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The Santa Fe National Forest Land Claims Archive: a Study of Homestead Files and Entryman Applicants 1906-1937

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The Santa Fe National Forest Land Claims Archive: a Study of Homestead Files and Entryman Applicants 1906-1937 University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository The Rio Chama Basin: Land, Water and Center for Regional Studies Community 4-4-2016 The aS nta Fe National Forest Land Claims Archive: A Study of Homestead Files and Entryman Applicants 1906-1937 Roberto H. Valdez Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/crs_rio_chama Recommended Citation Valdez, Roberto H.. "The aS nta Fe National Forest Land Claims Archive: A Study of Homestead Files and Entryman Applicants 1906-1937." (2016). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/crs_rio_chama/2 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Center for Regional Studies at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Rio Chama Basin: Land, Water and Community by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REV 03.24.16 The Santa Fe National Forest Land Claims Archive: A Study of Homestead Files and Entryman Applicants 1906-1937 By Roberto H. Valdez1 1Research Assistant, Center for Regional Studies, University of New Mexico, supported by National Science Foundation grant 101516 to New Mexico State University with a sub-award to the University of New Mexico, 2013-2014 program year. “...y a lo que ube un Domisilio que llo poseo aqui en la floresta de 160 acres me recorto tamas gefe de florestar 57.5...” “...and concerning now a homestead that I possess here in the Forest of 160 acres, the Forest Chief cut away 57.5...” [Letter of Julio Hurtado in New Mexico Spanish dated June 7, 1917, addressed to Joseph C. Kircher, Forest Supervisor concerning his ongoing compliance to obtain a homestead or “domicilio” for land atop La Mesa de la Agua del Corral (Glorieta Mesa). Although he applied for 160 acres, 57.5 were declared not chiefly valuable for agricultural purposes. Julio eventually received a patent for 102.50 acres in 1920 (Hurtado, Julio HE 015586)]. 0 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................. iii INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................... 1 SCOPE OF THE STUDY............................................................................................................ 4 METHODOLOGY....................................................................................................................... 6 HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1862.................................................................................................... 18 FOREST HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1906.................................................................................... 20 STEP 1: FORM 253 APPLICATION UNDER ACT OF JUNE 11, 1906.................................. 23 STEP 2: FORM LETTER TO CLAIMANT FROM THE DISTRICT FORESTER.................. 26 STEP 3: EARLY EXAMINATION, FORM 110 REPORT ON AGRICULTURAL HOMESTEAD APPLICATIONS.............................................................................................. 26 STEP 4: FORM 107. DETERMINE IF THERE WERE HYDROELECTRIC POWER POSSIBILITIES.......................................................................................................................... 33 STEP 5: COMPASS SURVEY AND FORM 220 PLAT……………………………………. 36 STEP 6: LETTER TO SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR...................................................... 37 STEP 7: LETTER TO THE APPLICANT FROM THE DISTRICT FORESTER.................... 38 STEP 8: TRANSFORMATION FROM A SETTLEMENT CASE TO AN ADMINISTRATIVE CLAIMS CASE………………………………………………………. 38 STEP 9: CROP AND RESIDENCE REPORTS........................................................................ 43 STEP 10: NOTICE OF INTENTION TO MAKE PROOF........................................................ 47 STEP 11: NOTICE FOR PUBLICATION................................................................................. 48 STEP 12: FORM 102 REQUEST FOR REPORT ON AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT………………………………………………………………………………... 50 STEP 13: FORM 655 REPORT OF AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT................................ 51 STEP 14: NO PROTEST LETTER............................................................................................ 56 i STEP 15: FINAL CERTIFICATE AND PATENT.................................................................... 57 THREE-YEAR HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1912........................................................................ 59 THE ADDITIONAL HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1904............................................................... 60 SMALL HOLDING CLAIMS ACT OF 1891.......................................................................... 