Colfax County
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On January 8, 1841, Charles Hipolyte Trotier-Beaubien and Guadalupe Miranda
filed a petition with the governor of New Mexico, Manuel Armijo, asking for a
grant of land in that portion of New Mexico now embraced within the limits of
Colfax county and a part of Las Animas county, Colorado. The petition requested
a tract of land "commencing below the junction of the Rayado and Red rivers,
from thence in a direct line to the east to the first hills, from thence
following the course of Red river in a northerly direction of Una de Gato with
Red river; from whence following along said hills to the east of the Una Gato
river to the summit of the tableland (mesa), from whence turning northwest,
following said summit to the summit of the mountain which separates the waters
of the rivers which run towards the east from those which run to the west, from
thence following the summit of said mountain in a southerly direction to the
first hill east of the Rayado river; from thence following along the brow of
said hill to the place of beginning."
On January 11th, the governor, in
conformity with law, made the grant as requested. On February 22, 1843,
possession was given by Cornelio Vigil, a justice of the peace of Taos. The
following year Mariano Chavez, acting governor, suspended the grant, basing his
action upon a complaint filed by the Rev. Antonio Jose Martinez, joined by the
principales and chiefs of the pueblo of Taos who complained that the land in
question, known as the "rincon del Rio Colorado" had previously been granted to
the Indians by Carlos Bent, afterward appointed governor by General Kearny and
killed in the revolution of January 19, 1847; they also charged that neither
Beaubien nor Miranda were citizens of Mexico, but were foreigners.
Manuel
Armijo having been again appointed governor, on the 18th of April, 1844,
referred the matter to the Departmental Assembly, which body reversed the action
of Governor Chavez and approved the grant to Beaubien and Miranda.
Guadalupe Miranda had been collector of customs for General Armijo. Carlos
Beaubien was a very prominent man, and on September 22, 1846, when New Mexico's
first officials were named by General S. W. Kearny, was appointed justice of the
supreme court by that army officer.
The petition filed by the grantees is
as follows:
"Most Excellent Sir: The undersigned, Mexican citizens and
residents of this place, in the most approved manner required by law, state:
That of all the departments of the Republic, with the exception of the
Californias, New Mexico is one of the most backward in intelligence, industry,
and manufactures, etc., and surely few others present the natural advantages to
be found therein, not only on account of its abundance of water, forests, wood,
and useful timber, but also on account of the fertility of the soil, containing
within its bosom rich and precious metals, which up to this time are useless for
the want of enterprising men who will convert to the advantage of other men all
of which productions of nature are susceptible of being used for the benefit of
society within the department, as well as in the entire Republic, if they were
in the hands of individuals who would work and improve them. An old and true
adage says that 'what is the business of all is the business of none;' therefore
while the fertile lands in New Mexico, where, without contradiction, nature has
proven herself more generous, are not reduced to private property, where it will
be improved, it will be of no benefit to the department, which abounds in idle
people, who, for the want of occupations, are a burden to the industrious
portions of society, which with their labor they could contribute to its welfare
and honestly comply with their obligations.
"Idleness, the mother of
vice, is the cause of the increase of crimes which are daily being committed,
notwithstanding the severity of the laws and their rigid execution. The towns
are overrun with thieves and murderers, who, by this means alone, procure their
subsistence. We think it a difficult task to reform the present generation,
accustomed to idleness and hardened vice. But the rising one, receiving new
impressions, will easily be guided by the principles of purer morality. The
welfare of a nation consists in the possession of lands which produce all the
necessaries of life without requiring those of other nations, and it cannot be
denied that New Mexico possesses this great advantage, and only requires
industrious hands to make it a happy residence. This is the age of progress and
the march of intellect, and they are so rapid that we may expect, at a day not
far distant, that they will reach even us.
"Under the above conviction we
both request Your Excellency to be pleased to grant us a tract of land for the
purpose of improving it, without injury to any third person, and the raising of
sugar beets, which we believe will grow well and produce an abundant crop, and
in time to establish manufactories of cotton and wool and raising stock of every
description. [Description as worded in first part of note.]
