GAO

United States General Accounting Office

January 2001 TREATY OF 

GUADALUPE 

HIDALGO

Definition and List of 

Community Land 

Grants in New Mexico

Exposure Draft

GAO-01-330

Page 1 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

NOTICE An electronic version of this Exposure Draft is available in English and 

Spanish from GAO's World Wide Web server at the following address: 

http://www.gao.gov/

Additional hard copies of this draft can also be obtained from Room 1100 at 

700 4th St. NW, Washington, D.C., by request to U.S. General Accounting 

Office, Washington, D.C. 20548, or by calling (202) 512-6000, or TDD (202) 

512-2537. Copies of this draft will be available in New Mexico in both 

languages. We are issuing this report as an Exposure Draft to identify and 

to gather information about community land grants that is not readily 

available to us in published research and public documents and to obtain 

comments about our definition and our identification of community land 

grants. We will use such information and comments to prepare a final 

report.

If you have any information or supporting documentation about the 

matters included in this Exposure Draft, we would appreciate receiving 

them during the comment period. All comments will be reviewed in 

preparation of a final GAO report. 

Comments in English or Spanish should be sent by April 2, 2001, 

electronically through GAO's web page (listed above), or by e-mail to 

landgrants@gao.gov, fax to 202-512-7703, or mail to the following:

Office of General Counsel

U.S. General Accounting Office

441 G Street, NW 

Washington, D.C. 20548

Attention: Alan R. Kasdan 

All comments should contain your name, address, phone number, fax, email address, interest in land grants (e.g., heir, scholar, government official, 

or interested organization), and supporting documentation. For comments 

sent via the web page or e-mail, supporting data should be subsequently 

sent to Mr. Kasdan by fax or at the address above. 

We will consider all comments and supporting documentation provided to 

us in preparation of a final report. Changes will be based on 

documentation. Original documentation should not be provided to GAO; 

we cannot return any material submitted to GAO. Any questions 
Page 2 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

concerning this notice should be addressed to Mr. Kasdan or to Ms. Susan 

A. Poling at (202) 512-7648.
Page 3 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Contents

Letter 5

Appendixes Appendix I: Detailed Data on the 295 Spanish and Mexican

Land Grants in New Mexico 22

Appendix II: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology 33

Appendix III: Bibliography 37

Appendix IV: Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments 44

Tables Table 1: 79 Community Land Grants Identified Through Original

Grant Documentation 14

Table 2: 51 Community Land Grants Identified by Grant Heirs and

Others 17

Table 3: 22 Community Land Grants Issued to Indian Pueblos 20

Figures Figure 1: Territory Ceded by México Under the Treaty of Guadalupe 

Hidalgo in 1848 and the Gadsden Purchase of 1853. 8

Figure 2: Types of Community Land Grants in New Mexico, by

County 12
Page 4 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft
Page 5 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

United States General Accounting Office

Washington, D.C. 20548

January 24, 2001 Letr

The Honorable Pete Domenici

The Honorable Jeff Bingaman

United States Senate

From the end of the seventeenth century to the mid-nineteenth century, 

Spain (and later México) made land grants to individuals, towns, and 

groups to promote development in the frontier lands that now constitute 

the American Southwest. In New Mexico, these land grants fulfilled several 

purposes: to encourage settlement, reward patrons of the Spanish 

government, and create a buffer zone to separate hostile Native American 

tribes from the more populated regions of New Spain. Spain also extended 

land grants to several indigenous pueblo cultures, which had occupied the 

areas granted long before Spanish settlers arrived in the Southwest. Under 

Spanish and Mexican law, common land was set aside as part of the original 

grant for the use of the entire community. Literature on land grants in New 

Mexico and popular terminology generally distinguish between two kinds 

of land grants: “community land grants” and “individual land grants.” Our 

research identified a total of 295 grants made by Spain and México during 

this period. Appendix I contains a list of these grants. 

With the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, which formally ended the 

Mexican-American War, the United States assumed control over vast new 

territories, including much of what is now the state of New Mexico. Under 

the treaty, the United States agreed to recognize ownership of property, 

including the ownership of land grants, in the ceded areas. Over the next 

half century, the United States developed procedures to validate land 

grants in the territory of New Mexico in order to implement the treaty 

provisions. Whether the United States carried out the provisions of the 

treaty, especially with regard to community land grants, has been a 

controversial issue for generations. Many persons, including grantee heirs, 

scholars, and legal experts, still claim that the United States did not protect 

the property of Mexican-Americans and their descendants, particularly the 

common lands of community land grants. They charge that the common 

lands were lost in many ways and that this loss threatened the economic 

stability of small Mexican-American farms and the farmers’ rural lifestyle. 

Concerned that the Congress and the courts have validated only about 25 

percent of the total land grant claims in New Mexico and that most of the 

lost lands stemmed from community land grants, you asked us to answer 

several questions concerning community land grants and procedures under 
Page 6 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

the treaty. In this report, the first in a series, we agreed to (1) define the 

concept of community land grants and (2) identify the types of community 

land grants in New Mexico that meet the definition. Subsequently, we will 

describe the procedures established to implement the treaty, identify 

concerns about how the treaty was implemented, and what alternatives, if 

any are needed, may be available to address these concerns.

To define community land grants, we reviewed land grant documents filed 

with the U.S. government; Spanish colonial, Mexican, and current New 

Mexican laws; federal, state, and territorial court cases; and the land grant 

literature. To identify land grants meeting the definition of community land 

grants, we reviewed U.S. records on Spanish and Mexican land grant 

claims; literature on land grants, including materials on specific grants; and 

federal court cases. We also spoke with scholars, legal experts, and grant 

heirs familiar with the issues. For the most part, we relied on English 

translations of Spanish documents in U.S. government files and other 

sources. Our identification of a land grant as a community land grant in this 

report, however, does not constitute our opinion as to the validity of any 

land grant claim. Many of these land grants have already been subject to 

congressional review or court adjudication. Appendix II contains a 

complete description of our methodology. 

We are issuing this report as an Exposure Draft in English and Spanish to 

gather and to identify information on community land grants that was not 

readily available to us in published research and public documents. We 

would also like to obtain comments about our definition and our 

identification of community land grants. We will use such information and 

comments when preparing our final report. The NOTICE located on the 

inside cover of this report provides information about how additional 

copies of the Exposure Draft can be obtained and when and to whom 

comments should be sent.

Results in Brief Land grant documents contain no direct reference to “community land 

grants” nor do Spanish and Mexican laws define or use this term. We did 

find, however, that some grants refer to lands set aside for general 

communal use (ejidos) or for specific purposes, including hunting (caza), 

pasture (pastos), wood gathering (leña), or watering (abrevederos). 

Scholars, the land grant literature, and popular terminology commonly use 

the phrase “community land grants” to denote land grants that set aside 

common lands for the use of the entire community. We adopted this broad 
Page 7 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

definition in determining which Spanish and Mexican land grants can be 

identified as community land grants.

We identified 152 community land grants (or 52 percent) out of the total of 

295 land grants in New Mexico. We divided these community land grants 

into three distinct types: 79 of these were grants in which the shared lands 

formed part of the grant according to the original grant documentation; 51 

were grants that scholars, grantee heirs, or others believed to contain 

common lands; and 22 were grants extended to the indigenous pueblo 

cultures in New Mexico. 

Background From the end of the seventeenth century to the middle of the nineteenth 

century, Spain and México issued grants of land to individuals, groups, 

towns, pueblos, and other settlements in order to populate present-day 

New Mexico. Academic treatises and popular literature typically divide 

these grants into two types: “individual grants” and “community land 

grants.” Grants to towns and other settlements were modeled on similar 

communities created in Spain, where the king granted lands adjacent to 

small towns for common use by all town residents. Under Spanish and 

Mexican law in the territory of New Mexico, officials made grants to towns 

and other communities. Such grants were in keeping with Spanish laws, 

including the 1680 Recopilación de las Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias. 

However, local laws, practices, and customs often dictated how grants 

were made and confirmed.

After achieving independence from Spain in 1821, México continued to 

adhere to Spanish law by extending additional land grants to individuals to 

encourage settlements in unoccupied areas and to stave off U.S. 

encroachment on Mexican territory. The Mexican-American War began in 

1846 and formally ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe 

Hidalgo in 1848. Under the treaty, México ceded most of what is presently 

the American Southwest, including the present day states of New Mexico 

and California, to the United States for $15 million. Figure 1 shows the 

territory ceded by México under the treaty.
Page 8 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Figure 1: Territory Ceded by México Under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 

and the Gadsden Purchase of 1853.

a

When Texas was officially recognized as a state in 1845, it included the light-gray area, which was 

also claimed by México. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo resolved this dispute, with Texas claiming 

the disputed land. In 1850, Texas transferred part of this land to the federal government, which became 

the eastern portion of the territory of New Mexico.

