Uribeño was one of five Zapata County settlements inundated by Falcon Reservoir in the 1950s. Its origin traced 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 grant, José Nicolás Clemente worked to establish a ranch on the property despite Indian raids, scorching heat, drought, and periodic river flooding, but he returned to his hometown of Revilla in Mexico just before his death, leaving his widow, María Josefa Martínez, and six children. Development of the ranch on Porción 41 was delayed until after Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821. After the war, some of his sons returned to the ranch, and by 1826 all of his children had married and moved there; the ranch was named Uribeño. By 1860, the Uribeño community, named for the Gutiérrez ranch, had a population of 152. Located about two miles west of this site, it was a small, poor community made up primarily of farmers, herdsmen, and laborers. Although it had no permanent church, visiting priests periodically held worship services, and a cemetery, a schoolhouse, and a small grocery store served residents. When the United States government built Falcon Dam, Uribeño was flooded like neighboring towns, and its residents chose not to move the community to another site; only the cemetery was relocated as a physical reminder of this early border community.