The Copper Canyon region is one of the most remote parts of Mexico. This remoteness helps to explain why the area is the home of about 50,000 Tarahumara Indians, and how they have managed to preserve much of their highly distinctive culture to this day.

The Copper Canyon railroad line, “the most dramatic train ride in the Western Hemisphere” (Reader’s Digest), begins in Ojinaga and continues, via Chihuahua, to Los Mochis and Topolobampo. The railroad was started in the 1870s to enable produce grown in southern Texas to be exported via a Pacific port. Simultaneously, the twin settlements of Los Mochis and its port Topolobampo were developed on the other side of the Western Sierra Madre. The railroad project floundered and successive attempts to complete it all failed. Some innovative engineering finally led to the line being completed in 1961. Total cost? Over $100 million.

The highlights include a 360-degree loop at El Lazo (km 585 from Ojinaga), one of only three comparable examples anywhere in North America), and a 180-degree turn inside a tunnel near Temoris at km 708. The line crosses the Continental Divide three times, reaches a maximum height of 2400 m (at km 583) and skirts the rim of the Copper Canyon. Between Chihuahua and Los Mochis, there are 37 bridges (totaling 3.6 km) and 86 tunnels (totaling 17.2 km). Almost all passenger rail services in Mexico ended in the 1990s but daily services continue along this line, mainly for tourists.

Tarahumara Indians wait for a sale at Divisadero, the station on the canyon rim. Photo: Tony Burton; all rights reserved.

Almost all trains stop for a few minutes at Divisadero, a station set right on the rim of the canyon, with a lookout offering a magnificent panoramic view. Shy Tarahumara women and children sit quietly, weaving pine-needle baskets (see photo) and hoping for a sale. Many of them speak very little Spanish apart from the numbers; on the other hand, how many tourists speak even one word of the Tarahumara language? Thirty years ago, most articles sold by the women were items similar to ones they would use everyday themselves in their daily tasks. Sadly, many of the articles sold today are made specifically for the tourist trade.

Unlike the railway, Los Mochis and Topolobampo both soon flourished. Topolobampo was started by US engineer Albert Kimsey Owen who chose this previously unsettled area for a socialist colony based on sugar-cane production, and as the terminus for the railway. Topolobampo has one of Mexico’s finest natural harbors, a drowned river valley or ria, which affords a safe haven in the event of storms. Los Mochis was officially founded in 1893 by a second American, Benjamin Johnston, who built a sugar factory there.

Los Mochis became especially important in the second half of the twentieth century as a major commercial center, marketing much of the produce grown on the vast El Fuerte irrigation scheme. Much of this produce is still exported to the USA via the famous Copper Canyon railway. Los Mochis and Topolobampo are unusual—there are few other examples of such “new towns”, with no colonial or pre-Hispanic antecedents, anywhere else in Mexico.

Previous Geo-Mexico posts related to the Copper Canyon:

• Mexico’s Copper Canyon is one of the world’s most amazing natural wonders
• Map of the State of Chihuahua
• Los Mochis and Topolobampo: examples of “new” towns

External links of interest:

• Mexico’s Copper Canyon
• The Copper Canyon train (El Chepe)

Chapter 10 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico is devoted to Mexico’s indigenous peoples, including the Tarahumara Indians. If you have enjoyed this post, please suggest to your local library that they purchase a copy to enhance their collection.

Several famous writers wrote about Mexico despite having no direct geographic experience of the country. In an earlier post, we looked at the case of Jules Verne. This time, we look at Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

There is some sound historical geography in the famous poem The Bells of San Blas, yet author Henry Wadsworth Longfellow had never ever visited the town.

The San Blas referred to in the poem is on the Pacific coast, in the state of Nayarit. It is a small town with several good hotels and restaurants, and a birding “hot spot”. The variety of habitats around the town, ranging from sandy beaches and luxuriant mangroves to palm plantations and tropical swamps, have attracted more than 500 different bird species, or about half of all the bird species known in Mexico.

The town’s economy was not always geared to tourism. For more than a century, San Blas, founded in 1768, functioned as an important port and boat-building center. The vessels built in San Blas included those used by Junípero Serra to establish missions in California. To ensure that taxes were paid on imports, an imposing customs house was built on the shore. To guarantee safe passage, a church dedicated to “Our Lady of the Sailor’s Rosary” stands atop the steep-sided Cerro de San Basilio which overlooks the town. In the church hung the famous bronze bells.

