Zia v. United States

Citations

• 168 U.S. 198
• 18 S. Ct. 42
• 42 L. Ed. 434
• 1897 U.S. LEXIS 1716

Syllabus

<p>An officer of the Pueblo of Zia and an officer of the Pueblos of Santa Aña and Jemez, in 1766, petitioned the Spanish governor and captain general, setting forth “ that they, from their foundation, have considered as their pasture ground, in the vicinity of their said pueblos, a valley commonly called the' Holy Ghost Spring, and that in some urgent cases, the same as is known, is used as a pasture ground for the horses of this royal garrison, and the said parties being aware that the said valley has had, in its vicinity, some applicants to acquire the same by grant, which will cause them very great injury, as they have considerable cattle, sheep, goats and horses for the royal service, and not having any other place in which to pasture them, particularly the people of the Pueblo of Zia, the greater part of whose üelds are upland, and some of them in the glens of said valley, adjoining their said pueblo,” and asking him to “ be pleased to declare said valley to be the legitimate pasture grounds and pastures of the pueblos, directing that the boundaries thereof be designated-to them, that is, on the east, the pueblos aforesaid, on the west, the summits of the Puerco River, on the north, a place called the Ventana, where some Navajo Apaches reside, and on the South, the lands of the citizen settlers of said Puerco River.” On receipt of this petition the captain general ordered an examination to be made, and, upon the doming in of a favorable report, ordered the alcalde to give royal possession of the grant to the petitioners and the boundaries therein set forth. Held, that the language used in the documents indicated nothing more than a right to pasture their cattle upon the lands in question; that the grant did not vest the title to the lands in the petitioners, but was a mere license to use them for pasturage, which license, if -not revoked by subsequent grants, was revoked by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ceding the entire territory to the United States; and t