Constellation Similarity Assertions

Bell Ranch. Part of the Felipe Chaves Family Pictorial Collection PICT 000-010 (Box 1, Folder 3)

Bell Ranch was a ranch of more than 700, 000 acres located in eastern San Miguel County about 50 miles northwest of Tucumcari, New Mexico. It was originally two Mexican land grants, the Baca Location No. 2 and the Pablo Montoya Grant of 1824. After the war with Mexico in 1846-1847, the Pablo Montoya heirs applied for confirmation of their grant. John S. Watts who led the confirmation process took a large part of the grant as his legal fee; he also acquired the adjoining Baca Location No. 2. Watts later sold a major part of this property to Wilson Waddingham. By 1885, Waddingham and his ranch manager, Michael Slattery were running large herds of cattle on the range with little regard to sustainability of the land. By 1893, overstocking and grazing of stock from other ranches combined with drought to leave the range severely overgrazed. Waddingham had to sell the land due to financial problems. In 1898, E.G. Stoddard, president of the New Haven Bank, founded the Red River Valley Company to buy the Bell Ranch. From then until 1946 this company, headed first by Stoddard and after 1923, by Julius G. Day, survived the ups and downs of the cattle markets of the 1920s and 1930s. In 1932, Bell Ranch manager Charles ODonel retired, but stayed on as vice president of the Red River Valley Company. Philip C. Garrett replaced him as ranch manager. Garretts tenure was short. He was succeeded by Albert K. Mitchell, who managed the Bell Ranch from January 1, 1933, until the Red River Valley Company sold it in 1947. The Bell Ranch was broken up into seven smaller ranches. Mrs. Harriet E. Keeney bought the headquarters unit consisting of 130,855 acres and acquired the rights to the Bell brand. She asked George F. Ellis to manage the "Old Bell Headquarters" unit.

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