The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 40, July 1936 - April, 1937 Page: 65
348 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Mexican Land Grants in the Arkansas Valley
within the limits of the twenty-two square leagues allocated to
Vigil and St. Vrain or their legal representatives.
Instructions from the General Land Office to the register and
receiver of the land office at Pueblo were to the effect that prefer-
ence was to be given to the derivative claimants in case of conflict
between them and "pre-emption or homestead settlers, by reason
of the latter having occupied lands of the former, and made
actual improvements thereon prior to February 25, 1869," pro-
vided such derivative titles were not in excess of the twenty-two
square leagues.17 However, the language of the act of 1869 makes
it clear that such preference was to be given only to such deriva-
tive claimants as were actual settlers on the land and should
establish their claims to the satisfaction of the register and receiver
in the Pueblo office within one year's time, and that the claims of
homesteaders and pre-emptors even within the twenty-two square
leagues (approximately 97,651 acres) constituting the confirmed
claims of Vigil and St. Vrain were to be given precedence over
all claims except those of actual settlers who had derived titles
from said claimants.
The Vigil and St. Vrain interests were not at all satisfied with
the action of Congress in confirming only twenty-two square
leagues, and, through their attorneys, contended for the confirma-
tion of the original grant in its entirety.l8 However, Congress did
not recede from the position assumed in the amendatory act of
February 25, 1869. In July, 1873, on the basis of information
"Letter from the Commissioner of the General Land Office to the Regis-
ter and Receiver of the Publo Land Office, August 23, 1870-on file in the
Pueblo Land Office; also supplementary letter of March 11, 1871, pub-
lished in the Colorado Chieftain, March 31, 1871.
"Beginning in the Las Animas Leader of August 2, 1873 (page 2), and
continuing through the year, Vincent St. Vrain, as the executor of the
last will and testament of Ceran St. Vrain, serves notice upon all persons
settled without authority in any part of the original grant, that they
will be treated as trespassers and held liable for any diminution of the
value of said lands. The same paper (September 3, 1873, p. 2) published
several columns of the arguments of the Vigil and St. Vrain attorneys in
favor of confirmation of the entire grant. They cited the decision of the
United States Supreme Court in the case of John Maguire vs. May S.
Tyler (8 Wallace, 652), in which it was held that "complete titles to land
in the territory ceded by France to the United States, . . . , needed no
legislative confirmation, as they were fully protected by the 3rd Article of
the treaty of cession;" and the analogy between this article and the 8th
article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was pointed out. It was
alleged, also, that other large grants had been confirmed in New Mexico
without reference to the Mexican colonization law of 1824.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 40, July 1936 - April, 1937, periodical, 1937; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101099/m1/73/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.