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53-541: Mora River , also known as Rio Mora , is a stream in Mora and San Miguel County, New Mexico . Its headwaters are on Osha Mountain of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains . The river flows downstream primarily through private land, but there are areas for fishing brown and rainbow trout below on public land in the town of Mora . It is a tributary of Canadian River . It was called Rio Mora or Rio de lo de Mora on early maps. There

106-562: A citizen's arrest of the district attorney "to bring attention to the unscrupulous means by which government and Anglo settlers had usurped Hispanic land grant properties." An armed struggle resulted in which two persons were wounded and Tijerina was arrested and sentenced to prison. In 2014, also in Rio Arriba County, the Forest Service was accused of using "Gestapo-like tactics" to prevent local residents from accessing

159-434: A female householder with no husband present, 38.7% were non-families, and 33.2% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.92. The median age was 46.0 years. The median income for a household in the county was $ 37,784 and the median income for a family was $ 42,122. Males had a median income of $ 42,992 versus $ 42,630 for females. The per capita income for

212-567: A large percentage of the grant land to Anglos and public domain national forests . Hispano protests, legal action, and occasional violence to regain or retain their traditional rights to usage of grant lands continued into the 21st century. Juan de Oñate established a Spanish colony in New Mexico in 1598. The initial settlement comprised more than 500 soldiers and settlers, including at least 129 men of fighting age, ten Franciscan missionaries, and more than 7,000 head of livestock. New Mexico

265-723: A possession of the United States after the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). From 1692 to 1846, the Spanish and Mexican governments awarded land grants to individuals, communities, and Pueblo villages. The U.S. recognized for adjudication 295 grants in New Mexico, four of which extended into southern Colorado, and three grants entirely in southern Colorado. The land grants later judged by the U.S. to be legal ranged in size from 200 acres (81 ha) for Cañada Ancha (now

318-522: A suburb of Santa Fe ) to 1,714,765 acres (6,939.41 km ) for the Maxwell Land Grant on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains extending northward into Colorado. Although the terms of each grant varied they fell into two broad categories: grants to communities and to individuals. Community grants included those made to Pueblo villages. The procedure for attaining a grant was for communities or individuals to submit petitions to

371-521: Is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico . As of the 2020 census , the population was 4,189. Its county seat is the census-designated place (CDP) Mora . The county has another CDP, Watrous , a village, Wagon Mound , and 12 smaller unincorporated settlements . Mora became a formal county in the US, in what was then the New Mexico Territory , on February 1, 1860. Ecclesiastically,

424-506: Is a separate stream Rio Mora that is a tributary of Pecos River . The headwaters are located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Chacon. The stream flows south through Mora, east through La Cueva and Watrous to the confluence at Canadian River, north of Sabinoso . Coyote Creek, which runs through Coyote Creek State Park , is a tributary of Mora River. Mora County, New Mexico Mora County ( Spanish : Condado de Mora )

477-595: The Compromise of 1850 , the New Mexico Territory , with smaller boundaries, was formalized on September 9 of that year. A US Army installation, Fort Union , was built in 1851 in Mora Valley. It encroached on 8 square miles of private lands of the Mora Grant for its entire span of operation, without permission of or compensation to the local land owners. This led to a protracted legal controversy, reaching all

530-585: The Mexican Revolution . These newcomers mostly settled far south of Mora County, though it remained primarily Spanish-speaking, as it was still largely populated by the same, now-expanded, families who had settled the area three-quarters of a century earlier). On February 21, 1916, Special Master William E. Gortner sold off unallotted common lands of the Mora Grant to the State Investment Company and Edward B. Wheeler in an auction at

583-678: The Ojo Caliente area, and later still from the southern part of New Mexico, moving on from the San Miguel del Vado Land Grant , and also coming in via Las Vegas, New Mexico . The families each received a strip of property by a September 28, 1835, land grant of Centralist Republic of Mexico Governor of New Mexico Albino Pérez . The grant gave land title for over 800,000 acres (1,250 square miles; approx. 323,800 hectares, or 3,200 km ) in Mora Valley to various families willing to relocate; estimates vary from 25 to 76 families. When