While the treaty provided protection for property in the ceded area, Article 

X expressly addressed land grant protection. However, U.S. President 

James Polk objected to the provision, fearing that a revival of land grant 

claims had the potential to jeopardize the grants already settled in Texas. 

As a result, the Congress struck Article X before ratifying the treaty. 

Subsequently, in 1848, the United States and México signed the Protocol of 

Querétaro, which clarified certain aspects of the treaty, including Article 2, 

in which the United States stated that the exclusion of Article X in no way 

meant that it planned to annul the land grants. The Protocol specifically 

provided that land grant titles would be protected under the treaty and that 

Ariz. Ark.

Calif.

Colo.

Idaho

Iowa

Kans.

La.

Minn.

Mo.

Nev. Nebr.

N.Mex.

Okla.

S.Dak.

Texas

Utah

Wyo.

Republic of Texas, 1836-1845; annexed by U.S. 1845

Disputed area: Claimed by Texas 1836-1845; claimed by U.S. 1845-1848a

Mexican Cession, 1848

Gadsden Purchase, 1853
Page 9 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

grantees could have their ownership of land acknowledged before 

American tribunals. With the Gadsden Purchase of 1853, the United States 

purchased additional land from México for $15 million, including the 

southwest corner of the present state of New Mexico. The treaty, which 

confirmed the terms of the Gadsden Purchase, incorporated by reference 

the property provisions of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. 

To implement the treaties, the Congress enacted legislation in 1854 to 

establish the Office of Surveyor General of New Mexico. The surveyors 

general were charged with examining documents and verifying the 

ownership of land grants. The United States government required 

individuals or towns and other communities to prove ownership or 

property interests in grant lands. After reviewing the land grant 

documentation, the surveyor general recommended to the Congress which 

grants should be rejected or confirmed. If the Congress approved the grant, 

the U.S. government issued a patent, which conveyed the property’s title to 

the owner. The Congress reviewed and confirmed 64 of the surveyor 

generals’ recommendations, but in the late 1870s, the congressional review 

of recommendations ceased. 

In 1891, the Congress established the Court of Private Land Claims to 

adjudicate the outstanding claims reviewed by the surveyors general, 

though not yet approved by the Congress, and other claims presented to 

the court. In United States v. Sandoval et al., 167 U.S. 278 (1897), a case on 

appeal from the Court of Private Land Claims, the Supreme Court held that 

México, not the local community, had title to all common lands in 

community land grants issued before 1848. Consequently, under the Treaty 

of Guadalupe Hidalgo, México had transferred ownership of these 

communal lands to the United States. Although the Sandoval decision did 

not overturn previous court confirmations of land grants, it did affect all 

subsequent claims adjudicated by the Court of Private Land Claims. In 

1904, the court finished its work, approving claims and land surveys that 

represented approximately 6 percent of the acreage claimed. The Congress 

and the Court of Private Land Claims confirmed 155 grants of the total of 

295 grants we identified, and patents were issued for 142 of these grants. 

Appendix I lists all the land grants we identified, the grants patented, and 

the acreage patented. 

The completion of the Court of Private Land Claims’ work did not quell the 

controversy surrounding the loss of the common lands. Many persons, 

including grantee heirs, scholars, and legal experts, still claim that the 

United States failed to uphold the provisions of the Treaty of Guadalupe 
Page 10 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Hidalgo to protect the property of Mexican-Americans and their 

descendants. They are critical of the federal courts’ treatment of the 

common lands and the failure to approve more of the acreage claimed. 

They also assert that common lands were lost by other means, and that this 

loss deprived many small Mexican-American farmers of their livelihoods. 

The Concept of 

Common Lands 

Defines Community 

Land Grants

Land grant documents contain no direct reference to “community land 

grants” nor do Spanish and Mexican laws define or use this term. Scholars, 

land grant literature, and popular terminology use the phrase “community 

land grants” to denote land grants that set aside common lands for the use 

of the entire community. We adopted this broad definition for the purposes 

of this report. 

To determine the meaning of the term “community land grants,” we first 

reviewed land grant documents, and found that grant documents do not 

describe grants as community land grants. We also did not find applicable 

Spanish and Mexican laws that defined or used the term. However, as a 

result of our review of land grant literature, court decisions, and interviews 

with scholars, legal experts, and grantee heirs, we found that the term is 

frequently used to refer to grants that set aside some land for general 

communal use (ejidos) or for specific purposes, including hunting (caza), 

pasture (pastos), wood gathering (leña), or watering (abrevederos). Our 

definition coincides with the way in which scholars, the land grant 

literature, and grant heirs use the term.

Under Spanish and Mexican law, common lands set aside as part of an 

original grant could not be sold. Typically, in addition to use of common 

lands, settlers on a community land grant would receive individual parcels 

of land designated for dwelling (solar de casa) and growing food (suerte). 

Unlike the common lands, these individual parcels could be sold or 

otherwise disposed of by a settler who fulfilled the requirements of the 

grant, such as occupying the individual parcel for a continuous period. For 

example, the documentation for the Antón Chico grant, issued by México in 

1822, contains evidence that common lands were part of the original grant. 

The granting document provided for individual private allotments and 

common lands. Congress confirmed the Antón Chico grant in 1860 and the 

grant was patented in 1883. 
Page 11 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Approximately Fiftytwo Percent of All New 

Mexico Land Grants 

May Be Classified as 

Community Land 

Grants 

Using the definition, we identified three types of community land grants, 

totaling 152 grants, or approximately 52 percent of the 295 land grants in 

New Mexico. In 79 of the community land grants, the common lands 

formed part of the grant according to the grant documentation. Scholars, 

grant heirs, and others have found an additional 51 grants that they believe 

to contain communal lands; and we located 22 grants of communal lands to 

the indigenous pueblo cultures in New Mexico. Figure 2 shows the 

location, by county, of the three types of community land grants. 
Page 12 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Figure 2: Types of Community Land Grants in New Mexico, by County

Note: The numbers inside each symbol represent the number of each type of grant in each county. 

One document referenced a grant for which the primary county could not be identified. County 

boundaries have changed markedly since 1850.

1

1

2

1

1

1

12

8

15

3

1

3 1

Community grants identified through documentation

Community grants identified by land grant heirs and others

Community grants to Indian pueblos

6

2

5

2

2

1

11

7

8

15

3

11

3

3

1

2

1

2

1

8

5

2

Pecos R.

Rio San Jose

Gila R.

Pecos R.

Pecos R.

Rio Grande

Rio Grande

San Juan R.

Rio Puerco

Rio Chama

Bernalillo

Colfax

Dona Ana

Grant

Guadalupe

McKinley

Mora

Otero

Rio Arriba

Sandoval

San Miguel

Santa Fe

Sierra

Socorro

Taos

Torrance Valencia

Cibola

Albuquerque

Santa Fe
Page 13 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Common Lands Formed 

Part of the Grant According 

to Grant Documentation 

The first type of community land grant we identified is a grant in which 

common lands formed part of the original grant. From our review of grant 

documents, Spanish and Mexican law, New Mexican law, and grant 

literature, as well as interviews with grantee heirs, scholars, legal experts, 

and others, common lands were part of the original grant in the following 

three instances:

• The grant document itself declares part of the land be made available for 

communal use, using such terms as “common lands” or “pasturage and 

water in common.” We identified 29 grants that contain this or similar 

language. For example, the 1815 Spanish Los Trigos grant, which was 

issued to three individuals, made pasture available to the settlers of the 

grant. Also, an 1846 Mexican land grant provided land to John Scolly and 

several associates, to set aside wood and common pasture for the use of 

all the settlers. Current New Mexico law treats grants that make specific 

reference to common lands as community land grants.1

• The grant was made for the purpose of establishing a town or other new 

settlement. Spanish laws and customs concerning territories in the New 

World provided that new settlements, cities, and towns would include 

common lands. Although México obtained its independence in 1821, 

Mexican land grants continued to follow Spanish laws and customs. We 

identified 13 grants as Spanish and Mexican grants to towns. For 

example, in 1768, Spain issued the Ojo de San José grant to six 

individuals for the purpose of establishing a town. Similarly, México 

issued the Doña Ana Bend Colony grant in 1840 to 116 petitioners to 

establish a town, which would then set aside an area for the town 

commons. New Mexico law currently considers grants to a town, 

community, colony, pueblo, or individual for the purpose of establishing 

a town to be community land grants.2

• The grant was issued to 10 or more settlers. Spanish law governing 

settlement in the New World stated that 10 or more married persons 

could obtain a land grant, if they agreed to form a settlement indicating 

that a grant would contain common lands. For example, the 1807 

Spanish Juan Bautista Valdez grant was made to 10 settlers and the 1842 

1

 New Mexico law provides for the management of the common lands of Spanish and 

Mexican community land grants through a board of trustees or a community land grant 

corporation.N.M. Stat. Ann. 49-1-3 and 49-2-1 (2000).

