The beginnings of many New Mexico towns founded in the Spanish and Mexican periods are fairly well known, among them Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Socorro and Las Cruces. The history of others, however, remains clouded, including that of Las Vegas, N.M.

We do know, nevertheless, that it all started with a man named Luís María Cabeza de Vaca (his last name was usually abbreviated and spelled C. de Baca). In 1820, he lived in Peña Blanca on the Rio Grande, 4 miles above what was then known as Santo Domingo Pueblo.

Having learned that some prominent New Mexico residents had obtained large government grants on the eastern frontier, C. de Baca decided to go out and seek a merced (land grant) for himself and his family.

At San Miguel del Bado on the Pecos River, he heard of an unclaimed block of paradise known as Las Vegas Grandes (The Great Meadows). Located 22 miles northeast of San Miguel, the broad site at the foot of the Sangre de Cristos was watered by the small Gallinas River.

Ranchers from the Pecos Valley were in the habit of driving livestock there to fatten them on the bountiful blanket of grass, hence the name Las Vegas Grandes. C. de Baca, after he visited the area, joined with eight of these ranchers in applying to the Provincial Deputation (Legislature) at Santa Fe for a formal grant.

As it turned out, C. de Baca was the only one of the group to settle on the land and attempt to develop it.

Therefore, when he submitted a petition to Gov. Bartolomé Baca in 1823 asking for final confirmation and title to the enormous tract of more than 400,000 acres, the governor made the grant.

Thereupon, C. de Baca went to Peña Blanca, where his principal residence remained, and gathered up servants, cowboys and a herd of livestock valued at $36,000. That figure proves he was a man of considerable wealth.

Over the next four years, he struggled to improve his ranching empire. At the end of that time, though, raiding Indians from the Great Plains drove away all the stock. With that, C. de Baca gave up the effort and returned to Peña Blanca for good.

In the year 1827, another misfortune brought about his death. The incident involved noted mountain man Ewing Young, who like other Americans found it profitable to hunt beaver on New Mexico's untapped streams and rivers.

Since the province was under the government of Mexico, foreign trappers were required to pay a heavy tax on furs harvested here. Young, at the head of a party returning from a hunt on the Gila River, stopped overnight in Peña Blanca.

In so doing, he hid 13 packs of pelts in the house of C. de Baca. The governor in Santa Fe learned of this attempt to evade the tax, declared the fur to be contraband, and sent down a squad of soldiers to seize it.

The men were met by C. de Baca. He refused to allow a search of his house and was shot down.

Historian David Weber has written that the fellow "gave his life in a futile attempt to save Young's furs." Why he would do that remains a mystery.

C. de Baca had 17 children. An elder son, Juan Antonio, assumed charge of the family properties, but shortly after, he was slain by Indians.

Then, 29 men from San Miguel in 1835 petitioned for possession of C. de Baca's seemingly vacant grant. The current governor, Francisco Sarracino, approved, but the C. de Baca heirs protested and litigation ensued.

When the dust settled, the new petitioners received the land by agreeing to found a town, Las Vegas, and meet all requirements for establishing a plaza, acequias, streets and pastures. As compensation, the C. de Bacas were given the equivalent amount of land elsewhere.

Las Vegas was thus placed on a path leading to it briefly becoming in the latter half of the 19th century the primary trading and supply center for all of Eastern New Mexico and parts of far western Texas.

Luís María Cabeza de Baca deserves credit as the first landowner within Las Vegas Grandes. Unfortunately, he could never have envisioned what the future would bring to that fruitful piece of ground.

Historian Marc Simmons is author of numerous books on New Mexico and the Southwest. His column appears Saturdays.