Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-2024
Abstract
El Güique and Estaca are twin communities just north of the confluence of the Río Grande and the Río Chama. Like other Spanish colonial settlements in the historic Río Arriba, acequia-based agriculture was essential for food production in this high desert region of the northern Río Grande. Along with the construction of acequias, molinos (grist mills) were built to grind wheat into flour as part of the subsistence farming economy of the times. While acequias were communal, molinos most often were constructed and operated as private enterprises by local millers like the case of Juan de la Cruz Borrego and his mill. Materials used for mill construction were gathered from the surrounding area such as forest timbers for logs and porous lava rocks for the grinding stones. The components inside the mill houses were hand crafted by the use of simple tools: adz, awl, hammer, chisel and saw. The molino at El Güique-Estaca serves as an example of folk architecture in terms of its engineering design and appropriate technology suited to the environment.
Recommended Citation
Rivera, José A. Ph.D. "The Juan de la Cruz Molino: Folk Architecture at El Güique-Estaca New Mexico." (2024). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/arch_fsp/13
Included in
Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons, Landscape Architecture Commons, Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons
