Topolobampo (trans. "Hidden Water"; referred to as Pacific Colony by the Credit Foncier of Sinaloa; 1886-1896) was an American Georgist utopian socialist intentional community established on November 17, 1886, in what became the city of Topolobampo, Mexico. Located on Mexican soil, it was American in origin, membership, and in leadership. The colony, a social experiment, was launched by , of Chester, Pennsylvania. Of Quaker origin, he was a civil engineer, author and social philosopher.
Owen, in laying out a railroad on the west coast of Mexico for fourteen years laid plans for a giant colonization project. It struck him that here at what would become the city of Topolobampo would be a good place to start a colony away from civilization and away from capitalism. The Topolobampo site offered fertile soil and a wonderful climate. Owen secured a concession for from the Mexican government, and for a railroad, with other concessions. Owen's plan was to make it a truly intentional community, with all productive wealth and property owned by the Community as a whole.
To carry out the whole scheme, the Credit Foncier of Sinaloa was organized. Its plan was to lay out the "Pacific Colony" at "Pacific City", the City of Peace, on the shores of Topolobampo and Ohuira Bays. The plan drawn was from careful studies of the world's best improved cities and of the requirements of the new civilization to be developed.
Topolobampo was an experiment in community life, swamped by the number of untried colonists who massed themselves in an untried venture. Most accounts of Topolobampo described calamity and desolation, especially during the last years, but other accounts represented that colony life, even in that remote region and under its most trying conditions, still had some attractions and compensations. Lack of funding ultimately led to the colony's failure in 1896.
Name
The colony at Topolobampo was referred to as "Pacific Colony" in A. K. Owen's The Credit Foncier of Sinaloa: a social study (1885).
Geography The colony was located in "Pacific City" (later renamed Topolobampo) on Topolobampo bay (a part of the Gulf of California), and in the valley of the Fuerte River, in the western part of the state of Sinaloa, Mexico. It is about south of Guaymas on the same coast. The latitude of the place is about the same as that of Tampa Bay, Florida, the longitude that of eastern Utah.
The colony was set or back from the coast where the colonists could get some land to irrigate without much expense. Its area was equal to that of New York City, one third being devoted to public squares. The colony farm measured . The land at the bay is rocky and unfit for cultivation.
When more people came in, they formed another settlement on the coast at the harbor. Six members of the colony resided here.
History Planning and background While seeking a suitable terminus on the west coast of Mexico for a trans-continental line of railway, Owen learned that the Native Mexicans knew of a large inland bay of which the Americans had no knowledge. He resolved to solve this mystery. After many days' journey through a tropical wilderness with a single companion he found himself one September evening in a Native Mexican fisherman's camp in the rushes beside the water. In the morning, he discovered a deep and safe channel from this inland sea to the Gulf of California. He decided this would be the site for a great metropolitan city. On that water, then without a sail, ships would come from every nation.
His continued explorations disclosed all that he had hoped. The water he had seen was an inland bay connected by a deep strait, in width, with a basin, called in the Native Mexican tongue, Topolobampo ("Hidden Water"). It was surrounded by towering mountains of porphyry, whose peaks guarded its entrance from the gulf and from Ohuira Bay. The climate was excellent. A fertile plain, extending for , and lying well for irrigation, was at hand.
As Owen rode away he resolved that he "would never rest until Topolobampo became a 'household word' among commercial people: until the two republics of North America had utilized its advantages, and it had become a favorite place for the exchange of products and friendship between the peoples of the world." This was in 1872. The next fourteen years were spent by Owen in the elaboration of his plans, in enlisting the interest and co-operation of others, and in negotiations with the Mexican government.
The cooperative colony was organized to carry out the ideals set forth in A. K. Owen's 1885 book entitled Integral Co-operation.Owen, Albert Kimsey, Integral Cooperation: with an account of the proposed Pacific Colony and the credit foncier of Sinaloa. (New York : John W. Lovell Company, September 28, 1885 (Public domain)) There was wide circulation of the book as it pictured the future of cooperation, and the possibilities of this particular location in the State of Sinaloa, Mexico, with its natural deep water harbor on the Gulf of California, its valuable railroad concession from the government of Mexico, its fertile lands, a valuable option on , and sundry other attractive features.
Beginnings (1886) In 1886, Owen received a concession from the Government of Mexico of 300,000 acres of land and valuable privileges for his Colony, as well as 10,000,000 acres and other generous conditions for a railroad from Topolobampo to Texas, which was to be built in large part by the Colony.
In that same year, twenty-four pioneers left San Francisco to lay the foundations of the colony at Topolobampo. The enthusiasm and interest of the California members exceeded their good judgment. They organized a party, chartered a sailing vessel, and made their way to the colony site. It was an ideal location, but it was absolutely undeveloped and barren at the time. Their food supply soon ran short, and the radical change of climate together with contagion, soon caused sickness and death of a few members of this party.
