Manuscript: Compilation of the Laws, Regulations, Usages and Conditions of Spain and Mexico Under Which Lands Were Granted and Held and Missions, Presidios and Pueblos Established and Governed by Wasson, John (1833-1909), U.S. Surveyor-General for Arizona - 1880

Tucson, 1880. Folio. 72 handwritten pages. John Wasson had been the editor and publisher of the Tucson Citizen from 1870 to 1874 it was he whose fiery rhetoric led to the Camp Grant massacre of over 100 peaceful Apaches. Rather than this being a negative, it led to his appointment as the U.S. Surveyor-General for Arizona. In the early 1870s his first work was complicated by incredible difficulties with the problem of Indian attacks (usually attributed to Apaches) until the situation improved with General Oliver O. Howard. After detailing the earliest history to the 1820s, it describes the grants under the laws of colonization of over a million acres for California, New Mexico, Texas, and others. Then, Santa Ana annulled much of this determined to prevent the annexation of territory. A long section follows entitled Mines and Minerals with the note that the Gadsen purchase [unnamed here] precludes any further American intrusion. He traces the growth of the Spanish Missions (p. 46-52), Note: the Congressional report summarizes as follows: "The Spanish and Mexican Governments reserved the right to the minerals unless expressly granted; therefore, if the United States patents include the minerals, they not only make good the grants made by Spain and Mexico, but convey additional rights, and there is no inducement to prospectors to make discoveries. (See report of a special agent to investigate this subject in the report of Public Land Commission, February 1880, pp. 4-12; also, see "Compilation of laws, regulations, usages, and conditions of Spain and Mexico, under which lands were granted and held, and missions, presidios, and pueblos established and governed," by John Wasson, U. S. surveyor-general for Arizona.) This remarkable document is written so clearly that every line can be easily read. While the last page (p. 72) is fragile there is no loss of text.