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Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.
--Abraham Lincoln

History

History in Río Arriba County goes back ten thousand years or more in time when early man roamed the mountains and plains and followed the watercourses to hunt now-extinct animals. Gradual evolution through the centuries and immigration found the Río Grande River Valley and many of its tributaries occupied by Indian cultures, chiefly the Pueblos, at around 1000 to 1200 A.D. This large Puye cliff-dwellings, typical of this era, is dated at around 1300 A.D. This advanced culture practiced agriculture, excelled in weaving and pottery, constructed elaborate dwelling structures and had developed a meaningful religion. Until the arrival of the Spanish Europeans, migrant arrivals on the Southwestern scene periodically harassed the northern pueblos, chiefly the Navajos and Apaches.

The first European to arrive in what is now New Mexico was Cabeza de Baca who was shipwrecked on the Gulf of Mexico in 1528 and spent the next eight years wandering across the new land and crossing the southern part of the present state before arriving in Mexico in 1836. Neither he nor the famed later explorer, Coronado, reached the Río Arriba County area. However, an explorer of the crossing over, came down the eastern slope of the Jemez Mountains, probably by the Yuqueyunque, which is still used in the Indian languages with the term shortened to Yunque and given to the area where they established Oñate's capital. After the excursion by Barrios-Nuevo, no record exists of Spanish exploration in this area northward up the Río Grande to explore as far as Taos. Gaspar Castano de Sosa made an unauthorized expedition to the Indian villages of the upper Río Grande and Pecos in 1590, who was put in chains upon his return for having gone out of Mexico without official permission.

An epic poem, "Historía del Nuevo Mejico" by Gaspar de Villagra, a soldier in Juan de Oñate's party, records the first colonization in New Mexico in 1598, near the present San Juan Indian Pueblo. Oñate, a man of independent wealth, and married to a granddaughter of Herman Cortez, received approval from the Spanish monarch for his proposal to colonize New Mexico. He assembled troops numbering four hundred men, 130 of whom brought their families, equipment and livestock with them. The colonists marched northward up the Río Grande from their entry into the territory near the present site of El Paso, Texas. Searching for the best situated land, and meeting no opposition from the native Indians, they reached Barrios-Nuevo's pueblos of Yuque-Yunque the same summer. Accorded a friendly reception by the Tewa Indians, the Spanish settlers renamed the pueblo "San Juan de Los Caballeros" and founded New Mexico's first European settlement that was also designated the Capitol of the new land.

The walled Capitol grounds retained a three-story main building of pueblo style architecture with primitive artillery guarding the gates. Oñate brought seven thousand head of sheep and cattle with him to start the grazing industry in New Mexico. Ten Franciscans accompanied the expedition and a church, built with the help of 1500 Indians, was ready for worship within three months of the arrival of Oñate. Three years later, to avoid increasing friction with the Indians, the colony moved a short distance west of San Juan and rebuilt at the confluence of the Río Grande and Chama Rivers. The colony received the name of San Gabriel and survived the first winter with considerable difficulty and abandonment of the venture by a number of the settlers. Oñate and a few loyal followers stayed on and were joined by other settlers out of Mexico. Oñate served as governor for the Spanish Crown until 1608 when he was succeeded by Pedro de Peralta, and in 1610 the Capitol was moved from San Gabriel to Santa Fe where it has remained.

Spanish rule in the new territory began to meet with increasing Indian hostility that culminated in the great Pueblo rebellion of 1680, and the Spanish being driven southward to Mexico. Twelve years later the Spanish returned under the banner of Don Diego de Vargas and the Indians, divided by dissensions and lack of leadership among themselves, once again surrendered to Spanish rule. With this, settlers slowly returned to the Río Grande Valley to reclaim homes and lands.

Some five miles up the Santa Cruz river from the present site of Española, the Village of Santa Cruz was founded in 1692. Farming operation fanned out in the valley around the village and it became a main stopping point en route between Taos and the Capitol at Santa Fe.

There was gradual settlement along the watershed during the 18th century as the Spanish crown encouraged colonization of its new lands by land grants and other inducements. Ownership of the lands possessed and cultivated by the Indians was acknowledged by the Spanish in the form of specific grants. Additionally, land was distributed by the Crown among the Spanish themselves with three different types of land grants: those made to encourage settlement of a specific area, those made to influential individuals and those made to land investors. The confusion and conflict ion of title and use dating from this era have, in spite of extensive legal proceedings, contributed to the lack of merchantable land titles at present. The fertile valleys of Río Arriba County beyond the menace of the Navajos supported thriving populations. While encouraging settlement by its own people, the Spanish government remained hostile to trade or communication with other European groups in the new world and maintained guard of its frontiers. This policy of insolation led to development of a singular culture, aspect of which are still dominant in parts of northern New Mexico to the present Lt. Zebulon Pike, the explorer was taken prisoner for trespassing on Spanish territory and brought down the Río Grande for interrogation in Santa Fe before imprisonment in Old Mexico.