"For the
reasons above expressed, and being the heads of large families, we humbly pray
Your Excellency to take our joint petition under consideration, and be pleased
to grant us the land petitioned for, by doing which we will both receive grace
and justice.
"We swear it is not done in malice; we protest good faith,
and whatever may be necessary, etc.
"Guadalupe Miranda
"Carlos Beaubien
"Santa Fe, January 8, 1841."
Beaubien purchased the interest
of Miranda, and in 1846 removed from Taos to the Cimarroncito, where he found
Lucien B. Maxwell residing. Beaubien died in 1864. His daughter, Luz Beaubien,
became the wife of Maxwell, who meanwhile had purchased the interests of all the
heirs of his father-in-law. Maxwell, in turn, sold the property to an English
syndicate, through the agency of Wilson Waddingham, D. H. Moffat, and J. B.
Chaffee. Maxwell died at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, in comparative poverty, July
25, 1875.
Beaubien was a native of Canada and was descended from a
long line of noble ancestors. The first representative of the name in Canada was
Jules Trotier, born in 1590, at St. Malod'lye au Perche, France, who married
Catherine Loyseau. His son, Antoine, Sieur des Ruisseaux, married Catherine
Lefebone, by whom he had a son, Michael, Sieur de Beaubien, the first of the
family to bear that name. He married Agnes Godfrey de Linetot, and after her
death he married Therese Mouet de Moras. Louis Trotier, Sieur de Beaubien, son
of the second marriage, married Marie Louise Robida Manseaux. They had a son,
Paul Trotier, Sieur de Beaubien, who, October 3, 1795, married Louise Charlotte
Adelaide Durocher, daughter of J. B. Durocher and Marguerite Boucher-Denoix.
Charles Hipolyte Trotier, Sieur de Beaubien, was the first child of this
marriage. He came to the United States, using the name of Beaubien, and arrived
in New Mexico in 1823, along with a number of other French- Canadians. He
settled in Taos, where he married Paula Lobato, the daughter of a prominent
Mexican citizen. Of this marriage there were born: Narcisco, killed in the
revolution of 1847; Luz, the wife of L. B. Maxwell; Leonar, the wife of V.
Trujillo; Juanita, who married L. D. J. Clouthier; Teodora, the wife of
Frederick Muller; Petrita, who married Jesus Gil Abreu; and Pablo, who married
Rebecca Abreu.
Contributed 12 Aug 2026 by Norma Hass, extracted from Spanish Archives of New Mexico by Ralph E. Twitchell, pages 62-65.
Among the first stamp mills constructed in the United States may be mentioned the one at Dolores for milling the ores from the celebrated Ortiz mine in Santa Fe County; one at the gold camp of Pinos Altos in Grant County; and one at the Aztec mine at the head of Ute Creek on Baldy Mountain, in Colfax County. ...
There are three known localities in New Mexico and possibly others, where deposits of graphite exist. These deposits are all bedded and will doubtless be found of considerable commercial value when more fully exploited. One of these deposits is in the mountains near Raton, Colfax County; the second lies east of Albuquerque in the Sandia Mountains adjacent to Tijeras Canyon; and the third is in the Taos Range east of Taos. ...
The coal mining industry of Colfax County is important, inasmuch as that county continues to lead in the coal and coke output. The beds in this county range in thickness from three to eight feet, and the quality of coal is generally first class. The Colfax County coal field stands second in area to that of the great Gallup Durango basin. ...
The output of the coal mines in New Mexico during 1914 was the greatest in the history of the State. According to the report of the State Coal Mine Inspector for the fiscal year ending October 31, 1914, New Mexico produced 3,826,885 tons of coal, valued at $5,588,352. The production of coke during the same year amounted to 405,128 tons, valued at the ovens at $1,341,732. The value of the coal and coke combined was $6,930,084. No coke is produced, at present, outside of Colfax County. ...
Taking into consideration the great fields of Colfax County and the smaller ones scattered over the other coal sections of the State, a conservative estimate would place the total tonnage of New Mexico coals at not less than 100,000,000,000 tons! ...
Contributed 12 Aug 2026 by Norma Hass, extracted from 1915 Mineral Resources of New Mexico by Fayette A. Jones, pages 10, 54-59.
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This page was last updated
08/12/2026