Descriptive Summary
Mexico Northwestern Railway Company.
Records of the Ferrocarril Noroeste de México
1910-1919
31769787
2.3 linear ft. (circa 2,645 items)Ã
Benson Latin American Collection,
University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin
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.
and [code "engspa" not found in ISO 639-2 list].
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 a Chihuahua banker.
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.
Arrangement
Materials are arranged chronologically.
Index Terms
Subjects (Persons)
Pearson, Fred Stark.
Smith, R. Home.
Hoard, Louis Roy, 1886-1973.
Villa, Pancho, 1878-1923
Riba, Luis.
Crockett, J. O.
Miller, H. I.
Subjects (Corporations)
Corralitos Company
Cusi Mining Company
El Paso Milling Company
Madera Company
Mexican Light and Power Company
Mexican Tramways Company
National Railways of Mexico
Phelps, Dodge & Co.
Sierra Madre Land and Lumber Company
Turney and Burgess (Firm)
Places
Mexico--History--Revolution, 1910-1920
Chihuahua (Mexico : State)--History--Revolution, 1910-1920.
Mexico--Politics and government--Revolution, 1910-1920.
Babicora Ranch (Chihuahua (Mexico : State))
Colonia Dublán (Mormon settlement)
Cumbre Tunnel
Las Varas Ranch
Subjects
Railroads--Mexico--History--Revolution, 1910-1920.
Corporations, British--Mexico--History--Revolution, 1910-1920.
Lumber camps--Mexico--History--Revolution, 1910-1920.
Corporations, British--Mexico--History--Revolution, 1910-1920.
Other Authors
Aiken, Peter S.
Alexandre, H.
Brown, E. N.
Bryan, William Jennings, 1860-1925.
Burr, E. S.
Bussing, G. H.
Carranza, Venustiano
Castañeda, A.
Castillo, Máximo
Clark, F. J.
Clarke, Walter
Cooper, C. H.
Cox, A. L.
Cravath, W. V.
Creel, Enrique C.
Crockett, J. O.
Dudley, R. M.
Edwards, T. D.
Farragut, W. J.
Fernandez, Juan
Ferris, H.C.
Flether, E .E.
Fox, B S.
Glumaz, S. J.
Gow, Walter
Griscom, Lloyd C.
Hagan, Jules, Mrs.
Harmon, E. M.
Harrsen, Harro
Hartman, L. M.
Herr, F.C.
Hert, A.T.
Holmes, Tom B.
Hopkins, S. G.
Houghton, E.C.
Hoyer, J. F.
Huerta, Victoriano
Jones, F.C.
Lascurrain, Pedro
Lathrop, A. L.
Ledwidge, Edward
Lester, R. T.
Lewis, H.C.
Littlepage, Thomas P.
Lind, John
Madero, Francisco I., 1873-1913.
Masteller, M. L.
McClanahan, H. C.
McKenna, W. R.
Mercado, Salvador R.
Miller, H. I.
Morgan, E. D.
Myers, C. F.
Orozco, Pascual
Paddack, J. E.
Palmer, Bradley W.
Parra, Kid
Pearson, Fred Stark
Pickett, A. J.
Pruett, J. J.
Riba, Luís
Romney, Junius
Ruiz, Apolonio
Rutledge, George
Salazar, José Ynés
Sanburn, J. N.
Saumenig, H. M.
Scofield, Bernard
Smith, William Alden
Taft, Charles Phelps, 1843-1929
Taft, William H. (William Howard), 1857-1930
Thede, Porter C.
Trueb, A. M.
Velasquez, Herculano
Villa, Pancho, 1878-1923
Wemple, F .L.
West, Duval
West, O. C.
Williams, Louis E.
Wilson, Henry Lane
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924
Wisdom, C. R.
Woodcock, H .B.
Preferred Citation
Records of the Ferrocarril Noroeste de México, 1910-1919, Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin
Acquisitions Information
The Records of the Ferrocarril Noroeste de México were acquired by the Benson Latin American Collection in 1971.
Processing Information
Prepared by the Mexican Archives Project, January 23, 1994.
The records were described by the Benson's Mexican Archives Project in October 1994.