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Maxwell Land Grant
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 In 1841 nearly 2 million acres were granted to Carlos Beaubien & Guadaloupe Miranda by Santa Fe
Governor Manuel Armijo and was originally called the Beaubien-Miranda Land Grant.
Lucien Maxwell, an Illinois trapper became friends with Carlos Beaubien and eventually married his daughter, Luz.
After Beaubien's death in 1864, Lucien began buying out the heirs of the grant. In under a year he was the sole
owner of what came to be known as the Maxwell Land Grant.
Lucien immediately started putting share croppers on the land to help with cultivation and development. Gold was
discovered in 1866 on the Grant. Maxwell invested very heavily in gold mining. This venture was a dismal failure
and forced Lucien to sell out.
The sale of the Maxwell Land Grant started an up rise in Northeastern New Mexico called the Colfax County War.
The new owners' first order of business was to evict all of the squatters & Indians from their property. As
Lucien Maxwell conducted much of his business on a handshake, many of the lawful settlers with no paperwork to
back up their claims were considered squatters. Reverend Tolby of Elizabethtown was the first victim of the War
and his murder sparked a series of events that would eventually cause the death of several men. After Tolby's murder,
Oscar McMains fought 15 years for the rights of the settlers of the Maxwell Land Grant. It wasn't until 1879 that
peace was restored to Colfax County with the election of a new Governor and survey of the Grant. Later the Supreme
Court upheld the validity of the Grant. McMains continued his fight for the poor until his death.
At the turn of the century the Maxwell Land Grant Company started selling portions of its property. Today, the
largest portion of the grant is Vermejo Park Ranch owned by Ted Turner and consists of almost 600,000 acres. The
NRA Whittington Center also sits on the original land grant and encompasses over 33,000 acres with an impressive
array of shooting ranges, lodging facilities and wildlife.
The Maxwell Land Grant was the beginning of Raton and her surrounding towns and villages. The people who worked
and died cultivating this land are owed a debt of gratitude by everyone that lives, visits, and enjoys this area
of Northeastern New Mexico. |
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