Hacienda San Miguel
Church
Aqueduct and Dam
Satevó
The Batopilas Mining Company
In
a turn of phrase more suitable for a travel brochure than a realistic
appraisal, a 1992 issue of National
Geographic Traveler attempted to evoke Batopilas with “Imagine Tahiti,
Treasure Island, hidden away in the bottom of the Grand Canyon...“ You’ll
be hard pressed to find anything obviously reminiscent of Tahiti or Treasure
island in Batopilas, although there’s probably more potential for adventure
here than anywhere in Tahiti or the Society Islands.
Perhaps it was the tropical fruit – mangoes, papayas, oranges,
bananas, avocados – growing here that infected the writer’s
imagination. Gold is mined in the
Batopilas area, but it’s mostly of the “green” variety, the cultivation
and trade of which is a source of local cash, though this doesn’t mean that
Batopilas is an unsafe place to visit as long as you stay aloof from the
trade. About half the population
of 1,150 is of Tarahumara descent.
The
first vehicle road to Batopilas was constructed only around 18 years ago, but
the town chronology goes back over 350 years.
Spanish adelantados (advance
guard) arrived in 1632 and found pure silver on the river banks.
Because river currents polished it to a smooth white finish, the
Spaniards called it plata nevada (“snowy silver”) and soon established a mine called
Mina Nevada and a town called San Pedro de Batopilas (the latter a corruption
of the Tarahumara description bachotigori,
meaning “near the river”). Native
silver masses weighing up to 200 kilos apiece weren’t unusual in the early
years. After the Spanish left,
Mexicans and Americans took over the mines and added many more, the biggest of
which were the turn-of-the-century holdings of Alexander Shepherd’s
Batopilas Mining Company.
Batopilas’s
historical legacy shows in the town’s late 19th-century architecture, but
the ambience is much sleepier than it must have been during the silver-mining
heyday. Mule trains with dubious
cargo from nearby villages put in for supplies, and a few prospectors still
pay with gold or silver nuggets from clandestine mines.
Horses are as common as cars or trucks, and the streets are cobbled in
flagstone. Travelers with
flexible schedules often find themselves lingering in Batopilas for longer
than originally planned in order to savor the history and atmosphere, and to
explore the many trails fanning out from the town.
The elevation of 462 meters (1,515 feet) is quickly left behind in
steep climbs toward the canyon rim.
A
carpenter next to Plaza Constitución at the south end of town makes custom
Tarahumara-style sandals – tire strips laminated with leather and tied
to the ankle with a long leather thong.
One
of the most important local festivals is the Fiesta de la Virgen de Carmen,
celebrating the town’s patron saint, on July 6th. Semana Santa is also big, though it’s mostly celebrated in
the Mexican style with only a few Tarahumara flourishes.
Hacienda
San Miguel
Alexander
Shepherd administered his silver empire from this site on the east side of the
Rio Batopilas, about a kilometer northeast of the town center.
His Hacienda San Miguel lies in brick ruins, among which are the
remains of an assay office, refectory, boardinghouse, corral and stables,
machine shop, iron foundry, ingot mill, and amalgamation sheds.
At one time an 800-meter aerial tram linked canyon slopes on both sides
of the river. Much of the current attraction is botanic and exploring the
ruins is a bit of a jungle walk. Several
large fig trees grow on the compound walls and the tallest building is
overgrown with a huge bougainvillea, while shorter trees and plants occupy the
remainder of the grounds. Someone
has reconstructed one of the property’s smaller buildings for use as a
living space.
You
must cross the bridge (originally built by Shepherd and company) at the north
entrance of town to reach the ruins. The
front gate to the hacienda is usually open during the day – ask in town
first to make sure. Top
Church
In the
middle of town is an older church with ore fragments studding the lower
interior walls – a telltale sign that it was built by miners.
Along one wall is a Christ-in-a-box used annually for Easter
processions, and in a niche on the opposite wall is a black saint, San Martin
de Torres.
Top
Aqueduct
and Dam
This
functioning stone marvel was built by Shepherd and company nearly a hundred
years ago to provide a constant water supply for the town and to generate
hydroelectric power. Batopilas
still relies on the structure for its main water supply (several ranchitos north of town irrigate their crops via the aqueduct) and
in 1988 hydroelectric capabilities were reinstalled. A walk north along the trail below the aqueduct leads to the
simple stone dam across the Rio Batopilas, a great spot for cooling off on a
hot day. Top
Satevó
One
of the premier local attractions is this impressive, triple-domed mission
church 6.5 km (four miles) south of Batopilas in the heart of Barranca de
Batopilas. It’s an easy
half-day roundtrip hike now that the road – part of the Camino Real –
has been graded. Along the way you’ll pass a quaint footbridge across the
river as well as impressive views of the church and canyon in the distance.
The
church is about 14 meters (48 feet) high from its base to the top of the
naves. A single bell tower
extending another four meters or so holds bells dated 1801, 1720, and 1630,
plus others on which the dates are obscured.
A long, shaky ladder inside the church leads to a coro
overlooking the interior, and another ladder – short and shaky –
leads into the bell tower. Climb
with extreme caution. Still in
use by the small Satevó community, the church features whitewashed walls
stained with berry juice to signify Christ’s blood.
