Stop 9: The Bond Cabin

The Bond Cabin, located in the Cabin District.

NPS

Access to and use of traditional lands changed dramatically in the late-19^th and early-20^th centuries. While the title of the land passed formally to the Baca family in 1876 and eventually to the Bond and Dunnigan families, the Hemish people long fought for their claims and rights. In a letter to the Indian Claims Commission in the 1960s, Hemish, Zia, and Santa Ana pueblo leaders argued, “Where non-Indians would have drawn letters and numbers we drew eagles, lions, the rising sun and so on... No one else was claiming the land of ours; we lived as we pleased for we were the native people.” But there were periods when the private owners of what was then the “Baca ranch” accommodated Hemish desires to use traditional land for religious purposes. Hear Chris Toya talk about how Frank Bond welcomed Hemish religious society members.