62 EXPEDITING HEIRS OF LAND GRANTS UNDER SMALL CLAIMS ACT..................... 71 SQUATTER CLAIMS.............................................................................................................. 80 FOREST LIEU SELECTION ACT OF 1897.......................................................................... 82 THE ARID LANDS HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1909................................................................ 87 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ENTRY SURVEY AND LEGAL SUBDIVISION.................... 88 REASONS FOR EARLY ABANDONMENT......................................................................... 91 CLAIMANTS WHO CULTIVATE LESS THAN THE REQUIRED AREA....................... 91 FAMILY NEEDS AND PERSONAL PROBLEMS .............................................................. 92 PREFERENCE RIGHT............................................................................................................ 94 DANGER CASE...................................................................................................................... 95 SCHOOL SECTIONS AND FOREST HOMESTEADS....................................................... 96 CLAIMANTS WHO KEPT A HOUSE IN TOWN............................................................... 100 HEARINGS BEFORE THE U.S. LAND COMMISSIONER............................................... 100 A CLAIM REVOCATION BY THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR: THE CASE OF TOMAS VELASQUEZ………………………………………………………………… 101 WIDOWS COMPLETING THE HOMESTEAD ENTRY.................................................... 103 MILTARY SERVICE GIVES CREDIT TO ENTRY........................................................... 109 U.S. LAND OFFICE SHOWS LENIENCY TO HOMESTEADERS................................... 111 FOREST SERVICE GENERALLY STRICT, RELUCTANTLY LIENIENT..................... 113 A STRONG NEED FOR BOUNDING: THE STATE OR ABSTRACT SPACE CONCEPT…………………………………………………………………………………. 119 PLACE NAMES AND PLACE NAMING............................................................................. 124 ii HISPANIC ETHNIC MAJORITY IN THE SANTA FE NATIONAL FOREST LAND CLAIMS ARCHIVE………………………………………………………………. 130 HISPANICS ACCUSTOMED TO CLOSE COMMUNITY LIFE HALFWAY TRANSFORMED INTO RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM………………………………….. 136 CONCLUSIONS CONCERNING THE FOREST HOMESTEAD ERA.............................. 140 AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………. 145 ACKNOWLEGMENTS…………………………………………………………………… 145 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………... 146 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 A threshing machine for beans ................................................................................... 3 Figure 2 The “McClendon database.”......................................................................................... 7 Figure 3 The grid system of township, range, and section system of land surveys for land under the administration of the Santa Fe National Forest………………………………………. 8 Figure 4 ArcMap software with a view of the plotted points made from the Santa Fe National Forest Land Claims Archive into a shapefile………………………………………… 9 Figure 5 Google Earth view of “SFNF_Homesteads_draft.”..................................................... 10 Figure 6 Example of Google Earth draft file used to improve the utility of the Archive through experimentation………………………………………………………………………. 11 Figure 7 An example of the Forest Service bureaucratic jargon on a document........................ 12 Figure 8 Boundaries of the Santa Fe National Forest, depicted using Google Earth................... 17 Figure 9 The System of Rectangular Surveys.............................................................................. 19 Figure 10 Photo of the condition of the land chosen by Victoriano Esquibel (1914)................. 22 iii Figure 11 Form 253 of Fermín Gonzales for land near Rendija Canyon and the present day Guaje Pines Cemetery of Los Alamos, New Mexico.................................................................... 24 Figure 12 Verso of Form 253, featuring a township grid filled in for prospective homesteader Macedonio Gonzales for a claim at Gallina, NM (1908)………………………… 25 Figure 13 Form 110 Report on Agricultural Homestead Applications for the cases of Ciriaco Herrera at Cañada Bonita (1909)………………………………………………………. 27 Figure 14 Photo of a forest burn area applied for by Nicacio Quintana (1914).......................... 31 Figure 15 Map Sheet of David Quintana from Pojoaque, NM who made settlement on Mesa del Medio (present day North Mesa of the City of Los Alamos)…………………….. 33 Figure 16 Form 107 Power Possibilities, Ramón López claim, Cuba, NM (1913)..................... 35 Figure 17 Map Sheet Form 220 for the homestead of Juan C. Tafoya, Regina, NM.................. 37 Figure 18 The Juan B. Valdez dry-farm homestead. Google Earth image, 1922 patent document and photo of Juan as he appeared circa 1910……………………………………….. 41 Figure 19 Crop and Residence Report for the year 1917
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