Batopilas, Chihuahua
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Batopilas () is a small
town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...
, and seat of the surrounding municipality of the same name, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, located along the Batopilas River at the bottom of the Batopilas canyon, part of the
Copper Canyon Copper Canyon (Spanish: Barrancas del Cobre) is a group of six distinct canyons in the Sierra Madre Occidental in the southwestern part of the state of Chihuahua in northwestern Mexico that is in size. The canyons were formed by six rivers tha ...
. As of 2010, the town of Batopilas had a population of 1,220. Its elevation above sea level is . The town is situated in a narrow valley, bordered by steep canyon walls.; Google Earth The government of Mexico declared it a
Pueblo Mágico In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...
on October 19, 2012. Batopilas was a prominent
silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
-mining center from the early 18th to the early 20th century.


Etymology

Native people of the region, Tarahumara or
Rarámuri The Rarámuri or Tarahumara is a group of indigenous people of the Americas living in the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. They are renowned for their long-distance running ability. Originally, inhabitants of much of Chihuahua, the Rarámuri re ...
Indians called the area Bachotigori, meaning "Place of the enclosed waters", as they described the canyon, and its abundance of tropical flora and fauna to the Spanish explorers travelling through this rough part of the Chihuahuan mountains. Batopilas is a mangled Spanish version of the indigenous word Bachotigori.


History

The Tarahumara Indians most likely had known of silver in the area for a long time before a Spanish explorer found silver by the Río Batopilas around 1632. The discovery was in the river itself, near the bank, and the silver ore was pure white and glistening. The mine was named the Nevada Mine because of the white ore color, Nevada meaning "snow-capped" in Spanish. The Spanish exploration party took specimens of the silver ore back to
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
and then shipped them to Spain. Very few local records exist from the period prior to 1845 due to two large fires that ravaged the area, the first one in 1740 and the second in 1845. Most of what is known comes from documents available in the Colonial Archives in Madrid.


Spanish Period (1708-1821)

Batopilas was officially founded in 1708 when Pedro de la Cruz filed a claim to a mine in the vicinity which he named the Guadalupe.John Mason Hart, p. 42 Over time, as more and more mines were discovered, the town grew both in size and importance. One of the most prominent structures, Hacienda San Miguel, was originally erected in the mid seventeenth century, some thirty feet above the Río Batopilas, opposite the town. It was enlarged and rebuilt in the 1740s by Don Juan José de Rivolta, who turned it into a medieval-style castle, surrounded by guard towers and defensive walls. Rivolta made a fortune in Batopilas, and wielded significant power in the area, holding among other titles, that of alcalde (mayor).John Mason Hart, pp. 43-44 Following Rivolta's death, the hacienda was occupied by Rafael Alonzo Pastrana, who discovered several rich silver veins in the area. Between 1730 and 1750, the Pastrana vein is estimated to have produced 48 million pesos, making its owner one of the richest men in the world. Pastrana further expanded the hacienda, enlarging the living quarters, and the ore processing facilities. Near the end of eighteenth century, Don Ángel Bustamante took over the hacienda and the Carmen mine. Between 1790 and 1820, the mine produced over 30 million pesos worth of silver ore.John Mason Hart, p. 45 Following his death and the
Wars of Independence This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars Wars of national liberation or national liberation revolutions are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against for ...
(1810-1821), Batopilas fell into disrepair and continued deterioration until the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1840 only 10 families remained in Batopilas.


American Investments (1861-1921)

Batopilas fortunes started to turn when Manuel Mendazona, a merchant from
Culiacán Culiacán, officially Culiacán Rosales, is a city in northwestern Mexico, the capital and largest city of both the Culiacán Municipality and the state of Sinaloa. The city was founded on 29 September 1531, by the Spanish conquerors Lázar ...
, came to town in 1852. He bought and restored Hacienda Pastrana and tried to restore both the town and the mines to their former glory. Old San Antonio and Carmen mines were reopened and a tunnel was started in 1854 cutting through several veins. Unfortunately, Mendazona died suddenly in 1856 before he could fully realize his plans. His brother-in-law and executor, Guadalupe Ramírez, continued with the work for the next 5 years before selling the tunnel and mines of San Miguel to an American investor, John R. Robinson in 1861.


