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Oral Histories: Abstracts: Barker The Beginnings of the Hearst Estate and the Mexican Revolution "This Beautiful Mountain Paradise..." NOTE: Shortly before his death in 1967, James B. Barker wrote of his experiences as a young man in Mexico. Jim Barker first went to Mexico in 1907 at the age of twenty-four. His manuscript, which unfortunately was never finished, deals with three topics: Pancho Villa, the Revolution of 1910, and the property owned by the Hearst family in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, known as San José de Babicora, where he served as ranch manager. Below are transcripts of Mr. Barker's hand-written manuscript and of a taped interview conducted in 1967, transcribed by his daughter, Marilyn B. Heaner, of Woodlands, Texas. BABICORA During the last years of the 19th century, scattered towns and ranches sparsely populated the southwestern United States. Apache Indians were ever a possible danger to small parties and unprotected ranches and travelers. The larger ranches, dependent on open-land grazing, had developed a hardy, brave, adventurous class of men, proficient gunmen, and a daredevil type of cowboy never equaled before or later for undaunted courage and ability to successfully meet all conditions. A small body of hardy souls gathered near the then-famous Diamond A Ranch in southwestern New Mexico. Led by Jack Follamsbee, a member of the Keene family of Kentucky pioneer racehorse producers, they decided to make an adventurous trip south into the republic of Mexico to perhaps encounter roving Apaches and to see what the eastern slopes of the Sierra Madre Mountains could promise. This adventurous group in time traveled as far south as the main source of the Yaqui River. The river, after running west and draining into the long valley of Guerrero, Santo Tomás, and Temosachic, now traversed by the Mexico Northwestern Railroad, runs into the larger Río de Aros further west, which in turn joins the Río Chico to form the Yaqui River of Sonora, reaching finally the Pacific Ocean. Immediately north of this long east-west valley, after passing over a comparatively low range of hills, the country levels off and forms a large plain of a width varying from six to fifteen miles and about thirty-five miles long. There is no drainage out of this great area, as it is surrounded by mountains, with all streams draining into a central plain, forming a lake which only in years of extreme drought dries up. This beautiful mountain paradise, at 7,300 feet elevation, was known as San José de Babicora. The surrounding mountains were heavily wooded with pine, some oak, juniper, and madrono , and the plains and the open, small valleys produced abundant grama grasses of several varieties, all excellent grazing for livestock. The climate, though suffering light frost during the winter months, is healthful and pleasant and makes possible good crops of corn, beans, oats, barley, potatoes, as well as chiles and most of the garden vegetables. The grama grasses at that time afforded excellent grazing for domestic animals: cattle, sheep, goats, and especially horses and mules. Wild game animals and birds were still plentiful. During many years I enjoyed the best of hunting and shooting at Babicora, and the variety of game was good: bear, deer, wolves, cougars, coyotes, and wildcats (lynxes); quail, bronze turkeys, doves, and snipe. In the wintertime literally hundreds of thousands of ducks, geese, swans, cranes, curlew, and other migratory waterfowl came to the lake. No explanation is necessary to realize why the capable and adventurous Jack Follamsbee was at once enchanted when he looked down on this paradise from one of the hills on the north side of the valley. He was an experienced person in matters of ranches, ranges, cattle, and horses and could envision these green plains and sheltered valleys and slopes stocked with great cattle herds and producing horses as fine as could be bred anywhere in the world. He was able to see his dreams come true, for he later visited Babicora in 1908, soon after I had arrived in 1907. At that time we estimated the cattle on the property at about 75,000 head and perhaps 2,000 head of horses, cattle as well as horses already fairly well bred up. Also, the sheep herds numbered about 6,000 head. When Jack and his companions first came to the area, they remained long enough to determine that the ownership of the land was with several well-to-do Spanish-Mexican hacendados , who showed a willingness to sell their holdings. Upon his return to the United States, Jack was financed by Senator George Hearst to purchase approximately 500,000 acres that was the area of the principal plain of San José de Babicora and the surrounding mountains. The senator died in February 1891, and his widow, Phoebe Apperson Hearst, soon after the death of her husband, arranged with Follamsbee for the purchase of an additional 500,000 acres. About half of this acreage adjoined the principal plain on the east, on the headwaters of the Santa María River, and the other half, on the west of the main property, on high drainages to the Yaqui River, the areas then known as Naguerachic, Tascates, and San Pedro. The eastern purchase on the Santa María River is about 1,500 feet lower in elevation than