45th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2001

REQUESTING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO ARCHIVES CONTAINING THE REPORT OF 1856 RECORDS OF NEW MEXICO AND SOUTHERN COLORADO LAND GRANTS AND PROVIDE A MORE COMPLETE REPORTING ON THOSE DOCUMENTS.

WHEREAS, the intent and hope for the recent congressional investigation of land grants in New Mexico and southern Colorado was to identify all information possible about the many grants that existed in 1856; and

WHEREAS, the January 24, 2001 summary report of the federal general accounting office on land grants in New Mexico and southern Colorado has not revealed nearly the quantity of land grants known to exist at the time of the 1856 report; and

WHEREAS, foremost New Mexico historian Ralph Emerson Twitchell stated unequivocally that selections of documents from the archives of the Spanish and Mexican governments turned over to the federal surveyor general's office by the governor of New Mexico included documents related to one thousand fourteen separate land grants; and

WHEREAS, the United States house of representatives' committee on private land claims report number 457, dated May 29, 1858 and accompanying House Resolution 605, also made clear reference to the substantial number of documents in possession of the federal surveyor general and the congressional committee; and

WHEREAS, the initial draft of the general accounting office current report lists a total of only two hundred ninety-five land grants, including one hundred fifty-two community grants, seventy-nine shared land grants and twenty-two Indian pueblo grants; and

WHEREAS, thousands of families and individuals in New Mexico and southern Colorado have long wanted sufficient information about the land grants to clearly understand the history of their ancestral properties; and

WHEREAS, from the initial draft of this general accounting office report it appears that seven hundred nineteen land grants remain unaccounted for, despite historical documentation of their existence;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the United States congress, through our elected senators and representatives, be requested to direct a meticulous and exhaustive search of congressional archives for all documentation provided to the federal surveyor general, as stated in the report of 1856; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the search and subsequent report include an explanation of why a large amount of acreage originally claimed was rejected from that land confirmed and patented; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that any documentation found of the missing seven hundred nineteen land grants be made public as well as the reasons why these land grants were not recognized either by the federal surveyor general or the court of private land claims, the supreme court or congress; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be sent to each member of New Mexico's congressional delegation, to the office of the federal surveyor general and to the congressional archives office.