John Robinson (1861-1879)

John Riley Robinson, a doctor, railroad superintendent, inventor and a future patent holder, was a gristmill operator in Mansfield in the 1850s, when he formed a partnership with several Wells Fargo financiers, including the president William K. Fargo, and Directors Ashbel H. and Danford N. Barney, among others to buy silver mines in Mexico. By the late 1850s the discovery of new silver mines in California had come to a stop, but the legends of rich Mexican veins were still abound. The partners raised $50,000 to buy the mines in Batopilas, and John Robinson departed for Mexico in February 1861. On May 25, 1861 Robinson was able to buy not only the San Miguel mines and the hacienda, but also the San Antonio complex for 27,700 pesos (approximately $27,000).John Mason Hart, p. 59 The newly acquired property was transferred to a newly formed Batopilas Silver Manufacturing Co. in 1862. During his tenure as a manager of Batopilas Silver Manufacturing Co. Robinson manifested himself as a pragmatic, bent on profits businessman, and a good diplomat. He made fairly minor improvements to the mining and smelting operations to improve efficiency. The town itself grew in size and attracted a mixed group of Mexicans, Americans, Tarahumara Indians, Africans, Chinese immigrants, all of whom came in search of work and better wages. Batopilas at this time was a collection of shacks, occupied by miners, prostitutes and transients. While the mines made the company and its shareholders extremely wealthy, the local populace remained largely poor and malnourished. During 1860s and 1870s silver and silver ore were transported south to the port of
Mazatlán Mazatlán () is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding '' municipio'', known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip ...
from where it was shipped to
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, Asia, or
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
via Pacific Mail Steamship Company vessels. Mexico received no taxes or duties from this procedure, which eventually forced President
Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada y Corral (; 24 April 1823 – 21 April 1889) was Mexican liberal politician and jurist who served as the 27th president of Mexico from 1872 to 1876. A successor to Benito Juárez, who died in office in July 1872, Le ...
in 1872 to require the company to ship all silver to a newly established mint in
Chihuahua City The city of Chihuahua ''(La Ciudad de Chihuahua)'' () is the state capital of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. , the city of Chihuahua had a population of 925,762 inhabitants. while the metropolitan area had a population of 988,065 inhabitants. Am ...
.John Mason Hart, p. 9 Continued instability and political strife in Mexico during the French Invasion followed by revolt of general Porfirio Díaz wore Robinson down. He lost his two sons and two grandchildren to typhoid fever, and decided to return to the US and sell the company in 1876. He finally succeeded selling it to a group led by the ex-Governor of
Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
Alexander Shepherd in 1879 for $600,000.John Mason Hart, p. 95 While improvements achieved during the tenure of John Robinson were rather modest, the town was able to get back on its feet, which didn't go unnoticed by the State government. By June 2, 1877 decree a new Canton Andrés del Río was created with Batopilas becoming its center.Walter M. Brodie, p. 1109 It is unknown how much silver was extracted during John Robinson tenure, but it is estimated to be worth approximately $3,000,000.


Alexander Shepherd (1879-1921)

