Guaymas

“ They know that on the Pacific Coast below Guaymas there are millions of acres of country just as beautiful as Southern California, but which is now unreclaimed, where the sparkling streams from the Sierra Madres course uselessly through thickets of wild lemon trees on their way to the ocean. ”

“ The depth of the outer harbor is from four to seven fathoms, allowing safe anchorage for vessels of twenty-two to twenty-eight feet draught. The bay abounds in a great variety of fish.
Guaymas is built along the shore of the bay, its length being about one mile, and its breadth not exceeding a quarter of a mile. The houses are of stone, brick, and adobe.
Defile in the Guadalupe Pass, Sierra Madre. The climate is exceedingly hot in summer, but delightful in winter. The atmosphere is dry, except in the rainy season, which lasts from June to September. ”

“ It was late at evening when the black hull went reeling in toward the lights of Guaymas, and the [Pg 132] massive anchor, with prodigious splash dove for the sandy bottom, but late as it was the shore boats and lighters came pulling to the gangway stairs, and merchants, clerks and customs officers nimbly scrambled up the side, and then followed a number of passengers, cigarette smoking and cackling about the swarming deck, and Turnbull and the Engineer hung over the rail and watched for the promised boatload of beauty and presently it came. ”

“ I taxied in close to shore and moored the ship to a buoy, while the men launched a dory and rowed out to get me. I had been absent less than a week, most of which had been spent in Guaymas awaiting the expected letter from Tarzana, but so exuberantly did they greet me, one might have thought me a long-lost brother returned from the dead, so dreary and desolate and isolated is Guadalupe to those who must remain upon her lonely shores for even a brief interval between contacts with the mainland. ”

“ The country around Guaymas, for a semicircle of about one hundred miles, is a blasted, barren desert, entirely destitute of wood, water, or grass, producing only cacti and a stunted growth of mesquit. The water is all procured from wells, has a brackish, unpleasant taste, and generally causes temporary diseases with those unaccustomed to its use. ”

“ The Mexican government had encouraged the colonization of a tract of country in Sonora by some Frenchmen from California, the colonists binding themselves to take up arms in defence of the Mexican nation. They came to Guaymas and were well received; everything was going on smoothly until the 1st of July, 1854, when Raousset landed with about 400 Frenchmen and Germans, with whom he attempted to capture Guaymas, together with the comandante general, Yañez, and the garrison. ”

“ The Port of Guaymas, on the Main, had been closely guarded by a sloop of war; and notwithstanding the immense superiority of force, under the Mexican General, Campuzano—of five hundred regular troops—he had been at all times beaten, whenever attempting any demonstrations upon the town—on one occasion with the loss of twenty killed and forty wounded;—affairs which sufficiently damped their ardor, and warned them to keep beyond the reach of their invaders. ”

“ Arista was President of Mexico, but Governor Blanco ruled in Arizona. Arizona is a state of boundless mineral wealth, and little else. "Ruins of houses, ruins of churches, ruins of towns, and, above all, ruins of crouching men and of weeping women," is Gaston's graphic summary of Sonora and Arizona as he found them in 1852. Two hundred and sixty gallant Frenchmen landed at Guaymas on the 1st of June, and were warmly hailed as deliverers by the fickle populace. Governor Blanco, however, showed himself strangely lukewarm towards his new allies, whom he peremptorily forbade to leave Guaymas. ”

“ Like the country on the east coast, it slopes down from a height, until by the time one reaches the sea he finds himself in a tropical climate, where, strangely enough, the soil is almost entirely barren. The country suffers from a lack of rivers, and thus agriculture is in rather a backward condition. But mining flourishes, and the commercial capital, Guaymas, smelts much precious metal. Of course, the Revolution has been active in this State as well as in that which marches with it, and it may be said that public opinion here is rather anti-federal than otherwise. ”

“ A day or so more brought us to Guaymas, another Mexican port. Mrs. Wilkins said she had heard something about an old Spaniard there, who used to cook meals for stray travellers. This was enough. I was desperately hungry and thirsty, and we decided to try and find him. Mrs. Wilkins spoke a little Spanish, and by dint of inquiries we found the man's house, a little old, forlorn, deserted-looking adobe casa. ”