In defiance of Spanish policy, the early explorers and mountain men traveled and trapped through northern New Mexico, trading with the citizens. After Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, dissatisfaction with administration and policy carried out by the far away Capitol in Mexico City brought rebellion by the settler and pueblos north of Santa Fe, in 1837. A fierce battle was fought between the rebels and Mexican troops near Santa Cruz. In 1944, the Mexican government took steps to setup political division in the new territory and Río Arriba County was established.

Considerable dissatisfaction also stemmed from the inability of the government to furnish protection from the Navajo Indians who raided the outermost settlements taking captives and livestock and at times forced abandonment of some of the peaceable pueblos and when settlers of the lower Río Grande had to seek protection on occasion at the Capitol in Santa Fe.

Disillusionment with the existing government contributed to a relatively simple conquest of the territory by General Kearney who took over this area for the United States in 1846. In 1847 rebellion erupted again and another battle was fought in the Santa Cruz area between United States troops and the settlers and Indians. In 1850, during the presidency of Millard Fillmore, the territory of New Mexico was created by Act of Congress.

Río Arriba was one of the original nine counties into which the Territory was divided by the act of January 9, 1852, and its boundaries are there described as below: On the south from the Puertacito of Pojuaque, drawing a direct line toward the west in the direction of the mesilla of San Ildefonso; from the mesilla, crossing the Río del Norte toward the west, and continuing until it reaches the boundaries of the Territory; drawing a direct line from the said Puertacito de Pojuaque toward the town of Cundiyo toward the south, continuing the same line until it reaches the highest point of the mountain of Nambe; thence, following the summit of the mountain, toward the north, until it reaches the southern boundary of the county of Taos, this shall constitute the eastern boundary, and on the north the boundary of the county of Taos, and on the east the boundary line of the Territory. As thus described, the old county comprised virtually the northwestern portion of the Territory, and it was not until the formation of San Juan county to the west, in 1884, that it assumed its present bounds.

It was not until the end of the Civil War when the government was able to take steps to halt the raiding of the Navajos that the Pueblos and settlers in Río Arriba County gained security and the area began to prosper. On November 1, 1864, President Lincoln had signed the land patents issued to the various pueblos for their land holdings and had personally given the ceremonial canes of office to all pueblos governors at a ceremony in Washington, which also helped stabilize the situation.

The eighties, which saw mining exploration throughout the mountain west and an era of railroading, brought prospectors into the mountains of northern Río Arriba County. The Denver and Río Grande Western Railroad was extended south from Alamos, Colorado over the top of the divide in the area of Cumbres Pass and down to Chama in 1880. Track was laid north westward through Lumberton and Dulce to connect with Durango, Colorado in 1881. During the same time, track was laid down the Río Grande from Fort Garland, Colorado to Española, which was the name given the village that had previously been known as "El Punto de la Vega de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe," and the railroad was christened the "Chili Line" in deference to the excellent chili crops produced in the lower Río Grande Valley.

The 90's brought ranching to Río Arriba County, with the Chama grazing country coming into prominence and large spreads throughout the county. The coming o f the railroad to furnish dependable heavy transportation also gave impetus to two new industries in the county: lumbering and coal. The extensive coal beds in the Lumberton area were brought into production and the forests yielded timber to make Chama a major shipping point. The railroad to Española served the valley for shipping of agricultural products supplied by farms prospering on fertile sild and expansion of irrigation. Bradford Prince located on fifty acres at Angostura, halfway between Española and Chamita, and along with his other extensive interest, made a beginning of the fruit industry by planting orchards.

Carson National Forest and Santa Fe National Forest were established under the jurisdiction of the Federal government for the protection of timber reserves. New Mexico was admitted to the Union as the 47th State in 1912 during the presidency of William Howard Taft.

Culture

It is quite apparent that the cultural influences composing customs in Río Arriba County come from an array of backgrounds, the most influencing are Pueblos Indians, Navajos, Mexicans, Spanish, Anglo settlers and the French influence introduced by Bishop Lamy, in the 1840's. The Catholic Church is mentioned because of its influence pre-Lamy era when the Franciscans ministered to Indian and Mexican cultures.

The Spanish influence predominated culture development for over two hundred years.The Spanish Culture now practiced in Río Arriba County has been affected by the many other lifestyles which have touched upon the development of this so-called sleeping giant. It is truly a configuration of cultural pluralism with a Spanish and Indian cultural forerunners. The collision of these two worlds has emerged into a historical melting pot community.

The commonality of all cultures, whether introductory, as the case with the Anglo settlers and the French Catholic and the established Mexican and Indian cultures was a love for extended family and the family's relationship to the land. Similar familial values are still practiced by residents of Río Arriba County today. Through the 200+ years of Spanish European influence, culturally and economically, century old traditions and strong family and community customs continue - living off the land, through agriculture, arts and crafts, lumbering and mining. The Federal government greatly reduced Río Arriba's way of life when governmental forces directed the movement of forest lands. Indigenous people were forced to primarily live off of agricultural land, when before they relied on forest and agricultural resources. 

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