

Some 271 bobcats were killed in the national

forests, and many more were harvested by

trappers or killed by ranchers statewide

(Bailey 1971: 293; Barker 1953: 153).

1908 W.H. Bartlett, owner of the Vermejo Park, reintroduced elk there (Barker 1953: 93).

1909 The New Mexico Territorial Legislature enacted

a $15 bounty for wolves (Burbank 1990: 98).

1909 The estimated saw timber volume on national

forests in New Mexico was 16,200 million

board-feet (Baker et al. 1988: 78).

1909 Pronghorns were removed from the list of legally hunted game animals to afford them

protection (Matthiessen 1959: 283).

1909–11 Elliot Barker (1976: 10–11, 14) observed that

sheep had damaged “high elevation slopes”

in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. This impact apparently occurred because of “close

herding and trailing” and repeated bedding

of the sheep at the same location.

1909–11 Botanist J.R. Watson (1912: 202), following his

field study of plant communities, wrote this

about the adjacent uplands of the Rio Grande:

“This was undoubtedly originally a grassland, and is so yet where it has not been too

seriously over-grazed. . . . Now thanks to lack

of scientific control of grazing, it has been invaded by the composite Gutierrezia ... as to

merit being called a Gutierrezia formation.”

1909–26 The river bed at San Marcial aggraded about

12 feet. The rising river bed caused a widening of the Rio Grande channel and encroachment on farmland from Belen south (Rodey

and Burkholder 1927: 15).

1910 (pre) The housefly was introduced to New

Mexico (Henderson and Harrington 1914: 59).

1910 (pre) Bighorn sheep were extirpated in the Tewa

area (Henderson and Harrington 1914: 3).
254 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1910 (August 19) A pair of bald eagles was observed in Frijoles Canyon (Henderson and

Harrington 1914: 37).

1910 A pair of spotted owls nested along Frijoles

Creek in the Jemez Mountains (Henderson

and Harrington 1914: 37).

1910 Wild turkeys were relatively common on the

east slopes of the Sandia Mountains, but only

a few were found several years later (Ligon

1927: 114).

1910 Salt cedar was reported growing at Mesilla

Park (Scurlock 1988: 138).

1910 Mountain lions were declared “fairly abundant” in the Carson National Forest and “very

common” in the Jemez Mountains by Forest

Service officials (Bailey 1971: 286).

1910 Archeologist Neil Judd reported that black

bears were common in and around Frijoles

Canyon (Rothman 1992: 140).

1910 (ca.) The waters of the Rio Grande commonly

disappeared into its sandy bottom a short distance above Bernalillo (Harrington 1916: 101).

1910–11 Young Juniperus monosperma plants were

spreading into the lower grasslands of the

Estancia Valley (Watson 1912: 206).

1910–11 The gray wolf was seen occasionally in the Taos

Mountains according to Tewa Pueblo informants (Henderson and Harrington 1914: 29).

1910–11 More than 900 permits to take beavers were

issued to individuals who claimed damages

to their property. At the same time, the Santa

Fe Water Company was offering $50 for each

pair of live beavers to transplant to the upper

Santa Fe Canyon, where they would help conserve water for the city by their dam building (Bailey 1971: 219).

1910–11 Gunnison prairie dogs were reported as abundant in the Valle Grande. River otters were recorded in the Rio Grande from Taos to the Albuquerque area, as were mink. Black bears were

noted as common, and coyotes were also reported as common, but the gray wolf was “very

scarce” in the Tewa Pueblo area, but “occasionally seen” in the Taos Mountains. Wild horses

were noted on the mesa south of Buckman

(Henderson and Harrington 1914: 21, 23–29, 31).

1910–11 Carapaces of the tortoise, a common species

in the Tewa area, were used to make dance

rattles (Henderson and Harrington 1914: 52).

1910–11 Blue grouse and wild turkey were common

in the Jemez Mountains. Western bluebirds

were also common on mesa tops of the

Pajarito Plateau (Henderson and Harrington

1914: 34–35, 37, 45).

1910–18 Fifty-five new irrigation ditches went into

operation in the Middle Rio Grande Valley

(Hedke 1925: 22).

1900s (early) The introduced tamarisk formed dense

stands, especially along riparian corridors,

and became a fire hazard for cottonwoodwillow bosques (Pyne 1982: 187).

1900s (early) An agricultural field below Nambe

Falls was abandoned and subsequently revegetated by prickly pear, cholla, junipers, pinyons, and unidentified shrubs (Ellis 1978: 62).

1900s (early) Intensive grazing, suppression of fire,

and a “wet” period led to a “dramatic expansion of woody vegetation and a concomitant

decay of the grass lands” (Pyne 1982: 524).

1900s (early) The Federal Government constructed

reservoirs for pueblos that did not have a reliable water supply. These quickly began to

silt up, resulting in a reduction of their capacities (Vlasich 1980a: 28).

1900s (early) The American Lumber Company was

established in Albuquerque. Logs for the mill

came from the Zuni and San Mateo mountains north of Grants (Balcomb 1980: 56).

1900s (early) By this time grizzly bears, elk, bighorn

sheep, wolves, and pine martens had been exterminated by hunters and trappers in the

Sangre de Cristo Mountains (deBuys 1985:

280).

1900s (early) San Felipe Pueblo was still conducting an annual rabbit hunt at this time. Clubs

and rocks were used to kill the rabbits, as well

as prairie dogs, gophers, lizards, snakes, and

birds. Each year’s hunt would take place at a

new area, allowing the fauna in the previous

year’s area to recover (Balcomb 1980: 47–48).

1900s (early) Beavers had been largely extirpated

in most mountain ranges in New Mexico

(Bailey 1971: 251; Findley 1987: 86).

1900s (early) The Rio Grande beaver was extinct in

the Middle Valley by this time (Huey et al.

1967: 188).

1900s (early) Sage grouse had been hunted to near

extinction in the area between Taos and Tres

Piedras (Pickens 1980: 83).

1900s (early) Florence M. Bailey (1928: 103, 156, 177,

180–181, 189–190, 211, 237) reported whistling

swans and whooping cranes as extinct, goshawks as uncommon nesters, golden eagles

as common residents in the mountains, bald

eagles common in western Socorro County,

peregrine falcons nesting west of Santa Fe, sage

grouse common in the north until about 1908,

band-tailed pigeon as fairly common in all of

the high mountain ranges, and loggerhead

shrike as a common nester for the study region.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 255

1900s (early) The white-tailed ptarmigan was extirpated in the Sangre de Cristos (de Buys 1985:

280).

1911 (October) S.L. Fisher and Elliott Barker killed

four male mountain lions in the Pecos District of the Santa Fe National Forest over 2

weeks of hunting. Barker (1953: 86) wrote

“The two-week, thrill-packed lion hunt was

over and we had four of the big male horseand-deer-killers to our credit....”

1911 (post) Personnel from the State Engineer’s

Office constructed a levee to protect San

Marcial from floods (Calkins 1937: 7–8).

1911–12 Salt cedar, or tamarisk, trees were being

planted in Albuquerque as an ornamental.

The species quickly spread over the Middle

Rio Grande Valley (Scurlock 1988: 136, 138).

1911–26 Elk were reintroduced onto two Colfax

County ranches, the Santa Fe National Forest, and a ranch in the Gila National Forest

(Ligon 1927: 71).

1912 A new bridge connecting Alameda and

Corrales was constructed, replacing the

bridge destroyed in the 1904 flood (Eisenstadt

1980: 13).

1912 Apples, pears, peaches, apricots, quinces, and

grapes were commonly raised in the Middle

Valley. Vegetables raised included alfalfa,

wheat, corn, and oats, with the first being

farmed on about half the total tilled acreage.

Chiles, onions, tomatoes, several varieties of

beans, and cabbages were the main vegetables

grown in the area (Nelson et al. 1912: 11–19).

1912 Personnel from the USDA Bureau of Soils conducted a soil survey of the Middle Rio Grande

Valley. Based on field data, including soil

corings, a detailed classification of soil

groups, series, and types was developed.

Some 1,500 borings were made to determine

the depth of the shallow groundwater table

under the floodplain. Crop plants, and their

relationships to the water table and soil types,

were also studied. The survey found that the

water table ranged from 6 inches to 6 feet

deep, with an average depth of 23 inches over

90 percent of the floodplain (Nelson et al.

1912: 8–9, 44–46).

1912 One-seed juniper was spreading into the

grasslands of the Estancia Basin (Watson 1912:

206).

1912 “Many old abandoned river channels in the

valley” had “been reclaimed and” were being “used for crops” (Nelson et al. 1912: 39).

1912 The last indigenous sage grouse in New

Mexico was killed southwest of Chama. The

New Mexico Game and Fish Department reintroduced the species to northern New

Mexico with birds captured in Wyoming (Ligon 1961: 93).

1912–20s Access to common grazing lands previously

used by La Tierra Amarilla land grantees was

cut off as fencing for the Carson National Forest was initiated. The numbers of animals

were reduced by implementation of permits

as well. This action was taken to help restore

the overgrazed, eroding forest lands (Wilson

and Kammer 1989: 53).

1913 Hewett et al. (1913: 20) wrote “The Rio Grande

and many smaller streams show evidence of

volume formerly much greater than at

present.”

1913 The Rio Puerco channel at La Ventana was 15

feet deep (Dortignac 1962: 588).

1913 Vernon Bailey (1913: 74) described New

Mexico’s rangelands: “Many of the arid valleys in New Mexico have been for years so

overstocked that the best grasses have been

killed out and parts of the range rendered almost worthless. Some of the valleys show

mile after mile of ground almost bare or overgrown with worthless vegetation that stock

does not eat. Around most of the watering

places the grass is killed for a long distance,

often from 1 to 3 miles, the ground is

trampled, and baked, and the little rain that

falls runs down the trails and is wasted.”

1913–15 The Forest Service advertised 117 million

board-feet to be harvested in the Carson National Forest, near La Madera, Rio Vallecitos,

and in the higher Valle Grande area. A new

sawmill was put into operation at La Madera,

which had a capacity of 60,000 board-feet per

day (Gjevre 1969: 37).

1914 (pre) The Santa Fe Railroad operated an average of 15 locomotives to pull its transcontinental trains. Each engine had a tender that

held 7,500 to 10,000 gallons of water (Worley

1965: 37–38).

1914 (pre) The Tewa Pueblos declared that the gray

wolf was rare in their hunting area. They did

report occasional sightings in the Taos Mountains (Henderson and Harrington 1914: 29).

1914 (pre) The Mexican bighorn sheep, a subspecies, was extirpated in the southern portion

of the study region (Huey et al. 1967: 78).

1914 (June 30) The U.S. Congress authorized the

Predatory Animal and Rodent Control

(PARC) branch of the Biological Survey of the

U.S. Department of Agriculture. Congress

made this group responsible for experiments
256 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

and demonstrations in destroying wolves,

prairie dogs, and other predators on livestock.

Some 300 hunters were employed under this

program in 1914–15 (Brown 1983: 52, 126–

127).

1914 There were 8,500 acres of cultivated Rio

Grande floodplain in Valencia County. An

estimated 67 percent of this total was adversely affected by seepage (Bloodgood 1938:

13).

1914 A firm purchased logging rights to 117 million board-feet of timber in the Carson National Forest. Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir

were the two principal species harvested and

sent to the company’s sawmill at La Madera

(Chappell 1971: 129–130).

1914 Aldo Leopold, a Forest Service employee,

joined J. Stokely Ligon of the New Mexico

Game and Fish Department in a program to

eradicate the wolf in New Mexico and Arizona. Leopold later reversed his view toward

wolves and other predators, which he eloquently explained in A Sand County Almanac

(Burbank 1990: 101, 107–108; Leopold 1949:

129–133).

1914 The dramatic decrease in large game animals

in northern New Mexico over the preceding

3 decades was attributed to the increase in

Anglo hunters, and some Native Americans,

with improved rifles and ammunition

(Henderson and Harrington 1914: 2).

1914 late (and April 1915) The New Mexico Cattle

Growers’ Association voted to pay bounties

of $25 for each hide of adult wolves or mountain lions taken on the ranges of its members.

The organization also passed a resolution requesting Congress to provide funds to exterminate predators on public lands (Hagy 1951:

91).

1914–16 Some 115 black bears were killed on national

forests (Bailey 1971: 353).

1914–25 More than 200 rail-car loads of apples were

shipped annually from the Espanola area

(Gjevre 1969: 18).

1915 The village of Paraje was condemned because

of the construction of Elephant Butte Dam and

was subsequently inundated by the reservoir

(Marshall and Walt 1984: 279).

1915 Some 108 short-term grazing leases held by

non-Indians on 509 Jicarilla allotments at the

southern part of the reservation were generally overgrazed (Tiller 1992: 112).

1915 The demand for beef and mutton increased

sharply with the start of World War I, and

grazing restrictions on the national forest reserves were relaxed (Brown 1985: 129–130).

1915 Beaver populations were increasing along the

Rio Grande above and below San Marcial

(Bailey 1971: 215).

1915 The Forest Service released 37 elk from

Yellowstone National Park into the Pecos District of the Santa Fe National Forest. In less

than 20 years this small herd increased to

about 300 animals, and hunting resumed

within a short period (Barker 1953: 94–95,

163).

1915 Black-footed ferrets were reported from several locales in New Mexico (Bailey 1971: 326).

1915 Some 57 wolves were killed in New Mexico’s

national forests (Bailey 1971: 311).

1915–16 The pronghorn antelope population reached

an all-time low of an estimated 1,200 to 1,700

animals in the state. In the 19th century there

were an estimated 100,000 of these animals

(Barker 1970: 192; Findley et al. 1975: 334).

1915–16 J. Stokely Ligon took charge of predator control in the New Mexico-Arizona district. He

hired 32 hunters and trappers, including renowned bear hunter Ben Lilly. Nineteen grizzly bears and at least six mountain lions were

killed. His staff of wolf hunters also killed 69

wolves in their first year in New Mexico and

Arizona. An estimated 300 wolves remained

in New Mexico at the end of the year (Brown

1985: 127; Burbank 1990: 102–103).

1916 (May 12) Construction on the Elephant Butte

Dam was completed, creating a reservoir 40

miles long and covering some 40,000 acres of

land with 2,638,860 acre-feet of water

(Writer’s Work Project 1940: 21).

1916 (December) J.B. Archuletta of La Jara reported

that a wolf attacked his flock of 200 sheep at

night, killing 70 of the animals (Ligon 1971:

310–311).

1916 An estimated loss of 24,350 cattle, 165,000

sheep, and 850 horses, valued at $2,715,250,

was attributed to wolf, mountain lion, grizzly bear, coyote, bobcat, and “wild dogs” predation (Brown 1983: 57).

1916 U.S. Biological Survey personnel killed 100

wolves. Some 117, including those taken by

the U.S. Forest Service, were killed in the national forests (Bailey 1971: 311).

1916 The U.S. Forest Service initiated a predator

control program in the Jemez Mountains. The

gray wolf, mountain lion, and coyote were

targeted for trapping (Barker 1970: 113;

Scurlock 1981a: 144).

1916 One thousand eighty-four coyotes were killed

in the state (Bailey 1971: 313).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 257

1916 About 1,740 pronghorns were reported in the

state (Bailey 1971: 25).

1916 The Rio Grande Commission was authorized

by the State Legislature. This group was to

address regional and Middle Rio Grande

water problems (Clark 1987: 205).

1916 Congress passed the National Park Act leading to the creation of the National Park Service (Udall 1963: 153).

1916 The governor proclaimed arbor and bird days

for the state (Robinson 1993: 34).

1916 With completion of the Elephant Butte Dam,

eels (Anguilla rostrata) could no longer return

to the Upper Rio Grande (Koster 1957: 79).

1916 (ca.) Santa Ana residents cut “pines” in the

Jemez Mountains to use as vigas in a new roof

on their church. They also bought rough green

lumber for use as tables or ceiling slabs

(Kessell 1980: 168).

1916 (post) Following completion of Elephant

Butte Dam, water “backed up” the Rio

Grande, contributing to water-logging of agricultural lands in the lower reach of the

Middle Valley (Forrest 1989: 31).

1916–17 Ashley Pond founded a sportsman’s club that

included a game preserve and hunting and

camping areas at the north end of the Ramon

Vigil land grant. The water source for this

endeavor, a spring in Pajarito Canyon, dried

up, and Pond abandoned the preserve

(Ebright 1994: 244–245).

1916–18 When the United States joined the allies in

World War I, the Forest Service increased the number of permitted livestock on national forest lands.

Conditions caused by previous overgrazing and

logging worsened (deBuys 1985: 231).

1916–19 The U.S. Forest Service issued livestock grazing permits for the sacred Blue Lake area to

non-Indians (Sando 1989: 83).

1916–23 The density of black grama grass on New

Mexico ranges decreased during this dry period (Gatewood et al. 1964: B43).

1916–24 When available, pinyon nuts were shipped

by rail from the Taos junction area. The average annual shipment was 10 carloads; in 1921

there were 17 carloads (Gjevre 1969: 19).

1917 (January-May) An estimated 33 black bears

were killed in the state, and some 157 still remained in forested areas (Bailey 1971: 353).

1917 The average depth of ground water in the

floodplain of the Rio Grande in Sandoval

County was 2.5 feet (Bloodgood 1930: 20).

1917 Congress increased grazing fees on public

lands, and politicians, ranchers, and others

protested vigorously (Clark 1987: 146).

1917 By this year half of the previously farmed land

in the North Valley was no longer suitable for

agriculture due to alkali deposits and a high

water table that flooded extensive surface areas (Sargeant and Davis 1985: 19).

1917 The Sherwin-Williams Paint Company began

mining lead and zinc deposits in the

Magdalena Mountains (Fergusson 1951: 307).

1917 The grizzly bear population across New

Mexico had declined to only 48 animals

(Bailey 1971: 368; Brown 1985: 133).

1917 As the United States entered World War I,

demand for beef increased sharply, and

Stokely Ligon and Aldo Leopold used the

situation to justify an intensified predator

control effort (Brown 1983: 57).

1917 The Bureau of Biological Survey received

$25,000 funding to control predatory animals

and rodents in New Mexico. This amount was

matched by the state (Hagy 1951: 93).

1917 Professional trappers took 103 adult wolves

in the state (Bailey 1971: 307).

1917 The plains gray wolf population had been reduced to less than 100 in the state (Gehlbach

1981: 81).

1917 An estimated 84 mountain lions were killed;

some 400 others were found in the state

(Bailey 1971: 287).

1917 (ca.) The wood-fired stamp mill was shut down

on Baldy Mountain (McDonald 1985: 51).

1917–18 Maximum numbers of livestock were reached

in New Mexico because of the increased demand for food and wool during World War I

(Donart 1984: 1240).

1917–18 Trespass livestock were common on Forest

Service lands, which contributed to overgrazing (Roberts 1963: 120–121).

1918 (January) The Los Alamos Ranch School

opened, and the water supply was a problem

until a small dam was constructed in a canyon above the school 5 years later (Church

and Church 1974: 7).

1918 (July) Government employees trapped 45

wolves (Bailey 1971: 307).

1918 (fall) Influenza struck all over the world, and

many towns in New Mexico were hit hard. A

majority of families in the state lost at least

one member or friend to this disease (Melzer

1982: 221).

1918 The width of the Rio Grande “flood channel”

varied from 300 to 4,000 feet. The river bed was

aggrading at a “high rate” (Sullivan 1924: 6).

1918 Taos was the hardest hit community in the

United States by the influenza epidemic

(Tucker and Fitzpatrick 1972: 48).
258 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1918 Numerous deaths due to influenza occurred

at Lemitar (Scurlock 1982a: 14).

1918 There were 65 ditches with a water-carrying

capacity of 1,957 cfs in the Middle Rio Grande

Valley. These acequias irrigated about 47,007

acres (Hedke 1924: 20).

1918 Cerrillos experienced an earthquake, and

many ceilings and chimneys fell (Northrop

1976: 85).

1918 During the influenza epidemic, villagers at

Sandia Pueblo feared that they would be totally decimated by the disease. A delegation

from Sandia went to Isleta Pueblo and deeded

all of their lands to the latter (Parsons 1974:

204).

1918 The State Engineer reported that nearly 60,000

acres in the Middle Rio Grande Valley were

covered with alkali, salt grass, or swamp

(Rodey and Burkholder 1927: 17).

1918 There were 58,000 acres classified as alkaline

or swamp, and some 47,000 acres were under cultivation (Hedke 1924: 25).

1918 Congress passed the Migratory Game Bird

Treaty Act, making the U.S. Biological Survey (later the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

responsible for nationwide management of

waterfowl and other migratory species (Huey

et al. 1967: 153).

1918 Prairie dog “towns” were estimated to cover

20,000,000 acres of rangeland in the state

(Mortensen 1983: 72), perhaps an inflated figure.

1918 Some 93 adult wolves and 30 pups were taken

by the U.S. Predatory Animal and Rodent

Control Division of the Biological Survey and

New Mexico A&M College employees

(Brown 1983: 58).

1918 Poisoning of grizzly bears was initiated by

the U.S. Biological Survey (Brown 1985: 272).

1918–19 During this fiscal year, state and federal animal and rodent control killed 28 grizzly bears

in New Mexico (Brown 1985: 137).

1918–29 Coal production in the Madrid area peaked

(Elston 1961: 66).

1918–41 The Middle Rio Grande floodway aggraded

at the rate of 1 foot about every 12 years. In

the Bosque del Apache-San Marcial area the

rate was about 1 foot every 5 years (Happ

1943: 2).

1919 (pre) San Ildefonso Pueblo lost more land to

squatters than any other pueblo. Non-Indian

removal of timber for commercial use severely impacted the Rio Grande-Pojoaque

River watershed on their land (Arnon and

Hill 1979: 312).

1919 Major losses in the flow of the Rio Grande

above Elephant Butte Reservoir were attributed to evaporation of water from undrained

areas and to percolation along the main river

channel (Wozniak 1987).

1919 Of the 206,012 acres of floodplain land in the

Middle Rio Grande Valley, about 51,977 acres

were classified as “alkali and salt grass”

(Bloodgood 1930: 5).

1919 Production of molybdenum began in the

Questa mineral district of Taos County

(Strauss 1947: 127).

1919 The highest annual, daily mean flow of the

Santa Fe River near Santa Fe between 1910

and 1993 occurred (USGS 1994).

1919 (ca.) Pronghorn antelope and good grama

grass were found on the west bajada of the

Manzano Mountains in the La Cabra Spring

area (Otero 1989).

1919–25 Sixty new irrigation ditches went into operation in the Middle Rio Grande Valley (Hedke

1925: 22).

1919–29 Scabies infected cattle herds in Valencia

County, which was followed by a poor economic market and high feed prices (Magnum

1990: 71).

1920 (pre) The last mink in the Los Lunas area were

reported. This species historically occurred as

far south as Elephant Butte (Hink and Ohmart

1984, pt. I: 34).

1920 The Forest Service adopted a policy of no light

burning in ponderosa pine forest, based on

the belief that fire every 2 to 3 years would

prevent restocking of the tree (Pyne 1982: 522).

1920 The first motorized vehicle to drive to the

Sandia Crest was an Army Signal Corps truck

(McDonald 1985: 11).

1920 The town at the Hagan coal mine was constructed (Olson 1976: 90).

1920 The U.S. Census Bureau counted 360,350 persons in New Mexico (Workers of the Writers’

Program 1940: 434).

1920 The elk population on all of the national forests in New Mexico was 585 (Baker et al. 1988:

177). By this date the Rocky Mountain elk had

almost been exterminated in Colorado (Warren 1942: 277).

1920 The U.S. Biological Survey’s predator control

program in New Mexico had reduced wolves

from an estimated 300 to an estimated 60

(Brown 1983: 64; Flader 1974: 60).

1920 The pine marten was probably extirpated in

the Sangre de Cristo Mountains by this year

(deBuys 1985: 280).

1920 (ca.) Erosion created a new arroyo that cut
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 259

Abo Creek and diverted most of the water,

diminishing the stream flow (Clark 1987: 329).

1920 (ca.) Aldo Leopold planted a tamarisk in front

of his house in Albuquerque (Robinson 1965:

A5).

1920–25 The cattle industry, and wildlife in general,

declined due to rangeland abuse. Hunting

pressure was also a factor in the decrease in

indigenous animal populations (Ligon 1927:

31).

1920–33 Bootlegging alcohol was common in the

Bernalillo-Corrales area during prohibition

(Olson 1976: 91).

1921 Created earlier by the State Legislature, the

Rio Grande Survey Commission, in cooperation with the U.S. Reclamation Service, began

to study environmental conditions in the

Middle River Valley (Wozniak 1987).

1921 Fifty-six gray wolves were killed in New

Mexico and Arizona (Brown 1983: 64).

1921–25 The Bluewater-Toltec Santa Cruz irrigation

districts were formed (Clark 1987: 204).

1922 An estimated six grizzly bears were in New

Mexico (Brown 1985: 140).

1922–24 The White Pine Lumber Co. was organized;

included in the operation was a rail line from

the mill extending northward to the main logging camp in Guadalupe Canyon of the Jemez

Mountains. Timber was cut on the upper San

Diego land grant (Glover 1990: 5–6; Scurlock

1981a: 148).

1920s (early) An estimated 48,750 acres were cultivated, while 58,000 acres were waterlogged or otherwise not suitable for farming

in the Middle Rio Grande Valley (Wozniak

1987).

1920s (early) Wolf eradication efforts reached their

peak as over 100 animals were killed in New

Mexico and Arizona (Burbank 1990: 106).

1923 The Reclamation Service was converted into

the Bureau of Reclamation (Clark 1987: 189).

1923 Tamarisk were observed growing along an

irrigation canal, but none along the Rio

Grande west of Albuquerque’s Old Town

(Robinson 1965: A5).

1923 The most valuable crops per acre in the

Middle Rio Grande Valley were cotton, sweet

potatoes, cabbage, and alfalfa (Sullivan 1924:

15).

1923 Range managers considered intensive livestock grazing of woodlands or forests beneficial from the viewpoint of minimizing fires.

Grazing kept herbaceous understory plants

from accumulating and becoming fire fuel

(Pearson 1920: 129–130).

1923 The U.S. Biological Survey and cooperating

ranchers put out 103,000 strychnine poison

baits to control coyotes and other predators

(Brown 1985: 142).

1923 Thirty-two wolves were trapped, poisoned,

or shot in New Mexico (Brown 1983: 67).

1923 The last grizzly bear in the high country of

the Pecos District of the Santa Fe National

Forest was killed (Barker 1953: 189–190).

1923–24 Robert Thompson purchased 55,000 acres of

land, a tract that was the Alameda land grant.

The headquarters was located on the north

edge of Corrales. Some 3,000 to 5,000

herefords were on the ranch (Eisenstadt 1980:

21–22).

1923–25 The State Legislature passed the Conservancy

Act, creating a district with a governing board

to initiate projects to prevent flooding, regulate stream flow, reclaim waterlogged lands,

develop irrigation works, develop or reclaim

sources of water, and generate electrical energy (Clark 1987: 207). The Middle Rio

Grande Conservancy District structure was

formed within 2 years. About 277,760 acres were

included in the district (Scurlock 1988a: 136).

1923–1941 Joseph M. Budagher owned a store in

Domingo and homesteaded land 3 miles to

the southeast. He sold fruit, fuelwood, and

gasoline (Olson 1976: 182–183).

1924 (June 7) Congress passed the Pueblo Lands

Act, which provided for the appointment of

a commission to investigate Pueblo land titles

and to litigate the thousands of non-Indian

claims against Pueblo lands. Known as the

Pueblo Lands Board, this commission was

empowered to compensate Indians and nonIndians alike for lands lost via decisions

(Brayer 1938: 29).

1924 (September) The White Pine Company sawmill at Bernalillo began operation and in 3

years was producing 145,000 board-feet of

lumber per day (Olson 1976: 65, 67).

1924 Passage of the Pueblo Lands Act resulted in

Hispanos acquiring legal title to about 18,200

acres of northern Pueblo land through adjudication. Most of this acreage was irrigable,

and water rights were appropriated with land

title (Forrest 1989: 58).

1924 There were about 40,000 acres of first-class

cultivated land, 8,500 more acres of secondclass cultivated land, 52,000 acres that were

waterlogged or alkaline saturated, 6,500 acres

inundated, and 37,500 acres of bosque

(Sullivan 1924: 13).

1924 Alfalfa, beans, chile peppers, fruit, and indig-
260 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

enous salt grass were the main crops in the

Middle Rio Grande Valley south of Bernalillo

(Hedke 1925: 31).

1924 About 16.6 percent of New Mexico was forested (Baker et al. 1988: 34).

1924 Wild horses on the Carson National Forest

were contributing to an overgrazing problem.

Some 1,200 horses were rounded up; some

were sold to residents surrounding the forest

(Tucker and Fitzpatrick 1972: 79–80).

1924 New Mexico’s wildlife populations reached

their lowest numbers, and more species were

threatened with extinction than at any other

time. Several species, such as the gray wolf,

elk, and grizzly bear, were extirpated within

a few years (Ligon 1927: 15).

1924 The wild turkey population declined to its

lowest figure in the historic period (Huey et

al. 1967: 107).

1924 Thirty-four wolves were taken in the state,

mostly along the southern border (Brown

1983: 70).

1924 (ca.) Seventy-five percent of the Middle Rio

Grande Valley shallow ground water was less

than 3 feet below the floodplain surface

(Sullivan 1924: 7).

1924–25 Sixteen grizzly bears were killed in New

Mexico (Brown 1985: 148).

1924–32 Black grama grass density on New Mexico

ranges increased until the drought in subsequent years reversed this process (Gatewood

et al. 1964: B43).

1925 (spring-summer) Some 565,000 acre-feet of

water was depleted for the year. A shortage

of 200,000 acre-feet at Buckman occurred

(Hedke 1925: 14).

1925 (August) There was a demand for 68,000 acrefeet in the Middle Rio Grande Valley (Hedke

1925: 32).

1925 By this year there was only one large, roadless

area (1/2 million acres) in New Mexico. Fifteen years before there were six such areas

(Flores 1992: 8).

1925 Thirty-four wolves were killed in the state,

and only a few were left on the Jicarilla

Apache Reservation and along the southern

border (Brown 1983: 71).

1925 The last grizzly bear east of the Rio Grande

was killed near Raton (Brown 1983: 150).

1926 The Achison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad

contracted to provide 34,256 linear feet of

trestle piling, 237,498 board-feet of native pine

bridge timber, 81,610 board-feet of native pine

box culvert timber, and 60,000 native pine

track ties for construction of the Cuba Extension rail line from San Ysidro to north of Cuba

(Glover 1990: 48).

1926 The statewide deer population was estimated

at 41,000 (Huey et al. 1967: 42).

1926–27 The average depth of ground water below the

surface of the floodplain of the Tome-Valencia

area was 2.32 feet (National Resources Committee 1938: 274).

1927 (fall) Some wolves entered north-central New

Mexico from Colorado. They took a large

number of young cattle along the Rusas River

in the Tres Piedras country (Brown 1983: 79).

1927 Predators, such as wolves, coyotes, bobcats,

and mountain lions, were considered “the

most serious enemy of game conservation in

New Mexico” (Ligon 1927: 49–50).

1927 The last plains gray wolf in the state was exterminated by this year (Findley et al. 1975:

28).

1927 U.S. Biological Survey trappers Homer and

Albert Pickens took seven gray wolves in the

Canjilon Creek-upper Brazos drainages, the last

of this species in the area (Pickens 1980: 11).

1927 Mule deer were rare or extinct “in the valleys, especially in the more settled parts”

(Bailey 1971: 29).

1927 An estimated 2,950 pronghorns were found

in the region (Ligon 1927: 25).

1927 Black bears received legal protection in New

Mexico (Findley et al. 1975: 29).

1928 An estimated 16 grizzly bears remained in

New Mexico (Brown 1985: 153).

1928 The exotic rainbow trout was stocked in 187

rivers, creeks, and lakes across the state

(Kuykendahl 1994: 3).

1929–30 San Acacia Lake, drained by the Conservancy

District in 1929–30, contained a large fish

population and supported other wildlife

(Marshall and Walt 1984: 281).

1920s Intensive grazing decimated plant cover,

which resulted in severe erosion in the region

(Forrest 1989: 140).

1920s There was commercial mining of copper-silver ore in La Bajada Canyon, Santa Fe County

(Elston 1961: 161).

1920s A retail clothing store in Las Vegas sent two

buyers to New Mexico and Arizona to buy

furs, hides, and wool (Perrigo 1982: 62–63).

1920s Local bounties were paid for bobcats, and

most sheep ranchers hunted them vigorously

(Bailey 1971: 296).

1920s Wolves were virtually exterminated by trappers and hunters working for the Forest Service, U.S. Biological Survey, and ranchers

(Brown 1983: 25).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 261

1930 By this year Frank Bond controlled the best

grazing lands in the Jemez Mountains. He

leased land for grazing his sheep from the

Forest Service, and after 3 years of use, his

forest grazing rights became permanent

(Rothman 1992: 129).

1930 By this year permits for grazing on the Santa

Fe National Forest were reduced to correlate

with carrying capacities (Rothman 1992: 159).

1930 The valley of the Rio Grande in the Socorro

area supported dense stands of willow, tornillo, cottonwood, and rabbitbush. On waterlogged soils, vegetation was more sparse, and

the open alkali flats were covered with salt

grass. In wet depressions or around charcos,

bullrush and sedge grasses were dominant.

The adjacent dry uplands supported mesquite, creosote bush, rabbitbush, and sparse

bunch grasses. Livestock were grazed

throughout the year on salt grass pastures and

in the bosques of the Rio Grande and lower

Rio Puerco in Socorro County (Poulson and

Fitzpatrick ca. 1930: 7).

1931 (March 2) Congress appropriated $10 million

to fund predatory animal control in the West

(Hagy 1951: 94).

1931 (March 2) Congress passed an act that provided $1 million to the Secretary of Agriculture to completely eradicate predatory animals over 10 years (Hagy 1951: 94).

1931 The U.S. Forest Service sold an estimated

207,900,000 board-feet of timber in the Rio de

las Vacas watershed to the White Pine Lumber Company. This sale involved about 40,000

acres of land (Glover 1990: 26).

1931 The entire state reported a good pinyon crop

(Brugge 1980: 383).

1931 The New Mexico Legislature passed a law

giving the State Game Commission full regulatory powers to manage the wildlife of the

state, including setting hunting seasons and

bag limits (Barker 1970: 188; Flader 1978: 105).

1932 The net annual depletion of Rio Grande surface waters between Otowi and San Marcial

was 480,000 acre-feet (Nelson 1946: 24).

1932–33 The Forest Service surveyed watershed conditions in the Rio Grande basin above Elephant Butte. Rapid deterioration of vegetation cover due to livestock overgrazing in the

1880s and subsequent accelerated erosion and

gullying was documented. Increased sedimentation in the river had caused the loss of

about 13 percent of Elephant Butte

Reservoir’s capacity (Clark 1987: 258).

1932–66 Nineteen bighorn sheep were introduced into

the Sandia Mountains (Huey et al. 1967: 222).

1930s (early) More than 1,500 horses were removed

from the Jemez River District of the Santa Fe

National Forest (Tucker and Fitzpatrick 1972:

81).

1934 To control and manage grazing on the public

lands, the Taylor Grazing Act was passed,

establishing the Grazing Service within the

Department of the Interior. In 1946 this agency

was combined with the General Land Office

to form the Bureau of Land Management

(Clawson 1971: 34–38). The bulk of unappropriated grassland (80 million acres) was

closed to further settlement by the act. These

lands were to be kept as a grazing resource

and managed by local livestock growers organized in districts and supervised by the

Department of the Interior (Worster 1979:

190).

1930s (pre) Crested wheat grass was introduced into

New Mexico and adjacent mountain states

Hitchock 1935: 48.

1935 An earthquake rocked Belen and damaged

the high school and two elementary schools

to the extent that classes were suspended until

the necessary repairs could be made

(Northrop 1976: 85).

1935 By this year, irrigation works were constructed by the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District for 118,000 acres between

Cochiti and the northern boundary of the

Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge (Nelson

1946: 12).

1935 Virtually all of the Tewa basin was described

as “tragically overgrazed” (Weigle 1975: 36).

1935 Overgrazing of grant and public lands around

El Rito resulted in a reduction in the number

of livestock (Weigle 1975: 152).

1935 Pueblo rangelands at Laguna and Acoma

were badly overgrazed, which, along with the

drought, led to starving livestock. “They all

knew, also, that there were many ‘denuded

areas’ and ‘the most nutritious plants’ had

disappeared from the range, leaving less digestible weeds or even poisonous plants”

(Aberle 1948: 63).

1935 Deforestation 35 miles up the Rio En Medio

and Chupadero watersheds by several lumber mill operations and local cutting for

fuelwood resulted in severe soil erosion. Some

20 acres of farmland were lost near the

Chupadero village (Weigle 1975: 66).

1930s (mid) Most of the residents from the middle

Rio Puerco-of-the-East valley moved upstream to the higher Cuba area, where agri-
262 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

culture was still relatively reliable (Calkins

1937b: 18–19).

1936 The average depth of ground water below the

surface of the floodplain in the Tome-Valencia

area was 5.99 feet (National Resources Committee 1938: 274).

1936 The consumptive agricultural use of water

between Isleta Pueblo and Casa Colorada was

2.7 acre-feet per acre (Titus 1963: 84).

1936 The New Mexico Lumber and Timber Co. of

Bernalillo purchased the timber rights to the

Baca No. 1 location in the Jemez Mountains.

Here, and on nearby lands of the Santa Fe

National Forest, there were an estimated 400

million board-feet of timber (Glover 1990: 36).

1936–41 The rate of floodplain aggradation of the

Middle Rio Grande floodway was about 1

foot per year (Happ 1943: 2).

1936–47 Cottonwood, willow, and tamarisk cover increased from 38,400 to 51,120 acres in the

Middle Rio Grande Valley (Lowry 1957: 4).

1937 A flood along the Middle Rio Grande washed

out levees in a number of locations (Happ

1944: 3).

1937 All of Santa Ana’s rangelands, except the

mesa, were severely overgrazed and eroded.

Extensive sand dune areas had formed along

the Jemez River, siltation had ruined crops

and clogged one of two wells, and desirable

grasses had been replaced largely with ring

muhly and snakeweed. The range agent reported that the rangelands “could support

only 39 head of cattle and horses on a yearlong basis” (Bayer et al. 1994: 231, 233).

1937 About 85 percent of New Mexico’s 77,488,536

acres was in a state of active erosion, with

more than half of that suffering serious loss of

topsoil and severe gullying. The legislature

passed a soil conservation act (Clark 1983: 270).

1937 Three soil conservation grants totalling

174,000 acres were allocated to the Pueblos.

These lands had a carrying capacity of 1,656

cattle. Three other such grants totalling

187,000 acres with a carrying capacity of 1,601

cattle were made to non-Indians, but primarily for Hispanic use (Forrest 1989: 141).

1937–66 Some 952 pronghorn antelope were transplanted into the Middle Rio Grande Basin

(Huey et al. 1967: 221).

1938 (January) Jemez, Zia, and Laguna pueblos

were granted grazing rights to a portion of

the Espiritu Santo land grant (Bayer et al.

1994: 233–234).

1930s Electricity was introduced to the Valencia-Los

Lunas area (Gallegos 1970: 75).

1930s Spanish livestock overgrazed the lands

around Vadito, including locales on Picuris

Pueblo land (Carlson 1979: 36).

1930s Trucks replaced horses in logging operations

(Glover 1990: 37).

1930s Wild horses, which grazed the Manzano

Mountains bajada, grazed inside the Albuquerque airport boundaries, even after it was

fenced (Speakers 1965: 31).

1930s–40s Large herds of goats and sheep were grazed

in the Los Pinos and Ladrone mountains. This

intensive grazing changed the floristic composition of rangeland on the Sevilleta land

grant (Manthey 1977: 10–11).

1940 The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land

Management began to fence federal land in

the Rio Puerco-of-the-East valley and traditional grazing lands on Mesa Prieta and the

San Mateo Mountains, including Mount Taylor (Garcia 1992: 23).

1941 (pre) Residents of Santa Clara Pueblo caught

carp, sucker, eel, catfish, and trout for food

(Hill 1982: 59).

1941 (May) The highest daily mean flow since late

1939, 5,980 cfs, occurred on the lower Rio

Puerco (US Geological Society 1994).

1941 Probably owing to the abnormally high precipitation, fires burned perhaps the smallest

area ever in a year (Swetnam 1990: 11).

1941–43 Each family on the Rio Puerco was permitted

to graze 15 head of sheep in their grazing precinct by the Grazing Service. This number of

livestock was considered below the minimum

needed for subsistence (Forrest 1989: 159).

1942 There were 14,972 acres under cultivation in

the Rio Puerco basin (Harper 1943: 11).

1942–56 The carrying capacity of grazing lands in New

Mexico steadily decreased during this extended

drought period (Gatewood et al. 1964: B43).

1943 (June 29) A flood on the Rio Puerco above

Arroyo Chico probably exceeded 5,000 cfs

(USGS 1994).

1940s (mid) The rapid aggradation of the Middle

Rio Grande streambed was considered the

most severe problem by local residents. This

process, caused by the large amount of sediment carried by the river, was resulting in the

reduction of the carrying capacity of the river,

the waterlogging of farmland, and the increased danger of disastrous flooding (Clark

1987: 531).

1945–62 Seventy-four irrigation wells were drilled on

the Rio Grande floodplain in eastern Valencia

County (Titus 1963: 85).

1946 (pre) Sedimentation of the river channel had
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 263

raised it to within 40 inches of the Alameda

truss bridge (Nelson 1946: 18).

1946 There were about 4,700 farms in the Middle Rio

Grande Valley, 66 percent of them were 15 acres

or less in size. The remainder ranged from 16 to

more than 160 acres (Nelson 1946: 13–14).

1946 There were 3,819 Pueblos living in the Middle

Valley; land holdings totalled 379,732 acres.

Average per capita cultivation was 3.2 acres

(Nelson 1946: 70–71).

1946 About 60,000 acres were irrigated farmlands

in the Middle Valley. Some 118,000 acres of

irrigable lands were uncultivated (U.S. Bureau of Reclamation 1946: 3).

1946 An average of about 37 million tons of sediments were carried into the valley between

Cochiti and San Marcial. About 25 million

tons, or 13,500 acre-feet, of these were deposited in the valley (Nelson 1946: 19).

1946 Water used by native vegetative cover

equalled or exceeded that used for irrigation

of cultivated lands in the Middle Valley

(Nelson 1946: 25).

1946 By this year “numerous drains” in the Middle

Rio Grande Valley were partially “filled with

vegetative growth,” and their mouths were

“sediment-clogged” (Nelson 1946: 15).

1946 The Isleta diversion dam was “in poor condition because of settlement after being undermined” (Nelson 1946: 40).

1947 There were 60,640 acres of native and exotic

vegetation in the Middle Valley. Their water

use depleted river flow by an estimated

238,700 acre-feet, or about 44.5 percent of the

total depletion (Hay 1963).

1947 Four lakes in the San Marcial area provided

good largemouth bass fishing. Good catches

of crappie and channel catfish were also made

(Pillow and DeVaney 1947: 10).

1947 The lower Rio Jemez provided no fishing because of species depletion (Pillow and

DeVaney 1947: 10).

1948 Congress directed the Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation to prepare

plans for district improvement. Subsequently,

the Corps constructed river levees near Albuquerque, and the Bureau deepened river

canals to drain water from agricultural lands.

In the southern part of the valley, channel rectification was carried out as well (Sorensen

and Linford 1967: 156–157).

1948 (ca.) A sawmill was built at Gilman just below the tunnels on the Guadalupe River in

the Jemez Mountains (Glover 1990: 44).

1949 Some 72,989 acres were in irrigation in the

Middle Valley (Sorensen and Linford 1967:

154).

1940s (late) The mink was still common throughout the northern half of the state (Huey et al.

1967: 189).

1950 (pre) The yellow perch was introduced into

the Rio Grande, Pecos, and San Juan drainages (Sublette et al. 1990: 331).

1950 The population of the Middle and Upper basins was 275,000, of which about 15 percent

were actively engaged in agriculture. There

were 158,000 livestock units in the basins

(Dortignac 1956: 56, 78–79).

1951 Invader shrubs had replaced black grama

grass on upland sites from San Marcial to the

mouth of the Rio Puerco. Older residents of

this reach remembered grama being cut and

baled here previously (Branson 1985: 38).

1954 (July 1) (to June 30, 1955) Belen residents used

158,835,996 gallons of water from three municipal wells (Titus 1963: 86).

1955 The average annual stream flow production

in the Rio Grande above Elephant Butte was

almost 3 million acre-feet. More than 900,000

acre-feet of water was consumed between the

Colorado-New Mexico state line and Elephant Butte Dam. This was almost twothirds of the water produced in this region.

More than 400,000 acre-feet of the total was

considered wasted or nonbeneficial use

(Dortignac 1956: 29).

1955 There were an estimated 1,500 elk and 25,000

deer on national forests in the Upper and

Middle basins (Dortignac 1956: 71).

1956 Some 22,600 acres were in cultivation from

the southern boundary of the Isleta reservation to Bernardo. About half of crop production was alfalfa (Titus 1963: 3).

1956 The Bureau of Indian Affairs returned grazing control to the Navajo. Stocking increased

steadily, causing severe overgrazing of rangelands by the mid 1980s (Eastman and Gray

1987: 106–107).

1958–66 Some 4,966 Afghan white-winged pheasants

were released by the Game and Fish Department in the state (Huey et al. 1967: 169).

1959 The estimated average annual evaporation at Elephant Butte and Caballo reservoirs was 254,800

acre-feet (Sorensen and Linford 1967: 166).

1950s The overall population of band-tailed pigeons

was declining (Huey et al. 1967: 155).

1950s The fathead minnow was introduced into the

Gila and San Juan drainages, and in the next

decade into the Zuni and San Francisco river

drainages (Sublette et al. 1990: 166).
264 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1950s Timber sales and logging occurred in the

Capulin Springs area in the Sandia Mountains.

Logging was “camouflaged” because of complaints of local residents and visitors. Firewood

cutting was common (McDonald 1985: 11).

1960 The population of the Rio Grande basin was

484,700; 132,400 were rural residents. Some

241,216 persons lived in Albuquerque

(Sorensen and Linford 1967: 152).

1960 The population of eastern Valencia County

was an estimated 16,100. Belen and Los Lunas

had populations of 5,031 and 1,186, respectively (Titus 1963: 3).

1960 The Pueblos, with a population of 13,611,

owned 1,460,838 acres in the Rio Grande basin (Sorensen and Linford 1967: 150).

1960 By this year Russian olive had become a major understory component of the Middle Rio

Grande bosque (Freehling 1982: 10).

1960 (late) The American Gypsum Co. began quarrying at White Mesa near San Ysidro. The raw

gypsum was transported to the company’s

plant north of Albuquerque (Elston 1961: 164).

1960–62 About 84,600 acre-feet of water were diverted

annually in the Rio Grande basin; this included surface and ground waters. About

42,000 acre-feet of this total was depleted;

some 29,800 acre-feet, or 71 percent, was depleted by Albuquerque (Sorensen and Linford

1967: 163).

1962 Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) made up 3–4 percent of the vegetative cover on the Rio Puerco

watershed (Dortignac 1963: 508).

1960s (early) The fall-winter duck population varied from 100,000 to 200,000 birds (Huey et al.

1967: 161).

1960s (early to mid) There were a few reports of

white-tailed deer in the San Mateo Mountains

in Socorro County and the Sangre de Cristo

Mountains (Huey et al. 1967: 52).

1963 (pre) Several springs along the Ojuelos fault

ceased flowing, perhaps due to wells drilled

nearby (Titus 1963: 79).

1963 About 16,400 acres of land in the Rio Grande

basin were dry-farmed; most of this acreage

was cultivated in wheat and barley. Some

3,000 acres were in corn (Sorensen and

Linford 1967: 159).

1963 About 39,739,000 board-feet were harvested

in the Rio Grande basin (Sorensen and Linford

1967: 159).

1963 Kokanee salmon were introduced into northern New Mexico streams (Sublette et al. 1990:

67).

1963 About 134,500 cattle and 135,500 sheep were

on rangelands of the Rio Grande basin. Of

these, 76,800 cattle and 64,600 sheep were

grazed on national forest lands in the summer (Sorensen and Linford 1967: 159).

1963 State and federal trappers took more than

6,300 coyotes and 1,500 bobcats (Huey et al.

1967: 197, 199).

1964 About 20,000 acres were under irrigation in

the Middle Valley. Almost all of this was

within the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy

District (Sorensen and Linford 1967: 157).

1964 There were an estimated 3,000 black bears in

the state (Huey et al. 1967: 22).

1964 There were an estimated 301,750 deer, 11,046

elk, 15,000 pronghorn antelope, and 300 to 400

bighorn sheep in the state (Huey et al. 1967: 26).

1964 Some 72 bighorn sheep were counted in the

Sandia Mountains (Huey et al. 1967: 70).

1964 There were an estimated 25,000 wild turkeys

in the state (Huey et al. 1967: 26).

1966 There were an estimated 350 mountain lions

in the state (Huey et al. 1967: 195).

1967 The beaver population of New Mexico was

estimated to be 6,000 (deBuys 1985: 97).

1967 The white-tailed ptarmigan was “very rare”

in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and other

northern New Mexico ranges (Huey et al.

1967: 129).

1960s Northern pike were introduced into several

large reservoirs (Sublette et al. 1990: 77).

1970 The estimated saw timber volume on national

forests in New Mexico was 12,645 million

board-feet (Baker et al. 1988: 78).

1977 About 17 percent of New Mexico was forested

(Baker et al. 1988: 34).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 265

As described in previous chapters, adverse impacts

generated by humans on the surface water, vegetation,

soils, and fauna began with their arrival in the region more

than 10,000 years ago. In some instances these impacts

and resulting environmental changes were interrelated

with natural phenomena, such as extended droughts and

fires. These elements have been discussed in Chapters 2–

4, so they will only be summarized in this chapter.

Generally, as Native American populations grew and

technological innovations advanced, these impacts affected ever increasingly larger areas, with greater pressures on selected resources. Several events or series of related events marked significant changes in impacts on the

environment. In the late prehistoric period the introduction of the bow-and-arrow, cultigens, and associated agricultural knowledge were hallmarks in this evolution.

Relatively large villages were established along the Rio

Grande and tributaries, and areas of bosque were cleared

for cultivation by the Puebloan groups.

In the 16th century the first Europeans brought firearms,

metal tools, livestock, and a different view of the physical

and biological world and their relationship with it, exerting new pressures on the environment. The Spanish population grew steadily, while Native American numbers,

especially the Puebloans, decreased, primarily due to infectious diseases, also introduced by the Spanish. Importantly, livestock numbers increased disproportionately;

grasslands around every Pueblo and Hispano settlement

were intensively grazed. Irrigation farming expanded to

the point that little floodplain land in the Middle Valley

was uncultivated. By the early 19th century some waterlogging and build-up of salts in the soil were underway

due to intensive irrigation. Riparian forests and pinyonjuniper woodlands near settlements were reduced for use

as fuelwood and building materials. Fire was sometimes

employed by Hispanics in these botanical zones to create

pasture or farm land.

EFFECTS OF CLIMATE

The role of climatic fluctuations as related to short-term

vegetational change has been investigated by a number

of ecologists, botanists, environmental historians, geographers, and range specialists across the Southwest since

the 1950s (Arnold and Reid 1964; Bahre 1991; Brown 1950;

Dobyns 1981; Gehlbach 1981; Harris 1966; Hastings and

CHAPTER 5

HISTORICAL IMPACTS AND CHANGES:

BIOTIC RESOURCES AND HUMAN POPULATIONS

Turner 1965; Hennessy 1983; Humphrey 1958, 1987;

Johnson and Elson 1977; Neilson 1986; Swetnam 1990; Vale

1982, to name just some). Most of these studies examined

climate and juniper-grassland savannas, pinyon-juniper

woodlands, or ponderosa forests, as well as the interrelationships with other ecological factors, notably humancaused modifications such as grazing, fire suppression,

fuelwood cutting, and logging. These studies also focused

on changes in the recent past, that is, when Anglo Americans began colonizing the region in the mid 19th century.

The adverse effects of extended drought on vegetation

were recognized as early as the mid 19th century. In 1857

a geologist with the Lt. Joseph C. Ives military expedition

to the Colorado River recorded that the lower reaches of

upland juniper stands were dead. Stands of dead “pinetrees,” including ponderosa, were also observed at this

time. This phenomenon was attributed to the extant

drought conditions. More recent die-offs of juniper due

to xeric conditions have also been noted on the Pajarito

Plateau west of Santa Fe (Hewett et al. 1913: 56–57, 59, 62)

and on the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge due to the

1950s drought.

A member of the U.S. Geographical Exploration and

Survey team in northern New Mexico in 1875 speculated

that the area was becoming increasingly xeric. This speculation was probably based in part on reports by local

Hispanos, who related that springs and creeks had ceased

flowing between 1775 and 1800. Another possible indicator of increasingly xeric conditions on the plateau was the

encroachment of pinyons into the lower elevations of the

ponderosa pine zone (Hewett et al. 1913: 52–53).

Climate fluctuations through time, combined with intensive grazing of cattle, have resulted in changes in vegetative cover and composition across the Southwest. One

of the plant genera that has been most affected is Juniperus,

which has increased its range markedly (Davis 1987: 123).

West (1984: 1310–1313) concluded that climate fluctuations were only one probable cause of vegetative change

in pinyon-juniper in the late historic period. During wet

periods, pinyon-juniper has invaded or reinvaded intensively grazed grassland areas where fuels for fire had been

diminished and where juniper seeds were dispersed in

feces. Density of both species has increased generally over

the region. Decreased understory vegetation and compaction of soils by livestock grazing, coupled with droughts

and then intense precipitation, may have led to soil ero-
266 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

sion as well. Donart (1984: 1249) determined that drought

can cause considerable damage to grazed and nongrazed

vegetation, which can result in high levels of mortality of

herbaceous plants. Drought-tolerant species or new species of plants can then invade the open areas created within

a plant community.

Veblen and Lorenz (1991: 173–176) attributed historic

changes in the ponderosa zone along the Front Range in

Colorado to climatic variability, fire (before 1920), logging,

and grazing. Except for logging, these factors have contributed to ponderosa invasion of grasslands. Reduction

of natural and human-caused fires since 1920, a possible

shift to a more mesic climate, and livestock overgrazing

were cited as the agents of change.

A recent study of vegetational change in southeastern

Arizona indicates that “no directional vegetation changes

since 1870 have been clearly linked to any trends, changes,

or fluctuations in the climate” (Bahre 1991: 103). This study

and others, however, do support the hypothesis that shortterm climatic changes or deviations do exacerbate humancaused modifications of plant communities, as indicated

above. Thus, biologists and eco-culturists (anthropologists, environmental historians, and geographers) must

continue to direct their research at understanding the complex interactions between humans and their environment,

including climate, through time (Bahre 1991: 105; Worster

1984).

Periodic Rio Grande floods caused by melt of abovenormal snowfall or intense rains on the watershed impacted various eco-cultural resources in the Middle Valley. One result of the high runoff was avulsion, or movement of the river from its current channel to a new one.

From the 1600s to early 1900s the Rio Grande channel generally shifted to the west side of the floodplain from Angostura to Belen (Fig. 57), although there were some eastward movements.

Perhaps the earliest historic movement of the Rio

Grande occurred near Tome Hill in Valencia County. Some

time between 1692 and 1750 the river left its channel,

which ran around the west end of the hill and along the

south side of the eminence, and moved westward to near

or at its present location (Scurlock et al. 1995: 118–119).

Fray Dominguez (Adams and Chavez 1956: 8) recorded

a story about the eastward shift of the river in the Belen

area, causing severe flood damage at Tome in 1769. In the

early 1800s the Rio Grande again shifted westward in the

Bernalillo area, forcing residents on that side of the river

to resettle on the new east bank at the present town site

(Bowen and Sacca 1971: 48–49, 60; Lange and Riley 1970:

176). The major flood of 1884 caused a westward shift of

the river in the Los Lunas area (Crawford et al. 1993: 24).

There was a westward shift in the river’s course between Algodones and Bernalillo between 1709 and 1739,

which caused damage to the church and homes. Bernalillo

at that time was located above the present town, which

dates from the 1820s (Bayer et al. 1994: 90; Snow 1976:

172–175). Beginning about the same time, the Rio Grande

in the Alameda area began to move westward and by 1768

flowed in or near its present channel. Alameda, originally

located on the west bank of the river, was resettled on the

east side (Chavez 1957: 3; Sargeant 1987: 38–39).

EFFECTS OF FIRE

The effects of fire on vegetation in the Southwest have

been investigated since the 1920s (Arnold et al 1964; Bahre

1991; Hough 1926; Humphrey and Everson 1951;

Kozlowski and Alhgren 1974; Leopold 1924; Pyne 1982;

Stewart 1956; Weaver 1951, 1974; Wright 1980, to list only

a few). Studies have centered on invasion or reinvasion

of grasslands due to fire suppression, floral structure and

composition of woodlands, availability of nutrients in soil,

and other soil characteristics. Although much more is now

known about the impacts of fire on flora, these phenomena

are still poorly understood (Covington and DeBano 1990:

78–79).

Impacts and changes caused by fire on grasslands related to juniper movement in the Southwest have been

addressed by Bahre (1991); Humphrey (1974); Johnsen

(1962); Komarek (1969); and Vogl (1974). These investigators, in general, agree on the following historical impacts

and changes produced by lightning or human-caused

fires:

1. grassland fires were more frequent and widespread

before 1900,

2. fires were “hotter” on the ground due to the presence of more grass biomass,

3. fires killed seedling or young woody shrubs and

trees up to 5 years old, and

4. fires have been just one of several interrelated factors producing change in the grasslands.

Fire History

Prior to 1900, human-ignited fires and natural fires were

relatively frequent in grasslands, woodlands, and forests

at a given locale. Fire frequencies in the last 300 years, or

intervals over the last 300 years, range from 1.9 to 25 years.

Some presuppression or pre–1900 fires burned as long as

several months over thousands of acres (Ahlstrand 1980:

4, 6; Cooper 1960: 137–138; Foxx 1981: 7). Clearly, vegetation associations and composition in the study region have

evolved with periodic fire.

In the early to mid 1800s there seems to have been a

shift in fire regimes to longer fire-free periods. One explanation for this phenomenon is the wet decades of the 1830–

40s. Another possible explanation is the intense sheep

grazing of the understory of the woodlands and forests

during this period. In this century there appears to be some
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 267

Figure 57—Major Middle Rio Grande channel movements.
268 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

correlation between fire frequencies and the El Nino

Southern Oscillation, which brings tropical Pacific storms

to Arizona and New Mexico during the normally dry

spring and fall seasons (Swetnam 1990: 8, 7–11).

Many fire history and impact studies on specific pinyon-juniper and ponderosa locales in New Mexico and

portions of adjacent states have been made in the last 20

years. These locales include the Fort Stanton Experimental Range in southeastern New Mexico (Dwyer and Peiper

1967), the Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns

national parks in extreme southern New Mexico

(Ahlstrand 1980), Bandelier National Monument in northern New Mexico (Allen 1990; Foxx 1981), Prescott National

Forest in central Arizona (Deiterich and Hilbert 1990), Gila

Wilderness (Baisan 1988), and the Coconino National Forest in Arizona (Jameson 1962). In general, these investigations indicate that fire historically has slowed or precluded invasion and growth of woodlands into adjacent

grasslands, restricted stands to shallow rocky soils and

rugged topography, maintained open woodlands, altered

nutrient distribution and availability in soils, opened areas to soil erosion, and reduced herbaceous production

by 30 percent in the year following the conflagration (Cooper 1960: 137, 161; Covington and DeBano 1990: 79, 81;

Dwyer and Peiper 1967).

Wright and Bailey (1982: 195) stated that historical “fire

has been the dominant force controlling the distribution

of pinyon-juniper, particularly juniper, but fire cannot be

separated from the effects of drought and competition.”

Other interrelated ecological factors that are poorly understood are grazing, logging, and chaining.

A large fire on the north end of the Sandia Mountains

in north-central New Mexico burned ponderosa pine and

white fir-Douglas fir zones between 7,000 and 8,500 feet

in the early 1830s. The ponderosa stands, located on drier

and warmer slopes, were replaced by Gambel oak, pinyon, and one-seed juniper. At present, this community is

composed of the same three dominant species, with no

reoccurrence of ponderosa. On the wetter and cooler

slopes and canyon bottoms, quaking aspen and Gambel

oak formed the first post-fire successional stage, followed

by near-replacement of the two fir species up to the present

(Cooper 1989; Dick-Peddie 1993; 61-63, 68).

In the nearby Jemez Mountains, a fire suppression

policy has been employed by the Forest Service and National Park Service since the early 1900s and by the Atomic

Energy Commission (Department of Defense) since the

1940s, resulting in vegetation changes previously discussed. This management strategy notwithstanding, there

was a relatively large fire on the Los Alamos Reservation

in 1954. This conflagration was extinguished quickly, and

no major alteration of vegetation occurred. However, the

La Mesa fire of 1977 was a major conflagration, burning

more than 15,000 acres of Bandelier land in the northwest

portion of the monument and adjacent land of the Los

Alamos National Laboratory (Foxx 1981: 1, 3–4; Rothman

1988: 109).

A study of vegetation after the La Mesa fire revealed

that 5,209 acres of the burn had few or no ponderosa seed

trees remaining. The remainder of the stands on the almost 10,000 acres exhibited foliar damage ranging from 1

to 99 percent. The sprouting of Quercus gambelii and Robinia

neomexicana (New Mexico locust) was relatively common

in many areas of the burn. Of the six species of grasses

seeded subsequent to the fire, only sheep fescue and slender wheat grass were considered a success in providing

ground cover to reduce erosion and flash floods downstream. The highest success of germination and growth

occurred on the most severely burned areas and in areas

around trees where dense mantles of pine needles had

previously precluded grass growth. The six grasses were

least successful in stands of native grasses. Sheet wash

and rill wash increased due to the removal of vegetation

in the La Mesa burn (Foxx 1981: 53–54, 78).

At Guadalupe Mountains National Park in west Texas,

where at least 71 fires occurred from 1554 to 1979, several

interesting historical changes in the vegetation have been

noted as a result of the fire history of a selected study

area. Based on oral history and vegetation analysis, the

woodlands and forests were “open and park-like as recently as the 1950s” and a “large number of conifer seedlings were becoming apparent about this time, nearly 30

years after the last major fire” (Ahlstrand 1980: 6). Trees

less than 3.3 feet high or less than 2 inches dbh (diameter

breast high) became established after the last major fire

on the site in 1922. These have evolved into dense stands,

which probably would not have occurred if the fire interval of about 2 years had not been interrupted by fire suppression (Ahlstrand 1980: 4–5, 7).

In recent decades, the number of “hot” large fires has

increased, perhaps due to the increased density of understory tree seedlings and shrubs and the accumulation of

duff on the ground, all combustible fuels. Another possible cause of the higher fire frequency is increased commercial and recreational use of public lands.

As indicated, Native Americans, Hispanics, and early

Anglo settlers in the region commonly ignited fires for

various reasons (Bahre 1991; Barrett 1980; Buskirk 1986;

Covey 1983; Dobyns 1981; Foxx 1981; Jones 1932; Leopold

1924; Pyne 1982; Stewart 1956); these will be discussed on

following pages.

Native American Fire

Indigenous peoples throughout the region employed

fire as an environmental technique to produce a number

of desired results. One of the earliest uses may have been

to drive game to hunters or over cliffs to their death. One

late 19th century observer noted that Indians in northern

New Mexico burned forests and woodlands in the moun-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 269

tains to drive deer down into the canyons, where they

might be more easily hunted (Cooper 1960: 138).

Other reasons for intentional burning were to stimulate growth of grasses or understory plants to improve

available browse or graze, to remove brushy understory

as a fuel for igniting crown fires, to kill shrubs and trees

in grasslands, to enhance growth of food plants (such as

berry-producing shrubs), to communicate or signal, to

clear areas for campsites, to produce a cleared area for

farming, to drive away mosquitoes or other biting insects,

and to enhance travel through an area (Barrett 1980: 35–

37; Covey 1983: 81; Pyne 1982: 72, 417–418; Stewart 1956:

119–120).

The Pueblo may have used fire to clear riparian areas

for agricultural use, and lightning-strike fires undoubtedly occurred with some frequency in this zone. It is not

known if they used fire in grasslands or montane woodlands and forests.

Apaches in the Southwest commonly used fire to drive

game, to lure insect-plagued deer to smoke, to burn the

forests of their enemies, to clear brushy or forested areas

around camps to prevent concealment of their enemies,

to signal, to produce young plant “shoots” used in basket

making, and to remove stubble in fields and produce nutrient-rich ashes. They also believed that burning caused

precipitation. (Buskirk 1986: 61, 135–136, 165–166; Dobyns

1981: 27, 28, 40; Hough 1926: 61).

Euro-American Fire

The Spanish sometimes used fire as a management tool

in the region during the historic period. Spaniards reportedly burned forests to create grazing areas or to drive game

(Allen 1984; Ebright 1994). In the 19th century, livestock

pastures were also burned to stimulate new grass growth,

and sheep rangelands were burned to kill invading woody

species. The military and missionaries were responsible

for suppressing fires around settlements.

Although some Anglos burned grasslands to improve

grazing in the last half of the 19th century, fire suppression became the prevailing philosophy by the turn of this

century, especially in the woodlands and forests included

in the national forests (Foxx 1981: 1A; Jones 1932: 5;

Komarek 1969: 15; Pyne 1982: 416–418; Swetnam 1990: 7–

9). For example, the forests and woodlands of the Sandia

Mountains have been protected from extensive fires since

the early part of this century by the U.S. Forest Service.

There was one fire in the Juan Tabo-La Cueva Canyons

area early in July 1965 and a smaller fire in June 1990. The

earlier fire was the largest fire in the Sandias in this century;

550 acres were burned up the canyon to the crest at 10,678

feet (Cooper 1988: 4). In recent years the Forest Service, recognizing the role of fire in maintaining plant communities

in these mountains and the danger of a hot, widespread fire

occurring, has begun limited control burns.

Figure 58—Sheep grazing in the Rio Puerco Valley, 1880s.

Photo by Henry Schmidt, courtesy Center for Southwest

Research, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.

Historically, Hispanos and Anglos caused fires—intentional or accidental—in the valley. Burn areas were recolonized by either indigenous upland or lowland riparian

species. In this century, areas burned by high intensity

fires experienced little or no cottonwood regeneration,

while exotics such as salt cedar and Russian olive quickly

sprouted from their root crowns. The abnormal buildup

of fuel litter, which produces fires of this magnitude, has

occurred due to the loss of periodic flooding, which historically removed the materials (Crawford et al. 1993: 93,

202).

The species composition of Southwestern grasslands

has changed due to fire suppression. Various woody

shrubs and trees (such as juniper) were able to invade as

the native grass species declined due to overgrazing and

drought. Early in this century the juniper populations on

sites like this were generally doubling every 3 years. These

conditions also allowed the spread of a number of exotic

species, such as Russian thistle and cheat grass (Bahre

1991: 57, 186–187; Humphrey 1974: 398–399, 17–19;

Johnsen 1962: 204–205; Young and Evans 1980).

EFFECTS OF GRAZING

A number of studies on the effects of grazing on Southwest vegetation have been conducted since the late 19th

century. These investigations have primarily focused on

grasslands below the pinyon-juniper zone (Bahre 1991;

Branscomb 1958; Brown 1950; Harris 1966; Hastings and

Turner 1965; Humphrey 1987). Other studies, however,

have addressed impacts on understory grasses in the pinyon-juniper and ponderosa zones, as well as impacts on

pinyon and juniper. Juniper invasion of grasslands due to

overgrazing and fire suppression has also been examined
270 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

by a number of investigators. A few of the resulting reports

are summarized below.

Cattle and sheep grazing (Fig. 58) on grasslands and

woodlands have promoted shrub invasion and density

increase by (1) opening up the grassland by weakening

grass vigor and cover, thus lowering competition abilities with weeds and shrubs, and by exposing topsoil to

erosion; (2) disseminating viable seeds in their droppings,

hair, and hooves and scarifying the seeds in their alimentary tracts; (3) reducing grass cover (fine fuel load), which

decreased the incidence of fires; (4) compacting topsoil,

which causes soil creep on slopes and reduced moisture

content; (5) making trails, which sometimes eroded into

arroyos (Bahre 1991: 119–120; Duce 1918; Hough 1906:

450).

There is evidence that tree invasion into grasslands is

inhibited by the browsing and trampling of tree seedlings

by sheep. The same effect apparently results from intensive grazing pressure by cattle. Moderate grazing of cattle,

however, may promote tree invasion of grasslands due to

three phenomena: exposure of mineral soils, reduction of

herbaceous competition, and decrease of fire frequencies

due to decreased fuel loads. The removal of livestock from

grasslands usually results in tree invasion due to reduced

vigor of the grasslands and elimination of browsing and

trampling of seedlings (Allen 1984: 145).

Overgrazing, which was common around Spanish colonial and Mexican period settlements, became more intense and widespread with the coming of Anglo Americans with their livestock. Especially heavily impacted were

the Sangre de Cristo, Jemez, Sandia, and Manzano mountains and the valleys of the Rio Grande, Santa Fe River,

and Rio Puerco-of-the-East. The U.S. military was also

using large amounts of native grass hay across the study

region for livestock feed in the last half of the 19th century. In the Valle Grande, a caldera in the Jemez Mountains, the Army cut an estimated 400 tons of hay each summer in the 1850s and early 1860s. Severe erosion, compaction of soil, and decimation or loss of surface water all

resulted in general deterioration of regional rangelands

(deBuys 1985: 216–225; McKeta 1986: 205–206; McNitt

1972: 184–185).

In the early years of the 20th century, heavy stocking of

forest reserves was actually encouraged, as the resulting

decimation of vegetation was considered a good strategy

in reducing forest fire damage to timber (Leopold 1924:

6). The Forest Service attempted to control grazing on its

lands through strict enforcement of the law and the issuance of grazing permits beginning in 1912. Livestock numbers were reduced to a level near carrying capacity, but

with U.S. involvement in World War I the U.S. Forest Service grazing regulation was reversed as part of the war

effort to produce more food. Grazing permits were issued

upon request, and severe overstocking again resulted.

