The marvellous country, or, Three years in Arizona and New Mexico.: Containing an authentic history of this wonderful country and its ancient civilization ... together with a full and complete history of the Apache tribe of Indians .../ By Samuel Woodworth Cozzens. Illustrated by more than one hundred engravings.

"HEAD RIGHTS."
Society," of which Rt. Rev. Ramon Ortiz was commissioner
and a small Sonoranian settlement around the old Mexican
fort of Tucson, near the centre of the purchase.
There were, also, some thirty Americans in the country,
who had gone there to "spekelate" in "head rights" that
had been issued by the State of Texas to such persons as
had served in her wars.
These head rights were for six hundred and forty acres
of land each, and entitled the possessor to select any unoccupied land in the State.
These claimants generally cared little where they located,
and in many instances they seemed to regard a "head
right" as a sort of nest-egg, locating their mile square of
land, and claiming around it as far as the eye could reach
in every direction. They frequently entered upon the cultivated lands, that had been in the quiet possession of the
descendants of old Spanish families for centuries.
If one of the Mexicans dared to remonstrate in any way
%or the unwarrantable intrusion, he was answered by the
Airk or revolver, an argument that always "settled it."
The Mexican invariably "vamosed the ranche," leaving
,he "spekelator" in undisputed possession. It was the
facility with which these "head rights" were located, that
induced those Texans, who were found occupying the ler:itory in'53, to "Go West," where they could enjoy the
fascinating life of the Mexican frontier.
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