Site of Uribeño.

When Falcon Lake rose, the dead had to move too. The International Boundary and Water Commission wanted every displaced community's graves gathered in one cemetery at U.S. 83 and Farm Road 496. Residents refused and surveyed the old burial grounds themselves, identifying 1,501 of 1,753 graves; Lopeño alone had 207, with 38 unidentified. Each village voted to buy its own cemetery, and Falcon moved 162 graves, ten of them unidentified. Uribeño chose not to relocate its town, so its moved cemetery is what remains of it.

What the plaque says

Site of Uribeño. One of five Zapata County settlements inundated by the waters of Falcon Reservoir in the 1950s, Uribeño traces its origin to 1803, when Porción 41 was granted to José Nicolás Clemente Gutiérrez de Lara (1770-1805) for his service in the Spanish army. As required by the terms of the grant, José Nicolás Clemente worked to establish a ranch on his property against the odds of Indian raids, scorching heat, drought and periodic river flooding. He returned to his hometown of Revilla in Mexico just prior to his death, leaving behind his widow, María Josefa Martínez, and six children. Development of the ranch on Porción 41 was delayed until after Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821. After the war, some of José Nicolás Clemente's sons returned to the ranch; by 1826 all of his children had married and moved to the ranch, which was named Uribeño. By 1860, the population of the Uribeño community, which took its name from the Gutiérrez ranch, was 152. Located about two miles west of this site, it was a small, poor community, comprised primarily of farmers, herdsmen and laborers. Although no permanent church existed, visiting priests periodically held worship services. A cemetery, a schoolhouse and a small grocery store existed to serve the residents. When the United States government built Falcon Dam, Uribeño met the same fate as its neighboring towns, but its residents chose not to move the community to another site before the waters flooded the town. Only the cemetery was relocated to serve as a physical reminder of this early border community. (2001)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Zapata County Museum of History — 5.5 mi
  The museum of a county whose old town of Zapata went under Falcon Reservoir, keeping the photographs, artifacts and natural history of the families who were moved.
• San Ygnacio Historic District — 8.9 mi
  A Rio Grande village of sandstone houses on land granted in 1750, home to the Treviño-Uribe Rancho, a fortified family compound begun in 1830 and a National Historic Landmark.

More markers nearby

• Zapata County — steps away
• Old Ramireño — 4.6 mi
• In the Vicinity of this Site was Mission Revilla a Visita — 5.6 mi
• Colonization of the Lower Rio Grande Area — 5.6 mi