Range deterioration and resulting erosion caused by this

overgrazing in the forests peaked by 1920. After the war,

the Forest Service initiated new measures to prevent overgrazing. Grazing permits were again issued, and fencing

of Forest Service lands was carried out in the 1930s and

1940s to reduce grazing pressure by trespass livestock. A

final action, enactment of the Taylor Grazing Act in 1934,

which was prompted by overgrazing on not only Forest

Service lands but also on Grazing Service (later the BLM)

lands. This program was also implemented on Pueblo

lands and the Navajo Reservation and led to reduced stock

numbers (Bahre 1991: 118; deBuys 1985: 242–243).

Intensive grazing continued, however, on Pueblo lands

in the 1940s, generally at above recommended livestock

levels. For example, at Cochiti Pueblo livestock (354 cattle,

130 horses) grazed on 25,862 acres in 1943, which was at

or above the range’s carrying capacity. A study of Cochiti

land conditions in the early to mid 1940s described the

rangelands as “generally sandy,” with small areas of alkali. Erosion caused by runoff was rated “light to moderate” in areas with some grass cover and “moderate to severe” in higher elevations with little vegetative cover.

“Badland” conditions existed on small areas in the northwest corner of the reservation. Toxic plants, primarily locoweed (Astragalus mollissimus), were reported as a “medium infection,” which was causing “moderate losses”

of livestock. In 1950 there were only 192 cattle, 191 horses

and mules, and 18 sheep. About 3,088 acres were leased

from the U.S. Grazing Service and 640 from the state as

rangeland (Lange 1959: 36–37).

Grazing pressure during this period also resulted from

feral horses and burros, which originated from early Spanish and Indian escapees or releases of old lame animals.

Later, Anglo mining areas were an important source of

feral breeding stock, especially burros. Many of these animals sought secluded ranges in the uplands on public

lands. Although the Forest Service, BLM, and National

Park Service began round-ups and reductions by shooting in the early part of this century, some animals eluded

their efforts. Even today there are small herds of horses

and burros on public and reservation lands in the Southwest (Bahre 1991: 118; deBuys 1985: 244–245; Symanski

1985: 23–40).

By the 1930s the bunch grass-dominated rangelands of

the Upper and Middle Rio Grande drainages had been

replaced in many areas by ring muhly grass, broomweed,

rabbitbrush, and cacti (Fig. 59). This vegetation change

was probably due to overgrazing and timber cutting in

the preceding decades, interrelated with periodic droughts

in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. The Forest Service estimated that at least 75 percent of the watershed was experiencing severe, accelerated erosion as a

result (deBuys 1985: 230–232).

Grazing, interacting with impacts of other human activities and “natural” phenomena (fire, drought, etc.), has

shaped the grasslands and woodlands on the west side of
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 271

Figure 59—Overgrazed rangeland on Sandia bajada.

Broomweed, prickly pear, and walkingstick cholla dominants.

Photo by author.

the Sandia Mountains. A 1963–64 study found a grassland, occurring below the pinyon-juniper zone at 5,500–

6,000 feet on the Sandia bajada, had been grazed intensively for 250 years, primarily by sheep and goats. Dominant plants, all grasses, in descending order of importance,

included Sporobolus cryptandus, Bouteloua eripoda, and

Muhlenbergia torreyi. Bouteloua gracilis and B. curtipendula

occurred on rocky areas on the sides of arroyos. Hilaria

jamesii dominated low, flat areas between the arroyos

(Naylor 1964: 91).

One-seed juniper was dominant from 6,000 to 7,000 feet.

Just above this elevation, Pinus edulis and J. monosperma

became co-equal in dominance, which was about 60 percent of the total plant coverage. At 7,300 feet, pinyon became the sole dominant, with trees 25–35 feet in height

and up to 16 inches dbh. Dominants in the shrub stratum

of the understory included Quercus gambelii, Cercocarpus

montanus, and seedling P. edulis and J. monosperma. Between 6,200 and 6,500 feet Quercus undulata, Q. turbinella,

and Q. grisea were dominants in some areas of the range.

Occurring as dominants with these oaks were Rhus

trilobata, C. montanus, and Yucca baccata. The dominant

herbaceous understory included Stipa neomexicana,

Bouteloua hirsuta, B. curtipendula, Aristida divericata, A.

purpurea, and A. purpurea var. nealley. Oryzopsis hymenoides

was increasing and appeared to be recovering (Naylor

1964: 22–23, 69–75; Soil Conservation Service 1994).

A 5,000-acre Quercus spp. association extended from

about 6,800 to 8,500 feet, occupying old burns and eroded

areas. A scrub oak-grass association of 820 acres was found

along the foothills on the west-central side of the Sandias

between 6,200 and 6,800 feet (Fig. 60). The woody dominants

included Q. grisea, Q. turbinella, Nolina microcarpa, Rhus

trilobata, C. montanus, Krascheninnikovia lanata, Ribes spp.,

Figure 60—Scattered scrub oaks (Quercus grisea, Q. turbinella),

three–leaf sumac (Rhus trilobata), and needle–and–thread

grass (Stipa comata). Sandia Mountain foothills.

Photo by author.

Fallugia paradoxa, Yucca baccata, Opuntia imbricata, and

Opuntia spp. Common herbaceous plants were Lesquerella

spp., Berlandiera lyrata, Verbena sp., and Gutierrezia sarothrae.

Dominant grasses include Bouteloua gracilis, B. curtipendula,

and Stipa comata. This association was tentatively attributed

to the more than 2 centuries of livestock grazing by Hispanics (Naylor 1964: 83–90; Soil Conservation Service 1994).

Historic overgrazing of the desert grassland community at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in central

New Mexico resulted in the creation of many locations

with denuded or decimated vegetation, which were invaded by a number of successional taxa such as Ambrosia

acanthicarpa, Salsola kali, and Yucca spp. The periphery of

the grassland community was also invaded by other species, notably Gutierrezia sarothrae, Juniperus monosperma,

and Larrea tridenta. Pinus edulis and Juniperus monosperma

have extended downward from higher elevations,

intergrading with the desert grassland community to form

a broad ecotone. At the upper elevation (about 7,000 feet)

of the pinyon-juniper in the Ladron Mountains, decaying

remains of Pinus ponderosa occur on rocky slopes and

ridges. This condition indicates that the ponderosa community was more widespread historically, until a trend

of increasingly drier conditions caused the recession

(Manthey 1977: 26, 33–35; Soil Conservation Service 1994).

Another impact of livestock grazing and hoof action

has been investigated in the region since the early 1900s

(Duce 1918). Soil compaction due to cattle trampling has

been studied on seven BLM allotments in the upper Rio

Puerco-of-the-East drainage in recent years. Hoof impact

was found to produce significant increases in resistance

to moisture penetration in all soil types. Loam and clay

soils were especially susceptible to compaction under

moist spring conditions (Scholl 1989).
272 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

EFFECTS OF CLEARING, CUTTING,

AND THINNING

The first clearing of woodlands or forests using stone

axes, followed by burning, probably dates to more than

three millennia ago in the study region. Cut and burn of

stands of trees was perhaps employed by the Pueblo to

create open areas for use as agricultural fields. This technique was probably used to remove riparian and pinyonjuniper stands. The botanical remains of cultigens such

as corn and beans, dating as early as 2,000 B.C., have been

found at a number of archeological sites located in the

pinyon-juniper zone in New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Mexico. The woodlands at these sites were probably

cleared for production of these two crop plants (Woodbury

and Zubrow 1979: 43, 47–50).

Historically, most mountain woodlands and forests in

the study region have been severely impacted by clearing

Figure 61—Raft of railroad ties for Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, ca. 1915. Courtesy Museum of New Mexico

Photo Archives, Santa Fe (negative no. 39350).

with metal axes, hand saws, power saws, dragging of

heavy chains or cables, and bulldozing. Metal axes were

used to cut woodlands and forests for fuelwood, construction materials, and railroad ties (Fig. 61; cutting to clear

the woodlands to create fields for farming or grazing also

occurred (Ford 1987: 74, 86). Clearing or thinning extensive areas with axes decreased markedly in the first half

of this century, but as late as the 1950s Fort Apache Indians in Arizona cleared 95,000 acres of pinyon-juniper using hand axes. In recent decades tractor-mounted circular

power saws or hand-held power saws have replaced axes

or buck saws (Arnold et al. 1964: 18; Springfield 1976: 14).

Removal or thinning of pinyon-juniper was undertaken

on public and private lands in this century to (1) increase

forage for livestock, (2) “improve” watershed conditions,

(3) increase water yield or “improve” wildlife habitat, (4)

obtain Christmas trees or nursery stock, and (5) increase

pinyon nut yield (Fisher and Montano 1977; Hurst 1977).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 273

Taylor (1937: 5) was one of the first pinyon-juniper managers to improve a stand by thinning ostensibly to “improve” wood growth for products such as fence posts and

to foster pinyon nut yield. Techniques for mechanically

clearing trees and brush, such as chaining, cabling, and

bulldozing, were developed in the 1930s and 1940s. Chaining or chopping was considered to be the most effective

method of removing trees. By the 1950s root plowing, and

then seeding (grass), was developed as an effective technique for removing undesired woody plants from grasslands (Davis and Spicer 1965: 7–9, 26). Most of these clearing operations in the region occurred in the late 1950s,

1960s, and early 1970s.

Extensive areas that had been denuded in the late 19th

and early 20th centuries, and subsequently invaded by

pinyon and juniper, on the Santa Fe and Carson National

forests were cleared and sown to native and exotic forage

plants by the Forest Service beginning in the late 1960s.

On one tract, located on Rowe Mesa south of Pecos, New

Mexico, agency personnel cleared 13,000 acres of pinyonjuniper and reseeded tracts with various grass species.

This was done to eliminate overgrazing in the Pecos Wilderness and to ease conflicts between livestock permittees and recreationists. Non-ranchers in the area, primarily Hispanic, did not approve of this action because large

areas of pinyon-juniper woodland that provided fuelwood

for generations in their communities were lost (deBuys

1985: 267–268).

Fuelwood cutting on Santa Fe National Forest lands in

the southern portions of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

was unregulated in the late 1960s and 1970s. One reason

for this management policy was the need to develop the

woodlands as an economic resource for surrounding communities whose villages established wood co-operatives.

In spite of the continuing demand for green pinyon and

juniper wood during the 1973–74 oil and gas shortages

and high prices, these co-ops failed due to serious management problems. Around Las Trampas, Chamisal, and

Penasco, there was a scarcity of pinyon and juniper at this

time. The Forest Service, under pressure from local residents, allowed over 1,700 cords of wood to be harvested

in 1977. This exceeded the sustained-yield production of

the pinyon-juniper, and some areas were soon exhausted

(deBuys 1985: 275–277).

There is some evidence that springs in pinyon-juniper

woodlands have ceased flowing with increase in tree densities. Thinning of juniper at these locations has resulted

in the resumed flow of these springs (West 1984: 1313).

HUMAN IMPACTS AND CHANGES

Colonial Period, 1540–1821

At the time of first European contact, there were more

than 50,000 Pueblos living in over 100 villages in the

Middle and Upper basins (Schroeder 1979). They had

cleared some 25,000 to 30,000 acres in the Rio Grande Valley for agricultural use and probably 5,000 or more along

tributaries. Most of the water used in this farming effort

came from natural overbank flooding or runoff diversion

from tributaries. Irrigation ditch agriculture was limited

at this time. Pueblo farmers may have experienced some

increased alkalinity in soils used over an extended period,

but the flushing action of the river probably mitigated this

process. These fields and associated villages obviously

would have displaced riparian vegetation, which in turn

would have reduced faunal populations dependent on

these plant communities. Agricultural fields, however,

would have provided an ecotone effect for some fauna,

especially seed-eating mammals and birds.

Other local impacts on aquatic and terrestrial wildlife

occurred around villages and in specific hunting locales.

Social and conservation restraints probably precluded

overhunting of a particular species, although hunting pressure by a growing Basin population in the late 1400s-early

1500s may have “pushed” various game species, such as

deer and pronghorn, away from local villages and hunting territories. Most of the bison herds that roamed west

of the Rio Grande in the 1300s–1400s may have been forced

east of the chain of ranges along the east side of the rift

valley just prior to Spanish arrival (Callenbach 1996: 17–18).

By utilizing conservation in harvesting wild plants for

food, medicine, and so forth, the Pueblos probably caused

only localized, temporary reduction in various species.

The Pueblos probably did not singularly extirpate any

plant species, although the eradication of a few species

whose populations were significantly declining due to

climatic change or other natural agents may have been

hastened through harvesting.

The Pueblos rarely collected green wood for cooking

and heating prior to Spanish occupation, but they were

recruited by the Spanish civil authorities and missionaries to gather ever-increasing amounts of fuelwood, using

iron tools for cutting and draft animals for transporting

the fuelwood. Soon, supplies of dead wood, then living

wood, were depleted near settlements, and Pueblo and

Spanish residents were forced to travel ever-greater distances to gather this resource (Ford 1987: 85). Nearby and

distant conifer stands were likewise cut for use in construction, although logging impacts were much less than

those after the arrival of Anglo Americans in 1846.

Estimates of the Pueblo population in the study region

vary considerably; the actual figure may have ranged from

40,000 to 50,000. As their populations were significantly

reduced by European diseases, the survivors were forced

by the Spaniards into fewer villages, which by 1706 numbered only 18, with a population of about 7,000 residents

in the study region (Schroeder 1979: 254; Simmons 1979a:

185). This phenomenon substantially decreased Pueblo

impacts on indigenous fauna and flora, although the in-
274 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

creasing use by the Spanish of Pueblo and other Native

American men and boys to herd livestock and to work in

the fields probably offset, at least in part, their decreased

harvesting of various biotic resources. Furthermore, the

increased demand by the Spanish for animal hides and

skins (bison, deer, elk, pronghorn, and bighorn sheep)

resulted in more hunting pressure on faunal populations

of the Middle and Upper basins (Snow 1981: 367–368;

Weber 1971: 20–21).

With the introduced, more intensive technology of irrigation agriculture and the introduction of wheat and barley by the Spanish, Pueblo consumption of wild, edible

plants decreased significantly as well. In the 1600s the

Spaniards also recruited Pueblo and nomadic Indian servants to gather huge quantities of pinyon nuts to ship

south to other Spanish provinces (Scholes 1937: 394–395).

What impact this had on pinyon forests and associated

fauna is not known.

In the 18th century the Spanish placed about 27,000 new

acres of irrigated land into cultivation (Hedke 1925: 23).

By the mid 1700s, agricultural land was scarce along the

Rio Grande and major tributaries. Increased alkalinity

resulting from continuous irrigation of valley soils became

a problem by the early 1800s, perhaps even before. Good

grazing lands were also scarce, not only around settlements but also adjacent to the valleys and into the foothills to high meadows (Baxter 1987: 24; Simmons 1988: 7).

Grass around Albuquerque, Belen, and Cochiti was especially impacted, to the point of scarcity (Espinosa and Chavez

n.d.: 177; Lange 1959: 37; Simmons 1982: 106–107). Local

cienegas and other wetland areas were also severely impacted by livestock grazing (Adams and Chavez 1956: 111).

A number of exotic plants, in addition to cultigens, were

introduced intentionally or accidentally by the Spanish,

including alferillo, dandelion, and two sweet clovers,

plants that were not as aggressive as later introductions

or were limited climatically in their range following

naturalization.

Besides new agricultural techniques and crops, Spanish livestock brought dramatic changes to riparian, bajada,

mesa, and mountain grasslands and other vegetation.

Grasses were decimated by sheep, goats, cattle, and horses

around major settlements for up to several miles around.

This removal of ground cover, as well as livestock hoof

action, enhanced by droughts, resulted in sheet erosion

and gullying (Ford 1987: 85–86; MacCameron 1994: 22–23,

25). Sediments transported by rapid-runoff floods and winds

into the river increased in the late colonial period as well.

A corridor impacted early by livestock, as well as human traffic, were the branches of the Camino Real that

connected settlements on both sides of the river

(Hendricks 1993: 81; Scurlock 1990b: 6). Hundreds of thousands of head of livestock, thousands of wagons and carts,

and as many soldiers, settlers, and travelers moved along

these roads in the 16th century. Grasses were grazed away,

cut by wheels and hooves, and trampled and worn away

by pedestrians over the remainder of the Spanish-Pueblo

colonial and following Mexican-early territorial periods

(Fig. 62).

By the late 1700s-early 1800s many settlements were

also experiencing inadequate fuelwood supplies, and residents were traveling up to 20 miles to cut wood

(MacCameron 1994: 35; Moorhead 1958: 24; Oppenheimer

1962: 16). Attacks by Apaches and Navajos sometimes

prevented Spaniards and Pueblos from traveling too far

from their villages to collect wood. Livestock manure was

sometimes burned as a substitute during these times.

Increased demand for coarse furs by a growing Spanish population, hunting, and the spread of brucellosis from

cattle to wild ungulates also resulted in reduction of indigenous species, especially bison, pronghorn, and elk.

Remaining herds of bison or individual stragglers joined

the herds now found in the Pecos River drainage eastward into Texas (Callenbach 1996: 134–135). Spanish-sponsored trade fairs held annually at Taos, Picuris, and Pecos

in the 18th century contributed to the demand for furs

and skins (Adams and Chavez 1956: 252–253; Scurlock

1991b). Annual fall hunts to the east of the eastern mountain chains further depleted the Southern Plains buffalo

herds and the deer, elk, and other game animals needed

for subsistence by the Spanish and Pueblos. The dominance of the eastern plains by the Comanche after 1706

also brought significant hunting pressure on animal populations in that century (Scurlock 1993b: 48).

Mexican and Territorial Periods, 1821–1912

Intensive irrigation continued into the Mexican period

(1821–46) to provide food for increasing Hispanic populations and the first Anglo American trappers and traders, some of whom became residents in the study region.

By the 1820s more cienegas and esteros began to form in

the Middle Valley due to the dumping of excess water

from irrigation ditches (Wozniak 1987). Apparently,

ditches at this time were being used to dump trash and

dead animals, as the city council of Santa Fe issued a proclamation making it illegal to carry out these activities

(Simmons 1992: 224). Acequias were also used for drinking water, bathing, washing clothes, and watering livestock (Simmons 1982: 97).

Intensive grazing and fuelwood collecting around old

settlements by the early trappers and traders exacerbated

existing environmental conditions, which were generally

poor. At the same time, pressures on grasslands and wild

game resulting from the brisk traffic of Santa Fe Trail traders

adversely impacted these resources. Increased demands for

native “hay” and agricultural produce placed added pressures on grasses, irrigation water, and soil fertility.

Wild horses were abundant on the margins of the study

region, but their impact on grasslands is not known. Any
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 275

Figure 62—Road “scar,” possibly a branch of the Camino Real south of Las Bocas (mouth of the Santa Fe River).

Note eroded depression and light–colored vegetation (unidentified). Photo by author.

overgrazing was undoubtedly offset to some degree by

the decrease in bison, elk, and deer populations caused

by increased hunting. Franco and Anglo trappers entered

the region in the 1820s, and beaver and river otter populations were reduced severely. Some local populations of

these two species were extirpated by the end of the decade. Demand for their furs came not only from eastern

U.S. and European markets but also from large trading

houses in the region. Pressure on bison herds, elk, deer,

and bighorn sheep was increased by these trappers and

traders, who needed the meat for subsistence and the hides

for economic support (Cleland 1963: 44; Connor and Skaggs

1977: 32–33; deBuys 1985: 93; Weber 1965: 65, 84, 118, 161).

Following the collapse of the beaver market, buffalo hides

became popular in the East as robes or coats, placing even

more hunting pressure on the herds (Weber 1971: 219).

The importance of the land grant to Hispano settlers

was discussed in Chapter 3. In 1846 about 95 percent of

Hispanos and Pueblos were wholly and directly dependent on the land (Harper et al. 1943: 65), most of which

was on grants. Degradation of lands due to long-time use,

especially common lands used for grazing, harvesting timber and fuelwood, and hunting, induced change of the

traditional economic structure in some northern Spanish

villages. Later, grant lands were lost outright to unscrupulous lawyers and squatters, and because of the lack of

precise and detailed surveys, failure to submit titles to

the courts, failure to pay taxes, and inclusion in national

forests (Briggs and Van Ness 1987: 274–278; Gonzalez 1969:

51, 198–199; Leonard 1970: 117–119, 122–123).

Livestock raising and farming on grants “were wedded to form a single system in the Hispanic cultural ecology.” Without these traditional activities, the “entire Hispanic system of adaptation broke down; the traditional

cultural ecology no longer functioned” (Briggs and Van

Ness 1987: 195, 201–202).

Snow (1979: 52) addressed this same issue:

It seems safe to say that the overriding values in

New Mexico’s rural Hispano communities are

those which relate to land. It is the individual

and community land which gave shape and char-
276 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

acter to the village, which give justification for

the village organization and roots to the people

who live there. Without roots, without costumbre, the individual is homeless, without land

the community ceases to exist.

Unlike the Hispano farmers of the Rio Arriba, more of

those in the Rio Abajo below Albuquerque had relatively

large, fertile farms on which they could grow cash crops

and thus participate in the cash economy introduced by

the Anglos. Additionally, for those who could afford them,

iron plows and other farm machinery increased production (deBuys 1985: 207–208).

Most Hispanics, however, continued a subsistence

lifestyle, producing adequate meat from livestock and

vegetables and fruit from irrigation farming. As happened

to the Hispanics in the Upper Rio Grande, however, common lands in various mountain ranges were lost due to

their inclusion in national forests beginning in 1905. Also,

the federal stock reduction program caused hardship, as did

competition with Anglos running commercial livestock operations. Some Hispanics could not afford the grazing fees

on forest lands or the taxes enacted by the Middle Rio Grande

Conservancy District in the 1920s. In spite of these obstacles,

many Hispanics held on to their land base and water rights.

Those who could not survive due to limited resources left

the state to work as farm laborers, cowboys, or sheepherders in west Texas, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, or California (Harper et al. 1943: 61–65, 69–73, 76–79).

The new cash economy of the dominant Anglo eco-culture resulted in additional problems, such as decline in

the traditional subsistence economy. As Hispanics became

more dependent on commercial sales, there was “overutilization of resources and environmental degradation.”

Self-reliance also was eroded, and more men sought wage

labor outside the village. This phenomenon was also associated with the loss of the land base, especially the common lands (Weber 1979: 79–83).

The arrival of the first significant wave of Anglo American settlers, primarily traders, cattle ranchers, and farmers protected by the U.S. Army, ushered in a new era of

resource exploitation. More efficient technology was employed within a context of maximum economic gains for

individuals or business groups. Land and water use pressures increased sharply, especially following the building of the first railroads across the study region in 1879–

81. Ranching, logging, and mining proliferated, and new

towns were established near or along the rail lines (Fig.

63). Railroad transportation linked the state to U.S. and

other markets, especially for minerals, beef, wool, and

agricultural produce. Rail transportation also created a

market for coal and wood to fuel engines; for wood to

construct railroad buildings, ties, and bridges; and for beef

to feed construction and train crews. Pressure was exerted

on big game animals such as deer, elk, and bighorn sheep

as contract hunters provided meat for construction crews

(Dortignac 1956: 60; Roberts 1963: 7–8).

Beginning in 1892, with the establishment of the first

national forest reserve, Pecos, in the southern Sangre de

Cristo Mountains, the initial conversion of private and

common lands of a Hispanic land grant to public lands

occurred. These public forest lands were either obtained

from the second or third entity in the chain of ownership

following the patenting and sale of a land grant, or from

lands claimed by grant heirs but not patented by Congress. Often these land grant tracts were purchased from

a timber or cattle company that had obtained them from

a speculator, resulting in the Forest Service inheriting the

associated discord and bitterness of land grant heirs

(deBuys 1985: 257–258).

Initially, the Forest Service issued fee permits for grazing of livestock used principally for commercial purposes

or free permits for animals used in traditional subsistence,

such as plow horses or milk cows (deBuys 1985: 258–259).

The free permit policy was rescinded in 1916, and many

small-scale farmers and stock raisers, unable to pay a grazing fee, were forced to find employment outside the village or even the state. Local livestock herds declined, leaving farmers without a source of fertilizer. Loss of sheep

also resulted in a decrease in the production of traditional

wool textiles (Briggs and Van Ness 1987: 201–202, 231;

Gonzalez 1969: 50).

Also during this period, some Spanish land grants, especially common lands, were commercially exploited by

Anglo Americans for grazing, logging, or mining. Many

patented grants, obtained through purchase by speculators, were used for intensive cattle grazing, to the exclusion of Hispanic livestock raisers (Westphall 1983: 125,

155–156). Two such examples were the Ramon Vigil and

Cochiti de Canada grants on the Pajarito Plateau west of

Santa Fe. In the early 1880s the Vigil grant was sold to an

Anglo land speculator, who leased it as grazing land to a

West Texas cattleman named W. C. Bishop in late 1885 or

early 1886. This rancher had been forced to abandon

drought-stricken rangelands in West Texas and to move

his more than 3,000 head to northern New Mexico. His

large cattle herd and reported threats against area Hispano

and Cochiti Pueblo grazers and herders forced them off

of the plateau, not surprisingly generating bitter feelings.

Fortunately for these individuals, Bishop’s enterprise was

short lived due to his own greediness or ecological ignorance and a severe winter in 1886–87. The pre–1886 carrying capacity of the 32,000-acre Vigil grant for cattle has

been estimated at one head of cattle for every 64 acres of

rangeland. Bishop’s 3,000 head of cattle represented one

animal for every 10.7 acres, or about six times the estimated carrying capacity. The resulting deterioration of

grasslands and a big winter die-off of cattle forced the

rancher into irreparable losses, so he returned to Texas

(Rothman 1989: 198–202).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 277

Figure 63a—View southwest of Cerrillos, a railroad–mining town, ca. 1904–05. Note very sparse vegetation.

Courtesy Museum of New Mexico Photo Archives, Santa Fe (negative no. 14610).

Figure 63b—Repeat photograph of above, 1995. Note scattered one–seed juniper, walkingstick cholla, and broomweed on front

slope. Valley cottonwood, Siberian elm, poplar, and other trees virtually mask town structures (center). Photo by author.
278 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

The native grasses on the grant, such as Bouteloua spp.,

were generally decimated, as were other understory plants

such as Cercocarpus montanus, Krascheninnikovia lanata, and

Ceanothus fendleri. The vigor and reproduction of these

plants was reduced, and subsequently less desirable grass

and woody forbs and shrubs, such as Gutierrezia sarothrae,

Yucca glauca, Chrysothamnus spp., and Artemisia spp., encroached where vegetation had been removed. Exotic

plants such as Verbascum thapsus, Setaria spp., Bromus spp.,

and Salsola kali also spread into the understory. Fires,

which had burned across the plateau every 7 to 8 years in

the past, were suppressed, which also favored the invasion of woody forbs, shrubs, and trees. Topsoil in areas now

devoid of grass cover was subject to sheet erosion of rain or

snowmelt runoff and wind (Rothman 1989: 202–203).

Besides railroad construction, mining was a major reason for the logging and sawmill “boom” that followed on

the Pajarito Plateau. In 1880 Anglo miners discovered gold

and silver in Pino Canyon, later renamed Bland Canyon,

but before they could file claims and begin mining, Pueblos from Cochiti and Hispanos from la Canada de Cochiti

protested that the miners were trespassing, forcing them

to leave. Eight years later, more Anglo miners arrived at

the canyon, and this time these men were successful in

staking claims and producing ore. Strikes in Pino Canyon

resulted in establishment of the town of Bland (Fig. 64)

and, in nearby Colle Canyon, the town of Albemarle. Fifteen hundred men were working the mines and conducting associated businesses, such as freighting and wood

milling. There were four sawmills in the area; one, the

Harry Buckman Sawmill, had actually started logging on

the plateau before the strikes at Bland and Albemarle.

Buckman had his mill on the Rio Grande 5 miles south of

San Ildefonso Pueblo, and in 1898 he leased the Vigil grant

to begin logging operations. He also had lumber camps

in Water Canyon, near Frijoles Canyon (Rothman 1989:

203; Scurlock 1981b: 45–47; Stanley 1964: 16).

A second sawmill was begun at the mouth of White

Rock Canyon, just north of Cochiti Pueblo. The associated sawmill and lumber camp, named Boom, was at the

Figure 64—Mining town of Bland, Pajarito Plateau, 1895. Courtesy Thomas Ball and Bureau of Mines Photo Archives, Santa Fe.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 279

end of a new railroad spur. Still another sawmill was located on Sawyer’s Mesa, and a fourth was operated in

Media Dia Canyon (Fig. 65). To carry logs, lumber, and

ore from the mines, a network of roads was opened

through the stands of pinyon-juniper and ponderosa

(Rothman 1989: 203, 205).

Surface and ground waters were used intensively to

support all of these activities, adversely affecting some of

the associated flora. The areas around Bland were cleared

of shrubs and trees and subsequently overgrazed by the

livestock of miners and freighters. This impacted area included the town site on the floor of the canyon and the

tops of the flanking mesas. Exotic plants such as Malva

neglecta, Nepeta cataria, and Linaria vulgaris were introduced, and they quickly naturalized and spread over disturbed areas (Noble 1980: 19; Robertson 1968: 36, 40, 42;

Scurlock 1980: 53 and 1981b: 50; Stanley 1964: 14–15).

The Canada de Cochiti grant land on which Bland and

Albemarle mines and towns were located remained in

dispute with some Hispanic heirs. However, other grant

claimants were selling the rights to mine or parcels of land

within the grant. In 1894 the Court of Private Land Claims

Figure 65—Sawmill in Medio Dia Canyon Pajarito Plateau, late 1800s.

Courtesy Museum of New Mexico Photo Archives, Santa Fe (negative no. 5190).

declared that all grant claims and the existing mines were

on public domain. Following appeal of this decision, the

Supreme Court upheld the Court of Private Land Claims

decision, and mining continued on this part of the grant

(Vieth 1950: 21–28).

Unregulated grazing by significantly increasing numbers of livestock on public lands in the late 1800s continued into the early part of this century. Although the Department of Interior and Forest Service began regulatory

grazing programs at this time, protests, noncompliance,

and trespass by livestock raisers hindered effective management (Eastman and Gray 1987: 36; Rowley 1985: 78,

89–90). Also, the demand for food and wool during World

War I caused livestock numbers to peak on public and

private lands in the state (Brown 1985: 112; deBuys 1985:

231; Donart 1984: 1240). As a result, watershed conditions

in the national forests continued to decline.

New approaches to land use, such as suppression of

wildfires, controlling floods, predator and rodent eradication, and commercial hunting, contributed to other

major environmental changes in the early 1900s (Clark

1987: 195; Dick-Peddie 1993: 51, 56; Rowley 1985: 77). Some
280 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

of these impacts were irreparable, such as the extirpation

of several mammals, or so severe, such as creation of a

rising water table, waterlogging, and alkalinization of

floodplain farmland, that government rehabilitation and

management of these resources was required.

Statehood Period, 1912–1980

By this time 3 centuries of increasingly intensive use of

the Middle Rio Grande Basin by various human groups

had significantly changed the Basin. Intensive grazing,

irrigating, logging, and mining decimated vegetative

cover over most of the Upper and Middle basins. Some

introduced exotic plants spread rapidly in disturbed areas, most notably in the riparian zone. Flood control structures brought major changes in the vegetation zone as well.

The Rio Grande was a low-flow, heavily sedimented, shallow, and more frequently flooding river at this time

(Crawford et al. 1993: 19–20). These floods, increased waterlogging and alkalinization, and the accelerated demand

for surface water in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

led to major water control development programs.

Ditches, drainage canals, and dams resulted in various

changes in the river ecosystem (Crawford et al. 1993:xi,

20, 32–35, 40; Scurlock 1988a: 136–138).

Clearly, the increasing sediment loads in the Middle Rio

Grande were due to overgrazing and logging in the drainage. The Forest Service surveyed watershed conditions

in the Middle and Upper drainages in 1932–33 and found

a decimated vegetative cover and severe erosion. A state

board came to the same conclusion regarding the condition of the public rangelands. Increased sedimentation in

the river and deposition at Elephant Butte Reservoir had

caused the loss of about 13 percent of the reservoir’s capacity (Clark 1987: 255, 258).

Nevertheless, the Forest Service suspended grazing fees

due to the emergency economic conditions of the 1930s

depression. Intensive grazing also continued on other

public, private, and Pueblo lands, and the impact was

exacerbated by the beginnings of an extended drought in

the mid 1930s (Aberle 1948: 17, 19; Rowley 1985: 246).

About 50 percent of the forage had been lost to intensive

grazing and erosion in the Upper and Middle basins by

1931. On about 75 percent of the land, rapid or accelerated erosion was taking place (Cooperrider and Hendricks

1937: 72–73). Sedimentation continued to increase; the Rio

Grande floodway aggraded an average of 0.09 feet and

the river bed 0.12 feet annually from 1927 to 1936 (Happ

1937: i, 3).

In 1935 there were still 669,000 sheep and 212,000 cattle

in the Middle and Upper basins (Harper et al. 1943: 49).

This intensive grazing pressure and an extended drought

continued to decimate plant cover on rangelands. Gullying and arroyo trenching produced 65 percent of the total

sediment load, sheet erosion 30 percent, and wind erosion 5 percent. The mean annual suspended sediment

loads in the Middle and Upper basins amounted to 39

million tons (Dortignac 1956: 48–49). At least 90 percent

of this total was derived from grazing lands (Happ 1944:

17). This volume of sediment was the primary factor in

the continuing aggradation of the Rio Grande streambed.

By the mid 1930s increased use of water, evaporation,

and lowering of water tables had resulted in a 50 percent

decrease in the flow of the Rio Grande since 1880 (Kelley

1982: 18). Due to the rehabilitation of farmland through

drainage, however, some 61,294 acres of land were in cultivation in the Middle Valley in 1936 (Wozniak 1987), representing an increase of 26.5 percent.

The pattern of drought followed by intensive rains continued and led to more erosion and tributary stream entrenchment. For example, by the early to mid 1930s Tonque

Arroyo had eroded to a depth of 5 to 20 feet and to a width

of 20 to 50 feet. Prior to this time, this drainage had been

only a shallow depression (Cooperrider and Hendricks

1937: 12).

Intensive logging on the Middle Rio Grande watershed,

begun in the late 1800s (Fig. 65), continued, as did the

cutting of pinyon-juniper woodlands in the 1920s-early

1930s (Cooperrider and Hendricks 1937: 13–14, 60, 62;

Glover 1990: 26). An estimated 60 million board-feet of

timber were cut in the Upper and Middle basins in 1941;

by 1950 this figure had risen to 70 million board-feet.

About half of the ponderosa pine stands had been logged,

and less than 10 percent of the spruce-fir stands. Threequarters of this cut timber was on federal, state, or Indian

lands (Dortignac 1956: 67–69).

Various federal and state conservation programs begun

in the late 1930s marked the beginning of a concerted effort to restore vegetative cover on public lands (Potter and

Krenetsky 1967). The overall stocking rate of the Middle

and Upper basins, however, was still above carrying capacity by almost 50 percent (Harper et al. 1943: 50). Most

commercial sheep and cattle ranchers were convinced that

the severe soil erosion was simply a result of “natural aridity,” an inevitable process that they or the government

could do nothing about (Forrest 1989: 160). An estimated

255,800 cattle-units were on the 12,100,000 acres of rangelands in the Middle Basin in 1942. In actuality, the carrying capacity of these lands was estimated at 139,800 cattleunits per year (Harper et al. 1943: 50). Not surprisingly,

the carrying capacity of grazing lands in the region

steadily decreased during the extended dry period, 1942–

56 (Gatewood et al. 1964: B43).

Reduction of livestock on federal and state lands reduced the number of livestock units to 158,000 for the

Middle and Upper basins by 1950 (Dortignac 1956: 56).

However, the ensuing drought of 1951–56 decimated

grasslands, especially the pinyon-juniper and sagebrush

ranges, which were in “extremely poor condition.” This

forced ranchers to keep their livestock longer on winter
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 281

ranges or to drive them to higher ranges, which were normally reserved for summer grazing, resulting in overgrazing (Dortignac 1956: 56, 64).

After World War II, recreational use of public lands increased sharply, especially in the national forests, including such activities as hunting, fishing, camping, skiing,

and hiking. As a result, areas in the study region experienced accelerated soil erosion, water pollution, and accidental forest fires. Between 1945 and 1953 visitation to

the Sandia District of the Cibola National Forest alone increased from 99,000 to 1,068,000 (Dortignac 1956: 85–86).

Middle Rio Grande Geomorphology

and Hydrology

After 1850 the bed of the Rio Grande began to aggrade

more rapidly due to reduction of river flow and the increasing sediment load produced primarily by rapid runoff caused by intensive grazing and logging on the watershed (Clark 1987: 205; Hedke 1925: 11). As irrigation intensified, especially in the San Luis basin of the Upper

Rio Grande in the mid to late 1800s, river flow in the southern reaches of the river were severely reduced or even

halted. Severe arroyo cutting also began at this time, and

some tributary streams, such as the Rio Puerco, began

major entrenchment (Leopold 1994: 17). This process eventually caused abandonment of irrigated land as lowering

stream levels precluded farmers’ from diverting the water to their fields (Bryan 1928a: 274, 279).

The increasing sedimentation and aggradation of the

river had become a serious environmental problem by the

late 19th century. From 1880 to 1924 the bed of the river

rose 7 feet at the Isleta bridge and 9 feet at San Marcial.

The rate of rise in the streambed for 1914–26 was 0.29 feet

per year. The floodway rose 0.28 feet per year during this

period. For 1926–36 the river bed aggraded an average of

0.54 feet annually at this location; the floodway aggraded

an average of 0.09 feet (Happ 1937: i, 2–3, 1944: 18; Sullivan

1924:7). In 1946 some 37 million tons of sediment were

transported by the Middle Rio Grande, and about 25 million tons, or 13,500 acre-feet of this total, were deposited

in the valley (Nelsen 1946: 19).

The decline in Rio Grande water flow also continued to

be a major problem in the region, especially south of Albuquerque. In 1925 some 565,000 acre-feet of water were

depleted; a shortage of 200,000 acre-feet occurred at

Buckman. About 68,000 acre-feet were used in the Middle

Valley in August alone (Hedke 1925: 14, 32).

By the time the legislation establishing the Middle Rio

Grande Conservancy District was passed in 1923, irrigated

acreage had decreased to its lowest level (49,000 acres)

since the early to mid 1800s (Bloodgood 1930: 5). The district, embracing some 277,760 acres, was created to deal

with severe flooding, waterlogged lands, and failing irrigation facilities. About 8,000 acres of the Middle Valley

were “swampy” due to a high water table, and another

52,000 acres were covered with alkali deposits (Hedke

1925: 10). The conservancy was also responsible for regulating stream flow, developing or reclaiming sources of

water, and generating electrical energy (Clark 1987: 207;

Scurlock 1988: 136).

Many traditional water control systems existed in the

district, including those of the six Middle Valley pueblos

(Sando 1992: 123). Most of the irrigation facilities, however, belonged to Hispanic farmers, some of whom, along

with the Pueblos, expressed concern for the project, as it

might affect their traditional ditch systems and irrigated

lands (Orona 1994).

To deal effectively with these problems, the district developed a plan in 1928, and implementation of various

water control measures soon occurred. From 1930 to 1934

construction of six diversion dams, the El Vado dam and

storage reservoir on the Chama River, 250 miles of main

irrigation canals, 350 miles of drainage canals, and 190

miles of levees was completed (Harper et al. 1943: 53).

These flood-protective levees were constructed with earth

excavated from the riverside drains and adjacent land.

Rising about 8 feet above the river bed, these earthen structures created a floodway some 1,500 feet wide (Crawford

et al. 1993: 26).

Between 1935 and 1975 the district, the Corps of Engineers, and the Bureau of Reclamation constructed six

major dams on the Upper and Middle drainages to control floods, store water, and catch sediment (Table 55; Fig.

66): El Vado (1935) on the Chama River, Jemez Canyon

(1954) on the Jemez River, Abiquiu (1963) on the Chama,

the Galisteo (1970) on Galisteo Creek, the Heron (1971)

on Willow Creek, and Cochiti (1975) on the Rio Grande

(Crawford et al. 1993: 44). Four irrigation diversion dams

were built in the Middle Valley in 1936 (Table 55; Fig. 66

and 67a and b).

Table 55—Middle and Upper Rio Grande dams and reservoirs.

Name Stream Year completed

Flood Control–Water Storage

Elephant Butte Rio Grande 1916

El Vado Chama 1936

Jemez Canyon Jemez 1953

Abiquiu Chama 1963

Heron Willow 1963

Galisteo Galisteo 1970

Cochiti Rio Grande 1975

Irrigation Diversion – Rio Grande

Cochiti 1936

Angostura 1936

Isleta 1936

San Acacia 1936

Sources: Clark 1987; Wozniak 1987
282 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 66—Major 20th century dams on the

Rio Grande and tributaries.

Between 1940 and the completion of Cochiti Dam in

1975, the Rio Grande, from Cochiti to Albuquerque, had

become more narrow and less braided. Its channel has

been incising or degrading and becoming more sinuous

downstream. Below Bernardo the river was aggrading and

becoming more braided (Crawford et al. 1993: 56–57).

Channel modification of the Middle Rio Grande was

initiated in 1953 by the Bureau of Reclamation to maintain channel capacity for carrying high flows and moving

sediments through the valley. The “silt burden” in the river

at San Marcial exceeded one-half million tons in that year.

Most of the sedimentation in the Middle Basin was derived from gully-arroyo trenching and sheet erosion of

lower-elevation lands (Dortignac 1956: 2, 38; Fig 68). The

channelization project was completed in 1959 (Crawford

et al. 1993: 43–44; State Engineer Office 1956: 5). During

this same period, Kellner jetty jacks were installed in the

Middle Valley to help stabilize the river channel and protect the levees. These jacks created large areas of moist

alluvium that were subsequently colonized by native and

exotic trees and shrubs (Crawford et al. 1993: 31–32).

The average, annual streamflow production in the Rio

Grande above Elephant Butte was almost 3 million acre-feet

in 1955. Almost two-thirds of this amount, 900,000 acre-feet,

was consumed between the Colorado border and Elephant

Butte. More than 400,000 acre-feet of this total was considered wasted or nonbeneficial use (Dortignac 1956: 4,

29).

The riverside diversions at Corrales and Atrisco were

replaced in the 1960s by inverted siphons that ran under

the river from riverside drains. These were converted seasonally into water conveyance channels (Kernodle et al.

1995: 19).

Today (1995) the width of the Middle Rio Grande is

generally 200 to 300 feet. The river “flows on a shifting

sand and gravel substratum and has low, poorly defined

banks” (Bullard and Wells 1992: 10–11). Floodway widths

in the Basin vary from about 165 to 1,475 feet in the Cochiti

reach, from 360 to 1,475 feet in the Albuquerque reach,

and from 295 to 2,360 feet in the reaches below Albuquerque. The floodways are generally confined between

earthen levees. The river channel is a primarily shifting,

alluvial channel, characterized by bedload transport of

medium-grained sand. In the narrow canyons the channels are bedrock (Bullard and Wells 1992: 11).

Channel pattern dynamics have been modified by the

construction of these flood and sediment control structures on the Rio Grande and tributaries. These structures

have eliminated some problems caused by discharge of

flood-transported sediments into the river. At the same

time, flood control structures have contributed to channel migration in some reaches downstream from dams

(Bullard and Wells 1992: 11).

Typical river channel patterns have been described as

“low sinuosity meandering, straight, and braided meandering.” These configurations are determined within the

levees by sediment bar formation in the channel during

low-flow periods, especially during the recession of flood

flows, combined with rapid growth of vegetation. Below

the mouths of high-sediment-discharge tributaries, such

as the Rio Puerco and Rio Salado, braided meandering

patterns are common (Bullard and Wells 1992: 11).

Vegetation Changes

The first detailed botanical description of the Middle

Valley and flanking uplands was published by Watson

(1912). For the Rio Grande floodplain he described two

major floristic associations: (1) nearly pure stands of valley cottonwood with a scattering of willows, Baccharis,

Senna, and sedge, and (2) a wet, meadowlike community

of sedge, yerba del mansa, Baccharis, common sunflower,

and canaigre (Rumex spp.). Watson did not mention salt

cedar or Russian olive as components of the bosque but

did state that salt cedar was being planted in Albuquerque as an ornamental (Watson 1912: 199–200; Hink and

Ohmart 1984: 33–34). On the bajadas and mesas flanking
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 283

Figure 67b—Repeat photograph of Figure 67a, but from opposite bank, 1995. Note absence of carrizo grass, replaced by Russian thistle.

San Acacia irrigation dam (center), scattered valley cottonwoods (behind). Photo by author.

Figure 67a—San Acacia narrows north of Socorro, 1905, and site of irrigation dam constructed in 1936. Note carrizo (cane) grass

(Phragmites australis) (front) and valley cottonwoods (leafless) along both banks of the Rio Grande (center).

Photo by R. H. Chapman, courtesy U.S. Geological Survey Photo Archives, Denver.
284 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 68—Sandbar in the Rio Grande near Corrales, 1995.

Photo by author.

the valley he described grass-shrub associations similar to those of today, commenting “This was undoubtedly originally a grassland, and is so yet where it has

not been too seriously over-grazed . . . it has been so

invaded by the composite Gutierrezia (snakeweed).”

Another invader species, Juniperus monosperma, was also

recorded on these uplands above 5,000 feet (Watson

1912: 200–206).

Near some communities, such as Socorro, long-time

residents, miners, and others had cleared the cottonwood-willow bosque in the late 1800s-early 1900s (Fig.

69a). Livestock grazing around these settlements and

mines resulted in decimation of the native grass cover.

Four-wing saltbush, broomweed, creosotebush, mesquite, prickly pear, and other aggressive native shrubs

and forbs subsequently invaded these disturbed areas

(Fig. 69b).

A 1917 map of the valley between Cochiti and San

Acacia indicates that there were 18,294 acres of “timber and brush” and 3,585 acres of “marsh.” The timber

stands were dominated by cottonwood (Hink and

Ohmart 1984: 59–60; U.S. Reclamation Service 1922;

Fig.70). Apparently neither salt cedar nor another species introduced later, Russian olive, was present. However, these two species were recorded in the area by the

early 1930s by Van Cleave (1935: 7), who studied vegetative changes due to lowering of the high water table

and other changes in the hydrology of the Rio Grande

Valley. This change in the water table was due to drainage projects undertaken by the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District in 1925 (Berry 1995; Salazar 1995;

Scurlock 1988a: 136–137; Torres 1995). All of the five

types of plant communities identified on the floodplain

had undergone varying degrees of environmental

changes between 1925 and 1935. Three of these communities—lakes, swamps, and marshes—virtually disappeared, but remnant vegetation survived along ditches

and drainage canals. Another association, wet meadows,

was drying up; cottonwood and willow in the bosque and

“fringing woodlands” (along the edge of the river) were

decreasing, while salt cedar (Tamarix ramosissima) and Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia) were increasing, especially in the southern portion of the district (Table 56). The

latter two species, exotic phreatophytes, have deeper root

systems and can tolerate higher soil alkalinity than cottonwoods or willows. Increased alkalinity resulted from

the lowering of the water table, which increased evaporation and accelerated accumulation of alkali in valley soils.

Cessation of periodic flooding (the result of dams and

channelization), which flushed out the alkali from these

soils, compounded the problem (Van Cleave 1935: 4–31,

42–44).

In recent years tamarisk and Russian olive have become the dominant species on portions of the Rio

Grande floodplain, especially in the southern one-third

of the Middle Valley (Campbell and Dick-Peddie 1964:

492, 499). Russian olive has become a major understory

component of the valley woodlands from above Albuquerque to Belen (Freehling 1982: 8). Shade-intolerant

salt cedar does not appear to be increasing in the northern half of the study area except where cottonwoods

are cleared or die out due to flooding. On the other

hand, Russian olive continues to increase on the Rio

Grande floodplain throughout the Abajo (Hink and

Ohmart 1984: 71).

Table 56—Historical change in areal extent of floodplain

vegetation communities from Cochiti Dam to San Marcial, 1918–

1989.

Year Category Hectares Acres

1918 Cottonwood forest 14,760 36,459

Brush marsh 2,540 6,274

1926 Bosque 15,312 37,821

Salt grass meadow 19,677 48,603

Swamp and lake (marsh and

open water) 1,346 3,324

Alkali 111 275

1936 Bosque 15,540 38,384

1966 Phreatophytes 14,939 36,900

1982 Forest, shrub (including salt cedar) 18,462 45,601

1989 Marsh and open water 1,486 3,671

Source: Crawford et al. 1993: 33
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 285

Figure 69a—Merritt Mine Camp, ca. 1890. Note slopes dotted with one–seed juniper and mesquite. Virtually treeless banks of

Rio Grande (back). Photo by J.E. Smith, courtesty New Mexico Bureau of Mines and MR photo collection, no. 48, Socorro.

Figure 69b—Repeat photograph, 1995. Note four–wing salt brush, creosotebush, and mesquite on slope (front),

cottonwood and salt cedar bosque along Rio Grande (back). Photo by author.
286 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 70—Bureau of Reclamation vegetation map, Rio Grande Valley, Tome area, 1917.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 287

Russian thistle (Salsola kali) was introduced to the

grasslands of the Rio Grande Basin in the late 19th century. Since that time it has increased and is generally

regarded as a serious range pest (Harris 1966: 422).

Another introduced species that has spread and invaded

portions of the floodplain and uplands from plantings in

towns and cities is the Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila) (Lamb

1975: 51; Fig. 71). In Albuquerque, the Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Forest Service, and the city purchased several hundred exotic trees—Lombardy popular, salt cedar,

green ash, honey locust, and American elms—for planting in residential areas and public parks in 1919. The introduction of the first Siberian elms soon followed, championed by Mayor Clyde Tingley in the late 1920s, and

quickly became a prominent part of Albuquerque’s

treescape (Simmons 1982: 346; Walton 1984: 6–8).

The economic costs and environmental impacts of introduced plants in the Middle Rio Grande Valley and

the Southwest have been extensive. Additional information on these aspects of exotic plants may be found

in Hay (1972) and Robinson (1958, 1965).

Water and Air Pollution

To some degree, the Middle Rio Grande has long carried wastes from human activities and livestock. Ranching, farming, logging, mining, and other historical land

uses have introduced toxins into the river, but impacts

were relatively minor compared with recent conditions.

Since the end of World War II wastewater effluent, pesticide-herbicide runoff, heavy metals such as lead and mercury leached from abandoned mines, and other pollutants have lowered water quality, adversely impacting potability, aquatic fauna (especially fish), and associated flora

(Bullard and Wells 1992: 32; Crawford et al. 1993: 71).

The earliest sources of air pollution in the Middle

Basin were the railroad, mine smelters, and large sawmills (Fig. 72). These sources were not regulated for air

quality until the 1960s. By this time automobiles and

trucks were a major source of pollution, and the “brown

cloud” was first seen over Albuquerque. Coal processing facilities north of the Basin, along with ever-increasing numbers of vehicles in the greater Albuquerque

Figure 71—Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District drainage canal near Los Lunas. Note Siberian elm along left side of canal.

Photo by author, 1995.
288 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 72—Air pollution from the New Mexico Timber Company sawmill in Bernalillo, 1925. Photo by W.T. Lee,

courtesy US Geological Survey Photo Archives, Denver.

area, have produced serious air quality conditions during temperature inversions in the winter.

IMPACTS AND CHANGES IN THE

RIO PUERCO, 1846–1980: A CASE STUDY

The best documented environmental impacts and

changes of a Middle Basin tributary from the mid 1800s

to present are for the Rio Puerco. A history of intensive

grazing and erodible soils, combined with periodic

droughts and intensive rains, has led to the use of the term

“abused basin” to describe the Puerco. In the recent past

(1920s to 1960s), a number of environmental studies have

been conducted. Today several federal agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, are continuing to study runoff, erosion, vegetation

change, and other aspects. Because of the these factors,

the Puerco has been selected as a case study in this report.

In the mid 1800s the upper Rio Puerco valley, from

Guadalupe to its headwaters above Cuba, was a “grassy

wilderness” with “swampy vegas,” “clear water,” and

“willow-lined banks” (Maes and Fisher 1937: 10). The river

channel at this time was discontinuous. During the dry

seasons (late September to early December), the river

was dry at its mouth, as it is now. The entire channel

was dry during extended droughts. In mid October

1846, west of Atrisco, Lt. Abert (1962: 74–78) described

the valley as “wide, flat, overgrown with varieties of

artemisias and coarse grass” and the river banks as “10

or 12 feet high” and “a few cottonwood trees” in the

river bed, which was dry. To the north, near the abandoned town of Poblazon, the banks were 30 feet high

(Table 57).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 289

1846 10–12 feet (lower reach)

1846 30 feet (at Poblazon)

1849 20–30 feet (near San Luis) 100 feet

1850s (early) 8 feet (at La Ventana)

1853 18 feet (at Interstate 40 W)

1855 20 feet (lower reach)

1860s “Shallow” (at Cabezon)

1874 8 feet (at La Ventana)

1875 “Shallow” (at San Luis)

1876–1880 “Shallow” (at Cabezon)

1877 26.4–29.2 feet

1870s “Shallow” (at Cabezon)

1881 “Deepening” (lower reach)

1887 3 feet (at Guadalupe) 30 feet

1890 “Deepening” (at Cabezon)

1899 198 feet (at Cabezon)

Table 57—Rio Puerco–of–the–East: historical conditions and channel changes, 1846–1964.

Date Channel depth Channel width

1906 20 feet (near San Luis-Cabezon) 244.4 feet

(Cabezon)

405.9 feet

(near

Guadalupe)

1913 15 feet (at La Ventana)

1927 40–41 feet (at La Ventana)

1927 22 feet (at San Luis)

1927 40 feet (lower reach)

1928 40–41 feet (at Cabezon)

1940 26 feet (lower reach)

1959 50 feet (at La Ventana)

1964 55 feet (at La Ventana)

1964 36 feet at (San Luis)

1964 30 feet (at Poblazon)

1964 36 feet (at San Ignacio, lower)

Sources: Abert 1962; Bryan 1928; Dortignac 1962; Lopez 1980; Love and Young 1983; Maes and Fisher 1937; McNitt 1964; Rittenhouse

1965; Tuan 1966.

Date Channel depth Channel width

In 1849, Lt. J.H. Simpson (McNitt 1964: 29) estimated

the river bank to be 20 to 30 feet high and the width of the

river at about 100 feet. Four years later, the Puerco near

present Interstate 40 was described as 100 feet wide and

its streambed 18 feet deep with scattered pools of water

(Foreman 1941: 119). The channel was about 18 feet deep

(Rittenhouse 1965: 27–28). About this time, the channel

was about 8 feet deep at La Ventana (Dortignac 1962: 588).

By 1862, with cessation of Navajo raids in the area, Hispanics and Anglos began to intensively graze the upper

Puerco (Maes and Fisher 1937: 10–15). In the 1870s the

Rio Puerco channel in the Cabezon area was still relatively

shallow, with a wagon road crossing marked by large logs

laid in the streambed. There were “large groves of cottonwood trees, high grass, and weeds.” The channel at La

Ventana was about 8 feet deep (Dortignac 1963: 507). By

1877 there were “high banks marked by recent cave-ins

and falling trees” (Bryan 1928a: 268, 273). Native grasses

were being cut and sold as hay (deBuys 1985: 217;

Rittenhouse 1965: 64). A major flood, which undoubtedly

eroded banks and downcut the river channel more, occurred in the area in 1880 (USGS 1994).

During the 1880s the number of sheep in the area increased to over 100,000, and there were about 9,000 cattle

(Scurlock 1990a: 18). By the turn of the century sheep numbers had increased to several hundred thousand. Harvests of corn and other irrigated crops were good during

this period, probably due to better, moister conditions

from above-normal precipitation (Maes and Fisher 1937:

11–12, 14). About 10,000 acres were under irrigation in

the upper Rio Puerco valley at this time (deBuys 1985:

217).

Intensive grazing continued into the early decades of the

next century; in 1937 there were relatively large numbers of

livestock on 75,284 acres of public lands in the Upper Basin.

Droughts and intensive floods, probably caused in part by

exposed rangeland soils, contributed to severe erosion during this period (Calkins 1937b: 6; Maes and Fisher 1937: 15–

19, 34). Continued entrenchment of the Puerco became a

problem for irrigation farmers in the Cabezon area (Bryan

1928a: 274). Irrigated lands in the same area dropped to 3,000

acres, a decrease of 70 percent in less than 3 decades (Harper

et al. 1943: 52). Some farmers may have shifted their operations to the Puerco valley above Cuba, where there were 5,500

acres under irrigation in 1939 (Dortignac 1960: 48).

A surveyor referred to a “new channel” for the river at

Cabezon in 1899; it was 198 feet wide. Seven years later

the channel at the same location had widened to 244 feet,

with a depth of 20 feet. At nearby San Luis the depth of

the Puerco channel was the same (Bryan 1928a: 271–273; Tuan

1966: 589). To the north, at La Ventana, the river channel was

15 feet deep in 1913 (Dortignac 1962: 58; Fig. 73a and b).

By 1925 environmental problems in the Rio Puerco basin were becoming increasingly serious. Continued excessive grazing, coupled with periods of drought followed

by intensive rains, was causing severe erosion, including

rapid downcutting of the river channel. Channel depth at

La Ventana was about 40 feet, at San Luis about 22 feet,

and south of the Santa Fe rail line about 40 feet (Bryan

1928a: 275, 277; Tuan 1966: 589). Diversion dams were destroyed, and the water table generally lowered. Irrigated

land in the basin declined to 3,000 acres.

The high sediment load of the river continued to increase (Harper et al. 1943: 52). As a result, the Rio Grande
290 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 73a—View north of the town of Cabezon (center) and entrenched Rio Puerco (lower center,) 1917. Note four cottonwoods.

Photo by W.T. Lee, courtesty US Geological Survey Photo Archives, Denver.

floodway, just below the mouth of the Puerco, aggraded

4 to 5 feet from 1927 to 1936 (Happ 1937: i, 3). Alluviation

on the lower reach of the river, below the Santa Fe rail

line, raised the channel 14 feet (Tuan 1966: 593).

The ongoing erosion in the Rio Puerco valley between

La Ventana and Cuba was so severe that the railroad had

to be abandoned (Cooperrider and Hendricks 1937: 11–

12). The eroding, downcutting action of the stream caused

most of the residents from the Middle Valley to move

upstream, where irrigation agriculture was still relatively

reliable in the mid 1930s. A few years later there were more

than 5,500 acres of irrigated farmland with 17 ditch systems in the drainage above Cuba (Calkins 1937b: 18–19;

Dortignac 1960: 48). By the 1940s virtually all of the irrigated lands below Cuba were abandoned due to the flood

damage of water control structures and the downcutting of

the river (deBuys 1985: 217–218). Populations of towns such

as Cabezon, Guadalupe, and Casa Salazar declined rapidly.

The San Luis Dam was destroyed by a flood in 1926 or

1927 (Widdison 1959: 276–277), and area roads and bridges

were frequently washed out in the late 1920s and 1930s

(Cooperrider and Hendricks 1937: 20). A new San Luis

irrigation dam was constructed a mile above the old site

by the Soil Conservation Service in 1936 (Widdison 1959:

277). Unlike that of Cabezon, San Luis’ population did

not decrease dramatically during this period. There were

44 families living in the town in 1939, but all but two were

government employed or aided by government welfare

programs (Widdison 1959: 281).

During the drought year of 1934 the U.S. Government

purchased the “badly overgrazed and eroded” Ojo del

Espiritu Santo land grant and initiated a resource management program (Varney 1987: 35). There were some

14,500 cattle-units in the upper Puerco Basin in 1936, almost four times the estimated grazing capacity (Maes and

Fisher 1937: 34). In 1937 there were 56,240 acres of public

domain, 19,044 acres of national forest land, and 75,431

acres of private land being grazed in the valley from

Regina-Cuba to Casa Salazar (Calkins 1937b: 6). By 1940

the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management

began to fence federal land in the valley and on Mesa

Prieta (Garcia 1992: 23).

A resurvey of the Puerco channel in 1939 determined

that the sediment volume between Cuba and the mouth

of the river was 267,000 acre-feet, an increase of 250,000
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 291

acre-feet since 1884. The mean annual suspended sediment load in the Puerco basin was 41 percent (Dortignac

1956: 49). In an attempt to arrest erosion in the watershed,

the Grazing Service began reducing the number of livestock in the Puerco valley between 1941 and 1943. Each

family in the area could have no more than 15 head. This

number, however, was below the minimum needed for

subsistence (Forrest 1989: 157–159), resulting in the

abandonment of more ranches and farms. Most of

Cabezon’s population had moved away from the village by 1941. A few stayed on, raising livestock and

operating a trading post, but they were all gone by 1950

(Varney 1987: 35).

By the mid 1950s the sediment load of the Rio Puerco

began to decrease, primarily due to improved land management and climatic patterns (Crawford et al. 1993: 54).

The river continued to downcut. Its channel at La Ventana

was about 50 feet deep in 1956 (Dortignac 1960: 47), and 3

years later it was about 55 feet (Dortignac 1962: 588). Downstream, channel depths were 36 feet at San Luis, 43 feet at

Poblazon, and 36 feet at San Ignacio (Tuan 1966: 589).

Although sediment concentrations have decreased

steadily since the mid 1950s, in recent years the Rio Puerco

has contributed about one-half the sediment load (2.6 million tons per year) carried from its mouth to Elephant Butte

Reservoir by the Rio Grande (Crawford et al. 1993: 54).

IMPACTS AND CHANGES IN UPLAND

GRASSLANDS, WOODLANDS, AND FORESTS

Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the Southwest, grasslands supported few woody shrubs or forbs, and woodlands and forests were probably less dense (more open or

savannalike) than stands of recent times. Also, grasslands,

pinyon-juniper and ponderosa woodlands, and montane

meadows in New Mexico probably had a higher carrying

capacity for livestock grazing in the mid 1820s and 1830s

than in this century. The main concentration of sheep was

along the Rio Puerco-of-the-East and in the valleys and

uplands along both sides west of the Middle Rio Grande

Valley from the Santa Fe-Galisteo area to the Belen area.

The sheep numbers in these areas, as well as in the Jemez

Mountains-Pajarito Plateau and Sangre de Cristo Mountains, were high until the early 1900s. This intensive grazing, reoccurring droughts, and periodic, high-intensity

rainfall appear to have been significant interrelated ecoFigure 73b—Repeat photograph of Figure 73a, 1995. Note deeper and wider river channel and salt cedar. Photo by author.
292 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

logical factors in triggering the beginning of a severe erosional period beginning in the late 1870s-early 1880s

(Denevan 1967: 699–702). Changes in composition of species and density have resulted from the previously discussed human uses (burning, grazing, cutting, etc.), wild

fires, and fire suppression, as well as climate. Each of these

phenomena obviously brought changes to the area over

the short term, but these factors have interacted over a

longer period to cause changes observed in recent decades

(West 1984: 1301, 1311–1313).

A recent study of vegetative change (Bahre 1991: 180–

187) in southeastern Arizona demonstrated that historical alteration has resulted from removal of native plant

cover by various Euro-American settlement activities, introduction of exotic plants, and suppression of fires. These

factors have resulted in five directional changes: (1) an

overall decline in native grasses, (2) an expansion of exotic grasses and other plants, (3) an increase in woody

plants, notably in the grasslands and lower elevations of

the woodlands, (4) an increase in protected stands of oak,

juniper, and ponderosa pine, and (5) a general degradation of vegetative cover. The spread of various

Juniperus species into grasslands in northern Arizona

has also been well documented (Johnsen 1962; Lowe 1964:

58).

Gross and Dick-Peddie (1979) reconstructed the “primeval” vegetation in New Mexico below the ponderosa

pine zone using territorial survey records (see Fig. 52).

The most significant historic changes in vegetation have

occurred in the grassland-woodland and savannadesert shrubland types. In many areas, woodland savannah has apparently replaced the upper elevation grasslands.

Grover and Musich (n.d.: 10) presented evidence of

shrubland encroachment in desert grasslands in the southern part of the region, leading to local and regional climatic changes due to increased surface temperatures.

These plant community changes might have significant

impacts on albedo and sensible heat flux. Additionally,

physiological and phenological differences between

grasses and shrubs can influence rates of evapotranspiration. Grass growth and decomposition and mineralization processes needed for nutrient cycling are inhibited by chemical compounds in the needle litter of

pinyon and juniper. This has led to an increase in density of these two species (Grover and Musick n.d.:

10).

One investigator (Dittmer 1951: 351) concluded that pinyon-juniper woodlands in the Southwest, with their understory of grama species and other nutritious bunch

grasses, were overgrazed in the late 19th and early 20th

centuries, decimating these grasses. Another valuable

understory plant, Krascheninnikovia lanata (Soil Conservation Service 1994), which also occurs in the upper grassland elevations, has been severely depleted over the last

150 years.

Gross (1973) found that large portions of northwestern

and north-central New Mexico experienced near complete

replacement of the late 19th century vegetation communities. The historic pinyon-juniper-sagebrush (Artemisia

tridentata) association has been replaced by sagebrushgrassland. The lower grassland community has also become a secondary successional stage of sagebrushgrassland association. The replacement of the pinyonjuniper communities by sagebrush was probably due

to fire, as pinyon-juniper does not survive conflagration well. Other large stands of pinyon-juniper were

cleared by homesteaders for use in dryland farming,

grazing, fence posts, and fuelwood (Gross 1973: 10, 43–

44).

Southwest of Cuba most of the historic pinyon-juniper

communities have disappeared; only a few isolated, relict

stands have survived. These, too, have changed to sagebrush-grassland. On the 9,389-acre Chijuilla community

grazing allotment located in T21N, R23, early sheep grazing and later homesteaders impacted the pinyon-juniper

community as indicated above. In 1963, 321 acres of pinyon-juniper were chained, and 673 acres of “brush” were

cut in sections 19, 20, and 30 in an effort to increase the

production of grazing forbs and grasses. About a quarter

of a century later, 20 study plots of pinyon-juniper were

identified by the Bureau of Land Management. Ten plots

were thinned on the allotment, while the other ten were

not thinned. Grasses and forbs on the plots were clipped

and weighed in September 1990 to determine production.

The thinned plots produced 2,174 pounds green weight

per acre, but the untreated plots yielded only 520 pounds

per acre (Bodine 1990; Gross 1973: 16; Levine et al. 1980:

4, 44–47, 50, 131, 136).

Watson (1912: 205–207) noted that Juniperus monosperma

in the Estancia Valley of central New Mexico was invading into the lower grassland from the “Cedar Formation.”

Gutierrezia sarothrae, Yucca glauca, and Opuntia imbricata

were “abundant.” In the pinyon-juniper zone, common

plant associates in the area included Yucca baccata,

Cercocarpus montanus, Philadelphus microphyllus, Tragia

nepetifolia, and Lesquerella spp.

Covington and Moore (1994: 39) wrote about impacts

and change in ponderosa pine forests:

Heavy grazing, logging, and fire exclusion, in

conjunction with climatic oscillations and elevated atmospheric CO2, have led to many more

younger and smaller trees; fewer older and larger

trees; accumulation of heavy forest floor fuel

loads; reduced herbaceous production; and associated shifts in ecosystem structure, fire hazard, and wildlife habitat.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 293

Prior to Euro American settlement these forests were much

more open and parklike, with scattered stands varying in

age, and crown cover usually not exceeding 25 percent.

Crown fires were rare (Covington and Moore 1994: 39–41).

In the upper Pecos River drainage Pinus ponderosa, P.edulis,

and Juniperus monosperma were harvested intensively for use

as lumber, posts, and fuelwood in the 19th century. There

were 500 sheep grazing in the area of Rowe at this time. In

the early 1900s all of the trees north and east of Rowe were

clear-cut to create pasture for cattle. Some relatively recent

chaining of pinyon-juniper was carried out between the

present Interstate 25 and the town (Meszaros 1989: 13–14,

52–55).

CHANGES IN PLANT SPECIES

Extirpated Plants

Several plant species identified from archeological excavations or historical records appear to have been depleted or extirpated locally, primarily through abusive

land use such as overgrazing in the late 19th and early

20th centuries (Bohrer 1978). All were prehistoric-historic

food sources, which indicates they may have been relatively widespread and abundant prior to more recent impacts causing decimation or extermination. These species

Table 58—Plant species extensively decimated or extirpated.

Common name Scientific name Range

Stickleaf Mentzelia albicaulis NW and W New Mexico

Purslane Portulaca spp. NW and NC New Mexico

Winged pigweed Cycloloma atriplicifolium NW and NC New Mexico

Contrayerba Kallstroemia sp. NW New Mexico

Wild onion Allium macropetalum NW New Mexico

Nodding onion A. cernuum var. obtusam C and W New Mexico

Spiderwort Tradescantia occidentalis NW and C New Mexico

Source: Bohrer 1978 and Soil Conservation Service 1994

are listed below in Table 58, with known distribution

within the study region.

Almost 400 species of grasses have been collected and

identified in New Mexico. Several of these, listed in Table

59, have not been found since their collection date 50 or

more years ago. Most, if not all, are probably extinct

(Allred 1993).

Introduced and Naturalized Plants

Some 101 non-native plants have been introduced in

the study region, primarily from Europe and Asia, during the historic period, 1598 to the present (Table 60). For

the most part, these species have been considered ecological and economic pests. Some of these introductions

were intentional, but others were accidental. The Spanish

brought several plants to New Mexico early in the colonial period, for example, clovers (Melilotus and Trifolium

spp.) for livestock feed and alferillo (Erodium cicutarium)

and hoarhound (Marrubium vulgare) as medicinals (Table

60). Others, such as goathead (Tribulus terrestris), were

unknowingly carried by livestock, in agricultural seed

bags, or in clothing. Mullein (Verbascum thapsus), an important medicinal plant to the Spanish, has thrived in disturbed areas, especially in new burn sites. Less aggressive is

shepherd purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), which is found in

meadows (Gay and Dwyer 1970: 62; Wooton 1915: 556).

Table 59—Extirpated grass species.