After the partners acquired the mines, they developed an ambitious plan to improve production and efficiency of the mines. They recruited several high ranking directors, such as U.S. Senator Jerome B. Chaffee, Andros Boynton Stone, head of an engineering firm, and Benjamin P. Cheney, who provided banking, railroad, and political connections. At the same time, they also retained, recruited or developed good relations with important figures of Mexican elite, such as
Enrique Creel Enrique Clay Creel Cuilty, sometimes known as Henry Clay Creel (30 August 1854 – 18 August 1931) was a Mexican businessman, politician and diplomat, member of the powerful Creel-Terrazas family of Chihuahua. He was a member of the Cientí ...
and Porfirio Díaz.John Mason Hart, pp. 126-127 Unlike Robinson who largely stayed away from local politics, fighting bandits or modifying labor relations, Shepherd established control during his first years in Batopilas by replacing company experts and local officials with Americans and people loyal to him. He modified labor relations, establishing capitalist hire for wages system, increased the number of guards at the Hacienda San Miguel and largely eliminated organized banditry around Batopilas. The San Miguel tunnel, which was opportunistically rechristened as Porfirio Díaz tunnel, was extended, rails were laid on which the mule-drawn ore cars could be rolled, a new bridge was built across the river to bring the ore to the smelter at the Hacienda for processing. New motorized equipment was also installed at the processing plant. By 1883, the company had produced 1,250,000 pounds of refined silver.John Mason Hart, pp. 131-134 Through his friendship with Díaz, Shepherd gained control of an area covering 132,779 acres, including ranch and timberlands and mining concessions. In 1884 and 1886, further land, mining, water concessions were obtained. The company and Shepherd were also exempted from all taxes for twenty years with the exception of minting fee imposed by the Chihuahua mint. This exemption was later renewed for another 20 years. Through the vast land ownership southwest of Batopilas, Shepherd was also able to secretly smuggle silver south through
Mazatlán Mazatlán () is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding '' municipio'', known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip ...
.John Mason Hart, pp. 142-143 In 1887 Shepherd incorporated the Batopilas Consolidated Mining Company which included 350 separate workings and 10 companies owned by the original Batopilas Mining Company. By this point the population of Batopilas swelled to over 6,500 people. In 1884 the company paid its first dividend worth $2,000,000 at the time the company's stock was introduced on New York Stock Exchange, but stopped the dividend payments in 1887. Falling silver prices towards the end of the 19th century forced the company to invest in technology trying to maintain their profits, resulting in shrinking workforce. By 1906 the town population was reduced to about 4,000 people. Alexander Shepherd died on September 12, 1902 from complications of
peritonitis Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and cover of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One part o ...
. He was briefly succeeded by his son-in-law E. A. Quintard, who died a year later. After Quintard's death, Alexander Shepherd Jr., eldest son of Alexander Shepherd, took over as a manager of the company until its closure in 1921.Walter M. Brodie, p. 1110 After Shepherd's death in 1902, the company's directors could finally review the books regarding the true costs and production values of the mines. It was found that Shepherd had wildly overestimated certain expenses, for example, ore refining and ore hauling costs decreased nearly twice after his death. It is also unknown how much silver was transported and sold through the ports on Mexican Pacific coast, which was never reported to the company. Shepherd also reported annual labor costs of approximately $390 per worker to the government, but his personal notes indicated that they were only $75, more in line with similar mines in Sinaloa and Sonora. One hand, Shepherd did much to improve the town, building bridges, aqueducts, roads, and a hydroelectric plant, which made Batopilas only the second city in Mexico after Mexico City to have electricity. He also opened and improved medical facilities to serve miners and other town residents. Most of these improvements were however primarily built to improve mining operations and living conditions at Hacienda San Miguel. Most miners made barely enough money to get them by, in fact, the average annual labor cost per worker was less than 2% of the value of silver produced on average by each worker annually. Most miners rarely lived past 40, many of them succumbing to silicosis as the company never invested in safety, and the medical facilities were inadequate to provide more than just basic services. The rise of nationalism in Mexico and dissatisfaction with widespread injustice and corruption of Porfirio Díaz administration finally resulted in the Mexican Revolution in 1910. Most foreigners, especially Americans were forced to abandon their holding in Mexico and flee to the safety of El Paso.
Pancho Villa Francisco "Pancho" Villa (, Orozco rebelled in March 1912, both for Madero's continuing failure to enact land reform and because he felt insufficiently rewarded for his role in bringing the new president to power. At the request of Madero's c ...
and his lieutenants who controlled most of Northern Mexico made it practically impossible to safely transport silver anywhere from the mines which significantly curtailed the production. Following the years of revolution and subsequent industry, and land nationalization forced the owners of Batopilas mines to close them officially in 1921.


Aftermath (1921-current time)

Following the American withdrawal and mine closing, the company property was divided among the people of the canyons as part of the Mexican agrarian reform. By the late 1990s 670,000 acres were given to 2,369 families in the Batopilas area. Nearly all of the allocated land is only suitable for goat grazing, and only 16,000 acres could be used as farmland.John Mason Hart, p. 206 In 1980s Batopilas was considered the leading center of goat production in the State of Chihuahua. Most people left, and by the mid-1930s there were only a little over 400 people left in Batopilas. The hydroelectric plant built by Shepherd was destroyed in 1940 during a massive flood that devastated the town, and Batopilas had no electricity until 1989.W. Dirk Raat, p. 127 The mineral prices rebounded in the mid-1930s and during the World War 2, and while they had no noticeable effect on Batopilas, the nearby copper works at La Bufa were affected. A one-lane dirt road was cut through the mountains and canyons by the mining company in 1940s connecting Creel to La Bufa. A road construction from La Bufa to Batopilas started in 1975 and finished in 1978, finally breaking the town's isolation.W. Dirk Raat, p. 130 After 1984 drug raids drove producers from the plains into the mountains, Batopilas along with other remote communities in the Sierra Tarahumara were overtaken by the cartels.W. Dirk Raat, p. 132 It was also reported recently that a former mayor of Batopilas was executed, while the current one survived an assassination attempt. It is hard to gauge how much silver was mined from Batopilas mines over the years, one estimate (Wilson and Panczner) is that mines in the area have produced seven times as much silver as come from the famous
silver mine Silver mining is the extraction of silver from minerals, starting with mining. Because silver is often found in intimate combination with other metals, its extraction requires elaborate technologies. In 2008, ca.25,900 metric tons were consumed ...
of
Kongsberg Kongsberg () is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud, Viken county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms production ...
in Norway. Little mining is now done in Batopilas, though there is still exploration and claims being assessed in the general area.


