Records of the Ferrocarril Noroeste de México
Scope and Contents
Business records of the Ferrocarril Noroeste de México (primarily letters, telegrams, and translations of coded telegrams), newspaper clippings, and maps contain information from the years 1910-1916 and April-May of 1919 about events of the Mexican Revolution, its effects on the operations of the railroad company, and the company's relations with the Mexican and United States governments and Mexican revolutionaries such as Pancho Villa. Correspondence is between company officials, investors, managers and other employees, such as Pearson, Riba, Miller, Crockett, and Smith; Mexican and United States government officials; and revolutionary leaders such as Pancho Villa (referred to in the correspondence as General Francisco Villa). Newspaper clippings, mostly from U.S. and British papers, pertain to politics and revolutionary events in Mexico, especially those affecting the railways and/or foreigners in Mexico. Maps are of railroad routes in Mexico.
Most of the materials are in English with a few items in Spanish.
Dates
- Creation: 1910-1919
Language of Materials
English, Spanish
Access Restrictions
Unrestricted.
Use Restrictions
Standard copyright restrictions apply.
Historical Note
The Ferrocarril Noroeste de México (Mexico Northwestern Railway Company), a British-owned corporation, operated in the early 20th century between El Paso, Texas, and the lumbering, mining and agricultural areas of the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. In 1909 the company was incorporated in Canada under the direction of Fred Stark Pearson. R. Home Smith of Toronto, Canada, was the company president; other company officials and managers included Luís Riba, Louis Roy Hoard, J.O. Crockett, and H.I. Miller. The company purchased four short railways and constructed one; it also acquired extensive timber lands and lumber businesses and formed the Madera Company (with mills at Madera and Pearson, Chihuahua) and the El Paso Milling Company in Texas. The Northwestern Railway suffered great damage during the Mexican revolution of 1910-1920. Communication and transportation of products and supplies became very difficult and, at times, impossible. Company officials negotiated with both government and revolutionary forces in an attempt to protect company property, employees, and their families, and successfully steered the company through the revolution. In 1945 the Mexico Northwestern Railway Company's properties in Mexico were sold to banker from Chihuahua.
Full Extent
2.5 linear ft. (circa 2,645 items)
Abstract
Business records (primarily correspondence) of the Mexico Northwestern Railway Company (Ferrocarril Noroeste de México), including materials about events of the Mexican Revolution and its effects on the operations of the Company, and the Company's relations with the governments of Mexico and the United States.
Arrangement
Materials are arranged chronologically.
Acquisition Information
Purchase, 1971.
Additions
No further materials are expected for this collection.
Processing Information
Prepared by the Mexican Archives Project, January 23, 1994.
The records were described by the Benson's Mexican Archives Project, October 1994.
Box and Folder Inventory added by Gilbert Borrego, December 2019.
Geographic
- Babicora Ranch (Chihuahua, Mexico: inhabited place)
- Colonia Dublán (Mormon settlement)
- Cumbre Tunnel
- Las Varas Ranch
Topical
- Chihuahua (Mexico: State)--History--Revolution, 1910-1920
- Corporations, British--Mexico--History--Revolution, 1910-1920
- Corporations, British--Mexico--History--Revolution, 1910-1920
- Lumber camps--Mexico--History--Revolution, 1910-1920
- Mexico--History--Revolution, 1910-1920
- Mexico--Politics and government--Revolution, 1910-1920
- Railroads--Mexico--History--Revolution, 1910-1920
- Title
- Records of the Ferrocarril Noroeste de México
- Status
- Edited Full Draft
- Author
- Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection
- Date
- 2001
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Revision Statements
- August 23, 2002: Edited with XMetaL3 by Bob Stewart according to instructions in Editing TARO EAD XML Finding Aids with XMetaL.
- Tue Jul 22 14:57:54 CDT 2003: urn:taro:utexas.blac.00020 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02.xsl (20030505).
- December 2019: Box and Folder Inventory added by Gilbert Borrego.
- 2021 April: Edited by Dylan Joy to fix compliance check errors to prepare for the migration to new TARO website.
- 2021 November: Edited by Devon Murphy to update control access terms and formatting based on the TARO Control Access List.
- 2025 July: Revised by Ryan Sullivant to fix validation errors prior to ingestion into ArchivesSpace.
Repository Details
Part of the Benson Latin American Collection, The University of Texas at Austin Repository
2300 Red River Street
Austin Texas 78712 United States
(512) 495-4578
bensonspecialcollections@austin.utexas.edu