The second and last Mormon colony established in Sonora was distant from Colonia Oaxaca twenty-five miles, at a point on the Bavispe River where the Batepito empties its brackish water into the larger stream. Prior to the founding of the colony, the valley between the two rivers and lying along the banks of the Batepito for several miles, was known as the "Batepito Ranch." This region was in the main covered with forests of mesquite and catclaws, the notable exceptions being on the broad stretch of lowland where the tall sacaton with its roots firmly anchored in the soil bade defiance to other forms of vegetation. Here was the paradise of the deer where it wandered undisturbed except for an occasional intrusion of a prospector or cowboy enroute to a country farther on. Geographically it was on the border of civilization, being but fifty miles south of Douglas, Arizona, but topographically it was far removed. Hemmed in on all sides by

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nature's bulwarks, save for the outlet from the north up the rather narrow valley of the Batepito, this region was almost inaccessable. Except for a rancho here and there, primeval nature reigned supreme for many miles around. But such a fertile tract was not. to remain forever idle. It must do its part toward the feeding of the needy multitudes. The soil, yards deep, needed but the hand of toil to make it yield an hundred fold of grain and other produce good for man.

The view of this country impressed President Ivins with its importance, as seen in a letter addressed to the Deseret News in the spring of 1898, in which he referred to it as offering "fine opportunities for colonization." Fully one-half of the 9,000 acres comprising the "Batepito Ranch," he felt could be brought under cultivation and the balance was unexcelled for grazing. "The land was rich and fertile and within one day's travel of the United States." The tract, he said, had been offered for $15,000 American money. A few months later he had made the purchase and soon thereafter, the land was dedicated as a future home for the Saints. Present at the dedication were thirty-two in all, chief of whom were Apostle Abraham O. Woodruff, who gave the dedicatory prayer, and President Ivins. Soon settlers came pushing in. Among the first to come were the Huish family, Lorenzo L., Edward H., William C., and Alfred. With them came the Snarrs, Daniel and Daniel, Jr., and the Hubers, John J. and Ernest. All having families were accompanied by them.

Although it was mid-winter when the first companies arrived, they began at once to make preparations for irrigating their land, since it seemed improbable that crops could be produced without water. At a mass meeting held on January 28th, 1899, it was agreed that a canal would be constructed on the south side of the Bavispe, and that single handed men should be allowed 25 cents per hour for their work while a man with a team should receive double that amount. It was most fortunate for the colonists that the

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climate was warm enabling them to work the year round, for in the main they were destitute of even the necessities, and were dependent upon a daily wage for their living.

The townsite was located in the winter of 1900 and the survey was made by President Ivins and James H. Martineau. The farm lands were surveyed into units to meet the needs and financial conditions of the people. Land on the south side of the Bavispe was cut into ten acre pieces, the squares being separated by streets two rods wide. In other localities larger units were set apart. The prices placed on lots and other lands seem unusually low when their intrinsic worth is taken into account, and still it was difficult for the purchasers in most instances to meet the payments. The town lots were placed in three classes, those on main street being valued at $15.00 each. The second class of which there were 76, were appraised at $12.50, while the value of the third class was placed at $10.00 each; of the latter class there were 100 in all. The farm land was also put in three classes. Under what was known as the lower canal, for instance, the best land sold for $6.25 per acre, the second class for $5.00 and the third class for $3.00. Ten per cent interest was assessed on all unpaid for land, and the land was held for security.

On September 24, 1900, the new colony was christened Colonia "Morelos" after one of the most distinguished Mexican patriots of the Wars of Independence [José María Morelos y Pavón].

The town was organized into a branch of the Church under a general supervision of the Oaxaca ward. Lorenzo S. Huish was appointed the presiding elder, and his brother Edward Huish the branch clerk. Later, in 1901, a ward organization was effected with O. P. Brown, Bishop and Alexander Jameson and L. S. Huish, counsellors. John J. Huber was sustained as clerk.

The educational interests of the people were not overlooked, but the financial distress of the people was a retarding factor in the way of supplying the children with suitable quarters and equipment necessary for the best re

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sults. A combined church and school house was soon erected following the selection of the townsite, but it was nothing but a stockade building, having a dirt floor and a mud roof. There was no equipment within, except of the rudest sort. The benches were split logs with no backs and the few other articles of furniture fitted well into the primitive environment. The work of the teachers, however, was in a class far above the quality of their surroundings. Their patience under those trying conditions was sublime and their efforts to improve the educational standing of the pupils was most praiseworthy. The fact that the salary was a mere pittance did not deter them from giving the best they had. Their chief compensation came in the satisfaction experienced in seeing the children unfold normally, resulting in proper character development and in healthy mental growth. The revenue used for running the school was supplied by means of local taxes and tithing contributed by the Church.

The work of clearing the land was anything but an easy task in the absence of stump pullers and other machinery to lighten the burden of the farmer. The grubbing hoe, crowbar and axe, swung by a strong pair of arms must do the work of ridding the land of its forests of mesquite, catclaw and other varieties of trees and brush. I use the term "forests" advisedly for in this part of the State of Sonora where the climate is warm and the soil fertile, it is not unusual to see mesquite and catclaw twelve and even eighteen inches through the trunk, and as tall as ordinary oaks. In addition to these giant growths there was mesquite brush and other varieties of vegetation that gave much of the territory the appearance of a jungle. I recall that my own town lot and the one adjacent were so densely wooded that my wife attached a sheep bell to the neck of our eldest child so that in the event of his wandering off, the noise of the bell would give her a clue to his whereabouts. The clearing of the land solved the question of fuel as it furnished the settlers with all the wood they could desire. The soil was well adapted to the raising of wheat

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and oats of the small grains, and corn did exceptionally well.

