Imperial County

History

SOURCE:  The History of Imperial County - Elms & Franks, Berkeley, 1918.

 

CHAPTER XXIX

THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF LOWER CALIFORNIA

By Hector Gonzalez
 
                   One can say that there have been two northern districts of Lower California - the old and the new. I call old the one centering about Ensenada along about 1890, and new the one whose center is Mexicali - that is, the present district. The period in which the old district reached its culmination coincided with the discovery and exploration of placer gold at El Alamo, or Santa Clara; and as this rich mineral reached the market through Ensenada, this place was the one that realized the greatest benefit from the gold which the earth so abundantly furnished.
                   Then Ensenada enjoyed its most brilliant epoch, and today it is still a beautiful town, surrounded by fine plantations of corn and beans. With the falling off of the exportation of gold came naturally the decadence of Ensenada, and this at the time when Mexicali and its surroundings, or the Mexican portion of Imperial Valley, began to show its first signs of prosperity.
                   The political events of the year 1914, which put Colonel Esteban Cantu at the head of the government, coincided with the downfall of Ensenada and the evident manifestation of the development of the Mexicali region. Perhaps the realization of this fact was what determined Colonel Cantu to establish the capital of the district at Mexicali. This was a wise move, because under his constant and intelligent watchfulness this section has been able to develop itself to as great a degree as might be expected - so much so that Mexicali is the storehouse (caja fuerte) of the district; the open strong-box that contains the means by which other regions, at present less productive or less wealthy, are able to weather their financial crises.
                   A mining country needs less of the initiative of human talent than an agricultural region. Ensenada was the capital of a mining region; Mexicali is the head of an architectural community. In the development of Mexicali more than at Ensenada has intervened the human element with its initiative and its genius. This element has been directed and encouraged by Colonel Cantu, the man to whom this section of Lower California owes most.
                   From the first the Colonel's policy of government has proceeded toward the development of the northern district of Lower California, and, as this district was almost nothing when he began to govern it, he is in reality its principal promoter.
                   This accomplishment may be divided into several parts; namely, (1) The development of the different regions of the district, principally of Mexicali; (2) Communication between the various regions; (3) Communication by all of these regions with the continental part of Mexico by an all-Mexican route. As can be seen at first glance, some points in this program are intimately related to others.
                    It would be impossible in a few paragraphs to give a complete resume of the political labors of Colonel Cantu, but in general terms we shall refer to his many activities.
                   Since, due to the general situation of the republic and to that produced by the diverse mining laws, mining must remain paralyzed, Colonel Cantu has given his attention to agriculture, providing every facility for opening new lands to cultivation. These facilities have served to the extent that cultivated lands that before 1914 were confined to those farms adjacent to the irrigation canals from the Colorado River now extend many miles from these canals.
