How Spanish slavers, Apache raids, and drought destroyed New Mexico’s largest Pueblo settlement by the 1670s

The Great Abandonment and Mass Grave at Salinas Pueblo

Las Humanas was home to 3,000 people when Spanish explorers first arrived in the 1580s. It was the largest of three wealthy Pueblo settlements that had flourished as trade centers for centuries. Franciscan priests came in the 1620s, constructing enormous stone churches.

But the 1660s brought crushing drought. Starvation claimed over 450 Humano Indians in 1668 alone. Apache raids followed, sparked by Spanish slave raids that provoked deadly revenge attacks.

By 1672, disease, famine, and violence forced the survivors to flee to Rio Grande communities. Here’s how it all unraveled at this site you can walk through today.

Crops Failed During the Salinas Valley Drought (1667)

Hunger hit the towns of Las Humanas, Abó, and Quarai when crops failed three years straight starting in 1667.

These towns had thrived for hundreds of years as busy trading spots connecting Plains Indians, Pacific Coast tribes, and Great Basin folks.

Spanish priests arrived in the 1620s and built huge stone churches in these Tompiro and Tiwa-speaking communities. Then the worst drought anyone could remember struck in the late 1660s.

Spanish rulers kept demanding food even as storehouses sat empty. Pueblo spiritual leaders secretly held rain ceremonies away from priests who banned their old ways.

Hunger Filled a Mass Grave at Gran Quivira (1668)

Starvation killed over 450 people at Las Humanas (also called Gran Quivira) in 1668 alone. So many died so quickly that workers dug one big grave where bodies went side by side in rows.

Children and old folks died first as food ran out. Diggers later found hundreds of skeletons showing signs of hunger.
The few priests left sent desperate letters to Santa Fe begging for corn.

Some families stayed alive by eating leather, yucca roots, and whatever small animals they could catch in the dry landscape.

Hungry Families Ate Their Seed Corn as Hope Dried Up (1669)

By 1669, starving families ate even the seed corn saved for next year’s planting. This tough choice meant giving up future crops to stay alive today.

Officials in Santa Fe sent some supply wagons, but never enough. Trade with Plains tribes stopped since the pueblos had nothing to trade.

Many people died while others left for good. Some families snuck away at night, heading to the Rio Grande where rain still fell.

Those who stayed watched their centuries-old towns waste away. Once-busy farm plots sat empty with too few hands left to work them.

Apache Warriors Fought Back Against Spanish Slave Hunters (1669-1670)

Spanish slave catchers often raided Apache camps, taking people to work in northern Mexico’s mines.

These cruel raids turned Apaches from trading friends into bitter enemies of both Spanish settlers and their Pueblo allies. Apaches attacked scattered settlements throughout 1669 and 1670.

Pueblo towns got caught in the middle, hurt by Spanish greed and Apache anger. Old trading friendships between Apaches and Pueblos fell apart.

The remote mission compounds, with their tall church walls and scattered homes, made easy targets for Apache war parties looking for revenge and supplies.

Raiders Destroyed Las Humanas in One Day (1670)

Apaches attacked Las Humanas in September 1670, wrecking both the mission and much of the town. The raid killed eleven people and took thirty more as captives.

Raiders burned San Isidro church and tore down the original friary. Survivors ran into the countryside, hiding in caves and makeshift shelters.

Spanish soldiers, spread thin across the frontier, failed to protect these far-off towns. The attack finished off a community already weak from years of hunger and sickness.

Those who lived faced a hard choice: return to ruins or leave their homeland forever.

Church Walls Stood Unfinished as Builders Fled (1670)

Work on the massive San Buenaventura church stopped when Apache raids in 1670 forced everyone to leave. The big limestone building, with walls 5-6 feet thick, never got finished.

These walls stand unevenly at 15-20 feet high, with the nave open to the sky.

Workers dropped their tools and building materials as staying alive became the only thing that mattered. Stone blocks sit where masons left them.

Wooden beams meant for the roof either went with leaving residents or got stolen by raiders looking for firewood.

Last Families Locked Their Doors and Left Forever (1672)

The few people still at Gran Quivira packed their things and left in 1672, trying to find safety at nearby Abó. The busy town that once held 3,000 people stood completely empty for the first time in hundreds of years.

Families sealed sacred kivas and either took or buried holy objects to keep them safe. Spanish priests left with church treasures and records.

The sounds of playing children and women grinding corn stopped. Homes built by ancestors generations earlier got locked for the last time.

The community vanished within one lifetime.

Refugees Found No Safety at Neighboring Abó Pueblo (1672-1675)

Gran Quivira refugees who reached Abó in 1672 found only short-term shelter. Even with combined groups, the community couldn’t survive the ongoing drought.

Food stores shrank despite smaller portions. The Spanish mission system across the Salinas Valley fell apart as priests asked to move to safer places.

By 1674, the remaining families started planning their final move to pueblos along the Rio Grande. Water sources barely gave enough for drinking, with nothing left for crops.

Apache threats never stopped, with lookouts spotting raiders more and more often.

Final Prayers Echoed Through Quarai’s Empty Church (1675)

Quarai’s abandonment in 1675 marked the end of the last working Salinas pueblo.

Priests held final church services before packing sacred items and records for the trip to Santa Fe. People emptied storage rooms of remaining corn and supplies for the journey east.

Spanish soldiers at guard posts left the region completely.

The huge stone church, once full of worshippers and music, stood quiet as the last families went away. Cooking fires went cold in hearths that had burned for generations.

The people who built and kept this community for centuries walked away, never to return as a group.

Pueblo Families Carried Their Traditions to New Communities (1675-1677)

All Tompiro pueblos emptied within seven years as survivors joined communities along the Rio Grande. The Quarai refugees settled south of today’s Albuquerque.

Families took sacred items and pottery-making skills to their new homes.

Children who lived through the famine grew up in Rio Grande pueblos, never returning to their birthplace. Spanish records noted the complete emptying of the once-rich valley.

The refugees brought valuable skills to their new communities, including special pottery methods and farming knowledge. Some families kept oral stories about their Salinas roots for generations.

Wind and rain reclaimed the empty pueblos for centuries (1677-1700s)

The Salinas Valley returned to wilderness as structures crumbled and wildlife reclaimed the area. The natural damage of time accelerated as treasure hunters dug through ruins seeking Spanish gold.

Three generations passed before explorers rediscovered the massive stone churches and pueblo remains.

The tragedy of the Salinas abandonment foreshadowed the larger Pueblo Revolt of 1680 that would drive Spanish colonists from much of New Mexico.

The massive churches slowly deteriorated, their walls gradually falling as wooden support beams rotted away. Roof timbers collapsed first, followed by sections of the thick stone walls.

What had taken decades to build returned to the earth over centuries of neglect.

Visiting Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument

Explore the tragic history of The Great Abandonment at Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, where drought, disease and Apache raids destroyed three communities in the 1600s. The monument is free to visit year-round.

Start at the headquarters in Mountainair at 105 South Ripley Avenue, open daily with seasonal hours (10AM-5PM April-October, 9AM-4PM November-March).

For a closer look at the ruins, head to Gran Quivira 25 miles south of Mountainair on NM-55, where you can walk the 0. 75-mile paved trail through the abandoned pueblo and mission structures.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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