2

 N.M. Stat Ann. 49-1-2 (2000).
Page 14 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Mexican Angostura del Pecos grant to 54 settlers. We identified 37 

grants of this type. 

Table 1 lists 79 grants in which common lands were part of the original 

grant.

Table 1: 79 Community Land Grants Identified Through Original Grant 

Documentation

Grant

Year

granted

Location (by 

county)

Alamitos (Juan Salas) 1840 Santa Fé

Alexander Valle (Cañón de Pecos; Juan 

de Dios Peña)

1815 San Miguel

Angostura del Pecos 1842 Guadalupe

Antón Chico (Town of) 1822 Guadalupe

Arroyo Hondo (Gaspar Ortíz; La Talaya; 

Manuel Fernández; José Ignacio 

Martínez; Felipe Medina; Miguel Chávez)

1815 Taos

Badito (El) 1835 Santa Fé

Barranca (Geronimo Martín) 1735 Río Arriba

Bartolomé Trujillo (San José de García) 1734 Río Arriba

Belén (Town of) 1740 Socorro

Bernabé Manuel Montaño 1753 Sandoval

Bracito (El; Hugh Stephenson) 1823 Doña Ana

Cadillal 1846 Santa Fé

Caja del Río 1742 Santa Fé

Cañada de los Alamos (1) (Lorenzo 

Marquez)

1785 Santa Fé

Cañada de los Mestaños 1828 Taos

Cañada de San Francisco (Nazario 

Gonzales; José Francisco Baca y Terrus)

1840 Santa Fé

Cañón de Carnue (San Miguel de Laredo) 1819 Bernalillo

Cañón de Chama (San Joaquín Río de 

Chama; Chama River Cañón)

1806 Río Arriba

Cañón de San Diego (San Diego de 

Jémez)

1798 Sandoval

Casa Colorado (Town of) 1823 Socorro

Cebolla (Juan Carlos Santistevan) 1846 Taos

Domingo Fernández (Ethan W. Eaton; 

Pueblo de San Cristóbal)

1827 Santa Fé
Page 15 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Grant

Year

granted

Location (by 

county)

Don Fernando de Taos (Merced de 

Fernandes (San Fernande) de Taos)

1796 Taos

Doña Ana Bend Colony (P.M. Thompson 

(Gregorio Dabolas))

1840 Doña Ana

Elena Gallegos (Ranchos de 

Albuquerque; Los Ranchos)

1724 Bernalillo

Galisteo (Town of; Juan Ortíz; Francisco 

Almazan)

1814 Santa Fé

Gervacio Nolan 1845 Mora

John Scolly (La Junta de los Ríos Mora y 

Sanello)

1846 San Miguel

Juan Bautista Valdez (Cañón de Pedernal; 

Encinas)

1807 Río Arriba

Juan de Gabaldón (William T Russell) 1752 Santa Fé

Los Conejos 1842 Taos

Los Manuelitas (Apolonio Vigil) 1845 San Miguel

Los Serrillos (Cerrillos) 1692 Santa Fé

Los Trigos 1815 San Miguel

Mesilla Civil Colony (Meregildo Guerra) 1853a Doña Ana

Mesita Blanca 1843 Santa Fé

Nicolás Durán de Cháves 1739 Valencia

Nuestra Señora del Rosario, San 

Fernando, y Santiago (Isabel Jaramillo de 

Romero (Rancho las Truchas))

1754 Río Arriba

Ojo Caliente (Antonio Joseph) 1793 Río Arriba

Ojo de San José (Santo Toribo; Pueblo of 

San José)

1768 Sandoval

Petaca (José Antonio García) 1836 Río Arriba

Pueblo of Quemado (Rito Quemado) 1721 Santa Fé

Ranchito (El Ranchito) 1700 Sandoval

Rancho de Ysleta (Pueblo de San Antonio 

de Isleta)

1828 Otero

Rancho del Río Grande 1795 Taos

Refugio Civil Colony 1852 Doña Ana

Río del Picurís (José Dolores Fernández; 

Río del Pueblo)

1832 Taos

San Antonio de las Huertas 1767 Sandoval

San Antonio del Río Colorado (Town of 

Río)

1842 Taos

San Antonito (Cristóbal Jaramillo) 1840 Bernalillo

(Continued From Previous Page)
Page 16 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

a

México issued this grant from lands subsequently included in the Gadsden Purchase.

b

The only grant actually given to Santa Fé residents was for some common pasture land and water 

(1715). 

c

Prior to 1800.

Grant

Year

granted

Location (by 

county)

San Joaquín del Nacimiento (San Pablo y 

Nacimiento; Nacimiento del Río Puerco)

1769 Sandoval

San Miguel del Vado (Bado) 1794 San Miguel

San Pedro 1844 Santa Fé

Santa Bárbara (Plaza of the) 1796 Taos

Santa Cruz (de la Cañada; Juan Salas) 1695 Santa Fé

Santa Fé 1715b Santa Fé

Santo Tomás de Yturbide 1853 Doña Ana

Santo Toribio (de Jémez) c Sandoval

Sevilleta (La Joya) 1819 Socorro

Socorro (Town of) 1817 Socorro

Tierra Amarilla 1832 Río Arriba

Town of Abiquiú 1754 Río Arriba

Town of Albuquerque 1706 Bernalillo

Town of Atrisco 1692 Bernalillo

Town of Cebolleta 1800 Sandoval

Town of Chaperito 1846 San Miguel

Town of Chililí 1841 Bernalillo

Town of Cieneguilla 1795 Taos

Town of Cubero 1833 Valencia

Town of Las Trampas (Santo Tomás 

(Apostal) del Río de las Trampas)

1751 Taos

Town of Las Vegas 1835 San Miguel

Town of Manzano 1829 Torrance

Town of Mora 1835 Mora

Town of Tajique 1834 Torrance

Town of Tejón (Tungue) 1840 Sandoval

Town of Tomé 1739 Valencia

Town of Torreón 1841 Torrance

Town of Vallecito de Lovato (S Endicott 

Peabody; José Salazar y Ortíz; José R. 

Zamora)

1824 Río Arriba

Vallecito (de San Antonio) 1807 Río Arriba

(Continued From Previous Page)
Page 17 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Grant Heirs or Others State 

Grant Contained Common 

Lands

The second type of community land grant we identified is a grant that a 

person or persons stated included common lands. Our review of the papers 

filed with each grant claim to the surveyors general and the Court of 

Private Land Claims, and those of a legal scholar,3

 disclosed that, in some 

instances, the only mention of common lands was found in a claimant’s 

petition or other documents. In these cases, the files did not contain any 

grant documents showing that the common lands were part of the original 

grant. 

We also identified grants in this category as community land grants after 

interviewing grantee heirs, scholars, and others knowledgeable about a 

grant’s history, and reviewing other information provided to us. Again, no 

existing grant document supported the claim, although some claimants 

stated that such documentation had been lost or destroyed. Furthermore, 

some scholars raised the issue that, in some individual grants, common 

lands had been set aside by the grantees, their heirs, or other grant settlers 

to encourage additional settlement after the original grant was made. In 

these instances, there would not be any supporting official documentation 

because the grant predated the setting aside of common lands. For 

example, one scholar believed that the Sangre de Cristo grant, which 

México originally issued as an individual grant in 1843, later evolved into a 

community land grant when an heir of the original grantee provided land to 

new settlers and set aside additional land for communal use. 

Table 2 lists the 51 grants identified by grantee heirs, scholars, or others as 

having common lands but lacking grant documentation.

Table 2: 51 Community Land Grants Identified by Grant Heirs and Others

3

 J.J. Bowden, Private Land Claims in the Southwest (1969) (unpublished LLM. thesis [6 

Vols.], Southern Methodist University.)

