Grants must have been "located and duly recorded in the archives of Mexico" and marked with proper monuments of mortar and stone. When Congress ratified the Gadsden Treaty in 1854, it agreed to recognize the legality of land grants that people had acquired when the region was either a part of New Spain or Mexico, provided they met certain conditions. They also occupied surrounding lands known as "overplus" or the "outer boundaries," which was legal under both Spanish and Mexican law.
Ranchers again grazed their cattle on land granted to them by the Spanish and Mexican governments prior to the Gadsden Purchase. With the peace that followed the surrender of Geronimo and his Apache band, economic activity increased in southern Arizona. In the 1880s the Nogales townfolk legally owned no property because the Camou and Elías families, along with several individuals who had purchased quit-claims from family members, claimed their lands. Chatham.įlipper stepped into a legal quagmire, however, when he began work on the Los Nogales de Elías land grant. Grant, and with newspaper publisher, territorial representative, and Nogales postmaster James J. He informed his brother Festus in Atlanta that people in southern Arizona were not so "prejudiced and mean as they are in the south." 3 He formed close friendships with Jesse Grant, son of former President Ulysses S. 2įlipper appeared ready to settle down and enjoy life. Two years later, he acquired a second piece of property, on what is now Nelson Avenue, for $25 in Mexican currency.
In 1887, he purchased a lot for $28 in Mexican money. 1 On October 31, 1885, Flagstaff's Arizona Champion commented on Flipper's "distinguished arrival" in the border town of Nogales, population approximately 1,500. Standing just over six feet tall and weighing about 190 pounds, the thirty-one-year-old former army officer retained his erect military bearing. Remarkably, his important contributions to Arizona history are all but forgotten today. As special agent to the Court of Private Land Claims, he saved over 700,000 acres from falling into the hands of unscrupulous speculators. Undeterred by this disgrace, Flipper went on to forge a career as an engineer, Spanish translator, Justice Department special agent, inventor, author, historian, and newspaper editor.įlipper spent much of the 1890s in southern Arizona, where he surveyed the Nogales townsite, briefly edited a local newspaper, and defended the community in an important land grant case. Whether the charges were motivated by racial prejudice is impossible to prove, but there can be no doubt that the punishment was too severe. Although found innocent of the embezzlement charge, he was dismissed from the army for conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. Four years later, he was court-martialed at Fort Davis, Texas, for embezzlement of government funds. IN 1878 HENRY OSSIAN FLIPPER, the first black graduate of West Point, appeared destined for a long military career. Original published in The Journal of Arizona History, volume 36, Spring 1995, p.
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