Editing San Miguel County, New Mexico (section)

==History==
San Miguel County was created in 1846 by the conquering United States' army in the [[Mexican-American War]]. New Mexico became part of the United States in the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]] of 1848. The boundaries of the country often changed until 1923 when its current boundaries were established.<ref>{{cite web |title=New Mexico Individual County Chronologies |url=https://digital.newberry.org/ahcb/documents/NM_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm |website=New Mexico Atlas of Historical County Chronologies |publisher=The Newberry Library |access-date=10 January 2025}}</ref>

In 1835, prior to the American conquest, the Mexican government [[Land grants in New Mexico and Colorado|granted land]] to individuals and communities in what became San Miguel County. The largest grant was the Las Vegas Grant of {{cvt|431654|acre|ha}} (674 sqmi).<ref>{{cite web |title=Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo |url=https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-01-951 |website=General Accounting Office |date=2001 |page=148 |access-date=5 May 2023}}</ref> Most of the grant land was designated as [[common land]] to be used by all the grantees and their descendants. The grant lands quickly attracted settlers, mostly Hispanics, to the frontier of New Mexico in a region still menaced by [[Native Americans of the United States|Native American]] (Indian) raids. The [[Santa Fe Trail]], first travelled in 1821, passed through the county, linking New Mexico to the United States.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Knowlton |first1=Clark S. |title=The Town of Las Vegas Community Land Grant: An Anglo-American Coup d'Etat |journal=Journal of the West |date=1980 |volume=19 |page=14}}</ref><ref name="Oklahoma">{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/B/BE009.html|title=Becknell, William biography|publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society website|access-date=11 July 2012|archive-date=3 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103055637/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/B/BE009.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The establishment of [[Fort Union National Monument|Fort Union]] nearby in 1851 increased the security of the region and provided employment for residents and a market for Las Vegas products.<ref name="Gomez">{{cite journal |last1=Gomez |first1=Placido |title=The History and Adjudication of the Common Lands of Spanish and Mexican Land Grants |journal=Natural Resources Journal |date=1985 |volume=25 |issue=4 |page=1071 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24883375 |access-date=25 December 2024}}</ref> The coming of the railroad in 1879 expanded a market for ranch land and stimulated the livestock industry, especially of sheep for [[wool]]. The railroad company also harvested much of the timber in the country to make [[railroad ties]]. Anglo cattle ranchers moved into the area from Texas.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Knowlton |first1=Clark S. |title=The Town of Las Vegas Community Land Grant: An Anglo-American Coup d'Etat |journal=Journal of the West |date=1980 |volume=19 |pages=14–17}}</ref> By 1890, a few, mostly Anglo, ranchers controlled one-half of the grazing lands in San Miguel County.<ref name="Morgan">{{cite web |last1=Morgan |first1=Brandon |title=Las Gorras Blancas: Militant Resistance |url=https://mytext.cnm.edu/lesson/las-gorras-blancas-millitant-resistance/ |website=Central New Mexico Community College |access-date=25 December 2024}} Chapter 11: Resistance and Reliance in Territorial New Mexico from ''The History of New Mexico.''</ref> [[Homesteader]]s also moved into San Miguel County, claiming {{cvt|160|acre|ha}} of land as allowed by the [[1862 Homestead Act]]. Both large ranchers and small homesteaders built homes, barns, and fenced grant land with [[barbed-wire]], ignoring the claims by Hispanic residents of their rights to use the common land for crops, grazing, and timber harvest.<ref name="Morgan"/>

With Hispanic residents losing land and access to irrigation water to [[Santa Fe Ring|speculators]], ranchers, and homesteaders, the secretive [[Las Gorras Blancas|Gorras Blancas]], "White Hats," burst on the scene in San Miguel County in 1889. The night riding Gorras Blancas destroyed fences and burned barns and other buildings. The Gorras Blancas were successful in gaining public support, eliminating many fences, and preserving access to common lands, but the movement faded in the early 1890s and the march toward converting common lands into private ownership soon resumed.<ref name="Rosenbaum">{{cite book |last1=Rosenbaum |first1=Robert |title=Mexicano Resistance in the Southwest |date=1981 |publisher=University of Texas Press |location=Austin |isbn=0292750978 |page=167}}</ref> By 2004, of the original land of the Las Vegas grant, only {{cvt|10340|acre|ha}} remained in common ownership.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Blackshear |first1=James Bailey |title=Honor and Defiance: A History of the Las Vegas Land Grant in New Mexico |date=2013 |publisher=Sunstone Press |location=Santa Fe |isbn=9780865349780 |pages=152–162}}</ref>