The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1904-07-12
OLD MAXWELL LAND GRANT.
Progress or Rock Island Means Open
ing 20 Settlement. Romantic
History Recalled.

i09s%@@ ~ nG@M 4@t@HG W@aH& 0p@H-
ing 70 Settlement. Romantic
History Recalled.
The completion OF the Rock ISL
and's new line of $50 miles connect
ing Dawson. N. NJ, with Tncumcari
where it joins the main line of the
road between Chicago and Ell Paso,
last year, marked another step in the
opening of the old Maxwell land grant
to public improvement and utility.
The history of this grant of 1,714,-
165 acres. one of the largest and most
valuable for which a patent was ever
issued by the United States. is most
romantic. The grant, which was stu
ated partly in Colfax county, in nor
thern New Mexico, and partly in Las
Animas county, in the southern part
of Colorado. comprised land held in
turn by four governments.
Before the Spaniards conquered
Mexico the land was held by the Az
tee tribes, and many relics of these
ancient people and of their c~iviliza-
ton are still found within its bounda-
ries. The land was finally taken by
Spain, and. it's ancient were
exterminated. Then the Spanish rul-
ers gave place to those of the Mexi-
can republic, and they in turn sur
rendered it to the United States af-
ter the Mexican war.
Some years prior to the last change
in ownership, however. the republic
of Mexico granted the land afterward
comprised in the Maxwell grant to
two Mexicans, Carlos Beaubien and
Guadalupe Miranda. for settlement.
Beaubien was a naturalized Mexican.
having been a Frenchman by birth
and one of the hardy voyagers who
acted as agents of the American Fur
Company in the early days of the
West.
Companion of Kit Carson.
Another employee of the fur compa-
ny and an associate of these men was
Lucien B.. Maxwell, a native of I'LL
nois. Maxwell soon gained the reputa-
ton of being a shrewd and daring
guide, even among such men as Kit
! Carson, and he accompanied that ia
nous frontiersman on his expedition
: with John c.. Fremont to California,
which made the whole party known
: throughout the whole country Upon
his return from this expedition Max
well married a daughter of Beaubein
and settled down to ranch life and
soon became as widely known as a
ranchero as he had been as a guide.
! After the death Of Beaubien he pur-
chased the interests of Miranda and
: the other heirs of the old man. and
thus became what is said to have
: been the largest land owner in the
United States. Maxwell was the pro-
! prietor of land enough to have Sc
cured him any title he might wish
: for had he been living in a monarchy,
but as it was he vas content to live
the life of a simple American citizen.
In 1860 the congress of the United
States confirmed the title to the grant
and in 1879 the government issued a
patent to it, which was confirmed by
a decision of the Supreme Court in
April, 1887.
The land was finally transferred by
Maxwell to the Maxwell Land Grant
ICompany, whose general offices were
at Ration, N. NJ. and whose general
manager was formerly NJ. P. Pels of
Denver.
Under this management the land
was developed. large reservoirs and
systems of bitches we're constructed
which watered an area of about fifty
thousand acres. the water being Sc
cured from the Cimarron, yermeho
and Red rivers. Farms were fenced
on. ranch buildings constructed and
an era of prosperity began for the
district.