Common name Scientific name Location Year last collected

Bristlegrass Setaria verticillata Mesilla Valley 1907

Sacaton or dropseed Sporobolus vaginiflorus Las Cruces and Bernalillo Co. 1895

Wright’s Bluestem Bothriochloa wrightii Grant Co. (two locations) 1885, 1904

Cordgrass Spartina gracilis Santa Rosa 1945

Gamagrass Tripsacum lanceolatum Guadalupe Canyon 1915 pre

Muhly Muhlenbergia arsenei Soda Dam, Sandoval Co. 1938

Muhly Muhlenbergia andina Upper Pecos River 1908

Rattlesnake Chess Bromus brizaeformis Pecos National Forest 1913 pre

Lovegrass Eragrostis hypnoides Elephant Butte Dam 1941

Source: Allred 1993 and Soil Conservation Service 1994
294 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Anglos brought even more exotic species than the Spanish to the study region (Table 60), some of which have

become serious problems due to their aggressive invasion

of native plant communities, use of substantial water, and

successful competition with the native flora (deBuys 1985:

224–226; Hitchcock 1935: 49, 76, 112–114, 230–231). The

two most costly flora introductions, ecologically and economically, have been Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia)

and salt cedar or tamarisk (Tamarix ramosissima). Both are

native to regions of Euro Asia, with climates and soils similar to those of central New Mexico, so these two species

have spread rapidly. Salt cedar was introduced as an ornamental in Albuquerque as early as 1908, and by 1926–

27 had been used widely to control erosion and silt on

tributary streams. By 1936 it had invaded the valley extensively, helped by the flood of 1929 (Crawford et al. 1993:

30; Robinson 1965: 147; Scurlock 1988a: 138). Between 1935

and 1947 salt cedar had spread over an estimated 24,500

to 51,120 acres of irrigable farmland in the Upper and

Middle valleys (Hay 1972: 288; Lowry 1957: 4).

Similarly, the Russian olive was planted for bank stabilization and ornamental purposes in the early part of this

century. By 1934 it had spread into the Rio Grande bosque,

and 26 years later was a dominant component of the ecosystem (Crawford et al. 1993: 30; Freehling 1982: 10).

Between 1946 and 1956 the Bureau of Reclamation

sprayed the herbicides 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T on stands of tamarisks in the main valley and tributaries in an attempt to

control its spread, which was largely ineffective, The tree

expanded its range over about 60,000 acres. Annual water use by the tamarisk stands was estimated to be 240,000

acre-feet, or about twice the amount used by cultivated

crops (Dortignac 1956: 47). About 20,000 acres along the

main stem of the river are now dominated by salt cedar

and Russian olive (Crawford et al. 1993: 35).

Other exotic tree species that are becoming major components of riparian ecosystems are Siberian elm (Ulmus

pumila), tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), and white

mulberry (Morus alba) (Crawford et al. 1993: 30; Scurlock

1988a: 139). Russian thistle (Salsola kali) was introduced

accidentally, via the cow-catchers of the Santa Fe trains,

into the Galisteo basin pre 1890. This species has now

spread to the upland grasslands flanking the valley and

onto the floodplain (Wooton 1895).

During the 1930s, crested wheat grass (Agropyron

cristatum) was introduced into New Mexico by the U.S.

Department of Agriculture for its forage value and is now

established across the region (Hitchcock 1935: 231). Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) was introduced to regional

mountain ranges in this century as well (deBuys 1985: 289).

CHANGES IN ANIMAL SPECIES

By the end of World War I, intensive hunting and trapping, grazing, and habitat modification had severely reduced populations of predatory mammals, as well as

game species. As natural prey species of the wolf, coyote,

grizzly bear, bobcat, and mountain lion were reduced by

various human activities, the predators began to take

much more livestock. J. Stokely Ligon, head of the New

Mexico Game and Fish Department at the time, considered wolves, coyotes, bobcats, and mountain lions “the

most serious enemy of game conservation in New Mexico”

(Ligon 1927: 49–50). He, along with Aldo Leopold of the

Forest Service, led the government effort to eradicate these

predators, especially the wolf and the grizzly bear.

By the early 1900s, bears, especially grizzlies, and

wolves were restricted to the higher, more remote mountain ranges due to these hunting and trapping pressures.

They were relatively common in the San Mateo range near

Grants in 1905 (Bailey 1971: 365). An estimated 48 grizzly

bears remained in the state in 1917, scattered from the

Sangre de Cristo to the Black Range. By 1928 an estimated

16 grizzly bears remained in the state. Several grizzly bears

were reported on the Jemez District of the Santa Fe National Forest in 1940, the last recording of this species in

the state (Brown 1985: 133, 137, 140, 153, 160–161). Black

bears, however, had received protection from the State

Legislature in 1927, and populations remained relatively

stable (Findley et al. 1975: 29).

Gray wolves were still found in the Manzano Mountains in 1903, preying on livestock, some were reported

there in 1916. There were 19 wolves killed in the Santa Fe

National Forest in 1915 and 37 in 1916 (Bailey 1971: 309–

311). Some 34 wolves, gray and Mexican subspecies, were

trapped, poisoned, or shot in the state in 1925 (Brown 1983:

150). Only a small number of gray wolves were extant in the

Middle and Upper basins. In 1934 the last gray wolf in Colfax

County was killed (Brown 1984: 85). The last gray wolf in

the study region was killed in 1932 in the Valle Grande of

the Jemez Mountains by a rancher (Scurlock 1981a: 148).

Among the larger game mammals with low numbers

in this period were pronghorn, mule deer, elk, bighorn

sheep, and black bears. Only remnant populations of

pronghorn were scattered over the grasslands, and mule

deer were rare to extinct anywhere near settlements (Ligon 1927: 29). State and federal laws were passed in the

1920s and 1930s to manage and protect various game species. Some species, such as the pronghorn and mule deer,

increased in number in some locales under professional

management. Near population centers and in competition with livestock, pronghorns did not do so well. A few

pronghorn were observed grazing about 10 miles south

of Santa Fe in 1942 (Hewett and Dutton 1945: 108). Small

numbers of this species were observed east and west of

Albuquerque until the late 1940s or early 1950s. This was

also a period of reintroduction of species such as bighorn

sheep and elk to mountain ranges in the study region

(Barker 1976: 100–101, 188; Clark 1987: 267; Flader 1978:

105; Pickens 1980: 83).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 295

Table 60—Introduced plants.

Common name Scientific name Date of introduction Source

Alfalfa Medicago sativa pre–1866 Meline 1966: 152–153; Wooton 1915: 343

Alfalfa dodder Cuscuta approximata ? Reed 1970: 294–295

Alferillo Erodium cicutarium ? Curtin 1965: 27; Tierney 1983: 16

Amaranth Amaranthus retroflexus post–1598 Haughton 1978: 19

Asparagus Asparagus officinalis pre–1851 Bartlett 1965, I: 237

Barnyardgrass Echinochloa crus–galli ? Reed 1970: 60

Bedstraw Galium aparine ? Reed 1970: 352–353; Tierney 1983: 112

Beggartick Bidens frondosa ? Reed 1970: 378–379

Bermuda grass Cynodon dactylon post–1880s Wooton 1915: 84; Hoover et al. 1948: 663

Bindweed Convolvulus arvensis ? Reed 1970: 290–291

Black medic Medicago lupulina ? Reed 1970: 230–231

Black mustard Brassica nigra ? Reed 1970: 194–195

Bull thistle Cirsium vulgare ? Reed 1970: 398–399

Burdock Arctium minus ? Reed 1970: 372–373

Butter and eggs Linaria vulgaris ? Reed 1970: 42–45

Carpetweed Mollugo verticillata ? Reed 1970: 150

Centipede grass Eremochloa ophiuroides post–1919 Hoover et al. 1948: 671

Chickweed Stellaria media ? Reed 1970: 168–169

Chicory Cichorium intybus ? Reed 1970: 396–397

Cocklebur Xanthium strumarium var. canadense ? Reed 1970: 444–445

Corncockle Agrostemma githago ? Reed 1970: 154–155

Corn gromwell Buglossoides arvensis ? Reed 1970: 304–305

Crested wheatgrass Agropyron cristatum post–1935 Hitchcock 1935: 231

Curly dock Rumex crispus ? Reed 1970: 130–131

Dallasgrass Paspalum dilatatum post–1875 Reed 1970: 74–75; Hoover et al. 1948: 680

Dandelion Taraxacum officinale pre–1600? Reed 1970: 438–439; Tierney 1983: 16

Field pennycress Thiaspi arvense ? Reed 1970: 214–215

Field sandbur Cenchrus carolinianus pre–1846 Reed 1970: 50–51

Foxtail millet Setaria italica Post–1849 Hoover et al. 1948: 691

Goatgrass Aegilops cylindrica pre–1950 Hitchock 1935: 243–246

Goathead Tribulus terrestris ? Reed 1970: 242–243

Goosegrass Eleusine indica pre–1935 Reed 1970: 62–63

Green fox–tail Setaria viridis ? Reed 1970: 85–86

Hedge bindweed Convolvulus sepium ? Reed 1970: 293–294

Henbit Lamium amplexicaule ? Reed 1970: 314–315

Hoarhound Marrubium vulgare pre–1600? Wooton 1915: 556; Tierney 1983: 16

Italian ryegrass Lolium perenne ssp. multiflorum post–1820 Hoover et al. 1948: 676

Ivy leaf Ipomoea hederacea ? Reed 1970: 300–301

Japanese brome Bromus japonicus ? Reed 1970: 42–43

Johnsongrass Sorghum halepense post–1880 Reed 1970: 86–87

Kentucky bluegrass Poa pratensis post–1579 Gay and Dwyer 1970: 44

Lambsquarter Chenopodium album 19th century? Reed 1970: 132–133

Large crabgrass Digitaria sanguinalis ? Reed 1970: 58–59

Mallow Malva neglecta pre–1600? Ford 1987: 75; Tierney 1983b: 16

Marijuana Cannabis sativa pre–1894 Bourke 1894: 143

Marshpepper Polyganum hydropiper ? Reed 1970: 122–123

Mayweed Anthemis cotula ? Reed 1970: 370–371

Meadow fescue Festuca pratensis 19th century Hoover et al. 1948: 672

Meadow foxtail Alopecurus pratensis ? Hoover et al. 1948: 649

Moth mullein Verbascum blattaria ? Reed 1970: 332–333

Mousear chickweed Cerastium fontanum ? Reed 1970: 158–159

Mullein Verbascum thapsus post–1800? Haughton 1978: 227–228

Multiflora rose Rosa multiflora ? Reed 1970: 222–223

Mustard Sinapis arvensis ? Reed 1970: 192–193

continued on next page
296 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Narrowleaf vetch Vicia sativa ssp. nigra ? Reed 1970: 238–239

Orchard grass Dactylis glomerata post–1760 Hoover et al. 1948: 664

Oxeye daisy Leucanthemum vulgare ? Reed 1970: 388–389

Pigweed Amaranthus albus ? Reed 1970: 142–144

Plantain Plantago spp. ? Reed 1970: 346–347

Poison hemlock Conium maculatum ? Reed 1970: 280–281

Prickly lettuce Lactuca serriola ? Reed 1970: 426–427

Prostrate knotweed Polygonum aviculare ? Reed 1970: 116–117

Purslane Portulaca oleracea pre–1600? Reed 1970: 152–153; Tierney 1983: 16

Ragweed Ambrosia artemisiifolia ? Reed 1970: 364–369

A. psilostachya ?

A. trifida ?

Redroot pigweed Amaranthus retroflexus ? Reed 1970: 146–147

Redtop Agrostis gigantea ? Gay and Dwyer 1970: 8

Red (sheep) sorrel Rumex acetosella pre–1600? Reed 1970: 128–129; Tierney 1983: 16

Rough cinquefoil Potentilla norvegica ? Reed 1970: 218–219

Russian knapweed Acroptilan repens ? Reed 1970: 384–385

Russian olive Elaeagnus angustifolia pre–1935 Freehling 1982: 100

Russian thistle Salsola kali post–1890 Wooton 1895; Bradfield 1974: 8

Rye Brome Bromus secalinus pre–1915 Hitchcock 1935: 48

Salsify Tragapogon dubius pre–1800 Fernald 1970: 1549; Camp et al. 1957: 137

Selfheal Prunella vulgaris ? Reed 1970: 316–317

Sheep fescue Festuca ovina 1598? de Buys 1985:225

Shepherd purse Capsella bursa-pastoris ? Reed 1970: 198–199

Siberian elm Ulmus pumila post–1919 Scurlock 1988a: 139

Smallflower Galinsoga parviflora ? Reed 1970: 410–411

Smallseed falseflax Camelina microcarpa ? Reed 1970: 190–197

Smooth brome Bromus inermis post–1884 Hitchock 1935: 658–660

Smooth crabgrass Digitaria ischaemum ? Reed 1970: 56–57

Sowthistle Sonchus arvensis

S. asper ? Reed 1970: 434–437

Stinging nettle Urtica dioica ? Reed 1970: 110–111

Sudan grass Sorghum bicolor ssp. drummondii post–1909 Hoover et al. 1948: 693

Sweetclover Melilotus officinalis pre–1915 Wooton 1915: 344; McKee 1948: 718

Tall buttercup Ranunculus acris ? Reed 1970: 186–187

Tall larkspur Delphinium barbeyi ? Reed 1970: 178–179

Tamarisk, salt cedar Tamarix ramosissima early 1900s Robinson 1965: A6

Timothy Phleum pratense ca. 1747 Hoover et al. 1948: 684

Tree of heaven Ailanthus altissima post–1850 Haughton 1978: 388–389;

Scurlock 1988a: 139

Tumble mustard Sisymbrium altissimum ? Reed 1970: 212–213

Watercress Rorippa nasturtium–aquaticum ? Reed 1970: 210–211

Weeping lovegrass Eragrostis curvula post–1934 Hoover et al. 1948: 670

Wild buckwheat Polygonum convolvulus ? Reed 1970: 120–121

Wild carrot Daucus carota ? Reed 1970: 282–283

Wild oat Avena fatua ? Reed 1970: 38–39

Wintercress Barbarea verna ? Fernald 1970: 716–717

Yellow foxtail Setaria pumila ? Reed 1970: 84–85

Yerba buena Mentha spicata ? Haughton 1978: 227–228

Terminology conforms to Soil Conservation Service 1994

Table 60—Introduced plants (continued).

Common name Scientific name Date of introduction Source
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 297

Predator and rodent control by federal and state agencies continued into the 1940s–60s. A rodenticide known

as 1080 was commonly used to control these species, followed by the use of a “cyanide gun” for control of coyotes (Brown 1983: 103; McDonald 1985: 12; Moyer 1979:

71). This device apparently had little impact on the overall population. More than 6,300 coyotes were poisoned or

trapped in 1963 (Findley et al. 1975: 281–282).

In the Middle Valley, wildlife was adversely impacted

by work of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

in the early to mid 1930s, especially species dependent on

wetlands (Crawford et al. 1993: 39). As drainage canals

were dug, the water table was lowered, draining the

cienegas, charcos, and esteros. Populations of beaver,

muskrat, mink, waterfowl, wading birds, and some reptiles and amphibians declined as a result. Subsistence and

commercial hunting and trapping contributed to this decline as well (Crawford 1993: 39; Perrigo 1982: 62–63).

Mink were last reported in the Los Lunas area just prior

to 1920, but a few individuals were present elsewhere in

the Middle Valley until 1947 (Bailey 1971; Hink and

Ohmart 1984, pt. I: 34; 324; Pillow and DeVaney 1947: 16).

Minks were apparently the victim of trapping and habitat change. River otters were last observed at the northern boundary of the Middle Valley sometime before 1930

(Bailey 1971: 324). Never common, river otters also may have

disappeared because of trapping, but increased temperature

and sedimentation of the river were more likely causes.

The Norway rat was among the earliest introduced

mammals that became naturalized (Table 61). This species was in the study region at least as early as 1851, and

it was abundant in Albuquerque by 1888. Its high reproduction rate and ability to consume a considerable amount

of a variety of foods has resulted in significant losses of

field and stored agricultural produce. The Norway rat also

carries diseases transmittable to humans, the best known

being bubonic plague. This disease is still prevalent in the

Middle Valley, where a number of cases are reported each

year (Findley 1987: 107–108; Roots 1976: 43–44, 47, 52–53).

Another introduced rodent that has adapted to New

Mexico’s settlements and agricultural environments is the

omnivorous house mouse. This species feeds on insects,

agricultural produce, and other vegetative materials. It,

too, carries the plague and a number of viral and fungal

diseases, including harvest fever and typhus. A prolific

breeder, house mouse populations can reach as high as 82,000

per acre. This species’ impact on agricultural grains can

be significant (Findley 1987: 109–110; Roots 1976: 54–56).

Wild horses and burros, although probably not as common as they were in the late 1800s and early 1900s, were

present in the study region from the 1920s to the early

1940s (Findley 1987: 150; Table 61). They occurred in the

Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the bajada of the

Manzano Mountains and they were also recorded in the

Jemez Mountains. By 1971 they had become a serious ecological problem at Bandelier National Monument due to

their intensive grazing, which significantly increased soil

erosion and damaged springs. They were subsequently

removed by National Park Service personnel (deBuys

1985: 244; Rothman, 1992: 280–281; Speakman 1965: 31).

Four exotic and naturalized bird species occur in the

study region (Table 61). Of these, the two most prominent

are the rock dove or domestic pigeon (Columbia livia) and

the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris). The starling has

increased substantially since its mid 1930s arrival in the

region. This aggressive bird consumes large quantities of

grain and is considered a pest on farms. Well adapted to

urban environments, where it displaces native species

through competition for food and nest sites, the starling

is equally disliked by city residents (Roots 1976: 132).

Another introduced and despised bird that has adapted

to urban and farm environments is the house sparrow (Passer

domesticus). It feeds on some agricultural fruit and vegetable

crops and also carries a disease that kills poultry. Introduced

on the east coast in the mid 1800s, this sparrow reached New

Mexico by the late 1800s (Roots 1976: 122–128).

A common species of game bird in the Middle Rio

Grande bosque and agricultural fields is the ring-necked

pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), introduced in the late 1800searly 1900s. Popular with hunters, the pheasant is generally not liked by farmers because of the crop damage it

can inflict. This species also competes with native quail

(Roots 1976: 163–166).

Other species, especially indigenous fish populations,

have also been adversely affected by the increasing sedimentation, as well as lowered stream flows, construction

of water control facilities, pollution, and competition with

introduced species (Table 62). From 13 to 19 non-native

fishes have been introduced in the middle reaches of the

river. These species, such as the rainbow trout, common carp,

yellow perch, and largemouth bass, have generally competed

successfully with native fishes. Some have preyed on native

fishes, and others have cross-bred with natives. This has contributed to the decline or extirpation of several indigenous

species (Sublette et al. 1990: 2, 9–11, 331; Table 62).

“Louisiana” bullfrogs were probably introduced into

the Middle Rio Grande in the early 1930s. Their population increased rapidly, and the bullfrog soon became the

most common amphibian in the valley (Hink and Ohmart

1984: 83; Pillow and DeVaney 1947: 16). A closely related

amphibian, the leopard frog, has declined sharply over

the last 4 or 5 decades, probably due primarily to predation by bullfrogs (Hink and Ohmart 1984: 83).

At least four invertebrates have been introduced into

the Middle Valley —a pillbug (Armadillidium vulgare), a

woodlouse (Procello laevis), the European honeybee (Apis

meillifera), and the common housefly (Musca domestica)

(Table 61). Although these four species may have entered

the region relatively early in the historic period, actual

dates of introduction are not known.
298 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Table 61—Introduced fauna.

Common name Scientific name Date of introduction

Mammals

Norway rat Rattus norvegicus pre–1851

House mouse Mus musculus ?

Burro Equus asinus 1598

Horse Equus caballus 1598

Oryx Oryx gazella 1969

Domestic cat Felis domesticus pre–1910

Birds

Ring–necked pheasant Phasianus colchicus late 1800s

Chukar Alectoris chukar 1931

Rock dove Columbia livia pre–1850

Starling Sturnus vulgaris 1935 or 36

House sparrow Passer domesticus pre–1900

Amphibians

Bullfrog Rana catesbeiana early 1930s

Fish

Brown trout Salmo trutta early 1900s

Rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss 1896

Eastern brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis pre–1900

Common carp Cyprinus carpio 1883

Golden shiner Notemigonus crysoleucas pre–1957

Yellow bullhead Ictalurus natalis pre–1950

Smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu pre–1957

White crappie Pomoxis annulari pre–1957

Black crappie P. nigromaculatus pre–1957

Walleye Stizostedion vitreum pre–1957

Yellow perch Perca flavescens pre–1950

Crustacean Isopods

Pillbug Armadillidium vulgare ?

Woodlouse Porcello laevis ?

Molluscs

Asian fingernail clam Corbicula sp. ?

Insects

European honeybee Apis meillifera ?

Common housefly Musca domestica pre–1950

Sources: Crawford et al. 1993; Findley 1987; Hubbard 1978; Koster 1957; Ligon 1961; Swain 1948; Sublette et al. 1990

Extirpated, Rare, Endangered,

and Threatened Fauna

Historic and current populations of the species listed

below have been extirpated by one or more human activities including habitat destruction (building, damming

streams, overgrazing, logging, mining, farming, etc.);

sport and commercial hunting, trapping, and specimen

collecting; fire suppression; construction of roads and railways; pollution of surface and shallow ground waters;

and introduction of exotic animals. Related environmental events such as soil erosion, siltation of streams and

lakes, modification of stream and spring flows, water contamination, and perhaps acid rain have and are adversely

impacting flora and fauna. Forty-five species of vertebrate

animals are listed (Table 62) as extirpated, rare, endangered, or threatened in the Middle Rio Grande Basin by

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (1991) and the New

Mexico Department of Game and Fish (1988, 1990).

SUMMARY

The ecosystems of the Middle and Upper Rio Grande

basins have been impacted and changed by human activities for more than 10,000 years. These modifications

were relatively minimal until the arrival of the Spaniards,

who brought livestock, new tools, cultigens, ditch irrigation, and another world view. They also introduced sev-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 299

Table 62—Extirpated, threatened, rare, and endangered fauna.

Endandered,

Threatened, or

Common name Scientific name Extirpated Uncommon Speciesb

Mammals

American elk Cervus elaphus X

Grizzly bear Ursus arctos X

Black bear Ursus americana X

Mountain lion Felis concolor X

Jaguar Felis onca X

Gray wolf Canis lupis X

Black–footed ferret Mustela nigripes X

Mink Mustela vison X

Bighorn sheep Ovis canadensis X

Otter Lutra canadensis X

New Mexican jumping mouse Zapus hudsoniuslatens X

Birds

Bald eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus X

Golden eagle Aquila chrysaetos X

Peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus X

Common blackhawk Buteogallus anthracinus X

Northern goshawk Accipiter gentilis X

Mexican spotted owl Strix occidentalis lucida X

Whooping crane Grus americanaa X

Rio Grande turkey Meleagris gallopavo X

Western snowy plover Charadrius alexandrinus X

Least tern Sterna antillarum X

Neotropic cormorant Phalacrocorax brasilianus X

Willow flycatcher Empidonas trailii X

Tundra swan Cygnus columbianus X

Bell’s vireo Vireo bellii X

Grey vireo Vireo vicinior X

Baird’s sparrow Ammodramus bairdii X

Fishes

Rio Grande bluntnose shiner Notropis simus X

Shovelnose sturgeon Scapirhynchus platorynchus X

Longnose gar Lepisosteus ossurs X

American eel Anguilla rostrata X

Golden shiner Notenigonus crysoleucas X

Rio Grande silvery minnow Hybognathus amarus X

Speckled chub Extrarius aestivalis X

Rio Grande shiner Notropis jemezanus X

Spotted gar Lepisosteus latirostris X

Phantom shiner Notropis orca X

Rafinesque Aplodinotus grunniens X

Blue sucker Cycleptus elongatus X

Freshwater drum Aplodinotus grunniens X

Blue catfish Ictalurus furcatus X

Gray redhorse Moxostoma congestum X

Amphibians

Jemez Mountains salamander Plethodon neomexicanus X

Leopard frog Rana pipiens X

a Reintroduced in 1970s.

Sources: Bailey 1971; Crawford et al. 1993: 140–144; Findley 1987; Hubbard 1978; Ligon 1961; Sublette et al. 1990: 216, 345–350; U.S. Fish

and Wildlife Service 1995 b Species determined to be threatened or endangered, species that have declined in the historic period, and species that have

always been uncommon.
300 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

CHRONOLOGY

1598–1630 With the construction of more irrigation systems and the introduction of livestock by the

Spanish, the demand for surface water increased significantly (Meyer 1984: 50).

1598–1680 New Mexico’s governors dominated the export

trade in furs and skins, such as those of buffalo,

antelope, elk, and deer (Weber 1971: 18–19).

1598 (post) A grass native to Eurasia, sheep fescue

(Festuca ovina), may have been introduced to

New Mexico via the fleece and droppings of

domestic sheep brought by Onate (deBuys

1985: 225).

1600s (early?) Spanish cattle, carriers of brucellosis,

probably infected bison, elk, and bighorn

sheep, resulting in a decrease of these animal

populations in the study region. Native

Americans, as well as Spaniards, were affected by this in the form of undulant fever

(Callenbach 1996: 134–135).

1600s (early) (to 1680) Pueblo residents were forced

to collect firewood, salt, and pinyon nuts in

large quantities, to prepare hides, and to

manufacture cotton blankets, causing stress

among the villagers (Snow 1981: 368).

1610 (post) According to Aldo Leopold, mountain

meadows and foothills were overgrazed by Hispanic livestock (Brown and Carmony 1995: 230).

1660 Governor Lopez de Mendizabal shipped

1,350 deer skins and a number of buffalo hides

to Parral to market. He sent two other large

shipments of skins there during his term.

Some 1,200 pronghorn skins and four bundles

of elk skins were later found at his property

in Santa Fe (Weber 1971: 20–21).

1661 Some 60 Pueblo laborers from Quarai were

conscripted by the Spanish to harvest and

transport loads of pinyon nuts. Nineteen Indians from Abo worked for 6 days carrying

maize from Tabira and Las Humanas pueblos to the house of Captain Nicolas de Aguilar

in the Salinas District. Also, some 40 Indians

of Jemez Pueblo were forced by the Spanish

to transport pinyon nuts to “depots” at Santa

Fe, Cochiti, or San Felipe (Scholes 1937: 394–

395).

1661 Pueblo Indians from Tabira collected salt at a

nearby salt marsh and transported it to the

Las Barrancas estancia of Sargento Mayor

Francisco Gomez (Scholes 1937: 401).

1661 The mission livestock were moved from Las

Humanas to Abo because the Pueblos exhausted themselves hauling water for the

stock from deep wells to the west of the village (Scholes 1937: 401).

1692 (late August) The condition of the Camino

Real was degraded following 12 years of little

or no traffic. In many places, grasses, forbs,

and shrubs had grown up in the road bed.

Vargas sent the sheep, cattle, and horses ahead

to trample the vegetation, providing a clearer

and smoother road for the wagons and settlers

in the caravan. In some places, the road was

gullied due to water runoff, and Vargas had men

ready to repair the road (Hendricks 1993: 81).

1700–1800 About 27,000 new acres were put into cultivation by the Spanish in the middle and upper Rio Grande valleys (Hedke 1925: 23).

1736 (early) Five Albuquerque farmers requested

that the alcalde allow them to move their livestock back to the Isleta area, where better

grazing conditions existed (Baxter 1987: 24).

1739 Some residents of Albuquerque, who were

experiencing scarcity of wood, insufficient

pasture for livestock, a scarcity of irrigation

water, and encroachment of footpaths on their

land, requested and received the Tome land

grant (Ellis 1955: 91; Oppenheimer 1962: 16).

1700s (mid) Intensive livestock grazing and

fuelwood cutting led to denudation and soil

erosion along Abiquiu Creek. Water from the

stream tasted and smelled like cattle manure

(McDonald 1985: 120).

1750 By this year Albuquerque and nearby communities were experiencing some pressures

of overpopulation. Suitable agricultural land

was taken, and livestock overgrazed some

pastures and outlying rangelands. By this

year, the bajada between Albuquerque and

the Sandia-Manzano mountains was virtually

eral infectious diseases that devastated Native American

populations. Anglo American conquest and occupation

began in 1846, and they, too, brought new tools, technologies, cultigens, and a view that resources, including the

land and water, are commodities to be bought and sold

for economic profit.

By the end of the 19th century, environmental problems

had become so severe and widespread that the federal

and territorial legislatures began to enact regulations related to the conservation of water, soils, grasslands, woodlands, and forests and their associated fauna. For various

reasons, effective regulation did not really occur until the

1930s, followed by a vigorous environmental movement

that generated far-reaching legislation and regulations in

the 1960s and 1970s. This evolution from a time of unregulated land and water exploitation to recent control

and management of these resources for future generations

is the focus of Chapter 6.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 301

denuded of grass by livestock. Outmigration

to “new” lands, such as the Rio Puerco-of-theEast, began (Simmons 1982: 106–107, 1988: 7).

1766 (August 12–13) Nicolas de Lafora passed the

Senecu and San Pasqual pueblo ruins and

found “plenty of pasture” in the area. From

here to the Vueltos de Acomilla, he passed

through “swampy ground with a great deal

of coarse grass and reeds,” which included

the Bosque del Apache (Kinnaird 1967: 88).

1776 (pre) (late October or early November) A trade

fair was held during this and previous years

at Abiquiu. Utes brought deerskins to trade

for horses; 15 to 20 good deerskins would get

a horse. They also brought deer or buffalo

meat, which they exchanged for corn or corn

flour. Sometimes they brought young captives

from other nomadic groups to trade with the

Spanish (Adams and Chavez 1956: 252–253).

1776 An extensive cienega was located a short distance west of Taos Pueblo. Cattle were pastured there to graze the lush plants, and some

sedge and grasses were cut as “hay” for other

livestock. This marsh vegetation was burned

each spring to foster vigorous growth of new

plants (Adams and Chavez 1956: 111).

1779 The meadows south of Cochiti Pueblo were

severely damaged by overgrazing of livestock

(Lange 1959: 37).

1770s Albuquerque residents resorted to the use of

horse manure as a fuel owing to the scarcity

of wood in the area. Threat of attacks by

Comanches or Navajos may have precluded

their venturing from the village to collect firewood (Moorhead 1958: 24; Thomas 1932: 101).

1791 Grass for livestock was scarce around Belen

(Espinosa and Chavez n.d.: 177).

1700s (late) Decimation of grasslands and fuelwood

and total appropriation of water in the Santa

Fe area caused the governor to recommend

moving the capital to the confluence of the Santa

Fe River and the Rio Grande (MacCameron

1994: 35).

1800 By this year residents of Abiquiu were traveling up to 20 miles to gather fuelwood

(McDonald 1985: 121).

1812 Wild horses, or mustangs, were reported “in

great abundance” in the province (Carroll and

Haggard 1942: 100).

1817–80s Wood cutting was a common activity of

Tijeras Canyon Hispanic settlers (Quintana

and Kayser 1980: 48).

1820–30s Overgrazing, primarily due to sheep, was a

problem in the Upper and Middle Rio Grande

Basin (Fergusson 1935: 334).

1821 Most rangelands around settlements in the

Rio Grande Basin had become overgrazed by

this year. Some livestock owners sent their

flocks to the llano east of the Pecos River

(Rebolledo 1987: 100).

1821 The ruin of the Felipe Romero house was located south of Belen and about 200 yards east

of the Rio Grande. By early 1897 the river

shifted eastward, to within 5 yards of the ruin

(Wilson 1977: 14).

1822–24 The first area to be intensively trapped was

the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains between Santa Fe and Taos (deBuys 1985: 93).

1822–26 Taos trappers virtually took all of the beaver

in the Sangre de Cristo and Jemez mountains

(Flores 1992: 8).

1824 Beaver populations in the Rio Grande and

Pecos River basins were rapidly decreasing

due to Anglo trapping (Weber 1965: 65).

1827 (February-September 1828) Two Hispanics

and two Frenchmen trapped eight tercios (240

pelts) of beaver fur on the headwaters of the

Rio Grande and the Conejos River (Weber

1971: 161).

1827 Anglo and Franco trappers virtually harvested all of the beaver in the Sangre de Cristo

Range by this date (Ungnade 1972: 48).

1820s Local farmers began to notice formation of

cienegas and esteros in the Middle Rio

Grande Valley. These resulted from the dumping of excess water from irrigation ditches

(Wozniak 1987).

1820s Trapper George Yount claimed to have seen

50 or 60 grizzly bears in a day. James Ohio

Pattie claims to have observed 220 in a single

day (Cleland 1950: 44).

1820s (late) (to early 1830s) Some “foreign” trappers

told government authorities that they had

purchased furs from Native Americans or

Hispanic residents, when in fact they had

trapped the animals. Then they sold them to

Santa Fe Trail traders, who transported them

back to Missouri (Weber 1971: 159).

1830 (late) (to spring 1831) Gervais Nolan led a

trapping expedition from Taos to an unidentified area and returned with 50 pounds of

beaver fur (Weber 1971: 183).

1831 (summer) William Sublette, a Santa Fe Trail

trader, exchanged his merchandise for 55

packs of beaver pelts (1,705) and 800 buffalo

robes, which he took back to Missouri (Weber 1971: 147).

1831 About $50,000 worth of beaver pelts and bison robes were shipped east over the Santa

Fe Trail. Some $17,500 of these were harvested
302 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

in New Mexico, amounting to 55 to 60 packs

of beaver and 200 robes (Weber 1971: 206).

1831–33 Trading and trapping by Anglos and

Hispanos resulted in the shipment of a substantial amount of beaver pelts east over the

Santa Fe Trail (Weber 1971: 206).

1832 (fall) The Charles Bent and Company returned from Santa Fe with 13,182 pounds of

beaver, representing at least 131 packs of pelts.

These were taken over the past 2 years. There

were also 355 buffalo robes included with this

shipment (Weber 1971: 206–207).

1832 About 90 packs, or about 2,790 beaver pelts,

went east over the trail from Santa Fe. About

one-third of these were trapped in New

Mexico (Weber 1971: 206–207).

1833 The city council of Santa Fe issued a proclamation with regulations requiring draining

of stagnant pools, cleaning of streets, and removal of garbage. Throwing trash or dead

animals into irrigation ditches or streams and

burning of rubbish piles were prohibited

(Simmons 1992: 224).

1836 The Rio Grande began cutting into its east

bank at the village of Parida. By 1850 the

settlement had moved some 1,000 yards eastward as the river continued to shift its channel (Hammond 1966: 25).

1836 One merchant transported 1,000 beaver skins

and 1,000 buffalo robes over the Santa Fe Trail

(Weber 1971: 219).

1836–50 The fields and vineyards at La Parida were

being destroyed by the floodwaters of the Rio

Grande. The village itself was moved about a

thousand yards east of its original location to

avoid total destruction (Hammond 1966: 25).

1837 Another Santa Fe trader carried 200 buffalo

robes and two packs of beaver pelts to Missouri (Weber 1971: 219).

1838 A band of French trappers went into the

Sangre de Cristo Mountains above Mora, but

owing to prior trapping along the streams,

they caught no beaver (deBuys 1985: 159).

1830s–40s Hispanic settlers, who were descendants of

residents of San Jose de las Huertas, came

from the Rio Grande to start a new village in

the valley but found the old fields were no

longer fertile and the creek flow had decreased (Batchen 1972: 86).

1843 Father Martinez of Taos reported that buffalo,

deer, and other game were becoming more

scarce due to increased hunting pressure, which

in part was fostered by traders on the Southern

Plains. He warned that extinction would eventually take place (Keleher 1982: 68–69).

1846 (September 2) South of Santa Fe, Emory

reached the Galisteo River, “... which, at that

time, was barely running. The bed of the creek

is sand and pebbles of the primitive rock. . . .

From this place to its mouth there is scarcely

the sign of vegetation. At the dry mouth of

the Galisteo. . .” (Calvin 1968: 62–63).

1846 (September 30) In the valley around Peralta,

Emory recorded a considerable growth of cottonwood, “among which are found some

signs of beaver” (Calvin 1968: 81).

1846 (October 3) Camped on the Rio Grande, near

La Joya de Sevilleta, Emory (Calvin 1968: 82–

83) described the river bank as “fringed with

large cottonwoods growing at intervals.”

1846 (October 7–8) Traveling down the Rio Grande,

north of the Fray Cristobal range, Emory

(Calvin 1968: 88–90) noted that the cottonwood was larger and denser and the grama

grass adjacent to the floodplain taller.

1846 (early October) Below Socorro, Captain

Turner noted that trees were much more

abundant than upriver, and the grass remained good (Clarke 1966: 80–81).

1846 (fall) The U.S. military could find no cattle

feed within 50 miles of Santa Fe. This was

partly due to recent fires set by Indians (Frazer

1983: 11; Sunseri 1979: 75).

1846 (November-December) The large number of

U.S. troops and Santa Fe Trail traders camped

at Valverde almost exhausted the fuelwood,

grass, and game in the area (Moorhead 1958:

167–168).

1849 (August 16) Colonel John M. Washington’s

troops found “good grass and water” and

“sufficient fuel” at Agua Fria on the Santa Fe

River (McNitt 1964: 7).

1849 Rangelands around Santa Fe, perhaps for up

to 20 miles, had been denuded of grass by

livestock of wagon trains. At nearby Galisteo,

erosion, which began at this time, had cut

deep arroyos, and the Galisteo Creek had

eroded to a depth of 12 feet. The channel is

about 200 feet wide; in 1849 a plank spanned

the creek (deBuys 1985: 216–217).

1849–1931 Erosion, due in part to overgrazing, caused

Galisteo Creek to cut a vertical-walled arroyo

from 15 to 25 feet deep and from 50 to 200 feet

wide (Cooperrider and Hendricks 1937: 16).

1851–52 The Territorial Legislature declared that the

acequia alignments in use at the time should

not be disturbed and should remain public,

and their use for irrigation should take precedence over all other uses, such as grist mills

(Wozniak 1987).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 303

1852 (ca.) The El Tajo ditch was constructed to “relieve the high water overflows at Albuquerque.” The de los Padillas acequia, on the other

side of the river, was primarily used for flood

control (Wozniak 1987).

1857 Santa Fe was described as “pleasantly situated on an extensive plateau” and produced

“good crops of wheat, corn, beans, red pepper, and many of the vegetables ...” and

“apples and the smaller fruits. . . .” The area

around, “for miles,” was destitute of trees.

The “large growth” was reportedly “cut away,

at an early date in the history of the place, for

fuel and for better security against hostile Indians . . .” but “stunted cedars are very common.” Pinyon was “the almost sole supply of

fire-wood,” which was “brought for miles on

the backs of donkeys and sold by the load, in

the plaza, at from twenty-five cents to one dollar. . . .” The “river-water is very extensively

used for drinking purposes, and is excellent.”

Potable water was found by digging wells 10

to 40 feet deep (U.S. Surgeon-General’s Office

1857).

1850s Santa Fe experienced critical water shortages,

and a search for a new source was initiated.

A dam was constructed at the headwaters of

the Santa Fe River in 1866, but the resulting

reservoir did not supply all of the needed

water (Clark 1987: 33).

1862 (March 1) Confederate officer A.B. Peticolas

(Alberts 1993: 56) noted that wood for fires

was scarce in camp near Polvadera.

1862 (March 5) In the Padillas area there was a road

on the floodplain along the west side of the

Rio Grande; this road was “very sandy.” Paralleling this one was an upland road, located

along the edge of the floodplain. This was “a

much better road for wagons” (Alberts 1993: 59).

1862 (April 14) The road, wrote Sergeant Peticolas,

from the South Valley to Los Lunas, along the

west side of the Rio Grande, was “very heavy

with sand,” and “the wagons could not travel

very fast” (Alberts 1993: 102).

1862 (spring) The cottonwood bosque in the Peralta

area provided protection for the Confederate

troops being assaulted by Union forces (Cook

1993: 6).

1865–98 Owing to “ruthless destruction of free grass

on public lands,” grazing capacity of Southwestern rangelands was severely reduced. In

the study region, some rangelands that supported one head of livestock on 2 to 5 acres in

the early years of this period could only carry

one head on 60 acres (Smith 1899: 9).

1866 (July 26) The first legislation affecting mineral lands, the Mining Act, was passed by

Congress. This act declared that surveyed and

unsurveyed public lands were to be open for

exploration and the establishment of lode

mines by all U.S. citizens or those intending

to become citizens (Westphall 1965: 96).

1867 (April 3) Bell (1965: 241–242), traveling below

Albuquerque, observed “The greater part of

the valley is here almost entirely destitute of

trees. This may be partly accounted for by the

fact that the banks of the river are of a sandy,

friable nature, and that the bed of the stream

is always changing its position, sometimes to

one, sometimes to the other; thus destroying

fields of corn, irrigating canals, and villages. . . .”

1860s An estimated 18,000 acres of new irrigated

land was developed in the Middle Valley

(Wozniak 1987).

1860s–1912 The river bed at San Marcial aggraded between 12 and 14 feet due to the reduction of

the Rio Grande’s historic flow, which had previously scoured out the stream channel (Clark

1987: 205).

1870 By this year, silt and sand from arroyo runoff

were adversely impacting irrigable lands on

the end of the Galvan-Sanchez-Sandoval

grant near San Ysidro. Some members of these

families were forced to move due to the loss

of these arable lands. The silt deposits probably resulted from intensive grazing of sheep

and goats and resulting erosion on surrounding uplands (Swadesh 1978: 46–47).

1870–1900 Heavy overstocking of rangelands occurred

and peaked in 1900; “only 2 grazable acres

were available per animal-unit month” during that year (Dortignac 1956: 60).

1872 A traveler described the mesa above San

Felipe Pueblo as “treeless” and grassless”

(Beadle 1973: 486).

1874 (mid July) A flash flood along the Galisteo

arroyo washed away a buckboard, mule, and

driver. A road bridge in the area also was

damaged (Carter 1953: 10).

1874–75 Severe arroyo cutting had begun by these

years as a result of overgrazing and droughts

(Harris et al. 1967: 11).

1874–98 Prairie dog and jack rabbit populations generally increased on regional rangelands due

in part to the widespread killing of wolves

and coyotes by ranchers, homesteaders, and

government trappers. As rangelands were

overgrazed, prairie dog and rabbit populations were forced to move onto previously
304 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

unoccupied areas and compete with livestock

for the grass there. Less desirable range

plants, such as cactus and thorny shrubs,

spread due to the overgrazing and drought

(Smith 1899: 14–15).

1875 (March 3) The Right of Way Act provided for

a 200-foot right-of-way for railroads and 20

acres for station grounds every 10 miles across

public domain (Westphall 1965: 93–94).

1875 (September 10) The American Forestry Association was organized to publicly promote forestry and “timber culture” (Roberts 1963: 2).

1875–85 Siltation in the Middle Rio Grande Valley

peaked (Hedke 1925: 28).

1878 J.W. Powell published a report in which he

proposed a systematic classification of lands

based on their potential “best use,” for example, irrigation, timber, pasture, minerals.

He also proposed grazing districts with

boundaries drawn along contour lines

(Barnes 1926: 35).

1879 (summer) The Rio Grande ceased flowing

from Albuquerque to El Paso due to diversion from the river by farmers in southern

Colorado (Miller 1989: 69).

1879 There were about 11 million board-feet of

commercial lumber produced in the territory

(Baker et al. 1988: 18).

1879–91 Some 24,550 acres were taken by railroads

from the public domain in the territory. By

1891, 622,684 acres of public domain were

granted to individuals under the land laws

(Westphall 1965: 93–95).

1870s As El Paso’s population increased significantly, using more and more water, the level

of the Rio Grande began to fall. The major

cause, discovered later, however, was the diversion of the river’s waters by numerous

new settlers in southern Colorado, who had

been lured to the area by the Denver and Rio

Grande Railroad (Sonnichsen 1968: 382).

1880 (pre) The flow of the Rio Grande was sufficient to scour sediment from its channel. After this year, the streambed began to aggrade

due to continued decreasing flow and increasing silt load (Harper et al. 1943: 49).

1880 By this date, the flow of the Rio Grande had

been so reduced by upstream use that irrigation systems and hundreds of acres in the

Mesilla Valley-Las Cruces area were abandoned (Wozniak 1987).

1880 The bed of the Rio Grande began to aggrade,

and subsequently the riverbed was 2–3 feet

above the level of San Marcial (Calkins 1937:

9–10).

1880 The flow of the Santa Fe River had become

insufficient for the needs of Santa Fe residents.

Reservoirs had to be constructed and wells

drilled in this century to meet community

needs (Thomas et al. 1963: D–10).

1880 There were about 124,800 acres of land under

irrigation in the Middle Rio Grande Valley (National Resources Committee 1938, pt. VI: 71).

1880–1925 This has been termed the period of “spoilation.” “The grazing lands were stocked far

beyond their capacity” (Roberts 1963: 7–8).

Farming, mining, and other land uses also

resulted in deterioration of land, which

caused some settlements to be abandoned in

the Middle Rio Grande Basin. The carrying

capacity of rangelands decreased by 50 to 75

percent during this period (Kelly 1955: 308).

Gullying was severe due to “an increase in

intensity of summer storms and exceptionally

heavy grazing by stock” (Leopold 1994: 17).

The streambed of the Middle Rio Grande aggraded to the level that “raised high water

flood flow at some places ten feet.” Increasing volumes of silt were due to decreasing flows

of the Rio Grande and overgrazing and subsequent erosion in the Upper and Middle River

basins (Hedke 1925: 11, 23).

1880–1900 Lateral arroyos to the Rio Grande carried

large quantities of silt into the acequia madre

at San Pedro. An elevated canal siphon was

constructed to preclude this problem

(Marshall and Walt 1984: 284).

1880–1942 Overgrazing of the upper Rio Puerco watershed, coupled with droughts and periods of

intense rains, caused increases in flood frequency and intensity. The river began to degrade, irrigation diversion dams were destroyed, and the water table dropped. Agriculture and livestock raising declined (Harper

et al. 1943: 52).

1880–1955 Rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus sp.), pingue

(Hymenoxys richardsonii), and snakeweed

(Gutierrezia sarothrae) increased markedly due

to “heavy grazing pressure” and “deteriorated range conditions” (Dortignac 1956: 66).

1880 (ca. to 1928) The channel of the Rio Puerco

changed from a depth of 8 to 40 feet at Cabezon

during this period (Bryan 1928a: 274).

1880 (post) Extensive clear-cutting on the Rio

Chama drainage, primarily on private lands,

removed the ponderosa pine forest (Harper

et al. 1943: 55).

1881 The Rio Puerco channel, south of the Santa

Fe rail line, began deepening and shifting

(Bryan 1928a: 277).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 305

1881 The railroad extended rail construction across

the Zuni reservation, and contract lumbermen

built logging roads and cut “tens of millions

of board-feet of lumber” on the Zuni River

watershed (Hart 1991: II/3).

1882 A. Bandelier recorded the exotic Ailanthus, or

tree-of-heaven, growing at the plaza of Ojos

Calientes, 3 miles from Socorro (Lange and

Riley 1966: 318).

1882–94 The Rio Puerco channel south of the Santa Fe

Railroad continued to deepen, causing some

area farming settlements to be abandoned

(Bryan 1928a: 279).

1883 Texas cattleman W.C. Bishop concentrated his

3,000 cattle in Pajarito and Water canyons,

which had perennial springs, on the Pajarito

Plateau (Rothman 1992: 29).

1884 (April) The Central New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association was organized in Albuquerque (Hagy 1951: 11).

1884 (July 1) The main river channel at the Albuquerque bridge shifted some 500 feet to the

west due to the flood flow (Carter 1953: 20).

1884 When the Rio Grande shifted its course west

between Los Lentes and Los Lunas, the river

cut the acequia madre and left it on the east

side of the river. Three other ditches “moved”

from west of the river to the east side in the

area (Wozniak 1987).

1884 (post) Following the 1884 flood, public officials in New Mexico, for the first time, began

to discuss seeking financial aid from Congress

for the construction of levees along the Rio

Grande (Carter 1953: 25).

1885 Congress passed a law forbidding ranchers

to control public domain by “fencing and

posting,” but the practice continued until the

Taylor Grazing Act passed 49 years later

(Hagy 1951: 75–76).

1885–90 Owing to deep entrenchment, the Rio Puerco

could no longer overbank flood in the

Cabezon area. Wells in the area began to go

dry also (Bryan 1928a: 274).

1885–1963 An estimated 600,000 to 800,000 acre-feet of

sediment washed into the Rio Grande from

the Rio Puerco basin (Dortignac 1963: 507).

1886 Dr. George Vasey of the U.S. Department of

Agriculture, Division of Botany, Washington,

D.C., attributed the enormous loss of cattle

in the Southwest over the previous 3 years to

overstocking of the ranges and adverse

weather (Smith 1899: 5).

1887 (pre) Residents of Los Ranchos lost their

acequia due to a “rise of the river.” One individual, Guadalupe Gutierrez, stated that the

high water table and wetlands had been

caused by “surplus water from the acequias”

(Wozniak 1987).

1887 The deepening channel of the Rio Puerco, 34

miles above its mouth, reached Los Cerros,

causing abandonment of the village (Bryan

1928a: 279).

1887 The Rio Puerco channel at Guadalupe was

about 3 feet deep and 30 feet wide (Bryan

1928a: 274–275).

1888 Recent droughts and blizzards caused the U.S.

Congress to authorize surveys for irrigable

lands and reservoir sites in the West by the

U.S. Geological Survey (Wozniak 1987).

1888–1913 The channel of the Arroyo Hondo was “shifting” near the gauging station. The Rio Grande

channel at the gauging station near Buckman

was shifting as a result of “scour and fill of

sand on lava boulders.” The Rio Grande channel at the San Marcial gauging station was

“sandy and very shifting” (Follansbee and

Dean 1915: 120, 141, 435).

1889 The Territorial Legislature passed an act “limiting stock on public ranges to the number for

which the user could furnish sufficient permanent water” (Clark 1987: 149).

1889 The Territorial Legislature established a Cattle

Sanitary Board to work to prevent disease and

to inspect animals (Hagy 1951: 95).

1880s Owing to overgrazing and logging in the Zuni

Mountains, the upper Zuni watershed began

to seriously erode (Hart 1991: II/3).

1890 By this year the pueblo of Santa Ana was unoccupied in the spring and summer owing to

nonproductive lands along the Jemez River.

Only one cottonwood tree was growing along

the river in the area. Surrounding grazing

lands had been abused and were virtually

covered by wind-blown, shifting sands

(White 1942: 29).

1890–91 On the east side of the river below Bernalillo

and Belen, once productive fields were “alkali flats” caused by a “lack of drainage”

(Powell 1891: 270).

1890–91 J.W. Powell (1891: 271) reported “From Albuquerque to San Marcial drainage of the lower

of the Rio Grande Valley is exceedingly poor.

Many ponds, some of them 8 or 10 acres in

extent, are full of water during the early part

of the year, and others show by the alkali coating on their sides and bottoms that the water

has but recently left them.” Low-lying ditches

in the Tome-Los Lunas area were subject to

“frequent overflow” and “being washed out

or being filled with silt.” According to Powell
306 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

(1891: 272), a number of houses in the lowlying areas of the valley south of Los Lunas

“have fallen in by the sinking of the foundations. A large part of the valley ... is overgrown

with cottonwood thickets or bosques, as they

are called.”

1890–1900 The deepening Rio Puerco channel became a

serious problem for irrigation farmers in the

Cabezon area (Bryan 1928a: 274).

1890–1904 In areas of rugged terrain, homesteaders

herded goats, which resulted in the overgrazing of the steepest slopes (Brown 1985: 98).

1890–1940s During this period, the rangelands of the upper and middle Rio Puerco-of-the-East were

overstocked, causing a degradation of plant

cover. Russian thistle, snakeweed, and cacti

populations (Opuntia spp.), plants of little or

no grazing value, spread and sharply increased. The carrying capacity of these grasslands decreased. Sheet erosion and gullying

followed (Widdison 1959: 272–273).

1892 (January) The Pecos River Forest Reserve was

established by Presidential Proclamation

(Tucker and Fitzpatrick 1972: 2).

1892–1906 Establishment of U.S. Forest Reserves (later

designated National Forests) in northern New

Mexico “had a tremendous effect upon the

[Spanish] villages, some of which found

themselves eventually completely surrounded by federalized lands.... Large numbers of Hispanos had to reorganize many aspects of their former economy and the way

of life dependent upon that economy”

(Gonzalez 1969: 122).

1893 By this year the exotic cheat grass had spread

across much of the study region (Frome 1962:

253).

1894 (October) The first confirmed report of Russian thistle in New Mexico was made (Wooton

1895: 3).

1894–96 San Francisco and San Ignacio on the

Montano grant in the Rio Puerco basin were

abandoned (Bryan 1928a: 276).

1895 By this year virtually every acre of available

grassland in the region was stocked with sheep

or cattle. Rangelands that should have been

stocked with one cow on every 40 acres were

stocked with four animals (Barnes 1926: 7).

1896 (December 5) Because of dwindling irrigation

water, the Secretary of the Interior placed an embargo on irrigation development in the Rio Grande

Valley above El Paso (Wozniak 1987).

1896 There were about 105,000 acres of irrigated

acreage in tributary drainages of the Rio

Grande (Dortignac 1956: 30).

1896 (to mid 1930s) Trails, roadways, and irrigation ditches along the Rio Puerco drainage in

the Cuba area “were converted into arroyos

by runoff from surrounding slopes no longer

protected by their plant cover” (Cooperrider

and Hendricks 1937: 17).

1897 Grazing permits for horses on federal forest

reserves were first issued (Eastman and Gray

1987: 36).

1897 The Santa Rosa de Cubero acequia, located

between San Felipe and Santo Domingo pueblos, had disappeared due to a change in the

course of the Rio Grande (Wozniak 1987).

1897–1909 Issues related to grazing regulation, grazing

fees, and vegetation management for watersheds by the U.S. Forest Service were debated

by Gifford Pinchot and the Secretary of Interior, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, western

stock growers, and some congressmen (Clark

1987: 141).

1899 A surveyor described a “new channel” of the

Rio Puerco at Cabezon that was 198 feet wide.

Seven years later the channel at the same location was 244 feet wide and 20 feet deep.

These changes were attributed in part to land

use activities by residents of the area (Bryan

1928a: 271–273).

1890s– Large-scale, timber-cutting operations on the

1920s upper Chama River drainage resulted in excessive flooding and associated severe erosion

(Cooperrider and Hendricks 1937: 77).

1800s (late) (to 1906) Some 210 sections of woodland, primarily ponderosa pine, were clearcut by commercial loggers (Phillipps 1907: 16–

17).

1800s (late) (to early 1900s) “There was a drastic deterioration of ranges late in the last century

and continuing into this century. . . . Some of

the changes are undesirable and appear to be

irreversible (e.g. in the arid Southwest where

topsoil has been removed and grassland replaced by creosote bush . . .) . . . and other

undesirable changes have unknown degrees

of permanency (e.g. many alien species that

are now established on certain rangelands)”

(Branson 1985: 67).

1900 Extensive use of cottonwoods for fuel, construction, and livestock feed in the Middle Rio

Grande Valley had subsided by this year

(Dick-Peddie 1993: 151).

1900 The decrease in rangeland productivity in the

Upper and Middle basins due to overstocking and overgrazing over the previous 4 decades began. The number of head of livestock

continued to increase to a high of 177,000 ani-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 307

mals in 1930. By 1935 the total had dropped

to 54,000, but another increase began after the

1930s drought (Dortignac 1956: 59–60).

1900 Resident farmers were moving from Cabezon

because they could no longer irrigate successfully from the deepening Rio Puerco (Bryan

1928a: 274).

1900 (post) The development of new canning processes and the introduction of refrigerator cars

contributed significantly to a sharp increase

in the large-scale production of vegetables

and fruits (McWilliams 1961: 176).

1900–10 Continued overgrazing and logging on the

Zuni River watershed accelerated soil erosion

(Hart 1991: II/3).

1900–16 Non-Pueblo grazing and road building, as

well as overgrazing and timber cutting on

adjacent lands, damaged Santa Ana lands

(Bayer et al. 1994: 183–185).

1900–26 Construction of railroads, bridges, and dikes

and levees prevented the Middle Rio Grande

channel from shifting (Rodey and Burkholder

1927: 15).

1900–34 As grazing regulations went into effect on

national forest lands, many livestock raisers

moved their herds onto the unregulated lower

public domain, thereby increasing the grazing pressure (Box ca. 1978: 18).

1900–35 The total number of cattle in the Rio Grande

watershed decreased by 60 percent, primarily

due to depletion of range vegetation (Widdison 1959: 265–266).

1900–39 Spanish Americans lost about 70 percent of

the land that they owned as private or community grants (Eastman and Gray 1987: 96).

1900–45 Alameda stock raisers were grazing their

herds, primarily sheep, on common lands

across the Rio Grande, west of the community, and on the east side of the railroad tracks

(Gerow 1992: 49).

1900–50 The ponderosa forests on the east side of the

Sandia Mountains disappeared due to logging and fire suppression (Baisan 1994: 2).

1900 (ca.) By this year, rapid deterioration of the

physical environment in the upper Rio Puercoof-the-East began. “The excessive numbers of

stock which had been on the ranges, and which

still continued to increase, had already sealed

the doom of the area by destroying the ground

cover on the dark, easily eroded soil.... The clear

waters muddied; the Puerco and its tributaries

began to cut into the ground. The river channel

which had formerly carried water to the surrounding lands now began to drain them.

Springs became wells. Settlements were abandoned, or moved to less damaged areas” (Maes

and Fisher 1937: 16–17, 23).

1900 (ca.) Fire suppression began about this time,

resulting in an increased proportion of Engelmann spruce and corkbark fir in the subalpine, coniferous forest zone, 9,500 to 12,000

feet elevation (Dick-Peddie 1993: 51, 56).

1900 (ca.) By this year the Pueblos had become economically dependent on the Anglo system,

due in part to “alienation of land ... and the

decreasing fertility of the increasingly smaller

plots of land on which the Pueblos depended

for a livelihood” (Dozier 1983: 9).

1900 (post) Pinyon-juniper woodlands spread, at

lower elevation ecotone margins, onto grasslands during this century as a result of suppression of fires, livestock grazing, and other

factors (Dick-Peddie 1993: 91–92).

1901 (September) Irrigation superintendent John B.

Harper wrote that New Mexico’s “desirable

public land” was nearly all taken, but the “demand for agricultural land” was increasing

(Bayer et al. 1994: 203, 353).

1902 Grazing permits for sheep on federal forest

reserves were first issued (Eastman and Gray

1987: 36).

1903 By this year Russian olive had been introduced at Mesilla Park (Freehling 1982: 10).

1903 President T. Roosevelt created a commission

to study the laws regulating settlement and

grazing of public domain lands, with the view

of their long-time conservation. This body

concluded that most of the public domain was

unsuitable for farming, and lack of government regulation and poor private stewardship had resulted in widespread degradation

of rangelands due to overgrazing (Barnes

1926: 37–38).

1903 (and 1905, 1909) The Territorial Legislature

passed acts authorizing counties to levy taxes

to be used for paying bounty claims on predatory animals (Hagy 1951: 91).

1904 (pre) There was no bosque at Corrales except

at one location (Eisenstadt 1980: 13).

1904–06 The Rio Grande carried an estimated, annual

sediment load of 14,580 acre-feet. The USGS

observed “The deposition of sand and silt in

the erosion basins causes frequent changes in

the course of the river, so that bayous, sloughs,

and oxbow lakes are common in the bottom

lands” (Lee 1907: 24).

1905–06 The number of grazing permits for national

forests in New Mexico was 878 for 53,454

cattle and horses and 234 for 312,035 sheep

and goats (Rowley 1985: 78).
308 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1905–08 The freight road between Albuquerque and

Cabezon traversed sand hills, clay soils, deep

arroyos, and quicksands at fords. Some

wagon ruts, especially on steeper grades,

eroded into arroyos (Schmedding 1974: 78–

79, 88–90).

1905–11 The U.S. Forest Service worked to organize a

grazing program that would improve the

value and use of the range (Roberts 1963: 115).

1905–35 Range forage on public and private lands

declined dramatically due to intensive grazing. Some 84 percent of the public domain

lands were “severely” or “extremely” depleted. Forest service ranges were overstocked by an estimated 43 percent in 1935

(Frederick and Sedjo 1991: 143–144).

1906 (June 11) The Forest Homestead Act opened

national forest lands for agricultural settlement; after a residency period, settlers could

receive free title to 160 acres (Rowley 1985:

81–82).

1906 “Cattle barons” were opposed to statehood

because free grazing on the public domain

would end, and they would be forced to make

rental payments to the state fund. “Lumber

barons” were opposed because large timber

holdings were assessed at less than 10 percent of their value (Larson 1968: 243).

1906 A moderate earthquake caused severe damage to Socorro and the surrounding area

(Northrop 1980: 85). The church of San Antonio de Aquinas was destroyed in an earthquake (Marshall and Walt 1984: 303).

1906 The Rio Puerco channel at San Luis was 20

feet deep (Tuan 1966: 589).

1907 Forest Service Director Gifford Pinchot stated

“The connection between forest and river is

like that between father and son. No forests,

no rivers” (Clark 1987: 141).

1907–10 Snakeweed, Gutierrezia spp., had invaded the

grasslands of the mesa and foothill zones

(Watson 1912: 202).

1908 Most of the timberland in the Manzano National

Forest had been cut for railroad ties and other

construction materials (Baker et al. 1988: 78).

1909 The Forest Service allowed Native Americans

to graze their livestock for free where animal

numbers were low and meat and hides were

consumed by the Indians (Rowley 1985: 86).

1909–11 Elliot Barker (1976: 10–11, 14) observed that

sheep had damaged “high elevation slopes”

in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. This impact apparently occurred because of “close

herding and trailing” and repeated bedding

of the sheep at the same location.

1909–11 Botanist J.R. Watson (1912: 202), following his

study of plant communities, wrote the following about the adjacent uplands of the Rio

Grande: “This was undoubtedly originally a

grassland, and is so yet where it has not been

too seriously over-grazed. . . . Now thanks to

lack of scientific control of grazing, it has been

invaded by the composite Gutierrezia . . . as to

merit being called a Gutierrezia formation.”

1909–17 The successful trapping and hunting of predators on national forest lands led to an increase

in prairie dog and other rodent populations.

Livestock raisers complained that these animals were competing with their stock for

grass and causing injury through their digging of burrows (Rowley 1985: 77).

1909–26 The riverbed at San Marcial aggraded about

12 feet. The rising riverbed caused a widening of the Rio Grande channel and encroachment on farmland from Belen south (Rodey

and Burkholder 1927: 15).

1910 (pre) Farming was abandoned at La Ventana

due to erosion, a deepening Puerco channel,

and droughts (Widdison 1959: 282).

1910 (pre) Waterlogging, silting, and decreasing

Rio Grande water flow caused a drop in irrigated acreage to 60,000, or a 57 percent decline (Dortignac 1956: 30).

1910 Many stockmen believed that grazing permits

were a property right, subject to sale or transfer. The Forest Service held the position that

they were “a personal privilege obtained from

the Secretary of Agriculture, and only the secretary retained the right to grant, withhold,

or revoke the permit at his discretion”

(Rowley 1985: 89–90).

1910 Salt cedar was reported growing at Mesilla

Park (Scurlock 1988a: 138).

1910–11 Young Juniperus monosperma plants were

spreading into the lower grasslands of the

Estancia Valley (Watson 1912: 206).

1910–12 Under legislative acts to prevent individuals

or private companies from gaining exclusive

use of extensive public lands or waters, the

General Land Office withdrew such tracts and

sources (Clark 1987: 145).

1910–18 Fifty-five new irrigation ditches went into

operation in the Middle Rio Grande Valley

(Hedke 1925: 22).

1910 (ca.) The waters of the Rio Grande commonly

disappeared into its sandy bottom a short distance above Bernalillo (Harrington 1916: 101).

1911–12 Salt Cedar, or tamarisk, trees were being

planted in Albuquerque as an ornamental.

The species subsequently spread through the
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 309

Middle Rio Grande Valley (Scurlock 1988a:

136, 138).

1911 (post) Personnel from the State Engineer’s

Office constructed a levee to protect San

Marcial from floods (Calkins 1937: 7–8).

1912 A soil survey in 1912 indicated that the water

table in the Middle Rio Grande Valley stood

at 6 inches to 6 feet, with an average of 23

inches. This waterlogging was due in part to

long-term irrigation and a rising water table

(Clark 1987: 205).

1912 Upon admission to the union, Congress gave

all Sections 2, 16, 32, and 36 of the public domain to New Mexico for the aid and support

of public schools. Other public lands were

received by the state as well (Barnes 1926: 46).

1912–20s Access to common grazing lands previously

used by La Tierra Amarilla land grantees was

cut off as fencing by the Carson National Forest was initiated. The numbers of animals

were reduced by implementation of permits

and fees as well. This action was taken to help

restore the overgrazed, eroding forest lands

(Wilson and Kammer 1989: 53).

1913 Hewett et al. (1913: 20) wrote “The Rio Grande

and many smaller streams show evidence of

volume formerly much greater than at

present.”

1913 Vernon Bailey (1913: 74) described New

Mexico’s rangelands: “Many of the arid valleys in New Mexico have been for years so

overstocked that the best grasses have been

killed out and parts of the range rendered almost worthless. Some of the valleys show

mile after mile of ground almost bare or overgrown with worthless vegetation that stock

does not eat. Around most of the watering

places the grass is killed for a long distance,

often from 1 to 3 miles, the ground is

trampled, and baked, and the little rain that

falls runs down the trails and is wasted.”

1913 The Rio Puerco channel at La Ventana was 15

feet deep (Dortignac 1962: 588).

1913 A USGS report pointed out the need to consider water in the disposal of the remaining

public lands that it and must be appropriately

managed (Clark 1987: 144).

1913–14 The Forest Service advertised 117 million

board-feet to be harvested in the Carson National Forest, near La Madera, Rio Vallecitos,

and in the higher Valle Grande area. A new

sawmill was put into operation at La Madera,

which had a capacity of 60,000 board-feet per

day (Gjevre 1975: 37).

1914 (pre) The Santa Fe Railroad operated an average of 15 locomotives to pull its transcontinental trains. Each engine had a tender that

held 7,500 to 10,000 gallons of water (Worley

1965: 37–38).

1914 William T. Hornaday, big-game hunter and

director of the New York Zoological Park,

wrote “Wherever found, the proper course

with a wild gray wolf is to kill it as quickly as

possible” (Brown and Carmony 1995: 228).

1914 Russian olive had been planted as an ornamental in various parts of the state, but none

were reported in native riparian plant communities (Freehling 1982: 10).

1914 A firm purchased logging rights to 117 million board-feet of timber in the Carson National Forest. Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir

were the two principal species harvested and

sent to the company’s sawmill at La Madera

(Chappell 1971: 129–130).

1914 (late) (to April 1915) The New Mexico Cattle

Growers’ Association voted to pay a bounty

of $25 for each hide of adult wolf or mountain lion taken on the ranges of its members.

The organization also passed a resolution requesting Congress to provide funds to exterminate predators on public lands (Hagy 1951:

91).

1914–25 More than 200 rail car loads of apples were

shipped annually from the Espanola area

(Gjevre 1975: 18).

1914–26 The Rio Grande riverbed at San Marcial aggraded at an average rate of 0.08 feet per year

(Dobson 1937: 2).

1915 Some 108 short-term grazing leases to nonIndians on 509 Jicarilla allotments at the

southern part of the reservation were generally overgrazed (Tiller 1992: 112).

1915 The demand for beef and mutton increased

sharply with the start of World War I, and

grazing restrictions on the national forest reserves were relaxed (Brown 1985: 129–130).

1915 The Agriculture Appropriations Act, passed

by Congress, provided for the establishment

of summer homes, recreation sites, and campgrounds (Brown 1985: 130).

1915 (August) (to September 1916) The New

Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association paid

bounties totalling $2,190.00 for 31 wolves, 47

mountain lions, 19 wolf pups, and 5 mountain lion kittens (Mortensen 1983: 71).

1915–16 The village of Paraje was condemned because

of the construction of Elephant Butte Dam and

was subsequently inundated by the reservoir

(Marshall and Walt 1984: 279).

1916 (May 12) Construction on the Elephant Butte
310 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Dam was completed, creating a reservoir 40

miles long and covering some 40,000 acres of

land with 2,638,860 acre-feet of water (Clark

1987: 195; Workers of the Writers’ Program

1940: 21).

1916 Congress passed the National Park Act, leading to the creation of the National Park Service (Udall 1963: 153).

1916 (late) (to 1917) The New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association lobbied the state and national

legislatures to fund the taking of predators

by the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey operations in the state (Mortensen 1983: 71).

1916 The Enlarged Homestead Act provided for

livestock driveways of not over one-fourth

mile in width across public land (Hagy 1951:

78–79).

1916 The Stock-raising Homestead Act was passed

by Congress; one of its provisions allowed for

the substitution of range improvements and

well drilling for cultivation; native grasses

and topsoil would thus be protected, and

small livestock growers would be protected

from displacement (Clark 1987: 147). It also

provided for a free section of grazing land

when filed on (Oakes 1983: 27).

1916 With completion of the Elephant Butte Dam

eels (Anguilla rostrata) could no longer return

to the Upper Rio Grande (Koster 1957: 79).

1916 Owing to protests by cattlemen, the Forest

Service raised grazing fees by 25 percent,

rather than by 100 percent as the agency had

proposed (Hagy 1951: 62).

1916–17 Ashley Pond founded a sportsmen’s club that

included a game preserve and hunting and

camping areas at the north end of the Ramon

Vigil land grant. The water source for this

endeavor, a spring in Pajarito Canyon, dried

up, and Pond abandoned the preserve

(Ebright 1994: 244–245).

1916–18 When the United States joined the Allies in

World War I, the Forest Service increased the

number of permitted livestock on national

forest lands. Conditions caused by previous

overgrazing and logging worsened (deBuys

1985: 231).

1916–19 The U.S. Forest Service issued livestock grazing permits for the sacred Blue Lake area to

non-Indians (Sando 1989: 83).

1916–23 The density of black grama grass on New

Mexico ranges decreased during this dry period (Gatewood et al. 1964: B43).

1916–24 When available, pinyon nuts were shipped

by rail from the Taos junction area. The average annual shipment was 10 carloads except

for 1921, when there were 17 carloads (Gjevre

1975: 19).

1916–27 The riverbed at San Marcial aggraded about

12 feet (Rodey and Burkholder 1927: 15).

1916–20s The dense growth of tamarisk and other riparian vegetation increased the volume of silt

deposition in Elephant Butte Reservoir

(Calkins 1937: 10).

1916–47 The original capacity of 2.63 million acre-feet

of Elephant Butte Reservoir was reduced 17

percent to 2.2 million acre-feet by deposition

of sediments (Dortignac 1956: 40).

1917 The average depth of ground water on the

floodplain of the Rio Grande in Socorro

County was 2.37 feet (Bloodgood 1930: 52).

1917 Congress increased grazing fees on public

lands, and politicians, ranchers, and others

protested vigorously (Clark 1987: 146).

1917 The Forest Service increased grazing fees by

25 percent (Hagy 1951: 62).

