Four Square Leagues: Pueblo Indian Land in New Mexico

11. Taos Pueblo and the Return of Blue Lake

293 c h a p t e r 1 1 Taos Pueblo and the Return of Blue Lake B lue Lake, formed in a glacial cirque of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at over 11,000 feet, sits in natural grandeur behind Taos Pueblo. The most sacred of Taos’s natural shrines, it is considered to be the source of the pueblo’s life, both spiritually as the place of emergence of the pueblo and literally as the principal source of the Rio Pueblo, which provides irrigation and drinking water to the pueblo. Not only the lake but the entire watershed is considered sacred by the pueblo and is dotted with shrines where regular religious observances have been held for centuries. These ceremonies are secret and not open to outsiders, but beginning around 1890 the lake and the watershed began to be invaded when rumors of gold and silver deposits in the area brought prospectors and, in their wake, hunters, campers, and fishermen. Over the next quarter century, the pristine character of the lake and surrounding watershed was violated, making it difficult for the pueblo to continue its religious observances. Regaining control of Blue Lake and its surroundings became the pueblo’s highest priority. This is the story of how Taos Pueblo was able to achieve that long-sought-after goal. The story involves all the important political figures in Washington and New Mexico from the 1930s to 1970 including, to name a few, Robert F. Kennedy, Stewart Udall, Fred Harris, Clinton P. Anderson, and Richard Nixon, the pueblo leaders, both religious and secular, who interacted with these politicians CHAPTER 11 294 and kept the momentum going through difficult times and two major congressional hearings, and the pueblo supporters who, although they did not always agree among themselves, helped to gradually move nationwide sentiment in favor of Taos Pueblo. Included among the Taos leaders were Paul Bernal, Seferino Martinez, John Rainer, Querino Romero, and Juan de Jesús Romero. Pueblo supporters included John Collier, Oliver La Farge, and Frank Waters, to name just a few. But it was the determination and persistence of the people of Taos Pueblo that ultimately won the day.1 The saga of the twentieth-century struggle of Taos over Blue Lake began in 1906, when the United States appropriated Blue Lake and made it part of Carson National Forest. The process that led to this move began three years earlier when the secretary of agriculture petitioned the Department of the Interior to temporarily prevent settlement in the Blue Lake area and nearby communities until an examination of its suitability as a forest reserve could be undertaken. Although Taos Pueblo was exercising exclusive use of the Blue Lake area, it had title to roughly 5,700 acres in the Tenorio tract, which it purchased in 1818, and the approximately 17,350 acres contained in its Pueblo league patented in 1864.2 From a legal standpoint, the United States considered the rest of the area to be vacant public land, a part of the public domain. The Interior Department complied with the secretary of agriculture’s request and withdrew the Blue Lake area from settlement while a feasibility study was conducted . Upon learning of the department’s actions, Taos wrote to the secretary of the interior asking him to issue an exclusive-use permit for the Blue Lake area when the contemplated forest reserve was created.3 Theodore F. Rixon of the U.S. Geological Survey submitted a report favoring the creation of a forest reserve, noting that the Blue Lake area was in such excellent condition because of the land stewardship of Taos Pueblo. Forest Service chief Gifford Pinchot also supported the creation of a forest reserve as soon as possible. On 7 November 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt signed a proclamation creating the Taos Forest Reserve, to be administered by the U.S. Forest Service. Gilford Pinchot believed in the application of science to forest management to maximize production of raw materials (usually timber). This concept was expressed in the policy of multiple use, which envisioned three uses of forest reserves: recreation, production and extraction of raw materials (timber and minerals), and grazing. Advancement of these uses implied construction of 295 TAOS PUEBLO AND THE RETURN OF BLUE LAKE roads and buildings when required. The concept of multiple use contrasted dramatically with the world view of the people of Taos Pueblo, who believed themselves...