“ The distance from Laredo to Guaymas, in a straight line, is about 770 miles. The plan of such a railroad, even if the height of the Sierra Madre in the west would not allow it to be carried in a straight line to the Pacific, but from Chihuahua in a northwestern direction to the Gila, would therefore be less chimerical than the much talked of great western railroad from the Mississippi to the Columbia river ”

“ In this country, we repeat it, where the police are a nullity, and consequently surveillance impossible, a journey of four leagues—and the Rancho de San José is only that distance from Guaymas—is a very serious affair, and demands as many precautions as a journey of a hundred leagues with us, the enemies who may be met, and with whom you run a risk of a contest at any moment—Indians, robbers, or wild beasts—being too numerous, determined, and too greedy for plunder and murder to allow the traveller to confide with gaiety of heart in the speed of his horse. ”

“ This salt is of excellent quality; it is cut out in large blocks, stacked, and left to be washed by the rains, when it becomes ready for shipping. These are all the known inducements for trade, of the Peninsula and the Adriatic of the Pacific. Guaymas, situated nearly at the head of the gulf, and Mazatlan abreast the southern cape, though neither possess such safe havens, with so good fresh water ports, still have positions more adaptable for commerce on the main shores of Mexico. ”

“ The finest buildings of the State are found here, the principal ones being of stone, with the universal portales and arcades, seen in perfection in every Mexican town, a nice little plaza, and a half-wild park, and the population contains the flower of the Sonora aristocracy. In spite of the great heat, and the exceedingly filthy condition of the town, Hermosillo has generally escaped the epidemic diseases that sometimes ravage the coast; but in September, 1883, the vomito, then raging at Guaymas, leaped over the intervening waste of country and spread itself over this pleasant valley. ”

“ Great rocks, cut by the surf into arches and caverns, guarded the entrance to the harbor. We anchored two miles out. A customs and a Wells-Fargo boat boarded us, and many natives came along side, bringing fresh cocoanuts, bananas, and limes. Some Mexicans bound for Guaymas came on board, and a troupe of Japanese jugglers.
While we were unloading cargo, some officers and their wives went on shore in one of the ship's boats, and found it a most interesting place. It was garrisoned by Mexican troops, uniformed in white cotton shirts and trousers. ”

“ Batuecas, 350 miles ; Guaymas, 353 miles.
Fronteras, Sonora. This road extends through a fine cereal and grazing country. Oranges, pears, melons, and other fruits grow at Hermosillo and to the southward. This town has 7,000 inhabitants. It contains a good hotel, the Cosmopolitan. Hermosillo lies in a valley about ten miles long and four miles wide. It is at the base of the Sierra de la Campana,
Magdalena
a rugged mountain of limestone. Magdalena has a population of 3,000. A wagon-road leads thence to the town of Ures. Another line of railroad will soon be constructed
Arispe. ”

“ But tell me—you are quite resolved to disembark at Guaymas?"
"That is the most favourable point."
"I ask you that question, my dear countryman, because I have written to our representative in that town."
"Well?" the count said quickly, rising in his turn.
"All goes well; at least he tells me so in his letter."
"He has answered you?"
"Courier for courier. The Mexican authorities will see your arrival with the greatest pleasure; a barrack will be prepared for your men, and the principal posts of the town intrusted to them. You are expected with the most lively impatience." ”

“ Small as was the tribe, three divisions are known: the Salineros, extending to the confines of Pimeria Alta; south of them the Tepocas, nearest to the island of Tiburon; the Guaymas and Upanguaymas occupying the territory adjacent to the harbor of the same name, afterward added to the pueblo at Belen and blended with the Indians of Rio Yaqui. Ferocious and savage, they preferred to die in war against the whites rather than adopt their usages and customs ”

