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History Of Las Nieves

The name Las Nieves came
from the Spanish word “La
Nieve” meaning the snow.
These were the voices of
the Spanish Priest who
founded the place one foggy of April 1877.
Excerpt of its history begin
when the Jesuits came to
introduce Christianism to
the native living along the
coast of Agusan and Surigao. IN February 1877,
Father Saturnino Urios, a
Jesuit priest together with
Fathers Famies and Caseles
began their mission by
traversing Agusan valley using the Agusan Rivers as
its highways. Two months
later, April 1877, he
reported to Jesuts Superior
in Manila that he found
five villages along the river namely; Las Nieves,
Remedios, Esperanza,
Guadalupe and San Louis. It
was then believed, that
Father saturnine Urios
given the name Las Nieves after his hometown
patronese, the Nuestra
Seniora de Las Nieves of
Valencia, Spain.
The first traders that
entered Las Nieves were natives of Butuan City.
They traveled by wooden
banca (baroto) along
Agusan River using Ga-o (a
longitudinal wooden flat
instrument which through manual operation can plush
the banca forward) which
took approximately one and
half days travel from
Butuan City to Las Nieves.
The Manobo tribes were the first dominant ethnic
group in the area. Leaders
like Lino Jovillar, popular
known as Datu Dagohoy,
Manuel Jovillar popular
known as Datu Kulisan, represented that of the
position of the Mayor in
the present.
The old folk handed down
some of their ways like the
use of Camuyot, a woven Abaca fiber popularly used
now as Shoulder bag. The
famous of the old folks
were called Sinulog, (a war
dance interpretation) and
the Binaylan (a courtship ceremonial dance), which
are accompanied by a
musical instrument called
Agong.
The creation of Las Nieves
as a municipality was formally executed on June
25, 1963, under Executive
Order No. 42 by the
President of the
Philippines, Las Nieves lies
9 degrees north latitude and 125 degrees 30 minutes
east longitude on the
northeastern part of
Agusan del Norte. Its
boundaries are Butuan City
to the north; Buenavista to the West; Esperanza,
Agusan del Sur to the
south; Sibagat, Agusan del
Sur to the east. It 35
kilometers from Butuan
City. Las Nieves has one poblacion and 19 rural
barangays. It has a total
land of 58,269 hectares of
flat lands and rolling hills.
Limestone deposits are abundant
in the town. Las Nieves has a total
population of 21,291 and
has a projected population
of 26,181 by the year
2000. To serve its residents Las
Nieves has one public hospital with a total bed
capacity of ten.
The community celebrates
its town fiesta on August 5.
They have Nuestra Sra. De Las
Nieves as their Holy Patroness. Orchid is the
town flower; Marang, as
its fruit; Tuog, for the
tree; Alimocon, for the
bird; and Yellow for the official
color. Las Nieves is the one of the
fortunate municipalities of
Agusan del Norte to retain
its natural environment.
The potential tourist spots of
the place are its river, the Ibuan falls, scenic
hills and the Asinan Salt
Spring. The farthest town,
southward, Las Nieves has
corn, rice, coconut, bananas,
coffee and timber as its major product. These
are delivered to the capital
mainly by the riverway.