26 THE CKNTRAIv RIO GRANDE VAELEY 



purposes. There has been a rush of land hunters to the district and 

 practically all vacant public land in the immediate vicinity of the well 

 has been filed upon. The railroad, however, in the event of development 

 of an extensive artesian water supply, will probably put its vast holdings 

 on the market at low prices. 



Some idea of the vast area of the three counties described herein is 

 had from the fact that they constitute about one-twelfth of the whole 

 area of New Mexico. New Mexico's total area is 122,000 square miles. 

 The total area of these three counties is 10,785 square miles. The area 

 is divided as follows : 



County. Sq. Miles. Acres. 



Bernalillo 1,240 793,600 



Sandoval 3,833 2,453,120 



Valencia 5,712 3,655,680 



Total 10,785 6,902,400 



Of this area of approximately 7,000,000 acres, 1,900,000 acres are 

 open to entry under the United States land laws; 541,456 are within 

 Pueblo Indian land grants; 1,623,172.97 are within the Spanish or 

 Mexican land grants, which have been confirmed by the United States 

 court of private land claims (Grants made by the Spanish or Mexican 

 governments, prior to the American Occupation, and since confirmed by 

 Congress). The remainder, approximately 3,000,000 acres, is held in 

 private ownership, within the Santa Fe railroad grants, and within three 

 national forests, the Jemez, in Northeast Sandoval county, the Manzano 

 No. 1, in Eastern Bernalillo and Valencia and the Manzano No. 2, or 

 Mt. Taylor in Northern Valencia. 



As has been said, of the more than half a million acres of land in the 

 three counties now held in Pueblo Indian grants, much of the agricultural 

 land will eventually be opened to cultivation by American farmers. For 

 iMniAM lAMnc AMH the present, howevcr, the land cau neither 



MMUIAIM LAIMUb AIMU ^^ ^^i^ ^or leased and lies idle, save for 



PRIVATE LAND GRANTS ^^''^ small portion cultivated or used as 



pasture by the Indians. More than 

 a million and a half of acres in the three counties are within 

 private land grants and much of this land also lies in the Rio 

 Grande valley. At one time these grants were a serious obstacle 

 to the development of the country. Many of them, however, have 

 now been partitioned, or are in course of partition by the courts; 

 several have been purchased outright by individuals or corporations who 

 are selling them off in small tracts, as in the case of the Antonio Sedillo 

 grant on the Rio Puerco, or holding them for an advance in land values. 

 Since their confirmation by the United States court of private land 

 claims, absolutely clear title to all of these grants can be given, and they 

 are rapidly breaking up, being now rather a stimulant toward than an 

 influence against rapid development. The history of these land grants is 

 of intense interest and could be made to fill several large volumes. Some 