The former Customs House of San Blas in the evening light, 1989. Photo: Tony Burton. All rights reserved.

Time conspired against the port of San Blas. The harbor silted up, the coastline gradually inched its way further west. Over the years, other ports such as Acapulco and Mazatlan became more important. San Blas declined. The customs house and church were abandoned, transformed from bustling buildings into evocative ruins. By the end of the 19th century, the port was very much a “has been”.

In March, 1882, far away from Mexico, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (best known for Paul Revere’s Ride, The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline) lay on his deathbed. Longfellow, born in 1807, was a prolific poet and accomplished linguist. After a long and illustrious career, which included teaching at Harvard College, his life was now drawing to a close, even as the distant port of San Blas was falling into disuse.

By a happy coincidence, the March 1882 issue of Harper’s new monthly magazine (Volume 64, Issue 382) contained an article by William Henry Bishop, entitled “Typical Journeys and Country Life in Mexico”. Bishop’s article described several Pacific coast ports, including San Blas:

“Acapulco has the most complete and charming harbor, and an old fort dismantled by the French, of the order of Morro Castle. Manzanillo is a small strip of a place on the beach, built of wood, with quite an American look. The volcano of Colima appears inland, with a light cloud of smoke above it. San Blas, larger, but still hardly more than an extensive thatched village, has, on a bluff beside it, the ruins of a once more substantial San Blas. Old bronze bells brought down from it have been mounted in rude frames a few feet high to serve the purpose of the present poor church, which is without a belfry, and this is called in irony ‘the Tower of San Blas.’”

The article was accompanied by an illustration showing four bells swinging from a rickety wooden frame.

The article and its accompanying illustration prompted Longfellow to write what would prove to be his last poem, entitled The Bells of San Blas.

Like the port at that time, Longfellow saw the bells as relics from a byegone age:

They are a voice of the Past,
Of an age that is fading fast,
Of a power austere and grand;
When the flag of Spain unfurled
Its folds o’er this western world,
And the Priest was lord of the land.

The chapel that once looked down
On the little seaport town
Has crumbled into the dust;
And on oaken beams below
The bells swing to and fro,
And are green with mould and rust.

Several days later, Longfellow penned the last stanza, with a suggestion of optimism for the future:

O Bells of San Blas, in vain
Ye call back the Past again!
The Past is deaf to your prayer;
Out of the shadows of night
The world rolls into light;
It is daybreak everywhere.

On March 24, Longfellow, who had never had the good fortune to visit San Blas in person, passed away.

Should you visit San Blas today, spare a thought for this genius of a poet who was able to capture so eloquently the declining fortunes of this once-great port.

What further stanzas remain to be written in the story of San Blas, now revived by its important naval base and ornithological tourism?

Original article on MexConnect.

The development of Mexico’s transportation system is discussed in chapter 17 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico. Ask your library to buy a copy of this handy reference guide to all aspects of Mexico’s geography today! Better yet, order your own copy…

Geographers have long been interested in the distinctive contribution of sounds to landscapes, especially urban landscapes. Some sounds are associated with pleasure, some with danger, others with impatience. The soundscapes of cities have become a legitimate area of study.

Early work tended to focus on traffic noise or on identifying areas where ambient noise from industry or other activities exceeded a comfortable threshold volume.

Soundscapes vary from rural areas to urban areas, and from one region to another. Mexico’s urban soundscapes are among the most distinctive on the planet, and this week has been declared National Sound Week by the federal government. Several “sound walks” have been organized in major cities.

As a USA Today article points out, all sounds contain a message. For example, “A series of four notes on a pan flute means the scissor-sharpening man is in the neighborhood. A ringing hand bell means the garbage truck is here” and so on.

The traffic whistles made by police are an important subset of the sounds in any Mexican town or city. They have a mini-language of their own, explored in this MexConnect article: Did you know? Different traffic whistles in Mexico mean different things.

Fieldwork idea: Portable sound meters make it relatively easy to compile a map showing the sound levels (measured in decibels) around particular sources of sound, whether periodic in occurrence (such as vehicles at a traffic light or the crowd in a sports stadium) or more or less continuous (like the hum of wind turbines or the noise of a factory).

Once a map has been compiled, analyze any patterns you can identify. Studies of urban soundscapes are not only of academic value, but have an important role in city planning as well. For example,

• Do tall buildings mask the loudest sounds, or do they funnel it towards the listener?
• Does the sound level vary depending on the quantity of vegetation between the sound source and the listener?
• Which kinds of vegetation are most effective in masking sounds?
• Is east-west traffic louder than north-south traffic?

