This was a great book! What a storyteller John Nichols is. Warm-hearted, spirited, compelling story with lots of very vivid and human characters, this was based on a true story of political resistance, rich Anglo businessmen vs. poor Mexican farmers, etc. which soon became a movie starring and directed by Robert Redford. Here's the back story, followed by a brief Amazon.com book summary.Time to read more John Nichols' books!
Almost one year before this article appeared in the Taos News a small group of farmers and businessmen met in a school auditorium in northern New Mexico's Taos county to debate the benefits and drawbacks of a proposed $16 million dollar dam east of Taos. Proponents of the Indian Camp Dam -- mostly businessmen -- argued that the large-scale water project offered the community a chance to grow financially. The reservoir, more than a mile long, would provide tourists with recreational activities like fishing, jet-skiing, and sailing in a tourist area dominated by winter skiing and summer sightseeing. Supporters of the dam argued that surrounding businesses would benefit from an increased number of visitors during the summer months demanding more lodging, retail stores, and restaurants. Advocates of the project also believed that local farmers would benefit from the additional supply of water by expanding commercial agricultural opportunities in an area where landowners ranked among the nation's poorest.
Initially, farmers -- the majority of whom where Mexican American -- supported the construction of the Indian Camp Dam, but after learning the financial details of the plan they refused to support it. Their complaints focused on the proposed Rancho del Rio Conservancy District, empowered by the state of New Mexico to impose taxes on residents living within the district's boundaries. Farmers soon learned the proposed conservancy district required them to pay for a portion of the construction costs and one-half of the maintenance expenses for the dam. Farmers believed that they did not possess enough property to commercially benefit from the project and that their inability to pay conservancy taxes would result in the foreclosure of their farms and loss of their property. Finally, opponents viewed the District Court's appointment of conservancy officials making up the board of directors as undemocratic and an affront to their existing system of water management which relied on locally elected officials. Over the next five years Chicano activists and Anglo-American environmentalists joined the Spanish-speaking farmers in forming a grassroots organization called the Tres Rios Association which successfully fought the creation of the conservancy district in court.
The five year struggle soon became the subject of two anthropological studies, a comparative legal case study, a popular novel, and a Hollywood movie. The most popular representation of the event was John Nichols' novel, The Milagro Beanfield War, published in 1974. Although the novel focused on protagonist Joe Mondragon who decides to water his deceased father's beanfieldby illegally tapping water belonging to the state of New Mexico, Nichols' story otherwise parallels the events that took place in Taos between 1971-1975. After a standoff with state and federal law enforcement officers, Mondragon earns the support of his community and together they challenge the Miracle Valley Conservancy District in court using petitions.
Nichols' story confirmed the best established assumption about New Mexican history: political resistance and struggles over land, water, and culture took place in the mountainous valleys of northern New Mexico, the area stretching from Santa Fe to Taos. The novel supports the premise that in the more rural north, Mexican Americans preserved their culture and in the more urban central part of the state traditional culture breaks down as Hispanos assimilated into mainstream American society. A look back at the Tres Rios editorial and a re-examination of John Nichols' work challenges us to rethink our most deeply held beliefs about northern and central New Mexico. The 1972 newspaper article reminds us that artificial constructions between regions and people often contradict the real- life political behavior and collective memory of local inhabitants. For example, in their successful effort to block the proposed conservancy district, northern New Mexico valley residents turned to the historical struggles of central New Mexico valley farmers with the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD). Northern New Mexican farmers viewed the historical events in central New Mexico as a touchstone to draw upon in their own battles against a large-scale water development project.
Amazon review:
Joe Mondragon, a feisty hustler with a talent for trouble, slammed his battered pickup to a stop, tugged on his gumboots, and marched into the arid patch of ground. Carefully (and also illegally), he tapped into the main irrigation channel. And so began-though few knew it at the time-the Milagro beanfield war. But like everything else in the dirt-poor town of Milagro, it would be a patchwork war, fought more by tactical retreats than by battlefield victories. Gradually, the small farmers and sheepmen begin to rally to Joe's beanfield as the symbol of their lost rights and their lost lands. And downstate in the capital, the Anglo water barons and power brokers huddle in urgent conference, intent on destroying that symbol before it destroys their multimillion-dollar land-development schemes. The tale of Milagro's rising is wildly comic and lovingly ter, a vivid portrayal of a town that, half-stumbling and partly prodded, gropes its way toward its own stubborn salvation.