1917 The Bureau of Biological Survey received

$25,000 funding to control predatory animals

and rodents in New Mexico. This amount was

matched by the State (Hagy 1951: 93).

1917 (to April 1918) A number of New Mexico

ranchers moved their cattle out of state because of the drought (Hagy 1951: 29).

1917–18 Maximum numbers of livestock were reached

in New Mexico owing to the increased demand for food and wool during World War I

(Donart 1984: 1240).

1917–18 Trespass livestock were common on Forest

Service lands, which contributed to overgrazing (Roberts 1963: 120–121).

1917–18 The Sherwin-Williams Paint Company financed mining of lead and zinc in the

Magdalena Mountains (Fergusson 1951: 307).

1917–22 About 845,930 acre-feet of water was consumed or lost in the Middle Rio Grande Valley through irrigation diversion, seepage,

evaporation, and to swamps and ponds

(Bloodgood 1930: 58).

1918 (fall) Spanish influenza struck New Mexico;

there were 15,255 cases reported in the state

and some 1,055 resulting deaths (Melzer 1982:

225).

1918 The width of the Rio Grande “flood channel”

varied from 300 to 4,000 feet. The riverbed was

aggrading at a high rate (Sullivan 1924: 6).

1918 Some 47,007 acres of farmland were being irrigated in the Middle Rio Grande Valley

(Hedke 1925: 20).

1918 Aldo Leopold declared in a published paper

that game management was as much a function of the Forest Service as were timber and
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 311

range management (Brown and Carmony

1995: 85).

1918–45 Hundreds of burros that had been used by

the military in World War I were released on

rangeland west of Alameda, where they

grazed until the population disappeared by

the end of World War II (Gerow 1992: 49).

1918–93 Wetlands—salt grass meadows, marshes, and

ponds—were reduced from 52,000 acres to

about 3,700 acres, a 93 percent reduction

(Crawford et al. 1993: 206).

1919 There were 48,795 acres of cultivated land,

51,977 acres of alkali and salt grass, 6,517 acres

of “swamp,” and 37,594 acres of bosque

(Bloodgood 1930: 5).

1919–25 Sixty new irrigation ditches went into operation in the Middle Rio Grande Valley (Hedke

1925: 22).

1920 (pre) The last mink in the Los Lunas area were

reported. This species historically occurred as

far south as Elephant Butte (Hink and Ohmart

1984, pt. I: 34).

1920 (March) Private forester Stewart Edward

White “criticized the Forest Service for allowing their forests to become overgrown with

brush, and chastised it for not using light

burning to prevent tree diseases and destructive conflagrations” (Brown and Carmony

1995: 143).

1920 (June 10) Congress passed the Federal Water

Power Act; this legislation provided for the

Federal Power Commission, which had authority to issue licenses for the construction,

operation, and maintenance of power facilities on navigable waters and public lands

(Clark 1987: 145–146).

1920 Following the flood, the State Engineer’s Office again had to do more levee work (Calkins

1937: 7–8).

1920 The Forest Service adopted a policy of no light

burning in ponderosa pine forest, based on the

belief that fire every 2 to 3 years would prevent

restocking of the trees (Pyne 1982: 522).

1920 The population of Cabezon was about 250

(Varney 1987: 35).

1920 (ca.) Erosion created a new arroyo, which cut

Abo Creek and diverted most of the water,

diminishing the stream flow (Clark 1987: 329).

1920 (ca.) Aldo Leopold planted a tamarisk in front

of his house in Albuquerque (Robinson 1965:

A5).

1900s (early) An agricultural field below Nambe

Falls was abandoned and subsequently revegetated by prickly pear, cholla, juniper, pinyon,

and unidentified shrubs (Ellis 1978: 62).

1900s (early) Intensive grazing, suppression of fire,

and a “wet” period led to a “dramatic expansion of woody vegetation and a concomitant

decay of the grass lands” (Pyne 1982: 524).

1900s (early) The Federal Government constructed

reservoirs for pueblos that did not have a reliable water supply. These quickly began to

silt up, resulting in a reduction of their capacities (Vlasich 1980: 28).

1900s (early) The introduced tamarisk formed dense

stands, especially along riparian corridors,

and became a fire hazard for cottonwoodwillow bosques (Pyne 1982: 187).

1900s (early) A number of high runoff years in the

Upper Basin probably accelerated soil erosion

on a deteriorating watershed (Crawford et al.

1993: 24).

1900s (early) The American Lumber Company was

established in Albuquerque. Logs for the mill

came from the Zuni and San Mateo mountains north of Grants (Balcomb 1980: 56).

1900s (early) Bear Canyon on the west flank of the

Sandia Mountains was a favorite recreational

area for Albuquerque residents. The cold,

pollution-free stream, lined by cottonwood

and box elder, was the major attraction

(Balcomb 1980: 63–64).

1921 Created by the State Legislature, the Rio

Grande Survey Commission, in cooperation

with the U.S. Reclamation Service, began to

study environmental conditions in the Middle

River Valley (Wozniak 1987).

1921 Aldo Leopold “presented a fully formed and

brilliantly considered wilderness-preservation plan to the Forest Service” (Brown and

Carmony 1995: 152).

1921–25 The Bluewater-Toltec Santa Cruz irrigation

districts were formed (Clark 1987: 204).

1921 (post) Some ranchers supported creation of

wilderness areas because their roadlessness

would keep automobiles and their passengers

off grazing leases (Brown and Carmony 1995:

154).

1922 (fall) Continuing drought conditions caused

some ranchers to ship their cattle to Mexico

for winter grazing (Hagy 1951: 32).

1922 The major crops, and their acreage, cultivated

in the Middle Rio Grande Valley were corn

(16,200), alfalfa (11,200), wheat (10,600), oats

(3,700), and beans (1,800) (Bloodgood 1930:

12).

1922 There were 7,559,000 acres of public land under grazing lease and 1,500,000 acres under

oil lease (Barnes 1926: 47).

1922 The grazing fee on state lands was reduced
312 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

from five cents to three cents an acre (Hagy

1951: 82).

1922 The White Pine Lumber Co. was organized;

included in the operation was a sawmill at

Bernalillo and a rail line from the mill extending northward to the main logging camp in

Guadalupe Canyon of the Jemez Mountains.

By 1927 the sawmill was averaging an output of 145,000 board-feet of lumber a day

which came from logs cut on the upper San

Diego land grant (Glover 1990: 5–6; Scurlock

1981a: 148).

1920s (early) Much of the land previously farmed

in the Middle Rio Grande Valley “had become

either swamp or bosque (Kernodle et al. 1995:

21).

1923 About two-thirds of the Middle Rio Grande

floodplain was waterlogged due to a high

water table, flooding, and irrigation outflow

(Burkholder 1928: 45–55).

1923 The State Legislature passed the Conservancy

Act, creating a district with a governing board

to initiate projects to prevent flooding, regulate stream flow, reclaim waterlogged lands,

develop irrigation works, develop or reclaim

sources of water, and generate electrical energy in the Middle Valley (Clark 1987: 207).

The district structure was formed within 2

years. About 277,760 acres were included in

the district (Scurlock 1988a: 136).

1923 The Reclamation Service was converted into

the Bureau of Reclamation (Clark 1987: 189).

1923 Aldo Leopold astutely hypothesized that the

drought caused a scarcity of quail in New

Mexico (Brown and Carmony 1995: 108, 111).

1923 Tamarisk were observed growing along an

irrigation canal but not along the Rio Grande

west of Albuquerque’s Old Town (Robinson

1965: A5).

1923–24 Robert Thompson purchased 55,000 acres of

land, a tract that was the Alameda land grant.

The headquarters was located on the north

edge of Corrales. Some 3,000 to 5,000

herefords were grazed on the ranch (Eisenstadt 1980: 21–22).

1923–25 The blue, or scaled, quail population declined

sharply due to drought and overgrazing (Ligon 1927: 134).

1924 (pre) The channel of the Galisteo deepened

as a result of overgrazing and other abuse in

its drainage. Due to this down cutting, water

could no longer be delivered for irrigation

(Brown and Carmony 1995: 169).

1924 (June 7) Congress passed the Pueblo Lands

Act, which provided for the appointment of

a commission to investigate Pueblo land titles

and to litigate the thousands of non-Indian

claims against Pueblo lands known as the

Pueblo Lands Board. This commission was

empowered to compensate Indians and nonIndians alike for lands lost via decisions

(Brayer 1938: 29).

1924 Passage of the Pueblo Lands Act resulted in

Hispanos acquiring legal title to about 18,200

acres of northern Pueblo land through adjudication. Most of this acreage was irrigable

and water rights were appropriated with land

title (Forrest 1989: 58).

1924 Wild horses on the Carson National Forest

were contributing to an overgrazing problem.

About 1,200 horses were rounded up; some

were sold to residents surrounding the forest

(Tucker and Fitzpatrick 1972: 79–80).

1924 Lack of grazing regulation on the public domain led to continuing overgrazing (Brown

and Carmony 1995: 171).

1924 Aldo Leopold wrote “To a degree we are facing the question of whether we are here to

found a permanent civilized community with

room to grow and improve” (Brown and

Carmony 1995: 170).

1924 Aldo Leopold’s paper “Grass, brush, timber

and fire in southern Arizona” was published.

This article, the first detailed discussion of

historical change in a Southwest landscape,

identified overgrazing and fire suppression

as the cause of the invasion of grasslands by

shrubs and trees and erosion on National Forest lands. Erosion, he pointed out, was caused

by allowing intensive grazing to reduce plant

cover, which supposedly would decrease the

incidents of fire (Brown and Carmony 1995:

188–192).

1924–32 Black grama grass density on New Mexico

ranges increased until the drought in subsequent years reversed this process (Gatewood

et al. 1964: B43).

1925 (spring-summer) Some 565,000 acre-feet of

water was depleted for the year. A shortage

of 200,000 acre-feet occurred at Buckman

(Hedke 1925: 14).

1925 (August) There was a demand of 68,000 acrefeet in the Middle Rio Grande Valley (Hedke

1925: 32).

1925 The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

was formed by this year. About 277,760 acres

were included in the district. To alleviate

flooding and subsequent waterlogging, dams,

levees, and drainage canals were constructed

over the next 5 decades (Scurlock 1988a: 136).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 313

1925 Cochiti, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, Santa

Ana, Sandia, and Isleta were incorporated

into the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District. These pueblos agreed to reorganize their

irrigated land into larger, revenue-producing

farms, but only Isleta and Sandia met the requirements of the agreement (Sando 1992:

123).

1925 Only about 55,000 acres of land were cultivatable in the Middle Rio Grande Valley because of a rising water table and silt deposits.

Some 16,000 acres were not cultivated as a

result of insufficient irrigation water, and

about 8,000 acres were “swampy” due to a

rising water table. Another 52,000 acres were

covered with alkali deposits (Hedke 1925: 10).

1925 Rangelands included in the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad grant in west-central New

Mexico generally had a carrying capacity of

one cow per 50 acres (Barnes 1926: 40).

1925 The uplands on the Pedro Armendariz grant

were fenced, causing the collapse of ranching, which had been the mainstay of the

economy in the San Marcial area (Wozniak

1987).

1925 By this year there was only one large, roadless

area (500,000 acres) in New Mexico. Fifteen

years before there were six such areas (Flores

1992: 8).

1925 Thirty-four wolves were killed in the state,

and only a few were left on the Jicarilla

Apache Reservation and along the southern

border (Brown 1983: 71).

1925 The last grizzly bear east of the Rio Grande

was killed near Raton (Brown 1983: 150).

1926 (January 22) The U.S. Forest Service issued a

memo “New Grazing Regulations on National Forests,” which made three major concessions to livestock raisers: (1) 10-year grazing permits were given full status of a contract between the USFS and the stockmen and

could only be revoked because of a violation

of terms, (2) further distribution of grazing

privileges was generally suspended, and (3)

the role of local grazing boards was reemphasized, with one member representing the U.S.

Department of Agriculture and the other

members selected by the grazing permittees.

These boards settled grazing disputes and

gave advice in developing new grazing policies (Rowley 1985: 134–135).

1926 (August) A flood along the Galisteo drainage

destroyed acequias at Colorado Plaza, Ortiz,

Los Cerrillos, and Tijon (Cooperrider and

Hendricks 1937: 15).

1926 Some Hispanic farmers in the Middle Valley

expressed concern for the Middle Rio Grande

Conservancy District program (Orona 1994).

1926 Some 8,300 acres at the south end of the

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

were excluded as a result of protest on behalf

of the owners of the Bosque del Apache grant,

the Victorio Land and Cattle Co., and 26 property owners in the Valverde-La Mesa area.

This reduced the irrigable acreage to 123,267

(Clark 1987: 209).

1926 The U.S. Forest Service published The Story of

the Range by Will C. Barnes, Assistant Forester

and Chief of Grazing. This report documented

grazing history and resulting impact on Great

Plains and Southwest rangelands.

1926 The Achison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad

contracted to provide 34,256 linear feet of

trestle piling, 237,498 board-feet of native pine

bridge timber, 81,610 board-feet of native pine

box culvert timber, and 60,000 native pine

track ties for construction of the Cuba Extension rail line, from San Ysidro to north of

Cuba. The timber was cut in the Jemez Mountains (Glover 1990: 48).

1926 Large-scale development of mining operations at Willow Creek was begun by the

American Metal Company (Northrop 1959:

39).

1926 or 27 The San Luis irrigation ditch on the Puerco

was destroyed by a flood (Widdison 1959:

276–277).

1926–27 Salt cedar was widely planted by the Soil

Conservation Service along the Rio Puerco

and Rio Salado (Robinson 1965: A7).

1926–36 The average rate of sedimentation was about

975 acre-feet per year in the Rio Grande Valley near San Marcial (Happ 1944: 18).

1927 (pre) The sage grouse was extirpated from its

native range in northern and northwestern

New Mexico (Ligon 1927: 119).

1927 (March 16) The New Mexico groundwater

law was passed, the first attempt by any western state to establish by statute and in relatively permanent form the basic principle

governing the appropriation of ground water. All underground waters in the state were

declared public waters, subject to appropriation for beneficial uses under the existing laws

of the state relating to appropriation and beneficial uses of waters from surface streams,

and to be supervised and controlled by the

State Engineer. The act also authorized the

state to determine sources and recharge of

underground waters and to control their fu-
314 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

ture development. The Middle and Upper Rio

Grande was declared a groundwater basin

(Clark 1987: 236–238).

1927 (fall) Some wolves entered north-central New

Mexico from Colorado. They took a large

number of young cattle along the Tusas River

in the Tres Piedras Country (Brown 1983: 79).

1927 The Rio Puerco channel at La Ventana was

about 40 feet deep (Bryan 1928a: 275;

Dortignac 1962: 588).

1927 The Rio Puerco channel at San Luis was 22

feet deep (Tuan 1966: 589).

1927 The Rio Puerco channel south of the Santa Fe

rail line was 40 feet deep, an increase of 22

feet since 1881 (Bryan 1928a: 277; Tuan 1966:

593).

1927 Predators, such as wolves, coyotes, bobcat,

and mountain lions, were considered “the

most serious enemy of game conservation in

New Mexico” (Ligon 1927: 49–50).

1927 The last plains gray wolf in the state was exterminated by this year (Findley et al. 1975:

28).

1927 U.S. Biological Survey trappers Homer and

Albert Pickens took seven gray wolves in the

Canjilon Creek-upper Brazos drainages, the

last of this species in the area (Pickens 1980:

11).

1927 Mule deer were rare or extinct “in the valleys, especially in the more settled parts”

(Bailey 1971: 29).

1927 An estimated 2,950 pronghorns were found

in the region (Ligon 1927: 25).

1927 Black bears received legal protection in New

Mexico (Findley et al. 1975: 29).

1927 Wild turkey were surviving in only a few isolated areas (Ligon 1927: 114).

1927–36 Annually, the floodway aggraded an average

of 0.09 feet, the riverbed 0.12 feet, and outside the floodway 0.02 feet. The floodway just

below the mouth of the Rio Puerco aggraded

4 to 5 feet (Happ 1937: i, 3).

1928 The amount of irrigated lands in the Middle

Valley decreased to about 6,000 acres

(Dortignac 1956: 30).

1928 A plan for flood control, reclamation of land,

and irrigation for the Middle Rio Grande

Valley was completed by the Middle Rio

Grande Conservancy District. Management

of Indian lands, sediment control, and water

supply were also part of this plan (Wozniak

1987).

1928 A new agreement between the Pueblos and

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District provided that the district would “provide conservation, irrigation, drainage, and flood control” for the Indians (Bayer et al. 1994: 240).

1928 The depth of the Rio Puerco channel at

Cabezon was 40 feet (Bryan 1928a: 274).

1928 The McSweeny-McNary Forest Research Act,

which called for the development of methods

for protection of watersheds, was passed by

Congress (Buchanan 1988: 32).

1928 The Cleary coal mine near Ventana produced

10,500 tons of coal during the year (Glover

1990: 51).

1928 Congress appropriated $150,000 for the U.S.

Forest Service to “investigate the life histories and habits of forest animals, birds, and

wildlife from the standpoint of injury to forest growth and as a supplemental economic

resource” (Clark 1987: 266).

1928 An estimated 16 grizzly bears remained in

New Mexico (Brown 1985: 153).

1928 The exotic rainbow trout was stocked in 187

rivers, creeks, and lakes across the state

(Kuykendahl 1994: 3).

1928 or 29 Construction of drainage canals in

Albuquerque’s North Valley was begun by

the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

(Sargeant and Davis 1986: 103).

1928–31 The controversy over public grazing lands

intensified, with violence caused by illegal

fencing. Resulting siltation stemming from

overgrazing and erosion threatened costly

reclamation projects (Clark 1987: 253).

1928–54 Generally, eroded, overgrazed, and depleted

rangelands in the region showed “marked

improvement in range conditions” (Branson

1985: 64).

1929 (March 2) Congress passed an act authorizing

New Mexico to negotiate specifically for the

apportionment of the waters of the Rio Grande

and the Pecos River with Texas (Clark 1987: 230).

1929 (September) The flood deposited so much clay

and sand sediments over the valley from the

head of the Elephant Butte Reservoir to about

11 miles above the mouth of the Rio Puerco

that a recent soil survey of the floodplain had

to be repeated (Cooperrider and Hendricks

1937: 36).

1929 (September) This damaging Rio Grande flood

was caused by rainstorms that produced “destructive flash-flood waters,” which “originated largely on impoverished rangelands”

(Cooperrider and Hendricks 1937: 31).

1929 The Agricultural Appropriation Act was

passed; $160,000 was provided for investigation of soil erosion and the means for its control (Clark 1987: 256).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 315

1929 The state attorney general ruled that “unauthorized obstruction of any natural water

course did become actionable for resulting

damage” (Clark 1987: 335).

1929 Six pueblos—Cochiti, Santo Domingo, San

Felipe, Santa Ana, Sandia, and Isleta—were

incorporated into the Middle Rio Grande

Conservancy District. Some 8,346 acres were

under irrigation at the time, and the Pueblos

had prior and paramount rights to water for

this land. They did not, however, get such

rights for 15,261 acres of land reclaimed as

part of the project (Sando 1992: 123–124).

1929 (late) The new Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District promised to provide irrigation,

drainage, flood control, and conservation for

the Pueblos (Bayer et al. 1994: 242).

1929 (post) Following organization of the Middle

Rio Grande Conservancy District, the Rio

Grande Pueblos persuaded Congress to make

a payment of $1,321,000 to the conservancy

on their behalf because they could not maintain their subsistence economy if required to

pay ongoing commercial charges (Harper et

al. 1943: 24).

1929–30 A natural lake and marsh located along the

meander of the Rio Grande at San Acacia was

drained by the Bureau of Reclamation. This

wetland reportedly supported a large population of fish and an array of wildlife species

(Marshall and Walt 1984: 281).

1929–30 The major crops, in decreasing significance,

for the Socorro-lower Rio Puerco areas, were

wheat, alfalfa, corn, beans, chile, melon, cantaloupe, and onions. Alfalfa was the most

important cash crop (Poulson and Fitzpatrick

ca. 1930: 5–6).

1929, 31 Floods on the Rio Salado destroyed the Santa

Rita ditch (Cooperrider and Hendricks 1937:

14–15).

1929–34 Several federal laws resulted in the purchase

of more refuge lands; more wildlife conservation authority; studies of the economics of

harvesting fish and game, wilderness recreation, and control of erosion and pollution;

and creation of wildlife sanctuaries on the

national forests (Clark 1987: 267).

1920s (late) Santa Ana Pueblo granted a right-ofway across their lands to the Santa Fe Northwestern Railroad. Construction damaged a

flood control dike and caused erosion (Bayer

et al. 1994: 238).

1920s (late) Jackrabbit populations increased significantly, and from the view of the livestock industry, they were an “acute problem”

(Mortensen 1983: 73). This increase was probably due in part to the decimation of mammals such as wolves, coyotes, and bobcats,

which preyed on this rabbit.

1920s Intensive grazing decimated plant cover,

which resulted in severe erosion in the region

(Forrest 1989: 140).

1920s Aldo Leopold recognized that overgrazing

and fire suppression had profoundly altered

the landscape and that they were interrelated

(Pyne 1982: 520).

1920s Irrigated acreage in the Middle Rio Grande

Valley was estimated at 48,750 acres, while

some 58,000 acres were water-logged

(Wozniak 1987).

1920s Alkali deposits covered much of

Albuquerque’s North Valley from Pueblo

Road to Candelaria Road, except where there

were many small lakes or ponds. Agriculture

in this part of the valley was not practiced at

this time. Also, fish, turtles, and frogs were

found in some of the ponds, and mosquitos

were a serious problem (Sargeant and Davis

1986: 100–101).

1920s A retail clothing store in Las Vegas sent two

buyers to New Mexico and Arizona to buy

furs, hides, and wool (Perrigo 1982: 62–63).

1920s Local bounties were paid for bobcats, and

most sheep ranchers hunted them vigorously

(Bailey 1971: 296).

1920s Wolves were virtually exterminated by trappers and hunters working for the Forest Service, U.S. Biological Survey, and ranchers

(Brown 1983: 25).

1920s The Forest Service began to experiment with

aerial control of forest fires (Pyne 1982: 523).

1920s–30s Some 1,110 men from 1,202 Hispanic families

in the Tewa basin found wage labor outside

their villages, but by 1937 only 157 men had

found such work. Attempting to return to traditional farming and sheepherding failed due

to “changes in the ecological balance, new

laws, and competition with modern techniques,” which “made it impossible for farming and sheepherding to support the existing

population” (Gonzalez 1969: 123).

1920s–30s Several coal mines were operating in the La

Ventana area. In 1930 the village had two general stores, a post office, hotel, and school.

Owing to coal deposit depletion, loss of the

rail line, and the depression, the town was

abandoned (Widdison 1959: 283).

1930 (pre) Depressions and former channels of the

Rio Grande and lower Rio Puerco-of-the-East

in Socorro County became swamps. Much of
316 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

the topsoils of their floodplains had become

water saturated due to a high water table,

which fluctuated with overflow and the rise

and fall of the two streams (Poulson and

Fitzpatrick ca. 1930: 2).

1930 (pre) The last river otter was recorded in the

Middle Valley (Hink and Ohmart, 1984:pt.1,

34).

1930 By this year some of the agricultural land in

the Middle Valley had been lost to a high

water table and high saline content of the soil,

which was caused by the aggradation of the

Rio Grande streambed due to extensive silt

deposits (New Mexico Historical Records

Survey 1940: 23).

1930 By this year permits for grazing on the Santa

Fe National Forest were reduced to correlate

with carrying capacities (Rothman 1992: 159).

1930 By this year Frank Bond controlled the best

grazing lands in the Jemez Mountains. He

leased land for grazing his sheep from the

Forest Service, and after 3 years of use, his

forest grazing rights became permanent

(Rothman 1992: 129).

1930 (spring) There were 527,000 acres of land under irrigation in New Mexico. About 15 percent of this acreage was irrigated with ground

water (Clark 1987: 296).

1930 (spring) The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy

District began construction of drainage canals

in the Valencia area. High ground or mounds,

some with old structures on top, were levelled

(Otero 1989).

1930 (spring) As construction of various water control facilities began, armed conflicts broke out

between conservancy employees and Hispanic farmers, who did not want their irrigation ditches destroyed at the start of the planting season. Several confrontational meetings

between Middle Rio Grande Conservancy

District officials and organized farmers, including some Anglos, who could not pay the

heavy assessments imposed on their lands,

occurred. Subsequently, the legislature passed

legislation exempting payments on many

tracts in the district for 5 years (Forrest 1989:

83–84).

1930 The State Engineer’s Office approved the

consolidation of 71 old diversions into six

new permanent diversions by the Middle

Rio Grande Conservancy District (Wozniak

1987).

1930 Irrigated acreage in the tributaries of the Rio

Grande increased to 90,000 acres (Dortignac

1956: 30).

1930 The valley of the Rio Grande in the Socorro

area supported dense stands of willow, tornillo, cottonwood, and rabbitbush. On waterlogged soils, vegetation was more sparse, and

the open alkali flats were covered with salt

grass. In wet depressions or around charcos,

bullrush and sedge grasses were dominant.

The adjacent, dry uplands supported mesquite, creosote bush, rabbitbush, and sparse

bunch grasses. Livestock were grazed

throughout the year on salt grass pastures and

in the bosques of the Rio Grande and lower

Rio Puerco in northern Socorro County

(Poulson and Fitzpatrick ca. 1930: 7).

1930 The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that

underground waters are a public resource

(Fergusson 1951: 362).

1930 The severity of overgrazing and other abusive land practices resulting in erosion was

the focus of a USDA study by Hugh H.

Bennett. This led to a comprehensive study

of all factors causing erosion; the providing

of labor, materials, and plants and seeds; and

the acquiring of large blocks of marginal and

submarginal land for conversion to grazing

or forest reserves (Clark 1987: 256).

1930 The U.S. Census Bureau reported New

Mexico’s population as 423,317 (Workers of

the Writer’s Program 1940: 434).

1930 There were 11,144 persons living in Sandoval

County and 423,317 in Bernalillo County

(Levine et al. 1980: 51).

1930 About three-fourths of the human population

in the Upper and Middle basins was classed

as rural (Dortignac 1956: 72).

1930 (ca.) This was the last year that cotton was

cultivated at Santa Clara Pueblo (Hill 1982:

33).

1930–36 Renovation of irrigation works in the Middle

Valley was completed, including the construction of new diversion structures at Cochiti,

Angostura, Isleta, and San Acacia, a siphon

at Corrales, 767 miles of canals and laterals

(including some rehabilitation), 342 miles of

interior and riverside drains, and 180 miles

of riverside levees (Wozniak 1987).

1930–40 Alluviation on the lower Rio Puerco below

the Santa Fe rail line raised its channel 14 feet.

This process occurred when so much sediment was carried from the upper course of

the river and deposited along the lower

course (Tuan 1966: 593).

1930–50 Droughts, floods, and overgrazing adversely

impacted Santa Ana’s livestock raising and

crop production. The silting of farmlands was
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 317

a continuing problem. Extensive sand dunes

formed along the Jemez River, and ring muhly

and broom snakeweed replaced native

grasses in most of the rangeland (Bayer et al.

1994: 230–231).

1931 (pre) The vegetative cover of the upper drainage of the Santa Fe River was severely denuded due to overgrazing (Cooperrider and

Hendricks 1937: 77).

1931 (pre) The Senorita Canyon area of the Santa

Fe National Forest was overgrazed, and subsequently the canyon floor just outside the forest boundary was deeply trenched. Inside the

fenced boundary “herbs, shrubs and small

trees ... formed a dense cover between the old

trees,” and the “accelerated flow of the creek

“had been checked” in recent years

(Cooperrider and Hendricks 1937: 76).

1931 (pre) “Users of public lands never found it

advantageous to protect or even conservatively graze any range they did not control....

Homesteaders who settled as groups or colonies on the most favorable of the remaining

tracts of unreserved public domain also contributed to the impairment of rangelands....

For a time many of them believed that whatever was responsible for the untoward state

of things was abnormal and that if they could

produce enough to live on for another year,

conditions would be better. They therefore

grazed in common the surrounding public

lands to the utmost, in the attempt to eke out

subsistence” (Cooperrider and Hendricks

1937: 82).

1931 (March 2) Congress passed an act that provided $1 million to the Agriculture Department to completely eradicate predatory animals in the West over 10 years (Hagy 1951:

94).

1931 (September 1) The Laboratory of Anthropology was opened to the public (Workers of the

Writer’s Program 1940: 205).

1931 (September) Runoff from a rainstorm caused

the banks of the Rio Puerco between Bernalillo

and Cuba to slide, endangering the highway

connecting the two settlements. Other roads

and bridges in the Cuba Valley were damaged

(Cooperrider and Hendricks 1937: 20, 76).

1931 On about 25 percent of the land in the Upper

and Middle Rio Grande basins “normal soil

erosion” was taking place. On about 35 percent of the lands accelerated erosion was occurring. On about 40 percent of the region

rapid erosion was in progress (Cooperrider

and Hendricks 1937: 86).

1931 At least 50 percent of the forage had been lost

in the Upper and Middle Rio Grande drainages,

primarily due to overgrazing and subsequent

erosion (Cooperrider and Hendricks 1937: 72).

1931 Decimated and eroded rangelands with “low

grazing capacity” had “high operating costs”

because they “required” high investments per

head of livestock in fences, watering places,

and ranch equipment (Cooperrider and

Hendricks 1937: 73).

1931 The forest on the upper Rio Cebolla in the

Jemez Mountains was virgin. The plant cover

within an “old cemetery” protected from

grazing by an enclosure and located 2 miles

southwest of Albuquerque was 85 percent

grass species, 13 percent shrubs, and 2 percent weeds. Grasses on surrounding, extensive tracts were “practically extinct” due to

overgrazing, and the total density of the

present vegetation (weeds and half-shrubs)

was “less than one-third of that within the

enclosure.” These lands had 50 percent less

plant cover than the enclosed cemetery and

other locations protected from grazing

(Cooperrider and Hendricks 1937: 22, 84).

1931 Ongoing erosion was so severe in the Rio

Puerco valley between La Ventana and Cuba

that the railroad had to be abandoned (Cooperrider and Hendricks 1937: 11–12).

1931 The Soil Conservation Service initiated an

erosion control program for the 11,500,000-

acre watershed of Elephant Butte Reservoir,

which was filling with sediment at a rapid

rate (Clark 1987: 256).

1931 The U.S. Forest Service sold an estimated

207,900,000 board-feet of timber in the Rio de

las Vacas watershed to the White Pine Lumber Company. This sale involved about 40,000

acres of land (Glover 1990: 26).

1931 The state declared that the waters of underground streams, channels, artesian basins,

reservoirs, and lakes having reasonable,

ascertainable boundaries are public waters

subject to appropriation for beneficial use in

accordance with the statutes and with rules

and regulations formulated by the State Engineer of New Mexico (Erickson 1954: 81).

1931 The New Mexico Legislature passed a law

giving the State Game Commission full regulatory powers to manage the wildlife of the

state, including setting hunting seasons and

bag limits (Barker 1970: 188; Flader 1978: 105).

1931 Under state game management, the pronghorn antelope population had increased to

5,000 animals (Barker 1976: 136).
318 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1931–85 The total acreage of aspen stands and subalpine meadows decreased due primarily to fire

suppression and cutting restrictions. Aspen

stands decreased by more than 50 percent due

primarily to the exclusion of fire. The mixedconifer type and meadows increased by more

than 81 percent due to the above and cutting

restrictions (Johnson 1995: 2).

1932 (pre) “The plant cover of overgrazed cut-over

savanna woodlands . . . declined as much as

70 percent, and dense woodlands [pinyon-juniper], 72 percent.” Generally, rutted trails

and roads made by woodcutters’ livestock,

carts, and wagons in the pinyon-juniper

woodlands became deep gullies. Erosion was

extreme on about 45 percent of these lands

which had become severely eroded by 1931

(Cooperrider and Hendricks 1937: 60, 62).

1932 Acting under the authority of the Taylor Grazing Act, President Roosevelt reserved from

entry all unreserved lands in 12 western

states. This virtually ended homesteading in

the region (Clark 1987: 254).

1932 The U.S. Forest Service suspended grazing

fees because of the emergency conditions of

the depression (Rowley 1985: 246).

1932 The last gray wolf in the Jemez Mountains

was killed in the Valle Grande by a rancher

(Scurlock 1981a: 148). One federal trapper

took 36 mountain lions in the Jemez Mountains; 10 of these were trapped in Bandelier

National Monument (Pickens 1980: 73).

1932–33 The Forest Service surveyed watershed conditions in the Rio Grande basin above Elephant Butte. Rapid deterioration of vegetation cover due to livestock overgrazing since

the 1880s and subsequent accelerated erosion

and gullying were documented. Increased

sedimentation in the river had caused the loss

of about 13 percent of Elephant Butte

Reservoir’s capacity (Clark 1987: 258).

1930s (early) Hispanics organized a farmers’ association in the Los Lunas area over concern that

their ditches might be lost to the Middle Rio

Grande Conservancy District (Orona 1994).

1930s (early) Much of the Pueblo rangeland was overgrazed and overstocked (Aberle 1948: 17, 19).

1930s (early) More than 1,500 horses were removed

from the Jemez River District of the Santa Fe

National Forest (Tucker and Fitzpatrick 1972:

81).

1930s (early-mid) Tonque Arroyo had eroded 5 to 20

feet deep and from 20 to 50 feet wide. Formerly,

the drainage consisted of a shallow depression

(Cooperrider and Hendricks 1937: 12).

1930s (early-mid) Mountain streams in the upper

Chama basin had lowered and widened their

beds due to intensive logging and grazing.

Their valleys had “drained through the formation of gullies and arroyos” and had

“mostly iris and weeds, in contrast to dense

growths of grasses and grasslike plants of

valleys still in good condition” (Cooperrider

and Hendricks 1937: 13–14).

1933 (early) President Franklin Roosevelt created

the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

About 3 million persons, mostly young men,

worked primarily on soil and water conservation projects until 1942 (Buchanan 1988: 32–

33; Udall 1963: 140–141, 143).

1933 (spring) Eight young men from Placitas were

called to a CCC camp in the Sandia National

Forest (Batchen 1972: 4).

1933 (November-December) The road into Frijoles

Canyon at Bandelier was constructed

(Rothman 1992: 193).

1933 Unionization of coal miners and a tougher,

comprehensive mining law reduced deaths

due to mining accidents (Whiteside 1989:

183).

1933 The U.S. Forest Service declared the Pecos

“high country” a primitive area (deBuys 1985:

285).

1933 Bighorn sheep from Banff National Park were

released in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

(Barker 1953: 90).

1933 late (or early 1934) A gray wolf was killed between

Ojo Caliente and Tres Piedras (Pickens 1980:

11).

1933–40 A range conservation program was carried out

on Indian lands in the Middle Valley by the Soil

Conservation Service (Harper et al. 1943: 89).

1933–40 New Deal agencies, and the Bureau of Indian

Affairs, conducted a number of in-depth surveys of natural and human resources in the

Middle and Upper Rio Grande valleys.

Hispano, Native, and to a lesser extent, Anglo

American, interrelationships with each other

and their shared environment were first addressed by these studies (McWilliams 1961:

287).

1933–46 Livestock from Bernalillo trespassed on Santa

Ana lands; non-Pueblo fishermen drove over

pasture land, dumped trash, and cut firewood; and Frank Bond illegally allowed his

sheep to graze rangelands (Bayer et al. 1994:

238).

1934 (June 18) The Indian Reorganization Act, giving Native Americans the right to govern

themselves, was passed. Under this act, the
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 319

U.S. Government determined the organizational structure of Indian government. The

act, in part, prohibited alienation of Pueblo

lands (Simmons 1979b: 217).

1934 (June 28) The Taylor Grazing Act authorized

the Secretary of the Interior to establish the

Grazing Service, to control and manage grazing on the public lands, to rehabilitate overgrazed and eroded areas, and to construct

improvements on federal lands (Hagy 1951:

75). In 1946 this agency was combined with

the General Land Office to form the Bureau

of Land Management (Clawson 1971: 34–38).

The bulk of unappropriated grassland (80

million acres) was closed to further settlement

by the act. These lands were to be kept as a

grazing resource and managed by local livestock growers organized in districts and supervised by the Department of the Interior

(Worster 1979: 190).

1934 (June 30) The National Resources Board,

which sponsored ground and surface water

studies, was created by executive order (Clark

1987: 250, 256).

1934 The governor created a State Planning Board

made up of five major state agencies and

presidents of the three major universities; they

began a study of the state’s natural resources,

with emphasis on erosion problems and water conservation (Clark 1987: 269).

1934 The U.S. Government purchased the “badly

overgrazed and eroded” Ojo del Espiritu

Santo land grant and began a resource management program (Varney 1987: 35).

1934–35 The State Planning Board found that the public rangelands in the state were badly damaged due to overgrazing (Clark 1987: 255).

1934–42 The Grazing Service organized four districts

embracing almost 1.5 million acres of grazing lands in the Middle Rio Grande Basin to

regulate grazing (Harper et al. 1943: 88–89).

1934–44 The continuing overuse and deterioration of

Pueblo land led to an accelerated land acquisition program. About 390,727 acres were

purchased or assigned to Indian use on nonPueblo lands. Another 199,255 acres of public land were under lease or permit from the

state, the Forest Service, or the Taylor Grazing Service (Aberle 1948: 15–16).

1934–40s Livestock raisers “succeeded in mitigating the

law’s impact by formation of district and state

advisory boards. These boards were elected

by permitters and became the de facto governing boards.” The U.S. Grazing Service generally followed the board’s recommendations.

As a result “range conditions improved very

slowly” (Eastman and Gray 1987: 35).

1934–82 Peak flows of the Rio Puerco averaged 9,082

cfs, while those of the Rio Grande averaged

5,664 cfs (Crawford et al. 1993: 53).

1935 (May) The Rural Electrification Administration was created to make loans for the construction of electric power distribution systems and to improve telephone communication facilities in rural areas (Smith and

Zurcher 1968: 328).

1935 (November) The starling was first recorded

in New Mexico at Carlsbad, and the first birds

of this species reached Albuquerque in November of the next year (Hubbard 1978: 68).

1935 There were 669,000 sheep and 212,000 cattle

in the Middle and Upper Rio Grande basins

(Harper et al. 1943: 49).

1935 Virtually all of the Tewa basin was described

as “tragically overgrazed” (Weigle 1975: 36).

1935 Overgrazing of grant and public lands around

El Rito resulted in reduction of livestock

(Weigle 1975: 152).

1935 Deforestation 35 miles up the Rio En Medio

and Chupadero watersheds by several lumber mill operations and local cutting for

fuelwood resulted in severe soil erosion. Some

20 acres of farmland were lost near the

Chupadero village (Weigle 1975: 66).

1935 Under the leadership of John Collier, a New

Deal land reform program for Native Americans and Hispanics was implemented. Part of

this program was aimed at restoring the fertility of severely eroded land (Forrest 1989: 129).

1935 Crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum), a

native of Eurasia, had been introduced in

Colorado but not New Mexico (Hitchcock

1935: 231).

1935 The New Mexico Legislature passed the Oil

Conservation Law, and state-supervised prorationing of oil began (Kinney 1950: 164).

1935 The average size of a Spanish farm along the

Pojoaque River near El Rancho was 4.9 acres

(Carlson 1969: 32).

1935 At El Rito the average family used six cords

of fuelwood, primarily juniper and pinyon,

per year (Weigle 1975: 153).

1935 CCC workers constructed a road from Los

Alamos to Cuba via the Valle Grande (Scurlock 1981a: 148).

1935 The Historic Sites Act, requiring archeological investigation prior to the construction of

a federal reservoir or a federally permitted

reservoir, was passed by Congress (McGimsey n.d.: 16).
320 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1935 The Office of Superintendent of State Parks

and a Park Commission were created by the

legislature (Clark 1987: 272).

1935 Depredation on livestock increased due in

part to the drought (Brown 1985: 157).

1935 The Wilderness Society, led by Robert

Marshall, was founded (Brown and Carmony

1995: 163).

1935–38 The Caballo Dam, located on the Rio Grande

below Elephant Butte, was constructed to stabilize the international boundary, to impound

water for irrigation and power generation

during the winter months, and to control

floods (Clark 1987: 252).

1935–39 Livestock numbers were reduced on Pueblo

lands because of deterioration of rangelands

due to overgrazing (Aberle 1948: 20).

1935–47 Salt cedar, or tamarisk, spread over about

24,500 acres of irrigable farmland in the

Middle and Upper Rio Grande valleys (Hay

1972: 288).

1935–50 The average size of farms increased, but the

irrigated land per farm remained between 15

and 16 acres due to a general decrease in irrigated acreage in the Upper and Middle Rio

Grande basins (Dortignac 1956: 79).

1935–89 The middle Rio Grande channel area narrowed by approximately 50 percent. This resulted from the preclusion of periodic high

discharge events, which maintain the channel capacity and geomorphology of the river,

construction of dams, and increasing diversion of water (Crawford et al. 1993: 54).

1930s (mid) By this time, increased use of water,

evaporation, and lowering of water tables resulted in a 50 percent decrease in flow of the

Rio Grande since 1880 (Kelley 1982: 18).

1930s (mid) Most of the residents from the middle

Rio Puerco-of-the-East valley moved upstream to the higher Cuba area, where agriculture was still relatively reliable (Calkins

1937b: 18–19).

1930s (mid to late) The Soil Conservation Service

purchased the Ramon Vigil grant on the

Pajarito Plateau from Frank Bond. This

agency initiated soil and water protection

plans for the grant, for San Ildefonso and

Santa Clara lands, and for other lands on the

Pajarito Plateau (Rothman 1992: 199).

1936 (April) The Grazing Service administered four

grazing districts totalling almost 9 million

acres (Clark 1987: 255).

1936 (October 1-October 1, 1941) The total suspended sediment load of the Rio Grande at

San Marcial was 47,583,342 tons. This represented 2.07 tons per acre or 0.7 acre-feet per

square mile annually. At least 90 percent of

this total was probably derived from grazing

land (Happ 1944: 17).

1936 The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

completed construction of irrigation works

for 118,000 acres of land. Completed work

included the Cochiti, Angostura, Isleta, and

San Acacia diversion dams, 180 miles of new

canals, 294 miles of new laterals, and 200

miles of riverside levees. The valley water

table was being lowered, and 59,159 acres of

land were being irrigated (Clark 1987: 212;

State Engineer Office 1956: 3).

1936 A new irrigation dam at San Luis, located

about one-half mile above the site of the earlier structure, was completed by the Soil Conservation Service (Widdison 1959: 277).

1936 The Forest Service estimated that at least 75

percent of the Rio Grande watershed in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico was

experiencing severe, accelerated erosion. This

resulted primarily from removal of the plant

cover through overgrazing and logging

(deBuys 1985: 230–232).

1936 The New Mexico Lumber and Timber Co. of

Bernalillo purchased the timber rights to the

Baca No. 1 location in the Jemez Mountains.

Here, and on nearby lands of the Santa Fe

National Forest, there were an estimated 400

million board-feet of timber cut (Glover 1990:

36).

1936 The total stocking of the upper Rio Puerco

valley was 14,500 cattle-units for the year; the

grazing capacity was estimated to be 4,300

cattle-units (Maes and Fisher 1937: 34).

1936 Activities of nomadic stockmen, who had

roamed the range with no base of operation,

were stopped by the Division of Grazing

(Clark 1987: 255).

1936 Salt cedar was scattered over 51,120 acres of

valley land between Cochiti and Elephant

Butte Reservoir (Lowry 1957: 4).

1936 By the end of this year some 61,294 acres of

agricultural land were in cultivation

(Wozniak 1987).

1936 Sixty Santa Ana Pueblo farmers harvested

6,200 bushels of corn, 3,250 bushels of wheat,

100 bushels of apples, and 4,000 bushels of

grapes (Bayer et al. 1994: 229).

1936 Aldo Leopold called for the inventory and

preservation of rare and threatened animals

and plants (Brown and Carmony 1995: 199).

1936 (ca.) The juniper-pine-rock irrigation dam

near Guadalupe, Sandoval County, burned,
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 321

and local farmers could no longer receive adequate ditch water (Garcia 1992: 25, 27).

1936–37 Santa Ana’s rangelands could support only

54 head of cattle or horses on a year-long basis. The Pueblo owned 634 cattle and several

hundred horses, or 84 percent more animals

than the carrying capacity of the grazing

lands. Grazing leases and supplemental feeding prevented loss of their livestock. Fencing

of their boundaries also kept out Bernalillo

stock, which had contributed to the overgrazing problem (Bayer et al. 1994: 231, 233, 238).

1936–41 The average annual suspended sediment

loads amounted to 39 million tons in the Upper and Middle Rio Grande. The mean annual suspended sediment load in the Middle

Basin, by percent, was 21 for the Rio Chama,

10 for the Jemez River, 41 for the Rio Puerco,

10 for the Rio Salado, and 15 for minor tributaries. The river flow above the Chama contributed 3 percent. Gullying and arroyo

trenching produced 65 percent of the total

sediment load, sheet erosion 30 percent, and

wind erosion 5 percent (Dortignac 1956: 48–

49).

1936–41 An estimated 17,100 acre-feet per year of soil

materials, the equivalent of 2 tons per year,

eroded in the Middle Rio Grande Basin (Happ

1944: 17).

1936–47 Cottonwood, willow, and tamarisk cover increased from 38,400 to 51,120 acres in the

Middle Rio Grande Valley (Lowry 1957: 4).

1937 (pre) An aggrading riverbed of the Rio

Grande caused the water table to rise and

waterlog fields in the Plaza Contadero.

Former cultivated land was replaced with salt

grass (Calkins 1937b: 20).

1937 (June 28) Congress formalized the Civilian

Conservation Corps; personnel from this

agency were to provide works “for the protection, restoration, regeneration, improvement, development, utilization, maintenance,

or enjoyment of the natural resources of lands

and waters, and the products thereof.” Water

development and conservation, improved

range projects, and other projects were carried out with funding allocated to the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Soil Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and state

parks and forests. The CCC also contributed

to wildlife and recreational programs. A special Indian Conservation Corps was also created. There were 43 camps in New Mexico; the

program ended in 1942 (Clark 1987: 244–245).

1937 (August 26) The Small Reservoirs Act, which

provided funding for constructing small water storage structures for isolated communities and groups of ranchers, was passed

(Clark 1987: 263–264).

1937 Aldo Leopold wrote the following about the

watersheds of northern Sierra Madre of

Mexico compared to those in New Mexico’s

national forests: “But the watersheds are intact, whereas our own watersheds, sedulously

protected from fire, but mercilessly grazed

before the forests were created, and much too

hard since, are a wreck” (Brown and Carmony

1995: 203).

1937 Some 8,000 individuals, almost all Hispanic,

“lost their land titles because they were unable to pay taxes and assessments on the

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

Project . . .” (Gonzalez 1969: 52).

1937 Congress passed the Bankhead-Jones Farm

Tenant Act, which authorized the Federal

Government to purchase private lands of low

production. These tracts were added to national forests, national parks, grazing districts,

and other public land holdings (Levine et al.

1980: 53).

1937 There were 56,240 acres of public domain,

19,044 acres of U.S. Forest lands, and 75,431

acres of private lands being grazed in the Rio

Puerco valley, from Regina-Cuba to Casa

Salazar (Calkins 1937b: 6).

1937 The Forest Service released its report, The

Western Range, which described “the critical

deterioration in the condition of lands, regardless of ownership, prevailing in the publicland states” (Clark 1987: 274).

1937 About 85 percent of New Mexico’s 77,488,536

acres were in a state of active erosion; some

46 million acres were losing topsoil at a high

rate, and 41 million were already severely

gullied. In response, the legislature created a

soil conservation act (Clark 1987: 269).

1937 A soil conservation act was passed by the

State Legislature, creating soil conservation

districts to be assisted by other state and appropriate federal agencies. These districts

were concerned with erosion control, water

development, and land classification based on

best use (Clark 1987: 270–271).

1937 Congress passed legislation creating soil conservation districts in the states (Batie 1985:

109).

1937 Three soil conservation grants totalling

174,000 acres were allocated to the Pueblos.

These lands had a carrying capacity of 1,656
322 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

cattle. Three other such grants totalling

187,000 acres with a carrying capacity of 1,601

cattle were made to non-Indians, but primarily for Hispanic use (Forrest 1989: 141).

1937 All of Santa Ana’s rangelands, except the

mesa, were severely overgrazed and eroded.

Extensive sand dune areas had formed along

the Jemez River, siltation had ruined crops

and clogged one of two wells, and desirable

grasses had been replaced largely with ring

muhly and snakeweed. The range agent reported that the rangelands “could support

only 39 head of cattle and horses on a yearlong basis” (Bayer et al. 1994: 231, 233).

1937 The first state park, Bluewater Lake, was created (Clark 1987: 271).

1937 The Works Projects Administration, the Public Works Administration, and the National

Youth Administration also provided employment for workers, who carried out conservation and reclamation projects for water and

wildlife improvement (Clark 1987: 245).

1937 The Wildlife Restoration Act of 1937, also

known as the Pittman-Robertson Act, created

the Federal Aid to Wildlife Restoration Fund,

required rivers and harbors appropriation to

include funding for investigations and improvements of wildlife, and fostered closer

cooperation between federal and state governments (Clark 1987: 268).

1937–38 The National Resources Committee and the

Rio Grande Compact Commission conducted

a comprehensive and detailed study of the

land and water resources of the Rio Grande

Basin north of Fort Quitman, Texas. The study

addressed problems such as stream flow, apportionment of waters between the two states

and Mexico, and flood and silt control (Clark

1987: 218–221).

1938 (August 20) The Pueblo and Spanish ruins of

Abo were declared a state monument

(Toulouse 1949: 1).

1938 (August) The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District delegated 29 men to eradicate

“gophers that threatened levee and irrigation

ditch banks” from Alameda to Isleta Pueblo

(Biebel 1986: 62).

1938 By this year Hispanic “community-owned”

land grants were reduced to a total of 300,000

acres (Dortignac 1956: 72).

1938 A state game refuge was established on the

east side of the Sandia Mountains (McDonald

1985: 12).

1938 A reservoir was built in the foothills west of

Santa Clara Pueblo. Water from this impoundment was piped to within a few feet of each

home (Hill 1982: 41).

1939 (February 1) Some 25,295 acres of the Ramon

Vigil grant were transferred from the Soil

Conservation Service to the Forest Service.

The San Ildefonso sacred area within the grant

was transferred to the Pueblo on September

18 (Rothman 1992: 204).

1939 By this year the Division of Grazing had built

585 check dams to control erosion and 31 reservoirs with an aggregate capacity of 17,500

acre-feet benefiting 75,000 acres of land (Clark

1987: 256).

1939 The first bridge for wagons and cars across

the Jemez River was built (White 1962: 322).

1939 More than 5,500 acres of farmland were irrigated by 17 ditch systems in the Rio Puerco

valley above Cuba (Dortignac 1960: 48).

1939 A resurvey of the Rio Puerco channel determined that the volume from below Cuba to

its mouth was 267,000 acre-feet, an increase

of 250,000 acre-feet over the last 55 years

(Dortignac 1960: 47).

1939 There were 44 families living at San Luis,

Sandoval County, and all but two were receiving government aid (Widdison 1959: 281).

1939 Legislation protecting the marten, mink, longtailed weasel, and ermine was passed by the

state (Sharpe 1983: 269).

1939 The Federal Aid to Wildlife Act was passed

by Congress, and money became available to

acquire habitat lands. Some 30,000 acres were

purchased for this purpose in New Mexico

(Barker 1976: 100–101).

1939 (late) New Mexico Game and Fish personnel

released the first of a reintroduced herd of

Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep from British

Columbia into the Sandia Mountains (Pickens

1980: 83).

1939–64 Plant cover on five of six major vegetative

communities on National Forest lands increased for protected and grazed plots. For

grasslands the basal cover changed from 6 to

18 percent where protected and from 4 to 13

percent where grazed. In pinyon-juniper the

increase was from 3 to 10 percent and 3 to 8

percent, respectively. For ponderosa pine it

was 2 to 7 percent and 3 to 4 percent, respectively. In aspen stands the grass cover increased 22-fold under protection, an increase

nearly three times greater than grazed plots

(Potter and Krenetsky 1967).

1930s The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

erected a concrete dam on the Rio Grande,

about 3 miles north of Cochiti Pueblo. A ma-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 323

jor canal from each bank above the dam extended southward, delivering water to

Cochiti, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, and

Algodones. At Cochiti, floodwater farming

was virtually abandoned, and irrigation farming increased greatly (Lange 1959: 38, 368).

1930s Some 300 farmers in the Albuquerque area

erected a barricade in the North Valley to halt

construction work by the Middle Rio Grande

Conservancy District (Orona 1994).

1930s Following construction of the irrigation system at Cochiti, agricultural plots that had

been dry-farmed previously were abandoned

(Lange 1959: 38).

1930s Spanish livestock overgrazed the lands

around Vadito, including locales on Picuris

Pueblo land (Carlson 1979: 36).

1930s When the large, Hispanic livestock holders

in the region were forced to reduce their herds,

many young men whom they employed lost

their jobs. Many of them sought work in Colorado and Utah (Gonzalez 1969: 127).

1930s Trucks replaced horses in logging operations

(Glover 1990: 37).

1930s Wild horses, which grazed the Manzano

Mountains bajada, grazed inside the Albuquerque airport boundaries, even after it was

fenced (Speakman 1965: 31).

1930s Salt cedar, or tamarisk, began to invade the

valley at Albuquerque (Scurlock 1988a: 138).

1930s Populations of small and large game species

were decimated, some extirpated, in the

Sandias due to intensive hunting and poaching (McDonald 1985: 12).

1930s Skiing became popular in northern New

Mexico, and ski clubs were organized at Taos,

Las Vegas, and Albuquerque (Nordhaus

1966).

1930s Electricity was introduced to the Valencia-Los

Lunas area (Gallegos 1970: 75).

1930s (late) A shallow lake, bordering Albuquerque

on the north and south, was drained by the

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

(Oppenheimer 1962: 36).

1930s (late) Crested wheat grass was introduced

into New Mexico and adjacent mountain

states by Agricultural Experiment Stations

and the U.S. Forest Service (Hitchcock 1935:

231).

1930s (late) (to 1944) During this period the Pueblos doubled their land use base through an

aggressive acquisition program and by procurement of permits or leases on neighboring federal or state land (Simmons 1979b: 216).

1930s–40s Horse traffic on the trail from the Seven

Springs area in Tijeras Canyon to South

Sandia Peak caused severe erosion. The trail

was subsequently closed (McDonald 1985: 13).

1930s–40s Large herds of goats and sheep were grazed

in the Los Pinos and Ladron mountains. This

intensive grazing changed the floristic composition of rangeland on the Sevilleta land

grant (Manthey 1977: 10–11).

1930s–60s Santa Ana Pueblos, through leases and permits, allowed non-Indian businesses to mine

bentonite, sand, clay, gravel, pumice, and

volcanic ash on their lands (Bayer et al. 1994:

229).

1940 (pre) “Louisiana” bullfrogs were released into

Albuquerque’s north valley (Sargeant and

Davis 1986: 41).

1940 (January) The Upper Rio Grande Drainage

Basin Committee held its first meeting. This

group, made up of personnel from state and

federal agencies, heard various parties discuss

and protest against irrigation projects and

possible loss of water rights to new development along the river (Vlasich 1980: 33).

1940 There were 255,800 cattle-units per year in the

Middle and Upper Rio Grande basins, 116,000

units above carrying capacity (Harper et al.

1943: 50).

1940 More than 30 million acres, or about 39 percent of the total land area of the state, was

used for agricultural and grazing activities.

Included were 10 million acres in national

forest, 16 million in public domain, 2.4 million Native American owned, and 3 million

of railroad land (Culbert 1941: 162).

1940 The total farmland in the Middle and Upper

Rio Grande valleys was 172,375 acres (Harper

et al. 1943: 70).

1940 The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land

Management began to fence federal land in

the Rio Puerco-of-the-East valley and traditional grazing lands on Mesa Prieta and the

San Mateo Mountains, including Mount Taylor (Garcia 1992: 23).

1940 Several grizzly bears were reported on the

Jemez District of the Santa Fe National Forest, the last such record for the state (Brown

1985: 160–161).

1940 Most wild horses had been removed from

rangelands except on Indian reservations and

“waste lands outside of the grazing districts

and fenced areas” (Wyman 1945: 173).

1940 The Bureau of Fisheries and the U.S. Biological Survey were transferred and consolidated

into the Fish and Wildlife Service, Department

of the Interior (Clark 1987: 268).
324 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1940 The population of Sandoval County was

13,898 (Levine et al. 1980: 54).

1940 About two-thirds of the human population

in the Upper and Middle basins was classed

as rural (Dortignac 1956: 72).

1940 (ca.) Elk from Wyoming, Wichita Mountains

National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma, and

the Philmont Boy Scout Ranch were transplanted on Mount Taylor, in the Jemez Mountains, and in the Hopewell and Tres Piedras

areas of the Carson National Forest (Barker

1976: 109–110).

1940 (ca.) The La Joya State Waterfowl Refuge was

established (Barker 1976: 104).

1940–41 Per an agreement with the Federal Government, Frank Bond removed many of his sheep

from the upper Rio Puerco grazing precinct.

He continued to graze sheep on the checkerboard railroad lands that he controlled, however, keeping grazing pressure on the area

(Forrest 1989: 157–158).

1940–41 The Soil Conservation Service sponsored

projects to control erosion on Santa Ana

Pueblo land by erecting fences and windbreaks (Bayer et al. 1994: 228).

1940–42 Thirty-seven elk from Yellowstone National

Park were released near Grass Mountain in

the Sangre de Cristos (deBuys 1985: 356).

1940–44 Pueblo agricultural acreage increased by 15.3

percent, to a total of 21,855 acres. This increase

was due to government assistance, part of the

effort to increase food production during

World War II (Vlasich 1980a: 40–41.

1941 (pre) Pronghorn antelope were hunted on the

grasslands and savannahs near Santa Clara

Pueblo. The surround technique was used by

the hunting party, and 30 to 50 animals were

killed on a successful hunt. A few pronghorns

were allowed to escape to produce more animals (Hill 1982: 52).

1941 (pre) Various duck and goose species, sandhill

cranes, wild turkey, blue grouse, scaled quail,

band-tailed pigeon, mourning doves, “blackbirds,” American robin, lazuli bunting, juncos, bluebirds, and Bullock’s and Scott’s orioles were hunted for food by residents of

Santa Clara Pueblo. Eagles, hawks, vultures,

roadrunners, flycatchers, Stellar’s and pinyon

jays, tanagers, warblers, billed magpies, orioles, and bluebirds were taken for their feathers (Hill 1982: 54–59).

1941 (pre) Residents of Santa Clara Pueblo caught

carp, sucker, eel, catfish, and trout for food

(Hill 1982: 59).

1941 There were seven districts with just under 16

million acres under the administration of the

Division of Grazing (Clark 1987: 255).

1941 A water course was redefined as “a channel

having definite banks and beds with visible

evidence of the occasional flow of waters”

(Clark 1987: 335).

1941 Five gray wolves and five or fewer grizzly

bears were left in the Rio Grande National

Forest, the entire population in Colorado

(Warren 1942: 39, 92).

1941–43 Most commercial sheep and cattle ranchers

were convinced that the severe soil erosion

was simply a result of a natural aridity and

that they and others were helpless in what

they viewed as a natural and inevitable process (Forrest 1989: 160).

1941–43 Each family in the Rio Puerco-of-the-East was

permitted to graze 15 head of sheep in its

grazing precinct administered by the Grazing Service. This number of livestock was considered below the minimum needed for subsistence (Forrest 1989: 159).

1941–45 Corn, wheat, oats, alfalfa, beans, squash, chile,

onions, cabbage, potatoes, watermelons,

muskmelons, various other vegetables, peaches,

apples, cherries, and grapes were being grown

at Zia Pueblo (White 1962: 86–87).

1941–55 About one-fourth of the timber area in the

Upper and Middle basins was in private ownership, while about two-thirds was in national

forests. The remaining timber stands were on

other federal, state, or Indian lands. For the

national forests, about two-thirds of the land

was ponderosa pine, one-fifth in spruce-fir,

and the remainder in Douglas fir. About half

of the ponderosa stands had been cut over,

and less than 10 percent of the spruce-fir had

been cut over. Some 5.4 billion board-feet of

timber were in the national forests. An estimated 60 million board-feet were logged during the first year, and almost 70 million boardfeet in 1950 (Dortignac 1956: 67–69).

1942 (June 6) Levees were strengthened and raised

by the combined efforts of various governmental agencies. Cottonwood and other

woody vegetation from bosque stands were

used to construct mats for protection of levees

at critical bends in the river (Happ ca. 1942:

2–5).

1942 The Pueblos owned about 20,700 acres of

irrigable land in the Middle Rio Grande Basin; about 8,500 acres were in cultivation

(Nelson 1946: 1).

1942 There were 14,972 acres under cultivation in

the Rio Puerco basin (Harper et al. 1943: 11).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 325

1942 The carrying capacity of over 12,100,000 acres

of rangelands in the Middle Rio Grande Valley was estimated at 139,800 cattle-units or

699,000 sheep or goats per year. Some 255,800

cattle-units were actually on the range

(Harper et al. 1943: 50).

1942 The “new” Santa Ana pueblo, now known as

Santa Ana No. 1, east of old Highway 85, was

described by Leslie White (1942: 32): “There

are fertile lands on the east bank, which, of

course, are under cultivation. On both sides

of the river are sand bars, alkali flats, and

some scrub woods (mostly cottonwoods).”

1942 A small pronghorn herd was observed grazing about 10 miles south of Santa Fe (Hewett

and Dutton 1945: 108).

1942 Gross, Kelly, and Co. purchased a railroad car

load of pinyon nuts and shipped them from

Gallup to a Los Angeles business. Unknown

to the owners, the nuts were wet from a snowstorm at the time they were picked, and once

stored in the rail car, they became rancid

(Kelly 1972: 175–176).

1942–56 The carrying capacity of grazing lands in New

Mexico steadily decreased during this extended

drought period (Gatewood et al. 1964: B43).

1940s (early) The excavation of Kuaua Pueblo was

carried out on Santa Ana Pueblo land without their knowledge (Bayer et al. 1994: 236).

1943 April The All-Pueblo Council met and generally

declared opposition to the Flood Control Act

of 1941, which was passed after the major

flood of that year. The council specifically

opposed construction of proposed flood control dams at Otowi and San Felipe but generally supported flood control measures. The

council also spoke out against any plans made

for Pueblo lands without its input (Bayer et

al. 1994: 242–243).

1943 An estimated 48 to 54 percent of the sediments

accumulated in the Rio Grande between San

Acacia and San Marcial came from the Rio

Puerco drainage basin (Tuan 1966: 593).

1943 Because of continued flooding, water shortages for irrigation, stream bed aggradation,

siltation of ditches, rising water tables, and

financial difficulties, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Corps of Engineers began joint

studies directed at protecting levees and property and at rehabilitating and further developing the land and water resources in the

Middle Rio Grande (Crawford et al. 1993: 26).

1943 The pueblos of San Felipe, Santo Domingo,

and Sandia “were growing excellent potatoes” (Vlasich 1980: 39).

1943–56 As climatic conditions became drier, the level

of Elephant Butte Reservoir began to drop.

By 1956 the lake was dry, the only time this

has occurred (Hay 1963: 494–495).

1945 (July 16) The first atomic bomb was tested in

the Jornada del Muerto (Northrop 1959: 41).

1945–49 The State Legislature passed a law that set up

a predator control commission with annual

funding of $50,000. The four members were

from wildlife and livestock agencies. The New

Mexico Livestock Growers’ Association opposed the program and instead favored using the funds to pay professional hunters of

predators (Mortensen 1983: 74).

1945–53 Increased recreational use occurred in the region, which increased water pollution, soil

erosion, and accidental forest fires. Visitors to

the Sandia District of the Cibola National Forest increased from 99,000 to 1,068,000

(Dortignac 1956: 85–86).

1940s (mid) The Pueblos complained to Congress that

the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District had

not provided adequate water or maintenance of

ditches as promised. Many claimed they had

lost crops as a result (Bayer et al. 1994: 243).

1940s (mid) A road connecting Las Huertas Canyon

to Sandia Crest was completed by this time

(McDonald 1985: 11).

1946–56 The Bureau of Reclamation sprayed the herbicides 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T on tamarisk stands

along the Rio Grande and tributaries in an

attempt to control the spread of the exotic

(Lowry 1957: 6, 7).

1947 By this year the original capacity of Elephant

Butte Reservoir had been reduced by 17 percent due to sedimentation (Dortignac 1956: 2).

1947 The ditch rights of residents along the Santa

Fe River from Agua Fria to Cienega were lost

to the Compania de Agua de Santa Fe

(Whitemore 1983: 186).

1947 Salt cedar had spread over 60,640 acres of the

Rio Grande Valley, and these trees were consuming an estimated 238,700 acre-feet of water (Hay 1963: 491–498).

1947 Introduced bullfrogs were commonly harvested in the marshy areas of the Middle Rio

Grande Valley (Pillow and De Vaney 1947: 16).

1947 A few mink were present in the Middle Rio

Grande Valley. Overgrazing in the Jemez Reservoir site area had destroyed good quail

habitat (Pillow and De Vaney 1947: 17).

1947 Four lakes in the San Marcial area provided

good largemouth bass fishing. Good catches

of crappie and channel catfish were also made

(Pillow and DeVaney 1947: 10).
326 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1947 The lower Rio Jemez provided no fishing

owing to species depletion (Pillow and

DeVaney 1947: 10).

1947 There was “a breeding colony of Brewster’s

and American egrets” (Pillow and DeVaney

1947: 19).

1948 Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution

Control Act, the first such legislation for the

United States (Clark 1987: 444).

1948 (ca.) A sawmill was built at Gilman just below the tunnels on the Guadalupe River in

the Jemez Mountains (Glover 1990: 44).

1949 By this year, farming was no longer the primary occupation of the Pueblos (Furman

1975: 2).

1949 The Predatory Animal Control issued instructions and safety precautions for use of 1080,

a highly lethal rodenticide, in the control of

rodents and predators (Brown 1983: 103).

1949 An area of the Tres Piedras Ranger District,

Carson National Forest, was reseeded with

crested wheatgrass (Rowley 1985: following

p. 192).

1940s (late) Los Alamos Laboratory began pumping water from wells up to 2,000 feet deep on

the Pajarito Plateau for domestic and industrial use (Fergusson 1951: 363).

1940s Limits on the number of livestock that one

owner could graze on the national forests

were implemented. For the Santa Fe, 50 to 100

head of cattle per owner were permitted.

These limitations were imposed because of

heavy local demand. Also, attempts were

made to reduce common use of forest ranges

by constructing fences, developing more water, and reassigning individual allotments

(Eastman and Gray 1987: 37).

1940s–66 A government hunter, who trapped or shot

“problem” mountain lions and black bears in

the Sandias, lived in Tijeras Canyon. Populations of these two species were virtually eradicated (McDonald 1985: 12).

1950 (pre) Water loss due to transpiration from salt

cedar, surface water evaporation, wet sediments, and abandoned waterlogged lands

was estimated at 75 percent of stream flow

depletion (Dortignac 1956: 2).

1950 (pre) Yellow perch were introduced into the

Rio Grande, Pecos, and San Juan drainages

(Sublette et al. 1990: 331).

1950 There were 158,000 livestock units in the

Middle and Upper basins (Dortignac 1956:

56).

1950 There were 55,000 to 90,000 acres of irrigated

land in the Middle Valley (Dortignac 1956: 30).

1950 The estimated irrigated acreage for the Upper and Middle Rio Grande valleys was as

follows: San Luis Valley to Otowi Bridge,

98,700 acres; Otowi Bridge to San Marcial,

98,700 acres (Sorensen and Linford 1967: 154).

1950 The irrigated acreage in the Middle Valley had

declined to 3,500 acres (Dortignac 1956: 30).

1950 There were 712,000 acres of farmland under

irrigation in New Mexico; 46 percent, or

320,000 acres, were irrigated with ground

water (Clark 1987: 296).

1950 The population of the Middle and Upper basins was 275,000, of which about 15 percent

were actively engaged in agriculture

(Dortignac 1956: 77–78).

1950 The population of Sandoval County was

12,438 (Levine et al. 1980: 55).

1950 Cabezon was virtually abandoned (Varney

1987: 35).

1950–55 (spring-fall) Pinyon-juniper and sagebrush

ranges were in “extremely poor condition and

forage from these lands falls [fell] far short of

needs, supplying only one-third of requirements during this time.” This condition forced

“livestock operators to hold animals longer

on winter ranges or drive them to higher lying summer ranges.” Spring and winter

ranges were “overgrazed and the summer

ranges are [were] often grazed too early, as a

consequence” (Dortignac 1956: 64).

1951 (pre) The reach of the Rio Grande “between

Bosque del Apache and the narrows of Elephant Butte Reservoir was almost a continuous swamp” (State Engineer Office 1956: 2).

1951 (March 25) Sagebrush was removed from

7,000 acres of overgrazed rangeland on Mesa

Viejas, Canjilon Ranger District, Carson National Forest. Reseeding with crested wheatgrass followed (Rowley 1985: following p. 192).

1951 (July 24–25) A flash flood destroyed the San

Luis irrigation dam on the Rio Puerco

(Widdison 1959: 277).

1951–54 Channelization and floodplain clearing of 31

miles of the Rio Grande above Elephant Butte

was completed (Lowry 1957: 12).

1951 (late) (to 1954) Channelization of the river,

clearance of a floodway 1,000 to 1,400 feet

wide of 31 miles of the Rio Grande, and construction of a low-flow channel, were carried

out by the Bureau of Reclamation and the

Corps of Engineers. Woody plants were tandem-disced and sprayed with 2,4-D and 2,4,5-

T (Lowry 1957: 11–12).

1953 The New Mexico Legislature declared “that

all underground waters of the State of New
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 327

Mexico are public waters subject to appropriation for beneficial use within the State”

(Erickson 1954: 81).

1953 The Bureau of Reclamation began a channel

modification of the Middle Rio Grande to

maintain channel capacity for “safely passing high flows, reducing water losses while

conveying water to downstream users, and

moving sediments through the valley”

(Crawford et al. 1993: 43–44).

1953 The “salt burden” in the Rio Grande at San

Marcial exceeded one-half million tons during the year (Dortignac 1956: 38).

1954 The U.S. Government outlawed the indiscriminate use of poison to kill predators of

livestock. Sheep ranchers turned to use of the

“coyote getta,” a “cyanide gun” stuck in the

ground. Some ranchers also “controlled”

predators by shooting from airplanes (Moyer

1979: 71).

