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| Cows by the Rio Grande |
Great Divide Pictures LLC
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Los Caminos Antiguos
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Segment 5: A Breeze of Freedom
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| To encourage settlement, several land grants, including the large Sangre de Cristo grant were made in the San Luis Valley by the Mexican government in 1843 and 1844, and by 1850, settlement on the land dedicated by the grants was well under way. During this period, most of the settlers built their homes around the traditional plaza. Almost entirely dependent on their own resources, the settlers spun and wove fabric for clothing, bedding, and rugs from the wool of their own sheep and goats. They raised cattle, hogs, and chickens and their crops consisted chiefly of corn, oats, wheat, beans, potatoes, and chile peppers. Farming tools and techniques were primitive but reliable. Commerce, in the way of mills and mercantile stores, was also established. |
| Since most of the settlers were Catholic, the need for formally organized parishes with resident priests was a high priority. The first church to be established in the region was Our Lady of Guadalupe, which was opened in 1857 in Conejos. Others followed as faith and hard work became the keys to survival in this beautiful, but often harsh new land. |
| By the 1860s, the persistent movement to make new and lasting homes in the San Luis Valley had transformed it into an area typical of rural northern New Mexico. Small plazas dotted the landscape and the valley seemed to have fulfilled its role as a frontier for the expansion of Spanish New Mexico. |
| Although the United States had granted liberty and protection to Mexican citizens living in the Southwest at the conclusion of the Mexican War, land grants made by the Mexican government required special adjudication by the U.S. Government. In 1860, Congress confirmed the large Sangre de Cristo grant. But in 1862, William Gilpin, former governor of the Colorado Territory, began to buy up portions of the Sangre de Cristo land grant. Believing that there were rich deposits of silver and gold in the mountains of the San Luis Valley, Gilpin and a group of overseas investors bought land for as little as a few cents per acre. In many cases, the land purchased was already occupied by Mexican settlers who claimed rights to their land under the terms of the earlier land grants. By 1865, Gilpin had acquired control of the entire Sangre de Cristo grant and had begun marketing the land for sale. Largely unsuccessful in his attempts to sell the land, much of it was given to Gilpin's cronies and land promoters. Disputes between the Anglo landowners and Mexican settlers arose almost immediately. Although many settlers were allowed to maintain control of their property, the new landowners took control of water rights as well as timber and grazing rights. Additionally, many of the settlers lost land and homes because they did not understand taxation and other government regulations placed upon them when the U.S. government took control of the land. The fact that the regulations were written in the English language created another problem for many of the Spanish-speaking settlers. The settlers, however, did not give up their land and freedom without a fight. |
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