By Rick Holben/East Mt. Historical Society
In 1728, Governor of Santa Fe de Nuevo México Juan Domingo Bustamante granted a tract of uninhabited land, between Santa Fe and San Marcos Pueblo, to Santa Fe resident Jose Leyba. Leyba built a home and corrals near Coyote Spring, about two miles north of the pueblo. The Leyba family occupied the land for several generations until 1839, when Jose’s great-grandson Juan Angel was killed by Indians, not far from the home. Juan Angel was the last occupant of the land; the dwelling and corrals were reportedly nothing but ruins by the 1860s- leading to appearances that the grant had been abandoned.
Just a few miles southeast of Coyote Spring and the Leyba ranch were ancient turquoise mines, that had been worked by Native Americans centuries earlier. These mines had been covered over by Native people during the years of Spanish exploration and occupation in the 16th and 17th centuries, rendering them all but invisible to the Spanish. In fact, Spaniards showed little interest in turquoise and mining until the late 19th century, and at that time the value of turquoise was minimal.
That lack of value changed in 1892, when George F. Kunz, a gemologist for Tiffany & Co. in New York City, raised awareness and appreciation of turquoise by categorizing it as a gemstone. Tiffany then began making turquoise jewelry that became wildly popular on the East Coast – and the old turquoise mines of the Cerrillos district were worked again.
Newly-filed mining claims were made on ancient mine sites by several different miners. One of these was an Irishman named James McNulty, who incorporated the American Turquoise Co. and worked, in partnership with Tiffany, to supply it with desirable blue Cerrillos Turquoise.
Not long after the price and popularity of turquoise began to rise, Santa Fe businessman and notorious land manipulator Mariano F. Sena took an interest in making a claim to the Jose de Leyba Grant, through “rights” purchased from two elderly Leyba descendants. The original grant boundary and land descriptions were easily open to interpretation. Sena used this to his advantage by building his case that the 1728 grant had included the turquoise mines, along with at least 16,000 acres of land. The two heirs, from whom Mariano Sena purchased “rights,” in 1895, were Salvador Leyba, Jose Leyba’s great-great-grandson, and Maria Antonio Sandoval Ramirez, a great-great-great-grandaughter. By the time Sena finally brought his case before the courts in 1899, both of these people had died.
Maria Antonio Sandoval Ramirez was the wife of Serafin Ramirez, whose family had moved to Tijeras in the 1860s after Serafin had sold the San Pedro Land Grant to a group of Eastern investors who were later known as the San Pedro & Cañon del Agua Co. Serafin died in 1869, but Maria Antonio lived until 1896, in her home which was located in what is now the lower parking lot of the East Mountain Library in Tijeras. Augustin Ramirez, son of Serafin and Maria Antonio, provided testimony for Sena during the court proceedings.
Salvador Leyba also died prior to the court hearings, but his 90-year-old mother was still living in El Gallego, “a remote and unfrequented place in the mountains about 50 miles from Santa Fe” (just south of modern Edgewood). Sena hoped to get a statement from her. He contacted Augustin Muller of El Gallego, who informed him that the “relatives of the family would not allow him to have any communications with her.” Perhaps his reputation had preceded him.
Mariano Sena’s 1899 request to the Court of Private Land Claims, asking to confirm his claim to the Jose de Leyba Grant, was denied. Sena filed subsequent court cases that included McNulty and the American Turquoise Co. His final attempt in 1911 was an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. All of his attempts found him lacking enough evidence to support his claims.
Rick Holben is the Photo Historian of the East Mountain Historical Society. For more captivating tales of the past in this area, see Timelines of the East Mountains, the Historical Society’s 700-page award-winning book, available in East Mountain stores and on their website eastmountainhistory.org.