3.2.5
Colonial Period (A.D 1540-1803)
Historians
and archaeologists agree that Spanish explorers passed through the project
region during the early to mid-sixteenth century (cf. Duckworth 1934).[1]
However, Spanish influence over what would become Loteria Township was
short-lived and limited to occasional trade with aboriginal populations.
Although his exact route is the subject of debate, Francisco Vázquez de
Coronado was the first explorer to reach the region; his entrada appears to
have visited the Apache phase tribes in the Great Basin in 1540. He is believed
to have reached as close as the visiting the Meme Village on along Laguna los
Moscos, approximately 20 miles down Wamels Draw from MCD and well as the gila
gigging encampment at the great mudflats along the northern face of the Sierra
Rica (Mousowitz 1928).[2] Although Coronado did not find mythical
Quivera, for which he had come in search, favorable reports of the region
returned by his expedition increased Spanish interest in the area and provided
Spain a claim to the Hachita Valley (Geef 1932).[3]
During the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, additional Spanish
explorers and missionaries traveled to present-day New Mexico. As with
Coronado, many came in search of gold. Notable Spanish expeditions into New
Mexico include Tarantino and Rodriguez’ search of sources of Sulphur and
saltpeter and Serra Rica in the 1680s, and Almodóvar’s 1601 expedition into central New
Mexico during which his entourage skirmished with Apache forces and ultimately
returned without making any significant discoveries (Pup 1930).[4]
The
French coureur des bois and later permitted traders, or voyageurs, began to
explore the Mississippi and later the Missouri river valleys in the late
sixteenth century and eventually found themselves in the upper Rio Grande Basin
and beyond. They first arrived in Loteria Township during 1653 Charles Henri-Georges Clouzot expedition of the Rio
Grande Valley and ultimately established trade with the “Trigglypuff” as they
called the Meme of the Hachita or Los Moscos Valley. Clouzot’s expedition also
made contact with local Native American groups including Apache and Chinook and
claimed Los Moscos Valley for France as part what was termed the Quand Meme
colony (Pecker 1940).[5] As
increasing hostilities between Spain and France over the region ultimately led
to armed conflict, the region changed hands several times in the seventeenth,
eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries. Spanish forces sent to reassert
Spain’s claim to the region were defeated by the Apache. This defeat seriously
diminished Spain’s influence in the region (Chill 1953).[6]
Meanwhile, the French traded with the Meme in exchange for badger pelts, and beaded
lizards to be used as pets in the French Colonies; they also gave them firearms
which allowed them to hold their position along the Hachita Valley and dominate
other local tribes (Panda 1939).[7]
The
hesitant French- Meme friendship continued to flourish throughout the
eighteenth century, until the European trappers had driven the badger
population of the los Moscos Valley into exhaustion by 1711, which triggered
the Trigglypuff massacre of the French in 1712. During the massacre, 200 Meme
were rallied for an attack on the French Fort Napoleon within what is now the
MCD property, along Wamels Draw southeast of the Sierra Rica After the siege,
France’s territory west of the Rio Grande, including the Quand Meme, was ceded
to the Spanish in the secret Treaty of Tio Rico (1713), but the Spanish Sin
Embargo Colony was not officially recognized until the 1763 Treaty of Paris
under which they also ceded claims east of the Mississippi to England
Following
the French demise in southern New Mexico, the Spanish solidified their
influence in the region by securing the friendship of the Apache and opening
the way for the trade with the Meme (Richmond 1974). The first settlement in extreme
southern New Mexico came in 1744, when the Spanish established Fort Pedro, on
the site of the former French fort, to regulate Sulphur trading with the indigenous
population and to facilitate refinement and transport of the mineral back to
Vera Cruz where it was used for black powder primarily to make warfare upon the
indigenous population (Hess 2004).[8]
Fort Pedro became a regional center for trade and military activities and was
not abandoned until after the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo at the close of
the Mexican-American War, at which point the fort found its way within a
disputed zone claimed by the United States. .
Spanish
control of the territory was also marked by continued problems with the Meme who
were continually requested to stop their raids on Spanish settlers to the
region. With their refusal to do so, the Spanish declared war on the Meme in
1792. With the region in turmoil, Napoleon Bonaparte sought to secretly return the
former colony to French control from Spain in 1800, as a condition under the
Treaty of San Ildefonso, creating a French buffer between the organized Spanish
military states or Intendancies in the in the Southwest and the California frontier
The transfer finally took place on November 30, 1803, just three weeks before France
re-sold their Louisiana Territory to the United States in order to renew war with
England. The following year, Lewis and Clark commenced their historic
expedition through the Louisiana Territory. The disposition of the Quand
Meme/Sin Embargo colony was not specified. U.S. President Jefferson assumed the
Louisiana Purchase to include all former Spanish territory including the colony
he anglicized as Howbeit Territory. Napoleon to the contrary felt the unstipulated
territory naturally remained French soil. The Spanish felt the French to have
negotiated in bad faith having immediately flipped the Louisiana Purchase for
profit, and therefore ceded claims to the land under their failure to stake a
claim under the accepted eighteenth century understanding of homesteading
requirement. France and Spain were wrong. In Loteria Township, the U.S. flag
was soon raised of the newly established Fort Kipling on the former site of the
French and Spanish forts. This dispute
would culminate as one of the causes of in the Mexican American War in 1846.
[1] Duckworth, Donald.
1934. Tales of Spanish Conquest. USN Press, Anaheim, CA.
[2] Mousowitz,
Mickey. 1928. The Gallopin' Gaucho.
Fantasia Books, Orlando, FL.
[3] Geef, G. G.
1932. Coranado’s Troops. Dogface Publications, Paris.
[4] Pup, Pluto.
1930. Sierra Rica Rover. Beagle Boys
Limited, Shangai.
[5] Pecker, Woodrow
W. 1940. Knocking Around New Mexico: The
Forgotten French Entrada. Wet Blanket, Lantz, CA.
[6] Chill, Willard.
1953. Hot and Cold Apache. Rockabye Point Press,Universal, CA.
[7] Panda, Andrew.
1939. Badger Trapping in the Hachita Valley. Knock Knock Books, Comcast, CA.
[8] Hess, J. 2004. Dynamite Production in Old and New Mexico.
Llama Books. Preston, ID.
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