1954–60 Annual sediment production on the San Luis

watersheds in the Rio Puerco basin averaged

about three-fourths of an acre-foot per square

mile (Dortignac 1960: 49).

1955 The average, annual stream flow production

in the Rio Grande above Elephant Butte was

almost 3 million acre-feet. More than 900,000

acre-feet of water was consumed between the

Colorado-New Mexico state line and Elephant Butte Dam. This was almost twothirds of the water produced in this region.

More than 400,000 acre-feet of the total was

considered wasted or of nonbeneficial use

(Dortignac 1956: 29).

1955 The aggrading bed of the Rio Grande was resulting in “increased frequency of floods by

causing bank overflow under progressively

smaller river discharges or water-flows,” “increased channel meander due to nonuniformity of deposition,” “reduced efficiency of

drains” and “waterlogging,” and “repeated

inundation of railroads, highways, and

bridges” (Dortignac 1956: 42).

1955 About 85 percent of the lands in the Middle

and Upper basins were being grazed by livestock (Dortignac 1956: 55).

1955 Almost half of the Upper and Middle basin

was “eroding at a “moderate rate” and over

40 percent at an excessive rate. Shallow gullies covered about 15 percent of the region

(Dortignac 1956: 50).

1955 There were about 60,000 acres of vegetation

dominated by salt cedar in the Middle Rio

Grande. This phreatophyte species was consuming about 240,000 acre-feet of water annually, about twice the amount used by cultivated crops (Dortignac 1956: 47).

1955 There were an estimated 1,500 elk and 25,000

deer on national forests in the Upper and

Middle basins (Dortignac 1956: 71).

1955 State legislation authorized change of the title

“game warden” to “conservation officer” and

authorized the director of Game and Fish “to

appoint properly qualified persons as

nonsalaried reserve conservation officers

empowered to enforce the regulations of the

State Game Commission and to perform such

other duties with respect to wildlife management and conservation education as he might

assign (Clark 1987: 370).

1955–60 Rural domestic use of water in New Mexico

increased from 6.8 million gallons per day to

10.0 mgd (Hale et al. 1965: 52).

1950s (mid) More than 95 percent of the surface

water produced in the Upper and Middle Rio

Grande basins was used for farming, livestock

raising, manufacturing and domestic

purposes, or lost in transpiration (Dortignac

1956: 4).

1950s (mid) Most of the sedimentation in the Middle

Rio Grande Basin was derived from gully and

arroyo trenching and sheet erosion of lower

elevation rangelands (Dortignac 1956: 2).

1950s (mid) The sediment load of the Rio Puerco

began to decrease, probably due to “variations in climate/weather patterns, improved

land management in the drainage, and cyclical geomorphic trends” (Crawford et al. 1993:

54).

1950s (mid) Only about half of the forage requirements were provided by native plant rangelands, even though livestock numbers had

been substantially reduced. The native forage

produced on pinyon-juniper and sagebrush

rangelands was only about one-third of

spring-fall requirements (Dortignac 1956: 3).

1950s (mid) There were between 30,000 and 40,000

sheep owned by residents of Laguna Pueblo

(Eastman and Gray 1987: 98).

1950s (mid) There were about 60,000 acres of principally salt cedar in the valley from Otowi

bridge to Elephant Butte Reservoir. Water consumption by this species was estimated to

be twice that of cultivated crops (Dortignac

1956: 47).

1956 (March) The Sandia Conservancy District,

petitioned for by a group of landowners, was

created to control flash flood waters originating along the west face of the Sandia Mountains (Clark 1987: 355).
328 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1956 A system of levees along both banks of the

Rio Grande, from the North Valley to below

Albuquerque, was constructed by the Corps

of Engineers (Alberts 1976: 100).

1956–59 Channelization of the Middle Rio Grande,

with clearing of all obstructions, was completed by the Bureau of Reclamation. Kellner

jetties also were installed along the inside of

the levee system to “train the river channel

in the floodway to an approximate width of

600 feet...” (State Engineer Office 1956: 5).

1957 A paved road into Taos Pueblo was strongly

opposed by the conservative faction of the

village (Wood 1989: 103).

1958–60 Average annual yields of Russian thistle were

279 pounds/acre and of all grasses 224

pounds/acre on the Cornfield Wash drainage,

a tributary of the Rio Puerco-of-the-East

(Branson 1985: 39).

1959 The Rio Puerco channel at La Ventana was

about 50 feet deep (Dortignac 1960: 47).

1959 The Ideal Cement plant opened in Tijeras

Canyon (Oppenheimer 1962: A–16).

1959 Cochiti Pueblos lost their claim to the La

Bajada land grant. The Pueblos also asked the

Corps of Engineers to change the location of

the proposed Cochiti Dam and Reservoir, but

the agency refused (Welsh 1987: 145).

1959 The channelization project on the Rio Grande

at San Marcial was completed (Jenkins and

Schroeder 1974: 77).

1959 Peggy Pond Church, daughter of Ashley

Pond, who founded the Los Alamos Ranch

School, wrote of her father’s feeling for the

Pajarito Plateau: “. . . there are certain places

in the earth where the great powers that move

between earth and sky are much closer and

more available than others, and ... this region,

this stretch of valley, plateau and circling mountain, was one of them” (Church 1959: 18).

1950s The Bureau of Land Management was criticized for primarily focusing on leasing public lands to livestock raisers and overlooking

other public values and uses for these lands.

A special concern of some groups was the

protection of watersheds and “marginal

lands” from overgrazing (Clark 1987: 590).

1950s Timber sales and logging occurred in the

Capulin Springs area in the Sandia Mountains. Logging was “camouflaged” because

of complaints of local residents and visitors.

Firewood cutting was common (McDonald

1985: 11).

1950s The Sandia ski area was expanded

(McDonald 1985: 12).

1960 Congress passed the Flood Control Act, which

in part authorized construction of the Galisteo

Dam (Welsh 1987: 149).

1960 The Acequia de La Cienega flowed at 650 gallons per minute. In 1993 it flowed at 133 gpm,

primarily due to the increase in wells in the

area (Selcraig 1993: 10).

1960 By this year, Russian olive had become a major understory component of the Middle Rio

Grande bosque (Freehling 1982: 10).

1960 The population of Sandoval County was

14,201 (Levine et al. 1980: 55).

1960–92 Groundwater levels in the Santa Fe Group

aquifer system under east Albuquerque declined 140 feet. This represented an estimated

withdrawal of 994,000 acre-feet of ground

water (Kernolde et al. 1995: 1).

1961 (February) President Kennedy delivered a

“natural resources” message advising Congress that he had instructed the Secretary of

the Interior to initiate a three-part offensive

against public land abuse. This included making an “inventory and evaluation of unreserved public lands,” developing a “balanced

use program,” and an “accelerated soil and

water conservation program, including a rehabilitation program of depleted rangelands”

(Clark 1987: 590–591).

1962 (pre) Pinyon was the preferred fuelwood at

Santa Clara Pueblo, followed by juniper and

pine (ponderosa?) (Hill 1982: 41).

1962 (pre) Some Santa Clara Pueblo residents

stated that Gambel’s quail was a recent introduction (arrival?) into the area (Hill 1982: 56).

1962 The maximum depth of the Rio Puerco channel at La Ventana was about 55 feet (Dortignac

1962: 588).

1962 Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) made up 3 to 4

percent of the vegetative cover on the Rio

Puerco watershed (Dortignac 1963: 508).

1963 (May) The cattle egret, a native of Africa, was

first recorded in New Mexico at the Bosque

del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

(Hubbard 1978: 4).

1963 Over 6,300 coyotes were trapped or poisoned

by federal and state trappers without causing a noticeable decrease in the overall population (Findley et al. 1975: 281–282).

1963 Kokanee salmon were introduced in northern New Mexico (Sublette et al. 1990: 67).

1963–75 Personnel at the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research in Tucson were unable to match species of living trees to those in the archeological chronology due to “changed dendrochronological characteristics of certain species
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 329

as a consequence of logging which has destroyed the lower forest border in the northern Rio Grande Valley” (Dean and Robinson

1978: 4).

1964 The Rio Puerco channel at San Luis was 36

feet deep (Tuan 1966: 589).

1964 The depth of the Rio Puerco channel at

Poblazon was 43 feet (Tuan 1966: 589).

1964 The depth of the Rio Puerco channel at San

Ignacio was 36 feet (Tuan 1966: 589).

1964 Irrigated farm plots per capita among the

Pueblo ranged from one-half acre at Laguna

to 12 acres at Sandia (Stevens 1964: 39–40).

1964 Congress passed the Land Classification and

Multiple Use Act, which directed the Secretary of the Interior “to develop criteria for

determining which BLM lands should be classified for disposal and which should remain

in federal ownership.” These lands would

also be “managed for the protection of public

values” (Clark 1987: 591).

1964 Congress passed the Wilderness Act, establishing the national wilderness system (Clark

1987: 584).

1964 The 41,132-acre San Pedro Parks Wilderness

Area was designated in the Santa Fe National

Forest (Rothman 1992: 271).

1964 The Pecos Wilderness, some 167,416 acres,

was created in the Santa Fe National Forest

(Rothman 1992: 271). The area, including

Pecos Baldy and Truchas Peaks, was restocked with Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep

(deBuys 1985: 289).

1965 The State Legislature declared that “the State

of New Mexico claims the right to all moisture in the atmosphere which would fall so

as to become part of the natural streams or

percolated water of New Mexico, for use in

accordance with its laws.” The Weather Control and Cloud Modification Commission was

also created “to oversee attempts to alter

weather conditions” (Clark 1987: 373).

1965 The Water Resources Planning Act created a

national water commission to work with the

National Resources Council and public and

private agencies “in isolating major problems

and suggesting alternative solutions which

would assure an ample supply of clear water

for the future.” A final report, Water Policies

for the Future, was produced, with emphasis

on the economics of water (Clark 1987: 378–

380).

1965 Congress passed the Water Resources Research Act, which was directed at supplementing, rather than duplicating, ongoing

research, with special emphasis on state problems that had only a small chance of being

funded. A Water Resources Research Institute

was established in New Mexico, partially

with funding authorized by this federal act

(Clark 1987: 380–381).

1965 Logging by the New Mexico Timber Co.

ended on the Canon de San Diego land grant.

Most of the grant was deeded by the U.S. Forest Service, but some land was developed as

vacation properties (Glover 1990: 44).

1965–66 The State Planning Office and the State Engineer Office carried out an in-depth report and

inventory of the state’s water resources (Clark

1987: 374).

1960s (mid) The Forest Service proposed to construct a road from Sandia Crest to Placitas.

Because of protests from several environmental groups, the agency moved the road to a

lower elevation and secretly cleared the rightof-way. Increasing protests caused the Forest

Service to terminate the project (McDonald

1985: 12–13).

1966 Congress passed the Historic Preservation

Act, setting up the National Register program

(McGimsey n.d.: 17).

1967 A fire that started in or near the Juan Tabo

picnic grounds burned up to the ridge of the

Sandia Mountains over 3 days (McDonald

1985: 12).

1968 (September 26) The Rio Grande, extending

south from the Colorado state line to Highway 96, was declared a National Wild and

Scenic River (Baker et al. 1988: 72).

1968 The estimated carrying capacity for rangelands in the Santa Fe and Albuquerque areas

was less than one-half that of 1827 (Gonzalez

1969: 44).

1969 Congress passed the National Environmental Policy Act (Clark 1987: 450–451).

1960s The riverside diversions at Corrales and

Atrisco were replaced by inverted siphons,

which ran under the river from riverside

drains that were converted seasonally into

conveyance channels (Kernodle et al. 1995:

19).

1960s Northern pike were introduced into several

large reservoirs (Sublette et al. 1990: 77).

1970 (December 15) President Richard Nixon

signed a bill placing 48,000 acres of Carson

National Forest, including their sacred Blue

Lake, in trust for the sole use of Taos Pueblos

(Keegan 1991: 50).

1970 President Nixon set up the Environmental

Protection Agency (Clark 1987: 452).
330 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1971 The Wild Horse and Burro Act, which complicated the management of these two animals on Bureau of Land Management and

U.S. Forest Service lands, was passed. Populations increased on most areas, and burros

moved into Bandelier National Monument.

Partly due to their intensive grazing, soil erosion on the monument increased to an estimated

36 tons per year (Rothman 1992: 280–281).

1972 The Forest Service issued The Nation’s Range

Resources, which reported that much of Southwestern rangelands, public and private, were

in a deteriorating condition (Rowley 1985: 238).

1970s (early) Water deficiency, present or future, and

pollution were serious problems as identified

by 8 of the 10 Middle Rio Grande pueblos

(Furman 1975: 5).

1971 (post) The descendants of Pecos Pueblos requested that the state Game and Fish Department transfer to them ownership of the cave

at Tererro, a sacred place (Kessell 1979: 471).

1975–76 The condition of most of the public domain

was considered only bad to fair. The Bureau

of Land Management reported that only 17

percent of the rangelands they administered

were in good or excellent condition (Box ca.

1978: 18).

1980 The Cochiti Pueblo Council filed suit against

the Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque District,

for causing the “waterlogging” of 320 acres

of traditional Cochiti farmland below the

Cochiti Dam, which the Corps had constructed in 1967–70 (Welsh 1987: 162).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 331

Historic Native American and Hispanic resource use

and conservation prior to the Anglo occupation and domination of the Middle Rio Grande Basin was documented

in Chapters 3–5. Various Indian groups exploited water

and a range of faunal and floral resources, arable soil,

and rock materials. They developed strategies, in some

instances, for sustained use of these resources on a subsistence basis. Their relatively low populations and low

levels of technology generally ensured an ongoing relative

abundance of most of these resources. In rare situations

where intensive local use or climatic events depleted a

needed resource, Native Americans moved to a new area

or traded for the scarce commodity. In the colonial period, the Spanish generally interrupted such strategies.

Hispanics brought not only an array of new technologies, which enabled them to exploit eco-cultural resources

more extensively and intensively than the indigenous

populations, but they also brought a new attitude regarding environmental use. The Spanish, unlike Native

Americans, saw themselves as separate from nature and

viewed natural disasters as acts of God over which they

had no control (Weber 1992: 29). Although most residents

maintained basic subsistence lifestyles, some resources

were exported to Mexico by wealthier private individuals or government officials. By the late 18th century, in

spite of some governmental regulation, there were some

local water shortages and contamination, decimation or

depletion of forage, and soil erosion. By the time of the

arrival of the U.S. Army and early Anglo settlers in the

mid- to late-1840s, grass and wood supplies were in decline or nearly exhausted around the Rio Grande Valley

from above Cochiti Pueblo to below Socorro.

Anglo Americans also brought new technologies and,

more important, a new attitude toward the environment.

Like that of the Spaniards, Anglos' attitudes emanated

from a religious background that viewed humans as separate from the natural environment. Also related to this

philosophy was a resource exploitation strategy based on

maximum harvest of resources for maximum profit. To

promote primarily Anglo settlement and development of

the region, the Federal Government passed many natural

resource laws, created numerous agencies, and appropriated many millions of dollars. Initially, virtually all federal and territorial laws promulgated intensive use of the

environment. This led to various forms of environmental

CHAPTER 6

OVERVIEW OF EARLY SCIENTIFIC WORK,

RESOURCE DATA COLLECTION, MANAGEMENT,

AND CONSERVATION 1812–1982

degradation that subsequently were addressed in everincreasing degrees by governmental agencies.

Most notable is the characteristic evolution from virtually unregulated resource use on the frontier, especially

on the public domain. Driven and supported by federal

and local legislative acts, policies, agencies, and monetary

remuneration, the pattern shifted to a relatively wellregulated and reasonably balanced resource management

system emphasizing self-sustainable and wise use programs and policies, involving an array of public agencies

and “watchdog” environmental groups. A few legislative

acts from the early exploitation period, such as the 1872

Mining Act, remain in effect. The 104th Congress has attempted to modify many resource management laws created in recent decades.

The following overview includes (1) a discussion of the

early naturalists and environmental scientists and their

work, (2) a chronological narrative about conservation and

management of land and water resources by public agencies, (3) significant resource management legislation, and

(4) a discussion of important private organizations' effect

on management and preservation of the region’s environmental resources during the territorial and statehood (to

1982) periods. A chronology of landmark events, the work

of naturalists, scientists, government agencies, and environmental organizations and resource legislation follows.

EARLY NATURALISTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL

SCIENTISTS IN THE STUDY REGION, 1831–1924

Various Native American groups, who have lived in the

region for more than 10,000 years, might be called the first

“naturalists.” Over thousands of years, knowledge of

geography, surface waters, rocks and minerals, plants and

animals—their distribution, seasonal or annual occurrences, and uses—was gained through observation, study,

and experimentation. Native Americans passed this

knowledge orally from one generation to the next. They

shared non-sacred aspects of this information with

Hispanics who began settling in New Mexico at the end

of the 16th century. Hispanics brought new plants, animals, and associated knowledge, which in turn they

shared with Native Americans.

Native Americans also had considerable knowledge of

astronomical phenomena and extensive knowledge of the
332 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

geography of the region. Early Spanish explorers relied

on Indian guides for travel directions, locations of water,

and food sources. This kind of information was also made

available to Spanish Colonial New Mexico’s Hispanic and

later Anglo explorers and settlers. Chronicles from early

Spanish expeditions (Hammond and Rey 1966, 1967;

Hodge 1946; and Schroeder and Matson 1965) contain the

first written descriptions, albeit sketchy, of the land, water, biotic components, and indigenous peoples.

The best known map maker in Spanish Colonial New

Mexico was Captain Don Bernardo Miera y Pacheco. After his arrival in Santa Fe in 1756, he produced several

maps, including perhaps his best known map, prepared

in 1779 (Fig. 74). This map shows, with relative accuracy,

streams and rivers, mountain ranges, place names, and

settlements. He died in Santa Fe in 1785 (Adams and

Chavez 1956: 2–4, 161; Chavez 1975: 229–230).

The most comprehensive work on the geography, agriculture, and human populations of colonial New Mexico

was produced by Fray Francisco Atanasio Dominguez, a

Franciscan priest who traveled across the region in 1776

(Adams and Chavez 1956). He carefully recorded his observations on the landscape and settlements, which resulted in a large manuscript discovered in Mexico City in

1928 and first published 28 years later. Several other religious figures and government officials, such as Benavides

(Ayer 1965), Morfi (Simmons 1977), Chacon (Simmons

1985), and Pino, Barreiro, and Escudero (Carroll and Haggard 1942), authored manuscripts that contain less

comprehensive and detailed, but nonetheless useful, environmental history data on the period.

The first scientific studies of the region were carried out

by Anglo naturalists from the midwestern or eastern

United States, some of whom were actually trained as

medical doctors. They primarily collected plants and animals that were sent back east for study and naming. They

were followed by geologists, paleontologists, botanists,

zoologists, and ornithologists, who were generally part

of military expeditions or railroad surveys. Early photographers, artists, and map makers, also part of the same

kind of field parties, provided basic imagery of the land

and its people. These collected specimens, associated scientific data, and photographs and maps composed a body

of knowledge that was subsequently utilized by early

conservationists and resource managers, as well as private organizations and politicians, in determining needs,

developing programs, and enacting legislation related to

the environment.

Although not trained as a naturalist, early Anglo explorer and trader Josiah Gregg (Fig. 75) was a good observer and student of the region’s geography, fauna, flora,

and eco-cultures. His observations, made from 1831 to

1841, were published in the now classic Commerce of the

Prairies, which has gone through several reprintings since

first issued in 1844. A few other Anglos of the mid 19th

century, such as W.H.H. Davis (1982), wrote rather detailed accounts of land use along the Middle Rio Grande

Valley.

The first individuals trained in the physical or biological sciences to work in the study region were botanists.

Two East Coast botanists, John Torrey of Columbia and

Asa Gray of Harvard, collected, classified, and named

plants for a botanical study of North America in the 1840s.

Thomas Nuttall, a prominent Philadelphia botanist, and

George Engelmann, a St. Louis physician and expert on

cacti, assisted in this ambitious project (Dickerman 1985:

159; Goetzmann 1966: 321). These plant and zoological

collections resulted in descriptive catalogs and inventories that organized large amounts of data for use by later,

more theoretically oriented biologists. Scientists forwarded faunal specimens to the Smithsonian Institution,

where they were cataloged and classified under the direct supervision of Spencer F. Baird, a student of John

James Audubon (Goetzmann 1966: 322–323).

Collecting in New Mexico began in 1841, when William Gambel, a protege of Nuttall, arrived in Santa Fe in

July. He collected botanical and zoological specimens in

the nearby Rio Grande Valley and Sangre de Cristo Range.

The Gambel oak was later named in his honor (Dickerman

1985: 159, 163–164).

In 1846 another plant collector, Frederick A. Wislizenus

(1969), came to New Mexico just prior to the U.S. Army’s

invasion. During his relatively brief passage through the

region and into Chihuahua, Wislizenus collected five new

species, including pinyon and ponderosa pines, walkingstick cholla, a yucca, and an echinocactus (Dickerman

1985: 164–166).

Later in 1846, Lt. William Emory of the U.S. Corps of

Topographical Engineers collected botanical specimens

along the Santa Fe and Chihuahua trails. Two of the plants

he collected, an oak and a mesquite, were later named for

him (Dickerman 1985: 167–168). Emory also produced the

first detailed maps of the region.

Another topographical engineer, Lt. James W. Abert

(1962), was interested in the flora, fauna, and geology of

New Mexico. Under Emory’s command, Abert described

the plants and animals on his route of travel along the Rio

Grande Valley as far south as Valverde, west to the Rio

Puerco, Laguna, and Acoma, and east to the edge of the

Estancia Valley. He collected and recorded various bird

specimens during his exploration. He also collected the

first fossil specimens from the territory; some of these were

illustrated in his subsequent report to the U.S. Senate.

The U.S. Corps of Topographical Engineers had been

created in 1838 and was responsible for conducting a general survey of the plants, animals, geology, and Native

Americans of the West. Most of the engineers, like Emory

and Abert, were educated at West Point and were trained

and advised by the best scientists and learned societies in

America. Their recording and collecting of natural his-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 333

Figure 74—Miera y Pacheco’s map of the Middle Rio Grande Basin, 1779.
334 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 75—Santa Fe Trail trader Josiah Gregg. Courtesy Museum

of New Mexico Photo Archives, Santa Fe (negative no. 9896).

tory specimens were major contributions to the basic work

of science. At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, the

Corps began to disintegrate. In early 1863 it merged with

the Corps of Engineers (Goetzmann 1991: 6–21, 430–432).

Various topographical engineers also made relatively

careful observations of the weather representing the first

scientific meteorological data recorded in the state. These

data were used primarily to determine feasibility of road

and railroad construction and settlement in the region

(Goetzmann 1991: 331).

Augustus Fendler, who had extensive experience collecting plant specimens, arrived in New Mexico with a

contingent of American troops in the fall of 1846. The following spring and summer he collected 1,026 specimens

along the Santa Fe River and surrounding uplands. One

of the plants he collected, Fendlerbush, was subsequently

named in his honor (Dickerman 1985: 168–169).

Capt. Lorenzo Sitgreaves led an expedition from Santo

Domingo Pueblo west to Zuni and the Colorado River

via Acoma and El Morro in 1854. Included in the party

were naturalist and physician Dr. S.W. Woodhouse, Lt.

J.G. Parke, and artist R.J. Kern. Woodhouse collected and

described mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians.

Among the birds were White-Throated Swifts, the first

time this species was collected scientifically. He later survived a bite on the hand by a rattlesnake near the Zuni

River (Eifert 1962: 180–182; Ligon 1961: 7).

Cartographer Richard Kern, while living in Santa Fe in

late 1850, assembled a large botanical and entomological

collection. He sent the collection east, probably to the

Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Early in

1852 Kern personally gave a number of insect specimens

and a coyote skull from New Mexico to the academy

(Weber 1985: 134–135).

Still another U.S. topographical engineer, Lt. A.W.

Whipple, followed the 35th parallel across New Mexico

Territory in 1853. Surveying for a possible railroad route

to the Pacific, he was accompanied by Dr. C.B.R. Kennerly,

a physician and naturalist; Dr. J.M. Bigelow, also a medical doctor and naturalist; Jules Marcou, a celebrated

geologist; and H.B. Molhausen, a German artist and topographer. In addition to collecting mammals, birds, and

fish, Bigelow wrote an essay on the distribution of plants

along their survey route and the distribution of specific

tree species found in forests. Five men trained in meteorological observation were also members of the expedition (Goetzmann 1991: 287-288, 328).

As noted above, Bigelow, with the Whipple expedition, collected the first fish specimens in the region in

1853. C. Girard, a member of the Capt. John Williams

Gunnison expedition, surveying the 38th parallel as another potential railroad route, collected fish in the Upper Rio Grande Basin in southern Colorado. These

specimens, and those collected by other early surveys,

went to the U.S. National Museum of Natural History,

the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and

the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard

University for curation (Goetzmann 1966: 286–287;

Sublette et al. 1990: 1, 370).

In 1857–59 John Strong Newberry, a member of military surveys for railroad routes, studied the geology of

northern and northeastern New Mexico. He wrote detailed

descriptions of stratigraphy, gathered considerable

paleontological information, and provided a good interpretation of the regional geology (Goetzmann 1966: 308–

309; Kues 1985: 117).

A number of army surgeons stationed at frontier outposts made early weather observations. Their data “represented a comprehensive picture of far-western weather

conditions,” that was useful not only to the military but

also to early settlers in the region (Goetzmann 1991: 331).

Several military doctors contributed to early ornithological research in New Mexico. Perhaps the best known,

Lt. Col. Thomas Carlton Henry, was stationed at forts

Fillmore and Thorn in 1852–55. He collected a large num-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 335

ber of bird specimens and published his observations on

these, as well as those made in the field, in 1856 (Henry

1856; Hume 1942: 207–218; Ligon 1961: 7–8).

Dr. Caleb Burwell Kennerly accompanied Lt. Joseph C.

Ives up the Rio Grande to Albuquerque in 1853, making

extensive observations on birds and collecting a relatively

large number of specimens. He joined the Whipple expedition and continued his work as the group moved west

across the Rio Puerco, along the San Jose, and on to El

Morro and Zuni Pueblo (Ligon 1961: 8).

At Cantonment Burgwyn (later referred to as Fort

Burgwyn) in the 1850s, post doctor W.W. Anderson discovered a new species of warbler, which he collected and

sent to Professor Baird. Baird subsequently named the bird

Virginia’s Warbler, in honor of Anderson’s wife (Eifert

1962: 183). Another new species of warbler, Grace’s

Warbler, was collected by U.S. Army surgeon Dr. Elliott

Coues near the site of old Fort Wingate in July 1864. He

was one of the best known 19th-century ornithologists in

the Southwest, as well as a noted historian. Coues’ twovolume Key to North American Birds (1884) was perhaps

his most important ornithological publication (Eifert 1962:

175-176, 183–184; Ligon 1961: 9).

While at Camp or Cantonment Burgwyn in 1872, Major Charles Emil Bendire became interested in birds and

egg collecting. He continued this pursuit at posts in southern Arizona, eventually collecting some 8,000 eggs, which

he donated to the U.S. National Museum. His two-volume

Life Histories of North American Birds (1892-1895) was a

highly respected work (Ligon 1961: 9).

In 1869 the U.S. Geological Survey of the Territories was

formed in the Department of the Interior, primarily to conduct land classification and resource explorations ahead

of the land surveyors and first settlers. The first outstanding geologist to work for the USGS was F.V. Hayden who

conducted a major survey from Denver over Raton Pass,

south to Santa Fe, then back north through Taos and the

San Luis valley in 1869. With Hayden were zoologist E.

C. Carrington, entomologist Cyrus Thomas, and artist

Henry W. Elliot. The expedition collected large numbers

of fossils. On a later survey, 1873–75, Hayden also sent

ethnologist William H. Holmes and photographer W.H.

Jackson on a survey of Indian ruins from Mesa Verde to

the San Juan to Chaco Canyon, Pueblo Pintado, and Canyon de Chelly. Their detailed report, with numerous illustrations, was an early landmark in Southwestern

archeology (Goetzmann 1966: 489, 497–498, 521–526).

Beginning in 1871, Lt. George M. Wheeler led the geographical surveys of the territories of the United States

west of the 100th meridian. The main objectives of the

surveys were to gather topographical knowledge of the

region; prepare accurate maps; gather information on

routes for rail or wagon roads; survey the mineral resources, geological formations, vegetation, agricultural

suitability, and weather; and gather information on Native

Americans. Key members of the expedition included E.D.

Cope, who discovered Eocene fossil beds with their early

mammal remains in northern New Mexico. He and Dr.

Oscar Loew also explored new Indian ruins along the San

Juan River in 1874. The surveying and mapping of northcentral and northwestern New Mexico occurred in

1877–78. Ornithologist Henry W. Henshaw conducted extensive field work in central and northern New Mexico in

1873–74. Zoologist Elliot Coues and photographer Timothy O’Sullivan also contributed outstanding work for the

project. By the end of the project in 1878, seven large volumes of final reports on geography, geology, paleontology, astronomy, zoology, botany, archeology, and history

were completed. Also produced were 71 maps, including

a geological, as well as a topographical, atlas and seven

land-use maps. Some 43,759 natural history specimens

were collected and sent to the Smithsonian (Goetzmann

1966: 467–470, 482–483, 485–487; Goetzmann 1991: 42).

Other important work of the Wheeler group was performed by Cope and H.C. Yarrow, who collected fish in the

region (Sublette et al. 1990: 345, 365–366). Ornithologist

Henry Wetherbee Henshaw, who emphasized observing and

recording birds rather than collecting, worked in the northern part of the territory in 1873–74. U.S. Army botanist Joseph

T. Rothrock also collected here in 1874 (Ligon 1961: 10).

Two of the best known naturalists who worked in New

Mexico were Florence Merriam, an orinthologist, and

Vernon Bailey, a naturalist. They collected and observed

across the territory-state from 1889 to 1924. Some have

called Merriam the greatest American woman ornithologist; she authored the Handbook of Birds of the Western

United States(1917 rev. ed.) and Birds of New Mexico (1928).

Vernon Bailey was Chief Naturalist of the U.S. Bureau of

Biological Survey for years and published Life Zones and

Crop Zones of New Mexico (1913) and Mammals of New

Mexico (1932) (Ligon 1961: 11; Norwood 1993: 43–46).

New Mexico’s best known early anthropologist was

Adolph F. Bandelier, who worked over much of the territory between late 1880 and early 1892. Perhaps Bandelier’s

most important contribution was his pioneering effort in

multidisciplinary approaches, especially using ethnological data in the interpretation of archeological remains.

Until 1886, funding for most of his fieldwork came from

the Archaeological Institute of America and after that date

from AIA and the Hemenway Expedition (Lange and Riley

1966: 1–5, 24–56, 66–67).

As indicated, artists and photographers accompanied

many of the earliest scientific expeditions to the region.

Their images of the historical landscape, plants, animals,

historical structures, and indigenous peoples are still valuable today. In addition to those previously mentioned,

there was illustrator and cartographer Edward Kern, who

was with the Col. John M. Washington expedition in 1849.

His brother Richard was also on this expedition, which

followed a circular route from Santa Fe through Navajo
336 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

country, via Chaco Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, and Zuni,

and back to the capital. Edward’s fine map was the first

detailed map of this region. He also made meteorological

observations and sketches of animal and plant life. Richard prepared several sketches of landscapes and Navajo

leaders, which became part of Col. Washington’s report

to the U.S. Senate (McNitt 1964: ix, xxxii, l-lii).

Some early photographers included J.G. Gaige, who

worked out of Santa Fe and at military posts, 1862–66;

Nicolas Brown, who photographed around Santa Fe and

Albuquerque and worked the Rio Abajo 1866–72;

Alexander Gardner, who accompanied a private railroad

survey across central New Mexico in 1867–68; H.T. Heister,

who photographed from his Santa Fe studio and while

making a boat trip down the Rio Grande in 1874; and

George C. Bennett, who photographed at Acoma, Cochiti,

and Frijoles Canyon, where he worked with Adolph

Bandelier, 1880–83 (Rudisill 1973: 13–14, 16, 28-29, 33).

Another group worked in the 1880s: Ben Wittick, who

worked for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad in 1881–82

and around the territory until he died of snakebite in 1903;

John Hillers, who accompanied Col. James Stevenson in

a study of prehistoric archeological sites and extant pueblos in 1879–80; independents George C. Bennet and William H. Brown, who photographed the Santa Fe and

Cerrillos areas and the Rio Grande Valley around San Juan

Pueblo and Potrero Viejo in 1880; William H. Rau, a visiting landscape photographer, 1881; Charles Lummis, who

lived at Isleta and other pueblos in 1888–1890s and teamed

with Adolph Bandelier and photographed the CochitiJemez country during this period; Henry A. Schmidt, who

worked the area around his resident town of Chloride,

but photographed as far north as Cabezon, 1882–1924;

William Henry Cobb, who worked out of Albuquerque

and Santa Fe, 1880–1890s; and Philip Embury Harroun,

who photographed irrigation and bridge projects, 1881–

92 (Coke 1979: 4–21; Olivas 1971, 1975; Rudisill 1973: 5–

11, 33, 54). Starting their work slightly later were Christian

G. Kaadt, who was employed a short time by the Santa Fe

Central Railroad and later ran a curio shop in Santa Fe,

1893–1905; Erwin E. Smith, who photographed at many

of New Mexico’s larger ranches in the early 1900s; and

John K. Stauffer, who photographed along “El Camino

Real” in 1905 (Rudisill 1973: 38, 54–55). A number of other

photographers captured historic scenes in the Middle Rio

Grande Basin (Fig. 76).

RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND

MANAGEMENT

At the time of Anglo military invasion-occupation in

1846, administration of public lands was the responsibility of the U.S. General Land Office, an agency understaffed

and inadequately funded. Combined with general public

apathy toward natural resources, there was little regulation of timber cutting, mining, and other resource exploitation (Udall 1962: 1; 1963: 58–59, 73). Three years later,

however, on March 3, Congress enacted a law establishing the Department of the Interior to administer these

lands and resources. The previously established General

Land Office and Office of Indian Affairs were transferred

to this new department (Dale 1949: 6; Smith and Zurcher

1968: 112; Udall 1962: 2).

To protect forests on public lands, timber agents were

appointed by the Secretary of the Interior in 1850. This

marked the first organized federal program for managing public timber. Five years later these employees were

placed under the direct jurisdiction of the Commissioner

of the General Land Office, which issued a circular with

general directions and instructions for protecting this forest resource (Udall 1962: 2).

In an attempt to better regulate timber harvesting on

public lands, a Bureau of Forestry was created in the Department of Agriculture, which was established in 1862.

However, virtually unregulated timber cutting continued.

Conservation of the public forests began with the 1875

creation of the American Forestry Association. Efforts of

Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz and forest agent Dr.

Franklin B. Hough in the Department of Agriculture also

brought about federal protection for timber on public

lands. Regulation remained hampered, however, by protests from the timber industry and the actions of unscrupulous federal employees, especially in the General Land

Office (Bergoffen 1976: 11; Roberts 1963: 2; Udall 1963: 86–

87).

New Mexico had achieved territorial status in 1850, and

the first laws related to water were subsequently passed

by the Legislative Assembly in 1851. These laws confirmed

Spanish-Mexican law in that the use of water for the irrigation of the fields should be preferable to all others and

the course of ditches or acequias already established

should not be disturbed. Furthermore, the owner of livestock that trespassed onto unfenced fields owned by others was liable for damages. Also in 1851, the Territorial

Assembly petitioned the U.S. Congress to reserve all salt

lakes, salt mines, and springs to prevent these resources

from passing into private ownership. Other laws passed

over the next several years strengthened the “institution

of the community acequia” (Clark 1987: 25–27, 32).

Three years later, on July 22, 1854, Congress passed the

Donation Act, which created the office of the Surveyor

General of New Mexico and granted 160 acres of surveyed

land to every qualifying "white male citizen" over the age

of 21. Other individuals meeting specific requirements of

residency in the territory could qualify as well. To secure

a donation, the claimant had to demonstrate continuous

residence and cultivation for 4 years or more (Westphall

1965: 1, 37).

The first Surveyor General arrived in the territory in

December 1854 to begin the public land surveys. The
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 337

Figure 76—Socorro residents with team of oxen hitched to wagon bed at the Lee Art Studio, ca. 1890.

Courtesy New Mexico Bureau of Mines Photo Archives, Socorro.

policy of his office was to survey only arable or agricultural land. His first effort was the survey of the principal

meridian, from near the Jemez Mountains, south to the

border, and a base line for 24 miles on either side of the

principal meridian (Westphall 1965: 1, 4, 5, 17, 37).

On March 12, 1860, Congress passed the Pre-emption

Act, giving free public land to New Mexico. Two years

later, this body passed the Homestead Act, which allowed

individuals to claim 160 acres of public domain. A patent

to the land could be obtained by living on the tract for 4

years or by commuting it through payment of cash within

6 months (Clark 1987: 44–45; Westphall 1965: 42–43).

Surveyed or unsurveyed public lands, which could be

explored or mined for minerals, were opened by the Mining Act of 1866 to all citizens or individuals intending to

become citizens (Limerick 1987: 65; Westphall 1965: 96).

This legislation and its updating in 1872 were based on

the view that mining “was the most important, if not the

only reasonable, use of public land.” Under either act an

individual could stake out as many claims as wanted, and

a claim remained valid as long as the miner recovered a

minimum of $100 annually from working a placer or lode

mine. A patent on the claim could be obtained through

survey and meeting other provisions of the act and making payment of $2.50 or $5.00 per acre (Clawson 1971: 123–

124; Utely and Mackintosh 1989: 27). More than a year

prior to the federal Mining Act of 1866, the Territorial

Assembly passed a bill providing a legal basis for mining

development and supported local rules of miners

(Christiansen 1974: 87).

In the 1870s, Congress enacted several other federal

laws affording individuals the right to acquire public land

for the purpose of harvesting resources, including the Timber Culture Act of 1873, the Desert Land Act of 1877, and

the Timber and Stone Act of 1878. The first two laws were

abused, and the third did not apply to New Mexico. An
338 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

example of one abuse of the Timber Culture Act involved

some cattle corporations that had persons who were not

corporate members file on land, which secured its use,

free of charge, for 13 years or more. In this manner, valuable grassland and water for livestock was procured without complying with any part of the law; that is, no timber

was planted or maintained. By this strategy “entire” townships were dominated by large cattle interests (Baydo 1970:

156; Clark 1987: 46-47; Oakes 1983: 27; Westphall 1965:

43, 72–74, 76).

The first government action at the federal level that

would later influence resource management on protected

lands in New Mexico was the creation of Yosemite Valley

as a “scenic reserve” in 1864. Eight years later, Congress

established Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, the

first such use of public land not only for the United States

but also for the world (Wild 1979: 40-41, 60; Udall 1963: 112).

One of the earliest efforts to bring about government

resource management and conservation in the Southwest

was John Wesley Powell’s A Report on the Lands of the Arid

Region of the U.S. issued in 1879. In the plan, Powell, head

of a Department of the Interior survey, proposed a systematic classification of lands based on their potential

“best use”—irrigation, logging, grazing, mining, and so

forth. Powell also recommended ending the homestead

and pre-emption programs. These would be replaced, he

suggested, by small irrigated farms no larger than 80 acres

and all part of irrigation districts, or by livestock ranches

no larger than 2,560 acres and part of grazing districts.

While Powell was clearly ahead of his time, Congress rejected virtually all of his plan. One recommendation, that a

geological survey be created to compile data on which sensible resource planning could be based, was adopted (Barnes

1926: 35; Swift 1958: 45; Udall 1963: 88–94; Worster 1994: 13).

A year later Congress created the Public Lands Commission, and Powell was appointed director. The purpose

of the commission was to codify public land laws, develop

a system of public land classification, and make recommendations for the “wise disposal” and management of

the remaining public lands (Udall 1962: 5; Utely and Mackintosh 1989: 9–10; Worster 1994: 9).

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was created by Congress in 1879, and Powell was named its first director. Since

establishment, this agency has produced thousands of

detailed maps, studies on surface and ground waters,

studies of physical and historical geology, and more recently, aerial imagery (Udall 1963: 94–95; Fig. 77).

Albuquerque’s board of aldermen in 1863 passed perhaps the first ordinances dealing with nonwater environmental problems in the territorial period. These laws applied to animal and traffic control, sanitation, public

works, and zoning (Simmons 1982: 195–196). Territorial

legislation related to flooding was passed on January 18,

1866. This statute provided for the right to move an irrigation ditch destroyed by rain or runoff water. ConstrucFigure 77—U.S. Geological Survey geologist R. H. Chapman in

the Rio Grande. Photo courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey, Denver.

Photo Archives

tion of a new ditch was permitted if the damaged ditch

was impossible to rebuild and if most of those who would

furnish the labor so consented (Clark 1987: 26). The Assembly addressed flooding some 10 years later when it

created a five-member board of commissioners, who

would be responsible for raising money for use in flood

prevention by taxing residents living within 5 miles of

the Rio Grande (Clark 1987: 31).

The Territorial Organic Act of 1878 specified that any

timber cut on public lands and exported from New Mexico

was liable to seizure by the U.S. Government (Ritch 1968).

Another territorial act, this one to control water pollution,

was passed on February 12, 1880. This legislation declared

. . . every person who shall foul the water of any

stream in the Territory of New Mexico, or throw

into any ditch, river or spring of flowing water

any dead or pestiferous animal or other filth,

dirty vessels, or other impurities that might injure the general health of the inhabitants of any

town or settlement of this Territory, on conviction thereof, would be fined not less than one nor

more than ten dollars (Clark 1987: 31).

In this same year the Territorial Assembly also passed

two laws to protect wildlife. One, to prevent the extinc-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 339

tion of the buffalo, came as the last members of this species in the territory were about to be killed. Furthermore,

enforcement of the law would have been virtually impossible (Gard 1960: 216). The other, a fish law, declared that

operators of mills or factories could not discharge any

waste harmful to trout. Another provision made the taking of fish by the use of drugs, explosives, or artificial

obstructions a misdemeanor. Additionally, trout could be

taken only by hook-and-line, and commercial sale of fish

was limited (Clark 1987: 32).

Five years later, in 1885, a significant event affecting

wildlife occurred. The Federal Bureau of Biological Survey,

whose primary role was protecting game animals and

controlling predators and rodents, was created in the U.S.

Department of Agriculture, partly due to pressure from

the livestock industry. Employees of this bureau began to

study methods of poisoning rodents and “pest” birds and

trapping or poisoning predators. By 1890 agency field

personnel were aggressively killing wolves, coyotes, grizzly bears, mountain lions, bobcats, and prairie dogs

(Brown 1983: 1–2, 41–43; Udall 1962: 6).

Concern for grass and water led Congress to pass a law

in 1885 forbidding ranchers to control public domain by

fencing and posting, but the practice generally continued

until the Taylor Grazing Act was enacted 49 years later.

The federal law opened the public domain to all comers,

which, in some instances, resulted in overgrazing (Clark

1987: 54, 136; Hagy 1951: 75-76).

In 1889 the New Mexico Territorial Assembly supplemented the Federal fencing act by passing a law declaring that an individual or corporation could only graze

the number of livestock that he or it had enough water to

maintain (Clark 1987: 54, 149; Hagy 1951: 75). Two years

later the legislature enacted a stricter fencing law, making it a felony to cut fences on private land or to fence to

the detriment of others land that was not legally owned

or used (Clark 1987: 54).

Recent droughts and the need to better manage water

in the West also prompted Congress to pass the Hatch Act in

1887, creating agricultural experiment stations to conduct

scientific research and disseminate findings through the

land grant colleges. Also, Congress authorized surveys

by the USGS for irrigable lands and reservoir sites in the

West. This agency soon began to place streamflow gauging stations at appropriate locations, with the first being established on the Rio Grande at Embudo in 1889 (Bullard and

Wells 1992: 12; Clark 1987: 131; Wozniak 1987).

In February 1887 the Territorial Assembly enacted legislation authorizing the incorporation of companies to

supply water for mining and milling, as well as irrigation. The U.S. Congress, in the following year, passed legislation providing for the withdrawal of irrigable land

from entry. As a result, some 39 reservoir sites amounting

to over 40,000 acres were selected in New Mexico. In early

1891 the Territorial Assembly petitioned Congress generally criticizing its embargo on development of water necessary for the reclamation of arid lands. These withdrawals were soon repealed by Congress (Clark 1987: 65, 66,

132; Westphall 1965: 84).

The Territorial Assembly continued to legislate water

matters, when in 1888, the first groundwater supply studies were authorized. In 1891, it passed a statute requiring

“all persons, associations, or corporations who . . . constructed or enlarged any ditch, canal, or reservoir taking

waters from a natural stream to make a sworn written

statement of such diversion, to be filed with the county

probate court within ninety days after commencement of

the work.” Construction had to be completed within 5 years

of commencement (Clark 1987: 117; Hale et al. 1965: 7).

Outside of New Mexico, concern for wildlife and wilderness led to formation of two conservation groups on

opposite coasts, the American Ornithologists' Union

(1883), parent organization to the National Audubon

Society in New York and the Sierra Club (1892) in California (Matthiessen 1987: 167; Udall 1963: 116). Both evolved

into major national environmental organizations with

chapters in New Mexico.

The Territorial Assembly displayed a concern for fish

conservation, passing a law in 1889 that created fish wardens in every county to assist sheriffs and commissioners

in enforcing an 1880 fish and game law. The law included

a closed season of fishing except for members of needy

families, the construction of sluices for passage of fish at

all dams or other obstructive facilities constructed for

purposes other than irrigation, and the prohibition of

waste discharge harmful to trout by mills or factories into

any stream (Clark 1987: 32).

In 1889 the Territorial Assembly also established a Cattle

Sanitary Board, whose main efforts were to prevent disease

and to inspect animals (Hagy 1951: 95). Protection of cattle

from predators, such as the wolf, was also addressed. In

1893 the legislature passed the Territorial Bounty Act, allowing counties to appropriate funds for payment to individuals taking wolves, grizzly bears, mountain lions, and

coyotes (Fig. 78). This act led to a rapid decline of wolves

and bears over the next 20 or so years (Brown 1983: 43). Legislators who opposed this legislation considered bounties a

kind of "rural welfare"; that is, ranchers were responsible for

controlling predators on their land. Some ranchers even paid

bounties to professional hunters who would take wolves on

their land (Brown 1983: 43–44; Burbank 1990: 98).

Wolves were also targeted because of their predation

on deer, the most important meat animal taken by private

and commercial hunters. Deer population declines were

due in large part to hunting, however, so the Territorial

Assembly passed a law in 1897 regulating hunting of deer

and other game (Findley et al. 1975: 329).

Interest in the climate grew among the livestock and

farming industries and the federal and territorial governments during this period. Weather records had been kept
340 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998Figure 78—Hunters and onlookers with dead grizzly bear, 1880s. Courtesy Museum of New Mexico Photo Archives, Santa Fe (negative no. 12241).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 341

by the U.S. military over the past 4 decades. This responsibility was transferred to the U.S. Weather Bureau, established in the Agriculture Department in 1891 (Bradley

1976: 12). Four years later the Territorial Assembly passed

legislation enabling the publication of a Monthly Weather

Review, which disseminated climatic data collected by the

Weather Bureau. Volunteer observers collected most of the

field information at this time (Tuan et al. 1973: 12).

The Territorial Assembly also passed an important law

affecting irrigation. This measure defined community

ditches (acequias) and detailed their legal status. The

multiple owners of ditches were considered to be “corporations” or bodies corporate, with power to sue and be

sued as such (Clark 1987: 30).

On March 16, 1899, the legislature responded positively

to the federal Fergusson Act, which authorized the transfer of federal public lands to the territory for schools and

certain other public institutions. About 500,000 acres were

designated as sites for irrigation reservoirs and 100,000

acres for “improving the Rio Grande and increasing its

surface flow in New Mexico.” To lease, sell, and manage

these lands, the Territorial Assembly created the office of

Commissioner of Public Lands and a Board of Public

Lands in March of 1899 (Clark 1987: 84). That same year,

the legislature authorized towns of the “first class” to issue bonds for construction of embankments, drainage

ditches, and other facilities to prevent flood damage to or

destruction of municipal property (Clark 1987: 31–32).

Some of the most significant events in natural resource

legislation and management during the 1890s were forest

related. Congress and other officials in Washington were

increasingly concerned about illegal and wasteful timber

cutting. Congressional action in 1888 forbade trespass timber harvesting on Indian reservations, and Congress repealed the unsuccessful Timber Culture Act in 1891 (Clark

1987: 62; Udall 1962: 6). Also in 1891, the General Land

Law Revision Act, commonly known as the Creative Act,

was passed; it authorized the establishment of national

forest reserves from public domain lands by presidential

action. These reserves would later be redesignated national forests. Their administration was assigned to the

Department of Interior, rather than Agriculture (Baker et al.

1988: 25; Clark 1987: 71; Utely and Mackintosh 1989: 19).

In January 1892 the President created the Pecos River

Forest Reserve, the first “national forest” in New Mexico

(Fig. 79; Table 63). The cutting of timber up to $100 in

value, per year, on the reserves was allowed in the fiscal

year of 1893 (Baker et al. 1988: 25, 79; Tucker and

Fitzpatrick 1972: 1; Udall 1963: 100–101). This reserve subsequently became part of the Santa Fe National Forest.

Congress passed the Organic Act for national forests in

June 1897. This legislation established standards for the

use and protection of national forest reserves. Furthermore, this act embodied the concept of multiple-use of

resources in conformity with state laws and federal rules

and regulations. Management of grazing, including the use

of grazing fees for cattle, sheep, and horses, was authorized.

The act also authorized sale of timber on national forest reserves (Baker et al. 1988: 39, 79; Brown 1978: 254; Clark 1987:

140; Eastman and Gray 1987: 36).

Probably the most important figure in the history of

national forests, Gifford Pinchot, was appointed Chief

Forester in the Department of Agriculture in 1898. An activist and friend of Theodore Roosevelt, he already had a

plan and program for the systematic management of the

forests. Owing to Pinchot’s influence, Roosevelt, who became president in 1901, declared that “forest and water

problems are perhaps the most vital internal questions of

the United States” in his first state-of-the-union message

(Udall 1963: 101–103). A Forestry Division was created in

the General Land Office in 1901, but four years later management was transferred to Agriculture (Udall 1962: 9–10).

Management of wildlife in the national forests was, as

yet, not a concern, although a federal law, the Lacey Act,

passed in 1900, made market hunting and importation of

foreign wildlife illegal (Borland 1975: 122). Interest in wildlife at the territory level was evidenced by the introduction of brook trout into the Rio San Jose near Laguna at

this time, followed by other releases in other drainages of

the Rio Grande in the early 1900s (Sublette et al. 1990: 72).

Over the first decade of the 20th century, Pinchot effectively debated vegetation management for watersheds

and grazing regulation, including fees, with the Secretary

of the Interior and Army Corps of Engineers, western stock

growers, and various congressmen. The Department of

Agriculture actually had promoted management of water through management of the forest reserves. In 1900,

the General Land Office opened these lands to limited fee

grazing. Preference was given to livestock raisers with

land within or adjacent to the reserves (Clark 1987: 72,

141).

Another management policy for the forests implemented at this time was fire suppression. Aggressively

pursued to the present, this strategy, combined with livestock grazing, has caused significant change in the composition of plant communities in the national forests (DickPeddie 1993: 51, 56, 91–92).

Owing primarily to predation on livestock by wolves,

grizzly bears, and other carnivores, the program to exterminate these predatory animals was continued with an

act in 1903 to authorize counties to levy taxes for use in

paying bounty claims. In the following year, the legislature created the New Mexico Department of Game and

Fish (Borland 1975: 122; Hagy 1951: 91; Sublette et al.

1990: 72).

Water quality was a concern at the federal level as Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act

of 1899. Also known as the Refuse Act, this legislation

authorized the Corps of Engineers to regulate all sources

of effluents into navigable streams. Polluters could be
342 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 79—National forests, parks and monuments, national wildlife refuges, and major state parks.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 343

Name Date established

National preserves/forests (NF)

Santa Fe NF

Pecos River 1892

Jemez 1905

Pecos River NF changed to Pecos NF 1908

Jemez and Pecos NFs consolidated 1915

Carson NF

Taos Forest Reserve (FR) 1906

Taos, Carson, and part of Jemez NF combined 1908

Cibola NF

Mt. Taylor 1906

San Mateo 1906

Manzano 1906

Magdalena FR 1906

Mt. Taylor NF and Manzano NF combined 1908

Datil NF 1908

San Mateo NF added to Magdalena NF 1908

Zuni NF and Manzano combined 1914

Wilderness areas (WA)

San Pedro Parks WA 1964

Pecos WA 1964

Wheeler Peak WA 1965

Bosque del Apache WA 1975

Bandelier WA 1978

North Sandia Peak WA 1978

South Sandia Peak WA 1978

Manzano Mountains WA 1978

Chama River Basin WA 1978

Cruces Basin WA 1980

Basin Latir WA 1980

Table 63—National and state forests, wildernesses, wild rivers, parks, monuments, and refuges.

Name Date established

Apache Kid WA 1980

Withington WA 1980

Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River 1970

National monuments (NM)

Gran Quivira National Monument 1909

Salinas NM (Gran Quivira NM, Abo and

Quarai State Parks combined) 1981

Bandelier NM 1916

National wildlife refuges (NWR)

Bosque del Apache NWR 1939

Sevilleta NWR 1972

State parks (SP)

Bluewater Lake SP 1937

Quarai and Abo Ruins SP 1937

Hyde SP 1939

Rio Grande Gorge SP 1959

Rio Bravo SP 1982

Coronado State Monument 1935

State Game Refuges (SGR)

Sandia Mountains SGR 1938

La Joya SGR 1928

State waterflow areas (SWA)

Belen SWA 1958

Bernardo SWA 1971

Casa Colorada SWA 1981

La Joya SWA 1930

Sources: Baker et al. 1988; Barker 1970; Crawford et al. 1993: 13; Grover and Musick 1989; McDonald 1985; Tucker 1992.

charged with a misdemeanor for such discharges, which

did not include waste from “properly supervised” public

works or waste in “liquid state” from streets or sewers

(Clark 1987: 268; Welsh 1987: 202).

Water management to enhance availability was also

addressed. In June 1902 Congress created the U.S. Reclamation Service, which was organized within the USGS.

Its major responsibility was to construct irrigation works

for the reclamation of arid lands. Users of these facilities

would repay construction costs over a 10-year period, and

small farmers could irrigate 160 acres or less with water

from federal irrigation works. The collected monies would

be placed in a reclamation fund, which would be used to

build dams and canals in the region. In 1907 the service

became a separate Bureau of Interior agency (Utely and

Mackintosh 1989: 19).

At the direction of Congress, the Bureau of Mines was

created within the Interior Department in 1907. This bureau promoted minerals technology and mine safety

(Utely and Mackintosh 1989: 27). Concerned for the safety

of miners, the Territorial Assembly passed a law governing operators, supervisors, and miners. Basic ventilation

was set at 100 cubic feet of air per man per minute and

300 cfa for each animal (Whiteside 1989: 174).

President Roosevelt remained active in raising Americans’ collective awareness of environmental problems and

the need to widely use or preserve resources. In 1908 he

convened the Governors’ Conference on Conservation and

told the participants “Facts which I cannot gainsay force

me to believe that the conservation of our natural resources

is the most weighty question now before the people of

the United States.” Before the National Conservation Commission, which he assembled in Washington the following year, the President challenged the participants “to

make the nation’s future as great as its present. That is

what the conservation of our resources means” (Swift

1958: v; Worster 1994: 20–21).

In 1903 Roosevelt created a commission to study the

laws regulating settlement and grazing of public domain

lands, with the view of long-time "conservation,” a term

coined by Pinchot and forester Overton Price. These men

and other commission members concluded that most of

the grasslands on public domain were unsuitable for farming, and lack of government regulation and poor private
344 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

stewardship had resulted in widespread degradation of

rangelands due to overgrazing. Nevertheless, the heavy

stocking on national forests was believed to be desirable

in that removal of grass and other understory plants

would reduce fuels for fires. Fire suppression was now a

primary objective of the Forest Service (Baker et al. 1988:

56; Barnes 1926: 37–38; Brown 1985: 124; Udall 1963: 105–

106).

As early as 1905, the U.S. Forest Service was developing a grazing program that would improve the value and

use of rangelands. However, the service made inaccurate

counts of livestock numbers and miscalculated carrying

capacities, which led to continued overgrazing. The same

problem occurred on lands considered unfit for timber

that were settled by individuals under the June 11, 1906,

Forest Homestead Act. Erosion of farm plots by runoff

water on these claims occurred frequently (Roberts 1963:

115; Rowley 1985: 55, 63, 81–82).

On June 25, 1906, Congress amended the Fergusson Act

permitting the Secretary of the Interior to approve grazing leases in excess of the 640-acre limit on public lands.

Following passage of this legislation, grazing leases became the primary source of revenue from territorial lands

(Clark 1987: 85). Four years later, an “Indian Forest Service” was formed in the Department of the Interior. It became known as the "Branch of Forestry" of the Bureau of

Indian Affairs (Udall 1962: 13).

The Forest Service grazing fees, which went into effect

in 1906, averaged 4.7 cents per animal unit month. Some

ranchers challenged the agency’s legal authority to charge

for grazing, as well as to implement other regulations.

After lengthy litigation, the Supreme Court upheld the

Forest Service’s right to carry on this management of resources (Baker et al. 1988: 98; Clawson 1970: 171-172;

Rowley 1985: 86). There were 131,621 cattle and horses

permitted to graze on national forests in New Mexico in

1909. The same year, the service allowed Native Americans to graze low numbers of livestock free if the meat of

these animals was eaten and the hides used.

Between October 5, 1906, and July 2, 1908, President

Roosevelt created a number of national forests in the study

region (Table 63). These included Mt. Taylor, San Mateo,

and Magdalena, all of which later became part of Cibola;

Taos, which later became part of Carson; Jemez and Pecos,

which were combined in 1915 and became part of the Santa

Fe National Forest (Fig. 79). Most of these forests included

not only traditional grazing lands of Hispanos and Pueblos in the region, but also Pueblo religious sites and shrines

such as Taos’ sacred Blue Lake. It would be many years

later before the sacred Blue Lake and other important religious areas were restored to the Pueblos (Baker et al.

1988: 25, 42; Sando 1989: 83; Tucker 1992: 107, 109, 112–

114; Wood 1989: 74).

A late prehistoric-historic Pueblo ruin and associated

Spanish mission churches were established as Gran

Quivira National Monument by President William

Howard Taft in 1909 (Table 63). His authority to do so

came from the Antiquities Act, passed by Congress in 1906,

enabling presidents to preserve significant “historic landmarks . . . and other objects of scientific interest” (Carroll

1991: 1; Udall 1963: 132). Also in 1909, a branch of the

Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Soils, warned

that topsoil is the one resource that Americans must not

exhaust (Worster 1993a: 73).

In the first decade of this century, the Territorial Assembly was focused on water. In 1905 an act creating the

River Commission, with responsibility for flood control

on the Rio Grande, was passed. Burros, or dikes, were

built at Valencia and Tome to protect against a major flood

that year. Also passed was an act declaring natural waters as belonging to the “public,” and all New Mexico citizens had the right to appropriate them for beneficial use.

A territorial engineer, a water code, and a reconstituted

Board of Water Commissioners were enacted by the assembly 2 years later. Hydrographic surveys were soon

begun by the engineer (Clark 1987: 117–123; Ellis and Baca

1957: 17). Finally, 55 new irrigation ditches went into operation in the Middle Rio Grande Valley from 1905 to 1912

(Hedke 1925: 22).

In 1909 two types of voluntary water organizations were

authorized by the territory—water users’ associations and

irrigation districts. For the latter, irrigation systems could

be constructed for the members. Another provision was

also passed by county commissioners authorizing drainage of seepage in unincorporated towns and villages. This

provision had to be petitioned by a majority of a

community’s residents and investigated by the county

surveyor, who had to concur, before this action could be

implemented (Clark 1987: 110, 112).

Also, in 1909, Congress passed the Enlarged Homestead

Act, which authorized the classification and entry of semiarid lands. Qualified entry men could occupy 320 acres

of "nonmineral, untimbered, nonirrigable, unreserved,

and surveyed but unappropriated" public land in the territory. One-eighth of the land had to be continuously cultivated for crops, other than native grasses, by the end of

the second year and one-quarter within the third year

(Clark 1987: 136–137).

During this general period the Forest Service began to

hire trappers to kill wolves to protect livestock on national forest grazing lands (Dunlap 1984: 143). Also, the

territory continued its program to exterminate grizzly

bears and wolves. Bounties of $20 and $15, respectively,

were paid in 1908-09 for these animals, and up to $50

could be obtained for grizzly bear hides. At the same

time, the effort to reintroduce elk into the region was

begun by the owner of Vermejo Park. Because of the

low numbers of pronghorn, the legislature enacted a

law to take them off the list of legally hunted animals.

In 1912, the last indigenous sage grouse was killed near
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 345

Chama (Barker 1953: 93, 153; Burbank 1990: 98;

Matthiessen 1959: 283).

More than 900 permits to take beavers were issued to

individuals who claimed damages to their property in

1910–11. Conversely, the Santa Fe Water Company was

offering $50 for each pair of live beavers to transplant in

upper Santa Fe Canyon, where they would help save water

(Bailey 1971: 219).

Management concerns for public grazing lands and

water use continued on the federal level. In 1910 the USFS

established the Office of Grazing Studies, and the following year offices were organized at Denver and Albuquerque. Many stockmen believed that grazing permits were

a property right, subject to sale or transfer. The Forest

Service took the position that they were “a personal privilege obtained from the secretary of agriculture [sic], and

only the secretary retained the right to grant, withhold,

or revoke the permit at his discretion” (Price 1976: 7;

Rowley 1985: 89–90, 99).

Under legislative acts to prevent individuals or private

companies from gaining exclusive use of extensive public lands or waters, the General Land Office withdrew such

tracts and sources (Clark 1987: 145). In 1911 Congress

passed another act, the Weeks Law, which authorized

funds for acquisition of forest lands to protect stream

watersheds. This legislation also called for a cooperative

fire protection plan between the Forest Service and participating states (Otis et al. 1986: 5). A 1913 USGS report

addressed the need to consider water in the disposal of

the remaining public lands and that this resource must be

properly managed (Clark 1987: 144).

In 1912 the new State Legislature passed the Game and

Fish Act, establishing a Game Protective Fund, codifying

territorial wildlife laws, and making it a misdemeanor to

pollute waters with sawdust or other materials that would

kill or drive away fish (Clark 1987: 272).

Upon admission to the Union in 1912, Congress gave

all sections 2, 16, 32, and 36 to New Mexico for the aid of

public schools. Other public lands were received by the

state as well (Barnes 1926: 46).

Also in 1912 the Forest Service began to manage grazing to protect rangelands, watersheds, and wildlife by

reducing the numbers of livestock in the forests (Roberts

1963: 115–116). The Jornada Range Reserve, created by Executive Order in 1912, was managed by the USDA Bureau

of Plant Industry. Researchers at the reserve, which is located just south of the study region, studied methods of improving and maintaining desert grassland for sustained use

and for protection of livestock (Price 1976: 17).

The federal and state effort to control predators was

accelerated in 1914–15. In a Congressional act on June 30,

1914, the Predatory Animal and Rodent Control (PARC)

was formed within the U.S. Biological Survey. This branch

was responsible for experiments and demonstrations in

destroying wolves, grizzly bears, and other predators of

livestock. J. Stokely Ligon was made head of the wolf

eradication program and was subsequently joined by Aldo

Leopold of the Forest Service, who later reversed his view

of predators, especially wolves (Fig. 80). In the first year

of operation, 69 wolves were trapped, poisoned, or shot

in the state. In 1916, 117 wolves were taken in the national

forests (Bailey 1971: 311; Brown 1983: 52, 1985: 126–127;

Burbank 1990: 101, 107–108; Leopold 1949: 129–133).

Besides livestock, the Forest Service was concerned

about the loss of large game animals to various predators. The prevailing view of wildlife managers at this time

was that populations of elk, mule deer, and pronghorn

had been extirpated or severely reduced primarily by predation. Intensive hunting was also considered a contributing factor. To correct this, the Forest Service released 37

elk from Yellowstone National Park into the Pecos

District of the Santa Fe National Forest in 1915. In less

than 20 years this small herd had increased to about 300

animals, and hunting was permitted within a short time.

Mule deer populations had been severely reduced in the

valley and the foothills of the region before 1920. The

pronghorn population, reduced to 1,200 animals in 1915,

increased to 2,957 head by 1926 owing to protection from

hunting (Bailey 1971: 29; Barker 1953: 94–95, 163; Findley et

al. 1975: 334).

In 1915 Congress passed the Agriculture Appropriations

Act, which in part provided for the establishment of summer homes, recreation sites, and campgrounds in the national forests. Within the Santa Fe National Forest,

President Woodrow Wilson created the 22,400-acre

Bandelier National Monument in February 1916. Near the

monument, Ashly Pond, founder of the Los Alamos Ranch

School, founded a sportsman’s club, which included a

game preserve with hunting and camping areas, at the

north end of the Ramón Vigil land grant. When the spring

went dry, the source of water was lost, and he abandoned

the project (Church and Church 1974: 9; Ebright 1994:

244–245; Rothman 1992: 122). On August 25 of the same

year, Congress passed the National Park Act, which led

to the creation of the National Park Service (Udall 1963:

153).

Also in 1916, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation completed

construction of Elephant Butte Dam, and the reservoir

soon began filling. This dam and reservoir system was

constructed to control floods and to store irrigation water. Floods were also an ongoing concern of the State Legislature. In this same year the legislature created the Rio

Grande Commission, whose purpose was to address

drainage, water storage, river rectification, river-bank protection, diversion dams, and canals, as well as flood control (Clark 1987: 195, 198, 205, 206, 217–218).

The management of livestock dominated the efforts of

Federal regulatory agencies in the years 1916–18. The

Stock-Raising Homestead Act of 1916, passed by Congress,

allowed the substitution of range improvements and well
346 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 80—Aldo Leopold (left), Ira Yarnell, and Harry C. Hall in the Carson National Forest, 1911.

Courtesy University of Wisconsin Photo Archives (X25 123).

drilling for cultivation. Also, a free section of grazing was

provided when the applicant filed a claim. Another provision allowed for livestock driveways of not more than

one-fourth mile wide across public land (Clark 1987: 147;

Hagy 1951: 78–79; Oakes 1983: 27).

The Forest Service raised grazing fees by 25 percent in

1916, rather than the 100 percent it had proposed. Nevertheless, ranchers, in general, and some politicians, protested vigorously. In another management decision, the

service issued livestock grazing permits to non-Indians

for the sacred Blue Lake area. Grazing permits on all of

the region’s national forests were increased owing to increased demand for beef and wool during World War I.

This overgrazing and a drought resulted in erosion. Trespass livestock on Forest Service lands was common at this

time, which also contributed to the overgrazing (Clark

1987: 146; de Buys 1985: 231; Donart 1984: 1240; Hagy 1951:

62; Roberts 1963: 120–121; Sanchez 1992: 2; Sando 1989: 83).

With the demand for beef generated by the war, Ligon

and Leopold used the situation to justify an intensified

predator control effort. In 1917 the Biological Survey received $25,000 to control predators and rodents in the state.

Some 93 adult wolves and 30 pups were killed by PARC

and New Mexico A&M College (now New Mexico State

University) employees in 1918. By 1920 the estimated wolf

population of 300 had been reduced to 60 or less. The poisoning of grizzly bears was also initiated by PARC the

same year, and 28 animals were taken (Brown 1983: 57–

58, 64, 137; Flader 1978: 60; Hagy 1951: 93; Roberts 1963:

120–121).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 347

Early in 1920 private forester Stewart Edward White

criticized the Forest Service for its no burn policy of ponderosa stands. He maintained that light burning would

preclude development of understory brush, which would

lead to destructive fires, and would prevent tree diseases.

The Forest Service’s program was based on the belief that

fire every 2 to 3 years would prevent restocking of the

tree (Brown and Carmony 1995: 143; Pyne 1982: 522).

Aldo Leopold “presented a fully formed and brilliantly

considered wilderness-preservation plan to the Forest

Service” in 1921 (Brown and Carmony 1995: 152). The plan

was well received by most of his supervisors. Within a

year he presented a proposal for a Gila Wilderness area,

which was created 2 years later, the first official U.S. wilderness area. During this period, some ranchers supported

wilderness areas because their roadlessness would keep

automobiles and their passengers off grazing leases

(Brown and Carmony 1995: 153–154).

In March 1922 Congress passed the General Forest Exchange Act, authorizing the Forest Service to consolidate

forest lands and to make exchanges to acquire private inholdings within national forest boundaries. This law was

amended 6 years later to authorize the exchange of grants

lands adjacent to the Carson, Santa Fe, and Manzano national forests for the use of Forest Service land and timber

(Baker et al. 1988: 27).

In 1922 there were 7,559,000 acres of public land under

grazing lease and 1,500,000 under oil lease. Two years

before, Congress had passed the Minerals Leasing Act,

enabling the General Land Office to lease lands with fossil fuels and other critical mineral resources to private

producers. Also in 1922, the state reduced grazing fees on

its lands from 5 cents to 3 cents an acre (Barnes 1926: 47;

Hagy 1951: 82; Utely and Mackintosh 1989: 27).

On June 10, 1920, Congress passed the Federal Water

Power Act, which provided for the establishment of a Federal Power Commission. The commission was authorized

"to issue licenses for the construction, operation, and maintenance of power facilities on navigable waters and public lands" (Clark 1987: 145–146).

In the 1920s the federal and state governments began

to address adverse environmental conditions in the Middle

Rio Grande Valley. The Rio Grande Survey Commission,

in cooperation with the U.S. Reclamation Service, initiated a study of these conditions in 1921. Two years later

the service’s name was changed to the Bureau of Reclamation. In 1923 the State Legislature passed the first Conservancy Act, which created a district for the Middle Valley with a governing board to initiate projects to prevent

flooding, regulate stream flow, reclaim waterlogged lands,

develop irrigation works, develop or reclaim sources of

water, and generate electrical energy. Within 2 years the

district structure was formed, and construction subsequently began on dams, levees, and drainage canals (Clark

1987: 189, 206, 207; Scurlock 1988a: 136; Wozniak 1987).