Grant

Year

granted

Location 

(by county)

Antonio Baca (Nuestra Señora de la Luz de 

las Lagunitas)

1762 Sandoval

Antonio de Salazar 1714 Río Arriba

Arkansas (Beales Colony) 1826 Colfax

Arquito (Rumaldo Archiveque) a Sandoval
Page 18 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Grant

Year

granted

Location 

(by county)

Bartolomé Sánchez 1707 Río Arriba

Black Mesa 1743 Río Arriba

Bosque Grande (Miguel y Santiago Montoya) 1767 Sandoval

Chaca Mesa (Ignacio Chávez) 1768 Sandoval

Cuyamungué 1731 Santa Fé

Embudo (of Picures) 1725 Río Arriba

Francisco de Anaya Almazán 

(Cieneguilla;Ciénega; Andres Montoya; 

Feliciano Montoyo)

1693 Santa Fé

Gijosa (Francisco Antonia de) 1715 Taos

Gotera 1830 Santa Fé

Guadalupita 1837 Mora

Hacienda del Alamo b Santa Fé

(John) Heath (Juan Gid) 1823 Doña Ana

José Ignacio Alari (Juan Antonio Quintana) 1768 Río Arriba

José Trujillo (Mesilla (of San Ildefonso) Tract; 

Arroyo Seco)

1700 Santa Fé

Juan de Ulibarri 1710 Río Arriba

La Majada 1695 Santa Fé

Las Lagunitas (Antonio Sandoval) a Bernalillo

Maragua (Santo Domingo de; José Francisco 

Baca y Pino)

1826 Santa Fé

Mesita de Juana López 1782 Santa Fé

Montoya 1740 c

Ojito de Galisteo 1799 Santa Fé

Pajarito (Sitio de) d Bernalillo

Pedro Armendariz #33 (Valverde & Fray 

Cristóbal)

1819 Socorro

Pedro Armendariz #34 1820 Socorro

Plaza Colorado 1739 Río Arriba

Polvadera (Polvareda; Juan Pablo Martín) 1766 Río Arriba

Rancho de Nuestra Señora de la Luz (Bishop 

John Lamy)

1807 Santa Fé

Río del Oso (José Antonio Valdez) 1840 Río Arriba

Río Tesuque (Town of; Bishop’s Ranch) 1747 Santa Fé

San Clemente 1716 Valencia

San Cristóbal (Father José Antonio Martínez) 1835 Taos

San Marcos Pueblo (San Marcos Springs) 1754 Santa Fé

(Continued From Previous Page)
Page 19 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

a

No date specified.

b

Prior to 1714.

c

No county specified.

d

Prior to 1746.

e

Approximate date.

Common Lands of 

Indigenous Pueblo Cultures 

Antedated Arrival of 

Spanish Explorers

The third type of community land grants we identified encompasses grants 

extended by Spain to the indigenous pueblo cultures in New Mexico to 

protect communal lands that had existed for centuries before the Spanish 

settlers arrived. For the most part, the pueblo settlements these colonists 

encountered in the sixteenth century were permanent, communally owned 

villages, where inhabitants engaged in agricultural pursuits. Spain declared 

itself guardian of these communities, respected their rights to land adjacent 

to the pueblos, and protected pueblo lands from encroachment by Spanish 

colonists. Spain made grants to these communities in recognition of their 

communal ownership of village lands. México continued to recognize 

pueblo ownership of land and considered pueblo residents to be Mexican 

citizens. 

Grant

Year

granted

Location 

(by county)

Sangre de Cristo 1844 Taos

Sanguijuela 1843 San Miguel

Santa Rita del Cobre (Santa Rita Mine) 1801 Grant

Santa Rosa de Cubero 1761 Sandoval

Santo Domingo de Cundiyo (José Antonio 

Vigil)

1743 Santa Fé

Sebastián Martín 1705 Río Arriba

Tacubaya 1843 Santa Fé

Town of Alameda (Francisco Montes Vigil) 1710 Bernalillo

Town of Bernalillo (Felipe Gutiérrez; Felipe 

Gonzales)

1708 Sandoval

Town of Cañdelarios 1600e Bernalillo

Town of Chamita 1724 Río Arriba

Town of El Rito (Joaquín García) 1780 Río Arriba

Town of Real de Dolores del Oro 1830 Santa Fé

Town of San Isidro 1786 Sandoval

Town of Tecolote (Salvador Montoya et al.) 1824 San Miguel

(Continued From Previous Page)
Page 20 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the Congress required the Surveyor 

General to investigate and report on pueblo claims. The Congress 

subsequently confirmed Spanish grants to 22 pueblos on the 

recommendation of the Surveyor General. Table 3 lists the pueblo grants.

Table 3: 22 Community Land Grants Issued to Indian Pueblos

a

No date specified.

b

Approximate date. 

Request for Comments We are issuing this report as an Exposure Draft to identify and to gather 

information about community land grants that is not readily available to us 

Original Spanish Grants Year Granted

Location 

(by county)

Pueblo of Acoma 1689 Valencia

Pueblo of Cochití 1689 Sandoval

Pueblo of Isleta a Valencia

Pueblo of Jémez 1689 Sandoval

Pueblo of Laguna 1689 Valencia

Pueblo of Nambé a Santa Fé

Pueblo of Pecos 1689 San Miguel

Pueblo of Picurís 1689 Taos

Pueblo of Pojoaque 1699b Santa Fé

Pueblo of San Cristóbal 1689 Santa Fé

Pueblo of San Felipe 1689 Sandoval

Pueblo of San Ildefonso 1704 Santa Fé

Pueblo of San Juan 1689 Río Arriba

Pueblo of Sandía 1748 Sandoval

Pueblo of Santa Ana a Sandoval

Pueblo of Santa Clara 1699b

 Santa Fé

Pueblo of Santo Domingo 1689 Sandoval

Pueblo of Taos 1816 Taos

Pueblo of Tesuque a Santa Fé

Pueblo of Zía 1689 Sandoval

Pueblo of Zuñí 1689 McKinley

Pueblos of Zía, Jémez, & Santa Ana 

(Ojo del Espíritu Santo)

1766 Sandoval
Page 21 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

in published research and public documents and to obtain comments about 

our definition and our identification of community land grants. We will use 

such information and comments to help prepare a final report. The 

NOTICE on the inside cover of this report provides information about how 

additional copies of the Exposure Draft can be obtained and where and 

when comments should be sent.

As agreed with your offices, this report will be issued in English and 

Spanish versions. We plan to send copies to the New Mexico congressional 

delegation. We will distribute copies in both languages in New Mexico and 

provide copies upon request. GAO contacts and key contributors to this 

report are listed in appendix IV.

Susan A. Poling

Associate General Counsel

Natural Resources and Environment
Page 22 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Appendix I

Detailed Data on the 295 Spanish and Mexican Apendxies

Land Grants in New Mexico ApendxiI

Name

Date confirmed 

or other actiona

Date 

patentedb

Acreage

patented Alternative grant identifiersc

Agapito Ortega Dismissed by claimant 

Agua Negra 1860 1900 17,361.11

Agua Salada 1893 1909 10,694.48

Alamitos 1896 1914 297.55 Juan Salas

Alamo Rejected 

Alexander Valle 1860 1927 1,242.00 Cañón de Pecos; Juan de Dios 

Peña

Alfonso Rael de Aguilar (2) 

(Vincente Romero)

Dismissed by claimant 

Alphonso Rael de Aguilar 

(1)

Dismissed by claimant 

Ancón Colorado Dismissed by claimant 

Angostura 1897 1906 1,579.48 Juan-José Gallegos

Angostura del Pecos Dismissed by claimants 

Antoine Leroux 1869 1911 56,428.31 Los Luceros

Antón Chico (Town of) 1860 1883 383,856.10

Antonio Armijo Dismissed by claimant 

Antonio Baca 1895 1902 47,196.50 Nuestra Señora de la Luz de las 

Lagunitas

Antonio de Abeytia 1894 1910 721.42 Baltazar Cisneros

Antonio de Salazar Dismissed by claimants 

Antonio de Ulibarri Dismissed by claimant Pueblo Colorado

Antonio Domínguez Rejected 

Antonio Martínez 1893 1896 61,605.46 Lucero de Godoi

Antonio Ortíz 1869 1877 163,921.680

Archuleta (Juan Antonio de) 

& Gonzales (Leonardo)

Dismissed by claimant 

Arkansas Rejected by Circuit Court Beales Colony

Arquito Dismissed by claimant Rumaldo Archiveque

Arroyo de San Lorenzo Rejected Antonio Chávez

Arroyo Hondo 1892 1908 20,000.38 Gaspar Ortíz; La Talaya; Manuel 

Fernández; José Ignacio 

Martínez; Felipe Medina; Miguel 

Chávez)