Corn is one of the world’s major cereal crops and has long been a vitally-important crop to Mexico.

However, is it more efficient in energy terms to be a slash-and-burn farmer of corn in the jungle or a technologically-sophisticated corn farmer on the US or Canadian prairies?

David and Marcia Pimentel have compiled data from a variety of sources and analyzed this question and similar questions in some detail.

In Mexico, they calculated that about 1144 hours of human labor are required to produce 1 hectare (ha) of corn using only hand labor, and no animals or machinery. On the other hand, using machinery, cultivating a hectare of corn requires only 10 hours of labor in the USA.

The total energy required to cultivate a single hectare of corn by hand is 589,160 kcal for the 1144 hours of hand labor, plus 16,570  kcal for making the axe and hoe used by the farmer (this figure assumes a certain lifespan and maintenance needs for such tools), plus 36,608 kcal for the 10.4 kg of seed required. The grand total for energy inputs into the system is 642,336 kcal. [One kcal (kilocalorie) = 4184 joules.]

An average yield for corn in such a non-mechanized system is 1,944 kg/ha, equivalent to 6,901,200 kcal. The ratio between the energy output and the energy expended of this system is almost 11:1.

By way of comparison, the energy inputs (labor, machinery, gasoline, seeds, irrigation, herbicides, etc) in a typical, highly mechanized US or Canadian cornfield total 10,535,000 kcal/ha. The yield of corn is about 7,500 kg/ha, equivalent to 26,625,000 kcal. The energy ratio for this farming system is 2.5:1

More efficient than a tractor?

Which system is more efficient? This is where it becomes essential to define what is meant by efficiency. In terms of output per hour of labor, the US farm is far more efficient. In terms of yield per hectare, the US farm is more efficient. However, in terms of energy ratios, the Mexican farm is four times more efficient than its US counterpart.

Looking at energy ratios makes it possible to make various generalizations about farming. In general, hand cultivation methods are the most energy efficient, followed by systems where animals are used, followed by systems based largely on machinery. The precise numbers for any type of farming will vary from one country to another, since the labor required and crop yields do depend to some extent on such geographic factors as soil types, terrain and the weather during the growing season.

It is also possible to look at what the additional energy inputs in a highly mechanized system actually achieve. For instance, in the USA, machinery and fuel account for about 20% of all the fossil energy employed; in other words, about 20% of the energy input reduces, or replaces, human and animal labor. The remaining 80% of fossil fuel inputs is employed in increasing corn yields by means of fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides and irrigation.

The table shows the energy ratios which have been calculated for a selection of crops in various countries.

An energy ratio below 1.0 for a particular item means that the inputs of energy exceed the output, or in other words more energy is expended on cultivation than is returned via the crop.

As Tim Bayliss-Smith concludes in the The ecology of agricultural systems, the evidence is that, “Only in fully industrialized societies does the use of energy become so profligate that very little more energy is gained from agriculture than is expended in its production.”

Why are energy ratios important?

Energy ratios shed some light on the sustainability of farming. Cultivation relying only on human power, is clearly sustainable virtually indefinitely, provided that land degradation is avoided and yields do not decline. Farming using a mix of animal and human power is also likely to be fully sustainable. However, the same is not true for cultivation relying on power derived from fossil fuels. For mechanized farming, sustainability requires machinery to be powered by renewable sources of energy, such as solar or wind power. Such sources of energy may be impossible to harness in some climatic zones.

Of course, farm systems are not only about energy flows and ratios. As Tim Bayliss-Smith points out, farms ”also provide jobs, incomes and a way of life for agrarian societies, whose social and ideological characteristics cannot be ignored.”

Sources / further reading:

• Pimentel, David and Pimentel, Marcia H. Food, energy and society (3rd edition) CRC Press, 2008
• Bayliss-Smith, T.P. The ecology of agricultural systems. Cambridge University Press, 1982.
• Simmons, I.G. “Ecological-Functional Approaches to Agriculture in Geographical Contexts”, in Geography, 65: 305-316 (Nov. 1980)

Agriculture is analyzed in chapter 15 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico. and concepts of sustainability are explored in chapters 19 and 30.  Buy your copy today, so you have this handy reference guide to all aspects of Mexico’s geography available whenever you need it.

