In 1885, the political atmosphere surrounding New Mexico land grants changed significantly.

President Grover Cleveland's administration appointed former Indiana congressman George Washington Julian as Surveyor General of New Mexico. Julian arrived during a period of intense suspicion surrounding Southwestern land grants. Congress had largely stopped confirming claims after controversies involving enormous grants, speculation and allegations of corruption. The new administration expected greater scrutiny.

Julian therefore inherited the unfinished El Rito investigation.

Julian took what a later review described as a great deal of oral testimony.

Witnesses testified to a grant containing approximately 51,000 acres. Investigators also examined the series of individual deeds executed between 1808 and 1843.

And Julian reached a fascinating conclusion.

He did not believe the claimants had demonstrated adequate legal title to the entire grant they claimed.

But neither did he conclude that El Rito's families were simply squatters occupying federal land.

Instead, Julian determined that the heirs and legal representatives of the original grantee had established an equitable claim to their residences and irrigated agricultural tracts. He recommended that the United States recognize those occupied lands.

It was a divided judgment.

The villagers had not proven the great exterior boundaries to Julian's satisfaction.

But they had proven something.

Their homes and irrigated fields had a history the government could not easily dismiss.

Then Congress Did Nothing

Under the Surveyor General system, Julian could investigate.

He could hear testimony.

He could examine deeds.

He could recommend.

But he could not finally confirm the grant.

That authority belonged to Congress.

And Congress did not act on Julian's El Rito recommendation.

This was not unusual during the period.

Congressional confirmation of New Mexico grants had largely stalled after the early 1870s amid concerns about fraud, enormous acreage claims and land speculation. A backlog developed, leaving communities in a dangerous legal limbo.

El Rito's residents continued living where their parents and grandparents had lived.

But the larger question remained unresolved:

Who legally owned the land?