Badito (El) Rejected Juan Ortiz

Baltazar Baca Rejected San José del Encinal

Barranca Rejected Geronimo Martín
Appendix I

Detailed Data on the 295 Spanish and 

Mexican Land Grants in New Mexico

Page 23 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Name

Date confirmed 

or other actiona

Date 

patentedb

Acreage

patented Alternative grant identifiersc

Bartolomé Baca Rejected 

Bartolomé Fernández (de 

la Pedresa)

1894 1903 25,455.24 Guadalupe

Bartolomé Sánchez 1897 1914 4,469.83

Bartolomé Trujillo Rejected San José de García

Belén (Town of) 1858 1871 194,663.750

Bernabé Manuel Montaño 1892 1908 44,070.66

Bernal Spring Dismissed by claimants 

Black Mesa 1894 1907 19,171.35

Bosque Del Apache 1860 1877 60,117.39 Antonio Sandoval

Bosque Grande 1896 1925 2,967.57 Miguel y Santiago Montoya

Bracito (El) 1860 d d Hugh Stephenson; Brazito

Cadillal e e

Caja del Río 1893 1897 66,849.78 Felipe Delgado

Cañada Ancha 1897 1917 200.82 Salvador Gonzales

Cañada de Cochití 1894 1901 19,112.78 Antonio Lucero; Manuel Hurtado

Cañada de Los Alamos (1) 1893 1896 12,068.39 Lorenzo Marquez

Cañada de los Alamos (2) 1894 1911 4,106.66 Miera y Pacheco & Padilla

Cañada de Los Apaches 1892 1907 86,249.09 Antonio Sedillo

Cañada de Los Mestaños Rejected 

Cañada de San Francisco Rejected Nazario Gonzales; José

Francisco Baca y Terrus

Cañada de Santa Clara 1894 1909 490.62

Cañón de Carnue 1894 1903 2,000.59 San Miguel de Laredo; Cañón de 

Carmel; Cañón de Carnuel

Cañón de Chama 1894 1905 1,422.62 San Joaquín Río de Chama; 

Chama River Cañón

Cañón de San Diego 1860 1881 116,286.89 San Diego de Jémez

Cañón del Agua 1866 1896 341.04

Cañón del Río (Colorado) Rejected Antonio Elias Armenta

Casa Colorado (Town of) 1858 1909 131,779.370

Catarina Maese Dismissed by claimant 

Cebolla 1896 f f Juan Carlos Santistevan

Chaca Mesa 1895 1899 47,258.71 Ignacio Chávez

Chamisos Arroyo Rejected Bartolomé Marques & Francisco 

Padilla

Chupaderos de la Lagunita Rejected San Joaquín del Nacimiento

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix I

Detailed Data on the 295 Spanish and 

Mexican Land Grants in New Mexico

Page 24 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Name

Date confirmed 

or other actiona

Date 

patentedb

Acreage

patented Alternative grant identifiersc

Corpos Cristo Dismissed by claimant 

Cristóbal de la Serna 1892 1903 Los Ranchos de Taos

Cristóval Crespin Dismissed by claimant Jesús Crespin

Cuyamungué 1895 1909 604.27

Diego Arias de Quiros Rejected 

Diego de Belasco (Velasco) Dismissed by claimant 

Domingo Fernández 1860 1880 81,032.670 Ethan W. Eaton; Pueblo de San 

Cristóbal

Domingo Valdez Rejected 

Don Fernando de Taos 1897 1909 1,817.34 Merced de Fernándes (San 

Fernande) de Taos

Doña Ana Bend Colony 1896 1907. 35,399.017 P.M. Thompson (Gregorio 

Dabolas)

El Pino Dismissed by claimant 

Elena Gallegos 1893 1909 35,048.78 Ranchos de Albuquerque; Los 

Ranchos; Donaciano Gurule

Embudo (of Picures) Rejected 

Estancia Rejected Antonio Sandoval, Antonio 

Martínez & Diego Lucero Godoi

Felipe Pacheco Dismissed by claimant 

Felipe Tafoya (1) Dismissed by claimant 

Felipe Tafoya (2) 1895 1902 4,340.23

Francisco de Anaya 

Almazan 

1897 1916 3,202.79 Cieneguilla;Ciénega; Andres 

Montoya; Feliciano Montoyo

Francisco García Dismissed by claimant 

Francisco Montes Vigil 1892 1899 8,253.74

Francisco X. Romero Dismissed by claimant Santa Cruz

Galisteo (Town of) 1894 1927 260.790 Juan Ortiz; Francisco Almazan

Gaspar Ortíz 1860 g g Vincente Durán de Armijo

Gervacio Nolan Rejected 

Gijosa (Francisco Antonia 

de)

1893 1908 16,240.64 Gijosa Rancho de Taos

Gotera Rejected 

Guadalupe Miranda Dismissed by claimant 

Guadalupita Dismissed by claimants 

Hacienda del Alamo Rejected

(John) Heath Rejected Juan Gid

Joaquín (de) Mestas Rejected Santa Teresa de Jesús

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix I

Detailed Data on the 295 Spanish and 

Mexican Land Grants in New Mexico

Page 25 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Name

Date confirmed 

or other actiona

Date 

patentedb

Acreage

patented Alternative grant identifiersc

Joaquín Sedillo & Antonio 

Gutiérrez

1897 1909 22,636.92 San Clemente; Barrancas; 

Bosque de los Pinos

John Scolly 1860 1893 25,000.00 La Junta de los Ríos Mora y 

Sanello

Jornado del Muerto Rejected Juan Bautista Vigil y Alarid

José Antonio Lucero Rejected 

José Antonio Torres Dismissed by claimant 

José de Leyba Rejected 

José Domínguez Rejected by Surveyor 

General 

José García Rejected 

José Ignacio Alari Dismissed by claimants Juan Antonio Quintana; José

Ignacio Alarid; Gabriel Quintana

José Leandro Perea 1860 1877 17,712.00 Rancho de los Esteros

José Manuel Sánchez Baca 1900 1902 3,530.60

José Romula de Vera Dismissed by claimant 

José Sutton Rejected 

José Trujillo Dismissed by claimants Mesilla (of San Ildefonso) Tract; 

Arroyo Seco

Juan Antonio Flores Dismissed by claimant 

Juan Bautista Valdez 1898 1913 1,468.57 Cañón de Pedernal; Encinas

Juan Cayentano Lovato Rejected 

Juan de Gabaldón 1893 1902 10,690.05 William T. Russell

Juan de Mestas Dismissed by claimant Anastacio Romero

Juan de Ulibarri Dismissed by claimants 

Juan Durán Rejected 

Juan Estevan García de 

Noriega

Rejected Geronimo Martín

Juan Felipe Rodriguez Dismissed by claimant 

Juan G. Pinard No action taken by 

Surveyor General 

Bautista Llara; Carlos Salazar

Juan José Archuleta Rejected 

Juan José Lovato 1894 1902 205,615.72 Cristóbal de Torres

Juan José Moreno Dismissed by claimants

Juan José Sánchez Rejected 

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix I

Detailed Data on the 295 Spanish and 

Mexican Land Grants in New Mexico

Page 26 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Name

Date confirmed 

or other actiona

Date 

patentedb

Acreage

patented Alternative grant identifiersc

Juan Manuel Cordova No action taken by 

Surveyor General 

Juan Martín; Basilio Gonzales; 

Santiago Bone (Pueblo de 

Santiago); José Tapia; José

Francisco Durán

Juan Montes Vigil 1931 by District Court h 379.36 Town of Peña Blanca; Jacinto 

Pelaes;Juan Fernández de la 

Pesnera

Juan Tafoya Dismissed by claimant 

Juana Baca Rejected Pueblo of Cochití Pasture

La Majada 1894 1908 54,404.10

La Nasa Dismissed by claimant 

Las Lagunitas Not acted on Antonio Sandoval

Las Lomitas Dismissed by claimant 

Lo de Basquez Dismissed by claimants 

Lo de Padilla 1896 1908 51,940.82 El Tajo; Los Padillas; Franz 

Huning; Diego Padilla

Los Conejos Rejected 

Los Manuelitas Rejected Apolonio Vigil

Los Serrillos (Cerrillos) 1894 1897 1,478.81

Los Trigos 1860 1909 7,342.00

Luis de Armenta No claim filed with Court

Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca 1860 i 198,578.78 Baca Location #1