The Federal Government and the Middle Rio Grande

Conservancy District provided assistance to the Pueblos

relative to land and water issues in the region during this

period. In June 1924 Congress passed the Pueblo Lands

Act, which provided for the appointment of a commission to investigate Pueblo land titles and to litigate the

thousands of non-Indian claims against their lands. A commission was established to compensate Indians and nonIndians for lands lost via court decisions. For Pueblos that

did not have a reliable water supply, reservoirs were constructed (Brayer 1938: 28–29; Vlasich 1980: 26).

In 1925 Cochiti, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, Santa Ana,

Sandia, and Isleta were incorporated into the Middle Rio

Grande Conservancy District, agreeing to reorganize their

irrigated land "into larger, revenue-producing farms.” To

date, only Isleta and Sandia have lived up to the requirements of the agreement (Sando 1992: 123).

In 1928–29 the district agreed to “provide conservation,

irrigation, drainage, and flood control” for the Pueblo

(Bayer et al. 1994: 240). When the MRGCD was organized

after 1929 the Pueblo persuaded Congress to make a payment of $1,321,000 to the district on their behalf because

they could not maintain their subsistence economy if required to pay ongoing charges for irrigation facilities and

water (Harper et al. 1943: 24).

The late 1920s-early 1930s were marked by loss of

Pueblo land and trespass by non-Indians. Santa Ana

Pueblo is an example of some of these problems. In the

earlier period Santa Ana granted a railroad right-of-way

across its lands. Construction of the line damaged a flood

control dike and caused erosion (Forrest 1989). Livestock

owned by non-Pueblos were illegally grazed on Santa Ana

lands, and outsiders also dumped trash and cut firewood

(Bayer et al. 1994: 238).

Overgrazing of the public domain continued into the

1920s, especially that caused by wild horses on the national forests. With the assistance of local ranchers, U.S.

Forest Service rangers rounded up thousands of these

animals from 1924–25. The following year the Forest Service published The Story of the Range, which documented

grazing history and resulting impact on Southwest rangelands. The Forest Service also released a memo entitled

“New Grazing Regulations on National Forests”; in this

document three major concessions to the livestock industry were made: (1) 10-year grazing permits were given

full status of a contract between the Forest Service and the

stockmen and could only be revoked because of a violation

of terms, (2) further distribution of grazing privileges was

generally suspended, and (3) the role of local grazing boards

was reemphasized, with one member representing the Department of Agriculture and the other members selected by

the grazing permittees. These boards settled grazing disputes

and gave advice in developing new grazing policies (Brown

and Carmony 1995: 171; Rowley 1985: 134–135; Tucker and

Fitzpatrick 1972: 79–80; Wyman 1945: 159–160).
348 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

The Story of the Range, and Aldo Leopold’s 1924 article

on the effects of intensive grazing and fire suppression,

helped lead to the McSweeney-McNary Act of 1928, which

called for the development of methods to protect watersheds. This act also authorized experiments in range management at 12 regional forest research stations, including

the Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station at Fort Collins, Colorado. A branch station was

opened subsequently in Albuquerque (Bergoffen 1976: 61;

Buchanan 1988: 32; Price 1976: 19). Largely due to

Leopold’s efforts, the first wilderness area ever created

was the Gila, established in the Gila National Forest in

1924 (Baker et al. 1988: 47).

The U.S. Biological Survey and cooperating ranchers

put out 103,000 strychnine-poisoned baits to control predators in 1923. Wolves, grizzly bears, and coyotes were targeted; populations of the first two animals were virtually

extinct. Local bounties were paid for bobcats, and sheep

ranchers hunted them vigorously. Game species such as deer

and pronghorn were at an all-time low the following year.

But mule deer numbers in the national forests increased

rapidly with the virtual elimination of predators and hunting regulation. By the late 1920s, they were abundant.

Black bears, whose numbers were low, were also given legal protection (Bailey 1971: 296; Brown 1985: 142; Brown and

Carmony 1995: 127; Findley et al. 1975: 29; Ligon 1927: 15).

From 1929 to 1934 several federal laws were passed that

appropriated funds for the creation of wildlife sanctuaries on national forests; authorized the purchase of additional refuge lands; authorized studies of economics of

harvesting fish, game, and wilderness recreation; and expanded the wildlife conservation authority. Congress also

appropriated $150,000 for the Forest Service to “investigate

the life histories and habits of forest animals, birds, and wildlife from the standpoint of injury to forest growth and as

a supplemental economic resource” (Clark 1987: 266–267).

On March 16, 1927, the State Legislature passed a

groundwater law for New Mexico, the first such law of

its kind among the western states. In this act, all underground waters in the state were declared public waters,

"subject to appropriation for beneficial uses" under relevant existing state laws. Use was to be administered by

the State Engineer. Additionally, the Middle and Upper

Rio Grande was declared a groundwater basin (Clark 1987:

236–238).

Surface water conservation and management continued as a priority on the national and state levels. In 1927

Congress authorized the Corps of Engineers to conduct

surveys for flood protection and hydropower facilities in

all U.S. waterways. In 1928 Congress also authorized the

Secretary of the Interior to enter into a contract with the

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District for participation in its $10 million program of drainage, flood control,

rehabilitation of irrigation systems and farmland, and general conservation. Furthermore, in 1929 Congress enabled

New Mexico to negotiate specifically with Texas for the

apportionment of the waters of the Rio Grande and the

Pecos River. In 1929 Congress passed the Flood Control

Act, allowing the Corps of Engineers to locate water

sources for domestic supplies, irrigation, and hydroelectric power (Clark 1987: 230; Strauss 1947: 133–134; Welsh

1987: 22, 109).

That same year the state attorney general ruled that

“unauthorized obstruction of any natural water course

did become actionable for resulting damage” (Clark 1987:

25). The state also declared that the waters of underground

streams, channels, artesian basins, reservoirs, and lakes

"with reasonably ascertainable boundaries are public waters subject to appropriation for beneficial use in accordance with the statutes and regulations formulated by the

State Engineer of New Mexico" (Erickson 1954: 81).

The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District completed

construction of major water control facilities, including

El Vado dam and reservoir on the Chama River, between

1930 and 1934. Levees, drainage canals, and new irrigation ditches were also constructed in the Rio Grande Basin (Harper et al. 1943: 53; Fig. 81).

Most ranchers and homesteaders continued to overgraze public and private lands, and resulting soil erosion

continued as a serious problem across the region. Conservationists urged Congress to control grazing on federal

lands by establishing regulations to be administered by

the Department of Agriculture. By 1930, grazing permits

on the Santa Fe National Forest had been reduced to correlate with carrying capacities (Cooperrider and

Hendricks 1937: 82; Rothman 1992: 159; Stout 1970: 323).

In 1930–31 the Forestry Division, Bureau of Indian Affairs,

assumed responsibility for the protection and administration of grazing on Indian lands. A grazing policy for

the reservations was formulated and implemented (Udall

1962: 17).

Figure 81—Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District water

control facility south of Isleta Pueblo. Photo by author.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 349

A forestry research area of 10,000 acres was established

in 1930 on the Santa Fe National Forest for use by the

University of New Mexico (Baker et al. 1988: 29). Three

years later, the Forest Service made the Pecos High Country a "Primitive Area" (deBuys 1985: 285). The Wilderness

Society, an advocacy group for wilderness areas, was organized in 1934 and would soon bring pressure on the

government to create wilderness areas (Udall 1963: 154).

In November 1931, the National Conference on Land

Utilization met in Chicago and recommended that in order to obtain conservation and rehabilitation of the grazing ranges of the public domain these lands be organized

into public ranges to be administered by a Federal agency

in a manner similar to and in coordination with the national forests. The group also recommended “that lands

valuable for watershed protection should be administered

under the supervision of the Federal Government.” Subsequently, the Secretary of the Interior approved federal

regulation of grazing on the public domain to protect these

lands (Clark 1987: 252–253). Also, the Soil Erosion Service was established as a temporary agency in the Department of the Interior in 1933. Two years later it was

transferred to the Department of Agriculture under the

National Soil Conservation Act. In 1935 this agency implemented an erosion control program for the 11,500,000-acre

watershed of Elephant Butte Reservoir, which was filling

with sediment at a rapid rate (Clark 1987: 256; Udall 1962:

18).

The emergency conditions of the Depression took precedence, in general, over erosion caused by overgrazing

as the Forest Service suspended grazing fees in 1932. To

accommodate the increased grazing pressure, the agency

removed more than 1,500 horses from the Jemez River

District of the Santa Fe National Forest. Grazing fees for

grazing on national forests were reinstated in 1933 by the

Secretary of Agriculture. These fees were based on an appraisal of each range area and varied from year to year in

proportion to changes in livestock prices (Clawson 1971: 172–

173; Rowley 1985: 246).

Several programs to aid economic recovery during the

Depression were authorized by Congress and the President. The National Industrial Recovery Act enabled the

Forest Service to develop a code of business practices for

the timber industry. Included in this code was commitment to “conservation, selective cutting, sustained yield,

reforestation and a program to prevent forest fires" (Baker

et al. 1988: 53).

President Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation

Corps (CCC) in 1933, a program that, until 1942, put about

three million persons to work, primarily on soil and water conservation projects. Some 17 CCC camps were established on national forests in New Mexico; there were

four camps established on the Santa Fe, including one at

Bandelier and two on the Cibola. Workers erected boundary fences; built roads, trails, and bridges; constructed

erosion control features; improved timber stands; replanted areas; and built residences and other structures

(Baker et al. 1988: 53; Buchanan 1988: 32–33; Rothman

1992: 183–184).

An Indian branch of the CCC was organized in 1933,

and several irrigation projects were completed. From this

year until 1940, a range conservation program was conducted on Indian lands in the Middle Valley by the Soil

Conservation Service (Harper et al. 1943: 89; Hughes 1983:

126). In addition to the CCC, the Work Projects Administration, the Public Works Administration, and the National

Youth Administration provided employment for workers who carried out conservation and reclamation projects

for water and wildlife improvement beginning in 1937

(Clark 1987: 244–245).

Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act on

June 18, 1934, giving Native Americans the right to govern themselves, prohibiting alienation of Pueblo lands, and

defining the Secretary of the Interior’s responsibility for

conservation and economic development of resources on

Indian lands. In this same period, the BIA and New Deal

agencies conducted a number of in-depth surveys of natural and human resources in the region. The interrelationships between Native, Hispano, and Anglo Americans,

and each with the environment, were first addressed in

these studies (McWilliams 1961: 287; Simmons 1979b: 217;

Utely and Mackintosh 1989: 32).

The drought year of 1934, exacerbated by the Dust Bowl

conditions located just to the east of the study region, was

a time of focusing on grazing and related erosion. The

governor created a planning board made up of individuals from five major state resource agencies and presidents of the three major universities. They initiated a

study of the region’s natural resources with an emphasis on erosion problems and water conservation (Clark

1987: 269). The Federal government began buying cattle

on overgrazed, drought-stricken rangelands (Limerick

1987: 88).

On June 28 of the same year, Congress passed the Taylor Grazing Act, authorizing the Secretary of the Interior

to rehabilitate overgrazed and eroded areas and to control and manage grazing on the public lands. Under the

act, the U.S. Grazing Service was organized within the

Interior Department. In 1946 this agency was combined

with the General Land Office to form the Bureau of Land

Management (Clawson 1971: 34–38; Hagy 1951: 75). Also

under the act, the bulk of unappropriated grassland (80

million acres) was closed to further settlement. These lands

were to be kept as a grazing resource and managed by

local livestock raisers organized into four districts within

the 1.5 million acres in the Middle Rio Grande Basin. These

districts were supervised by the Interior Department. State

and district advisory boards were formed; their members

were elected by permittees. Through these boards, livestock raisers, who had strongly opposed passage of the
350 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Table 65—Rio Grande Pueblo irrigation projects, ca. 1940.

Reservation

area Irrigated Diversion

Pueblo Population acres acres acres

Cochiti 353 22,766 1,867 9,335

Santo Domingo 1,020 66,235 4,278 21,390

San Felipe 700 43,376 3,836 19,180

Santa Ana 274 19,139 1,114 5,570

Sandia 136 22,885 3,418 17,090

Isleta 1,336 205,331 6,183 30,915

Total 3,819 379,732 20,696 103,480

Source: Nelson 1946

Table 64—Conservation improvements on Pueblo lands,

1935–1944.

Improvement Quantity

Roads and trails 318 miles

Stock trails and driveways 95 miles

Small and large bridges 57

Cattle guards 56

Boundary and cross-fencing 1,325 miles

Corrals 35

Contour furrows 5,685 acres

Terraces 16 miles

Water control structures 1,085 gullies or arroyos

Shallow and deep wells 56

Spring development 122

Stock tanks 119

Impoundment, spreader, or

diversion dams 263

Range grass planted 584 acres

Chamisa planted 6,732 acres

Trees planted 20,000

Source: Aberle 1948

Taylor Grazing act, were able to mitigate the impact of

the law. As a result, “range conditions improved very

slowly” (Clawson 1971: 34–38; Eastman and Gray 1987:

35; Hagy 1951: 75; Harper et al. 1943: 88–89; Stout 1970:

314, 318; Worster 1979: 190).

A 1934–35 study by the New Mexico State Planning

Board found that the public rangelands were badly damaged due to overgrazing. Pueblo grazing lands were also

in poor condition, primarily as a result of a long history

of intensive grazing. This led to the U.S. Government’s

establishment of an accelerated land acquisition and management program for Native Americans. About 390,727

acres were purchased or assigned to Indian use on nonPueblo lands. One such large tract was the badly overgrazed and eroded Ojo del Espiritu Santo land grant,

where, following purchase, a resource management program was initiated (Varney 1987: 35).

Under the Taylor Grazing Act, the Pueblos received

grazing permits on public lands (Aberle 1948: 15–16). This

removed some grazing pressure from Pueblo lands, but

range grasses continued to deteriorate and soil erosion

continued. The Indian Service, now the Bureau of Indian

Affairs, “assumed an advisory and supervisory responsibility for the range” (Aberle 1948: 19).

In 1935 a New Deal land reform for Native Americans

and Hispanics was implemented under the leadership of

John Collier. One aspect of this program was the restoration of the fertility of severely eroded land (Aberle 1948:

20; Forrest 1989: 129; Table 64). Land deterioration continued, however, due partly to overstocking, wild horses,

and generally dry conditions after 1941. Government programs to control erosion on Pueblo lands continued into

the 1940s (Bayer et al. 1994: 228; Harper et al. 1943: 50;

Wyman 1945: 173).

After 1935 the range management division of the United

Pueblos Agency determined the carrying capacity of the

land. As a result, a livestock reduction program on Pueblo

lands was implemented; this was an extremely unpopular program. Also, water control structures, such as small

reservoirs, were constructed at some of the pueblos (Table

64). A concrete dam was erected on the Rio Grande, about

3 miles north of Cochiti Pueblo, to deliver irrigation water to Cochiti, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, and Algodones.

At the first pueblo, the practice of dry farming was discontinued owing to this new water supply (Aberle 1948:

20; Bayer et al. 1994: 231, 233, 238; Hill 1982: 41; Lange

1959: 38, 368). Irrigation projects were completed at Santa

Ana, Sandia, and Isleta pueblos (Table 65).

During the Depression and drought of the mid 1930s,

predator control continued, and the federal attempt to

eradicate all gray wolves and grizzly bears was successful (Hagy 1951: 54). At the state level, the legislature

passed an act in 1931 giving full regulatory powers to the

State Game Commission in managing wildlife, including

hunting seasons and bag limits. By this year the pronghorn population had increased to about 5,000 animals.

Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep were transported from

Banff National Park, Canada, to the Sangre de Cristo

Mountains, where they were released in 1933 (Barker 1953:

90, 1970: 188; Flader 1978: 105).

In 1936 the director of the Grazing Division established

four grazing districts totalling 9 million acres. These districts were concerned with erosion control, water development, and land classification based on “best use” (Batie

1985: 109; Clark 1987: 270–271). Each district had advisory boards across the state, made up of ranchers, a local

sportsmen’s club member, and an employee of the division. Grazing fees were set at 5 cents per animal unit

month. This agency also reduced livestock numbers on

public lands and stopped nomadic stockmen, who roamed

the range with no base of operation, from further grazing.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 351

The Forest Service and Soil Conservation Service implemented new grazing and soil stabilization management

programs on severely eroded lands and actually purchased some of these lands. To deal with overgrazing and

other land use problems on the national forests, Congress,

in 1935, had appropriated funds for establishment of the

Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station

(Clark 1987: 255; Clawson 1971: 149, 173, 1985: 230–232;

Price 1976: 19; Rothman 1992: 199).

On the severely degraded Pueblo lands in the Middle

Basin, a number of U.S. Government agencies financed

and directed construction of conservation improvements

from 1935 to 1944, including stock trails and driveways,

fencing, contour furrows, terraces, water control structures, and revegetation of areas (Aberle 1948: 15–18).

The Forest Service released its report The Western Range

in 1937, which described the severe deterioration of public grazing lands in the western states (Clark 1987: 274).

By 1936, the agency estimated that at least 75 percent of

the Rio Grande watershed in southern Colorado and

northern New Mexico was experiencing severe, accelerated erosion, primarily due to overgrazing and intensive

logging (deBuys 1985: 230–232). This same year the Forest Service received authorization and funding for the

reserving of certain unappropriated waters in New Mexico

to carry out the protection and improvement of national

forest lands through water conservation (Clark 1987: 274).

Also in 1937, Congress passed the Bankhead-Jones Farm

Tenant Act, authorizing the Federal Government to purchase private lands of “low production.” These tracts were

added to national forests and parks, grazing districts, and

other public land holdings (Levine et al. 1980: 53).

During the 1930s drought, significant federal water legislation continued to be passed and management programs implemented. In 1934, the President created by

Executive Order the National Resources Board, which

sponsored ground and surface water studies. Two years

later the Flood Control Act was passed. This law declared

that the Federal Government was responsible for controlling floods on navigable rivers and runoff-caused erosion on smaller streams. The act "established for the first

time an integrated flood-control policy" and laid the

foundation for the greatest public works program ever

undertaken by the U.S. Government (Clark 1987: 250, 256,

259–261).

The drought also spurred the establishment of the comprehensive Rio Grande Joint Investigation in 1936 involving a number of federal, state, and area governmental

agencies and organizations, as well as private agencies

and educational institutions. Their final report, issued in

June 1937, provided the foundation for the Rio Grande

Compact of the next year. This agreement, between New

Mexico, Colorado, and Texas, apportioned the over-appropriated waters of the river to the three states (Clark 1987:

219–220; Harper et al. 1943: 53; Thomas 1963: H16).

Meanwhile, water users in southern New Mexico

brought a suit against the state and the Middle Rio

Grande Conservancy District for impairment of their water

rights below Elephant Butte Reservoir through storage and

diversion of Rio Grande watershed waters upstream. The

suit reached the Supreme Court and a special master was

appointed to hear the arguments and to make a final report. This and other problems were considered in the Joint

Investigation study, which became the foundation for negotiating the Rio Grande Compact of March 18, 1938

(Clark 1987: 218–219). This compact delineated the tri-state

division of Rio Grande water above Fort Quitman, Texas,

and incorporated delivery schedules at the Colorado line

and below Elephant Butte Reservoir.

Two years before, a new irrigation dam was completed

at San Luis, Sandoval County. Also in 1936, the district

completed work on the Cochiti, Angostura, Isleta, and San

Acacia diversion dams. Also finished were 180 miles of

new canals, 294 miles of new laterals, and 200 miles of

riverside levees. During this construction in the Albuquerque area, some 300 farmers erected a barricade in the

North Valley to halt work (Orona 1994). Some 8,000 individuals, almost all Hispanic, “lost their land titles because

they were unable to pay taxes and assessments on the

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District Project...”

(Gonzalez 1969: 52). The shallow water table in the valley

subsequently went down, and 59,159 acres of reclaimed

land were put under irrigation. The district was also allowed to develop its plan for 123,000 acres of land and

water under this agreement (Clark 1987: 219–221; Harper

et al. 1943: 94–95).

On August 26, 1937, the Small Reservoirs Act, which

provided funding for construction of small storage structures for isolated communities and groups of ranchers,

was passed by Congress (Clark 1987: 212, 263–264;

Widdison 1959: 277). By 1939 the Division of Grazing had

constructed 585 check dams to control erosion and 31 reservoirs with an aggregate capacity of 17,500 acre-feet of

water benefitting 75,000 acres of land (Clark 1987: 256).

The federal and state governments also focused on ecocultural and recreational resources during this period.

Congress passed the Historic Sites Act in 1935, requiring

archeological investigations prior to the construction of a

federal reservoir or a federally permitted reservoir. This

act also declared a national preservation policy on public

use of historic sites, structures, and objects of national significance. Furthermore, it established an "Advisory Board

on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings, and Monuments (McGimsey n.d.: 16; Udall 1962: 19)."

At the state level, the legislature created, in 1935, the

office of Superintendent of Parks and a Park Commission.

The commission was authorized to acquire park lands and

was directed to draft rules and regulations for public use

of parks. Coronado, near Bernalillo, was the first state

monument, and Bluewater Lake was the first park (Clark
352 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1987: 271–272; Young 1984: 1, 5). In 1938 the Pueblo and

Spanish ruins of Abo and Quarai were declared state

monuments (Toulouse 1949: 1). Under the supervision of

the National Park Service in 1938–39, the CCC developed

the 350-acre Hyde State Park (Baker et al. 1988: 137; Fig.

79; Table 63).

Two major, private environmental groups were formed,

the Wilderness Society in 1934 and the National Wildlife

Federation in 1936 (Borland 1975: 148; Brown and

Carmony 1995: 163). The Albuquerque Ski Club was organized a year later; this group operated a rope tow and

restaurant in the Sandia Mountains under permit from

the Cibola National Forest (Baker et al. 1988: 138).

Federal and state agencies continued to implement programs for the conservation and management of wildlife

resources. The New Mexico Game and Fish Department

established a game refuge on the east side of the Sandia

Mountains, one of 201 statewide game refuges, totalling

almost 3 million acres, in existence by 1939 (McDonald

1985: 12; Workers of the Writers’ Program 1940: 33). In

late 1939 the department released the first of a reintroduced herd of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep from British Columbia into the Sandia Mountains (Pickens 1980:

83). The department also continued efforts to control

predators. To supplement other predator control programs, the department tested a limited bounty plan in

Socorro, Catron, and Sierra Counties. Based on this test, it

estimated that 16,000 coyotes could be killed annually in

the state by paid hunters (Mortensen 1983: 74).

Congress passed the Pittman-Robertson Act, also

known as the Wildlife Restoration Act of 1937, which provided funds for state game and fish departments to conduct wildlife surveys on a systematic basis and to institute professional research. These funds came from a federal tax on firearms and ammunition. The bill also fostered closer cooperation between federal and state wildlife agencies (Brown and Carmony 1995: 123; Clark 1987:

267–268; Udall 1963: 145). The Federal Aid to Wildlife Act

of 1939 provided funds for purchase of habitat; some

30,000 acres were purchased subsequently by the state

(Barker 1976: 100–101).

In 1939 the 57,200-acre Bosque del Apache National

Wildlife Refuge was established in Socorro County, primarily as winter habitat for sand hill cranes and various

species of waterfowl (Laycock 1965: 269). In the following year, the La Joya State Waterfowl Refuge was established, and elk from Wyoming, the Wichita Mountains

National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma, and the Philmont

Boy Scout Ranch were transplanted on Mount Taylor, in

the Jemez Mountains, and in the Hopewell and Tres

Piedras areas of the Carson National Forest (Barker 1976:

104, 109–110; Fig. 79; Table 63).

In the late part of the decade El Vado dam was completed on the Chama River; its primary function was flood

control. During this same period, the district completed a

levee system in the Middle Valley. Also, the WPA constructed small retention and diversion dams in rural New

Mexico communities to prevent flooding (Bullard and

Wells 1992: 47; Welsh 1987: 110, 140).

In January 1940, the Upper Rio Grande Drainage Basin

Committee held its first meeting. Made up of personnel

from state and federal agencies, this group heard various

parties discuss and protest against certain irrigation

projects and possible loss of water rights to new development along the river (Vlasich 1980: 33).

In the spring of the following year, severe flooding

struck the region. This event spurred Senator Clinton P.

Anderson to introduce the Flood Control Act, which was

passed by Congress. This legislation directed the Chief of

the Corps of Engineers to conduct a preliminary study of

dam sites in the Rio Grande Basin above El Paso. The

Corps, along with the Bureau of Reclamation, was also

directed to develop a joint-use plan for the Rio Grande in

the Albuquerque area. To facilitate this, the corps created

the Albuquerque District and established an office in the

city (Welsh 1987: 78–79, 111).

Two years later the All-Pueblo Council met and generally declared opposition to the Flood Control Act of 1941.

The council specifically opposed construction of the proposed flood control dams at Otowi and San Felipe but

supported flood control measures in general. The Council also spoke out against any plans made for Pueblo lands

without its input. Later, the Pueblos complained to Congress that the district had not provided adequate water

or maintenance of ditches as promised. Many claimed they

had lost crops as a result (Bayer et al. 1994: 242–243).

Overgrazing and severe erosion continued to be serious problems for federal agencies administering public

rangelands. The Forest Service and the Grazing Service

began to fence federal land in the Rio Puerco-of-the-East

valley and traditional grazing lands on Mesa Prieta and

in the San Mateo Mountains, including Mount Taylor in

1940 (Garcia 1992: 23). Each family on the Rio Puerco was

permitted by the Soil Conservation Service to graze 15

head of sheep in their grazing precinct. This number of

livestock was considered below the minimum needed for

subsistence (Forrest 1989: 159).

Most wild horses had been removed from public grazing

lands except on Indian reservations and “waste lands outside of the grazing districts and fenced areas” (Wyman 1945:

173). In 1940–41, the Soil Conservation Service sponsored

projects to control erosion on Santa Ana Pueblo land by erecting fences and windbreaks (Bayer et al. 1994: 228). The Forest Service closed grazing on Manzano Forest lands next to

the Carnue land grant (Quintana and Kayser 1980: 50).

In 1941 there were seven livestock grazing districts, totalling almost 16 million acres, under the administration

of the Division of Grazing. State and national advisory

boards, made up of ranchers, were established to assist in

the management of grazing on these lands. Twenty years
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 353

later, these boards were expanded to represent wildlife,

forestry, mineral development, soil conservation, and

other resource interests (Clawson 1971: 151).

In August 1946 Congress passed the Indian Claims Act,

setting up a Claims Commission to resolve long-time land

disputes between Native Americans and non-Indians. As

a result of extensive research and testimony over many

years, the Pueblos received payments for various tracts

of land and water lost to Hispanos and Anglos in the region (Minge 1976: 114–117; Simmons 1979b: 216).

On July 16, 1946, the U.S. General Land Office and the

Grazing Service were merged to form the Bureau of Land

Management. This new agency was responsible not only

for grazing but also for the management of other natural

and cultural resources on public domain lands. A regional

office was established in Albuquerque, and the agency implemented a grazing fee of 8 cents per animal unit month

(Clawson 1971: 38–39, 174; Utely and Mackintosh 1989: 29).

During this decade the Forest Service limited the number of livestock that one owner could graze on the national forests because of heavy, local demand. A June 1948

inspection of the grazing allotments on the Santa Fe National Forest revealed that their condition was unsatisfactory. For this forest, 50 to 100 head of cattle per owner

were permitted. Also, attempts were made to reduce

common use of forest ranges by constructing fences, developing more surface water, and reassigning individual

allotments. On April 24, 1950, Congress passed a law authorizing advisory boards on grazing on national forests.

Members were to be primarily livestock raisers holding

permits on a particular forest. Previously, advisory boards

had no standing under the law (Baker et al. 1988: 102;

Eastman and Gray 1987: 37; Mortensen 1983: 80–81).

In the early- and mid-1940s, the New Mexico Cattle

Growers’ Association continued to lobby for transferring

federal ownership of the public domain to the state. This

organization’s policy was supported by New Mexico’s two

U.S. senators and one of its representatives. In 1946 the

state’s Commissioner on Public Lands, John E. Miles, suggested that land commissioners, educators, and livestock

raisers meet to develop strategy for acquiring the public

domain. An Association of Western State Land Commissioners was established to procure legislative enactment

for granting the states the public domain for support of

schools and other public institutions. Their efforts were

unsuccessful (Mortensen 1983: 85–86).

During the late 1940s and 1950s, grass reseeding and

reforestation on national forest lands was common. Part

of this program also involved removing Juniper from various areas and then reseeding with grasses. In an attempt

to improve grazing conditions on the Carson National Forest, an area of the Tres Piedras District was reseeded with

crested wheatgrass. On 7,000 acres of overgrazed lands

of the Mesa Viejas, Canjilon Ranger District, of this national forest, sagebrush was cleared; the tract was also

reseeded with crested wheatgrass in 1951. This species

had been introduced in New Mexico earlier in the 1930s

by USFS Forest and Range Experiment stations (Baker et

al. 1988: 59; Rowley 1985: preceeding p. 92). In May, 1952,

U.S. Senator Dennis Chavez of New Mexico convened

hearings on grazing on the national forests in three locations of the state. A number of livestock raisers complained

about the reduction of the number of head that they could

graze under a permit and the closing of some areas to

grazing (Mortensen 1983: 79). Range conditions had been

deteriorating due to the ongoing drought, as well as the

intensive grazing.

Congress had passed the Forest Pest Control Act in 1947;

this legislation placed a new emphasis on the control and

management of forest insects and diseases (Baker et al.

1988: 59). Spraying of insecticides, pesticides, and fungicides, as well as clearing of affected trees, was employed

to combat insects and diseases in the forests from this year

into the 1960s (Frome 1962: 239–243). DDT was one of the

compounds commonly used, not only on the national forests but also on other public lands, as well as in cities and

on private lands.

A 1947 study of some 87,000 acres of land and water

wildlife habitat in the Middle Rio Grande Basin was conducted by the Fish and Wildlife Service (Pillow and

DeVaney 1947: 16). This work examined the potential economic impact of proposed development of dams and

channel improvements on the region through assigning

dollar values to game mammals, birds, amphibians, and

fishes harvested there. The estimate was $71,900 annually. Potential losses due to impacts were estimated at

$79,500 (Ligon 1961: 19–25).

In an ongoing effort to control rodents and predation

on livestock grazing public lands, the federal Predatory

Animal Control Division made available a new, highly

lethal rodenticide called Compound 1080 in 1949. It was

especially effective against wild canids, but many domestic pets and other animals were killed as well. Highly controversial as a result, the Environmental Protection Agency

banned the compound in 1972. Also, the U.S. Government

outlawed the indiscriminate use of poison to kill livestock

predators in 1954. Sheep ranchers turned to use of the

“coyote getta,” a “cyanide gun” stuck in the ground (Fig.

82). Some ranchers also controlled predators by shooting

them from airplanes (Brown 1983: 103; Moyer 1979: 71).

Early in the 1950s, the BLM raised the grazing fee to 12

cents per animal-unit-month. This fee was based on current livestock market prices. The agency was later criticized for focusing primarily on leasing public lands to

livestock raisers and overlooking other public values and

uses for these lands. A special concern for some groups

was the protection of watersheds and “marginal lands”

from overgrazing (Clark 1987: 590).

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed reservoirs

on the Jemez River in Jemez Canyon and at Chamita on
354 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Figure 82—Dead coyote hung on U.S. Forest Service sign.

Courtesy Museum of New Mexico Photo Archives,

Santa Fe (negative no. 101965).

the Chama River early in 1948. Later that same year, Congress passed another Flood Control Act, which authorized

these two flood and sediment control dams. Also in 1948,

Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution Control Act,

the first comprehensive legislation of its kind in the United

States. The act was directed at “controlling the discharge

of effluents into interstate streams”. The formation of the

Water Pollution Control Advisory Board was also authorized, and this board was directed to assist and cooperate

with the states, whose responsibilities and rights to control water pollution were recognized (Clark 1987: 444,

532).

In 1952, Congress adopted House Resolution 9216 to

expedite construction of the Rio Grande Floodway, part

of the Middle Rio Grande Project. As part of this program,

private and state levees and dams were targeted for reconstruction from Velarde to Elephant Butte (Welsh 1987:

166). This same year the Corps completed the Jemez Canyon dam and reservoir. In 1951 the Corps and the Bureau

of Reclamation began to install the first of 100,000 jetties

along the Middle Rio Grande. The Bureau began channel

modification in this reach to maintain channel capacity

“for safely passing high flows, reducing water losses while

conveying water to downstream users, and moving sediments through the valley” (Bullard and Wells 1992: 50;

Crawford et al. 1993: 43–44; Fergusson 1951: 360; Welsh

1987: 117–118). From 1947 to 1958 an intensive study of

sediments in the Rio Grande Basin was conducted by the

U.S. Geological Survey (Hale et al. 1965: 6).

The severe drought of 1951–56 led to the passage of two

water-related acts. In 1953 the State Legislature declared

“that all underground waters of the State of New Mexico

are public waters subject to appropriation for beneficial

use within the State” (Erickson 1954: 81). That same year

Senator Clinton P. Anderson of New Mexico co-sponsored

legislation to encourage experimentation in “rainmaking”

and created the Advisory Committee on Weather Control

(Clark 1987: 413-414).

Cognizant of the fact that flooding usually followed

droughts, Congress passed the Flood Control Act of 1954,

which included authorization of two diversion canals that

would carry summer rain runoff from the west slopes of

the Sandia Mountains. The Corps of Engineers completed

the renovation of flood levees along the Rio Grande in

the Albuquerque area the following year. In March 1956

the Sandia Conservancy District was created at the petition of a group of landowners to control flash-flood waters originating along the west face of the Sandia

Mountains (Clark 1987: 355; Welsh 1987: 167–168).

Flood control work on the Middle Rio Grande continued from the late 1950s to the early 1980s. The Corps of

Engineers reconstructed the levee-riverside drains in the

Albuquerque area in 1958. Operation and maintenance

of the system were subsequently transferred to the Middle

Rio Grande Conservancy District (Bullard and Wells 1992:

47). In the 1960s the riverside diversions at Corrales and

Atrisco were replaced by inverted siphons that ran under

the river from riverside drains, converting them into seasonal water conveyance channels. In 1959 the San Marcial

Channelization Project was completed (Jenkins and

Schroeder 1974: 77). From 1959 to 1963 the Corp constructed Heron Dam and the Abiquiu Dam on the Rio

Chama. In 1960 Congressional legislation, the agency was

also directed to construct the Galisteo Dam, 12 miles upstream from the confluence of Galisteo Creek and the Rio

Grande. The project was completed 10 years later (Welsh

1987: 133–134, 149, 152, 155–156).

Adequate and clean water supplies for the Basin were

also a major concern in this decade. In 1960, per capita

water consumption in New Mexico was about 160 gallons per day (Hale et al 1965: 51). The Bureau of

Reclamation was authorized to construct the San JuanChama Transmountain Diversion Project in 1962. Water

control facilities subsequently diverted "about 110,000

acre-feet of water from the upper tributaries of the San

Juan River, through the Continental Divide, and into the

Rio Grande drainage" (Bullard and Wells 1992: 20). The

All-Pueblo Indian Council and Native American supporters strongly endorsed the project (Clark 1987: 653).

Struggle for traditional land and water remained important in the 1950s–60s as well. As mentioned previously,

settlements were made under the Indian Land Claims Act.

Acoma Pueblos received more than $6 million for loss of

aboriginal lands in their area in 1970 (Minge 1976: 116–
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 355

117). Santa Ana, Zia, and Jemez Pueblos eventually received compensation for Espiritu Santo lands wrongfully

taken (Bayer et al. 1994: 234). In 1959, Cochiti Pueblos lost

their claim to the La Bajada land grant. Their efforts to

convince the Corps of Engineers to move the location of

the Cochiti Dam failed.

Also at the national level, Congress passed the Water Resources Planning Act in 1965, which created a National Water Commission to work with the National Resources Council and public and private agencies in identifying problems

related to an ample supply of clean water for the future. This

group produced a final report, Water Policies for the Future,

emphasizing the economics of water (Clark 1987: 379–380).

In New Mexico, the Water Resources Research Institute

was established, partially with funds from the Federal

Water Resources Research Act of 1964. Since then, the emphasis of the institute has been on supplementing rather

than duplicating ongoing water research, especially research related to water consumption and requirements for

local entities, more efficient irrigation practices, problems

of major stream basins, availability of undeveloped

sources, water recycling, wastewater management, and

groundwater quality (Clark 1987: 381).

In 1965 the State Legislature declared that “the State of

New Mexico claims the right to all moisture in the atmosphere which would fall so as to become a part of the natural streams or percolated water of New Mexico, for use in

accordance with its laws.” The Weather Control and Cloud

Modification Commission was also created in this year

“to oversee attempts to alter natural weather conditions”

(Clark 1987: 373). At the same time, the State Planning

Office and the State Engineer Office carried out an indepth inventory and report of water resources in New

Mexico (Clark 1987: 374, 381).

President John F. Kennedy led the way for environmental legislation in the 1960s and, along with Rachel Carson’s

1962 book Silent Spring, provided a foundation for the

environmental movement of the mid 1960s-early 1970s.

In February 1961 Kennedy delivered a natural resources

message “advising” Congress that he had directed the secretary of the interior [sic] to launch a three-pronged offensive against public land abuse. This included making "an

inventory and evaluation of unreserved public lands,” developing a “balanced use program,” and developing “an

accelerated soil and water conservation program including

rehabilitation of depleted rangelands” (Clark 1987: 590–591).

In his conservation message to Congress in 1962,

President Kennedy said “Conservation . . . can be defined

as the wise use of our natural environment: it is, in the

final analysis, the highest form of national thrift—the prevention of waste and despoilment while preserving, improving and renewing the quality and usefulness of all of

our resources” (Udall 1963: 173).

In 1963 an appointee of JFK, Secretary of Interior Stewart

Udall, convened a panel of experts, headed by A. Starker

Leopold of the University of California, to examine the

Federal Government’s animal damage control program.

This group, in their “Leopold Report,” asserted that the

government should be responsible for the husbandry of

every animal species and that current control was too excessive (Mortensen 1983: 75). Eight years later, another

panel of wildlife experts, headed by former Assistant Secretary of the Interior Stanley A. Cain “recommended that

all existing toxic chemicals be removed from registration

and use for Federal predator control operations”

(Mortensen 1983: 75). In response, President Richard

Nixon issued an executive order on February 8, 1972, banning “the field use of any chemical toxicant for the purpose of killing a predatory mammal or bird” or that

“which causes any secondary poisoning on all Federal

lands and in any Federal program” (Mortensen 1983: 75).

Tourism to national parks and monuments had begun

to increase significantly by 1960. Four years earlier in 1956,

the National Park Service had submitted its “Mission 66”

program to Congress, requesting a substantial increase in

funds to renovate existing facilities and to construct and

maintain new ones to meet the projected visitation for the

1960s–70s. Recreational visitation to the national forests

had also risen sharply; major activities included hunting,

fishing, skiing, and hiking (Baker et al. 1988: 60; Udall

1962: 32–33). These new pressures led to congressional

enactment of the Multiple Use-Sustained Yield Act in 1960,

which authorized and directed the Secretary of Agriculture “to develop and administer the renewable resources

of the national forests, including outdoor recreation, watershed, range, timber, and wildlife and fish resources, in

such a way that they would be available in perpetuity. It

meant that no one demand should take precedence over

another” (Baker et al. 1988: 60, 65).

This demand for public recreation also led to the formation of the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation within the

Interior Department on May 28, 1963. This agency was

responsible for coordination of related federal programs,

assistance in state recreational planning, administration

of a grants-in-aid program, sponsorship of research, and

formulation of a nationwide recreation plan based on state,

regional, and federal plans (Udall 1962).

In 1964 there were 1,562,600 recreational visits to the

Cibola National Forest. In this same year Congress passed

the Wilderness Act, led by Senator Anderson of New

Mexico. The Forest Service and National Park Service initiated studies of the lands under their administration to

determine suitability for classification as wilderness. Before the end of the year, the Pecos and San Pedro Parks

wildernesses were created (Table 63). At the same time,

the Pecos area was restocked with Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep. In contrast, the Forest Service proposed a highway from Las Vegas to Pecos Canyon in the Santa Fe

National Forest. In the first major confrontation between

the Forest Service and environmental groups in the re-
356 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

gion, the New Mexico Coordinating Council and the Upper

Pecos Association opposed the road. The latter group filed

suit against the Forest Service who subsequently abandoned the project. The Forest Service also proposed to

construct a scenic roadway from Placitas to Sandia Crest,

which drew sharp criticism from several environmental

organizations and local residents. The proposal was

dropped in 1971 (Baker et al. 1988: 70–71, 134; deBuys

1985: 289; McDonald 1985: 12–13; Rothman 1992: 271).

Congress passed the Land Classification and Multiple

Use Act in 1964, directing the Secretary of the Interior “to

develop criteria for determining which BLM lands should

be classified for disposal and which should remain in federal ownership.” These lands would also be “managed

for the protection of public values” (Clark 1987: 591).

Congress also created the Public Land Law Review

Commission in 1964 to examine existing public land statutes and regulations and the policies and practices of the

administering agencies. Under the guidance of Representative Wayne Aspinall, chairman of the commission, the

body made 137 recommendations for modification in public land management and disposition. Among these were

a proposal to study public lands to determine if they would

better serve the public good under state, local, or private

ownership. Still another recommendation was that local

advisory boards should have more input into federal planning. This and a number of other recommendations were

included in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act

of 1976 (Clark 1987: 575–576). This legislation also included a section mandating a 15-year review of potential

wilderness areas on lands administered by the Bureau of

Land Management (Kutz 1989: 9; McDonald 1985: 8).

Under the Wilderness Act the Wheeler Peak area was

created as wilderness in the Carson National Forest in the

mid- 1960s. A wilderness area was also established at the

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in the 1970s.

Also during this period, the Sevilleta National Wildlife

Refuge was established in northern Socorro County. Subsequently, the latter was designated a Long Term Study

Ecological Area, a global classification (Grover and Musick

1989: 1–3; McDonald 1985: 6; Table 63).

By the mid-1960s the government was basing grazing

fees on public lands on a year-by-year assessment of the

economic value of the land in question (Mortensen 1983:

78). In 1972, the state advisory boards for grazing districts

and the national advisory board to the Department of the

Interior were abolished by federal act; they were reinstated

under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of

1976 (Mortensen 1983: 83).

One of the most important legislative bills dealing with

the environment since World War II, the National Environmental Policy Act, was passed by Congress in 1969. Its

basic mandate was to provide more protection for the environment where federal agencies or funds were involved in

projects. The Council on Environmental Quality was established as an advisory group to the President and as a

watch-dog group (Clark 1987: 450–451; Welsh 1987: 201–202).

Related to this bill was the Environmental Quality Improvement Act of 1970, which provided for an upgrading

of environmental quality through mandating federal departments and agencies, conducting or supporting public work projects, to implement environmental protection

policies. This act also provided aid and support for the Council on Environmental Quality through establishment of the

Office of Environmental Quality in the Executive Branch

(Clark 1987: 450). In the summer of that year, President Nixon

established the Environmental Protection Agency to gather

and organize scattered research, enforce pollution control

standards, and monitor enforcement agencies relative to air,

water, and land pollution abatement. The focus was to be on

specific problems such as pesticides, solid waste, water quality, radiation, and pollution (Clark 1987: 452).

The Forest Service, which continued to use DDT and

initiated the use of malathion in 1966 to control outbreaks

of insects in the national forests, became embroiled with

various environmental groups over use of the channels in

the Taos area of the Carson National Forest. DDT was eventually banned by the EPA in 1973 (Baker et al. 1988: 62).

In regional national forests several important events

involving management occurred at the end of the decade

and in the early years of the 1970s. Members of the Alianza

Federal de los Pireblos Libres , organized and led by Reies

Tijerina, attempted to reclaim the San Joaquin del Rio de

Chama land grant, which had become part of the national

forest near Tierra Amarilla. Violence broke out in 1967–

68, with some Forest Service facilities destroyed and personnel detained by the protesters. Members of the Alianza

also raided the Tierra Amarilla courthouse, hoping to recover land grant papers proving their position, but this

was not the case. Tijerina and some of his followers were

subsequently convicted and served jail sentences for their

actions against the federal and local governments (Baker

et al. 1988: 72–73).

Another battle over traditional lands incorporated into

the Carson National Forest was that of the Taos Pueblo’s

long-time struggle to have their sacred Blue Lake returned.

Finally, on December 15, 1970, President Nixon signed a

congressional bill placing 48,000 acres of forest land, including the lake, in trust for the sole use of the Pueblo

(Keegan 1991: 50).

Joined by another federal agency, the Bureau of Land

Management, the Forest Service raised grazing fees to levels more in line with fees paid for grazing private lands

in 1966. Forest Service fees ranged from 21 cents to $1.81,

while the BLM fee was set at 33 cents. In 1969 the BLM

had raised the fee to 44 cents per animal unit month

(Clawson 1971: 175). Management of grazing was complicated by the passage of the Wild Horse and Burro Act

in 1971. Populations of both species, protected by the act,

had been increasing dramatically on some areas on the
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 357

public lands and were causing severe overgrazing. Burros were not protected on National Park lands, such as

Bandelier National Monument, where they had been an

ongoing problem. Park personnel had been shooting them

since the mid 1940s, but public protests in the 1970s hampered eradication. Live capture was implemented,

complemented by limiting shooting, and this resulted in

removal of almost all of these animals by the end of 1983

(Rothman 1992: 280–283).

In 1966 and 1969 Congress passed Endangered Species

Acts, which authorized the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

to initiate studies identifying endangered wildlife species.

In 1973 a new Endangered Species Act was passed, providing unprecedented protection for listing species on

public and private lands through consultation, prohibition of “takings,” and recovery plans (Beatley 1994: 13–22;

Borland 1975: 152). The state enacted a similar law authorizing the Game and Fish Department to identify and list

endangered species in the state (Hubbard et al. 1988: 1).

In 1966 Congress also enacted the National Historic

Preservation Act, establishing the program for National

Register surveying and selecting buildings, sites, districts,

and objects significant in American history, archeology,

architecture, and eco-culture. Furthermore, the Act provided matching funds to help acquire and preserve them

and to aid in statewide surveys for properties to be placed

on the National Register. Section 106 of the Act currently

requires the State Historic Preservation Officer to comment on any undertaking that might affect property listed

in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places

(McGimsey n.d.: 16–17).

In 1968 the National Wild and Scenic River Act was

passed, which provided for the environmental protection

of rivers in “a free-flowing, natural state.” One section of

a regional river, the Upper Rio Grande from the Colorado

state line to below Taos, was subsequently designated a

wild and scenic river (Baker et al. 1988: 72; Table 63).

The rising public awareness of, and concern for, the

environment had increased sharply in the late 1960s. Membership in various long-time, as well as new, environmental groups mushroomed. Environmental organizations

brought unprecedented public pressure on local, state, and

federal governments to meet their environmental concerns. As a result, a number of significant environmental

laws were passed at the federal and state levels. Supported

by Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin, environmentalists from these groups organized the first Earth Day on

April 22, 1970. Twenty million Americans participated in

rallies, marches, workshops, and environmental clean-ups

(Borland 1975: 174; Pirages and Ehrlich 1974: 37–38).

One of the pieces of legislation passed was the Clean

Air Act of 1970, the first serious attempt by the Federal

Government to improve air quality. Sources of emissions

could be held accountable for their contribution to the

degradation of air quality. Stringent emission standards

were subsequently adopted and were enforced by the EPA

office, Region 6, Dallas, Texas, and the New Mexico

Department of Health. Major sources of air pollution in

the study region included the Four Corners power plants

fueled by coal (Harrington and Abbey 1981: 1, 4, 22).

In March 1972 the Corps of Engineers completed construction of the north and south flood diversion channels

in the Albuquerque District. The Corps received new regulatory responsibility with passage of the Water Pollution

Control Act amendment, which upheld the 1899 Refuse

Act. Any company intending to discharge fluid waste into

navigable waters was required to obtain a permit from

the corps or face a fine. Discharge of pollutants in toxic

amounts into waters was made illegal, and agricultural

and rural sewage treatment became a new priority (Clark

1987: 453–454; Welsh 1987: 172, 202).

During the 1970s the Bureau of Reclamation conducted

a rectification project along the Rio Grande to clear and

maintain a relatively linear floodway that would efficiently convey water to Elephant Butte Reservoir and to

pass floodwater rapidly through the system with minimal water loss and damage to the river channel and floodplain (Bullard and Wells 1992: 47). A significant part of

the federal flood control program on the Rio Grande was

completed when the Cochiti Dam was closed and the reservoir began to fill in November 1973. Subsequently,

downstream farmers at Cochiti Pueblo and Pena Blanca

complained that rises in the groundwater table of up to 8

feet were resulting in deposition of harmful salt and

“waterlogging” of 320 acres of traditional agricultural

land. In 1980 the Pueblo’s council filed suit against the

Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque District, claiming the

agency was responsible for these environmental problems

(Welsh 1987: 158, 162).

In its 1972 report The Nation’s Range Resources, the Forest

Service reported that much of southwestern rangelands,

public and private, were in a deteriorating condition. Also,

the volume of timber cut for commercial sales in the state’s

national forests peaked at over 141 million board-feet

(Baker et al. 1988: 84). Since 1972, tighter grazing regulations and reduced timber harvest have been implemented,

partly as a result of protest and litigation by national and

local environmental organizations.

During the mid and late 1970s the Forest Service worked

to improve, restore, or preserve watersheds through extensive management programs. As part of these projects,

the service determined grazing quotas, timber harvests,

and the extent of other uses that could potentially impact

these ecosystems adversely. An example of such a watershed program was (and is) the Bernalillo Watershed Project

in the Cibola National Forest, which has included construction of check-dams and restoration of vegetative cover. This

effort has controlled the periodic, serious flooding of the

Bernalillo community by intensive runoff from the northwest slopes of the Sandia Mountains (Clark 1987: 577).
358 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, and an amendment known as the National Forest Management Act of 1976, directed the Forest

Service, in cooperation with state, local, and other federal

agencies, to inventory and analyze the renewable resources on national forest lands relative to anticipated

uses, demands, and relevant agency policies and programs. A plan, based on these studies, was to be prepared

and updated every 5 years (Clark 1987: 579).

Congress also passed the Federal Land Policy and

Management Act of 1976, which included a number of

recommendations made by the Public Land Law Review

Commission 12 years earlier. The primary purpose of this

legislation “was to update and bring together in a single

statute the laws governing management of” BLM lands,

and to a more limited extent Forest Service lands. Moreover, the Secretary of the Interior was directed “to develop

a comprehensive land-use plan incorporating multiplepurpose and sustained-yield principles based on a continuing inventory of lands and their resources” (Clark

1987: 575).

Finally, the 22,000-acre Bandelier Wilderness area was

created in 1976, and on February 24, 1978, Congress passed

the Endangered American Wilderness Act, which included

establishment of the North Sandia Peak and South Sandia

Peak wilderness areas, the Manzano Mountain Wilderness, and the Chama River Basin Wilderness (McDonald

1985: 15; Table 63).

SUMMARY

Although Native and Hispano Americans collectively

held an extensive knowledge of the occurrence, range, and

use of various natural resources, scientific studies of the

study region did not begin until the arrival of Anglo Americans in 1846. Early map makers, photographers, and naturalists assigned to army contingents began to document and

collect environmental data on the Middle and Upper Rio

Grande basins. Subsequent government scientists continued

the collecting of biological and geological specimens and

gathered the first climatic, archeological, and ethnological

information.

Following passage of various laws that greatly facilitated and aided residents in acquiring land and exploiting resources from the 1850s to 1870s, a conservation

movement emerged in the midwestern and eastern United

States, as well as in territorial New Mexico. Legislation was

passed to regulate use of surface and ground waters, logging on public lands, and the taking of game animals and

fish. Government agencies targeted predators, such as wolves

and grizzly bears, for reduction in populations, and ultimately for extirpation.

Additional resource management agencies were created, and the first national forest preserves and national

monuments were created in the study region in the late

19th and early 20th centuries. Water control works, such

as dams, drainage canals, and levees, were constructed in

the Middle Valley at the end of this period. The Middle

Rio Grande Conservancy District, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Corps of Engineers were responsible for

the construction of these works and their maintenance.

During the 1930s–40s water management and use, wildlife management, and grazing regulation on public lands

and Indian reservations were major issues. Legislation

affecting archeological sites, wildlife refuges, and parks

at the federal and state levels was passed. Conservation

programs such as the CCC were created, providing employment for hundreds of citizens. Also, several new national environmental groups, along with previously

established ones, began to voice their concerns for better

management of eco-cultural resources.

The Historic Sites Act, passed by Congress in 1935, afforded investigations of archeological resources and preservation of significant historical sites and structures. In

the same year, the State Legislature created a Park Commission. Subsequently several state parks and monuments

were established in the Middle Rio Grande Basin.

The 1950s drought spurred more funding and construction of public water control facilities in the Middle Basin.

Water quality and predator control became an issue on

national and state levels. The Pueblos and other Native

Americans continued their struggle to acquire land, which

they claimed traditional rights to.

President Kennedy, Secretary of the Interior Stewart

Udall, and biologist Rachel Carson sparked the environmental movement of the 1960s. Awareness of the environment and the “need” for recreating on public lands

led to the passage of new laws and establishment of new

parks, monuments, and recreation areas. Concern for archeological sites and historical structures resulted in passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966. This

legislation provided policy and funding to help survey,

select, and designate sites or structures for National Register listing. Wildernesses were created in national parks,

monuments, and forests under the new Wilderness Act.

Significant legislation, such as the Clean Air Act of 1963,

the Endangered Species Acts of 1966, 1969, and 1973 and

the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968, was passed by

Congress. The Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River in northern New Mexico, west of Taos, was so designated in 1970.

In the following year the Secretary of the Interior recommended that no toxic chemicals be used in federal predator control operations. In February 1972 President Nixon

issued an Executive Order banning use of such chemicals

in federal programs and on all federal lands. Four years

later Congress enacted the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. This law stipulated that the laws

governing management of BLM lands, and to a limited extent national forest lands, be updated and consolidated

(Clark 1987: 371, 401–402, 575, 586–588; McIntyre 1995: 187).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 359

In the 1970s conflicting views of public land use and

management became common and have continued until

the present. Grazing and water rights and opposition to

major dams and other water control facilities increased,

especially among environmentalists and the Pueblos. Wilderness, automobile emissions, water quality, and management of endangered species were other issues in the

1980s.

CHRONOLOGY

1812 The General Land Office was established in

the Treasury Department. This federal agency

managed public lands and associated resources such as minerals and timber (Udall

1962: 1).

1832 The New Mexico Territorial Assembly considered imposing a limitation on the use of

water and wood by foreigners in the mountains above Santa Fe (Weber 1982: 152).

1830s–41 Josiah Gregg (1966) made relatively detailed

descriptions of New Mexico’s weather,

streams, fauna, flora, and residents.

1841 (August-September) Naturalist William

Gambel, a botanist and protegee of Thomas

Nuttall, collected botanical and zoological

specimens in the Sangre de Cristo Range and

nearby Rio Grande Valley (Dickerman 1985:

159, 163–164).

1846 (late June-late August) Medical doctor and

naturalist Frederick A. Wislizenus (1969) collected plant, rock, and mineral specimens in

the study region. He also recorded weather

data (Dickerman 1985: 164–165).

1846 (August-October) Lt. William H. Emory

(Calvin 1951) of the U.S. Topographical Engineers surveyed, mapped, and collected

plant, rock, and mineral specimens in the

study region.

1846 (late September-December) Lt. James W.

Abert (1962) of the U.S. Topographic Engineers surveyed, mapped, and collected fossil

and rock specimens in the study region.

1846 (fall) (to summer 1847) Augustus Fendler, a

Prussian botanist, collected 1,026 plant specimens along the Santa Fe River and the Rio

Grande Valley to the west. Two genera in the

saxifrage family were named for him, Fendlera

and Fendlerella (Dickerman 1985: 167, 168–

169).

1849 (March 3) The U.S. Department of Interior was

created to manage natural and cultural resources, including the affairs of Native Americans (Smith and Zurcher 1968: 112; Utely and

Mackintosh 1989: 2).

1849 The General Land Office was transferred to

the Interior Department (Udall 1962: 2).

1849 The Bureau of Indian Affairs was transferred

to the Interior Department (Dale 1949: 6).

1850–51 The U.S. Assistant Surgeon accompanied Lt.

Lorenzo Sitgreaves on his expedition from El

Paso to Santa Fe, then west to El Morro and

the Zuni area. He was the first scientist to collect birds and mammals in the region. He collected and described, for the first time, greyheaded junco (now lumped with two former

species into one), black-capped vireo, Cassin’s

sparrow, Abert’s squirrel, Ord’s Kangaroo rat,

and the southern coyote (Hume 1942: 497–

503).

1851 (summer) The Territorial Legislature passed

legislation empowering owners of tillable

lands to take water from the most convenient

source and move it across the properties of

others, assessing owners of trespass livestock

onto another’s fields damages, making the

creation of a footpath across a field punishable by reprimand or fine, forbidding the

building of any structures (such as mills) that

would interfere with irrigating crops, and

providing that “the course of ditches or

acequias already established shall not be disturbed” (Clark 1987: 25).

1851 The Territorial Assembly petitioned the U.S.

Congress to reserve all salt lakes, salt mines,

and springs to prevent them from passing into

private ownership. Also, all fuelwood and

timber in the mountain should be reserved

for the “common use of the people” (Clark

1987: 32).

1851–52 The Territorial Assembly declared that the

acequia alignments in use at the time should

not be disturbed and should remain public,

and their use for irrigation should take precedence over all other uses, such as grist mills

(Wozniak 1987).

1852 (January 7) The Territorial Assembly enacted

legislation that detailed the administration of

community acequias (Clark 1987: 25).

1852 Naturalist S.W. Woodhouse reported that

wolves were common across New Mexico

(Bailey 1971: 310).

1853–54 Lt. Col. Henry (1856) recorded species of birds

while stationed at forts Thorn, Fillmore, and

Webster (Ligon 1961: 7–8).

1854 (July 22) Congress passed an act providing

for the appointment of a State SurveyorGeneral. William Pelham was appointed the

first Surveyor-General. This act also provided

that every white male citizen over the age of
360 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

21 and a U.S. citizen was granted 160 acres of

land. These donations were made to promote

the military strength of settlements exposed

to attacks by Indians (Westphall 1965: 1, 37).

1854 (December) The first Surveyor General arrived in the territory to begin the public land

surveys. The policy of the Surveyor General’s

Office was to only survey arable, or agricultural land (Westphall 1965: 1, 17).

1860 (March 12) The U.S. Congress passed the Preemption Act, giving free land to New Mexico

and adjoining territories (Brown 1970: 13).

1862 The U.S. Department of Agriculture was created (Swift 1958: 45). Subsequently, the Forestry Division was established within this

agency (Bergoffen 1976: 11).

1862 The Homestead Act was passed by Congress,

allowing a settler to take out a homestead on

public lands of 160 acres. A patent to the land

could then be obtained either by living on it for

5 years or by commuting it through payment

of cash in 6 months (Westphall 1965: 42–43).

1863 Ordinances related to animal and traffic control, sanitation, public works, and zoning

were passed by Albuquerque’s board of aldermen (Simmons 1992: 24).

1864 Congress passed legislation preserving

Yosemite Valley, the first “scenic reserve created by federal action...”. (Udall 1963: 112).

1865 (January 18) The Territorial Mining Act was

passed; it provided a legal basis for mining

development and supported local “Rules of

Miners” (Christiansen 1974: 87).

1866 (January 18) A territorial statute providing for

the right to move an irrigation ditch destroyed

by rain or runoff water was passed. Construction of a new ditch was allowed if the damaged one was impossible to rebuild and if the

majority of those who would furnish the labor so consented. The mayordomo was authorized to relocate the acequia and given the

authority to cross any land by securing the

consent of the owner (Clark 1987: 26).

1866 (July 26) The first federal legislation affecting mineral lands, the Mining Act, was passed

by Congress. This act declared that surveyed

and unsurveyed public lands were to be open

for exploration and the establishment of lode

mines by all U.S. citizens or those intending

to become citizens (Westphall 1965: 96). This

law stated “The mineral lands of the public

domain, both surveyed and unsurveyed, are

hereby declared to be free and open to exploration and occupation by all citizens of the

United States” and “subject also to the local

customs or rules of miners in the several mining districts...” (Limerick 1987: 65).

1872 (March 1) Yellowstone National Park, the first

of its kind in the world, was created (Brown

1970: 191).

1872 A revision to the Mining Act of 1866 was

passed by Congress, enabling miners to mark

and register the boundaries of their claims.

This legislation allowed an individual to enter unreserved public domain and the national forests in search of mineral deposits.

An individual could stake out an unlimited

number of claims as long as he or she diligently looked for minerals on the land. If certain conditions were met, a claimant could

obtain a patent to his claim. Subsequently, the

tract of land could be purchased for $2.50 or

$5.00 an acre (Clawson 1971: 123–124; Utely

and Mackintosh 1989: 27). The placer or

lode claim remained valid as long as the

miner recovered a minimum of $100 income

from working the claim annually.

1873 The Timber Culture Act, which allowed an

individual to acquire a quarter-section of land

through planting, protecting, and maintaining 40 acres of timber, was passed. Five years

later the act was amended to reduce the required area to 10 acres (Baydo 1970: 156). This

act was a failure in New Mexico because the

planting and cultivating of trees was not feasible without irrigation, and irrigated land

was more valuable if farmed for crops and

not trees (Westphall 1965: 72).

1873–85 Some cattle corporations had persons who

were not corporate members file on land under the Timber Culture Act of 1873. Their intent was to secure valuable grassland and

water for livestock without complying with

any part of the law; that is, no timber was

planted or maintained. By this strategy, “entire” townships were dominated by cattle interests (Westphall 1965: 73–74).

1874 A shovelnose sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus

platorynchus) was taken from the Rio Grande

near Albuquerque. No other specimens have

been reported since (Koster 1957: 23).

1875 (September 10) The American Forestry Association was organized to publicly promote forestry and “timber culture” (Roberts 1963: 2).

1876 (January 13) A territorial act was passed,

establishing a five-member board of commissioners who were responsible for taxing residents who lived within 5 miles of the Rio

Grande to raise money for flood prevention

(Clark 1987: 31).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 361

1876 (August 30) The Commissioner of Agriculture

appointed Dr. Franklin B. Hough as forest

agent. His responsibilities were gathering

data on the forests and forest products, European forestry practices, and means to preserve

and renew the forests (Bergoffen 1976: 11).

1877 (March 3) Congress passed the Desert Land

Act, which “extended the doctrine of prior

appropriation to water used in the reclamation of arid public lands by irrigation” (Clark

1987: 38). A settler could buy up to a section

of land for $1.25 an acre if the claimant reclaimed the acreage within 3 years (Buchanan

1988: 29; Westphall 1965: 76).

1878 The Timber and Stone Act was passed by

Congress. Under this act, settlers and miners

could buy up to 160 acres of land with potential timber or mineral resources for $2.50 an

acre (Oakes 1983: 27).

1878 Under the territorial Organic Act, any timber

cut on public lands and exported from New

Mexico was liable to seizure by the U.S. Government (Ritch 1968).

1879 John Wesley Powell published A Report on the

Lands of the Arid Region of the U.S., in which

he proposed a systematic classification of

lands based on their potential “best use,”that

is, irrigation, timber, pasture, mineral, etc. He

also proposed grazing districts with boundaries drawn along contour lines (Barnes 1926:

35; Udall 1963: 88). Powell also recommended

ending the homestead and preemption legislation and replacing them with small, irrigated farms no larger than 80 acres, all to be

part of the irrigation districts, and livestock

ranches no larger than 2,560 acres, to be part

of grazing districts (Worster 1994: 13).

1879 The U.S. Geological Survey was created by

an act of Congress (Swift 1958: 45).

1879 The Public Lands Commission was created

by Congress to codify public land laws, set

up a system of public land classification, and

make “recommendations for the wise disposal and management of the remaining public lands” (Udall 1962: 5).

1879 John W. Powell was appointed to the Public

Lands Commission, which undertook a general review of settlement of the West (Worster

1994: 9).

1880 All of the western surveys—such as those of

Powell, Hayden, and Wheeler—were consolidated into the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior (Utely and Mackintosh

1989: 9–10).

1880 (February 12) A general act provided that

“every person who shall foul the water of any

stream in the Territory of New Mexico, or

throw into any ditch, river or spring of flowing water any dead or pestiferous animal or

other filth, dirty vessels or other impurities

that might injure the general health of the inhabitants of any town or settlement of this Territory,” “on conviction thereof, would be fined

not less than one nor more than ten dollars”

(Clark 1987: 31).

1880 The New Mexico Territorial Assembly passed

an act to protect the buffalo, but this species

was virtually exterminated by this date, and

enforcement of the statute was impossible

(Gard 1960: 216).

1880 A fish and game law was passed by the Territorial Assembly. This act made it a misdemeanor to take fish by use of “drugs, explosives, or by artificial obstructions.” Trout

could be taken only by hook-and-line. Operators of mills or factories could not discharge

any waste harmful to trout. Commercial sale

of fish was also limited (Clark 1987: 322).

1881 John W. Powell was appointed director of the

U.S. Geological Survey (Worster 1994: 9).

1883 The parent organization of the National

Audubon Society was formed in New York

City (Matthiessen 1987: 167).

1884 (April) The Central New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association was organized in Albuquerque (Hagy 1951: 11).

1884 The Bureau of Animal Industry was established in the Department of Agriculture.

Among its responsibilities were research and

related activities such as disease prevention

among farm animals and meat inspection. In

1953 this unit was transferred to the Agricultural Research Service, which also researches

plant diseases and human nutritional problems and enforces quarantines (Smith and

Zurcher 1968: 9, 47).

1885 (July 1) The Bureau of Biological Survey was

created in the Department of Agriculture (Udall

1962: 6).

1885 Congress passed a law forbidding ranchers

to control public domain by fencing and posting, but the practice continued until the Taylor Grazing Act passed 49 years later (Hagy

1951: 75–76). This opened the public domain to

all comers, which, in some instances, resulted

in overgrazing (Clark 1987: 54).

1885 Federal involvement in predator control began when the Department of Agriculture began to study ways of poisoning rodents, pest

birds, and predators (Dunlap 1988: 143).
362 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1887 (February 24) An act was passed by the Territorial Assembly authorizing the incorporation

of companies to supply water for mining and

milling as well as irrigation (Clark 1987: 132).

1887 The U.S. Congress passed the Hatch Act,

which created agricultural experiment stations

to conduct scientific research in problems relevant to their regions and to “disseminate

the information resulting from these investigations.” This work was to be done through

land grant colleges (Clark 1987: 131).

1888 Congress passed legislation that provided for

the withdrawal of irrigable land from entry.

Under this act, some 39 reservoir sites

amounting to 40,170 acres were selected in

New Mexico (Westphall 1965: 84).

1888 Groundwater supply studies in New Mexico

were begun (Hale et al. 1965: 7).

1888 Recent droughts and blizzards caused the U.S.

Congress to authorize surveys for irrigable

lands and reservoir sites in the West by the

U.S. Geological Survey (Wozniak 1987).

1888 Congress enacted legislation forbidding trespass on Indian reservations, including timber cutting (Udall 1962: 6).

1888–91 John W. Powell, head of the U.S. Geological

Survey, initiated irrigation surveys in river

basins of the West. The Rio Grande was studied in 1889–1900, which also included surveys

for reservoir sites (Wozniak 1987).

1889 (January 31) The Territorial Assembly passed

a law providing for the election of three commissioners to protect springs and to build appropriate dams (Westphall 1965: 25).

1889 The New Mexico Legislative Assembly protested delay of immediate exploitation of the

territory’s water resources caused by Congress

the previous year (1888, Oct. 2) (Clark 1987: 65).

1889 The USGS placed the first U.S. stream flow

gauge at the Rio Grande Embudo (Bullard

and Wells 1992: 12).

1889 The Territorial Assembly passed a statute

“limiting stock on public ranges to the number for which the user could furnish sufficient

permanent water” (Clark 1987: 149).

1889 The New Mexico Territorial Assembly supplemented the federal Fencing Act. They also

passed a measure to control overgrazing; this

act declared that an individual or corporation

could only graze the number of livestock that

could be maintained by waters for which he

or they had title or legal possession. The Act

stipulated that others entering that range

must have sufficient “living,” unfenced water to maintain their herds (Clark 1987: 54).

1889 The Territorial Assembly established a Cattle

Sanitary Board to work to prevent disease and

to inspect animals (Hagy 1951: 95).

1889 Legislation was passed to create unpaid fish

wardens in every county to assist county sheriffs and commissioners in enforcing the fish

laws, including a closed season of fishing,

except for members of needy families. The

law also directed that a sluice for passage of

fish had to be maintained at all dams or other

obstructive facilities constructed for purposes

other than irrigation. Also, operators of mills

or factories could not discharge waste of any

kind injurious to trout into any stream (Clark

1987: 32).

1891 (July 1) The U.S. Weather Bureau was established in the Department of Agriculture (Bradley 1976: 12).

1891 The Territorial Assembly passed a stricter

fencing law, making it a felony to cut fences

on private land. Further, it was a felony for

individuals or corporations to fence, to the

detriment of others, lands they did not own

or have legal use of (Clark 1987: 54).

1891 The Territorial Assembly passed a statute requiring “all persons, associations, or corporations who . . . constructed or enlarged any

ditch, canal, or reservoir taking waters from

a natural stream to make a sworn written

statement of such diversion, to be filed with

the county probate court within ninety days

after commencement of the work.” Construction had to be completed within 5 years of

commencement (Clark 1987: 117).

1891 Congress passed the General Land Law Revision Act, commonly known as the Creative

Act of 1891, a provision of which promoted

establishment of national forest reserves

through authorizing the president to set aside

forest lands on the public domain (Baker et

al. 1988: 25; Utely and Mackintosh 1989: 19).

1891 The Timber Culture Act was repealed because

of abuses and difficulty in successfully growing trees in the West (Clark 1987: 62).

1891 The cutting of timber, up to $100 value per

year, on the national forests was permitted

(Baker et al. 1988: 79).

1892 (January) The Pecos River Forest Reserve was

established by Presidential Proclamation

(Tucker and Fitzpatrick 1972: 1).

1892 The Sierra Club was founded by John Muir

(Udall 1963: 116).

1892–1906 Establishment of U.S. Forest Reserves (later

designated National Forests) in northern New

Mexico “had a tremendous effect upon the
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 363

[Spanish] villages, some of which found

themselves eventually completely surrounded by federalized lands....” Large numbers of Hispanos “had to reorganize many

aspects of their former economy and the way

of life dependent upon that economy”

(Gonzalez 1969: 122).

