One Land, Many Hands: The Beginnings of the Sangre De Cristo Land Grant

Settlers & Families

The Defensive Association of Costilla

Founded in 1902, this organization was created to help the settlers and their families retain their rights to the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant. They fought several court battles between 1902 and 1921. Most of these cases went against the settlers and the Association. After 1921, the Association virtually disbanded as an official organization.

Uniting together to fight legal battles did not end with the Defensive Association. In 1941, a Resolution signed by the citizens of Costilla and Amalia was sent to Governor Miles, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Farm Security Administration, the press, and several state politicians. In the resolution, they protest the sale of the property to Thomas Campbell by the State Tax Commission. Again the law did not favor the settlers. However, after getting a loan from the FSA through President Roosevelt's New Deal program, they bought back their land from Thomas Campbell in 1942. This was an amazing event, not only in the history of the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant, but in all land grant history.


A farm on the grant.	Rows of crops.	Notes from a surveyor.	A man at work on a farm.

Around the time the loan went through, the citizens formed the Rio Costilla Cooperative Livestock Association (RCCLA). This was comprised mostly of the children of the Defensive Association. The RCCLA continues to protect the rights of the settlers, and are still in existence today.