The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 40, July 1936 - April, 1937 Page: 71
348 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Mexican Land Grants in the Arkansas Valley
More than twenty years had elapsed between the treaty of Guad-
alupe Hidalgo and the confirmation of the Nolan grant by Con-
gress; and five more years passed before the land was patented to
the "heirs of Gervacio Nolan, or their legal representatives" on
March 3, 1875.36
It is certain that pre-emptors and homesteaders invaded the
Nolan grant prior to its confirmation within limits reduced to
eleven square leagues and that the claims of such settlers took pre-
cedence over the claims of the Nolan heirs. The presence of
these settlers and the priority accorded to their claims by the act
of July 1, 1870, confirming the claim of the heirs of Gervacio
Nolan, gave rise to what is known as "Nolan Grant floats."37 The
large number of such floats indicates that a considerable number
of settlers had arrived when the act of July 1, 1870, became
operative. Particularly is this true of the valley of the St. Charles
River and its tributaries, the most desirable portion of the original
grant for settlement by homesteaders and pre-emptors. These
statements are based upon a study of the plat and tract files in
the Pueblo Land Office, showing positively that homestead and
pre-emption claims were given precedence over derivative claims in
a large portion of the St. Charles bottoms. The Nolan Grant
floats, which were assigned by the Pueblo Land Office to the Nolan
Grant claimants in lieu of the tracts occupied by homesteaders and
pre-emptors, varied in size from forty to one hundred sixty acres.
There were forty-seven such floats in townships 23 and 24 south,
range 67 west, and in various other townships there were from
one to eleven floats.
Thus there is an accumulation of evidence showing that home-
steaders and pre-emptors had invaded the Nolan grant in con-
siderable numbers; hence, there is ground for the conclusion that
the existence of this grant did not retard the settlement of the
region in question to much extent.38 Much of the land which
6"Official Records of Pueblo County, Clerk's Office, Deed Book No. 10,
p. 557, recorded April 19, 1875.
8"A "float", as the term is used here, was a tract awarded to the Nolan
heirs, or their assigns, in lieu of a tract, within the eleven-square-leagues
survey, previously occupied by a bona fide settler--that is, a homesteader
or a pre-emptor.
"The act of June 21, 1860, confirming the Vigil-St. Vrain grant only to
the extent of eleven square leagues to each claimant, indicated the
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 40, July 1936 - April, 1937, periodical, 1937; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101099/m1/79/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.