the main plain of Babicora and is known as Providencia and Santa Ana, while the western purchase, Naguerachic, is perhaps 600 to 1,000 feet higher than Babicora. Shortly after these purchases were made, Mrs. Hearst arranged with Follamsbee to pass his interest in the properties to her, and she organized, as required by Mexican law, the Babicora Development Company. Jack remained for some time as patrón . Later Mr. Tom Bailey, well known in El Paso, Texas, took over the duties of administrator (manager), with his brother-in-law, John Bell, in charge of the range work. Jack returned to Kentucky, and the property was consolidated as holdings of the Babicora Development Company. Under Mr. Bailey's efficient management, the property progressed at an almost unbelievable pace. The herds of cattle, crossed with imported Durhams and Herefords, reached about 60,000 head; the horses, well bred from imported blood, were counted in the many hundreds; and large areas had been cultivated and dedicated to corn, beans, oats, and potato crops, all of which gave excellent results. This progress was all accomplished by Mr. Bailey before 1900, when he started his own personal hacienda at San Joaquín, a few miles west of the town of El Valle de San Buenaventura, and established his headquarters on the San Joaquín River, which he named Rancho Diez. He erected a picturesque home and ranch headquarters and moved in with his wife and young daughter, Edythe, who was born at the headquarters house in Babicora while he was still managing the property for Mrs. Hearst. Later, after Mr. Bailey had resigned as administrator at Babicora, the head office of Mrs. Hearst in San Francisco sent Mr. John C. Hayes from California. Mr. Hayes at that time was well known as a rancher in the Coast Range Mountains northeast of Livermore in Alameda County, California. Mr. John Bell had met his death in the meantime near the town of Ypomera on the southern boundary of the Babicora property. His body was found in a small arroyo near the town, his head having been badly crushed. Some opinions were that he had been killed by his horse, which might have fallen down a steep bank, but many people of the area believed he was murdered by an American with whom he had had arguments in the town. It is difficult to believe a man who was such an exceptional horseman as John Bell, on a very reliable and well-trained horse, could have been the victim of an ordinary accident on account of the same horse. It is important to note that when Mr. Bailey resigned his position as administrator of Babicora, there were many hundreds of native Mexicans living on the property. Most of them were at the three principal headquarters, Babicora, Santa Ana, and Naguerachic, and many more families at different small settlements who were occupied as line riders and small sharecrop farmers. All Mexican employees who had families were provided with living quarters, necessary domestic animals, schools for their children, and reasonable credit at the hacienda stores, which sold the modest necessities at very reasonable prices. They also drew rations. The departure of Mr. Bailey and family was regretted by all of these simple, friendly people, as he and his wife had for years given their attention to the health and personal welfare of all the people serving them and the hacienda. Later, in 1907, when I arrived at the haciend a Babicora, all the mature people still used only superlative terms when mentioning their former patrón Mr. Bailey. This deep regard was still apparent with the older people years later in 1914 when Mr. Bailey had occasion to return for a few days to Babicora. I could see that he was highly regarded, almost revered. All the people, Mexicans as well as foreigners, had become aware that, since Mrs. Hearst had acquired the properties, the people living and employed there had had the benefit of kind, just, and charitable treatment, such treatment in those days being unusual on most of the large landed properties. The naturally kind and hospitable natives appreciated and responded gratefully to this kind treatment. When Mr. John Hayes took over the local management in 1904 and was established at hacienda Babicora with his wife, he gave the duties of office and accounting to Mr. Edward Green, also from near Livermore, California. Mr. Green remained until about 1910, when he was forced to return to the United States due to ill health, and Mr. Peter Keene, a native of England with years of experience in Latin America, took over the vacancy caused by Mr. Green's retirement from the accounting office. Mr. Hayes also employed Mr. Frank Logan, a California Mexican-American cattleman, who, with his large family, moved to the eastern part of the property, with headquarters at Santa Ana. Mr. Logan remained in charge at Santa Ana until late 1910, when he accepted the management of a large cattle company at Santa Clara, north and east of Babicora and near the Mexican Central Railroad. The position formerly held by John Bell, in charge of range matters in general and with headquarters at Babicora, was given to Mr. A.F. Parks, well known in California as a competent cattleman from Santa Clara County. The western division of the property, known as Naguerachic, was put under the local management of a close connection of the Hearst