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·
-LAND RIGHTS COUNCIL
PRESENTS
A FORUM ON LAND, TREATIES
AND LAW
February 24
1
2001
8: 00
A.
M. -
R
-
EGISTRATION
8: 30
A.
M.
PRESENTERS
AFTERNOON OPEN FORUM
SANGRE DE CRISTO PARISH HALL
SAN LUIS, COLORAD
'
O
FOR MORE INFORMATION
CONTACT 672-3650 OR 379-0876
Sangre de Cristo grant was
cradle ofHispanic civilization
BY
FREDERICK SANCHEZ One hundred and sixty years after Don Diego De Vargas led Spanish settlers back into New Mexico to take back the land they had lost when the Indians rebelled against them in 1680, a new migration of Hispanics startedto settle what is now Costilla County.
San Juan de Los Caballeros was the first capital of Spanish New Mexico, but the capital changed in 1 L 10 when
Don Pedro de Peralta, the third
gover-nor of New Mexico, founded the new capital of Santa Fe.
In 1692, Don Diego De Vargas, united the exiled Spaniards at
Guadalupe del Paso and prepared to
lead them back to New Mexico. Since
In 1598', the Spaniards had first ar- there were not too many of the original
rived in New Mexico under the lead-. New Mexican Spaniards left, De Vargas
ership of Juan de Onate. The· Span- added soldiers from Spain to the native
iards arrived with their soldiers, ox- New Mexicans who were in exile after
carts· and livestock at Caypa, one of · the 1680 revolt of the Indians. He also
two Pueblo villages north of present- gathered 67 Spanish families living in
day Espanola. They moved t<? nearby the City and Valley of Mexico, families
Yungueingge (which is Tewa for fromZacatecasandtheNewMexicans
mockingbird place) and founded the from Guadalupe del Paso, said
first settlement called San Gabriel del Martinez,quotingFray Angelo Chavez, Yunque, which became knowri as San · a historian of New Mexico.
Juan de Los Caballeros. When theSpaniardsretumed to New The name "Los Caballeros" means · Mexico under De Vargas in 1692, they
"gentlemen or gentle people" and was were allied with some of the Indian given to San Juan to honor the Indians Pueblos who were being harassed by
living in the area who had been gentle the Utes,NavajosandApaches.
There-and helpful to the first Hispanics in the conquest of New Mexico by the
Span-. area, said San Pedro h~storian Maria iards was peaceful and their
settle-Clara Martinez. men ts took firm roots.
, Thelfispanics Uved in New Mexico Many of the Spaniards intermarried for 80 turbulent years with the Native- with Native-Americans and became a Americans who were getting tired of new nation of Hispanics who
con-witnessing the "outsiders" becoming stantly: moved north, following the
too numerous and who were taking -Rio Grande Del Norte.
over much of the land treasured by the On Dec. 30, 1843, the Sangre de
Indians as their own. During the eight Cristo Grant, which consisted of over
decades of Spanish rule, the Spaniards one million acres in Colorado and and their Catholic priests were over- New Mexico, wasawardedtoNarciso zealous in converting the Indians to Beaubien and Stephen Luis Lee, who Catholicism. The Indians also felt they took possession of the land on Jan. 12, were being enslaved by the Spanish 1844.
economic system ·and in 1680, the Another Indian rebellion, the Taos
Indians led by the Taos Pueblo united Rebellion, started on Jan. 19, 1847.
andrebelledagainstthenewsettlers- Narciso Beaubien and Stephen Luis expelling them from New Mexico in a Lee were among the 150 N w Mexi-bloody revolt. cans killed during the short-lived
re-hellion, said Martinez.
In 1851, Charles Beaubien, Narciso's father who had inherited
Narciso's portion of the Sangre de
Cristo Grant and who had purchased·
Lee's share from the Lee estate, re-cruited Hispanics from villages in
northern New Mexico and moved into
what is now Costilla County. San Luis de La Culebra was founded in April 1851. During the same year, San Pedro and San Pablo were also settled, said Martinez. SanAcacio and Los Vallejos were settled about 1852-53, she said.
The new settlers of the Sangre de Cristo Grant knew that water was nec-essary for life to continue in the new Hispanic villages and ditches were constructed to provide water to the settlements.
The ditches constructed are: Prior-ity Number 1: SanLuisPeople'sDitch is the oldest priority in Colorado and was built by April 10, 1852; Priority Number 2 was the San Pedro Ditch that was also constructed in April 1852; Priority Number 3 was the Acequia Madre Ditch built in 1853; Priority Number4 was the Sanchez Ditch built in 1854; Priority Number 5 was the Vallejos Ditch built in 1854; Priority Number 6 was the Manzanares Ditch built in 1854; Priority Number 7 was
the Acequiacita Ditch built in 1855; Priority Number 8 was the San Acacio Ditch built in 1856; Priority Number9 was the Madriles Ditch built in 1856; Priority Number 10 was the Cerro Ditch built in 1853; Priority Number
11 was the San Francisco Ditch built
in 1853, said Martinez.
By 1860 there were approximately 979 men, women and children living in the Precinct of Culebra (Costilla County), she said.
BILLOWENS
.
GovERNOR
· .
SAN LUIS, OLDEST TOWl'f IN CO~OIUDO MONTH
April, 20~/
.
JJ'HER£4.S, the Town o/San Luis, Colorado's oldest town, wqsfounded
April S, JBS
J.
by Spanish
colonists who migrated from
Northern
New
MWCO:and
·
·
..
·
WHER£4.S. the grantor,
Charles J!i.e.auhien,
following the
Pf11tffll
of
the
land
·. The
Cukb~
'v{-1]11.,_1c>t/J.t.11jo1,1,ls'±~
LA r,trl"!cal'ldgr,uits system,
gave
to tl,e people
o l ~
the grant o/La Vega. a
.
common grazing area _which
is
the fast remaining-_!rue
commons
in the
_.
Unit~
~ate..f;;'
a1Jd
.
.WHEREAS, thcfood+the music.
·
) --;n/.
hf ,'l("f'jViA dth~language~
the
ce/ebratio~·,~the
.
ire'/,.' S)'.ntM
_ historic buildill~aJI stan.
a in tribute to a rich
and
beautiful
heritage;
·
and
.
.
.WHEREAS,
·
the San Luis
M11seum
and
Cultural
Cente.r exhibits the cofonial
,u,d post-colonial
artifacts
of the historicafdevelopment
_
ofthe area:
and
WHEREA.S, the StaJions of 17ie Cross Shrine /ocate.d
at
the crossroads of the
Los Caminos
Antlquos
Scenic and Historic
Byway, provides a
powerful
.
r~igious and cuJIUTaJ experience;
Now Therefore,
I.
Bill
Owens, Governor
of
the Slate
of
C.o/orado,
do
hereby
'
proclainiAprll. 2001 •
.
as
.
.
SAN LUIS, QLDEST
.
TOWN IN COLORA.D0I!Jilfl>~<5N1H
In
the
Slate of
Colorado.
"' . . .
