Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1894-03-02
The Albuquerque Citizens Charge
Against COchiti Titles Critically
Examined Into.
The Mines Not On Grant-Some
History and Official Data of
Note to the Miners.


Hon. N. B. Laughlin. According to the
best information obtainable and based
upon the reports of Surveyors General
Atkinson and Julian, the original grant
embraced only about 10000 or $4,000
acres in the Cochiti canon, said to have
been granted for agricultural purposes
only. The petitions presented to the land
court ask for confirmation of 104, 544.24
acres.
The petition of Whitney, ct al, claims
that the original grant was made in 1928
to Antonio Lucero by Bustamente, the
civil and military governor of New Mex
leo, which at that time was an ultramarine
province of Spain, and that jurldical
possession was given to the grantee
August 6, 1928, and Lucero thereby &C.
quired right to the lands claimed.
Gen. Atkinson in his reports comments
severely on
THE VALIDITY OF THE CLAIM.
He says that what is called by the
claimant the original muniments of title
in the case is badly mutilated and that
the signatures of the officials, if it con-
tanned such, are torn off. The document
ia an unsealed paper and contains the re-
puted signature of Antonio Lucero to
the petition. He further says that there
Is no record, evidence or reference to
such grant in the old Spanish or Mex.
lean archives on file in the Office of the
surveyor general, and the title of the
claimants rests solely upon the copy Of
this
ALLEGED ANCIENT DOCUMENT
and the oral proofs offered of alleged long
continued possession. And the surveyor
general adds, where there is no record O.
grant in the archives and the case restl
solely, as this does, upon an alleged copy, i
is, under the circumstances, an imperativ,
duty to require the clearest and most sat
isfactory proofs of the validity of It'll,
or claim presented in this form.
Gen. Atkinson questions the prophet,
of the
ADMISSION OF THE DOCUMENT,
alleged by the claimants to be copy 0
the original title, as evidence for an,
purpose and particularly to show title
He knew of no rule that would warran
the acceptance of the document as evid
ence.
The petitioners claim an area covering
500 square miles of territory and extend
ing from the Rio Grande on the east an
west to the top of what is now specifcall
l. he ko,, &c
of the present pueblo of Jemez, or abou
forty miles east and west and from lively
to thirteen miles in width. At the tim
of the grant, 1928, no large tracts wer
alienated in fee and
lI IT is NOT POSSIBLE
that such large area as that claimed b.
the petitio ners was SO granted. 1t wa
the custom in those days to give the ap
plicant usufruct of considerable tract
out of the royal domain for pastural pur
poses, and small tracts for cultivation an,
pasture of small herds were granted.
The basis of the present large CLAIM
rests upon the probable usufruct granite,
the claimants. When Surveyor Genera
Pullen resurveyed the land he included
in the survey the usufruct, as we'll as tn
original small grant, thus giving tn
claimants grounds for claiming larg
tract which, according to Gen. Atkinson
they
HAD NO LEGAL TITLE TO.
Atkinson was disposed to approve tn
claim 80 far as it related to the land
actually occupied and reduced to per
sonal, uninterrupted use by and possession
by Antonio Lucero, his heirs and assigns
Under the existing status of affairs, &C
cording to the best obtainable authority
prospectors have perfect right to pros
pect upon the claim. There is an except
ing clauee in an combinations by the U
s. land court which says that the deere
or confirmation
SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED
as comforting any right or title in tn
grantee to any gold, silver or quicksilve
mines or the minerals contained within
the exterior boundaries of the grant.
In view of the above facts and the fac
that this alleged grant conflicts with an,
number of smaller grants of prior date
many of which have been confirmed, i
may we'll be imagined that the miners
will not be deferred in making Locations
by any cry of grant" raised by the AL
buquerque Citizen or others.
Again, the New MEXICAN finds that th
mines now opened and being worked ar
H. NOT ON ANY GRANT.
An examination of the records in. the sur
veyor-general's office shows these loca
lions to be on public domain, q striI
six miles wide by twenty long, extending
west from the Rio Frijoles to the Canol
de San Diego grant, confirmed, twent!
miles to the west, and lying between
the north boundary of the Canada d.
Cochiti grant, as claimed, and the soutf
boundary of "Baca location No. l." con
firmed. In this strip of Uncle Sans do
main are the greater number of new
locations, but some of them run south
west six to nine miles and cross the nortl
boundary line of the alleged Canada d,
Cochiti grant.
CocHITI CRUMBS.
w. u. CampDei' ana d. d. Martln, hlco
Colo, miners, came in last night over thu
narrow gauge, and after Quitting her,
to-day left for Cochiti.
Major Elias Brevoort says that by taking
the trail from Cienega across the mes.
via Titilla peak, Cochiti can be reached
in twenty-five miles from Santa Fe.
It IS stated that Hon. Sam. Allerton
after whom the new town in the distric
is named, with N. K. Fairbanks and Mar
shall Field, of Chicago, are expected tt
visit the camp in short time.
The opposition of certain Albuquerqu s
parties and the cry of grant, vii
scarcely prevent the Cochlti Transports
ton company from constructing good
road into the new Ell Dorado.