Question

In 1877, the Maxwell Land Grant was surveyed to be 1,714,764 acres. Why would this be a problem?

Answer 1

The correct answer is:

Prior to the Territorial period, 92,000 acres was the maximum allowed under Spanish law.

The Maxwell Land Grant (1841), was a Mexican land grant in Colfax County, New Mexico and part of Las Animas County, Colorado. It was one of the biggest contiguous private landholdings in the history of the United States. It included the New Mexico towns of Cimarron, Colfax, Dawson, Elizabethtown, French, Lynn, Maxwell, Miami, Raton, Rayado, Springer, Ute Park, and Vermejo Park.

Answer 2

This particular fact was a continual problem, even after an act of Congress in 1860 declared the boundaries of the grant to be valid.