This was a petition filed by heirs and legal representatives of Francisco Garcia de Noriega and Jos e Antonio Garcia de Noriega, for the confirmation of an alleged grant made by Governor Concha, January 27, 1788, of 9,752.57 acres, called the 'Ca non de San Diego,' situated in the county of Bernallilo, N. M., and included within a grant of 116,288.89 acres by Governor Chacon, March 6, 1798, alleged in the petition to have been to the 'town of the Ca non de San Diego.'
The granting papers of 1788 were produced, and placed in the archives of the government by claimants in 1879. As translated by the government, they read as follows:
'Senor Governor Don Fernando de la Concha: We, Francisco Garcia de Noriega, interpreter for the Navajos, and Jos e Antonio Garcia de Noriega, with the most profound respect appear before your excellency, and state, sir, that a ca non which is called 'San Diego,' being found vacant, having seen that cultivation may be had, and some animals pastured, therein, we prostrate ourselves at the royal feet of your excellency's grandeur solely to ask and pray that you deign in the name of his majesty to favor us by giving us the said ca non for the purposes mentioned, on account of finding ourselves lacking land for planting, and deserving that his majesty should favor us we ask as a grant the said ca non; on account of all which we ask and pray that your excellency be well pleased to command that what we request be done, that by your so doing we shall receive great benefit and favor, etc.
'Francisco Garcia de Noriega. [Scroll.]
'Jos e Antonio Garcia. [Scroll.]'
'Sante F e, January 27, 1788.
'I grant, in the name of the king, the cultivation and working of the land which the petitioners ask for, the chief alcalde of the Queres, Don Antonio Armenta, placing them in possession thereof, provided that no prejudice results to the Indians and residents settled in that vicinity; and, it having been so done, following this decree he shall place the said taking of possession without prejudice to a third party, in order to copy it in the government book, and to write it out on stamped paper when the same shall reach this province.
Concha. [Scroll.]'
'At this Ca non of San Diego, on the sixth day of the month of February, of the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, I, Don Antonio de Armenta, chief alcalde, and war captain of the jurisdiction of the Queres, by virtue of the authority that is conferred upon me by Senor Don Fernando de la Concha, knight commander of Mora in the Order of Santiago, lieutenant colonel of the royal armies, civil and military governor of this province of New Mexico, being at the said ca non, having cited the natives of the pueblo of Jemez, who are the adjoining owners to said land, and having designated to them that which was their own, they were well suited on account of receiving no injury by the giving of said ca non, and also knowing that it is the will of our sovereign that his lands be peopled by his vassals in whatever surplus there may be; and finding no obstacle whatever that could interfere with it, and exercising the authority that is conferred upon me, I went to said Ca non of San Diego, and, no one appearing who had a better right, nor there being any prejudice to a third party who might make objection, and said Indians, Francisco Garcia de Noriega, interpreter for the Navajos, and his brother, Jos e Antonio Garcia de Noriega, being present, and understanding it all, I took them by the hand, I conducted them over said lands, they pulled up grass, threw stones to the four cardinal points, and we all said together three times, 'Long live the king, our lord, whom may God preserve!' as evidence of true possession, which they received quietly and peaceably without any opposition, their boundaries being the following: On the north side, the waterfall (salto del agua); on the south side, the junction of the rivers, and also a point of a red table-land (una mesa colorada), and lands of said Indians. With respect to the east and west there is nothing more than some very high table-lands on both sides of the ca non, which (table-lands) serve as boundaries. And, there resulting no prejudice whatever, they were satisfied with them (the boundaries); and, in order that it may so appear, I, said chief alcalde, Don Antonio de Armenta, signed it, together with my two attending witnesses, with whom I act for lack of a public or royal notary, of which there is none of any kind in all this government; to all of which I certify.
'The interlineation 'river' is valid.