The lands covered in the Maxwell Land Grant were originally tribal lands belonging to Jicarilla Apache Indians.[4] In 1885, Helen Hunt Jackson's report for the Bureau of Indian Affairs reported the Jicarilla Apaches numbered 850 located at Cimarron Agency, upon what is called “Maxwell’s Grant” in North-eastern New Mexico. [5] The region of northern New Mexico was claimed by Spain in 1524, but there were few settlements east of the Sangre de Cristo Range. In 1821, the government of Mexico was established, and the new government retained the Spanish policy of encouraging settlement by making land grants.[citation needed]