In places corn grew to be fourteen and sixteen feet tall with the ears so high on the stock that an ordinary man had difficulty in reaching them. I have known watermelons to grow as large as forty pounds and peanuts and sweet potatoes were unexcelled both for quantity and quality. After the first crops were harvested the food problem was fairly well solved except for sugar and other such items as could not be produced at home. The surrounding country was adapted to stock raising making it possible for nearly every farmer to have a few of his own stock from which he obtained his milk and occasionally, at least, his beef. Meat was difficult to keep on hand, however, since the weather was warm the year round and few people were blessed with refrigeration facilities. The clothing, as a usual thing, would have been out of place on Fifth Avenue, New York, but was well adapted to frontier conditions where style was not the first and last thing thought of in dress. It was customary to see children and even youths going about the streets barefoot, the males garbed in overalls and Mexican sombrero and the girls in gingham or calico dresses made in most instances by their mothers. The homes of the people were frequently of adobe but a few brick houses of comfort and with some ornamentation added variety to an otherwise drab and rather monotonous architectural prospect. I recall a striking contrast between the plain and unpretentious appearance of Colonia Morelos and the picturesque and almost metropolitan appearance of Colonia Juarez. The answer to the question why this striking contrast is difficult to give. Perhaps the climate and comparative isolation of Morelos tended toward conservatism in the nature of its homes, but be that as it may, the homes genreally were cool and comfortable and fitted well into the scheme of things.

Little business outside of that pertaining directly to the farm was engaged in. Two small stores and a grist mill

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furnished the only other enterprises of which the village could boast. Yet the people generally were happy in the cultivation of their farms and in watching their cattle grow and increase in value, for they were thus insured against economic distress.

They were happy, too, in their social life. All were of one social class, so what did it matter if their conditions were lowly? They were all alike in their lowliness. The same customs in social affairs obtained in Morelos as in the other colonies and the same forms of amusement were engaged in. Oft, I relive in memory the social parties held in the old stockade building; the Cinco de Mayo festivities down at the grove, and the moonlight boat rides on the placid bosom of the Bavispe. Happy days indeed! and rendered doubly happy in the freedom that comes with isolation from the outside world. There were no jails nor penal institutions of any sort, no police courts, nor blind stills; no drunken revelries nor ribald intimacies. Like one big happy family devoid of deceit and hypocrisy, this unsophisticated group of Christian folk on the frontiers of northern Mexico innocently sought relief from their arduous toil in harmless if somewhat primitive forms of recreation. But this condition of isolation did not preclude entirely a knowledge of the outside world. Periodicals and magazines, bearing news of the world, found a welcome in the homes of many of the Saints whose love for reading and culture was not dulled by a frontier environment.

Occasionally, too, the quiet of this peaceful society was broken by the intrusion of a foreign element antagonistic to the puritanical spirit and ethics of the community. Vividly I recall a striking example of this. Two Mexican officers rode into the colony and reported that they had been on the trail of two noted outlaws for a period of twenty days. One of these outlaws was the notorious Narcross of Texas, who with his companion, had murdered a man in the state of Chihuahua to obtain his money. The officers had followed their trail to a point where it led down

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the mountain into the rugged Pulpito Canyon, a few miles east of Colonia Oaxaca. Fearful of their lives should they continue the pursuit into such a wilderness of trees and ledges, the officers, by taking a circuitous route and by travelling day and night, came in ahead of the outlaws to Colonia Morelos and demanded the services of three of the colonists in a search for the fleeing convicts. The lot fell upon David Winn, Benjamin Eccles and myself. We were instructed to attempt no arrest of the bandits but to locate them merely and return and report. About five or six miles up the highway leading from Colonia Morleos to Colonia Oaxaca, we met a couple of mounted men with a pack animal, making their way leisurely in the direction of Morelos. These, we suspected of being the men we were looking for. To avoid having them suspect our errand, Dave Winn asked them if they had seen any mules up the road, to which they responded in the negative. We continued following the highway until well out of sight when we halted to consider the next step to be taken. It was decided that Winn should return to the colony to make a report and the other two were to ascend a high point commanding a view of the country for miles around to follow the movements of the strangers.

On the brow of the hill overlooking Morelos they halted, put their horses out to pasture and then Narcross, leaving his companion to watch the horses, walked into town for some provisions. At the Huish store he was making his purchases when the two Mexican officers, having been apprized of his presence, entered at one end of the store and at the same time two of the colonists entered from the opposite end. Simultaneously the four men drew their guns on Narcross and ordered him to put up his hands. Hurriedly he raised his arms in the air, but only for a moment, when he shot them downward and seizing two of the guns, he forced them to one side and lunged for the door. As he did so he attempted to pull from beneath his clothes a revolver but was hindered by the trigger getting caught in his raiment. As he passed out of the door and was about to turn the corner of the building, he was shot from behind and fell to the ground, at the same time crying for mercy. He was disarmed and lodged in the tithing office building for the night, in the absence of a jail. The other convict made his escape amidst a fusillade of bullets that fell short of their mark. Narcross was to stand trial in the state of Chihuahua and a large part of the distance he must be taken in a light rig. The jolting of the vehicle, together with the intense heat, produced intolerable suffering for the wounded man. Infection set in and before he could be brought to trial for the murder, he had passed to a higher tribunal.

              Compiled by Lucy Brown Archer beginning in 1986                        

Registro De Ninos Mormones Nacidos En Colonia Morelos
(Registration of Mormon Children Born in Colonia Morelos)

Libro Núm. 2118 (1900-1909) [Microfilm 38819]
Libro Núm. 26371 (1909-1912) [Microfilm 38819]
Morelos Ward. Juarez Stake of Zion
Salt Lake Genealogical Society
Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los últimos Días
Salt Lake City, Utah