The Spanish Era
The early part of the eighteenth century saw the Spanish interested in
more than Pueblo Indians. There was the actual colonization of New
Mexico and the war with France which drew their attention. New Mexican
land was divided into tracts or land grants. The Spanish had combed it
all. They knew about the canyon today known as the “Frijoles,” the
Tyuonyi of the Cochiti Indians. The tract lay just south of the bounds
of what is known as the “Ramon Vigil Grant.” It was in litigation much
of the time. The land was cleared, broken and put under cultivation
during the latter part of the eighteenth century. The valley floor was
cleared and no doubt some of the homes occupied by Indians years before
were obliterated. This valley was given the name of El Rito de Los
Frijoles sometime prior to the year 1780. For years, people have said
that the Canyon derived its name from the fact that Indians raised beans
here in prehistoric times. True, prehistoric Indians did grow beans at
Frijoles but the derivation of its name probably had no connection with
any Indian occupation.
With the coming of a new century, Spanish people were accused of living
in the caves of the Rito like barbarians. This picturesque Hidden Valley
was a rendezvous for cattle thieves and persons whose characters could
be questioned. It was a den for robbers who greatly troubled the people
around the country, so, in 1811 the Spanish Governor ordered all its
inhabitants to move out. The Canyon must have been occupied more or less
continuously throughout the nineteenth century by farming groups of
Spanish-Americans. And they were troubled by Indian raids from time to
time until the latter part of the century.
[Illustration: PHOTO BY GEORGE THOMPSON THE AUTHOR AT AN OLD HIDDEN
TRAIL]
[Illustration: COURTESY NAT’L. PARK SERVICE A PARTY OF VISITORS AT
LONG HOUSE]
The walls of ancient caves today are pocked with nail holes.
Sheepherders might have camped for a while and left initials and dates
picked in the soft stone. Cow bones strewn at the base of the cliff, now
dry and white and brittle with age, are the only sad memorials of what
went on. And many are the hidden legends. Every little canyon in the
locality has a name. Something happened to give them their names. One,
Water Canyon, was formerly known as “Diesmo” or “Ten-Percent Canyon,”
because a priest collected ten percent of the lambs from sheep owners as
a tithe for the church and herded his flocks in this valley. Everything
has a meaning in this colorful land. There still exists today a circular
platform of blocks of tuff on the floor of Frijoles Canyon. Local
farmers claim that it belonged to them and their fathers before them. It
was used as a threshing floor. I have heard that it was a dance pavilion
or platform and was advised that if I brought over some of the Indian
women from San Ildefonso and asked them to do what they were supposed to
do, they would begin dancing the ring dance. The stories are many but
will the truth ever be known? Time is slipping by.
Within quite recent years the Navaho has used the old trails, just
passing through, going to some pueblo to trade perhaps. Even Zuñi
Indians have passed through the Valley of the Tyuonyi—resting a few
minutes and drinking of the waters of El Rito de Los Frijoles as they
might have done in years past when they were supposed to have visited
the Stone Lions to the south. And Indians from Cochiti have returned to
their Tyuonyi during summer months to raise a little corn. These people
religiously return to the homes of their ancestors. Even today, certain
of the old Tewa men from northern pueblos trudge south into timbered
mountainous country and erect shrines near their ancestral homes. They
carve miniature pueblos three and four stories high out of volcanic
boulders of soft ash. They build altars and burn ceremonial fires. They
dig holes in the soft ground, line them with little rocks and cover the
holes with green branches from the juniper tree. Many times I have seen
evidences of these ceremonies along dry arroyo banks on the Pajarito
Plateau.