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636-508: The Republic of Texas seceded from Mexico on March 2, 1836, it claimed but did not actually control eastern New Mexico, including what is now Mora County. The town of Mora was raided unsuccessfully in 1843 by a group of freebooters from the more narrowly defined Republic of Texas, on the pretext of stopping cattle rustling but with a clear intent of horse theft and taking the local women and children as slaves . The annexation of Texas by

689-815: The Taos Revolt (1847), which saw the murder of several large land grantees. Attempts to expel both Hispano and Anglo settlers from the Maxwell Land Grant resulted in violent resistance from 1866 until 1899. Causes of the famous Lincoln County War (late 1860s to 1881), involving, among others, Billy the Kid ; and the Colfax County War (1873–1888) included land disputes. Las Gorras Blancas (the White Caps) in San Miguel County from

742-496: The US Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 1,934 square miles (5,010 km ), of which 1,931 square miles (5,000 km ) is land and 2.3 square miles (6.0 km ) (0.1%) is water. The highest point in the county is the summit of Truchas Peak at 13,102 feet or 3,993 metres. As of the 2000 census , there were 5,180 people, 2,017 households, and 1,397 families living in the county. The population density

795-622: The Ute , Navajo , and Apache . Hispano settlers had occupied lands within the Mora Valley without legal title ever since Governor Juan Bautista de Anza of Nuevo México (then under the authority of the Spanish Empire ) made peace with the Comanches in the late 18th century, opening up the east side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains for settlement. The Mora Valley then became a travel-way for various Spanish explorers and others. It

848-475: The 1690s and grants were made to 23 villages. The usual practice was for the Spanish to grant ownership of land in common to the residents of a pueblo. The standard size of a Pueblo land grant was one league in each cardinal direction from the church on the central plaza in the Pueblo. The acreage of each grant was, thus, four square leagues, later determined to be 17,712 acres (7,168 ha). A buffer area around

901-762: The 1880s until the 1920s cut pasture fences and committed several violent acts. The shadowy La Mano Negra (the Black Hand) flourished in Rio Arriba County in the 1920s and 1930s to protest Anglo ownership of the former common lands of the Tierra Amarilla Land Grant . In 1967, the Alianza Federal de Mercedes , led by Reies Tijerina , raided the Rio Arriba County Courthouse. The objective was to make

954-536: The 18th century and community grants in the 19th century. Community grants were made to groups of settlers. Each settler received a house site and an irrigatable plot for agriculture. Most of the land, however, was held in common for all members of the community. Uses made of the common land included pastures for livestock, water, timber, firewood, hunting, fishing, foraging, and rock quarrying. Settlers owned their house sites and agricultural plots after four years of residence. The settler could sell his land and house, but

1007-579: The 20th century. In a series of decisions in the early 20th century, the U.S. reversed course and asserted legal guardianship of Pueblo land and forbade Pueblo peoples from selling land without Congressional permission. Legal disputes concerning land ownership and the respective rights and obligations of the Pueblos and the U.S. government continued into the 21st century. The Spanish and Mexicans also granted land to individuals—or in some cases two people—as private property. The grantee could do as he wished with

1060-557: The 21st century. In the legal controversies about land grants and their owners, millions of acres of land have ended up as the property of wealthy Anglos or in the public domain, mostly as National Forests , of the United States. In 1854, the U.S. established the Office of the Surveyor General for New Mexico to investigate land grants and recommend their disposition to the U.S. Congress. Claimants of land grants had to petition

1113-605: The Governor of New Mexico who after investigation and consultation with local authorities approved the grant. The boundaries of a grant were often vague, "a river, a ridge, an arroyo," etc. Between 1854 and 1904 the U.S. government adjudicated and "confirmed" (recognized the validity of) 154 of the grants in New Mexico and three in Colorado. Forty-seven New Mexican grants were to individuals, 84 were grants to communities, and 23 were grants to Pueblo villages. Confirmed grants in

