friend Gaylord Clarke was now a judge thanks to Fountains influence. Clarke traveled to Austin to visit Bishop Gregg in order to seek a Protestant missionary for El Paso. Specifically they wanted one Reverend Joseph Wilkin Tays. He was the chaplain for the Senate and was currently disgraced for having preformed a mixed-marriage ceremony. Gregg agreed and Tays made his way to El Paso. He was a valued member of the community from the start. He ran a school and conducted services on Sundays. His source for income, however, was real estate and surveying as county surveyor, a position that Fountain made sure he received. In 1871 when Fountain returned to Austin he pushed “An Act to Incorporate the Town of Ysleta in El Paso County” through the Legislature. The boundaries of the act included lands belonging to the Tigua, as recognized in 1854. The act did not leave any opening for an election to determine if Ysleta wanted to be incorporated. Even if it had the Tigua would not have been allowed to vote. Indians were denied voting rights by law on the basis that they were wards of the government. This was true despite the fact that the Tiguas had been Mexican citizens and should therefore in accordance with the Treaty of Hidalgo been made citizens of the United States. The act gave Ysleta the power to regulate “tippling houses, dram ships, and groceries.” It also explained how land could be granted or sold by the town, “ to any person or persons who may desire to become citizens of Ysleta.” Indians, as you may have guessed, could not become citizens, and so even though the law was an illegal law since the patent that was granted by the Fifth Legislature could not be sold, the Tiguas could no hold land titles. Tays prepared a map, which combined the Ysleta Grant with other properties. The map is dated 1872 and the act to incorporate seems to be drawn on the same parameters. Tays’s original map is still ...
