History of the Boundaries of the Pueblo of Sandia, 1748-1860

Authors

Stanley M. Hordes

Publication Date

3-1-1996

Comments

45 p. ; Report filed in Pueblo of Sandia v. Babbitt, et al. in United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Abstract

The purposes of this report are threefold: (1) to analyze the boundaries of the Pueblo of Sandia, as articulated and interpreted by Spanish, Mexican and U.S. Territorial authorities from the establishment of Sandia Pueblo in 1748 until the marking of the boundaries by the Office of Surveyor General in 1860; (2) to define the term, sierra madre in its proper historical context; and (3) to ascertain whether in 1748 Sandia Pueblo was populated by descendants of the original Sandia Pueblo people who had migrated to the Hopi country after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, or, on the other hand, the pueblo was settled by other Tigua and Hopi Indians. This report has been prepared in order to provide information concerning a claim by the Pueblo of Sandia to lands currently administered by the Secretary of Agriculture as part of the Sandia Mountain Wilderness Area. The issues addressed in this report relate to elements of the pueblo's land claim, specifically: (1) that the survey upon which was based the original 1864 patent from the United States Government to the Pueblo of Sandia was incorrect in its depiction of the Spanish land grant, resulting in the diminution of the pueblo's lands; (2) that the use of the term sierra madre in the original Act of Possession referred to the eastern boundary of the grant as being the highest crest of the Sandia Mountains, and (3) that Federal action to convey the claim area amounting to 10,000 acres to the Pueblo of Sandia would restore to Indian ownership lanes traditionally and culturally used by the Sandias prior to 1748. For the reasons noted below, the historical record does not support these elements of the Pueblo of Sandia land claim.

Language

English

Document Type

Court Filing

Recommended Citation

Hordes, Stanley M.. "History of the Boundaries of the Pueblo of Sandia, 1748-1860." (1996). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/law_certificate_indianlaw_sandia/58