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1166-488: The National Forest for traditional uses such as grazing livestock. In Colorado in 2021, a judge settled a long-running dispute in which descendants of settlers on the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant sued for access to the former common lands of the grant (the property of an Anglo rancher) by deciding in favor of the descendants. The following list of notable land grants in New Mexico and Colorado highlights some of

1219-412: The Pueblo land prohibited outsiders from grazing their livestock and growing crops. Nevertheless, encroachments on Pueblo land occurred. The sale of grant lands to non-Pueblos was permitted, but with restrictions. When the United States acquired New Mexico, it initially regarded the Pueblos as full citizens and not entitled to any special protection. Encroachment on and sales of Pueblo land continued into

1272-513: The Surveyor General to confirm their grant, but the claimants often did not speak English and were suspicious of and unfamiliar with the American legal system—so different from Spanish and Mexican systems. Many of the claimants were poor and unable to pursue the lengthy and expensive legal process of getting a claim confirmed. Moreover, the first and succeeding Surveyors General had little knowledge of Hispano land practices and customs. "The situation

1325-501: The United States adjudicated the grants and confirmed 157 as valid. The peace treaty between the U.S. and Mexico in 1848 guaranteed the right of former Mexican citizens to their land, but the adherence to that language was inconsistent and compromised by U.S. legal actions which were often corrupt and biased in favor of Anglo claimants and Anglo land practices. By the early 20th century, the Hispano grantees and their descendants had lost

1378-698: The United States on February 19, 1846, and US General Stephen W. Kearny 's taking of Santa Fe, New Mexico in August of that year, made these lands subject to American control under the Kearny Code and the US provisional government of New Mexico , but the area remained in the minds of many long-term residents part of the Republic of Mexico under President Santa Ana . During the Mexican–American War , beginning on April 25, 1846, much of New Mexico including Mora County

1431-426: The age of 18 living with them, 50.5% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.7% were non-families. Of all households, 26.90% were made up of individuals, and 10.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.08. In the county, the population was spread out, with 26.70% under

1484-465: The age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 24.3% from 25 to 44, 26.1% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 102 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.2 males. The median income for a household in the county was US$ 24,518, and the median income for a family was $ 27,648. Males had a median income of $ 24,483 versus $ 18,000 for females. The per capita income for

1537-597: The area. The provisional government's first legislature met on December 6, 1847, beginning American civil government in the region. The Mexican–American War ended February 3, 1848, with Mora Valley and rest of the region then under formal US control, as the Mexican Cession of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo relinquished all claims by Mexico to lands north of the Rio Grande . Still claimed by state of Texas until

1590-543: The common property could not be sold. The primary economic activities of the settlers were subsistence agriculture and raising sheep or cattle. Many of the community grants were made for the purpose of defending the New Mexican frontier from Indian raids. After a durable peace with the Comanche was negotiated in 1786, settlement of frontier areas accelerated. Spanish community grants to Pueblo villages dated as early as

1643-618: The county is within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe . County population peaked at approximately 14,000 circa 1920, declining to about 4,000 to 5,000 since the 1970s; the 2018 estimate was 4,506. Prior to Spanish conquest , the Mora area was Native American country. Although not an area of heavy settlement by stationary tribes such as the Puebloans , the Mora Valley was often used by nomadic nations, including

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1696-525: The county was $ 12,340. About 20.90% of families and 25.40% of the population were below the poverty line , including 25.90% of those under age 18 and 18.40% of those age 65 or over. As of the 2010 census , there were 4,881 people, 2,114 households, and 1,295 families living in the county. The population density was 2.5 inhabitants per square mile (0.97 inhabitants/km ). There were 3,232 housing units at an average density of 1.7 units per square mile (0.66 units/km ). The racial makeup of

