The Francisco de la Riva Papers consist of letters addressed for the most part to Don Francisco de la Riva, a Mexican farmer, pertaining to the business of managing his farm. Several of the letters are from Don Jose Ignacio de Napal, apparently a business associate or overseer for his farm, because his correspondence contains reports of the conditions on the farm. Throughout the correspondence is evidence of a dispute with the Monks of St. Augustine and the Indians over the water supply that was used for irrigation on the farms. Riva claimed that the water supply was on his land. A court case developed and this legal settlement is the subject of the larger part of the papers.
