Martin Apodaca Homestead, Canyon Largo, Lindrith, Rio Arriba County, NM

Significance: The San Juan Basin in northwest New Mexico was a long history of cultural groups occupying and then abandoning areas at both the regional and community level. During the late 19th and early 20th century, a Hispanic community flourished in upper Largo Canyon. Shortly after the establishment of a stage line traveling the length of Canyon Largo in 1865, homesteaders moved into the upper parts of the canyon, with the earliest homesteaders patented in 1885. As more homesteads were established a widely spread, but active community developed. Having no cluster of community structures, rather the church, stores, post office and cemetery were dispersed across the canyon. The community is still referred to as Haynes by descendants of those who lived there. The Martin Apodaca Homestead included a house and adjacent building, a community Catholic church named El Buen Paster (The Good Shepherd), corral and large earthen dam to hold spring water. Tree-ring dates from wood used in the construction of the structures indicate that the residence was built in two episodes dating about 1903 and 1916-1918. The church was built about 1913. The homestead patent was issued in 1919. Later the homestead became part of the Homer Barry Ranch along with several of the other early homesteads in Largo Canyon. Much of the ranch was later sold to the Navajo tribe; and in 1991, the Bureau of Land Management, as part of an exchange with the Navajo tribe, acquired the parcels containing three of the early homesteads, including the 160-acre Martin Apodaca Homestead.
Survey number: HABS NM-201
Building/structure dates: ca. 1903 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: ca. 1917 Subsequent Work
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 100001324