The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 105, July 2001 - April, 2002 Page: 19
741 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Rediscovery of the Tiguas
Pueblo governors some measure of authority and sovereignty.9 Shortly
after acquiring statehood, Texas appointed a commission to visit El Paso
County and investigate the Spanish land grants. Upon recommendation
of the commission, the state legislature enacted a series of
Relinquishment Acts between 1854 and 1858 formally recognizing these
grants. The acts confirmed that the town of Ysleta was indeed situated
upon the same land relinquished by the king of Spain in 1751.10 The
1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-
American War, ensured the protection and continuation of all Spanish
land grants with the United States' agreement to honor all Mexican
and Spanish laws regarding private property. According to an 1849
report prepared by John S. Calhoun, the Indian agent for the territory
of New Mexico, the Ysleta Grant encompassed 46,240 acres. With the
grant confirmed by the 1854-1858 Relinquishment Acts and protected
by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the final step to ensure ownership
was the issuance of a patent title by the state. While the state of Texas
authorized the issuance of the title, its fate is unknown.' Furthermore,
it is unlikely that the Indians were even aware of their rights under the
Relinquishment Acts or the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.12 Taking
advantage of rare press coverage concerning the role of the Tiguas in
Texas's 1935 centennial celebration, tribal Cacique Manuel Ortega
told the El Paso Herald that in addition to a Spanish land grant of "15
square miles," the Spanish government gave the Tiguas what he
described as "all these plains that lie north of the valley." Ortega
lamented that the title to the land had been lost and stated, "Our
neighbors soon learned of the loss, and, denying our ownership, gradu-
ally usurped our rights."1
Establishing the Tiguas' claim to the Ysleta Grant, however, was not the
immediate concern of Diamond, the Tigua tribe, and local authorities on
the eve of the Tigua recognition case. The impoverished Indians living
on the outskirts of El Paso sorely needed protection from city taxation,
and federal acknowledgment appeared to be the only available avenue.
Congress, however, had long been silent on the issue of recognition, so
neither Diamond nor the government had a precise idea of how the
Tiguas should proceed. Utterly lacking in precedent or clear federal
recognition criteria, the foundation of Diamond's case became proving
Raymond D. Apodaca, "Founding of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo," typescript, March 1991,
Southwest Reference Room (El Paso Public Library, El Paso, Texas), 11.
0 Minter, The Tigua Indzans, 35-36.
" Apodaca, "Founding ofYsleta," 12.
," Minter, The Tzgua Indians, 36.
'" ElPaso Herald, Aug. 29, 1935.2001
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 105, July 2001 - April, 2002, periodical, 2002; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101222/m1/27/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.