“ As the line [301] runs through narrow ravines a great part of the way, following streams, the traveller does not see the best part of the country traversed.
The Southern Pacific has a branch which runs from Benson, Arizona, to Guaymas, the chief port on the Gulf of California, passing through Hermosillo, the capital of the State of Sonora, the home of the Yaqui Indians. It passes through an intensely interesting country, possessing a wealth of scenery and natural resources. This line is being extended farther south, with an ultimate destination of Guadalajara or possibly the capital city. ”

“ Although believed not to number over 100 warriors, they have long been the dread of the Mexicans between Guaymas and Hermosillo, as well as the country to the north, on account of their continual depredations and murders. Their practice is to lie in wait near the traveled roads, and there surprise small and unprotected parties. Their place of abode being on an island or the shores adjacent, and their subsistence being chiefly gained by fishing, they have no desire to steal animals, which would be of no use to them ”

“ There water is usually found on the right-hand side of the road.
There is another road to Camp Goodwin, via San Simon, (seventeen and a half miles) and thence down the Rio de Sauz, joining the above road at Water Holes, (thirty-one miles) making the distance about eleven miles longer. Tucson, A. T., to Guaymas, Mexico. [ESTIMATED.]
The road from Tucson to Guaymas, except 15 miles south of Calabasas, where it is heavy in wet weather, is one of the finest on the Pacific coast. ”

“ Meantime population and industries increased, while civil and military development pursued its course; the Presidio of Pitic expanded into a pueblo, and later into the city which gradually adopted the cognomen of General José Maria Gonzalez Hermosillo, a hero of Sonora in the stirring times of 1810-1812; Pueblo Seri became Mexicanized, retaining only a few Seri families in 1811, according to Manuel Cabrera;137 Guaymas grew into a port of some commercial note; pearl fishing progressed along the coast and prospecting in the interior ”

“ Unhappily, the ruinous passion for gambling—that shameful leprosy of Mexico, whose inhabitants it degrades—prevents the great mine owners from keeping a large capital on their hands, and thus checks works on a great scale.
Before resuming our narrative, we must also give the reader certain information about the Indian nations that inhabit the territory of Sonora. There are in this province five distinct tribes; the Yaquis, the Opatas, the Mayos, the Gilenos, and the Apaches. The Yaquis and Mayos occupy the country to the south of Guaymas, as far as the Rio del Huerto ”

“ The advances necessary in order to bring them into activity are small, for in fact it is more remittances of quicksilver and mining stores, (which must be sent round Cape Horn to Guaymas,) than money, that is requisite. No unreasonable expectations are entertained by the Mexican proprietors, and no onerous conditions proposed: while their respectability and influence in the country are the best possible guarantee to the adventurers that their operations will be conducted with good faith, and can meet with no interruption. ”

“ Immediately the adventurers took their stations with admirable order in the boats brought from the port to receive them. The small flotilla advanced steadily toward the beach, amid the shouts of the crowd assembled on the shore, and the clangor of all the town bells, rung as a symbol of rejoicing.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE FIRST FORTNIGHT.
A man must have been essentially a pessimist, or thoroughly acquainted with the Mexican character, to apprehend treachery on seeing the warm reception accorded to the Frenchmen by the inhabitants of Guaymas. It was a madness—a delirium impossible to describe. ”

“ Meantime, the industrial lines ramifying from the rancho formed a drag net for Seri raiders, practically cutting off forays eastward toward Hermosillo and Horcasitas, and greatly reducing the sallies southeastward toward Guaymas and northeastward toward Bacuachito and Caborca; and Don Pascual began to receive recognition and state and federal concessions as a public benefactor. For a decade the industrial and evangelical influence and the effect of the bold kindness of El Patron extended and became felt throughout the tribe, and most of the families visited the rancho at least occasionally. ”

“ In the middle zone of the Pacific slope rises the large city of Guadalajara, capital of Jalisco state; and along the coast below may be found a number of seaports, the most important of which are Guaymas, far to the north, Mazatlán opposite the point of Lower California, San Blas a little farther down, and Acapulco in the south. [1]
THE PEOPLE
Exactly how large the population of Mexico was in 1845 one cannot be sure, and it included quite a number of racial mixtures ”