The Polvadera Grant

As settlement of the Rio Arriba area north of Abiquiú progressed in the 1750s and early 1760s, two large private grants were made to the cousins, Juan Pablo and Pedro Martín Serrano (the surname was subsequently shortened to Martín and eventually became Martinez), both of whom were lieutenants in the Abiquiú militia. Juan Pablo was also Lieutenant Alcalde of the Pueblo of Santa Cruz. In February of 1766, Pedro Martín requested the Piedra Lumbre Grant and Juan Pablo Martín petitioned for the Polvadera Grant. The lands covered by these grants had been used as common grazing lands by settlers from nearby communities as well as influential Spaniards. The making of these grants to two individuals had the effect of privatizing large amounts of acreage that were used as commons or ejidos by communities such as the Pueblo of Abiquiú.
In his petition for the Polvadera grant, Juan Pablo Martín told Governor Tomás Vélez Cachupín that he had a large family and a substantial amount of livestock and needed the requested land to support his family and pasture his livestock. He also indicated that there were some patches of cultivatable land, but most of the grant was pasture land. The boundaries requested were: north, the junction of Polvadera Arroyo with the Pedernal Arroyo; south, the head of the Polvadera Arroyo; east, the straight road crossing the west boundary of the Pueblo de Santo Tomás de Abiquiú and running south towards the Cerro Pelado; and west, the arroyo of the Cerro Pedernal. Juan Pablo estimated that the land requested extended one and a half leagues from east to west and three leagues from north to south, which testifies to the aridity of the area on which he proposed to pasture 100 cattle, 18 horses and 400 goats and sheep. Juan Pablo claimed that this land did not include the ranches of Joaquín or José Riano. He also stated he had other lands at Santa Cruz de a Cañada and Abiquiú, but told Governor Vélez Cachupín that most of his Abiquiú land was lost to the1754 grant made by Governor Vélez Cachupín to the genízaro pueblo of Santo Tomás de Abiquiú. Juan Pablo Martín's request was granted by Governor Vélez Cachupín on 19 February 1776, with the proviso that he remain on the land for four continuous years and that his settlement not impair the rights of adjoining established settlements including the Indians of the Pueblo of Abiquiú.
No objection was made by the neighboring settlers and Juan Pablo took possession of the land. However, almost immediately after the grant was made, Miguel Montoya and Santiago Montoya of the Rio Abajo settlement of Atrisco filed a complaint against Juan Pablo Martín claiming that his grant included lands that had been granted to their father in 1740. In his response to the complaint, Juan Pablo asserted that the Montoyas had not settled on the land for four years as required in the Recopilicion de Leyes de los Reynos de las Indies and had not resettled the land after it was abandoned because of Indian attacks in1750. Martín claimed that the land was therefore available for settlement and granting as public domain. In his decision, Governor Vélez Cachupín acknowledged the extenuating circumstances caused by the Indian attacks and granted the Montoyas a piece of land in the Rio Abajo to settle the lawsuit. The Montoyas then withdrew their complaint and the Polvadera Grant was reaffirmed in the name of Juan Pablo Martín.
There is no evidence that Juan Pablo maintained residence on the Polvadera Grant for four years. In fact, the entire Abiquiú area was abandoned by Hispano settlers at least several times during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries because of Indian attacks. Moreover, the population of Abiquiú grew from just 20 families in 1744 to over 1,900 settlers in 1808. It is clear from Governor Vélez Cachupin's grant that the Polvadera grant was made to Juan Pablo Martín as an individual and was clearly a private grant at the time it was made, but based upon the size of the grant, and the fact that it was clearly meant to provide for the subsistence needs of an extended group of settlers which Juan Pablo headed, it later became a quasi-community grant rather than a private grant.
The adjudication of the Polvadera Grant was extremely complicated and clouded by a number of questionable legal decisions. These decisions ignored the settlers who settled on the arable tracts and/or used the ejidos or quasi-common lands to graze their livestock. The legal proceedings essentially dispossessed these people of their land and possessory rights.
The legal maneuvering began on 17 March 1876 when attorney Samuel Ellison filed a petition for the confirmation of the grant with the Surveyor General of New Mexico on behalf of the heirs and legal representatives of Juan Pablo Martín, none of whom were listed by name. It has been inferred that Ellison represented Manuel García, Donaciano Gallegos, and Francisco Manzanares, who, according to conveyances in the Surveyor General's records, had purchased the grant from the three alleged grandchildren of Juan Pablo Martín, none of whom actually resided on the grant and whose genealogy was questionable. Ellison claimed there were no adverse claimants, thus ignoring all the families who farmed the irrigated tracts, grazed the pasture lands, and were apparently unaware of the proceedings.