family, Mr. J.B. Lee, a native of Virginia. Babicora Development Company had continued to progress under the new management, the only change to be noted being that Mr. Hayes was able, due to natural causes and needs, to gradually increase the amount of farming and to open new tillable areas. Such was Babicora Development Company when I first went to Babicora on July 7, 1907, at the invitation of Mrs. Hearst's offices in San Francisco. Since the earthquake in San Francisco in 1906, accompanied by my brother, Claude K. Barker, I had been with an uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Reader, in eastern Oregon on his property near Shaniko, where he was grazing many thousands of sheep and hundreds of cattle. About May of 1907, my brother and I were with a trail herd of some 2,500 head of cattle, driving them from near the Columbia River to Fort Klamath, near the northern border of California. The trip took about seven weeks to accomplish. The only point where we could expect mail on the trip was at Silver Lake, which we reached in early June. Among the letters from my mother and others she had forwarded was one from Mrs. Hearst's offices in San Francisco, offering me a position as assistant to Mr. Hayes at Babicora. I decided at once to accept and notified the San Francisco office that, accompanied by my brother, I would report to the San Francisco office for instructions as soon as the trail drive was completed. It was possible for me to reach San Francisco in time to pass the Fourth of July with our parents. On July 5th, after receiving instructions at the San Francisco office from Mr. Fred Clark, who was then in charge, we proceeded by Southern Pacific to El Paso, Texas, arriving on July 6, 1907. In the morning of July 7th, full of youthful enthusiasm, we boarded the Mexican Central train in Ciudad Juárez bound for Chihuahua City. On the same train was a group of men being shipped to Temosachic by the famous Colonel Bill Green of Hetty Green's family, from Cananea, Sonora, where they had assisted in breaking the first labor strike in Mexico at the Green Cananea Copper Company plants. These men were to be kept on the payroll by Green and his engineers for the numerous projects that Green was developing in western Chihuahua at that time. These included the completion of the Chihuahua Pacific Railroad, later named Mexico Northwestern Railroad, which was at that time constructed to a few miles west of Temosachic toward San Pedro, now known as Madera. Colonel Green was also opening a wagon road southwest from Temosachic to the mines at Concheno, which were being operated by Green under the name of Concheno Mining Company. He also was installing a large four-band sawmill at San Pedro, now known as Madera, preparatory to harvesting the enormous stands of good pine in that part of the Sierra Madre range. Our train arrived in Chihuahua City the same evening, and the following morning, July 8th, we all boarded the Chihuahua Pacific train bound for Temosachic, at that time the terminal of rail service and the principal headquarters for Colonel Green's operations. We arrived late the same afternoon. Mr. Hayes, the patrón at Babicora, arrived early the following morning driving a buckboard with a good team of horses and accompanied by his mozo , handyman. On his arrival we immediately departed with him for hacienda Babicora, located about twenty-five miles north of the railroad station with the road passing through a low range of hills covered by a fair stand of pine timber. After traveling about twelve miles, we emerged from the timber to the open plain of Babicora, the lake visible for miles across the grasslands. In all directions were hundreds of cattle peacefully grazing, most of them a good grade of Hereford and Durham stock, though occasionally a typical longhorn, a descendant of the old Texas herds, would stand out in comparison to the better-bred, imported blood. PANCHO VILLA At about the turn of the 19th century, in a small rancheria, or village, located in the southwestern part of the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, near the little city of Parral, a large percentage of the local population was made up of small farmers and cattlemen. In some localities there were miners, as the surrounding hills contained numerous mineral deposits. The agricultural crops were, for the greater part, corn, beans, and chiles with livestock production in cattle, hogs, and some sheep and goats. Even to the present day, the countryside produces good grazing areas of several types of grama grass and semiarid varieties such as tobozón and mesquite grasses. At one of the rancherias lived a family of very modest means, whose family name was Arango, one of the sons being Doroteo, who years later became world famous as General Pancho Villa. The following statements about the history of Doroteo are based on local stories circulated much later concerning this young man but are believed to be true as to the general facts concerning his early years. He is reputed to have been very energetic and always quite willful in character, with a very good natural intelligence but a quick temper. About the end of the 19th century, he was already established as a butcher, supplying meat to the scattered population. A fairly well-accepted story is that a Captain of the