If, like me, you have ever wondered about the origins of the suffixes used to denote nationality (and who hasn’t?), help is at hand. Thomas Tsoi guides us on an interesting and entertaining romp through the complexities of suffixes denoting nationality in his blog Linguish.net.

Tsoi’s combination of linguistics and geography —“So Many Nationality Suffixes”— comes complete with a world map. Take a look and marvel at the power of geography to attract students of other disciplines.

The Copper Canyon, one of Mexico’s most amazing natural wonders The rugged ranges of the Western Sierra Madre in the state of Chihuahua conceal several massive canyons, giving rise to incomparable scenery. The Copper Canyon (Cañon del Cobre) region is the collective name given to this branching network of canyons, larger in many respects (see table) than the USA’s Grand Canyon.

How does Mexico’s Copper Canyon compare to the US Grand Canyon?

Strictly speaking, the name Copper Canyon refers only to one small part of the extensive network of canyons which is more properly called by geographers the Urique Canyon system. As the table shows, the Urique Canyons are longer, deeper and narrower than their US rival.

How was the Copper Canyon formed?

According to a local Tarahumara Indian legend, the canyons were formed when “a giant walked around and the ground cracked.” Geologists believe that a sequence of volcanic rocks varying in age from 30 to 135 million years were slowly uplifted to an average elevation of 2275 m (7500 ft) and then dissected by pre-existing rivers.

These antecedent rivers retained their courses, cutting down over 1400 m into the plateau surface, forming deep canyons and dividing the former continuous plateau into separate giant blocks. Centuries of erosion by the Urique river and its tributaries have resulted in the present-day landscape of structurally-guided plateau remnants, termed mesas, buttes and pinnacles, depending on their size.

A few days ago, Jimena Navarrete, a beautiful and well-spoken 22-year-old from Guadalajara, Jalisco, was crowned Miss Universe 2010. The event was held in Las Vegas. Navarette became the second Miss Universe to come from Mexico. Lupita Jones, twenty years ago, was the first.

Mexican señoritas have long had the reputation of being among the most beautiful women on the planet, but it may come as a surprise to discover that the very first Miss Mexico was held as recently as 1952. By way of international comparison, Miss Australia was first chosen in 1908 and Miss France in 1920, while Miss Germany dates back to 1927, Miss England to 1928, Miss Spain to 1929 and Miss Italy to 1939. The globalization of beauty pageants (as they were originally known) dates back to the 1950s, when the USA and many other countries in the Americas first held their national competitions.

The first Señorita México (Miss Mexico) national beauty pageant in 1952 was won by Señorita Chihuahua. The contest was then held annually (with a couple of exceptions) until 1993. In 1994 it was replaced by Nuestra Belleza México (Our Mexico Beauty). The winner of Mexico’s national beauty pageant represents Mexico in the Miss Universe competition and Nuestra Belleza México was founded by Lupita Jones (Miss Mexico 1990) who went on to become Mexico’s first Miss Universe.

Prior to 1970, Miss Mexico was a relatively small event, less than truly national, and young ladies from Mexico D.F. won no fewer than 9 times in the first 14 occasions the competition was held. Despite the event’s low-profile, some years were marred by controversy. For instance, accusations of favoritism were leveled at the organizers of the 1957 event since the winner apparently held Spanish citizenship. In these early years, no other state besides Mexico D.F. won more than once.

Since 1970, the results reveal a clear domination by señoritas from Mexico’s northern states. Sinaloa has won no fewer than 7 times. The other winners (number of times in parentheses) have come from Nuevo León (4), Sonora, Chihuahua, Yucatan and Mexico D.F. (3 each), Baja California, Jalisco and Tamaulipas (2 each) with a single winner each from Coahuila, Durango, Nayarit, Guerrero, Veracruz, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, the State of México and Campeche.

• MexConnect map of the pattern of winners, as of 2009
• Where to find Mexico’s most beautiful señoritas

Chapter 13 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico analyzes Mexico’s cultural landscapes. Buy your copy today!

The table shows the top 10 exports relating to food and drink.

The actual value of exports for each product varies widely from year to year. The figures quoted in the table are an average of the last few years for which data are available. They underestimate the importance of strawberries, exports of which have risen sharply since 2004. In the past couple of years, exports of strawberries have exceeded watermelon in value.

How many countries have featured tomatoes on a stamp?