Maes (Juan Miguel) & 

Gallego (Pedro) 

j jj Las Cieneguitas

Manuel Tenorio Dismissed by claimant 

Manuela García de las 

Ribas

Dismissed by claimant Isabel Montoya

Maragua Rejected Santo Domingo de; José

Francisco Baca y Pino

Maxwell Grant 1860 1879 1,714,764.94 Beaubien & Miranda

Mesilla Civil Colony 1899 1909 21,628.52 Meregildo Guerra

Mesita Blanca Dismissed by claimant 

Mesita de Juana López 1879 Sitio de Juana López

Montoya k kk No specific information available

Nepumecina Martínez de 

Aragón 

Dismissed by claimant Rancho de Coyote

Nerio Antonio Montoya Rejected Ojo de Borrego (Borrego Spring)

Nicolás Durán de Cháves 1896 No indication 

one was issued

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix I

Detailed Data on the 295 Spanish and 

Mexican Land Grants in New Mexico

Page 27 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Name

Date confirmed 

or other actiona

Date 

patentedb

Acreage

patented Alternative grant identifiersc

Nuestra Señora de 

Guadalupe Mine 

Rejected Abo

Nuestra Señora del los 

Dolores Mine

Rejected 

Nuestra Señora del 

Rosario, San Fernando, y 

Santiago 

1892 1905 14,786.58 Isabel Jaramillo de Romero 

(Rancho Las Truchas)

Ocate Rejected Manuel Alvarez

Ojito de Galisteo Dismissed by claimant Juan Cruz Aragón

Ojito de los Medanos Rejected Lucero Spring

Ojo Caliente 1894 1894 2,244.98 Antonio Joseph

Ojo de Borrego (Borrego 

Spring)

1894 1913 16,079.80 Domingo Romero & 

Miguel/Manuel Ortíz; Nereo 

(Nerio) Antonio Montoya

Ojo de la Cabra Rejected Juan Otero

Ojo de San José 1894 1912 4,340.28 Santo Toribo de Jems; Pueblo of 

San José; Ojo de San Juan

Ojo del Apache (Apache 

Spring)

Rejected Bentura Truxillo

Ojo del Espíritu Santo 1869 1916 113,141.15 Tomás Cabeza de Baca

Orejas del Llano de los 

Aguajes

Rejected Juan de Jesús Lucero

Ortíz Mine 1861 1876 69,199.33 Elisha Whittlesey; Antonio Cano 

(Ignacio Cano & Francisco Ortíz)

Pablo Montoya 1869 1877 655,468.07

Pacheco (Joseph) 1892 1913 500.00

Pajarito (Sitio de) 1894 1914 28,724.22

Paraje del Punche Dismissed by claimant 

Pedro Armendariz #33 1860 1878 352,504.50 Valverde & Fray Cristóbal

Pedro Armendariz #34 1860 1878 95,030.00

Peralta (1) (La) Rejected 

Peralta (2) Rejected Reavis

Petaca 1896 1901 1,392.10 José Antonio García

Piedra Lumbre 1893 1902 49,747.89 Casa de (José) Riano; Pedro 

Martín Serrano

Plaza Colorado 1893 1907 7,577.92 Plaza Colorado Valdez

Plaza Blanca 1894 1914 8,955.11 Manuel Bustos

Polvadera (Polvareda) 1893 1900 35,761.14 Juan Pablo Martín

Preston Beck Jr. 1860 1883 318,699.72

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix I

Detailed Data on the 295 Spanish and 

Mexican Land Grants in New Mexico

Page 28 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Name

Date confirmed 

or other actiona

Date 

patentedb

Acreage

patented Alternative grant identifiersc

Pueblo of Acoma 1858 1877 95,791.66

Pueblo of Cochití 1858 1864 24,256.50

Pueblo of Isleta 1858 1864 131,495.30

Pueblo of Jémez 1858 1864 17,510.45

Pueblo of Laguna 1897 1909 17,328.91

Pueblo of Nambé 1858 1864 13,586.33

Pueblo of Pecos 1858 1864 18,763.33

Pueblo of Picurís 1858 1864 14,953.39

Pueblo of Pojoaque 1858 1864 13,520.38

Pueblo of Quemado Dismissed by claimant Rito Quemado

Pueblo of San Cristóbal l ll

Pueblo of San Felipe 1858 1864 34,766.86

Pueblo of San Ildefonso 1858 1864 17,292.64

Pueblo of San Juan 1858 1864 17,544.77

Pueblo of Sandía 1858 1864 24,034.87

Pueblo of Santa Ana 1869 1883 17,360.56

Pueblo of Santa Clara 1858 1864 17,368.52

Pueblo of Santo Domingo 1858 1864 74,743.11

Pueblo of Santo Domingo & 

San Felipe

1898 1905 1,070.68

Pueblo of Taos 1859 1864 17,360.55

Pueblo of Tesuque 1858 1864 17,471.12

Pueblo of Zía 1858 1864 17,514.63

Pueblo of Zuñí m mm

Pueblos of Zía, Jémez, & 

Santa Ana

Rejected Ojo del Espíritu Santo

Ramón Vigil 1860 1908 31,209.52 Pedro Sánchez

Ranchito (El) 1897 1909 4,250.63

Rancho de (los) 

Comanches 

Dismissed by claimant 

Rancho de Abiquiú Dismissed by claimant Rancho de Coyote

Rancho de Coyote Dismissed by claimant El Coyote

Rancho de Gigante 1860 1884 25,233.18 Laguna Pueblo tracts

Rancho de la Gallina Dismissed by claimant Rancho de Coyote

Rancho de la Santisima 

Trinidad 

Rejected ; dismissed by 

claimants

Rancho de Galvan; Francisco 

Sandoval; Ignacio Sánchez 

Vergara

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix I

Detailed Data on the 295 Spanish and 

Mexican Land Grants in New Mexico

Page 29 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Name

Date confirmed 

or other actiona

Date 

patentedb

Acreage

patented Alternative grant identifiersc

Rancho de los Corrales 

(Comales)

Dismissed by claimant 

Rancho de los Rincon(es) Dismissed by claimant Rancho de Coyote

Rancho de Nuestra Señora 

de la Luz 

1860 1874 16,546.85 Bishop John Lamy

Rancho de Paguate 1860 75,406.27 Laguna Pueblo tracts

Rancho de San Juan 1860 1884 25,233.18 Laguna Pueblo tracts

Rancho de Río Arriba Dismissed by claimant Rancho de Coyote

Rancho de Río Puerco Dismissed by claimant 

Rancho de Santa Ana 1860 1884 871.33 Laguna Pueblo tracts

Rancho de Ysleta Rejected Pueblo de San Antonio de Isleta

Rancho del Río Grande 1892 1901 91,813.15

Rancho el Rito 1860 1884 25,233.18 Laguna Pueblo tracts; El Rito 

(Colorado); El Rillito

Refugio Civil Colony 1901 1910 11,524.30

Río de Chama Dismissed by claimant Rancho de la Merced del San 

Joaquín del Río Chama

Río del Oso Dismissed by claimants José Antonio Valdez

Río del Picurís Rejected José Dolores Fernández; Río del 

Pueblo

Río Tesuque (Town of) 1897 Bishop’s Ranch; Juan Benabides

Rito de los Frijoles Rejected Andres Montoya; Antonio Salas

Rómulo Barela (Varela) Rejected Juan Manuel de Herrera

Roque Jacinto Jaramillo Rejected 

Roque Lovato (Lobato) Rejected 

Salvador Lovato Dismissed by claimant Lorenzo Lobato

San Acasio Dismissed by claimant 

San Antonio de Las 

Huertas

1897 1907 4,763.85

San Antonio del Río 

Colorado

Rejected Town of Río

San Antonito Rejected Cristóbal Jaramillo

San Clemente 1896 1909 37,099.29

San Cristóbal Rejected by Surveyor 

General 

Father José Antonio Martínez; 

Cristoval de la Serna

San Joaquín del 

Nacimiento

Rejected San Pablo y Nacimiento; 

Nacimiento del Río Puerco

San Marcos Pueblo 1892 1896 1,895.44 San Marcos Springs

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix I

Detailed Data on the 295 Spanish and 

Mexican Land Grants in New Mexico

Page 30 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Name

Date confirmed 

or other actiona

Date 

patentedb

Acreage

patented Alternative grant identifiersc

San Mateo Spring(s) 1895 1907 4,340.276 Santiago Durán y Cháves

San Miguel del Vado 

(Bado)