                   The southern portion of the district at present open to irrigation includes the plain which Sr. Rene Grivel opened to cultivation by building new canals to meet its needs. In addition to giving every aid to the farmers already established, Colonel Cantu took steps to bring in new laborers and colonists to cultivate the virgin soil. He has given preference to Mexican colonists, many thousands of whom have arrived in the Mexican portion of Imperial Valley. The same assistance which has been given to the region about Mexicali has also been afforded Tia Juana, Ensenada, and Tecate, but with lesser results than in the first case. Due perhaps to the rosy prospects which the cultivation of cotton offers capital, enterprise and enthusiasm have gathered with more vigor around Mexicali than around any other place. As a result Mexicali has been peopled with more daring and enterprising men than the remainder of the district, but nevertheless all of the district has been benefited.
                   The Mexican government has also entered into the agricultural industry in its so-called "cavalry replenishing farms" (haciendas de remonta), of which there are many in the district, principally at Tecate, Ensenada, and Tia Juana. These farms are now two years old, and have nearly paid back to the government the cost of their establishment. The farmers are furnished with modern implements of agriculture. The principal object of the government is the establishment of model farms, where market vegetables can be cultivated, and where horses and mules for the army can be raised. These farms promise to be a great success, and in time it is hoped will be copied in all parts of Mexico. The prices of all products are subject to governmental control.
                   To the growth of the cities of the district Colonel Cantu has contributed an infinite amount of work. Among his labors we may mention the following: In Mexicali have been provided a condenser, a large school building costing $80,000, a park, a telegraph office, infantry barracks, a municipal hospital, a customhouse, a bridge over New River, street paving, besides numerous works of lesser importance; in Ensenada, troop headquarters, a wharf and asphalt pavements; in Tia Juana, infantry and cavalry barracks and water works. To facilitate the growth of the different regions of the district, Colonel Cantu has established four municipalities - Ensenada, Mexicali, Tecate, and Tia Juana. Formerly there was only one  - that of Ensenada. Colonel Cantu has established his official headquarters at Mexicali, where he spends the greater part of the year, and at intervals makes official visits to the other municipalities.
                   Communication between the various populated districts is made by means of the "Camino Nacional," which unites Mexicali, Tecate, Tia Juana, and Ensenada. Part of this road from Ensenada north, connecting with Tia Juana and Tecate, had already been constructed, but was found in bad condition and at places for long stretches had been abandoned for new routes. From Tecate to Mexicali all of the road is the work of Colonel Cantu's government. It lacks completion only for a distance of about a mile, where it was necessary to tunnel through solid rock, and dynamite for the operation could not be secured from the United States.
                   Mexicali, Tia Juana, Tecate and Ensenada have been joined by telephone and telegraph lines, which at this date have been in good working order for several months. At the present time there are to be completed telegraphic and telephone connections with the port of San Felipe, all to be in place probably in May of this year (1918). The communication from the district to the continental portion of Mexico by an all-Mexican route will be by way of the port of San Felipe, to which place there will be opened soon a railroad or automobile road, as the circumstances of the moment require. As has been already mentioned, the stretch from San Felipe on is about to be bridged by telephone and telegraph lines.
                  Since San Felipe is at the upper head of the Gulf of California, it will be possible to arrange an easy route to the ports of Sonora and Sinaloa and to the center of the republic without need of passing through the United States.
                   These results are in a large way the outcome of the government of Colonel Cantu. They are works of great importance for Lower California, and redound much to the honor of a young man who, without former experience of government, at the most trying times for the Mexican republic, was able to undertake them.

