The New Monument

Early protectors of Tumacácori had to navigate a complicated legal battle stemming from an old Spanish land grant.

After passage of the Antiquities Act of 1908, a single person could establish a national monument by presidential proclamation. Tumacácori National Monument's establishment under this authority should have been this simple, but it wasn't.

The Baca Float

The story begins on January 16, 1821, when the legislature of Durango granted a tract of land in northeastern New Mexico to Luis María Baca. Fourteen years later, the Mexican government awarded part of the grant to colonists who founded what became the town of Las Vegas. After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was ratified, the Baca heirs presented their claim to the United States Congress, which allowed them to select in five detached parts a quantity of New Mexico land elsewhere in the public domain equal to that which they had lost. Before 1863, Arizona was part of the Territory of New Mexico. These detached segments were called "floats." The 100,000-acre segment they selected in southern Ariona encompassed much of the Tumacácori-Tubac-Calabazas area. It became known as Baca Float No. 3.

Disputes Begin

A survey of Baca Float No. 3 was ordered in 1864. Apaches killed William Wrightson and other members of his survey party and the survey was not completed. Subsequently, there were sales of land, disputes concerning locations of survey markers, denials of various claims because of legal technicalities, approval of claims, overturned decisions, and so on.

The Secretary of the Interior finally announced he would dispose of the land via homestead laws, and it was then in 1899 that Carmen Méndez filed his claim for 160 acres which including the ruins of an old Spanish colonial mission site.

 

Tumacácori Gets Established...

Carmen Méndez, the Arizona Pioneers' Historical Society, the Forest Service, and several local groups and individuals became interested in preservation of the ruins. The Méndez family donated ten acres of their land to the government and on September 15, 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt issued his Executive Order establishing Tumacácori National Monument. This pre-dates the National Park Service so Tumacácori was cared for by the nearest federal agency, the Forest Service, a branch of the Department of Agriculture.

... and then Un-Established ...

The Baca case was still winding its way through the courts, however, and on June 22, 1914 the Supreme Court dealt a shocking blow to the sixty or more people happily going about their business on what they believed to be their own land. The 94,289 acres of Baca Float No. 3 were awarded to claimants James E. Bouldin, Jennie N. Bouldin., Helen Lee Bouldin, and Eldon M. Baily. Local families were evicted from their homes and the government had lost title to Tumacácori National Monument.

... and then Re-Established.

The displaced landowners were allowed to select land elsewhere, and no one seemed too concerned about the status of the national monument. But everything fell into place when the Bouldins' and Baileys' quit-claim deed to Tumacácori was recorded in 1917. The Solicitor General said there was no need to proclaim Tumacácori National Monument a second time, and with this final decision in April of 1918 the years of confusion of land titles came to an end.