1894 1910 5,207.73

San Pedro 1860 1875 31,594.76

Sangre de Cristo 1860 1880 998,780.46

Sanguijuela Rejected 

Santa Bárbara (Plaza of 

the)

1894 1905 30,638.28

Santa Cruz (de la Cañada) 1899 & 1900 1910 4,567.60 Juan Salas

Santa Fé 1894 n n

Santa Fé Cañón Rejected 

Santa Rita Del Cobre Rejected by 

Commissioner of the 

General Land Office 

Santa Rita Mine

Santa Rosa de Cubero 1898 

Santa Teresa 1900 1909 8,478.51

Santiago Bone Dismissed by claimants James Boney; María Cleofas 

Bone; Estanislado Sandoval 

(José Manuel Cordova)

Santiago Ramirez 1897 1912 272.17 Peñasco Largo

Santo Domingo de Cundiyo 1900 1903 2,137.08 José Antonio Vigil

Santo Tomás de Yturbide 1900 1905 9,622.34 Sto. Tomás de Iturbide Colony

Santo Toribio (de Jémez) Rejected 

Sebastián De Vargas 1893 1900

Sebastián Martín 1860 1893 51,387.20

Sevilleta 1893 Dispersals 

begun in 1915 

Not specified La Joya

Sierra Mosca 1896 o o Juan Luis Ortíz

Sitio de Juana López 1894 1897 1,108.61

Sitio de Los Serrillos 

(Cerrillos)

1894 1897 572.04

Socorro (Town of) 1892 1896 17,371.18

Tacubaya Dismissed by claimant 

Talaya Hill 1895 1917 922.52 Manuel Trujillo

The Baird’s Ranch Rejected Ranchos de Chino Tejano

Tierra Amarilla 1860 1881 594,515.55

Tomás Tapia Rejected 

Town of Abiquiú 1894 1909 16,547.20

Town of Alameda 1892 1920 89,346.00 Francisco Montes Vigil

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix I

Detailed Data on the 295 Spanish and 

Mexican Land Grants in New Mexico

Page 31 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

a

Grant confirmed by Congress or Court of Private Land Claims.

b

A patent conveys legal title to the grant.

c

Based on documents submitted to the Surveyor General or the Court of Private Land Claims.

d

There were extensive attempts to obtain grants that were never successfully completed. The Court of 

Private Land Claims recognized the grant as valid and ordered it surveyed and partitioned. However, 

problems arose when attempts were made to identify the common boundary with the Santo Tomás 

Name

Date confirmed 

or other actiona

Date 

patentedb

Acreage

patented Alternative grant identifiersc

Town of Albuquerque 1892 None specified Not specified Villa de Albuquerque

Town of Atrisco 1894 1905 82,728.72

Town of Bernalillo 1897 1900 3,404.67 Felipe Gutiérrez; Felipe 

Gonzales

Town of Candelarios p pp

Town of Cebolleta 1869 1882 199,567.92

Town of Chamita 1860 1929 1,636.29

Town of Chaperito 1890

Town of Chililí 1858 1909 41,481.00

Town of Cieneguilla Rejected 

Town of Cubero 1892 1900 16,490.94

Town of El Rito Dismissed by claimants Joaquín García

Town of Jacona 1893 1909 6,952.84 Ignacio de Roibal

Town of Las Trampas 1860 1903 28,131.67 Santo Tomás (Apostal) del Río 

de Las Trampas

Town of Las Vegas 1860 1903 431,653.65

Town of Manzano 1860 1907 17,360.24

Town of Mora 1860 1876 827,621.10

Town of Real de Dolores 

del Oro

Rejected 

Town of San Isidro 1860 1936 11,476.88

Town of Tajique 1860 1912 7,185.550 Tajaque

Town of Tecolote 1858 1902 48,123.380 Salvador Montoya et al.

Town of Tejón (Tungue) 1860 1882 12,801.46

Town of Tomé 1858 1871 121,594.53

Town of Torreón 1860 1909 14,146.11

Town of Vallecito de Lovato Rejected S. Endicott Peabody; José

Salazar y Ortíz; José R. Zamora

Uña Del Gato Rejected by Secretary of 

Interior 

Vallecito (de San Antonio) Dismissed by claimants 

Vertientes de Navajó Rejected Rafael Armijo (Sitio del Navajó); 

Cañada de los Alamos

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix I

Detailed Data on the 295 Spanish and 

Mexican Land Grants in New Mexico

Page 32 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Yturbide Colony Grant. A patent was not issued because claimants argue the Confirmation Act of 

1860 conveyed the title; a final survey yielded 14,808.075 acres.

e

The grant was located within the confirmed Domingo Fernández grant, so no action was taken on the 

claim.

f

Based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision that found, among other things, that the grant had not been 

given in accordance with Mexican law.

g

The grant apparently lies within the Pueblo of Nambé grant, and has not been patented.

h

No actual claim was presented to the Court, and therefore no actual confirmation was made by either 

the Congress or the Court. When the Majada grant was confirmed, this was apparently sufficient for 

the Town of Peña Blanca residents. In 1931, the New Mexico District Court confirmed acreage not 

previously part of the Pueblo of Cochití lands.

i

The Town of Las Vegas grant was apparently in conflict with the Baca grant. The Congress recognized 

the conflict and allowed the Baca heirs to obtain equivalent acreage elsewhere in the Territory. Of five 

tracts selected two were in New Mexico, known as Float # 1 (Sandoval County) and Float # 2 (San 

Miguel County), each containing 99,289.39 acres.

j

The claimants probably obtained title through the Act of March 3, 1891. This act allowed those settlers, 

who had lived on the land for more than 20 years before an official survey of a township was 

conducted, to a patent of up to 160 acres of land. There was no documentation of the grant, and no 

claim was submitted to the Court of Private Land Claims.

k

No specific information is available.

l

The purported grant document was filed with the Surveyor General but was later proven to be 

fraudulent.

mAs the result of the establishment of a reservation in 1877, as revised in 1883, 1885, and 1917, the 

pueblo’s claim was not presented to the Court of Private Land Claims.

n

The only grant actually given to Santa Fé residents was for some common pasture land and water 

(1715). Congress ultimately granted to the City of Santa Fé all lands not already used by the United 

States or confirmed as private land grants. The confirmed amount is based on the Surveyor General’s 

preliminary survey of 4 square leagues.

o

The U.S. Supreme Court found the Court of Private Land Claims in error and directed a reversal. The 

grant was rejected in 1900. 

p

Although a petition was filed in 1872, no further action was taken by the claimants to pursue 

recognition of the claim. Therefore, there is no formal decision on the matter.
Page 33 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Appendix II

Objectives, Scope, and Methodology ApendxiI

Concerned about whether the United States fulfilled its obligations under 

the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with regard to community land grants 

made by Spain and México in what is now the state of New Mexico, 

Senators Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman asked us to study numerous 

issues regarding the treaty and its implementation. We plan to answer their 

questions in a series of reports. This first report defines the concept of 

community land grants, identifies three types of grants that meet this 

definition, and lists the grants we identified in each category. 

In accordance with the request, we limited our review to community land 

grants made by Spain or México between 1689 and 1846 that are now either 

wholly or partially situated within the area of what is now the state of New 

Mexico and that were subject to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. We also 

included grants in what is now New Mexico made up to 1853 that were part 

of the Gadsden Purchase, since they too are subject to the Treaty. We 

analyzed land grants in New Mexico for which we could find evidence to 

identify community land grants.

To respond to this request, we collected and reviewed documents from the 

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.; 

the National Archives and Records Administration in Denver; the New 

Mexico State Records Center and Archives; archives at the U.S. Bureau of 

Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service; various libraries, including 

the Center for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico 

Zimmerman Library and the Special Collections at the University of New 

Mexico Law School Library; the U.S. National Park Service’s Spanish 

Colonial Research Center at the University of New Mexico; scholars, land 

grant heirs, lawyers representing land grant interests; and other individuals 

or entities associated with land grants in New Mexico.

We researched, collected, and reviewed published and unpublished 

material on land grants, including books, articles, monographs and 

unpublished theses. Our search for relevant materials included a search for 

articles published in México that address the issues in this report. A list of 

materials consulted can be found in appendix III. 

During the course of our review, we interviewed dozens of land grant heirs 

in New Mexico and a representative of a pueblo; historians, researchers, 

and other academicians studying land grant issues, including scholars in 

México; lawyers representing the interests of land grant heirs and an Indian 

pueblo; officials at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the 

U.S. Forest Service; local government officials with the state of New 
Appendix II

Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

Page 34 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Mexico, including the Office of the Attorney General, and with several 

counties in which land grants exist; and various representatives of other 

entities or interests associated with land grant issues in New Mexico to 

gain a better understanding of community land grant issues.