Crypts beneath the flagstone floor reportedly hold the remains of
Jesuit padres. The church is
often locked on weekdays – you’ll have to ask someone at the nearby
general store to unlock it.
Top
A
few years ago an over-imaginative writer (Batopilas tends to get the pens
working overtime) dubbed the Satevó church the “Lost Cathedral,” but
evidence suggests the church was never a cathedral (which requires the
presence of an archbishop) and it was certainly never “lost” in the sense
that locals and visitors didn’t know of its existence – especially
since it’s on a branch of the Camino Real, Mexico’s most well-known
historical thoroughfare. The date
of construction is indeed a mystery, but architectural styles suggest it was
probably erected in the 17th century and may have been the original site of
San Pedro de Batopilas. Since
Jesuit records were often destroyed by the Franciscans when they took over
church administration in the 18th century, the exact dating of the church will
probably never be known – though if it had been a cathedral, not even
the jealous Franciscans could have kept this secret from present-day
historians.
The graded road to Satevó makes a hot and dusty
walk – if you plan to walk, best go in the morning before it heats up.
Traffic along the road to Satevó is almost nil, but you can hire a
truck to drop you off at the church for around US $5 if you prefer not to
walk both ways. Cold soft drinks are available at a small store near the
church. Top
THE
BATOPILAS MINING COMPANY
Since
1632 more than 300 mines, claims, and veins have been worked in the Batopilas
district, most of them were established at an elevation of 700-1,200 meters.
The Nuestra Señora del Pilar mine, founded around 1730, yielded 40,000
pesos a week for nearly 30 years. Mining
subsided immediately after the Spanish expulsion in 1820, but new mines were
started by Mexicans in 1842.
In
1861 American John Robinson bought an older property of two mines thought to
be worked out. Robinson was
completing a tunnel between the two mines when he came upon a blind vein that
came to be known as La Veta Grande or “Great Vein,” a major source of
native silver. Transportation of
the raw ore to Chihuahua for processing seemed prohibitively expensive,
however, and Robinson sold the so-called San Miguel Tunnel to Alexander Robey
Shepherd for US $600,000 in 1880.
Shepherd
had been the last governor of Washington, D.C. before the U.S. government
removed him from office (and banished the D.C. governorship altogether) in the
1870s for alleged corruption in public works. (The accusations were never
proven, and, due to Shepherd’s efforts to upgrade Washington’s public
works, the U.S. government canceled its plans to move the U.S. capital to St.
Louis.) Following the purchase of the tunnel, Shepherd moved to Batopilas with
his family and soon filed over 350 other claims in a 31-square-km area, with
total underground workings encompassing 120 km.
His holdings were consolidated as the Batopilas Mining Company, and
this town at the bottom of a deep canyon soon became one of the wealthiest
spots in Mexico.
Shepherd
wisely constructed his own amalgamating/refining facility and foundry at his
Hacienda San Miguel on the river, and between 1880 and 1906 approximately 20
million ounces of silver were extracted from the company mines.
At the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, silver ore from his mines took
first place in the competition with a solid silver mass weighing 172 kilograms
(380 pounds). Shepherd’s
company cast the processed silver into bars weighing 30 kilograms each, then
loaded them two per mule into monthly bullion trains that transported at least
50 and often 100-200 silver bars on the backs of 30-100 mules to the Banco
Minero in Chihuahua. Pancho Villa
once stole US $38,000 in silver bars from one of the company’s mule
trains, a deed that forever tainted Villa’s reputation among gringo miners.
Most
of the buildings standing in Batopilas today were constructed during the 1890s
heyday of the Batopilas Mining Company. At
the time, it took eight days to reach the town from Chihuahua – three
days by rail and five on muleback – but Shepherd and company managed to
ship in an incredible variety of cultural and technological accoutrements in
spite of the town’s remoteness. Hence
Batopilas became one of the first places in North America (the second in
Mexico) to have electricity. A
local “Ladies Society” also restored the old church and hosted concerts,
theater, dances, and even occasional operas.
By
the time Shepherd died in 1902, the town’s population had grown from 400 to
around 5,000 (it is now around 1000). The
hydroelectric facility he installed on the river was restored in 1988 and once
again powered the town until a new diesel generator was shipped in and
installed in 1999. His original
aqueduct still provides the local water supply.
Shepherd’s
sons ceased operations in 1920, by which time the lion’s share of the ore
had already been extracted. At
their peak, Shepherd’s mines were the wealthiest in the world, paying around
US $1 million in dividends per year.
Other miners made unsuccessful attempts to get the mines going again as
late as the 1940s.
Grant
Shepherd, one of Alexander Shepherds sons, has written The Silver Magnet (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1938), a detailed account
of the Shepherd mining business and town history.
Though a number of common Spanish words are strangely misspelled (e.g.,
chile and tequila), the book gives a good idea of what life in Batopilas must
have been like at the turn of the century.
Photos in the book show Batopilas hasn’t changed much – at
least physically – since 1895.
Top
From
Northern Mexico Handbook: Including the Copper Canyon, 2nd
edition, by Joe Cummings
(Chico, CA: Moon Publications, Inc, 1998), pp. 328-332.
Adapted and updated by S & S Tours on 12-2-02.
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