To finance the huge project, the Credit Foncier of Sinaloa (trans. "credit based on our homes") was chartered under the laws of the state of Colorado in 1886. The company then had a membership roll of 5,000, and a subscribed capital of . The company which was to lay out Pacific City and make it a model of the world's best knowledge in city-building. One hundred thousand shares worth each were issued and sold throughout the world. A share constituted a membership. There were four kinds of investments-Credit Foncier stock, railroad bonds, script, and land certificates. The latter were to pay for the land held by the land-holding company.
To safeguard against such a rush of colonists as swamped Robert Owen's New Harmony experiment when he advertised "for the industrious and well-disposed of all nations," it was stipulated that should first be realized from the sale of stock, and that one hundred pioneers, selected for their ability, intelligence and character, should be sent to Topolobampo to organize the Colony and create suitable conditions for it.
From every state in the union, letters from intensely interested people flooded the New York office of Credit Foncier of Sinaloa and a conference was arranged for all who could be present. The option on the land was satisfactorily adjusted. A favorable letter from President Porfirio Díaz was at hand regarding the railroad concession, and propaganda in the way of a monthly paper was launched. Stock subscriptions soon came in to the amount of , and everything indicated an enthusiastic and early beginning of the colony. These were busy days at the colony headquarters in New York and at the branch office in Chicago.
No plans had yet been made at Headquarters for taking care of the colonists on their arrival. Exaggerated reports were soon broadcast by the newspapers glad of an opportunity to knock the so-called "Socialist colony" which it was not.
In October 1886, Owen went to Sinaloa to start the railroad survey and to arrange the necessary preliminaries for bringing out the first colonists. While he was engaged in this work, and cut off from communication with the outside world, some members of the board of directors, without his knowledge and against his wishes, precipitated 500 people upon him. The actual work was to commence when had been realized from sale of stock, and 100 pioneers carefully selected were to do the first work. But when this group arrived, only had been raised. The hundreds of people were unfit, many of them with families. They brought hardships and privations, and intensifyied all of the problems that similar Communities under the best of circumstances must meet. Two thirds of the newcomers were women and children. No provision had been made for them, and there was not even fresh drinking water immediately available. These people landed at Topolobampo on November 17, 1886. They appeared upon the scene, and with it, there was dire confusion.
It was finally arranged to send the first authorized party from Chicago. This party of approximately 25 people including some of the directors and the writer of the propaganda, went from Chicago by railway to Guaymas, and upon arrival at the colony set about creating order out of chaotic conditions. Other unorganized parties from other states continued to arrive at the colony in spite of the strenuous efforts at Headquarters to head them off.
In December 1886, camps were established at Vegaton (a town site of from Topolobamp, on the left bank of the Fuerte River), Sufragio ( from Los Mochis), and Cahuinahui ( north of Los Mochis), adjacent places in Sinaloa's Fuerte valley, with a part of the colonists remaining at the bay. At these camps, the colonists did some gardening and opened a machine shop. This land had been purchased without Owen's authority, and, owing to some flaw in the title, had to be given up after the colonists had resided there about eighteen months.
Growth (1887-1892)
In the autumn of 1887, the Credit Foncier of Sinaloa company purchased a farm at La Logia, about down the river from Vegaton and about the same distance from Topolobampo bay. There were about 150 people left at this time, and all but a few who remained at the bay moved to La Logia, which became the home of the colony thereafter. This farm of La Logia contained , half bottom land and half upland. Extensive improvements were made. The greater part of the land was cleared of its heavy growth of mesquite cactus and other trees and shrubs, and were planted with orange trees. Besides these, there were a large number of fig trees and grape vines, and in the nursery were many thousand more trees and vines of various kinds to be set out the coming year. There was a garden in which all varieties of vegetables grew well. At this point, the colony was now practically self-supporting. While as yet there were no luxuries to be obtained, there was no further danger of suffering from lack of sufficient food.
Owen, in 1888, said: "Those who have subscribed for the stock of the Credit Foncier of Sinaloa company, including their children, number over 5,200. In all 1,421 adults have paid in full or in part for 5,916 shares. These subscribers represent over 200 distinct crafts, and all can read and write." In that year, 132 persons remained in the colony of which 47 were married, 40 adults unmarried, and 45 were minors. Twenty-one of them were at Topolobampo, 72 at La Logia, 12 at El Sufragio, and 27 at Vegaton. They were occupied in agriculture and Alvin J. Wilber was at the head of the colony.
Between 1888 and 1891, colonists occasionally returned to the United States, while others came in and took their places, and the number remained about the same.
In November 1890, Christian B. Hoffman, State Senator of Kansas, wealthy miller, and an enthusiast in social reform movements,