Sod Roof Cabin

Sod Roof Cabin. A Spanish-American Home. Hispanics have a very long history in the Southwest, dating back to the early 1600s. The Old Spanish Trail trade from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to California, passed through San Juan County near Monticello. There were no supply stations nor permanent settlements know in the area until the Mormon settlers arrived at Bluff in 1880 and Monticello in 1888. , Establishing a New Abode , Spanish-American sheepherders were recruited by local stockmen, some of whom were Land Grant families from New Mexico. Many of these people established their own homesteads in the area. , The earliest known permanent Spanish settlers were the family of Ramon Gonzalez in 1900. Other Spanish families migrated from New Mexico to the Monticello area in the early 1900s. Among them were the Manzanares, Gallegos, and Jaramillo families. This small, sod-roof cabin is typical of their dwellings.