Santa Fe Ring

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (November 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Santa Fe Ring was an informal group of powerful politicians, attorneys, and land speculators in territorial New Mexico from 1865 until 1912. The Ring was composed of newly-arrived Anglo Americans and opportunistic Hispanics from long-resident and prominent families in New Mexico. Acquiring wealth, both groups realized, lay in owning or controlling the millions of acres of land which the Spanish and Mexican governments of New Mexico had granted to individuals and communities. The acquisition of grant lands by members of the Santa Fe Ring was facilitated by U.S. courts who had no allegiance to Mexican claims and land practices which featured allocating most of the land in grants to the common ownership of the first settlers and their descendants vs. legal private ownership.

Many prominent people in New Mexico Territory including future Senator and Secretary of War Stephen Benton Elkins and future Senator Thomas B. Catron were accused, some saying unrightfully.^[who?] The Ring figured into the various range wars and feuds such as the Pecos War, Lincoln County War, and the Colfax County War.^[1] The ring name was applied to almost all state politicians in the state capital in Santa Fe, New Mexico, who had near total control of the state during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and were said to turn a blind eye to or be actively involved in corruption. The most infamous period involving the Ring was in the 1870s, when ownership of huge Spanish and Mexican land grants was being sorted out.