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La Tinaja
La Tinaja
When Pablo Candelaria and a brother-
called the place San Lorenzo, but eventually it came to be known as Tinaja, for a a nearby Indian
ruin with a sunken depression resembling a jar; see Tin* (general). Other Hispanic settlers
arrived, and Tinaja became a stopping place for travelers; the village was described as a "Spanish
town with a plaza in the center." By the 1920s, Tinaja was losing population; lacking title to their
lands the Hispanic settlers often were displaced by outsiders. Though the village became a logging
camp during the Zuni Mountains lumber boom, by 1940 it was all but dead. Only a few residences
remain.
The old Tinaja town site was originally called San Lorenzo. Only a few ruins of sandstone buildings
and a cemetary remain on the property, which was established in the 1860s by Santa Fe ranchers,
Pablo Candelaria and Jose Maria Marez, along an old wagon train route at the site of several
springs. Tinaja, a Spanish word for ‘earthen vat,’ was a stopping place for travelers and pioneers.
It had a central plaza and a dance pavilion. Several families settled there during the late 1800s,
grew fields of corn, beans and chiles, and ran sheep and cattle on the surrounding lands.
Eventually the land surrounding Tinaja was acquired or controlled by the livestock and timber baron
Silvestre Mirabal, at one time the biggest landowner in New Mexico. Tinaja was deserted by 1940 and
only a few stone ruins and a small cemetery remain on the property.”
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As Navajo and Apache raids abated in the 1860s, herders from Cubero and San Rafael began to move
their livestock to the broad valleys south of San Rafael, Around 1866 Pablo Candelaria and his
brother-
much-
place was later renamed Tinaja ("earthen vat"), for a nearby Indian ruin that resembles a giant
bowl. In 1870 Epitacio and Jesus Mazon moved into the area and eventually became sheep and cattle
barons with vast tracts of land, at one time owning some twelve thousand sheep and twelve hundred
head of cattle_ Epitacio reportedly used a Mormon settler's headstone as a doorstep. When he died in
1900, he left a hundred-
fine cut of his clothes. He never wore western garb.
Tinaja became a center for Hispanic settlement and a stopping place for travelers. One old-
recalled that Tin* "was a Spanish town built with a plaza in the center" and had a dance pavilion.
Settlers raised cattle and sheep and grew fields of corn, beans, and chile. Soon other villages grew
along the well-
Lorenzo Garcia and his family moved from Cebolleta to the new village of San Rafael but he died in
1881, during a raid by Geronimo's band. In 1882 his oldest son, Juan, moved the family to Jaralosa
Canyon and settled at a natural lake, where they built several dams. He named the place Los Atarques
("the dams") and opened a store. The place became the village of Atarque. It had a post office from
1910 to 1955_ in 1916 the Carbon City News described Atarque as a "Mexican settlement of many
Lorenzo Garcia and his family moved from Cebolleta to the new village of San Rafael but he died in
1881, during a raid by Geronimo's band. In 1882 his oldest son, Juan, moved the family to Jaralosa
Canyon and settled at a natural Lake. where they built several dams. He named the place Los Atarques
("the dams") and opened a store. The place became the village of Atarque. It had a post office from
1910 to 1955. in 1916 the Carbon City News described Atarque as a "Mexican settlement of many years
in the middle of a stock grazing region" and a town of adobe houses shaded by cottonwoods.
In the 1940s most land in the area was controlled by a wealthy Texan with little tolerance for the
Hispanic residents_ Ownership of the village passed to Juan's youngest brother, ❑avid. When he died
in the early 1950s, wrote a former village teacher, "the rancher who owned the land around Atarque
made it so rough on the people they had to leave, so no one lives there now." Tinaja is also
deserted. Outsiders settled among the rancheries, and because many of the Hispanic settlers had
never gotten title to their lands, they lost them to ruthless outsiders. By the 1920s few were left.
Tinaja rallied briefly as the last of the lumber camps and died in 1940.
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The village of Tinaja, three miles north of El Morro,
blossomed in the late 1860s. Originally dubbed San Lorenzo, it was renamed Tinaja, Spanish
for "earthen jar" because a nearby Indian ruin fit the description. Tinaja's existence evolved
around the sheep industry. By the 1880s the community boasted several families in the area.
The country surrounding Tinaja became a seedbed for a new wave of missionary activities.
In the winter of 1876-
Latter Day Saints to Tinaja, hoping to plant a colony. A smallpox epidemic enveloped Tinaja
forcing Burhan and Tietjen to seek a healthier climate. The Mormons moved about a dozen
miles west and established their colony four miles from the site of the present town of Ramah.
They built two communities called Sevoia and Navajo. The Mormon knowledge of
controlling water supplies in New Mexico's arid climate, and their affinity for communal living.
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