Small wonder that the “Mexico exports” set of stamps in use from the 1970s to the 1990s featured many agricultural products in its designs, including tomatoes (pictured here), tequila, beer, coffee, honey, strawberries, limes, cotton and citrus fruits. We plan to look more closely at some of these items in future posts.

Agriculture is analyzed in chapter 15 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico. Mexico’s exports are examined in chapter 20. Buy your copy today, so you have this handy reference guide to all aspects of Mexico’s geography available whenever you need it.

The New York City area is now home to over half a million poblanos, natives of the Mexican state of Puebla.  A 2005 Smithsonian article by Jonathan Kandell (available here as a pdf file) takes a close look at their expectations and aspirations. Most started as undocumented workers, but many have gained legal status through the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (ICRA) or a variety of other means.

The story of Ricardo and Aldea is just one example.  They got to New York by crossing the 49^o C (120^o F) Sonoran Desert in the summer of 2003. They work 70-hour weeks for less than the minimum wage.  She will pay for her month long trip back to Puebla by serving as a courier, or paquetera, a person who carries clothing, electronics, and other gifts from immigrants to their families.

Getting back and forth across the border without proper documents is more difficult than it used to be, but is not a significant problem. Most rely on trusted polleros, often called coyotes, who provide border crossing service for fees ranging from a few hundred dollars for just crossing the border to a few thousand dollars for door-to-door service.

Population pyramid for Piaxtla, 2000. How does this pyramid reflect out-migration?

Migration has had a profound impact on villages in Puebla, such as Piaxtla.  Most of the 1600 current residents of Piaxtla are either children or elderly (see population pyramid). The mayor claims that “maybe three out of four of my constituents live in New York”. The hundreds of millions of dollars send back each year are having a dramatic effect on rural communities in Puebla. Forty years ago, virtually all the houses were made of palm-thatch adobe. Now they are mostly brick and concrete.  Many are topped with satellite dishes.

The towns also have new restaurants, taxis, video arcades, cybercafes, and newly paved streets, all made possible from remittances. Ironically, the towns are sparsely populated and many of the new houses are empty because their owners are working in New York.

Most youth consider the prospect of migration. Few think about careers in Mexico or becoming artisans and continuing Puebla’s long tradition of ceramics, woodworking and weaving. Teenagers show little interest in corn farming, the traditional mainstay of the local economy.  In short, migrating to jobs in New York has become the norm.

Somewhat similar migration channels link:

• Aguililla, Michoacán, with Redwood City, California, and
• Napizaro (Michoacan) with North Hollywood (California)

For previous posts about remittances, the funds sent home by migrant workers, see:

• The 10 states in Mexico with the highest percentage of homes receiving remittances
• The 10 states in Mexico receiving the most remittances in total
• The 10 states in Mexico receiving the highest remittances per person

Migration between Mexico and the USA is the focus of chapter 25 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico. Ask your library to buy a copy of this handy reference guide to all aspects of Mexico’s geography today! Better yet, order your own copy…

According to the 1.5 million votes cast in a Televisión Azteca survey in 2007 (published in the always interesting glossy magazine mexicanísimo), the top 13 natural wonders in Mexico are (in no particular order):

• The Copper Canyon region (Chihuahua)
• The El Cielo Biosphere Reserve (Sierra Madre Occidental, Tamaulipas)
• The Sumidero Canyon (Chiapas)
• Cuatro Ciénegas oasis (Chihuahuan desert)
• El Arrecifal coral reef ecological park (Veracruz)
• El Pinacate desert (Sonora)
• The Monarch Butterfly reserves (Michoacán)
• The agave landscapes surrounding Tequila (Jalisco)
• The Centla wetlands (Tabasco)
• The Peña de Bernal monolith (Querétaro)
• The Basalt Prisms of San Miguel Regla (Hidalgo)
• The Sótano de las Golondrinas sinkhole (San Luis Potosí)
• Xel-Há marine park (Quintana Roo)

Tarahumar woman and child, by waterfall in the Copper Canyon. Photo: Tony Burton. All rights reserved.

Also ranked highly were

• Cerro de la Silla (Nuevo León)
• Estero de Palo Verde (Colima)
• Loltún caverns (Yucatán)
• Mexcaltitán Island (Nayarit)

We will describe each of these geographical treasures in more detail in future posts.

How many of these places have you visited?

What other places do you think should be on this list?

If you have enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico.

Buy your copy today!