1749-667: The county was $ 22,035. About 10.5% of families and 11.9% of the population were below the poverty line , including 10.8% of those under age 18 and 20.6% of those age 65 or over. Mora County has voted for the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in every election since 1976; prior to that, it leaned Republican. School districts: 36°01′N 104°56′W  /  36.02°N 104.94°W  / 36.02; -104.94 Spanish land grants in New Mexico After its conquest of New Mexico in 1846,

1802-411: The county was 70.9% white, 1.3% American Indian, 0.7% black or African American, 0.3% Asian, 23.5% from other races, and 3.3% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 81.0% of the population. In terms of ancestry, and 0.8% were American . Of the 2,114 households, 26.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.5% were married couples living together, 10.9% had

1855-438: The court decided, was held by the sovereign, i.e. the government of the United States. The consequences of losing access to resources on former common lands were severe for many Hispano settlements. The small garden plots individuals and families retained were inadequate for their subsistence. Hispanos resisted the land policies of the United States. Among the movements and events at least partially related to land disputes were

1908-492: The creation by the U.S. government of the Court of Private Land Claims in 1891 which established an adversarial system in which a panel of five judges decided land grant disputes. However, the attorney's office representing the United States had far greater legal resources than the claimants. In 1897, the U.S. Supreme Court made a ruling which also disadvantaged claimants. Title to the common lands of Spanish and Mexican land grants,

1961-505: The door of the San Miguel County Courthouse. Without access to the grazing and timbering lands, many residents sought work outside Mora. In April 2013, Mora County became the first county in the United States to ban oil and gas drilling on public and private lands. The modern county seat , Mora , is a census-designated place , and consists of four neighboring settlements and three plazas . According to

2014-547: The encomienda system but rather made grants of land to communities (including Pueblo villages) and individuals. Subsequently, the Spanish and their Pueblo subjects were forced into becoming allies due to raids, often retaliatory, by the surrounding Indian tribes, especially the Comanche who after 1706 became a major threat to the New Mexican colony. In 1821, Mexico (including the province of New Mexico) attained independence from Spain. The government of New Mexico continued to make grants to individuals and communities until Mexico became

2067-413: The exception of land and mining in some areas—for an increasing population of Anglo-Americans and ambitious Hispano. Ownership of land was the vehicle for wealth and prominence in the American territory of New Mexico (1848–1912). The United States agreed in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) that all residents of former Mexican territory had the right of "retaining the property which they possess in

2120-591: The fort eventually closed in 1891, still without restitution to land-owners, despite the Kearny Code, Hidalgo Treaty, and other agreements supposedly guaranteeing continuity of Spanish and Mexican land-grant rights. New Mexico (with reduced land area) became the 47th US state on January 6, 1912, despite concerns in Congress that the population was insufficiently assimilated into American culture, especially after an influx of Mexican refugees from 1910 onward, fleeing

2173-475: The grantee the right to exploit Pueblo labor and extract tribute, but did not give the grantee legal ownership of the land itself. The encomienda system was one of the grievances which led to the Pueblo revolt (1680–1692) and the expulsion of the Spanish from New Mexico by the Pueblos. After the Spanish reconquered New Mexico in 1692–1693, their land policies became more conciliatory. They did not attempt to reimpose

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2226-492: The land after the terms of the grant were met. In the case of some grants, such as the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant in southern Colorado, the individual grant functioned similar to a community grant. The grantee recruited settlers by providing them with tracts of land for agriculture and homes and access to common lands. During the last years of Mexican rule, the New Mexican governor made several large individual grants to reward supporters and cronies, bolster possession of land on

2279-448: The periphery of New Mexico, and counter growing U.S. influence, including fear of invasion of New Mexico by either the U.S. or Texas which was independent from 1836 to 1845. New Mexico in 1850 had a population of 56,223 mostly Spanish-speaking Hispanos and detribalized American Indians (" genizaros "), and including about 10,000 Puebloans. A salient fact is that it was an austere land in which sources of potential wealth were scarce—with