1893 The USDA Division of Forestry reported

“without forest management no national water management is possible” (Clark 1987: 71).

1893 The Territorial Assembly passed the Territorial Bounty Act, authorizing counties to pay

bounties on “predatory wolves, big bears

[grizzlies], mountain lions, bobcats and coyotes” (Brown 1983: 43).

1893 The New Mexico Territorial Legislature

passed a law allowing counties to raise money

for paying “wolfers” for their services

(Burbank 1990: 98).

1893–1915 The killing of most wolves during this period

was due to the widespread use of bounties

(Brown 1983: 43).

1895 (January) The Territorial Assembly passed

legislation enabling the publication of a

Monthly Weather Review (Tuan et al. 1973: 12).

1895 (February 28) The Territorial Assembly passed

one of its most significant pieces of irrigation

legislation. This measure defined the meaning of acequia, or community ditch, and detailed its legal status. The multiple owners of

the ditches were to be considered to be “corporations or bodies corporate, with power to

sue and be sued as such” (Clark 1987: 30).

1897 (February 22) President Grover Cleveland set

aside more than 21 million acres of land in

the northwestern states as part of national

forest preserves (Rothman 1992: 61).

1897 (June 4) The Organic Act was passed by Congress, establishing standards for the use and

protection of national forest reserves. This act

embodied the concept of multiple–use of

resources in conformity with state laws and

federal rules and regulations. The act also authorized the Forest Service to manage grazing on public reserve lands. This soon resulted

in the loss of grazing for livestock owned by

nearby land grant occupants in northern New

Mexico. Grazing fees for livestock were implemented, including permits for horses to graze

on federal forest reserves. Authorized sales of

timber on national forests was begun (Baker et

al. 1988: 39, 79; Brown 1978: 254; Clark 1987:

140; Eastman and Gray 1987: 36).

1897 The first game laws to regulate hunting of

meat animals such as mule deer were passed

by the Territorial Assembly. Nevertheless,

populations continued to decrease to less than

20,000 animals statewide by 1924. Two years

later a bag limit of one buck deer was set

(Findley et al. 1975: 329; Huey et al. 1967: 42).

1898 (June 21) The Fergusson Act authorized the

transfer of federal public lands to the territory for schools and certain other public institutions. Five hundred thousand acres were

designated for “establishing permanent reservoirs for irrigation purposes and 100,000

acres for improving the Rio Grande and increasing its surface flow in New Mexico”

(Clark 1987: 84).

1898 Gifford Pinchot was appointed as Chief Forester in the Department of Agriculture (Udall

1963: 102).

1898–1909 Issues related to grazing regulation, grazing

fees, and vegetation management for watersheds by the U.S. Forest Service were debated

by Gifford Pinchot and the Secretary of Interior, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, western

stock growers, and various congressmen

(Clark 1987: 141).

1899 (March 16) The Territorial Assembly responded to the Fergusson Act by creating the

office of Commissioner of Public Lands and

a Board of Public Lands. They were responsible for leasing, selling, and managing these

lands (Clark 1983: 84).

1899 Legislation was passed that authorized towns

of the “first class” to issue bonds for construction embankments, drainage ditches, and

other facilities to prevent flood damage or

destruction of municipal property (Clark

1987: 31–32).

1899 The Rivers and Harbors Act, also known as

the Refuse Act, was passed by Congress. It

instructed the Corps of Engineers to regulate

all sources of effluents in the navigable

streams of the United States. The Corps was

authorized to prosecute polluters and could

reward anyone reporting violators by paying

them a percentage of the fines collected

(Welsh 1987: 202). The U.S. Congress “declared it a misdemeanor to discharge refuse

into any navigable streams or their tributaries,” although the law did not apply to waste

from properly supervised public works or

waste in liquid state from streets or sewers

(Clark 1987: 268).

1800s (late) (to early 1900s) Brook trout were introduced into the Rio San Jose near Laguna, then

into the Rio Grande and drainages in the territory (Sublette et al. 1990: 72).
364 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1900 (May) Congress passed the Lacey Act, ending market hunting for pelts, plumage, eggs,

meat, etc. and outlawing illegal importation

of foreign wildlife. A section of the Lacey Act

prohibited the importation of the English

sparrow, the starling, and other birds and

animals. Also, the act empowered the Secretary of Agriculture to declare that those species having adverse impacts on agriculture

could be destroyed or returned to their country of origin (Borland 1975: 122; Roth 1973:

94).

1900 The General Land Office ruled that forest reserves would be opened to limited, fee grazing. Preference would be given to livestock

raisers with land within or adjacent to the reserves (Clark 1987: 72).

1900–25 Forty-two bills dealing with grazing regulation on the public domain were introduced

in the Congress (Mortensen 1983: 82).

1900 (post) Pinyon-juniper woodlands had been

spreading into the lower grassland zone during this century, as a result of suppression of

fires, livestock grazing, and other factors

(Dick-Peddie 1993: 91–92).

1900 (ca.) Fire suppression, which began about this

time, resulted in an increased proportion of

engelmann spruce and corkbark fir in the

subalpine coniferous forest zone, 9,500 to

12,000 feet elevation (Dick-Peddie 1993: 51,

56).

1901 (December 3) President Theodore Roosevelt

delivered a message on the need for conservation of natural resources, the first such

speech by a leader of the Nation. His emphasis was on reclamation and forest reserves

(Clark 1987: 134).

1901 A Forestry Division was created in the General Land Office, Department of the Interior

(Udall 1962: 10).

1902 (June) The U.S. Reclamation Service was established. This agency’s major responsibility

was to construct irrigation works for the reclamation of arid lands (New Mexico State

Engineer 1967: 81).

1902 The Reclamation Service, established by congressional act, was organized within the

USGS and 5 years later became a separate

bureau in the Interior Department (Utely and

Mackintosh 1989: 19). This act “federalized

western water development by placing the

income from the sale of lands into a reclamation fund and using it to build dams and canals in the region” (Worster 1994). The act also

authorized the Secretary of the Interior to construct irrigation projects in New Mexico and

15 other territories or states. Users of irrigation waters would repay the costs of construction over a 10-year period, and small farmers

could irrigate 160 acres or less with water

from federal irrigation projects (Clark 1987:

79–82; Wozniak 1987).

1902 Grazing permits for sheep on federal forest

reserves were first issued (Eastman and Gray

1987: 36).

1903 President Theodore Roosevelt created a commission to study the laws regulating settlement and grazing of public domain lands,

with the view of their long-time conservation.

The commission concluded that most of the

public domain was unsuitable for farming,

and lack of government regulation and poor

private stewardship had resulted in widespread degradation of rangelands due to

overgrazing (Barnes 1926: 37–38).

1903 (and 1905, 1909) The Territorial Assembly

passed acts authorizing counties to levy taxes

to be used for paying bounty claims on predatory animals (Hagy 1951: 91).

1904 The New Mexico Department of Game and

Fish was created by the Territorial Assembly

(Barker 1970: 185).

1905 (February 1) Administration of national forest reserves was transferred from Interior to

the Department of Agriculture (Udall 1962:

11). Congress passed an act transferring U.S.

forest lands from the General Land Office to

the Department of Agriculture. These 63 million acres formed the foundation for the new

U.S. Forest Service, headed by Gifford Pinchot

(Utely and Mackintosh 1989: 19).

1905 (October 12) The Jemez Forest Reserve was

created, precluding continuance of traditional

grazing and other activities on this former

ejido land. The period of suppression of fire

was also begun (Rothman 1989: 208–209).

1905 The Territorial Assembly passed an act creating the River Commission, which had responsibility for flood control on the Rio Grande.

Burros, or dikes, were built at Valencia and

Tome during a major flood (Ellis and Baca

1957: 17).

1905 The Territorial Assembly enacted a code that

declared natural waters as belonging to the

public, and all citizens had the right to appropriate them for beneficial use (Clark 1987:

117).

1905 The Forest Service began to hire trappers to

kill wolves on national forest grazing land

(Dunlap 1988: 143).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 365

1905-06 The number of grazing permits for national

forests in New Mexico was 878 for 53,454

cattle and horses and 234 for 312,035 sheep

and goats (Rowley 1985: 78).

1905-09 Heavy stocking of the national forest reserves

was thought to be desirable because of the

decimation of vegetation that might fuel a fire

(Brown 1985: 124).

1905–11 Inaccurate counts of livestock numbers and

miscalculations of carrying capacity led to

overgrazing on the national forests (Baker et

al. 1988: 95–96).

1905–11 The U.S. Forest Service worked to organize a

grazing program that would improve the

value and use of the range (Roberts 1963: 115).

1906 (June 8) The Antiquities Act was passed by

Congress and authorized by the President to

create historic and prehistoric monuments.

This act also included a provision for punishment of “any person who shall appropriate, excavate, injure, or destroy any historic

or prehistoric ruin or monument, or any object of antiquity situated on lands owned or

controlled by the Government of the United

States” without permission of appropriate

government officials (Udall 1962: 11–12).

1906 (June 11) The Forest Homestead Act, which

allowed individuals to file on any forest reserve land considered unfit for timber, was

passed by Congress. This act opened national

forest lands for agricultural settlement; after

a residency period, settlers could receive free

title to 160 acres (Rowley 1985: 55, 63, 81–82).

1906 (June 25) Congress amended the Fergusson Act

permitting the Secretary of the Interior to approve grazing leases in excess of the 640-acre

limit. Following this enactment, “grazing

leases became the primary source of revenue

from territorial lands” (Clark 1987: 85).

1906 (October 5) The Mt. Taylor Forest Reserve was

created. It was later incorporated into the

Cibola National Forest (Baker et al. 1988: 42).

1906 (November 5) The San Mateo and Magdalena

Forest Reserves were created. Both were later

(1931) consolidated into the Cibola National

Forest (Baker et al. 1988: 42).

1906 (November 6) The Manzano Forest Reserve

was created (Tucker 1992: 107). The designation Forest Reserve was changed to National

Forest in 1908. Manzano became Cibola National Forest on December 3, 1931 (Tucker

1992: 107, 109, 112).

1906 (November 7) The 330,000-acre Taos Forest

Reserve, including Blue Lake, was created by

President Theodore Roosevelt after a hunting

trip in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Less

than 2 years later this reserve was redesignated as the Carson National Forest (Baker et

al. 1988: 25; Sando 1989: 83; Wood 1989: 74).

1906 The U.S. Forest Service imposed fees for grazing livestock on national forests. The fee averaged 4.7 cents per animal unit month. Some

ranchers challenged the Forest Service’s legal authority to charge grazing fees and regulate grazing. After lengthy litigation, the

Supreme Court upheld the agency’s right to

do so (Clawson 1971: 170–172).

1906 Congress passed the Antiquities Act, giving

Presidents the power to create “National

Monuments for the preservation of historic

landmarks . . . and other objects of ‘historic or

scientific interest’” (Udall 1963: 132).

1907 (January 16) An agreement between the

United States and Mexico was ratified; it gave

Mexico the right to divert up to 60,000 acrefeet of water from the Rio Grande for agricultural use (Hay 1972: 299).

1907 (June 11) Western grazing interests succeeded

in having the Forest Reserve Act of 1891 repealed (Bowman 1995: 130).

1907 Gifford Pinchot and forester Overton Price

coined the term “conservation” for the ongoing movement advocating appropriate,

nonwasteful use of natural resources (Udall

1963: 105–106).

1907 A territorial law was passed providing for a

territorial engineer, a water code, and a reconstituted board of water commissioners.

Hydrographic surveys of the state were soon

begun by the engineer (Clark 1987: 118–123).

1907 Some 591,000 board-feet of timber were cut in New

Mexico’s national forests (Baker et al. 1988: 84).

1907 The Bureau of Mines, created by Congress,

promoted minerals technology and mine

safety (Utely and Mackintosh 1989: 27).

1908 (April 16) The Manzano National Forest was

created from the forest reserve of the same

name and the entire Mt. Taylor Forest Reserve

(Tucker 1992: 112).

1908 (June 26) The Carson National Forest was created by combining the Taos National Forest

Reserve with part of the Jemez National Forest Reserve (Tucker 1992: 109, 114).

1908 (June 26) The Jemez National Forest Reserve

became a national forest. Some of the land was

combined with Taos National Forest Reserve

to become a national forest (Tucker 1992: 112).

1908 (July 2) The Pecos River National Forest Reserve was designated a national forest (Tucker

1992: 113).
366 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1908 President Theodore Roosevelt created 16 million acres of national forest in the Nation

(Utely and Mackintosh 1989: 20).

1908 Trained foresters assumed administration of

the national forests, which, in general, were

overgrazed (Brown and Carmony 1995: 75).

1908 President Roosevelt convened the Governors’

Conference on Conservation and told the

members “Facts which I cannot gainsay force

me to believe that the conservation of our

natural resources is the most weighty question now before the people of the United

States” (Swift 1958: v).

1908 A $20 bounty was paid for dead bears, and

up to $50 was paid for grizzly bear hides.

Some 271 bobcats were killed in the national

forests, and many more were harvested by

trappers or killed by ranchers statewide

(Bailey 1971: 293; Barker 1953: 153).

1908 W.H. Bartlett, owner of the Vermejo Park, reintroduced elk there (Barker 1953: 93).

1909 (January 11) The first inventory of the

Nation’s natural resources was submitted to

President Roosevelt by Gifford Pinchot, chairman of the National Conservation Commission (Bowman 1995: 130).

1909 (February 19) The Enlarged Homestead Act

was passed by Congress; it basically authorized the classification and entry of semiarid

lands. Qualified entrymen could occupy 320

acres of nonmineral, untimbered, nonirrigable,

unreserved, and surveyed but unappropriated public land in the territory. Oneeighth of the land had to be continuously cultivated for crops other than native grasses by

the end of the second year, and one-quarter

within the third year (Clark 1987: 136–137).

1909 The Territorial Assembly authorized two

types of voluntary organizations: water users’ associations and irrigation districts. In the

latter, irrigation systems could be constructed

for members (Clark 1987: 110).

1909 The Territorial Assembly passed a “provision

for the drainage of seepage and other waters

in unincorporated towns and villages by action of the county commissioners on petition

of a majority of the residents and after investigation by the county surveyor” (Clark 1987:

112).

1909 President Roosevelt assembled a National

Conservation Commission in Washington

and he charged them “to make the nation’s

future as great as its present. That is what the

conservation of our resources means.” The

commission issued a report that same year

embracing his philosophy (Worster 1994: 7,

18, 20–21, 123).

1909 There were 131,621 cattle and horses permitted to graze on national forests in New Mexico

(Baker et al. 1988: 98).

1909 The Forest Service allowed reservation Native

Americans to graze their livestock for free

where animal numbers were low and meat

and hides were consumed entirely by the Indians (Rowley 1985: 86).

1909 The U.S. Bureau of Soils announced “The soil

is the one indestructible, immutable asset that

the nation possesses. It is the one resource that

cannot be exhausted; that cannot be used up”

(Worster 1993a: 73).

1909 William Howard Taft issued a presidential

proclamation establishing Gran Quivira

National Monument (Carroll et al. 1991: 1).

1909 The New Mexico Territorial Assembly enacted

a $15 bounty for wolves (Burbank 1990: 98).

1909 Pronghorns were removed form the list of legally hunted game animals to afford them

protection (Matthiessen 1959: 283).

1910 (February) An “Indian Forest Service” was

formed in the Department of the Interior. It

became known as the “Branch of Forestry”

(Udall 1962: 13).

1910 Many stockmen believed that grazing permits

were a property right, subject to sale or transfer. The Forest Service held the position that

they were “a personal privilege obtained from

the secretary of agriculture [sic], and only the

secretary retained the right to grant, withhold,

or revoke the permit at his discretion”

(Rowley 1983: 89–90).

1910–11 The Office of Grazing Studies was established by the U.S. Forest Service in 1910. In

1911 regional offices of the OGS were organized at Denver and Albuquerque (Price

1976: 7).

1910–11 More than 900 permits to take beaver were

issued to individuals who claimed damages

to their property. At the same time, the Santa

Fe Water Company was offering $50 for each

pair of live beaver to transplant in upper

Santa Fe canyon, where they would help conserve water for the city (Bailey 1971: 219).

1910–12 Under legislative acts to prevent individuals

or private companies from gaining exclusive

use of extensive public lands or waters, the

General Land Office withdrew such tracts and

sources (Clark 1987: 145).

1910–18 Fifty-five new irrigation ditches went into

operation in the Middle Rio Grande Valley

(Hedke 1925: 22).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 367

1911 Congress passed the Weeks Law, which

authorized the purchase of forest lands on

headwaters for the “regulation of the flow of

navigable streams” (Buchanan 1988: 30). The

law also called for a cooperative fire protection plan between the Forest Service and participating states. The legislation also authorized funds for acquisition of forest lands to

protect stream watersheds (Otis et al. 1986: 5).

1911 The American Game Protective Association

was formed (Brown and Carmony 1995: 9).

1912 Upon admission to the Union, Congress gave

all sections 2, 16, 32, and 36 of the public domain to New Mexico for the aid and support

of public schools. Other public lands were

received by the state as well (Barnes 1926: 46).

1912 The Jornada Range Reserve, administered by

the USDA Bureau of Plant Industry, was created by Executive Order. The primary function of the reserve was to study improving

and maintaining desert grassland for sustained use and for the production of livestock.

It is located just south of the study region

(Price 1976: 17).

1912 The State Legislature passed a mining law

governing operators, supervisors, and miners. The basic ventilation standard was set at

100 cubic feet of air per man per minute and

300 cf for each animal. “Gassy” mines had to

be inspected daily (Whiteside 1989: 174).

1912 The last indigenous sage grouse in New

Mexico was killed southwest of Chama. The

New Mexico Game and Fish Department later

reintroduced the species to northern New

Mexico with birds captured in Wyoming (Ligon 1961: 93).

1912 The State Legislature, in its first session,

passed the State Game and Fish Act, establishing a Game Protective Fund, codifying

territorial wildlife laws, and making it a misdemeanor to pollute waters with sawdust or

other materials that would kill or drive fish

away (Clark 1987: 272).

1912–17 The Forest Service began to manage grazing

to protect rangelands, watersheds, and wildlife by reducing livestock numbers on the forests (Roberts 1963: 115–116).

1912 Aldo Leopold found the Jicarilla unit of the

Carson National Forest to be overgrazed, due

primarily to Hispanic livestock owners in the

area (Brown and Carmony 1995: 7).

1913 A USGS report pointed out the need to consider water in the disposal of the remaining

public lands and emphasized that it must be

appropriately managed (Clark 1987: 144).

1913 Congress passed the Federal Tariff Act, which

prohibited “the importation of plumes and

other bird parts except for scientific purposes”

(Reed and Drabelle 1984:8).

1914 (June 30) Congress made the U.S. Biological

Survey responsible for experiments and demonstrations in destroying wolves, prairie

dogs, and other predators of livestock (Brown

1983: 52). To carry out this program, the

Predatory Animal and Rodent Control

(PARC), a branch of the Biological Survey, was

formed in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Three hunters were employed in 1914–15

(Brown 1983: 52; 1985: 126–127).

1914 (late and April 1915) The New Mexico

Cattlemen’s Association voted to pay bounties of $25 for each hide of adult wolves or

mountain lions taken on the ranges of its

members. The organization also passed a

resolution requesting Congress to provide

funds to exterminate predators on public

lands (Hagy 1951: 91).

1915 The Agriculture Appropriations Act, passed

by Congress, provided for the establishment

of summer homes, recreation sites, and campgrounds in the national forests (Brown 1985:

130).

1915 Congress appropriated $125,000 for the

Bureau of the Biological Survey to begin a program of predator control. This effort was primarily based on the rationale that “many

predators emanate from federal lands, and thus

much of the loss suffered by farmers and ranchers has a federal origin” (Reed and Drabelle

1984: 75).

1915 The Forest Service released 37 elk from

Yellowstone into the Pecos District of the

Santa Fe National Forest. In less than 20 years

this small herd had increased to 300 animals,

and hunting of this species was permitted

within a short time (Barker 1953: 94–95, 163).

1915 The pronghorn antelope population was reduced to 1,200 animals statewide. State protection from hunting increased this number

to 2,957 by 1926 (Findley et al. 1975: 334).

1915–17 J. Stokely Ligon headed up predator control

in the New Mexico-Arizona district. He hired

32 hunters and trappers, including renowned

bear hunter Ben Lilly. Nineteen grizzly bears

and at least six mountain lions were killed.

His staff of wolf hunters also killed 69 wolves

in their first year in New Mexico and Arizona.

An estimated 300 wolves remained in New

Mexico at the end of the year (Brown 1985:

127; Burbank 1990: 102–103).
368 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1916 (February) By executive order, President

Woodrow Wilson created the 22,400-acre

Bandelier National Monument (Rothman

1992: 122).

1916 (August 25) Congress passed the National

Park Act, leading to the creation of the National Park Service (Udall 1963: 153).

1916 The Rio Grande Commission was authorized

by the State Legislature. This group was to

address regional and Middle Rio Grande

water problems, such as “drainage, water

storage, flood control, river rectification, riverbank protection, diversion dams, and a series

of main canals between San Felipe and San

Marcial ...” (Clark 1987: 205–206, 217–218).

1916 Elephant Butte Dam was completed, and the

reservoir began filling. This impoundment

was primarily for flood control and storage

of irrigation water (Clark 1987: 195, 198).

1916 The U.S. Forest Service initiated a predator

control program in the Jemez Mountains. The

gray wolf, mountain lion, and coyote were

targeted for trapping (Barker 1970: 113;

Scurlock 1981a: 144).

1916 U.S. Biological Survey personnel killed 100

wolves in New Mexico. Some 117, including

those taken by the USGS, were killed in the

national forests (Bailey 1971: 311).

1916 About 1,740 antelope were reported in the

state (Bailey 1971: 25).

1916 The governor proclaimed arbor and bird days

for the state (Robinson 1993: 34).

1916 Congress passed the Stock-Raising Homestead Act; one of its provisions allowed for

the substitution of range improvements and

well drilling for cultivation. Native grasses

and topsoil would thus be protected, and

small livestock growers would be protected

from displacement. It also provided for a free

section of grazing land when filed on (Clark

1987: 147; Oakes 1983: 27). This act also provided for livestock driveways of not over onefourth mile in width across public land (Hagy

1951: 78–79).

1916 Because of protests by cattlemen, the Forest

Service raised grazing fees by 25 percent

rather than 100 percent, as the agency had

proposed (Hagy 1951: 62).

1916–17 Ashley Pond founded a sportsmen’s club,

which included a game preserve, with hunting and camping areas, at the north end of

the Ramon Vigil land grant. The water source

for this endeavor, a spring in Pajarito Canyon, dried up, and Pond abandoned the preserve (Ebright 1994: 244–245).

1916–17 Due primarily to intensive hunting, mule deer

populations in the lowlands had been virtually exterminated (Bailey 1971: 29).

1916–18 When the United States joined World War I,

the Forest Service increased the number of

permitted livestock on national forest lands.

Conditions caused by previous overgrazing

and logging worsened (deBuys 1985: 231).

1916–19 The U.S. Forest Service issued livestock grazing permits to non-Indians for the sacred Blue

Lake area (Sando 1989: 83).

1917 Congress increased grazing fees on public

lands, and politicians, ranchers, and others

protested vigorously (Clark 1987: 146).

1917 As the United States entered World War I,

demand for beef increased sharply, and

Stokely Ligon and Aldo Leopold used the

situation to justify an intensified predator

control effort (Brown 1983: 57).

1917 The Bureau of Biological Survey received

$25,000 funding to control predatory animals and rodents in New Mexico. This

amount was matched by the state (Hagy 1951:

93).

1917–18 Maximum numbers of livestock were reached

in New Mexico due to the increased demand

for food and wool during World War I (Donart

1984).

1917–18 The demand for beef during World War I

caused cattle prices to soar, and, in response,

ranchers increased the grazing pressure on

their rangelands. Grasses were decimated,

exposing large areas to water and wind erosion (Sanchez 1992: 2).

1917–18 Trespass livestock were common on Forest

Service lands, which contributed to overgrazing (Roberts 1963: 120–121).

1917–22 The New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association

“diligently pursued a policy that favored giving the State the remaining public domain to

be administered in the same fashion as the

previously granted trust lands.” The association was in the minority on this issue

(Mortensen 1983: 84).

1918 Congress passed the Migratory Game Bird

Treaty Act, making the U.S. Biological Survey (later the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

responsible for nationwide management of

waterfowl and other migratory species (Huey

et al. 1967: 153).

1918 Some 81 adult wolves and 30 pups were taken

by the U.S. Predatory Animal and Rodent

Control Division of the Biological Survey and

New Mexico A&M College employees

(Brown 1983: 58).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 369

1918 Poisoning of grizzly bears was initiated by

the U.S. Biological Survey (Brown 1985: 272).

1918 Aldo Leopold declared in a published paper

that game management was as much a function of the Forest Service as were timber and

range management (Brown and Carmony

1995: 85).

1918–19 During this fiscal year, state and Predatory

Animal and Rodent Control killed 28 grizzly

bears in New Mexico (Brown 1985: 137).

1920 (March) Private forester Stewart Edward

White “criticized the Forest Service for allowing their forests to become overgrown with

brush, and chastised it for not using light

burning to prevent tree diseases and destructive conflagrations” (Brown and Carmony

1995: 143).

1920 (June 10) Congress passed the Federal Water

Power Act. This legislation provided for the

establishment of a Federal Power Commission that had authority to issue licenses for

the construction, operation, and maintenance

of power facilities on navigable waters and

public lands (Clark 1987: 145–146).

1920 The Forest Service adopted a policy of no light

burning in ponderosa pine forests based on

the belief that fire every 2 to 3 years would

prevent restocking of the tree (Pyne 1982: 522).

1920 Congress passed the Minerals Leasing Act,

enabling the General Land Office to lease

lands with oil, gas, coal, and other critical

minerals to private producers (Utely and

Mackintosh 1989: 27).

1920 The U.S. Biological Survey’s predator control

program in New Mexico had reduced wolves

from an estimated 300 to an estimated 60 or

less (Brown 1983: 64; Flader 1978: 60).

1900s (early) The Federal Government constructed

reservoirs for pueblos that did not have a reliable water supply. These quickly began to

silt up, resulting in a reduction of their capacities (Vlasich 1980: 28).

1921 Created by the State Legislature, the Rio

Grande Survey Commission, in cooperation

with the U.S. Reclamation Service, began to

study environmental conditions in the Middle

River Valley (Wozniak 1987).

1921 Aldo Leopold “presented a fully formed and

brilliantly considered wilderness-preservation plan to the Forest Service” (Brown and

Carmony 1995: 152).

1921 (post) Some ranchers supported creation of wilderness areas because their roadlessness would

keep automobiles and their passengers off grazing leases (Brown and Carmony 1995: 154).

1922 (March) The General Forest Exchange Act

authorized the Forest Service to consolidate

forest lands and exchanges to acquire private

in-holdings within national forest boundaries.

An amendment 6 years later “authorized the

use of land and timber to be exchanged for

grant lands adjacent to the Carson, Santa Fe,

and Manzano Forests” (Baker et al. 1988: 27).

1922 There were 7,559,000 acres of public land under grazing lease and 1,500,000 acres under

oil lease (Barnes 1926: 47).

1922 The state reduced grazing fees on public lands

from 5 cents to 3 cents an acre (Hagy 1951: 82).

1923 The State Legislature passed the Conservancy

Act, creating a Middle Rio Grande District

with a governing board to initiate projects to

prevent flooding, regulate stream flow, reclaim

waterlogged lands, develop irrigation works,

develop or reclaim sources of water, and generate electrical energy (Clark 1987: 206, 207, 209–

212).

1923 The Reclamation Service was converted into

the Bureau of Reclamation (Clark 1987: 189).

1923 The U.S. Biological Survey and cooperating

ranchers put out 103,000 strychnine baits to

control coyotes, bears, and other predators

(Brown 1985: 142).

1924 (pre) The channel of the Galisteo deepened

as a result of overgrazing and other abuse in

its drainage. Due to this incising, water could

no longer be diverted for irrigation (Brown

and Carmony 1995: 169).

1924 (June 7) Congress passed the Pueblo Lands

Act, which provided for the appointment of

a commission to investigate Pueblo land titles

and to litigate the thousands of non-Indian

claims against Pueblo lands. Known as the

Pueblo Lands Board, this commission was

empowered to compensate Indians and nonIndians alike for lands lost via court decisions

(Brayer 1938: 28–29).

1924 Passage of the Pueblo Lands Act resulted in

Hispanos acquiring legal title to about 18,200

acres of northern Pueblo land through adjudication. Most of this acreage was irrigable,

and water rights were appropriated with land

title (Forrest 1989: 58).

1924 Lack of grazing regulation on the public domain led to continuing overgrazing (Brown

and Carmony 1995: 171).

1924 The Clark-McNary Act greatly expanded

federal-state cooperation in reforestation and

fire control on state and private forest lands

(Bergoffen 1976: 61).

1924 Assistant Regional Forester Aldo Leopold’s
370 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

paper “Grass, Brush, Timber, and Fire in

Southern Arizona” was published. This

article, the first detailed discussion of historical

change in a Southwest landscape, identified

overgrazing and fire suppression as the causes

of the invasion of grasslands by shrubs and trees

and erosion on national forest lands. Erosion,

he pointed out, was caused by allowing intensive grazing to reduce plant cover, which supposedly would decrease the incidences of fire

(Brown and Carmony 1995: 188–192).

1924 Owing to the efforts of Leopold, the Gila

Wilderness area was established, the first such

unit in the United States (Baker et al. 1988: 47).

1924 New Mexico’s wildlife populations reached

their lowest numbers, and more species were

threatened with extinction than at any other

time. Several species, such as the gray wolf

and grizzly bear, were extirpated within a few

years. Most other species, with the aid of restocking and the establishment of refuges, have

made gains since that time (Ligon 1927: 15).

1925 The condition of rangelands became acute by

this year due to drought and overgrazing.

Ranchers joined U.S. Forest Service rangers in

the rounding up of thousands of wild horses

on national forest lands. These were sold to

reduction plants in El Paso and Gallup, where

they were slaughtered and ground into fertilizer and pet food (Wyman 1945: 159–160).

1925 The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

structure was formed by this year. About

277,760 acres were included in the district. To

alleviate flooding and subsequent waterlogging, dams, levees, and drainage canals

were constructed over the next 5 decades

(Scurlock 1988b: 136).

1925 Wild horses on the Carson National Forest

were contributing to the overgrazing problem. Some 1,200 horses were rounded up;

some were sold to residents surrounding the

forest (Tucker and Fitzpatrick 1972: 79–80).

1926 (January 22) The Department of Agriculture

issued a memo entitled “New Grazing Regulations on National Forests,” which made

three major concessions to livestock raisers:

(1) 10-year grazing permits were given full

status of a contract between the USFS and the

stockmen and could only be revoked because

of a violation of terms, (2) further distribution of grazing privileges was generally suspended, and (3) the role of local grazing

boards was reemphasized, with one member

representing the USDA and the other members selected by the grazing permittees. These

boards settled grazing disputes and gave advice in developing new grazing policies

(Rowley 1985: 134–135).

1926 Some Hispanic farmers in the Middle Valley

expressed concern for the program of the Rio

Grande Conservancy District (Orona 1994).

1926 The U.S. Forest Service published The Story of

the Range by Will C. Barnes, Assistant Forester

and Chief of Grazing. This report documented

grazing history and resulting impact on Great

Plains and Southwest rangelands. The questioning of the wisdom of the Taylor Act and

its application were included (Baker et al.

1988: 51).

1927 (March 16) The New Mexico groundwater

law was passed, “the first attempt by any

western state to establish by statute and in

relatively permanent form the basic principle

governing the appropriation of groundwater.” All underground waters in the state

were declared “public waters,” subject to appropriation for beneficial uses under the

existing laws of the state relating to appropriation and beneficial uses of waters from

surface streams, and to be supervised and

controlled by the State Engineer. The State

groundwater act also authorized the state to

determine sources and recharge of underground waters and to control their future development. The Middle and Upper Rio

Grande was declared a groundwater basin

(Clark 1987: 236–238).

1927 The Corps of Engineers was authorized by

Congress to conduct surveys for flood protection and hydropower facilities in all U.S.

waterways (Welsh 1987: 109).

1927 Black bears received legal protection in New

Mexico (Findley et al. 1975: 29).

1928 (March 13) Congress authorized the Secretary

of the Interior to enter into a contract with

the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

for participation in its $10 million program

of drainage, flood control, rehabilitation of

irrigation systems and farmland, and general

conservation (Strauss 1947: 133–134).

1928 A new agreement between the Pueblos and

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District provided that the district would “provide conservation, irrigation, drainage, and flood

control” (Bayer et al. 1994: 240).

1928 The McSweeney-McNary Forest Research

Act, which called for the development of

methods for protection of watersheds, was

passed by Congress (Buchanan 1988: 32;

Bergoffen 1976: 61).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 371

1928 The McSweeney-McNary Forest Research

Act, passed by congress, authorized experiments in range management as part of a comprehensive program of forest research. One

of 12 regional forest experiment stations authorized by this act was the Rocky Mountain

Forest and Range Experiment Station

(Bergoffen 1976: 61; Price 1976: 19).

1928 Congress appropriated $150,000 for the U.S.

Forest Service “to investigate the life histories and habits of forest animals, birds, and

wildlife from the standpoint of injury to forest growth and as a supplemental economic

resource” (Clark 1987: 266).

1929 (March 2) Congress passed an act authorizing New Mexico to negotiate specifically for

the apportionment of the waters of the Rio

Grande and Pecos River with Texas (Clark

1987: 230).

1929 The Flood Control Act was passed by

Congress; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

was given responsibility for locating water

sources for domestic supplies, irrigation, and

hydroelectric power (Welsh 1987: 22).

1929 The state attorney general ruled that “unauthorized obstruction of any natural water

course did become actionable for resulting

damage” (Clark 1987: 335).

1929 The Agricultural Appropriation Act was

passed by Congress; $160,000 was provided

for investigation of soil erosion and the means

for its control (Clark 1987: 256).

1929 In this year “westerners launched a major

campaign to reduce damage by predators to

crops and livestock” (Reed and Drabelle 1984:

75).

1929 President Herbert Hoover, in a communique

to the Western Conference of Governors, “recommended the creation of a commission to

consider the advisability of turning unreserved nonmineral lands over to the states ...”

(Clark 1987: 252).

1929 (late) The new Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District promised to provide irrigation,

drainage, flood control, and conservation for

the Santa Ana Pueblo, and the means for control (Bayer et al. 1994: 242; Clark 1987: 256).

1929–31 Conservationists urged Congress to control

grazing on the public range by establishing

regulations to be administered by the Department of Agriculture (Stout 1970: 322–323).

1929–34 Several federal laws resulted in the purchase

of more refuge lands; more wildlife conservation authority; studies of the economics of

harvesting fish and game, wilderness recreation, and control of erosion and pollution;

and creation of wildlife sanctuaries on the

national forests (Clark 1987: 267).

1929 (post) Following organization of the Middle

Rio Grande Conservancy District, the Pueblo

persuaded Congress to make a payment of

$1,321,000 to the conservancy on their behalf

because they could not maintain their subsistence economy if required to pay ongoing

commercial charges (Harper et al. 1943: 24).

1910s–20s Local bounties were paid for bobcats, and

most sheep ranchers hunted them vigorously

(Bailey 1971: 293).

1920s (late) Mule deer had become abundant on

most national forests (Brown and Carmony

1995: 127).

1930 (April 15 to July 1, 1931) The Forestry

Division, Office of Indian Affairs, assumed responsibility for the protection and administration of grazing on more than 42 million

acres of Native American rangelands in the

West. A grazing policy for Indian lands was

implemented (Udall 1962: 17).

1930 By this year permits for grazing on the Santa

Fe National Forest had been reduced to correlate with carrying capacities (Rothman

1992: 159).

1930 President Herbert Hoover appointed a commission called the Committee on

Conservation and Administration of the Public Domain; this body recommended that

“congress pass a law conveying the public

domain lands of the West to the States who

wanted them....” The following year the committee drafted legislation embracing this recommendation, but it was rejected in house

committee (Mortensen 1983: 82).

1930 A forestry research area of 10,000 acres was

established on the Santa Fe National Forest

for use by the University of New Mexico

(Baker et al. 1988: 29).

1930–31 Congress passed legislation creating the Committee on Conservation and Administration

of the Public Domain, proposing that potential public grazing lands be offered to the

states in which they were located, and the

states in turn would pass them to private

ownership. The Forest Service and other organizations opposed this recommendation as

a threat to conservation of resources on these

lands and to small-scale livestock raisers. Surprisingly, western states generally did not

support this potential action (Clark 1987: 252).

1930–34 Construction of the major water control facilities proposed by the Middle Rio Grande
372 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Conservancy District, including El Vado dam

and reservoir on the Chama River, were completed. This reservoir had a storage capacity

of 190,000 acre-feet (Harper et al. 1943: 53).

1931 (pre) “Users of public lands never found it

advantageous to protect or even conservatively graze any range they did not fully control . . . ” “Homesteaders who settled as

groups or colonies on the most favorable of

the remaining tracts of unreserved public

domain also contributed to the impairment

of range lands . . . “ “For a time many of them

believed that whatever was responsible for

the untoward state of things was abnormal

and that if they could produce enough to live

on for another year, conditions would be better. They therefore grazed in common the surrounding public lands to the utmost, in the

attempt to eke out subsistence” (Cooperrider

and Hendricks 1937: 82)

1931 (March 2) Congress appropriated $10 million

to fund (one million dollars annually for the

10-year program) predatory animal control in

the West (Hagy 1951: 94).

1931 (March 2) The Animal Damage Control Act

authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to

conduct research and experiments in determining the best methods to control or exterminate predators and “other animals

injurious to agriculture, horticulture, forestry,

animal husbandry, wild game animals.” Because of the 1930s economy and World War

II, however, the program was never funded

(Hagy 1951: 94; Mortensen 1983: 73).

1931 (November) The National Conference on

Land Utilization, meeting in Chicago, recommended that “. . . in order to obtain conservation and rehabilitation of the grazing ranges

of the public domain these lands be organized

into public ranges to be administered by a

Federal agency in a manner similar to and in

coordination with the national forests.” The

group also recommended “that lands valuable for watershed protection should be administered under the supervision of the

Federal Government.” Subsequently, the

Secretary of the Interior approved federal

regulation of grazing on the public domain

to protect these lands (Clark 1987: 252–253).

1931 (December 3) The Manzano National Forest

was renamed Cibola National Forest (Tucker

1992: 109).

1931 The state declared that the waters of underground streams, channels, artesian basins,

reservoirs, and lakes having reasonable

ascertainable boundaries are public waters

“subject to appropriation for beneficial use in

accordance with the statutes and with rules

and regulations formulated by the State Engineer of New Mexico” (Erickson 1954: 81).

1931 The New Mexico Legislature passed a law

giving the State Game Commission full regulatory powers to manage the wildlife of the

state, including the setting of hunting seasons

and bag limits (Barker 1970: 188; Flader 1978:

105).

1931 Due in part to a western ranchers’ campaign,

Congress enacted the Animal Damage Control Act. This legislation granted the Fish and

Wildlife Service broad authority “to eradicate,

suppress, destroy or bring under control

predators,” which the act defined as “mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, bobcats, prairie dogs,

gophers, ground squirrels, jack rabbits, and

other animals injurious to agriculture, horticulture, forestry, animal husbandry, wild game animals, furbearing animals, and birds” (Reed and

Drabelle 1984: 76).

1931 Under state game management, the pronghorn antelope population had increased to

5,000 animals (Barker 1976: 136).

1932 The U.S. Forest Service suspended grazing

fees because of the emergency conditions of

the Depression (Rowley 1985: 246).

1930s (early) Hispanics organized a farmer’s association in the Los Lunas area over concern that

their ditches might be lost to the Middle Rio

Grande Conservancy District (Orona 1994).

1930s (early) Western livestock raisers “believed that

the passage of regulatory legislation such as

the Taylor bill would restrict their use of the

public domain and would lead to financial

chaos . . .” (Mortensen 1983: 83).

1930s (early) More than 1,500 horses were removed

from the Jemez River District of the Santa Fe

National Forest (Tucker and Fitzpatrick 1972:

81).

1933 The Secretary of Agriculture established a

basic fee schedule for grazing livestock on the

national forests. These fees were based on an

appraisal of each range area and varied from

year to year in proportion to changes in livestock prices (Clawson 1971: 172–173).

1933 The Soil Erosion Service was established as a

temporary agency of the Department of the

Interior. Two years later it was transferred to

the Department of Agriculture (Udall 1962:

17–18).

1933 Under the National Industrial Recovery Act,

the Forest Service developed a code of busi-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 373

ness practices for the timber industry. This

code included commitment to “conservation,

selective cutting, sustained yield, reforestation, and a program to prevent forest fires”

(Baker et al. 1988: 53).

1933 President Franklin Roosevelt created the

Civilian Conservation Corps. About 3 million

persons, mostly young men, worked primarily on soil and water conservation projects

until 1942 (Buchanan 1988: 32–33).

1933 Four CCC camps were established on the

Santa Fe National Forest at Glorieta Mesa,

Senorita Canyon, and Canada. On the Cibola

National Forest were the West Boundary and

Monica ranger station camps. Projects included boundary fencing, trail maintenance,

road repair, erosion control, timber stand improvement, and rodent control (Otis et al.

1986: 29–31).

1933 An Indian branch of the Civilian Conservation Corps was organized, and several irrigation projects were begun (Hughes 1983: 126).

1933 The U.S. Forest Service declared the Pecos

high country a “Primitive Area” (deBuys

1985: 285).

1933 Unionization of coal miners and a tougher, comprehensive mining law reduced deaths due to

mining accidents (Whiteside 1989: 183).

1933 Bighorn sheep from Banff National Park were

released in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

(Barker 1953: 90).

1933 (late) A CCC camp was established at

Bandelier National Monument. Workers built

roads, trails, and fire breaks and constructed

residences and Park Service administrative

buildings (Rothman 1992: 183–184, 193).

1933 Some 17 CCC camps were established on national forests in New Mexico. Workers performed a variety of tasks in completing some

projects, including construction of roads and

trails, revegetation of depleted areas, construction of erosion control facilities, and

thinning of timber stands. Native American

participants replanted vegetation and built

water control structures on eroded lands

(Baker et al. 1988: 53–54).

1933–35 Under the leadership of John Collier, a New

Deal land reform program for Native

Americans and Hispanics was implemented.

Part of this program was aimed at restoring

the fertility of severely eroded land (Forrest

1989: 129).

1933–40 New Deal agencies, and the Bureau of Indian

Affairs, conducted a number of in-depth surveys of natural and human resources in the

Middle and Upper Rio Grande valleys.

Hispano, Native, and to a lesser extent, Anglo

Americans interrelationships with each other

and their shared environment were first addressed by these studies (McWilliams 1961:

287).

1933–40 The Grazing Service organized four districts

embracing almost 1.5 million acres of grazing lands in the Middle Rio Grande Basin

(Harper et al. 1943: 88–90).

1933–40 A range conservation program was conducted on Indian lands in the Middle Valley

by the Soil Conservation Service (Harper et

al. 1943: 89).

1934 (June 18) The Indian Reorganization Act, giving Native Americans the right to govern

themselves, was passed. Under this act, the

U.S. Government determined the organizational structure of tribal governments. It also

defined the Secretary of the Interior’s responsibility for conservation and economic development of resources on Indian lands. This act

in part, prohibited alienation of Pueblo lands

(Simmons 1979b: 217; Utely and Mackintosh

1989: 32).

1934 (June 28) The Taylor Grazing Act authorized

the Secretary of the Interior to rehabilitate

overgrazed and eroded areas and to construct improvements on federal lands

through the new Grazing Service (Hagy

1951: 75). A major purpose was to control

and manage grazing on the public lands. In

1946 this agency was combined with the

General Land Office to form the Bureau of

Land Management (Clawson 1971: 34–38).

The bulk of unappropriated grassland (80

million acres) was closed to further settlement by the act. These lands were to be kept

as a grazing resource and managed by local livestock growers organized in districts

and supervised by the Department of the

Interior (Worster 1979: 190). This act had

been strongly opposed by the National Wool

Growers’ Association and the New Mexico

Stock Growers’ Association (Stout 1970: 314,

318).

1934 (June 30) The National Resources Board,

which sponsored ground and surface water

studies, was created by executive order (Clark

1987: 250, 256).

1934 Under the Drought Relief Service program,

the U.S. Government began buying cattle on

overgrazed, drought-stricken rangelands

(Limerick 1987: 88).

1934 The U.S. Government purchased the “badly
374 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

overgrazed and eroded” Ojo del Espiritu

Santo land grant and began a resource management program (Varney 1987: 35).

1934 The governor of New Mexico created a planning board made up of employees from five

major state resource agencies and presidents

of the three major universities; they began a

study of the state’s natural resources, with

emphasis on erosion problems and water conservation (Clark 1987: 269).

1934 El Vado dam and reservoir were built on the

Rio Chama (Gatewood et al. 1954: B45).

1934–35 The New Mexico State Planning Board found

that the public rangelands in the state were

badly damaged due to overgrazing (Clark

1987: 255).

1934–38 The extended drought spurred the comprehensive Rio Grande Joint Investigation, which led

to the Rio Grande Compact between Colorado,

New Mexico, and Texas (Thomas 1963: H16).

1934–44 The continuing overuse and deterioration of

Pueblo land led to an accelerated land acquisition program. About 390,727 acres were

purchased or assigned to Indian use on nonPueblo lands. Another 199,255 acres of public land were under lease or permit from the

state, the Forest Service, or the Taylor Grazing Service (Aberle 1948: 15–16).

1934–40s Livestock raisers “succeeded in mitigating the

law’s [Taylor Grazing Act] impact by formation of district and state advisory boards.

These boards were elected by permittees and

became the de facto governing boards.” The

U.S. Grazing Service generally followed the

board’s recommendations. As a result, range

conditions improved very slowly (Eastman

and Gray 1987: 35).

1935 The Wilderness Society, under the leadership

of Robert Marshall, was founded (Brown and

Carmony 1995: 163; Udall 1963: 154).

1935 (March 7) Coronado State Monument, site of

a large late prehistoric–early historic pueblo,

was established by the State Legislature. Located just north of Bernalillo, it is one of

Tiguex villages contacted by Coronado in

1540–42 (Dutton 1963: 4–5).

1935 (April 27) The Soil Conservation Act was

passed by Congress, creating the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) (Udall 1963: 144).

1935 (spring) Some 420,000 rainbow trout were

introduced into El Vado Reservoir (Workers

of the Writers’ Program 1940: 34).

1935 The SES (Soil Erosion Service) initiated an erosion control program for the 11,500,000 acre

watershed of Elephant Butte Reservoir, which

was filling with sediment at a rapid rate

(Clark 1987: 256).

1935 The ongoing drought was a factor in the

bringing of a suit against the state and the

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District by

water users in southern New Mexico for impairment of water rights below Elephant

Butte Reservoir (Clark 1987: 218).

1935 The director of the Grazing Division established district advisory boards. These groups

were made up of ranchers, a wildlife representative from a local sportsmen’s group, and

an employee of the division, who served as

secretary. The boards were especially helpful

in the organization and administration of new

grazing districts (Clawson 1971: 149).

1935 Congress appropriated funds for establishment of the Rocky Mountain Forest and

Range Experiment Station (Price 1976: 19).

1935 The Historic Sites Act, requiring archeological investigation prior to the construction of

a federal reservoir or a federally permitted

reservoir, was passed by Congress

(McGimsey n.d.: 16). This act also declared a

national preservation policy on public use of

historic sites, structures, and “objects of national significance”. Furthermore, it established an Advisory Board on National Parks,

Historic Sites, Buildings, and Monuments

(Udall 1962: 19).

1935 Legislation was passed creating the office of

Superintendent of State Parks and a Park

Commission. This commission was authorized to acquire park lands and was directed

to draft rules and regulations for public use

of parks (Clark 1987: 271–272).

1935 (April) The Division of Grazing administered

four grazing districts totalling almost 9 million acres (Clark 1987: 255).

1935–36 The Corps of Engineers joined other agencies

in the Interior and Agriculture departments

in conducting the Rio Grande Joint Investigation study (Welsh 1987: 109).

1935–39 Livestock numbers were reduced on Pueblo

lands because of deterioration of rangelands

due to overgrazing (Aberle 1948: 20).

1936 The Flood Control Act of 1936 declared that

the Federal Government had responsibility to

control floods on navigable rivers and runoff-caused erosion on smaller streams in cooperation with state and local governments.

This act “established for the first time an integrated flood-control policy” and laid the

groundwork for the greatest public works

program ever undertaken by the U.S. Gov-
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 375

ernment. The Corps of Engineers was placed

in charge of “investigations and improvements of waterways” (Buchanan 1988: 33;

Clark 1987: 259–260).

1936 The Soil Conservation Service completed a

new irrigation dam at San Luis, Sandoval

County, located about one-half mile above the

site of the earlier structure (Widdison 1959:

277).

1936 The MRGC completed work on the Cochiti,

Angostura, Isleta, and San Acacia diversion

dams, 180 miles of new canals, 294 miles of

new laterals, and 200 miles of riverside levees.

The valley water table was being lowered,

and 59,159 acres of land were being irrigated

(Clark 1987: 211–212).

1936 The Forest Service estimated that at least 75

percent of the Rio Grande watershed in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico was

experiencing severe, accelerated erosion,

largely as a result of the removal of the plant

cover through overgrazing and logging

(deBuys 1985: 232).

1936 Activities of nomadic stockmen, who had

roamed the range with no base of operation,

were stopped by the Division of Grazing

(Clark 1987: 255).

1936 The National Wildlife Federation was formed

(Borland 1975: 148).

1930s (mid to late) The Soil Conservation Service

purchased the Ramon Vigil grant on the

Pajarito Plateau from Frank Bond. This

agency initiated soil and water protection

plans for the grant, for San Ildefonso and

Santa Clara lands, and for other lands on the

Pajarito Plateau (Rothman 1992: 199, 231).

1937 (June 28) The Civilian Conservation Corps

legislation was amended by Congress, directing personnel from this agency to provide

works “for the protection, restoration, regeneration, improvement, development, utilization, maintenance, or enjoyment of the natural

resources of lands and waters, and the products thereof.” Water development and conservation, improved range projects, and other

projects were carried out with funding allocated to the National Park Service, U.S. Forest

Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Soil Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,

and state parks and forests. The CCC also

contributed to wildlife and recreational programs (Clark 1987: 244–245).

1937 (August 26) The Small Reservoirs Act, which

provided funding for construction of small

water storage structures for isolated communities and groups of ranchers, was passed by

Congress (Clark 1987: 263–264).

1937 The Forest Service received authorization and

funding for the reserving of certain unappropriated waters in New Mexico to carry out

the protection and improvement of national

forest lands through water conservation

(Clark 1987: 274).

1937 Some 8,000 individuals, almost all Hispanic,

“lost their land titles because they were unable to pay taxes and assessments on the

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

Project . . . ” (Gonzalez 1969: 52).

1937 The Works Projects Administration, the Public

Works Administration, and the National

Youth Administration also provided employment for workers, who carried out conservation and reclamation projects for water and

wildlife improvement (Clark 1987: 245).

1937 The Forest Service released its report, The

Western Range, which described “the critical

deterioration in the condition of lands, regardless of ownership, prevailing in the publicland states” (Clark 1987: 273–274).

1937 Congress passed the Bankhead-Jones Farm

Tenant Act, which authorized the Federal

Government to purchase private lands of

“low production.” These tracts were added

to national forests, national parks, grazing

districts, and other public land holdings

(Levine et al. 1980: 53).

1937 A soil conservation act was passed by the

State Legislature, creating soil conservation

districts to be assisted by other state and appropriate federal agencies. These districts

were concerned with erosion control, water

development, and land classification based on

“best use” (Clark 1987: 270–271).

1937 Congress passed legislation creating soil conservation districts in the states (Batie 1985: 109).

1937 Three soil conservation grants totalling

174,000 acres were allocated to the Pueblos.

These lands had a carrying capacity of 1,656

cattle. Three other such grants totalling

187,000 acres, with a carrying capacity of 1,601

cattle, were made to non-Indians, but primarily for Hispanic use (Forrest 1989: 141).

1937 Passage of the Pittman-Robertson Act provided funding for state game and fish departments to conduct game surveys on a

systematic basis and to institute wildlife research (Brown and Carmony 1995: 123). The

act levied a tax on firearms and ammunition

to provide funds for state wildlife projects

(Udall 1963: 145). The act also required rivers
376 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

and harbors appropriations to include funding for investigations and improvements of

wildlife, and it fostered closer cooperation

between federal and state governments (Clark

1987: 267–268).

1937 The first state park, Bluewater Lake, was created (Clark 1987: 271).

1937–38 The National Resources Committee and the

Rio Grande Compact Commission conducted

a comprehensive and detailed study of the

land and water resources of the Rio Grande

Basin north of Fort Quitman, Texas. The study

addressed problems such as stream flow, apportionment of waters between the two states

and Mexico, and flood and silt control (Clark

1987: 218–221).

1937–46 The Albuquerque Ski Club was organized,

and this group obtained a special use permit

from the Forest Service to operate a rope-tow

and restaurant in the Sandia Mountains,

Cibola National Forest. In 1946, Robert J.

Nordhaus organized the La Madera Company and assumed control of operations until 1963. In this year he organized the Sandia

Peak and Aerial Tramway Company, which

built a ski lift and a tramway system to the

ski area (Baker et al. 1988: 138).

1937–38 (March 18) Representatives of New Mexico,

Colorado, and Texas signed the Upper Rio

Grande Compact, which delineated the tristate division of Rio Grande water above Fort

Quitman, Texas. This agreement incorporated

schedules for delivery of water at the

Colorado-New Mexico line and below

Elephant Butte Reservoir based on flow measurements at Lobatos and San Marcial. Under this compact, the Middle Rio Grande

Conservancy District could develop its plan

affecting 123,000 acres of land (Clark 1987:

219–221; Harper et al. 1943: 94–95).

1938 (August 20) The Pueblo and Spanish ruins of

Abo and Quarai were declared state monuments (Toulouse 1949: 1).

1938 A state game refuge was established on the east

side of the Sandia Mountains (McDonald 1985: 12).

1938–39 The 350-acre Hyde State Park was developed

by the CCC under the supervision of the

National Park Service. It is surrounded by

Santa Fe National Forest land (Baker et al.

1988: 137).

1939 (February 1) Some 25,295 acres of the Ramon

Vigil grant were transferred from the SCS to

the Forest Service (Rothman 1992: 204).

1939 By this year the Division of Grazing had built

585 check dams to control erosion and 31 reservoirs with an aggregate capacity of 17,500

acre-feet benefitting 75,000 acres of land

(Clark 1987: 256).

1939 By this year there were 201 state game refuges totalling 2,884,654 acres (Workers of the

Writers’ Program 1940: 33).

1939 The Federal Aid to Wildlife Act was passed

by Congress, and money became available for

states to acquire habitat lands. Some 30,000

acres were purchased for this purpose in New

Mexico (Barker 1976: 100–101).

1939 The Bosque del Apache National Wildlife

Refuge was established in Socorro County.

Embracing 57,200 acres, the refuge was purchased primarily for sandhill cranes and waterfowl (Laycock 1965: 269). In recent years

an experimental flock of whooping cranes has

wintered on the refuge.

1939 There were 116,600 recreational visits to the

Cibola National Forest (Baker et al. 1988:

134).

1930s When the large Hispanic livestock holders in

the region were forced to reduce their herds

due to overgrazing and drought, many young

men whom they employed lost their jobs.

Most of them sought work in Colorado and

Utah (Gonzalez 1969: 127).

1930s Some 300 farmers in the Albuquerque area

erected a barricade in the North Valley to halt

construction work by the Middle Rio Grande

Conservancy District (Orona 1994).

1930s Crested wheat grass was introduced into New

Mexico and adjacent mountain states by

Agricultural Experiment Stations and the U.S.

Forest Service (Rogler and Lorenz 1983: 91–92).

1930s (late) A levee system was constructed

throughout much of the Middle Rio Grande

by the Conservancy District (Bullard and

Wells 1992: 47).

1939 (late) New Mexico Game and Fish personnel

released the first of a reintroduced herd of

Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep from British

Columbia into the Sandia Mountains (Pickens

1980: 83).

1930s (late) The Game and Fish Department tested

a limited bounty plan to supplement other

predator control programs in Socorro, Catron,

and Sierra Counties. Based on this test, the

department estimated that 16,000 coyotes

could be killed annually in the state by paid

hunters (Mortensen 1983: 74).

1930s (late) (to 1941) The WPA constructed small retention and diversion dams in rural New

Mexico communities to prevent flooding

(Welsh 1987: 110).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 377

1940 (January) The Upper Rio Grande Drainage

Basin Committee held its first meeting. This

group, made up of personnel from state and

federal agencies, heard various parties discuss

and protest against certain irrigation projects

and possible loss of water rights to new development along the river (Vlasich 1980: 33).

1940 The U.S. Forest Service and the Grazing

Service began to fence federal land in the Rio

Puerco-of-the-East valley and traditional

grazing lands on Mesa Prieta and the San

Mateo Mountains, including Mount Taylor

(Garcia 1992: 23).

1940 Most wild horses had been removed from

rangelands except on Indian reservations and

“waste lands outside of the grazing districts

and fenced areas” (Wyman 1945: 173).

1940 The U.S. Bureau of Fisheries and the

Biological Survey were transferred and consolidated into the Fish and Wildlife Service,

Department of the Interior (Clark 1987: 268).

1940–41 The Soil Conservation Service sponsored

projects to control erosion on Santa Ana

Pueblo land by erecting fences and windbreaks (Bayer et al. 1994: 228).

1940 (ca.) Elk from Wyoming, Wichita Mountains

National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma, and

the Philmont Boy Scout Ranch were transplanted on Mount Taylor, in the Jemez Mountains, and in the Hopewell and Tres Piedras

areas of the Carson National Forest (Barker

1976: 109–110).

1940 (ca.) The La Joya State Waterfowl Refuge was

established (Barker 1976: 104).

1941 Spurred by the severe spring flood, Congress

passed Senator Clinton P. Anderson’s Flood

Control Act. This legislation directed the Chief

of Engineers to conduct a preliminary study

of the Rio Grande basin above El Paso. This

agency, along with the Bureau of Reclamation,

was also directed to develop a joint-use plan

for the Rio Grande near Albuquerque (Welsh

1987: 111).

1941 The Albuquerque District of the Corps of

Engineers was established (Welsh 1987: 78–

79).

1941 There were seven districts with almost 16 million acres under the administration of the

Division of Grazing (Clark 1987: 255).

1941–43 Each family in the Rio Puerco-of-the-West was

permitted to graze 15 head of sheep, in their

grazing precinct, by the Soil Conservation

Service. This number of livestock was considered below the minimum needed for subsistence (Forrest 1989: 159).

1940s (early) State and national advisory boards,

made up of ranchers, were established to assist in the management of grazing on these

lands. Later, in 1961, these boards were expanded to represent wildlife, forestry, mineral development, soil conservation, and

other resource interests (Clawson 1971: 150–

151).

1943 (February) The Manhattan Project, Los

Alamos, was established within the Jemez

District, Santa Fe National Forest (Rothman

1992: 209–210).

1943 (April) The All-Pueblo Council met and generally declared opposition to the Flood

Control Act of 1941, which was passed after

the major flood of that year. They specifically

opposed construction of proposed flood control dams at Otowi and San Felipe but supported flood control measures. They also spoke

out against plans made for their lands without

their input (Bayer et al. 1994: 242–243).

1944 Responding to growing criticism from western states relative to federal encroachment of

their rights, Congress passed a declaration

of policy recognizing “the interests and rights

of the States in determining the development

of the watersheds within their borders and

likewise their interests and rights in water utilization and control” (Clark 1987: 260).

1945 The Smokey Bear fire prevention symbol was

publicly presented by the Forest Service

(Bergoffen 1976: 61).

1946 (July 16) The General Land Office merged

with the U.S. Grazing Service to form the

Bureau of Land Management. It was responsible for the management of various natural and

cultural resources on public domain lands

(Clark : 255; Utely and Mackintosh 1989: 29).

The BLM established a regional office in Albuquerque, and it implemented a grazing fee of 8

cents per animal unit month (Clawson 1971: 38–

39, 174).

1946 The Indian Claims Commission was created

to hear and resolve Native American disputes

with non-Indians over ownership of land. The

Pueblos and other groups were able to recover

significant amounts of land during the 32-

year history of the commission (deBuys 1985:

311).

1940s (mid) The Pueblos complained to Congress

that the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District had not provided adequate water or

maintenance of ditches as promised. Many

claimed they had lost crops as a result (Bayer

et al. 1994: 243).
378 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

1946–53 The USFS and the BLM were “under attack”

during this period by livestock growers. Although representing only a small minority of

the population in New Mexico and other

public-land states, livestock growers “had political influence at both national and state levels far beyond that which their numbers

would indicate.” “Fundamentally, they were

hostile to federal ownership of any grazing

lands and believed that these lands could best

be developed under private ownership”

(Clark 1987: 589).

1947 The Forest Pest Control Act placed a new

emphasis on the control and management of

forest insects and diseases (Baker et al. 1988:

59).

1947–58 An intensive program of study of sediments

in the Rio Grande Basin was conducted by

the U.S. Geological Survey (Hale et al. 1965: 6).

1948 (June 1–25) An inspection of the grazing allotments on the Santa Fe National Forest revealed that their condition was unsatisfactory

(Baker et al. 1988: 102).

1948 Congress directed the Army Corps of

Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation to prepare plans for district improvement. Subsequently, the Corps constructed river levees

near Albuquerque, and the Bureau deepened

river canals to drain water from agricultural

lands. In the southern part of the valley, channel rectification was carried out as well

(Sorensen and Linford 1967: 156–157).

1948 The Flood Control Act authorized construction of the Chamita Dam (later replaced by

Abiquiu Dam) above Espanola and the Jemez

Canyon Dam above Bernalillo. These dams

were part of other works to control flooding

and sedimentation of the Rio Grande. Pushed

by the devastating May-June 1941 flood, the

Corps of Engineers proposed reservoirs at

Jemez Canyon and Chamita (Welsh 1987: 115,

166).

1948 Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution

Control Act, the first such legislation for the

United States (Clark 1987: 444).

1948–51 Research and field testing of methods to “artificially make rain” failed in northern and

central New Mexico (Mortensen 1983: 40–41).

1949 State advisory boards for grazing districts and

a National Advisory Board to the Interior

Department on grazing were officially incorporated into the Federal Range Code for

Grazing Districts (Mortensen 1983: 83).

1949 The Predatory Animal and Rodent Control issued instructions and safety precautions for

use of 1080, a highly lethal rodenticide, in the

control of rodents and predators. Especially

effective against canids, it killed wild as well

as domestic pets in large numbers. This controversial compound was banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1972

(Brown 1983: 103).

1949 An area of the Tres Piedras Ranger District,

Carson National Forest, was reseeded with

crested wheatgrass (Rowley 1985: preceeding

p. 192).

1940s The number of livestock that one owner could

graze on the national forests was limited. For

the Santa Fe, 50 to 100 head of cattle per owner

were permitted. These limitations were imposed because of heavy local demand. Also,

attempts were made to reduce common use

of forest ranges by constructing fences, developing more water, and reassigning individual allotments (Eastman and Gray 1987:

37).

1940s The New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association

continued to lobby for transferring federal

ownership of the public domain to the state.

This organization’s policy was supported by

New Mexico’s two U.S. senators and one of

its representatives. In 1946 the state’s Commissioner of Public Lands, John E. Miles, suggested that land commissioners, educators,

and livestock raisers meet to develop strategy for acquiring the public domain. An Association of Western State Land Commissioners would procure legislative enactment for

granting the states the public domain for support of schools and other public institutions.

Their efforts were unsuccessful (Mortensen

1983: 85–86).

1940s–50s (late to 1950s) Grass reseeding and reforestation on national forest lands were commonly

carried out by the Forest Service. As part of

this program, juniper was removed from various areas and then reseeded with grasses

(Baker et al. 1988: 63).

1950 (April 24) Congress passed a law authorizing advisory boards on grazing on national

forests; members were to be primarily livestock raisers holding permits on a particular

forest. Previously, advisory boards had no

standing under the law (Mortensen 1983: 80–

81).

1950 Congress enacted the Rio Grande Floodway

as part of the Middle Rio Grande Project. Private and state levees and dams were targeted

for reconstruction from Velarde to Elephant

Butte (Welsh 1987: 166).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 379

1950–52 The Jemez Canyon Dam was constructed

above Bernalillo on the Jemez River to control flooding and sedimentation (Fergusson

1951: 360; Welsh 1987: 117–118).

1951 (March) Sagebrush was removed from 7,000

acres of overgrazed rangeland on Mesa Viejas

and Canjilon Ranger District, Carson National

Forest. Reseeding with crested wheatgrass

followed (Rowley 1985: preceeding p. 192).

1951 The Bureau of Reclamation and Corps of

Engineers began to install the first of 100,000

jetties along the Middle Rio Grande Valley

(Bullard and Wells 1992: 50).

1952 (May) U.S. Senator Dennis Chavez of New

Mexico convened hearings on grazing on the

national forests in three locations in the state.

A number of livestock raisers complained

about the reduction of the number of head

that they could graze under a permit and the

closing of some areas to grazing (Mortensen

1983: 79). Grazing conditions had been deteriorating due to the ongoing drought and

heavy stocking.

1950s (early) The BLM raised the grazing fee to 12

cents per animal-unit-month. This fee was

based on current livestock market prices

(Clawson 1971: 174).

1953 The Bureau of Reclamation began a channel

modification of the Middle Rio Grande to

maintain channel capacity for “safely passing high flows reducing water losses, while

conveying water to downstream users, and

moving sediments through the valley”

(Crawford et al. 1993: 43–44).

1953 The New Mexico Legislature declared “that

all underground waters of the State of New

Mexico are public waters subject to appropriation for beneficial use within the State”

(Erickson 1954: 81).

1953 Senators Clinton P. Anderson of New Mexico

and Francis Case of South Dakota sponsored

legislation to encourage experimentation in

“rainmaking” and created the Advisory

Committee on Weather Control (Clark 1987:

413–414).

1954 The Flood Control Act included authorization

of two diversion canals that would carry summer rain runoff from the west slopes of the

Sandia Mountains (Welsh 1987: 167).

1954 The U.S. Government outlawed the indiscriminate use of poison to kill predators of livestock.

Sheep ranchers turned to use of the “coyote

getta,” a cyanide gun stuck in the ground.

Some ranchers also controlled predators by

shooting from airplanes (Moyer 1979: 71).

1955 State legislation authorized change of the title

of “warden” to “conservation officer” and

authorized the director of Game and Fish “to

appoint properly qualified persons as

nonsalaried reserve conservation officers

empowered to enforce the regulation of the

State Game Commission and perform such

other duties with respect to wildlife management and conservation education as he might

assign” (Clark 1987: 370).

1955 (late) The New Mexico Land Resources

Association was formed by private citizens.

It was made up of farmers, ranchers, prominent businessmen, educators, and lawyers.

Their main objectives were to research and

address resource use, or income from that use,

and the disposition of federal and state lands.

Their study, which lasted 3 years “provided

an extensive look at the State’s land and water resources and analyzed the ways in which

they were being utilized.” The members were

“particularly struck ... by the rising dominance on the part of the Federal Government”

(Mortensen 1983: 86).

1956 (March) The Sandia Conservancy District,

petitioned for by a group of landowners, was

created to control flash flood waters originated along the west face of the Sandia Mountains (Clark 1987: 355).

1956 The Soil Bank Act encouraged farmers to

withdraw land from production under acreage reserve and conservation programs (Clark

1987: 302).

1956 The Bureau of Indian Affairs returned grazing control to the Navajo. Stocking steadily

increased, causing severe overgrazing of

rangelands by the mid 1980s (Eastman and

Gray 1987: 106–107).

1956 The National Park Service submitted its

“Mission 66” program to Congress, requesting a substantial increase in funds to construct

and maintain new facilities, as well as old, to

meet the rapidly increasing visitation to national parks and monuments (Udall 1962: 32–

33).

1957 A bill to establish federal wildernesses was

submitted to Congress. Over the next 7 years

a powerful coalition of grazing, logging, mining, and motorized recreation interests lobbied tenaciously against the bill, causing it to

be rejected some 65 times (deBuys 1985: 287).

1958 The levee-riverside drains in the Albuquerque area were reconstructed by the U.S. Army

Corps of Engineers. Operation and maintenance of the system were transferred to the
380 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

(Bullard and Wells 1992: 47).

1959 The channelization project on the Rio Grande

at San Marcial was completed (Jenkins and

Schroeder 1974: 77).

1959–60 Cochiti Pueblo lost their claim to the La

Bajada land grant. The Pueblo also asked the

Corps of Engineers to change the location of

the proposed Cochiti dam and reservoir, but

the Corps refused (Welsh 1987: 145–146).

1959 The State Legislature created the Rio Grande

Gorge State Park. Eleven years later, 48 miles,

including the 7-mile-long park, were designated the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River

(Young 1984: 108).

1959–63 Heron Dam was constructed by the Corps of

Engineers on the Chama River near Tierra

Amarilla (Welsh 1987: 133–134).

1950s To combat forest damage caused by the spruce

bud worm, pine and fir engravers, and pine

bark beetles, spraying with insecticides such

as DDT was initiated. Selective cutting of infested trees was also employed, but on a much

reduced scale compared with the 1930s, when

so many unemployed men were available for

low wages due to the Depression (Baker et

al. 1988: 62).

1950s Recreational use of the national forests increased sharply. Among these uses were hunting, fishing, skiing, and hiking (Baker et al.

1988: 60).

1950s The Bureau of Land Management was criticized for primarily focusing on leasing public lands to livestock raisers and overlooking

other public values and uses for these lands.

A special concern of some groups was the

protection of watersheds and “marginal

lands” from overgrazing (Clark 1987: 590).

1960 The Flood Control Act directed the Corps of

Engineers to construct the Galisteo Dam, 12

miles upstream from the confluence of

Galisteo Creek and the Rio Grande. It was not

completed until 10 years later (Welsh 1987:

149, 152, 155–156).

1960 Per capita water consumption in New Mexico

was about 160 gallons per day per person

(Hale et al. 1965: 51).

1960 The enactment of the Multiple Use-Sustained

Yield Act authorized and “directed the Secretary of Agriculture to develop and administer the renewable resources of the national

forests, including outdoor recreation, watershed, range, timber, and wildlife and fish resources, in such a way that they would be

available in perpetuity. It meant that no one

demand should take precedence over another” (Baker et al. 1988: 65).