federal cavalry, who, as commander of a small detachment, had passed through the region, took a sister of Doroteo to Chihuahua City. Some rumors were that the girl was taken forcibly, while another less common version was that she went willingly with the captain. However, later she turned up again at her home village in very bad shape. Doroteo is said to have brooded over this happening for some time and soon developed a bitterness toward the federal forces. This was undoubtedly true, for later, as the rumors go, he appeared unexpectedly, well mounted and armed, at this same captain's headquarters in Chihuahua City, and shot and killed the captain, escaping before it was possible to apprehend him or institute a close pursuit. For several years after this, only occasional mention was made of Doroteo Arango. He was considered an outlaw and was hunted by the federal government and the local rurales. The rurales were a civilian rural police force organized under plans developed by the Díaz government to operate against outlaws over the extensive areas where there was a limited population and, in some cases, no inhabitants at all. At that time a Pancho Villa was mentioned often as a bandit operating in the Sierra Madre Mountains along the Chihuahua-Sonora state line. He was later identified as the former Doroteo Arango, but always thereafter he kept the name of Francisco Villa. Many tales circulated at the time, and, in general, they sum up that Villa did hold up and rob travelers, most of them of the well-to-do class such as large ranch owners, and that often he used some of the fruits of his robberies to aid needy persons in the areas where he was operating. It is also known that a number of times he was employed as a guide and practical handyman by American prospectors, who during that period were very numerous, in their search for mineral deposits in the rough mountain areas. I have heard of several outfits who claimed that they had hired Pancho Villa as a guide and handyman and that he was always a valuable and reliable employee. I did not arrive in western Chihuahua until July of 1907, but at that time the name of Pancho Villa was heard often and always in connection with hold-ups or with parties traveling and exploring the difficult Sierra Madre Mountains. THE REVOLUTION OF 1910 Early in September of 1910, rumors of an immediate uprising against the Díaz government, which had been in control of the republic of Mexico for over thirty years, were circulating through western Chihuahua. Several local persons of good standing told me openly that the revolution was to be headed by Don Francisco Madero, who would be named president, and his companion, Suárez, to be vice-president. The battle cry at that time was " Abajo el Zocalo, !" (Down with the Zocalo!), the Zocalo being the public square in front of the National Palace in Mexico City. On September 20, 1910, word came to us at hacienda San José de Babicora in the district of Guerrero, state of Chihuahua, that the revolution had actually gotten under way. The revolutionists of western Chihuahua were under the leadership of Pascual Orozco, hijo , and Pascual Orozco, padre , father and son, and other well-known persons. Members of the Frias, Gonzáles, Nava, Doral, and many other families were identified with the movement from its initiation. The areas west of Chihuahua City were and still are tapped by the Mexico Northwestern Railroad, and many of the families of leading revolutionists lived in proximity to this railroad line. Before hostilities actually opened, many members of the families mentioned moved by wagon to one of the outlying Babicora ranches, which at the time was occupied by only a few small families of farmers. These leaders' families were moved into Providencia, the ranch mentioned, as the revolutionists anticipated a strong attack by federal troops from Chihuahua City along the line of the railroad west to the populated areas adjacent to the railroad. General Navarro, who was the military commander of the zone, had strong forces concentrated in Chihuahua City and was expected to attack. As was anticipated by the revolutionists, General Navarro did attempt to enter the populated area west of the city and sent several regiments, including machine gunners, by train to dominate this region. To get to the fertile valleys at the higher elevations along the waterways where the western drainage to the Pacific originates, the railroad route had to pass through the eastern spurs of the Sierra Madre Mountains. It went along arroyos and small streams like the Malpaso, Pedernales, and San Isidro before reaching the more important town of Ciudad Guerrero, head of the municipal and district extensions. When the Navarro trains entered the Malpaso gap, the revolutionists, though poorly armed, attacked from all sides, and Navarro attempted to disembark his troops. Some were able to form along the track but were unable to do anything effective against the revolutionists, who were occupying the steep, rocky slopes parallel to the tracks and train. To the surprise of the world in general, General Navarro was forced to beat an ignominious retreat back to Chihuahua City, in hopes of reorganizing his forces prior to again moving against the revolutionists. |
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