Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1894-09-27
RIGHTLY SETTLED.
The Miners Win and the Great Co.
chit Mineral Belt is All
Right.
Rejoicing in This City and the Cochit
Camps-Other Grant Cases
Decided To-day.

The land court this morning rendered
the people of New Mexico a great SER
vice in the decision of the Cochiti cases
without a moment of unnecessary delay.
The argument OF the last of these cases
was completed only last Tuesday and
while it was announced by the court that
It's decisions would be rendered at an
early date it was hardly thought that it
would be able to arrive at a conclusion
thus early. The decisions, however, came
this morning and as result very large
tract of extremely valuable land has been
RESTORED TO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
The practical effect of the decision will
be the Inauguration of an era of great
prosperity for Cochiti, for Santa Fe and
for New Mexico.
As stated in these columns few days
ago there were five conflicting claims to
the Cochiti property. The first of these
was the Rito dc los Frijoles grant, in
which George N. Fletcher and Others were
claimants. The tract claimed under this
grant started at the Rio Grande and ran
westward into the Cochiti district. This
claim was argued ably for the petitioners
some days ago by Messrs. j. H. Purdy
and j. W. Vroom. The court, however,
rendered decision this morning
REJECTING THE FRIJoLEs CLAIM
and taking the position that there was no
grant, and that the right to settlement
was merely permissive on the part of
the government.
The next claim was the Borrego Springs
grant, the western part of which was
claimed to coincide with the Cochiti
property. The court confirmed this
morning only that part of this claim ly-
ing south of the Cochiti grant. This con-
frmed territory begins at the southern
boundary of the Cochiti Indian lands,
runs north two leagues and west from the
Jemez pueblo two leagues. The confr-
nation covers 10000 acres, whereas the
original claim was for 10000 acres.
Judge Laughlin and Mr.. j. II. Purdy rep
resented the claimants, Jose Albino Baca
and others, in this case.
The third conflicting claim was the
San Jose Springs grant, which lay mostly
southwest of the Oochiti grant. This was
confirmed according to the boundaries in
the original act of juridical possession,
the confirmed territory amounting to
four square leagues. None of this prop
erty, however, was confirmed to the ex
tent of conflicting with the Cochiti graut.
The fourth conflicting grant, the Pc
ralta claim,
COVERING ABOUT 100000 ACRES
and including all the foregoing tracts,
was rejected yesterday.
These four decisions cleared the way
for the issue between the government and
the holders of the Canada de Cochiti
grant; and it was just here that the battle
royal of the whole controversy took place.
The decision in this claim was looked for
ward to with the greatest interest, as it
was regarded as the Oldest and most for
midable that the government would have
to contend with. As announced yester-
day the main point of contention was as
to the location of the north boundary, the
government contending that this boun-
Diary was located at the rnined pueblo of
Cochiti, in the Cochiti canon, near Aller-
ton, and the claimants contending that
the northern boundary was the Pueblo
Viejo, six miles farther north. The decl-
sion of the court was sweeping victory
for the government and the miners, for
not only did they hold that the northern
boundary was the old pueblo de Cochiti,
near Allerton, but they held that the
western boundary, as we'll, runs through
the same point north and south. This
decision was rendered by Judge Sluss and
was concurred in by the whole court.
THE rrYRoT
of this is to make the confirmed Cochiti
grant the property bounded on the south
by the north boundary of the land be-
longing to the Cochiti Indians; on the
east by the Rio Grande; on the north by
line running east and west through the