Geography

The town of Batopilas lies along the Rio Batopilas, in the narrowest part of the canyon of the same name. It extends about 5 km along the right bank of the river. The main connection to the outside world is a five-hour bus connection to Creel along the newly finished Batopilas Road travelling through a community of Samachique. The road was widened and paved and a new La Bufa bridge was erected in 2016 for the total cost of 1,221,000,000 pesos. From Batopilas a dirt road extends to a largely abandoned community of Satevó, about 3 miles away. The original road was built by Peñoles, a large mining company, in 1990 while doing explorations in the area. In 1993 the one-lane road was extended to San Ignacio, and from there almost to Sinaloa state-line.W. Dirk Raat, p. 131


Climate

The climate of Batopilas falls on the boundaries of three climatic types: Aw,
tropical savanna Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is dominated by grass and/or shrubs located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and t ...
; Cfa, sub-tropical with hot summers; and BSh. hot, semi-arid steppe. Using the
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
system the climate is Cfa. Using the
Trewartha climate classification The Trewartha climate classification (TCC) or the Köppen–Trewartha climate classification (KTC) is a climate classification system first published by American geographer Glenn Thomas Trewartha in 1966. It is a modified version of the Köppen ...
system the climate is BShl: semi-arid steppe with hot summers and mild winters.


Tourism

Large fortunes that were made in mining can be most visibly observed in several haciendas which belonged to prominent people of Batopilas. The most prominent of them, called the Hacienda San Miguel, was rebuilt and enlarged after Alexander Shepherd moved to Batopilas in 1880. It stands across the river from the town and the most productive mine during Shepherd's residence. The mansion has long been in ruins with an exception of a hotel and a few shacks occupied by local families who give tours to visitors for a small fee (10 pesos as of 2017). Other haciendas include Antigua Casa de Raya, La Casa Cural, La Casa Biggler and Casa Barffuson, residence of Marquis Ángel de Bustamante. The small downtown area features several restaurants and hotels, and also houses Museo de Batopilas, a small exhibit featuring information and artifacts related to town's mining past. Lying approximately southeast of Batopilas is Misión Ángel Custodio Satevó, built by Jesuits between 1760 and 1764. This church is unique due its isolation and oftentimes called the "Lost Mission." After the expulsion of the Society of Jesus in 1767, the mission was taken over by the town of Batopilas and was largely neglected until 1974 when the cathedral was transferred to Franciscans. The building was since then restored in 2006-2010.


Notable natives

*
Manuel Gómez Morín Manuel Gómez Morín (27 February 1897 – 19 April 1972) was a Mexican politician. He was a founding member of the National Action Party, and one of its theoreticians. Prior to this he was considered a leading figure in Mexican monetary policy, ...
, Mexican politician and a founding member of the National Action Party * José María Aguirre y Fierro (1836-1906), poet and politician * Gabriel Aguirre y Fierro (1826-1908), politician and governor of Chihuahua


In popular culture

Batopilas is the subject of an extended, discursive, but highly charged conversation between actors Marlon Brando and Alex Montoya in a
pulqueria Pulquerías (or pulcherías) are a type of tavern in Mexico that specialize in serving an alcoholic beverage known as pulque. Established during early colonial rule, pulquerías remained popular venues for Mexican socializing until the mid-20th ...
in the 1966 Hollywood movie ''
The Appaloosa ''The Appaloosa'' (also known as ''Southwest to Sonora'') is a 1966 American Western film starring Marlon Brando, Anjanette Comer and John Saxon, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of a Mexican ...
''.


Sources

* Wendell E. Wilson, Christopher S. Panczner, "Famous Mineral Localities: the Batopilas District, Chihuahua, Mexico," ''
The Mineralogical Record ''The Mineralogical Record is a'' mineralogy magazine, published in the United States by The Mineralogical Record Inc. with a periodicity of six issues a year, totaling approximately 700 pages. Publish, in English, articles on topographic mineralo ...
, 17(1):61-80, 1986 January–February. * * *


References


External links



Maps of the Tarahumara region. {{Authority control Populated places in Chihuahua (state) Pueblos Mágicos Populated places established in 1708 1708 establishments in New Spain