To determine how community land grants are defined, we reviewed 

numerous documents that addressed land grants in New Mexico, including 

English translations of original grant documents; English translations of 

Spanish and Mexican laws; federal, state, and territorial court decisions on 

land grants; scholarly articles describing customs associated with land 

grants; and various academic materials analyzing land grants. In interviews 

with academicians and other experts on land grants, lawyers dealing with 

land grant issues or cases, land grant heirs, and other observers of land 

grants (e.g., federal employees, librarians, graduate students at the 

University of New Mexico Law School Library and University of New 

Mexico Library), we asked for their views on defining community land 

grants. We also asked several experts to comment on our preliminary 

definition of community land grants. 

To identify the universe of Spanish and Mexican land grants in New 

Mexico, we used a variety of historical data. We started with an 

unpublished master of laws (LL.M.) thesis by J. J. Bowden at Southern 

Methodist University Law School, entitled Private Land Claims in the 

Southwest, to develop our initial list of Spanish and Mexican grants. This 

six-volume thesis describes 280 grants in great detail and includes English 

translations of parts of the granting documents. The work also identifies 

many of the different names for the grants. We next examined documents 

on file at various archives from the Surveyor General and Court of Private 

Land Claims—the two entities responsible for carrying out the legal 

processes set in place in the nineteenth century to implement the treaty. 

Where possible, we reviewed English translations of the original granting 

documents. We also used other sources of information, including those 

provided by land grant heirs. If discrepancies were found among various 

documents, we deferred to documents in the archives from the Surveyor 

General or Court of Private Land Claims files.

To distill community land grants from this universe of land grants, we 

applied our definition, searching for clues in the granting documents and 

other sources. For example, some grants contained the following language 

and would be considered community land grants: “pasturage and watering 

places shall be in common” (Caja del Río), the “pastures and woodlands in 

common” (Barranca), “the public square is also common among all”
Appendix II

Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

Page 35 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

(Cañón de Carnue), and “set aside for the commons of the town” (Doña 

Ana Bend Colony). Criteria for inclusion as a community land grant 

included not just language denoting common lands but language indicating 

that a grant had been made to a town or settlement, since under Spanish 

law and custom, grants to towns included common lands. We also included 

grants made to 10 or more people, since Spanish law states in the 

Recopilación de las Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias that a grant could be 

made to 10 or more married persons to form a settlement, indicating that 

the grant was a community grant. 

Historical treatises and interviews with scholars and grant heirs alerted us 

to the possibility of additional community grants. Although grants may 

have originally been issued to individuals, sometimes land was 

subsequently set aside for common use and thus these grants should be 

considered community land grants. Such evolutions are not captured in 

grant documents. Other grant heirs and advocates assert that certain grants 

are community land grants, but we do not know the basis for the assertion. 

We included grants identified by heirs and others as being community land 

grants in a second list. We make no judgment as to the efficacy of these 

assertions but list them for the Congress’ consideration. 

We also found that Spain issued land grants to indigenous pueblo cultures 

already resident in the colonial territories. According to scholars, these 

cultures held the lands communally. We list these grants separately because 

the lands in common existed before Spanish settlement and because of the 

unique relationship between Native Americans and the Spanish, Mexican 

and U.S. governments. We used surveyor general documents and public 

laws to ascertain the number of grants made to Native Americans. 

To list each land grant by county, we compared county data in several 

federal, state, and independent databases listing New Mexican land grants 

to determine the level of reliability of the databases. We also recognized 

that the county boundaries have changed markedly since 1850. We found 

significant discrepancies among the various databases because of, in part, 

conflicting interpretations of which county contained the largest area when 

a grant straddled county lines. This is particularly problematic in 

unsurveyed grants. In an effort to maintain consistency in listing counties 

and to minimize errors, we used official federal, state, and county 

government maps and the unpublished thesis of J.J. Bowden entitled 

Private Land Claims in the Southwest. The maps relied on actual survey 

data of certain land grants. We visually reviewed the maps to determine the 

primary county for each of the land grants illustrated. However, we 
Appendix II

Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

Page 36 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

recognized that the maps contained limited information. We therefore used 

J.J. Bowden’s thesis, one of the more thorough reports on land grants in 

New Mexico, to complete the county listings. We did not verify the 

accuracy of either the official maps or of J.J. Bowden’s thesis. 

In creating the map to represent the location of each land grant, we learned 

that no map illustrating all grants existed. Officials from federal and state 

agencies, as well as independent researchers, told us that current maps 

only listed certain land grants, such as those grants that had been 

confirmed and surveyed. 

It should be noted that we relied on published and unpublished documents 

and archives, primarily in New Mexico, Colorado and Washington, D.C. The 

quantity, quality, availability and reliability of the evidence for the various 

grants varied considerably. For example, the Doña Ana Bend Colony files 

contain extensive documents pertaining to the establishment of the colony 

and the location of tracts, while the Hacienda del Alamo file contains only 

the claimant’s petition with no original grant documents to verify the claim. 

We relied on official translations of the original granting documents 

wherever possible. The Surveyor General’s office included an individual 

responsible for translating the documents submitted. However, we did not 

independently assess any translation. We also note that the names of some 

grants in Private Land Claims in the Southwest, the Surveyor General 

documents, and the Court of Private Land Claims files are not always 

consistent. We have identified the other names of grants in appendix I. 

We conducted our review from April through December 2000, according to 

generally accepted government auditing standards.
Page 37 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Appendix III

Bibliography ApendxiI

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Beck, Warren A. New Mexico: A History of Four Centuries. Norman, OK: 

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Bloom, John Porter, ed. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848: Papers of 

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Bowden, J.J. Private Land Claims in the Southwest (1969) (unpublished 

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Bradfute, Richard Wells. The Court of Private Land Claims: The 

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Albuquerque, NM: The University of New Mexico Press, 1975.

Brayer, Herbert O. Pueblo Indian Land Grants of the “Rio Abajo.”

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Briggs, Charles L. and John R. Van Ness, eds. Land, Water, and Culture: 

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University of New Mexico Press, 1987.

Calendar to the Microfilm Edition of the Land Records of New Mexico: 

Spanish Archives of New Mexico, Series I, Surveyor General Records, and 
Appendix III

Bibliography

Page 38 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

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Carlson, Alvar W. The Spanish-American Homeland. Baltimore, MD: The 

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DeBuys, William. “Fractions of Justice: A Legal and Social History of the 

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Ebright, Malcolm. Land Grant Community Associations in New Mexico 

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1

 The microfilm archives were accessed at the New Mexico State Records Center and 

Archives in Santa Fé, New Mexico; at the National Archives and Records Administration in 

Denver, Colorado; and at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, 

D.C.
Appendix III

Bibliography

Page 39 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

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Hall, G. Emlen. Four Leagues of Pecos: A Legal History of the Pecos Grant, 

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Jenkins, Myra Ellen. “The Baltasar Baca ‘Grant’: History of an 

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Knowlton, Clark S. Land-Grant Problems Among the State’s Spanish 

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Bibliography

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Page 44 GAO-01-330 Guadalupe Hidalgo Exposure Draft

Appendix IV

Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments ApendxiIV

GAO Contacts Susan A. Poling and Alan R. Kasdan (202-512-7648)

Staff 

Acknowledgments

In addition to those named above, Robert C. Arsenoff, John C. Furutani, 

Robert E. Sánchez, José Alfredo Gómez, Barry T. Hill, Jeffrey D. Malcolm, 

David A. Rogers, James R. Yeager, Jonathan S. McMurray, Carol Herrnstadt 

Shulman, Alice A. Feldesman, William D. Updegraff, Stephen F. Palincsar, 

Etana Finkler, Veronica C. Sandidge, Gloria Sutton, Susan Conlon, Moza AlSuylaiti, and Heather Tierney made key contributions to this report. We 

also wish to acknowledge the following staff of the GAO Library, whose 

research assistance and help in locating materials and court cases greatly 

facilitated our work on this report: librarians, Rennese D. Bumbray, 

Maureen K. Cummings, Eunwa Kim, Bonita L. Miller, Audrey L. Ruge, and 

Kimberly R. Walton; and technicians, Patricia A. Givens, William R. Haynos, 

Geraldine B. Howard, Edna Legrant, Alice E. Paris, and Ester L. Saunders. 

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