Reorganization. and New Policies, r770-r800
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enemy and friend alike, were allowed to prey upon the wild herds to their hearts' delight. 35 For their own protection, the ranch owners of San Antonio and La Bahia and the missionaries entered into a mutual agreement to round up their respective cattle and horses whether branded or unbranded. Simon de Arocha and Juan Jose Flores represented the eighteen or twenty ranchers and Father Fray Luis Mariano de Cardenas represented the interests of the missions of San Antonio and La Bahia. The agree- ment declared that for fourteen years no real round-up had been held because of the hostility of the Indians and the inadequate protection afforded by the garrison. The neophytes of Mission Espiritu Santo were to round up all cattle and stock from the point where Arroyo Alonso entered Cleto Creek to the headwaters of the said creek, hence north to Mina de Manar, hence east to Arroyo Rosario, hence to Nogales Creek, hence to the mouth of Tulillo Creek, and hence to the Guadalupe. The missions of San Antonio and the citizens of Villa de San Fernando were to round up the cattle and stock found between the limits of the Villa and Presidio and the Guadalupe River. 36 Having reached an agreement, they now appealed to the governor ad interim, Rafael Martinez Pacheco, to secure permission from Com- mandant General Jacobo Ugarte y Loyola, to round up their cattle in the specified area, mainly in the country south and west of the Guadalupe and to brand them, pending the final decision of the king as to the payment of a head tax. The order of Croix of 1780 had been seriously questioned and uniformly protested and the matter had been submitted to the king for final confirmation. Martinez Pacheco was sympathetic with the outraged cattle raisers and the missionaries. He pleaded earnestly in their behalf and sent to the commandant general a complete list of all the owners of cattle ranches in the vicinity of San Antonio. He pointed out that they should be allowed an opportunity to brand their rightfully owned cattle before the new regulations were put in force, because Indian hostilities for the last few years had prevented them from holding their annual round-ups. Furthermore, these people had endured untold hardships because of severe droughts and unusually cold winters, particularly in -1786 when there 35 Fray Jose Francisco Lopez, Razon e Ynfor11U . • •, pp. 15-17. Univ4T.sity of Texas Archives. 36 Acuerdo entre los vecinos y rnisioneros, May 21, 1787. Nacogdoc/us Archives, Vol. VI, pp. 87-99.
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