"Four Leagues of Pecos... treats the careers of the principle land speculators who began to have an impact on New Mexico land grants during the Mexican Period. ...Of equal significance is the treatment of the colossal confusion in land administration that reigned throughout the United States territorial period and the untangling of financial debts by a group of early New Mexico figures who were able to profit personally from this disgraceful state of affairs. Operating during the 1850s and 1860s, this group might be called the "early Santa Fe land grant ring," for it preceded Thomas B. Catron and his cronies..."