2332-403: The said territories, or disposing thereof, and removing the proceeds wherever they please." The history in New Mexico and southern Colorado of land grants since the treaty consists of attempts to reconcile U.S. land laws with those of Mexico and adjudicating disputes between grant owners and claimants and the largely Anglo new arrivals to the territory and state. These disputes have continued into

2385-557: The state originally comprised about 12,000 sq mi (31,000 km ) of land of which 98 percent was lost to the original owners and their descendants during and since the adjudication period. As of 2015, about 35 of the community grants in New Mexico continued to function, had boards of trustees, and owned in common about 200,000 acres (810 km ) of land. Grants had varying terms and conditions in their charters, but can be roughly divided into land grants given to communities and to individuals. Individual grants were more common in

2438-626: The way to the General Land Office, the Secretary of War, and the US Congress; Nevertheless, the nearby fort and its garrison provided a stable source of income to local farmers, and several grist mills were founded in Mora, including a successful one opened in 1855 by regional trader and Taos Revolt US volunteer cavalry veteran Ceran St. Vrain . The US county of Mora was established in the territory on February 1, 1860. A church

2491-474: Was 3 people per square mile (1.2 people/km ). There were 2,973 housing units at an average density of 2 units per square mile (0.77/km ). The racial makeup of the county was 58.88% White , 0.10% Black or African American , 1.14% Native American , 0.12% Asian , 36.97% from other races , and 2.80% from two or more races; 81.64% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 2,017 households, out of which 31.20% had children under

2544-676: Was at the time 600 miles (970 km) north of the nearest Spanish settlement of Santa Bárbara, Chihuahua . The remoteness of New Mexico from the seat of government in Mexico remained a characteristic of the settlement during the next two and one-half centuries. In 1598, about 50,000 Puebloans inhabited the valley of the Rio Grande River and its tributaries in New Mexico. They were sedentary agricultural people living in about 60 villages, mostly near sources of irrigation water. Their numbers decreased to about 16,500 by 1680. The decline

2597-418: Was built in the Mora Valley village of Chacon in 1864, reflecting additional settlement into the area. The Mora Grant / Fort Union land dispute was exacerbated in 1868 by an order of President Andrew Johnson that established a government timber reservation that encompassed 53 more square miles the private grant land (the entire Turkey Mountains sub-range of the Sangre de Cristos). After being rebuilt twice,

2650-471: Was due to war, Spanish exploitation, and epidemics of diseases with European origins. Surrounding the New Mexico colony of Spanish settlers and Pueblo peoples were nomadic and semi-nomadic Indians : Apaches to the east and south, Navajo to the west, Ute to the north, and in the 18th century Comanche to the north and east. In the early years of the colony, Spanish governors rewarded their supporters and soldiers in New Mexico with encomiendas which gave

2703-430: Was not permanently inhabited by colonists until the early 19th century. The written history of the settlement of Mora dates to Christian missionary church-building in 1818, three years before Mexican independence from Spain . Mora valley was more formally and broadly settled in 1835. The settlers came primarily from Las Trampas , but also from Picuris and Embudo , then from Santa Cruz de La Cañada , Taos , and

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2756-495: Was ripe for fraud." The results were "large grants owned by speculators were erroneously confirmed; other grants which should have been confirmed were not...[and]...some valid grants were confirmed, but to the wrong people." The notorious Santa Fe Ring of lawyers and politicians, often in league with the Surveyors General, abused the adjudication system. The shortcomings of the Office of Surveyor General resulted in

2809-645: Was subject to the military occupation of United States under martial law . During the Taos Revolt of the war, Mexican-nationalist Hispano and Puebloan militia fought the United States Army , repelling a small force in the First Battle of Mora on January 24, 1847, only to endure the village and surrounding ranches, farms, and crops being burned to the ground in the Second Battle of Mora on February 1, effectively ending active rebellion in

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