1961 (February) President Kennedy delivered a

“natural resources message” advising Congress “that he had directed the secretary of

the interior [sic] to launch a three-pronged offensive against public land abuse.” This included making an “inventory and evaluation

of unreserved public lands,” developing a

“balanced use program,” and developing an

“accelerated soil and water conservation program including rehabilitation of depleted

rangelands” (Clark 1987: 590–591).

1962 (April 2) The Bureau of Outdoor Recreation

was established within the Interior

Department. This agency was responsible for

coordination of related federal programs,

assistance in state recreational planning, administration of a grants-in-aid program, sponsorship of research, and formulation of a

nationwide recreation plan based on state, regional, and federal plans (Udall 1962: 40).

1962 The Bureau of Reclamation was authorized

by congressional act to construct the San JuanChama Transmountain Diversion Project.

About 110,000 acre-feet of water were diverted from the upper tributaries of the San

Juan River, across the continental divide, and

into the Rio Grande drainage (Bullard and

Wells 1992: 20). The All-Indian Pueblo

Council and interested individuals strongly

supported the San Juan Chama Project (Clark

1987: 653).

1962 In his conservation message to Congress,

President John F. Kennedy said “Conservation . . . can be defined as the wise use of our

natural environment: it is, in the final analysis, the highest form of national thrift—the

prevention of waste and despoilment while

preserving, improving and renewing the

quality and usefulness of all our resources”

(Udall 1963: 173).

1962 Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, documenting

the adverse effects of DDT and other pesticides on wildlife, was published (Utely and

Mackintosh 1989: 30).

1963 Abiquiu Dam on the Rio Chama was completed (Welsh 1987: 134).

1963 The Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood

Control Authority was created to study and

alleviate “the problem of urban flooding from

unregulated, ephemeral tributaries” of the

Rio Grande (Bullard and Wells 1992: 22).

1963 The Clean Air Act was passed by Congress

and amended in 1965 and 1966. Ambient air
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 381

quality standards affecting auto, industrial,

and other air-polluting sources were to be established by the EPA (Clark 1987: 451–452).

1963 Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall convened a panel of experts, headed by A. Starker

Leopold of the University of California, to

examine the Federal Government’s animal

damage control program. This group, in their

“Leopold Report,” asserted that the government should be responsible for the husbandry

of every animal species and that current control was too excessive (Mortensen 1983: 75).

1963 Over 6,300 coyotes were trapped or poisoned

by federal and state personnel without causing a noticeable decrease in the overall population (Findley et al. 1975: 281–282).

1963–69 The first major confrontation between the

Forest Service and environmental groups in

the region was over a proposed highway from

Las Vegas to Pecos Canyon in the Santa Fe

National Forest. The Upper Pecos Association

and the New Mexico Conservation Coordinating Council opposed the road, and the

former brought suit in federal court. Subsequently, the Forest Service abandoned the

proposed project (Baker et al. 1988: 71).

1964 The Water Resources Research Act of 1964

was directed at supplementing, rather than

duplicating ongoing research, with special

emphasis on state problems that had only a

small chance of being funded. A Water

Resources Research Institute was established

in New Mexico, partially with funding authorized by this act (Clark 1987: 380–381).

1964 Under the direction of Wayne Aspinall of

Colorado, Congress created the Public Land

Law Review Commission to examine existing public land statutes and regulations and

the policies and practices of the administering agencies. Based on its study, 137 recommendations for modification in public land

management and disposition were made.

Major ones included a proposed study be

made as “to which public lands would serve

the public good better by being transferred

to state, local, or private ownership.” Another

significant recommendation was that local

advisory boards should have more input into

federal planning. This and a number of other

recommendations were later part of 1976 legislation (Clark 1987: 575).

1964 Congress passed the Land Classification and

Multiple Use Act, which directed the Secretary of Interior “to develop criteria for determining which BLM lands should be classified

for disposal and which should remain in federal ownership.” These lands would also be

“managed for the protection of public values”

(Clark 1987: 591).

1964 With the leadership of Senator Clinton P.

Anderson, Congress passed the Wilderness

Act. The Forest Service subsequently began

studies of their lands to determine suitability

for classification as wilderness (Baker et al.

1988: 70).

1964 The 41,132-acre San Pedro Parks Wilderness

Area was designated in the Santa Fe National

Forest (Rothman 1992: 271).

1964 The Pecos Wilderness, some 167,416 acres,

was created in the Santa Fe and Carson

National Forests (Rothman 1992: 271).

1964 There were 1,562,600 recreational visits to the

Cibola National Forest (Baker et al. 1988: 134).

1964 The Pecos Wilderness Area, including Pecos

Baldy and Truchas Peaks, was restocked with

Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep (deBuys 1985:

288).

1964–74 The Wheeler Peak, San Pedro Parks, and

Bosque del Apache national wildernesses

were established (McDonald 1985: 6).

1965 The Water Resources Planning Act created a

National Water Commission to work with the

National Resources Council, public and private agencies “in isolating major problems

and suggesting alternative solutions which

would assure an ample supply of clean water

for the future.” A final report, Water Policies for

the Future, was produced, with emphasis on the

economics of water (Clark 1987: 378–380).

1965 The legislature declared that “the State of

New Mexico claims the right to all moisture

in the atmosphere which would fall so as to

become a part of the natural streams or percolated water of New Mexico, for use in accordance with its laws.” The Weather Control and Cloud Modification Commission was

also created “to oversee attempts to alter natural weather conditions” (Clark 1987: 373).

1965–66 The State Planning Office and the State

Engineer Office carried out an in-depth report

and inventory of the state’s water resources

(Clark 1987: 374).

1960s (mid) The government based grazing fees on

public lands on a year-by-year assessment of

the economic value of the land in question

(Mortensen 1983: 78).

1966 The Bureau of Land Management and the

Forest Service raised grazing fees to levels

more in line with fees paid for grazing private lands. The BLM fee was set at 33 cents
382 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

per animal unit month, and the Forest Service

fees ranged from 21 cents to $1.81 (Clawson

1971: 175).

1966 Congress passed the National Historic Preservation Act establishing the National Register program of sites, properties, districts,

buildings, and objects significant in American history, architecture, archeology, and culture. Matching funds were to be made available to help acquire and preserve these sites

and artifacts and to conduct statewide surveys for identifying sites and properties to be

placed on the National Register. Furthermore,

the act provided some protection for sites on

the register that might be adversely affected

by any federally permitted or funded project

(McGimsey n.d.: 16–17).

1966–67 (late to 1968) Members of the Alianza Federal

de los Pueblos Libres, organized and led by

Reies Tijerina, attempted to reclaim the San

Joaquin del Rio de Chama land grant, which

had become part of the national forest near

Tierra Amarilla. Violence broke out, and the

now infamous raid on the courthouse at this

community received national news coverage.

Tijerina and some of his followers were convicted and served jail sentences for assaulting government employees and destroying

government property (Baker et al. 1988: 72–

73).

1966, 1969 Congress passed Endangered Species Acts,

policy directives to federal agencies to protect these species largely through listing.

These acts contained little regulatory power

(Beatley 1994: 13; Borland 1975: 152).

1960s (mid to 1971) The Forest Service proposal to

construct a scenic roadway from Placitas to

Sandia Crest was dropped due to opposition

from several environmental organizations

and local residents (McDonald 1985: 12–13).

1968 Congress passed the National Wild and Scenic

River Act, which provided for the environmental protection of rivers in a “free-flowing,

natural state.” One section of a regional river,

the Upper Rio Grande between the Colorado

state line and near Taos, was subsequently

designated a wild and scenic river (Baker et

al. 1988: 72).

1969 The National Environmental Policy Act, requiring the study and assessment of all activities that will impact the environment on

federal lands or projects, was passed by Congress (Baker et al. 1988: 34). The act mandated

that all federal agencies incorporate the ecological consequences of their projects into

their development plans and, where feasible,

suggest alternatives. Environmental Impact

Statements were required for all federal

projects (Welsh 1987: 201–202). The act also

established the Council on Environmental

Quality in the Executive Office of the

President. This group consisted of three appointees, who were to gather, interpret, and

analyze data relative to environmental quality,

to evaluate federal programs and activities in

relation to national policy, and to advise and

recommend to the President regarding CEQ

responsibilities (Clark 1987: 450–451).

1969 The fee for BLM grazing districts was raised

to 44 cents per animal-unit-month (Clawson

1971: 175).

1960s The riverside diversions at Corrales and

Atrisco were replaced by inverted siphons

which ran under the river from riverside

drains, converting them into seasonal water

conveyance channels (Kernodle et al. 1995: 19).

1960s DDT continued to be used by the Forest

Service to control insect infestations. This use

continued into the next decade until DDT was

banned, except for public health emergencies,

on January 1, 1973. In 1966 malathion was introduced as a pesticide (Baker et al. 1988: 62).

1970 (April 22) The first Earth Day was held in the

United States (Borland 1975: 174). Some 20

million citizens participated, organizing

marches, workshops, and political speeches

(Pirages and Ehrlich 1974: 37–38).

1970 (December 15) President Richard M. Nixon

also signed a bill placing 48,000 acres of

Carson National Forest, including their sacred

Blue Lake, in trust for the sole use of Taos

Pueblo (Keegan 1991: 50).

1970 The Environmental Quality Improvement Act

was to provide for an upgrading of environmental quality through mandating that federal departments and agencies conducting or

supporting public work projects should

implement environmental protection policies.

Also, to provide aid and support for the recently created Council on Environmental

Quality, the Office of Environmental Quality

in the Executive Office of the President was

established under this act (Clark 1987: 450).

1970 Congress passed the Clean Air Act, the first

serious attempt by the Federal Government

to improve the quality of air, although acts

were enacted in 1963, 1965, and 1966. Ambient air quality standards affecting auto, industrial, and other air-polluting sources were

to be established and enforced by the EPA.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 383

These standards were to be sufficient to protect the public health and welfare of the

Nation (Harrington and Abbey 1981: 1–2).

1970 President Richard M. Nixon established the

Environmental Protection Agency (Borland

1975: 174). The EPA’s basic mission was to

restore and maintain a healthy national environment (Clark 1987: 452).

1970 The Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River was

formally dedicated (Young 1984: 108).

1971 The Wild Horse and Burro Act, which complicated the management of these two animals on BLM and U.S. Forest Service lands,

was passed. Both species increased on most

areas, and burros moved into Bandelier

National Monument. Partly due to their intensive grazing, soil erosion on the monument

increased to an estimated 36 tons per year.

Despite public protests, virtually all of these

animals were shot or removed by late 1983

(Rothman 1992: 280–283).

1971 Another panel of wildlife experts, headed by

former Assistant Secretary of the Interior

Stanley A. Cain, “recommended that all existing toxic chemicals be removed from registration and use for Federal predator control

operations” (Mortensen 1983: 75).

1972 (February 8) President Nixon issued an Executive Order banning “the field use of any

chemical toxicant for the purpose of killing a

predatory mammal or bird” or “which causes

any secondary poisoning on all Federal lands

and in any Federal program” (Mortensen

1983: 75).

1972 (March) The Corps of Engineers completed

construction of the north and south flood diversion channels in the Albuquerque District

(Welsh 1987: 172).

1972 Congress enacted the Federal Water Pollution

Control Act, which extended the regulatory

responsibility of the Army Corps of

Engineers. This act upheld the provision of

the 1899 Refuse Act, mandating the Corps to

regulate the sources of effluents going into the

nation’s navigable streams. Any organization

or individual who planned to alter

streamflow in any way had to apply to the

agency for a permit (Welsh 1987: 202).

1972 The Forest Service issued The Nation’s Range

Resources, which reported that much of western rangelands, both public and private, were

in a “deteriorating condition” (Rowley 1985:

238).

1972 The state advisory boards for grazing districts and the national advisory board to

the Interior Department were abolished by

federal act but were reinstated under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976

(Mortensen 1983: 83).

1972 The volume of timber cut for commercial sales

in the national forests of New Mexico peaked

at 141,141,000 board-feet (Baker et al. 1988: 84).

1972 The Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge was

established in Socorro County. Subsequently,

the refuge was designated a Long Term Ecological Research Area (Grover and Musick

1989: 1–3).

1973 (November 12) With completion of Cochiti

Dam by the Corps of Engineers, the reservoir

began to fill. Subsequently, downstream farmers at Cochiti Pueblo and Pena Blanca complained that rises in the groundwater table of

up to 8 feet were resulting in deposition of

harmful salt on their agricultural lands (Welsh

1987: 158–159).

1973 Congress passed a new Endangered Species

Act. This legislation “substantially expanded

the powers of the federal government in this

area” and placed “major and significant restrictions on government agencies and private

citizens regarding listed species.” Regulatory

provisions included identifying and listing

endangered species, consulting with the

USFWS about projects that would adversely

affect a species, prohibiting the “taking” of a

species, and preparing recovery plans for each

listed species. The law was amended in 1982

to permit the incidental taking of a listed species where an acceptable habitat conservation

plan ensuring the survival and recovery of

the species was prepared. The ESA has been

reauthorized by Congress three times (Beatley

1994: 13–22).

1974 Congress passed the Forest and Rangeland

Renewable Resources Planning Act, amended

by the National Forest Management Act of

1976, which together provided that the USFS,

in cooperation with state, local, and other federal agencies, inventory and analyze the renewable resources on national forest lands

relative to anticipated uses, supplies, demands, and relevant agency policies and programs. A plan, based on these studies, was to

be prepared and updated every 5 years (Clark

1987: 579).

1974 The State Legislature passed the Wildlife Conservation Act, giving jurisdiction to the New

Mexico Department and Commission of

Game and Fish over all native, nondomestic

vertebrate species and crustaceans and
384 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

mollusks. Animals identified as endangered

were to be listed and protected by the agency

(Hubbard et al. ca. 1988: 1).

1975 The Indian Self-Determination and Education

Assistance Act, while reaffirming the Federal

Government’s trust responsibilities to Native

Americans, deplored its domination of Indian

programs. At the same time, Congress issued

a joint resolution for the establishment of the

American Indian Policy Review Commission,

which would in part investigate the policies

and practices of federal agencies responsible

for protecting Indian resources. Their final

report, sympathetic to the Indian position,

was not favorably accepted because of a number of political events, which generated an

anti-Native American backlash (Clark 1987:

622–623).

1976 The Federal Land Policy and Management

Act, passed by Congress and including a

number of recommendations made by the

Public Land Law Review Commission 12

years earlier, had as a primary purpose to

update and bring together in a single statute

the laws governing management of BLM, and

to a more limited extent, USFS lands. Moreover, the Secretary of the Interior was directed

“to develop a comprehensive land-use plan

incorporating multiple-purpose and sustained-yield principles based on a continuing

inventory of the lands and their resources.”

This act also included a section mandating a

15-year review of potential wilderness areas

on lands administered by the Bureau of Land

Management (Clark 1987: 575; McDonald

1985: 8).

1976 The 22,000-acre Bandelier Wilderness area

was created (Kutz 1989: 9).

1970s (mid to late) The Forest Service was involved

in extensive watershed management programs for their improvement, restoration, or

preservation. As part of these projects the

agency was determining grazing quotas, timber harvests, and the extent of other uses that

potentially could impact these ecosystems. An

example of such a watershed is the Bernalillo

Watershed Project in Cibola National Forest.

This effort, including construction of checkdams and restoration of vegetative cover, has

controlled the periodic flooding of the

Bernalillo community by intensive runoff

from the northwestern portion of the Sandia

Mountains (Clark 1987: 577).

1978 (February 24) Congress passed the Endangered American Wilderness Act, which included establishment of the North Sandia

Peak and South Sandia Peak wildernesses, the

Manzano Mountains Wilderness, and the

Chama River Basin Wilderness (McDonald

1985: 15).

1970s The Bureau of Reclamation carried out “a

rectification project to clear and maintain a

relatively linear floodway . . . to more efficiently convey water to Elephant Butte and

to pass floodwater” rapidly through the system “with minimal water loss and damage to

the river channel and floodplain” (Bullard

and Wells 1992: 47).

1980 The Cochiti Pueblo Council filed suit against

the Corps of Engineers, Albuquerque District,

for causing the “waterlogging” of 320 acres

of traditional Cochiti farmland below the

Cochiti Dam, which the Corps had constructed in 1967–73 (Welsh 1987: 162).

1980–84 Three wilderness areas—Cruces Basin, Latir

Park, and Wheeler Peak—were created in the

Carson National Forest. Total acreage was

57,663. Four other wilderness areas, totalling

138,286 acres, were also created in the Cibola

National Forest. The Chama River Canyon

Wilderness, totalling 50,300 acres, was created

in the Santa Fe / Carson National Forests

(Baker et al. 1988: 140).

1981 The Salinas National Monument, including

Gran Quivira National Monument, Abo State

Park, and Quarai State Park, was established

(Chilton et al. 1984: 437).

1982 (August) The Rio Bravo State Park, located

in Albuquerque’s south valley, was dedicated

(Young 1984: 106).
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 385

SUMMARY

This study of the environmental history of the Middle

Rio Grande Basin, which began in June 1994, is part of a

5-year, multidisciplinary study under the auspices of the

USFS Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Albuquerque. The goal of the parent study is

[t]o develop, synthesize, and apply new knowledge to aid in understanding processes, interactions, and sociocultural uses of upland and riparian ecological systems for sustaining diverse,

productive, and healthy plant, animal, and human populations and associated natural resources in the Rio Grande Basin (Finch and

Tainter 1995: 1).

This larger, ongoing study is based on the primary thesis that all ecosystems are anthropogenic to some extent

and cannot be understood without examining the role of

human groups as components of and agents of impact on

the environment. Environmental history not only embraces this view but also the belief that interrelated “natural” and human-induced impacts and changes in ecosystem components can result in modified or abandoned

strategies of resource exploitation and even a shift in

“world view.”

Within the parent study, four research areas or problems were defined, one being the need for an in-depth

study of the environmental history of the Middle Rio

Grande Basin, so as to better understand the interrelationships of human populations and their environment. The

following spatial and temporal interrelationships were

emphasized: (1) the role of various eco-cultures in adapting to and exploiting Basin ecosystems and associated

resources, (2) the kind and extent of anthropogenic disturbances, (3) human responses to environmental changes,

and (4) the sustainability of traditional activities of various groups in the Middle Basin.

Based on extant knowledge and preliminary research,

four spatial and temporal models of environmental change

in the Middle Valley ecosystems were developed for testing (Scurlock 1995a: 20). In general, these models were

relatively accurate; however, a few modifications and revisions were made and are presented in the Conclusions

section (pp. 389–390).

CHAPTER 7

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND CONSIDERATIONS

Environmental History

For more than 450 years the ecosystems of the Middle

Rio Grande Basin have evolved dynamically with the interrelated vagaries of climate, land forms, soils, fauna,

flora, and most importantly, human activities. Various

land use practices have caused an array of environmental

problems. Activities such as grazing, irrigation farming,

logging, and constructing flood control features, combined

with climatic fluctuations, have produced changes in

stream flow-morphology, groundwater levels, topsoils,

biotic communities, and individual species. Indigenous

human populations have, in turn, been impacted by modifications in these resources. These processes, impacts, and

changes were discussed in Chapters 3–5. A summary of

this eco-cultural history is presented here.

Droughts, floods, severe cold, and deep snow influenced or directly impacted many activities, notably travel,

agriculture, livestock raising, warfare, hunting, and gathering during the historic period (A.D. 1540-present).

Occurring locally or regionally, droughts damaged or destroyed crops and rangeland grasses, decimated wildlife

populations, contributed to soil erosion, reduced stream

flows, depleted water supplies, and contributed to the

occurrence of infectious diseases such as smallpox. These

impacts sometimes resulted in widespread suffering, and

even loss of human life and the shifting of human populations. Historical documentation from the mid 17th century to the late 19th century substantiates more recent

detailed weather records, which indicate the occurrence

of a moderate to major drought in the region every 20 to

22 years. These periodic droughts, increasing use of surface and ground waters, and intensive grazing have generally resulted in dramatic changes in the flora.

The various effects of extended cold winters, or shorter

periods of below-normal temperatures associated with

high winds and snow (blizzards) and above-normal snowfalls, were also significant. Events such as these commonly

occurred during the “Little Ice Age,” which gripped New

Mexico from about the mid 16th to mid 19th centuries.

Adverse effects of this cold period included human fatalities, crop and livestock losses, and general unrest and

suffering. The warming period and relatively frequent

droughts that followed, especially from the 1860s to the

1950s, adversely impacted ranching and farming economics as well, and human population shifts and trends.
386 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Wildfires caused by lightning were a common phenomenon during the period of greatest lightning-strike frequency, July to September. The highest occurrence of these

natural fires appears to be correlated with La Nina, or dry,

years. Native Americans used fire as one method of clearing the bosque for cultivation. Only in this century have

naturally caused woodland or range fires on the adjacent

grasslands been suppressed in the Middle Rio Grande

Basin. In the late prehistoric and historic periods Native

Americans burned grasslands and woodlands to drive

game animals to a location where they might be more easily killed, as well as to stimulate new plant growth. Hispanics used fire to create meadowlike conditions in

upland forests and to generate healthy grass growth on

rangeland.

Range fires usually killed small woody species, whereas

grass regeneration was stimulated. Removal of dense

stands of dry grasses by overgrazing also reduced available fuel for range fires and decreased competition from

grasses, allowing propagation and growth of woody

plants. Woody shrubs and small tree species such as

fourwing saltbush, juniper, and pinyon have encroached

on semi-desert grasslands adjacent to the valley as a result of fire suppression.

Human-generated impacts have generally and everincreasingly altered the structure, function, and dynamics of Basin ecosystems during the historic period. Some

activities, such as grazing and logging, have reduced vegetative cover, and combined with periodic droughts and

fires, have resulted in high rates of surface run-off due to

precipitation and associated erosion. Sediments from these

events have, generally, increased through time, and the

resulting impacts on riparian plant and animal communities have been, in cases such as the Middle Rio

Grande Valley and major tributaries such as the Rio

Puerco, severe. Other human impacts, such as the introduction of exotic species of plants and animals, use

of various toxins, diversion of water for irrigation, and

construction of water control dams, have also brought

dramatic changes to riparian ecosystems. Additional impacts on riparian communities, as well as on upland ecosystems—grasslands, pinyon-juniper and ponderosa

woodlands and montane mixed-conifer forests—are noted

in the following overview.

Adverse impacts on all of the Middle Rio Grande Basin

Pueblos began with arrival of the first Spanish explorers

in 1540. Hostilities against the Pueblos by these Europeans included war, rape, seizure of goods, burning of villages, and sometimes involuntary use of individuals as

guides or servants. Spanish colonization, which began in

1598, centered on the main pueblos along the Rio Grande

from Taos to Isleta, as well as the village of Acoma. Missions were established, farmland appropriated, and many

Pueblo Indians were pressed into service for Spanish government officials, encomenderos, and missionaries.

Early Spanish contact with the Navajo and Apache in

the study region soon erupted into a pattern of alternating periods of peace and warfare. Their acquisition of the

horse from the Spanish made these two groups, as well as

the Southern Ute and the later-arriving Comanche, more

mobile raiders and more successful hunters. Hides from

bison, mule deer, pronghorn, and elk were obtained from

these Indians by Spaniards through trade, including the

trade fairs held at Taos, Picuris, Pecos, and Abiquiu during the colonial period. Captive Indians, usually boys or

girls, were obtained in trade to work for governors in their

workshops weaving woolen goods or tanning hides. Girls

were also used for various work in Spanish homes, where

they were adopted.

In the late 16th century to early 17th centuries, the

Spanish brought with them new technologies and a number of new domesticated plants and animals, which had a

decisive impact on Pueblo, Navajo, and Apache diets and

the landscape. Introduced livestock included sheep, goats,

horses, mules, burros, oxen, cattle, hogs, and chickens.

Introduction of metal tools such as the axe, which made

cutting green wood easier and faster, as well as iron-tipped

plows and various metal weapons, had a significant adverse impact on surface water, fauna, flora, and soils. New

cultigens included wheat, barley, cabbage, onion, lettuce,

radish, cantaloupe, watermelon, and several species of

fruit trees, as well as native Mexican Indian crops such as

chile, cultivated tobacco, tomato, and new varieties of corn

and beans. Some introduced non-cultigens, such as

alferillo and horehound, became established in fields and

other disturbed areas.

Hispano settlement patterns and land-water use, especially irrigation, generally were successful adaptations to

local ecosystems. Similar to Pueblo view and usage,

Spanish colonial water law evolved to protect the communal interest rather than that of the individual.

The relatively sharp increase in livestock numbers, especially sheep, during this period was due to the growth

in mining markets to the south in Mexico (and later California). This intensive and widespread grazing resulted

in loss of vegetative cover and subsequent erosion in various locales. Grass shortages on Spanish land grants led,

in part, to encroachment of Mexican flocks and herds on

Pueblo crop and range lands, additional erosion of hillsides, and the siltation of river and stream beds and irrigation facilities.

Limited mining in the colonial period by Spaniards and

Pueblos impacted local ecosystems. Perhaps the best

known of these locales are the turquoise and lead mines

in the Cerrillos area, Tonque drainage, and the north end

of the Sandia Mountains. Pinyon, juniper, and oak were

cut for “smelting” fuelwood, mining timbers, and structures. Some local water pollution was generated by these

mining activities as well. Around gold, silver, and copper

mines in the Ortiz, Sandia, and Jemez mountains, the
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 387

land was denuded of trees by wood cutters, who used

them to make support timbers and charcoal for the mines.

The impact of introduced European diseases such as

smallpox on Native Americans has been relatively well

documented in New Mexico; more Indians died of epidemics in the colonial period than of any other single

cause. These serious maladies contributed significantly

to unrest in the province, some of which resulted in several 1600s Pueblo revolts and increased raiding by nomadic Indian groups. These raids were interrelated with

severe, extended drought conditions in the 1640s, 1660s,

and 1770s to early 1780s and produced the most catastrophic periods of conflict and war in the colonial period.

During the Mexican period (1821–46), some of the effects of settlement and land use on the natural environment were recorded by government and ecclesiastical officials. Overgrazing around old settlements and nearby

valley and upland rangelands, begun in the colonial period, intensified as flocks of sheep and other livestock increased. Some of the choice grazing areas in the region

were cienegas and other wetlands, which were heavily

impacted by livestock during this period. Livestock trails

turned into linear arroyos, and silt-laden runoff increased.

The arrival of relatively large numbers of AngloAmerican military personnel, ranchers, and settlers, beginning in 1846, had the most significant impact on New

Mexico’s environment. Although these groups did not

introduce a large number of new domesticated plants and

animals, their view of resources as commodities and

implementation of more intensive land use patterns,

coupled with new tools and weapons, increasingly contributed to the ongoing erosion of hillsides and siltation

of river beds, the extermination or reduction of several

animal species, and the decimation and fragmentation of

plant communities.

Intensified irrigation farming—Anglo, Hispano, and

Pueblo—impacted stream hydrology and increased salinization and water-logging of soils in the Middle Rio

Grande Basin in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Increased sediment loads in the river and its tributaries

caused the streambed of the Rio Grande to aggrade, enhancing the effects of overbank flooding and bringing the

water table near or to the surface of the floodplain. This

resulted in the loss of thousands of acres of agricultural

land by the early statehood period and was a factor leading to the creation of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy

District in 1926. The drainage systems, dams and reservoirs that followed produced a new set of environmental

problems, such as a rapid drop in shallow ground waters, desertification of portions of floodplains, irregular

stream flows, and diminution of native bosques, all of

which have only recently begun to be addressed.

The rapid growth of the range cattle industry in New

Mexico after the Civil War led to increased grazing of

grasslands and contributed to the flooding specified

above. Overgrazing occurred along streams, at wetland

sites, and at windmill tanks. Anglo ranchers, unlike Native and Hispano Americans, also suppressed range fires,

which combined with overgrazing, caused native plant

species such as broomweed, cholla, prickly pear cactus,

sagebrush, and less desirable grasses to spread and increase on pristine grasslands. The exotic Russian thistle

and several introduced grasses also proliferated. Consequently, the carrying capacity of New Mexico’s rangelands

was reduced significantly during this period.

Military forts, mining camps, and railroad construction

crews made heavy use of natural resources such as trees

for building and fuel supplies, native grasses for hay, and

local game for food and sport. Major stream pollution occurred at many mining sites, killing associated fauna and

flora and poisoning water supplies. Many of these mining sites were abandoned, leaving open pits and shafts

and toxic spoil deposits. Air quality was also negatively

impacted by the railroad and mine smelters, and these

technologies were the first serious sources of noise pollution in the territorial period.

Early sawmills in or near such settlements as Santa Fe,

Taos, and Albuquerque resulted in the first extensive clearcutting of forests. As a result, soil erosion was accelerated

at these locales, and habitat loss contributed to the reduction of game populations. The severity of floods increased,

with associated impacts on settlements, agriculture, and

ranching.

Railroads were influenced by and in turn affected

environmental components in several adverse ways. Topography, in particular the requirement for low grades, and the

need for water for steam engines every 10 miles played a

significant role in the choice of route. Rail routes generally followed stream valleys, causing damage to riparian

communities and polluting streams. Train engines were often the cause of range or forest fires (ignited by ashes and

sparks) and other environmental change. Railroad construction also impacted forests (mainly for ties and locomotive

fuel) and streams (siltation from exposed soils).

Loss of Spanish grant land in the Upper and Middle

basins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries occurred

due to imposition of a legal system based on precise measurement of boundaries, and due to language differences,

unscrupulous lawyers, coercion, and fraud. Some portions

of grants were included in creation of the forest reserves

beginning in the late 1800s. There were protests by Hispanics against “land grabs,” as well as loss of water rights.

The Gorras Blancas were formed in the late 19th century

in San Miguel County to protest and take action against

rico Hispanos and Anglos who were fencing large sections of the traditional common lands. Members of the

“white caps” cut fences and telegraph wires and burned

houses, barns, railroad bridges, and sawmills. These actions temporarily brought a halt to development on these

contested lands.
388 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Nonviolent and armed protests were made by Hispano

farmers and ranchers against projects undertaken by the

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District in the late 1920s

and 1930s. They were afraid that district programs would

irreparably damage or destroy their traditional irrigation

systems and associated ditch organizations. In the late

1930s some 8,000 Hispanics lost title to their farm and

ranch lands because they could not pay taxes and assessments imposed by the district. In all, 2 million acres of

private land and 1.7 million acres of communal land were

lost.

Wage labor for Hispanics virtually disappeared during

the depression years of the 1930s. Owing to degraded environmental conditions, which had declined over the previous 100 years, the land could no longer support most

residents in rural areas.

Animal populations were subjected to additional pressures as commercial hunters harvested meat animals to

feed railroad and road construction crews, miners, and at

times, military personnel. During the late 19th and early

20th centuries, commercial hunters, along with subsistence

and “sport” hunters, sharply reduced or exterminated

populations of native game animals such as pronghorn,

elk, bighorn sheep, and Rio Grande turkey. This overharvesting was due to the lack of regulatory game laws, more

efficient firearms and ammunition, an increasing number

of hunters, and a philosophy that there would always be

wild animals to hunt. In response, the New Mexico Game

and Fish Department was created by the Territorial Assembly in 1904; State and federal regulatory laws were

passed subsequently. From this time through the 1930s

this agency, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Biological Survey (later the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), farmers,

ranchers, and the general hunter population also killed

large numbers of predators, notably the grizzly bear, gray

wolf, Mexican wolf, coyote, and mountain lion. By the

1930s the grizzly bear and the gray wolf were eradicated

in the region; a few Mexican wolves survived in extreme

southwestern New Mexico until the 1960s. Mountain lion

populations were decimated.

At least 50% of the fish species were exterminated in

the Middle Rio Grande drainage between the 1870s and

recent years. Competition with introduced exotic species,

loss of habitat, and water pollution were the primary

causes of this eradication.

A number of exotic plant and animal species were introduced and naturalized during the historic period, and

some became ecological-economical problems by the early

1900s. These species were either inadvertently or purposely introduced. Some of the introduced animals included the Norway rat, house mouse, burros, horses, and

several species of amphibians and fish. The most aggressive introduced plants that have caused severe ecological

and economic impacts are tamarisk, Russian olive, Russian

thistle (tumbleweed), and Siberian elm.

Responding to the virtually unregulated, widespread,

and careless resource exploitation of the late 19th and early

20th centuries, private citizens and government officials

began to speak out, address, and plan for conservation

policy and legislation at the national and local levels. Their

concern was partly based on the scientific work of soldier

collectors, naturalists, geologists, paleontologists, botanists, and zoologists. These activists were also influenced

by early map makers and photographers, whose work reflected the rich variety of the New Mexico landscape, associated resources, and indigenous peoples.

The earliest conservation agencies and programs were

created in Washington, D.C., for example, the Department

of the Interior in 1849 and the Bureau of Forestry within

the Department of Agriculture in 1862. Laws to protect

traditional use of water for irrigation and reserve springs

and salt lakes were passed by the New Mexico Territorial

Assembly in 1851. Laws to protect wildlife followed later

in the century.

From 1878 through 1885 federal laws were passed creating the Public Lands Commission, U.S. Geological

Survey, and Bureau of Biological Survey in the Agriculture Department. The USGS began gathering data on surface flow of springs and potential dam sites.

In 1891 Congress empowered the President to create

forest reserves on public lands of the states and territories. Within a month some 15 reserves totalling 13 million

acres were set aside under the administration of the

Department of the Interior. The first national forest in New

Mexico, the Pecos Reserve, was established the following

year. Later, these forests were transferred to the administration of the Department of Agriculture.

Management of water, grazing on public lands, and logging were major conservation issues in the early 20th century. Federal legislation, policy, and programs were

shaped in part by President Theodore Roosevelt. He created three national forests in the study region from 1906

to 1908. Also in 1906 the Antiquities Act was passed by

Congress, which in part gave presidents the power to establish significant historic landmarks. Gran Quivira National Monument was the first such area designated in

the Middle Basin.

An Office of Grazing Studies was formed within the

U.S. Forest Service in 1910. Grazing fees, livestock reduction, and fire suppression, along with ongoing predatory

control, were important strategies. Over the next 2 decades,

programs to protect streams and wildlife were initiated

by this agency. Aldo Leopold was a major contributor to

these new efforts. His later writings shaped wildlife management policy and helped inspire the environmental

movement of the 1960s–70s.

Construction of the first major impoundment on the Rio

Grande in the study region, Elephant Butte Reservoir, was

completed in 1916. Planning for new irrigation facilities,

water control, and water reclamation was led by the newly
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 389

formed U.S. Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation,

and Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District. Subsequently,

more major flood control and irrigation dams, drainage canals, flood control levees, and other structures were constructed in the Middle Valley and major tributaries.

The dry and economically depressed years of the 1930s

resulted in the creation of several federal agencies to manage and conserve resources, such as the Soil Conservation

Service, the Grazing Service, and the National Resources

Board. Programs such as the New Deal land program and

the CCC were implemented to carry out conservation

work such as revegetating areas, building check-dams,

and constructing outdoor recreational facilities.

Management and restoration of some game animal

populations by the New Mexico Department of Game and

Fish were carried out in the 1930s and 40s. Some of this

work was federally funded through the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service, which also managed several new national

wildlife refuges, such as the Bosque del Apache established in 1939.

During the 1940s–50s the new Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service focused on managing livestock grazing, fencing public lands, and removing wild

horses and burros from rangelands. The Forest Service

also carried out grass reseeding and reforestation on the

national forests, as well as projects to control insects and

fungal diseases. Spraying was widely used to accomplish

this task, which led to protests by environmentalists, especially after publication of biologist Rachel Carson’s book

Silent Spring in 1962. Also controversial was the use of Compound 1080 to control rodents and predators on public and

private lands. This poison, as well as DDT, was later banned.

Water management in the Middle Basin continued to

be a major focus in the 1950s with construction of levees,

jetties, and other water control works, including Jemez

Dam. Channelization of the Rio Grande was also carried

out. Ironically, the period 1951–56 was the severest

drought of the century in the state. With completion of

Abiquiu Dam on the Rio Chama in 1963, Galisteo Dam

on Galisteo Creek, and Heron Dam on Willow Creek near

the Chama River in 1971, flooding of the Middle Valley

was virtually an event of the past.

The environmental movement of the 1960s, spurred by

Carson’s and Leopold’s books, The Quiet Crisis by Secretary

of the Interior Stuart Udall, and the leadership of President

Kennedy, was a strong influence on Congress and federal

and state resource management agencies. Memberships

of environmental organizations such as the the Sierra

Club, the National Audubon Society, the Wilderness Society, and the National Wildlife Federation increased dramatically during the 1960s and 1970s. Also, sharply increased visitation to parks, monuments, and national forests brought a higher level of awareness about environmental issues. The work of these and other organizations,

as well as support from the general public, led to legislation such as the Wilderness Act (1964), the Land Classification and Multiple Use Act (1964), the National Historic Preservation Act (1966), and the Endangered Species Act (1973).

Other significant laws, such as the National Environmental

Policy Act and the National Wild and Scenic River Act, were

passed also. In late 1970, after decades of discussions, protesting, and lobbying, Taos Pueblo finally got their sacred

Blue Lake in the Taos Mountains of the Carson National

Forest returned. More federal and state laws for better management of wildlife and timber and for controlling water

pollution, flooding, and grazing were enacted in the 1970s.

Public concern for the Middle Rio Grande and its bosque

grew from the 1970s to the present. Establishment of the

Rio Grande Nature Center in Albuquerque, the Corrales

Bosque Preserve, the Rio Grande Valley State Park, and

the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in the 1970s–80s

reflected public and governmental concern for the biota

of the valley. These and other public conservation areas

along the valley also were instrumental in raising public

awareness in support of saving portions of the bosque and

associated biota and maintaining somewhat “healthy,”

diverse ecosystems.

CONCLUSIONS

Research Methodology

The bioregional or biotic strategy, including humans, is

the best methodology for determining past landscape conditions and the events and processes that evolved to bring

us to the present. Bioregionalism reduces the significance

of political boundaries in studying the environmental history of a region or smaller definable unit. Establishment

of state and county boundaries, and those of national and

state public land units, did of course affect the eco-cultural

components in the study region.

The term eco-culture has been used in this report to reflect the biological-cultural behavior and activities of all

human groups. This term clearly suggests that humans,

as part of the environment, play a major role in environmental change. In turn, these changes have sometimes

resulted in modification of human attitudes and strategies for environmental exploitation, or even abandonment

of such views and strategies. For example, the slaughter

of elk, bighorn sheep, and wild turkey in the Middle Basin

and of bison along the region’s eastern margins adversely

impacted Native Americans, as these species were major

sources of food and hides. These animals also were important to these groups as deities and religious symbols,

part of their world view and integral parts of some ceremonies. Pueblo, Hispano, and Anglo commercial and

subsistence hunters had to hunt other species such as deer

and pronghorn, decimating populations of these species

as well. Many professional hunters eventually had to find

another means of making a living.
390 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

In the early stages of this investigation, four temporal

models reflecting impact and change for the Middle Rio

Grande Valley were developed (Scurlock 1995: 20–21).

These were subsequently “tested” as more data were collected and analyzed. Model 1 (16th century) presented

the river as a dynamic, slightly aggrading stream with

considerably greater volume of water, normally perennial,

than that of the last 150 years. Various types of wetlands

existed on the floodplain. Wildlife was more diverse and

abundant during this time than at any other time in the

historic period. This model, with some revision, follows.

Model I: Middle Rio Grande Valley in the 16th Century

Historic river hydrology-morphology:

• Perennial flows; relatively deeper, larger volume of

water.

• Transport of relatively low sediment load.

• Braided, slightly sinuous, aggrading, shifting sand

substrate.

• Overbank flooding with two peaks—April to early

June (snowpack melt, highest water flow); August

to September (intense precipitation on watershed).

• Movement across floodplain (avulsion) and shifting

river channel.

• Island and sand bar formation-destruction.

River-floodplain biological and eco-cultural components:

• Grass meadows, cienegas, charcos (ponds or small

lakes).

• Varied, changing age structures of cottonwoodwillow stands.

• Wildlife diverse and relatively abundant.

• Some life forms present—wolf, river otter, mink,

whooping crane, Rio Grande turkey, shovelnose

sturgeon, and 11 other fish species (now extinct).

• Limited Pueblo diversion of river for irrigation.

• About 25,000 acres of floodplain under Pueblo

cultivation.

Model II, A.D. 1700 to 1850, manifests the increased impacts on the Middle Valley from a growing population,

which surpassed the highest numbers of the previous century. Acreage in cultivation increased about three times

that of 1600. Aggradation, flooding, and related processes

increased markedly. Riparian vegetation and associated

wildlife were impacted by increased farming, grazing, and

hunting. Some soils were becoming waterlogged and more

alkaline, and new wetlands were created. This latter process probably caused populations of aquatic nongame species to increase. Again, research data generally supported

Model II, which, with minor revisions, follows.

Model II: Middle Rio Grande Valley in the 18th to Mid 19th

Century

Historic river hydrology-morphology:

• Somewhat decreased stream flows.

• Flow widening and becoming more shallow.

• Braided, sinuous, increasing aggradation.

• Overbank flooding and avulsion more frequent and

severe.

• Increased frequency of channel shifting resulting

from intense floods.

• River banks and islands less stable.

• Increasing sediment load due to various land-use

practices.

River-floodplain biological and eco-cultural components:

• More fragmented and reduced stands of cottonwoodwillow communities due to intense floods.

• Increased alkalinity and waterlogging of soils.

• Increased numbers of grass meadows, cienegas, and

charcos.

• Less stable and decreasing populations of faunal

communities.

• Increase to about 100,000 acres under cultivation by

Pueblos and Hispanos.

With the arrival of relatively large numbers of Anglo

Americans and their technology beginning in 1846, and a

continued growth of the Hispanic population, new impacts-processes began in addition to those of the preceding 150 years. Rangelands long grazed by goats and sheep

were subjected to intensive grazing by cattle herds, especially from Texas. Local second-growth or extensive virgin forests were intensively logged. Droughts followed

by above-normal precipitation years further reduced vegetative cover and resulted in rapid runoff and erosion.

The Rio Grande and tributaries received ever-increasing

amounts of sediment. Stream banks eroded, and the river

aggraded even more rapidly, creating more waterlogged

soils and wetlands. Floods were more intense and

destructive. Riparian vegetation and wildlife and fish were

severely impacted by these processes, as well as unregulated hunting and fishing. Several animal species were

extirpated, and some exotic plants became naturalized and

spread. This latter phenomenon was not included in the

proposed Model III (see below). District projects drained

wetlands, built levees, and renovated irrigation systems,

all resulting in changes in Rio Grande ecosystems.

Model III: Middle Rio Grande Valley in the Late 19th to Early

20th Century

Historic river hydrology-morphology:

• Continued decrease in flows, increase in sediment

load, and aggradation of river.

• Flood frequency and intensity increased.

• Some scouring and incising of river channel due to

floods.

• Increased soil alkalinity and waterlogging.

• Rising water table, then lowering water table.

River-floodplain biological and eco-cultural components:

• Most extensive and widespread number of wetlands
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 391

and associated plant communities, then severe reduction to lowest in historic period.

• Cultivated acreage increased to 100,000 to 125,000

acres by Euro Americans and Pueblos, then decreased to 35,000 acres due to environmental

changes.

• Increased alkalinity and waterlogging of valley soils.

• Less stability and severe decrease in wildlife populations.

• Several wildlife species extirpated.

For the fourth model, about 1930 to the present, some

of these adverse processes and impacts were reversed.

Revegetation, reduction of numbers of livestock grazing,

construction of terraces and other erosion control features,

and reduced soil erosion and stream sedimentary loads

at some locations took place. Almost all wetlands were

drained throughout the entire valley. Some decimated or

extirpated game species were reintroduced. Most game

species increased, but with the possible exception of mule

deer, these mammals and birds did not reach mid 19th

century population levels. A few wildlife species, including fish, were extirpated locally. Construction of dams

brought reduction of floods. Agricultural lands were reclaimed. Model IV, with revisions based on new research

data, is presented below.

Model IV: Middle Rio Grande Valley in the Mid to Late 20th

Century

Historic river hydrology-morphology:

 • Decrease in sediment load and aggradation of river.

• Flood frequency and intensity decreased dramatically due to construction of major dams.

• Continuing lowering of water table in some areas.

• Channel straightened and bermed, channel shifts virtually halted, and banks stabilized.

River-floodplain biological and eco-cultural components:

• Cultivated acreage increased to 58,000 acres.

• Floodways cleared and channel modified.

• Construction of several ponds for wetland habitat.

• Some wildlife populations increased.

• A few exotic plant and fish species introduced.

• A few wildlife species, including fish, extirpated.

• Rare, endangered, threatened species determined

and managed accordingly.

The Upper and Middle basins of central and northern

New Mexico compose a region unique to the United States

in terms of diverse ecosystems and long-time, indigenous

human populations. Records of these peoples and their

interactions with each other, as well as with physical and

biological components of the ecosystems, are equally as

diverse. Tree-ring chronologies provide data on climate,

fire history, and human activity. Other archeological evidence from the late prehistoric-historic periods, archival

documents, oral history, and living history (centuries-old

extant traditional eco-cultures and associated views and

activities) provide an eco-cultural “data base” found nowhere else in the country. Only some of these diverse and

extensive bodies of information have been utilized in this

limited study.

I have presented research data from these various

sources on the interrelationships of various human groups

with other components of the Middle Rio Grande Basin

environment over the last 450 or so years. Climatic variability, diverse land forms, water availability, soil fertility, and floral and faunal diversity have been the major

elements of regional ecosystems that have delineated the

range of possible strategies used by various eco-cultures

in adapting to, exploiting, and shaping the regional macro

and micro environments.

Climate was the one environmental element that most

impacted eco-cultures, plants, and animals. Recently, or

since the late 1800s, a warming trend has been occurring

and appears to be continuing. The decade of the 1980s in

New Mexico was the warmest decade ever scientifically

recorded. Mild winters have prevailed over the past few

years, with a relatively large number of record high temperatures for the maximum and minimum highs. Whether

this warming is part of a “natural” cycle or is due to human activities, or perhaps to both, is not known.

Although pre-Spanish plant communities were dynamically shaped and maintained by these periodic climatic

changes, as well as other environmental forces, the introduction of livestock and exotic plants added another factor

that brought severe changes, not only to the vegetative

composition and density but also to soils and surface water

quality and quantity. In some situations the composition

of vegetation in riparian zones may be irreparably

changed. No one knows what the impacts of the above

factors will be on vegetation and associated fauna, including humans.

Each of the three major identifiable eco-cultures in the

region—Native American, Hispano, and Anglo American—has employed a basically different set of adaptations

resulting from its different view of the land and water.

The view of Native Americans was generally shaped by

intimate relationships with the land over thousands of

years and was (and is) to some extent manifested in their

religion, economy, and social organization.

The later-arriving Spaniards brought a European belief

that they were not only separate from the physicalbiological environment but also superior to the indigenous

Indians of New Mexico. Some assimilation took place,

primarily as a result of intermarriage between the two

groups. Hispanics did adopt some Native American techniques of resource use such as floodwater farming and

fall buffalo hunting. Establishment of commons was similar to Pueblo land use. The introduction of livestock, new

cultigens, metal tools, and infectious diseases initiated
392 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

major changes in indigenous populations, water, soils,

fauna, and flora.

Some plants important to Native Americans for food,

medicinal, or religious use were decimated or eradicated

locally due to various non-Indian land and water use activities. Traditional collecting areas where these species

were found have at times been lost to usurpation of that

land by another group or transfer of that land to the public domain.

With establishment of national forests, some traditional

areas used for religious ceremonies, plant gathering, and

hunting (of some species) were no longer available to practice these activities, or they were subject to visitation, and in

some cases vandalism, of religious shrines and objects.

Some traditional uses in these forests by Hispanos were also

modified or, as with Native Americans, even precluded

by Forest Service policy and regulation in the early 1900s.

These same problems also appeared with establishment of

national monuments and state parks in the Middle Basin.

In recent years federal and state agencies have worked

with traditional groups to allow access to historic use areas, while excluding some non-native use of these locales.

The American Indian Religious Freedom Act, passed in

1978, recognizes the rights of Indians to practice their religion at traditional-use sites.

Conflicts have arisen recently between environmentalists and Hispanos over wood cutting on areas of national

forests that are known or potential habitat for rare or endangered animal species, such as the Mexican spotted owl.

Another example of reduction or loss of a resource,

which impacted New Mexicans and their environment, is

surface and ground water. Upstream diversions have

resulted in inadequate or no irrigation water for downstream users, and too many or too deep wells in a locale

have drawn groundwater levels below more shallow,

older, traditional wells. This latter situation is a continuing process today in many areas. In some cases, the

relationship between recharge and use or draw down

and use of ground water is not understood. Continuing to develop new wells given these unknowns in the

water-short Middle Rio Grande Basin is obviously risky.

During the dry and economically depressed years of

1930–40, many traditional and rural residents depended

in part on game animals and fish for sustenance. This

placed even more pressure on already low populations of

deer, bighorn sheep, and native trout. Fur-bearing animals

were widely trapped or shot for their skins, which could

be sold or traded for needed commodities.

Throughout this century some Anglo livestock raisers,

and a smaller number of Hispanos, have believed that they

have traditional rights to public grazing lands, and many

of these individuals lobby for transferring these public

lands to the private sector. At the same time ranchers have

demanded that agencies managing public lands protect

their stock from predators and competing wild grass eaters. Several western states practiced extirpation of predators, which prey on game species. Ongoing federal and

state animal control programs for predators and “pest”

animals have, of course, been financed with public monies, which has become a public issue. Conflicts have also

arisen as proposals have been made for reintroducing

wolves or managing certain grazing lands to ensure survival of rare or endangered species.

The effects of dams, floodways, bridges, channelization,

bank stabilization, and other management activities will

continue to have adverse impacts on the Middle Rio

Grande. These are not well understood, but some negative effects are known. For example, the Rio Grande has

been changed through these activities from a dynamic

natural-flowing river to a greatly modified water storage

and conveyance system. The periodic spring and summer flooding no longer occurs because of the construction of dams and levees, adversely affecting faunal and

floral communities that have evolved to depend on adequate floodplain moisture and nutrients at critical times.

Dams have also altered the dynamic flow of the river and,

with diversions for irrigation, have caused flow to cease

in summer from Bernalillo south. Extensive areas of the

floodplain outside the levees have been converted to agricultural lands or to urban development. Many of these

areas have begun the process of desertification, with invasion of drought resistant plants, both native and exotic

(Bullard and Wells 1992: 35–36).

Continued fragmentation of the riparian zone by the

above development would produce more degradation

among plant and animal communities (Crawford et al.

1993: xiii). Lack of flooding, drainage canals, and wells

have lowered the ground water, impacting native tree

species and contributing to desertification of the historic

floodplain outside the levees. Inside and outside the floodway, aggressive, deep-rooted, and alkaline-tolerant exotic

trees continue to spread, replacing native cottonwood and

willow species.

Agriculture uses about 90 percent of all available river

water in the Middle Rio Grande Valley (Crawford et al.

1993: ix). Per capita use by Albuquerque residents is considerably higher than that of Phoenix and Tucson residents.

Runoff from rain storms, discharges from municipal and

resort waste water, mine tailings, septic tanks, leaks from

fuel storage tanks, seepage from landfills, and agricultural

pesticides and herbicides are obviously producing adverse

impacts on surface and shallow ground water in the Basin.

Fauna and flora have been, and will continue to be, impacted negatively (Crawford et al. 1993: 150).

The Biological Interagency Team described future conditions in Middle Rio Grande ecosystems if there is no

change in current land-water use given ongoing continued population growth (Crawford et al. 1993: 145): (1) continued conversion of agricultural and grazing lands in
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 393

valleys and adjacent uplands to residential sites, (2) continued grazing pressures except on lands converting to

residential use, (3) increased recreational use of all ecosystems, (4) possible decrease in unregulated firewood

cutting and collecting of green or dead wood in the bosque

and on private woodlands and forests, (5) continued decline in shallow and deep groundwater quantity,

(6) decrease in surface and groundwater quality,

(7) increase in urban runoff adversely affecting water quality and sediment loads in streams, (8) continued degradation of the Middle Rio Grande as far south as the mouth

of the Rio Puerco or even to San Marcial, (9) continued

fragmentation of the Rio Grande bosque, (10) continued

decrease in aquatic faunal populations due to abuse,

(11) increase in non-native fish populations, and (12) continued spread of exotic plant species, some of which may

perhaps attain dominance.

Human populations, the major underlying cause of

these environmental problems, will continue to grow in

the foreseeable future. Current adverse impacts will continue, some will increase in their effects, and new ones

will undoubtedly appear. Suffice it to say, as population

and associated technology grow, the expertise, resources,

and time necessary to deal with environmental problems

will probably diminish

CONSIDERATIONS

Much more work on the environmental history of the

Middle Rio Grande Basin is needed. This report is only a

general data base to aid research and investigation of a

wide number of topics in this and related fields, such as

climatology, landscape ecology, geomorphology, hydrology, range management, zoology, botany, archeology, and

history. The four major research questions posed previously (Scurlock 1995a: 19–20) have only been partially “answered” here:

1. Need a better understanding of the long-term responses of ecosystem components—soils, nutrients,

water, flora, and mycorrhizae—to past and present

perturbations caused by climate change, fire, herbivore grazing, irrigation and dry farming, logging,

fuelwood harvesting, and other human activities.

Secondarily, these historical data will shed light on

how such responses influence ecosystem dynamics,

stability, and productivity of upland communities.

2. Need a better understanding of upland biotic communities, including the historic, spatial, and temporal interrelationships with fluvial ecosystems.

3. Need a better understanding of how humans

adapted to changing environmental conditions, both

“natural” and human induced, and used to determine when and how these perturbations occurred

and what the consequences were. These data will be

used to determine sustainability of traditional landwater activities today and, more importantly, in the

future.

4. Need a better understanding of the evolution of

Basin ecosystems in terms of human interactions

related to cultural elements—world view, use of resources, and economics—and how these land-water

use histories relate to conflicts between specific

groups. Data collected for use in planning for sustainability of resources, as related to differing group

views, will afford a more sound basis for such decision making.

Similarly, the goals or research needs (Scurlock 1995a:

20) of this investigation have only been partially resolved

due to time limitations. These goals are listed below hierarchically, from the one that needs the most work to the

one that needs the least work.

1. Reconstruction of historic climatic regimes for specific locales in the Middle Rio Grande Basin.

2. Reconstruction of water flow data and interrelationship with climatic fluctuations and human use.

3. Reconstruction of morphological dynamics of the

Rio Grande and major tributaries related to floods

and human use and management.

4. Reconstruction of historic fire occurrence, spatially

and temporally.

5. Reconstruction of grazing history and impacts at

specific locales.

6. Reconstruction of farming history and impacts at

specific locales.

7. Reconstruction of human responses to environmental changes, especially in plant and animal communities and particular species populations important

to a given group.

8. Construction of spatial-temporal models of ecosystems, including humans as a major factor in the dynamics and change of ecosystems, that is, the Rio

Grande and major tributary watersheds.

9. Delineation of eco-cultural areas based on spatialtemporal distributions of specific groups related to

identifiable ecosystems.

10. Reconstruction of adaptations of various groups to

the same subregional or area environments.

11. Reconstruction of human-induced changes in ecosystem components, especially plants and animals.

12. Comparisons between the exploitation strategies of

different eco-cultures, for example, Hispano and

Anglo livestock raisers utilizing the same resource

area, as well as the impacts of utilization.

13. Examination of the similarities and differences in

Pueblo agricultural techniques and production

along the Rio Grande compared with production

on major tributaries.
394 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

Introduction

Historical use and management of land and water by

regional eco-cultures has varied, and each eco-culture

probably considers its way of life as “wise use” of resources. Individual leaders, residents, and governmental

bodies from each group, and resource management agencies representing all citizens in New Mexico, must work

together to determine what traditional land-use practices

are ecologically and culturally sustainable, either intact

or modified. There is commonality for some practices,

such as irrigation agriculture, while differing views of the

role of fire, for example, have existed until recently. Landuse practices must be factored into ecosystem plans for

the Middle and Upper Rio Grande basins to determine if

they are sustainable and contribute to the health and integrity of ecosystems. Covington (1994: 95) defined health

as the “inherent ability for self-renewal” and integrity as

“coevolved biological diversity.”

As deBuys (1993) has written, federal agencies, as a result of the environmental legislation of the late 1960s and

1970s, are now required to solicit greater participation of

the general public in making resource management decisions. New Mexicans now have an unprecedented opportunity to contribute to the process, which will ensure a

healthier and more productive (in the broadest sense of

the word) environment. As was so often said in the 1960s,

it is time to be part of the solution, not just part of the

problem. Defining these problems, to some degree, and

providing data to help in finding solutions have been the

primary focus of this report. As a result of this investigation, some personal ideas for management of Basin ecosystems, including traditional eco-cultures, have emerged.

Ecosystem Management:

Restoration and Sustainability

Bonnicksen (1994: 108) explored four major questions

related to environmental restoration that he believes must

be considered if this management tool is to be tried and

effective: (1) Should restoration of ecosystems even be attempted? (2) What do we want to restore? (3) What can we

restore? and (4) Who decides finally what we do restore?

Although the first question is still being debated, some

people support at least partial restoration, in contrast to

none at all based on the philosophy that we should not

intervene in the evolution of these separate ecosystems.

Furthermore, for restoration, certain natural areas would

have to be off limits to those wanting to use them for recreation or other passive activities. The second question is

much more complicated and deserves more investigation

and discussion, which is the goal of the ongoing 5-year

study of the Middle Rio Grande.

Whether ecosystems or components thereof can be restored involves a complex set of criteria, including current ownership, use, existing restrictions, feasibility of restoring specific components, and political will. Further,

restoration must be based on comprehensive, historical

reconstruction of a particular ecosystem, and for some ecosystems such information is not available.

Who decides what is to be restored also deserves continued discussions among political, management, land

and water user, and urban and residential entities. Traditional users of the land should be given full consideration

in a decision to restore a given area, as well as what will be

restored and what impacts that restoration might have on

the human and non-human components of the ecosystem.

One restorative activity that began in the 1980s and continues today is pole-planting native trees and shrubs in

degraded riparian areas. But this is more than just biological restoration, as Russell (1993: 29) has written; it is

not a simple one-dimensional act. In her words,

These reintroduced trees represent the particular. As they leaf and root, they are meant to shade

one particular river, to withstand the force of a

particular flood, to fall prey, perhaps, to a particular beaver. Pole-planting means community

as the willows encourage and are enhanced by a

complex of grasses, insects, birds, and small

mammals. Pole-planting is a gesture of healing.

It is a laying on of human hands in an effort to

restore what humanity has diminished.

The present floral composition of the Middle Rio Grande

Valley is different from the composition of vegetative communities and distribution of individual plant species during any period preceding 1930. This condition is the

result of discontinuance of local uses of plants (fuelwood,

construction, etc.) control of floods, fire suppression, protection of the cottonwoods on public lands, and the introduction of aggressive exotic plants. Restoration of the Rio

Grande bosque to some historical condition is virtually

impossible and highly improbable given the numerous

resource agencies responsible for its management, other

land owners such as the six Middle Rio Grande Pueblos,

and a multitude of private owners. Also, removal of the

tamarisk and Russian olive would be too expensive and

perhaps unsuccessful given their widespread occurrence

and regenerative powers. Controlled overbank flooding

to maintain native riparian flora in most of the river’s

reach is also highly unlikely because of development and

conflicting uses. The only probable restoration would be

attainable at dispersed, smaller, and low-lying areas of

the ecosystem where mechanical removal of exotics,

spring flooding, and pole-planting of native species could

be carried out.

Beaver populations, whose numbers have to be regulated, can be allowed to cut and girdle young, established

cottonwoods and willows as part of restoration. Exotic
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 395

species of fish might be removed cautiously through chemical application. Some historic species, such as shovelnose

sturgeon, could not be successfully reintroduced due to

changes in the volume of river flow, temperature, and clarity. Other native species can be restocked, provided that aggressive exotics can be removed effectively from particular

reaches of the river where the reintroduction is planned.

Other management considerations for the biological

resources of the Middle Rio Grande appear in the report

of Crawford et al. (1993: 159–222), which has been widely

circulated and is available in governmental resource management offices and public libraries. Included as an

appendix in the Crawford report are the 1993 recommendations of the Rio Grande Bosque Conservation

Committee, formed in September 1991. This committee held

public hearings at key locations in the Basin, and inquiries,

concerns, and other data collected and synthesized provided

the basis for their recommendations, one of which was for

the interagency study cited above (deBuys 1993).

The continuing crisis management of individual rare,

endangered, or threatened species or fragments of ecosystems has not, according to some, brought the desired

results. Clearly, the most effective approach for managing a stand of ponderosa pine or population of a single

species, as Covington (1994: 95), Rinne (1994: 261), and

others have pointed out, is that of viewing and investigating the interrelationships of all components in a given

ecosystem. Nevertheless, conservation management of

some species in critical situations must continue concurrently with studies to produce effective management plans

for ecosystems in which the plants or animals occur.

Role of Traditional Eco-cultures

There is no other state or region in the United States

where so many different indigenous populations (including Hispanos) have survived with traditional world views

relatively intact than New Mexico. Therefore, traditional

eco-cultures in the study region should be included in

planning and decision making, as they have been a significant part of the Middle Rio Grande environment for

many centuries. Over this time they have lived or used

resources in every part of the basin. The intimate, detailed

environmental knowledge that they have acquired and

passed along over generations provides a perspective with

insights into the sustainable maintenance of ecosystems.

From this long experience of directly interrelating with

the complete spectrum of environmental components and

viewing themselves as part of ecosystems, Native Americans have maintained an “environmental ‘memory’ of

times past” based on a philosophy and spirituality that

reflects “the centrality of nature in its orientation” (Grinde

and Johansen 1995: 263–264).

Historically, this traditional lifeway of the Pueblo has

generally resulted in their conservation and maintenance

of a sufficiently diverse and healthy environment in the

study region, until the recent past. Although many of the

specific details of Pueblo world view and related ritual

activity have, for justifiable reasons, been kept from Euro

Americans, some information about traditional-use areas

or sites has become public. One example is the thousands

of petroglyphs and associated features such as shrines,

located on Albuquerque’s west side, which remain important to some area Pueblos. These archeological manifestations are now included in a national monument

established a few years ago to preserve and manage the

eco-cultural resources for the general public, as well as

for private use by Pueblos for traditional activities.

Recently, various native groups worldwide have been

drawing attention to the ongoing environmental degradation of their lands caused by industrialized societies.

Some natives in very remote areas, such as the Kogi of the

northern Andes, have been able to detect changes in air,

water, fauna, and flora. Elders from this group have

warned of the consequences of continuing some old resource-using activities and initiating new ones that severely impact the environment (Ereira 1992). Thomas

Banyacya, interpreter of the Hopi prophecies, expressed

his concerns about the “destructive ways” of non-indigenous peoples (Wall and Arden 1990: 92–97). Dialogues

from other natives from around the world have been published recently (Piacentini 1993). Most of their statements

summarize their eco-culture’s view as “the points of view

of traditional societies are absent from the international

debate on the environment” (Piacentini 1993). Some have

termed this exclusion of native peoples as environmental

racism. The traditional authors also described the impact

of western civilization on their peoples.

As deBuys (1985: 308) pointed out, the problem of preserving traditional eco-cultures in the study region is directly linked to maintaining diverse and healthy land and

water resources in their communities and associated common land. Furthermore, some authors believe that by

involvement of these groups and evaluation of their traditional views and uses of ecosystems, we can perhaps

find some answers to the complex question of sustainability of these resources. Native American Donald A.

Grinde and Bruce E. Johansen (1995: 19–20) state this view:

By learning from Native American societies, we

are gaining a measure of perspective on how to

change consumption patterns and cultural values in order to live in reciprocity and harmony

on a sustaining earth. This recognition of the

need for changes in our environmental perceptions must also encompass the realization that

native peoples need once again to enforce their

own environmental values, unfettered by regulations and environmental management practices of the industrial state. Regaining a more
396 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

harmonious environmental state means that

known harmonious environmental ethics must

be allowed to reemerge and become prominent

as quickly as possible to facilitate the flow of

ideas that will lead to a more natural relationship in all of creation.

Specific Resource Management

Considerations

Environmental history not only provides data for determining sustainability of an area or region but also offers a spatial-temporal baseline for use in planning and

implementing bioremediation projects. Species diversity

and general population numbers in the historic period

relative to recent numbers can also be determined to some

degree.

The historical record shows that there is lag time in recognizing the cause, growth, or impact of a particular environmental problem. Nor do we generally understand

all of the ramifications of managing certain resources in

attempting to improve environmental conditions. Control

of predators on deer, which led to rapid increase of populations, the introduction of exotic plant or animal species,

and climatic changes caused by human activities are classic examples of these phenomena. To assert that we can

quickly recognize or understand all of the interrelationships and processes in ecosystems is an erroneous belief

that can result in serious environmental consequences. In

the study region we need to examine closely our environmental history to better understand our attitudes, motivational values, and consequences of organizational and

individual roles and related impacts on the complete environment—water, flora, fauna (including ourselves),

soils, and air.

There are a number of highly visible environmental issues in the study region that environmental history data

could be used in resolving. The major issues are water

rights, quality, and quantity; grazing on public lands; logging, firewood cutting, and old-growth forests; and endangered species, including reintroduction of the Mexican

wolf and restoration of spotted owl, willow flycatcher, and

silvery minnow populations. Less significant, but nonetheless important, environmental problems need further

resolution: high per capita consumption of water, fragmentation or destruction of the Rio Grande bosque, continued spread of exotic plants, urban sprawl, loss of

traditional communities, repatriation of Native American

items, loss of traditional Pueblo lands, and some resource

management policies.

The ongoing degradation of some ecosystems, and the

associated diminishment or extirpation of individual species, is a widespread concern and one shared by Basin

residents. Concern for this human-generated process and

its possible consequences for future generations of New

Mexicans provides common ground for discussion and

development of possible solutions, not just among managers but among all interested individuals. These processes can only be realized and made effective by careful

review, study, and analysis of the historical data.

Some commonly used terms in current discussions and

debates, besides “wise use,” mean different things to different groups of people (Box 1994: 4–5). Examples are conservation of resources, stewards of the land, standard of

living, quality of life, and improvement of the land. These

words should be reexamined, reevaluated, and redefined

in the context of land health and integrity for the immediate and distant future. The challenge to reaching a consensus of what these and other “value” words mean for

sustainability of our total environment is only part of the

ongoing, complex dialogue of today.

Based on historic climate records for the study region,

the 1995-96 dry period was predicted. More work is

needed for the historical data to determine if there is a

cyclic pattern of occurrence that could be used in predicting droughts.

Ownership of land within the Basin by government resource agencies and private groups such as the Nature

Conservancy or the Archaeological Conservancy provides

at least relatively dense “islands” of “natural” habitat.

Especially critical are riparian reaches of the Rio Grande

and its tributaries. Zoning or leasing of important tracts

of land could be pursued as well. Potentially, acquiring

tracts will help ameliorate fragmentation of bosques, contribute to preservation of rare species, or protect archeological remains. Some of these lands are severely degraded

and lend themselves to biological restoration.

William deBuys (1996) wrote that northern New Mexico

fuelwood cutters and small-scale loggers could be used

effectively by the U.S. Forest Service to better manage the

forests and woodlands found there. By thinning dog-hair

timber stands, utilizing controlled burns, and protecting

old-growth trees, the loggers could return regional forests to historical conditions (i.e., open stands with scattered mountain meadows), which would foster more

biodiversity and maintenance of populations of the endangered spotted owl. In the midst of a vigorous debate

regarding “salvage” logging of burned stands of trees

(March 1996), a recommendation for leaving this dead timber might be made to further emulate historical conditions.

There is now consensus that human-caused fire, used

prehistorically and historically to modify plant communities, and lightning-caused fire are necessary in maintaining productive, healthy grasslands, woodlands, and

forests. The role of wolves as predators is now considered by many to be desirable in maintaining viable ecosystems. And, like Native Americans, more and more

non-Indians are viewing wolves and other large predators as evokers of spiritual feelings. Finally, there is a
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998 397

segment of New Mexicans and other Americans who believe that animal and plant species have a right to exist

and flourish. Management of resources is in large part an

educational process, a phenomenon that obviously must

continue if we are to arrive at a consensus of what is indeed “wise use” from an ecological viewpoint.

Repeat photography from identified historic stations

was used only minimally in this investigation. This technique of documenting environmental change over a relatively long period at a particular location generally

provides more accurate data, primarily plant change and

soil erosion, than anecdotal descriptions. Unfortunately,

changes due to long-term human activities were already

in progress in the Middle Basin when the first photographs

were taken in the 1860s. Relatively good photo coverage

of the study region dates from the 1880s. Nevertheless,

comparing older photographs made in the Basin to contemporary images is worthwhile, and repeat photography from the same station will prove more important over

time. As techniques for detecting environmental change

improve, even more data will be retrieved from comparing new with old images. The earliest aerial photographic

coverage was initiated in the mid 1930s. Changes in the

Middle Rio Grande’s hydrology, riparian vegetation, and

upland land use can also be detected when comparing

with more recent, same area, aerial images.

Finally, I hope that the data in this report, in addition to

being used by resource management personnel and academic researchers, will be useful for agencies or groups

that prepare and provide interpretive services for school

teachers, students, and the public in general. Environmental history provides a different view of our past and can

provide a foundation for future programs aimed at understanding eco-cultures and their environment, restoring ecosystems, setting aside critical areas, and making

necessary lifestyle changes as ecosystems and associated

resources become more scarce and threatened. I further

hope that curriculum developers and teachers can adapt

this information for use in biology, geography, science,

and other courses in the classroom and on field trips in

the study region. The necessity for this educational process was succinctly stated by environmental historian

Donald Worster (1994: 30):

Learn where you are. Learn about this place and

its history. Learn not only the history of its people

but the history of the land itself, its deep history.

Learn to adapt your ideas and institutions to that

land. Learn to work together if you mean to

endure.
398 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–5. 1998

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xii

The Author

Dan Scurlock is a consulting environmental historian and naturalist. He has

worked for universities, public schools, government agencies, private organizations,

and businesses as a researcher, instructor, planner, writer, photographer, and trip

leader for 30 years in the American Southwest, Mexico, and Canada. He holds an

A.B.S. in Science and B.A. and M.A. degrees in Anthropology.
xiii

The Rocky Mountain Research Station develops scientific information

and technology to improve management, protection, and use of forests

and rangelands. Research is designed to meet the needs of National

Forest managers, federal and state agencies, public and private

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