Surveyor General Henry M. Atkinson affirmed the legitimacy of the grant and recommended that it be confirmed by Congress. Based upon his favorable recommendation and the size of the preliminary survey by the Office of the Surveyor General (35,924.14 acres), García, Gallegos, and Manzanares were able to turn a substantial profit by selling their holdings to a land speculator Frank Perew from Buffalo, New York, and his brother-in-law William Currier. García, Gallegos, and Manzanares acquired the entire grant for approximately $206. Gallegos and García (who had originally purchased his interest in the grant in partnership with Ramon Salazar), sold their interest to Perew for $5,200 and Manzanares sold his interest to Currier for $6,000. Currier, representing both his own and Perew's interests, then set up a cattle ranching operation on the grant and attempted to evict the Hispano settlers and stockmen as trespassers.
Final confirmation of the grant by Congress, however, was delayed for several reasons. First, J.M.C. Chávez of Abiquiú protested approval of the preliminary survey claiming it included a portion of the Pueblo of Abiquiú Grant, which he claimed. Second, in 1888, Surveyor General George W. Julian, reexamined the claim, and while he determined the title was genuine, he raised two objections to the confirmation: 1) the petition did not specifically name the claimants; and 2) the claimants had not demonstrated that they met the conditions of settlement set forth in the original grant. Confirmation of the grant was therefore left pending until after the establishment of the Court of Private Land Claims in 1891.
On October 27, 1892, Frank Perew, who had subsequently purchased what he believed was the remaining portion of the grant from a tax sale in 1888, filed suit in the Court of Private Land Claims seeking confirmation of the grant for himself, the heirs, and successors of Juan Pablo Martín. Several individuals sought to intervene, claiming that they also held interests in the grant. While the intervenors' petition should have raised some question about the legitimacy of Perew's title to the land, the Court of Private Land Claims confined itself to considering the authenticity of the grant. The Court acknowledged the legitimacy of the expediente (the original title documents). and confirmed the grant as a private grant to the heirs, legal representatives, and assigns of the original grantee. The government attorney, Mathew Reynolds, appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court claiming the Court of Private Land Claims could not confirm the grant in the abstract, but must identify the specific individuals to whom the grant belonged. His appeal was dismissed without explanation. While the question of who actually owned the grant remained unanswered, Perew tried to operate the grant as its sole owner.
In 1898 United States Deputy Surveyor Clayton G. Coleman undertook a survey of the grant, interviewing three people concerning the boundaries as part of the process. During these interviews all three claimed ownership of irrigated plots within the grant. These affidavits, however, failed to raise government concern about adverse possessors on the grant.
Upon examination of the survey, agents for the Office of the Surveyor General and the Court of Private Land Claims found that the 35,761-acre survey conflicted with the eastern boundary of the Abiquiú Grant. Nevertheless, Surveyor General Quinby Vance accepted and approved the survey in August of 1899. A patent was issued in October of 1900 stating that the land was patented to "the parties legally entitled to receive same," and since Perew had died by this time his wife Alice received the patent as sole heir of her husband's estate.
The ranching operation had proven to be a financial disaster however, and the family's attempts to exclude Hispano settlers and grazers were largely unsuccessful. Alice Perew, therefore, decided to sell the grant. She was "chagrined to find that a title clearance would be necessary before a sale could be effected."
In 1901 the heirs of two of the men who had conveyed property to Perew filed suit in Rio Arriba County District Court claiming one-third ownership of the grant. The litigation lasted until 1915 when the Court awarded two-thirds of the grant to Alice Perew, one-sixth to the heirs of Manuel García, and one-sixth to the heirs of his initial partner Ramon Salazar. That decree was appealed, however, and further litigation took three years, but the District Court's decision stood. The grant was then sold for $1.50 per acre to Felix García and Emmet Wirt, who owned a mercantile operation in Lumberton, New Mexico.
During the 1930s the federal government acquired the Polvadera Grant as part of a Hispanic land reform program. "The idea was to make land available for rhe exclusive use of local villagers…" and "…included low interst loans and grants, cooperative marketing associations and land acquisition by the government to allow local residents preferential grazing rights." After World War II, however, pressure from commercial livestock and timber interests who wanted access to these lands, forced the Farm Security Administration to turn over all the land grants which they administered through this program (including the Polvadera), to the Forest Service. The Forest Service initially claimed it would administer the lands "…with due regard to the purposes for which the land was originally acquired by the United States in its program of rural rehabilitation", but it soon abandoned this policy and made the former grant lands available to commercial grazing and timber interests mostly, as well as large scale local stockmen and foresters.

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