LIFE OF COLONEL ESTEBAN CANTU

 
                     Colonel Cantu was born in Linares, State of Nuevo Leon, on the 27th day of November, 1880, his parents being Don Juan Antones Cantu and Dona Francisca Jimenez de Cantu. He studied first in the government primary schools at Linares and by himself, bookkeeping and other subjects  not being given there. He afterwards moved to Morelia, Michoacan, where he entered private classes that prepared students to enter the military college at Chapultepec. He remained in Morelia until December, 1897.
                     In January, 1898, he satisfactorily passed the examination for entrance to the military school whose courses he followed during 1898 and 1899 and 1900, preparing himself in army tactics. At the end of this period he entered the army as lieutenant of the 12th regiment of cavalry at Monterey. He served in this organization during 1901, and at its close was commissioned as instructor of army reserves at Guadalupe and Calvo, Chihuahua, where he remained permanently until the end of 1902. From there he was removed to Huejincar, Jalisco, where the same duties were assigned him and at the end of 1903 he discontinued definitely field work as instructor of reserves. He was removed to Sonora at the end of 1903, to take part on the campaigns against the Yaquis, and he remained there until the end of 1906.

ARRIVAL AT MEXICALI; DIFFICULTIES

 
                     After acting in Sonora, Captain Cantu was located at various places in the Republic, serving in different military capacities, and was raised to the rank of major in 1911, when F. L. de la Barra was president and Francisco I. Madero, principal adviser of the government. At the end of May, 1911, by order of the secretary of war, he took command of a portion of the 17th regiment of infantry which, at that time, was commanded by Colonel Renaldo Diaz. The commander of the 17th regiment received  orders to send two companies to Mexicali to occupy the northern district of Lower California, where it was feared a secession movement would break out. These companies came to Lower California under command of Lieut. Colonel Fidencio Gonzales and Major Cantu, crossing American territory, and they entered Lower California at Mexicali the 26th day of June, 1911. The same day Lieut. Col. Gonzales left for Tia Juana and left Major Cantu as chief of the garrison of the town in command of 100 men.
                    Thereupon he encountered a difficult situation which required the aid of the elements on which he was counting and which was won only by his resolution and coolness. The principal land companies who had consessions from the central government organized a body of volunteers for the defense of their interests. This body was commanded by Rodolfo F. Gallegas and was composed of 300 effective soldiers, even though it appears to have less than 200. As soon as Lieutenant-Colonel Gonzales left for Tia Juana, Major Cantu took notice that the body of volunteers did not accept willingly the arrival of the troops and he thought that they intended to rise up against him on the night of the 21st, kill him and incite a secession movement as soon as this occurred. Major Cantu called Gallegas and had a conversation with him in which Gallegas assured him that he was a friend of the government and that the people would not be hostile toward Cantu and he placed himself at Cantu's orders.
                     Major Cantu then ordered him to concentrate the volunteers at his military headquarters which was in front of the Inter-California station at the south side and that there he would see them.
                     At the hour indicated, Major Cantu went to the headquarters, leaving his people prepared in their places under command of Captain Gabriel Rivera. On arriving there he found that the volunteers had not received orders to reassemble. He then ordered them to be called and they commenced to arrive, some armed and others without arms, for they had them hidden in different places in the small town. He spoke to the revolutionists a little while and he saw that there lived in them the spirit of rebellion, showing itself upon seeing themselves reunited; that the majority were not Mexicans but people of the frontier who have no fixed nationality.
                     He ordered them to lay down their arms and commanded his own men to be called, twenty of whom came under command of Captain Rivera himself. When the volunteers realized what was happening the troops were upon them and they did not make a movement. The major placed sentinels, manned a guard, and proceeded immediately to dismiss the volunteers save only a few more than twenty whom he incorporated with his people.

THE SPIRIT OF REBELLION CONTINUES

 
                     Those volunteers whom he incorporated into his troops of the 17th, carried to his ranks the idea of rebellion and began from then on to make in the barracks seditious propaganda.
                      Captain Gabriel Rivera, Manuel Campos and Sergeant Salvador Raminez were under Major Cantu. Then there was an Indian from Ixtlan who served as assistant to him and was called Jacinto Mora Nova. He was aware of the criminal intents of a great part of the troops. Whenever he went to the barracks he was received by hostile looks from the soldiers and the information which the assistant gave him was valuable.
                      The situation was difficult since he was isolated completely from Mexico and without hopes of receiving help from any part, for he was ignorant of the fact that men from the 8th and 25th infantry were coming to his aid. The information which the assistant gave him was that troops wished to rebel and kill him and that the leaders were in accord with the people of the American side, who were the ones that instigated them and were trying to incite a movement toward separation. At last one day he said to him that the plot had matured to such a point that during the night there would be an uprising and they would assassinate him. The signal would be given in Calexico by the discharging of a pistol. Finally he told him exactly the names of a sergeant, a corporal, and 20 soldiers who were the ones who would strike. This was taking place on the 8th of September, 1911.
                     Major Cantu took a list of all his men and marked on it the names of the conspirators, sending it to Captain Rivera with orders that he should direct all information and under arms to the command of the sergeant. The moment had arrived for great resolution. He decided to play all for all, to lose his life or save the situation.
                     Captain Rivera was astounded with the order which seemed to him unreasonable, but nevertheless he was a man of discipline and did what was told of him. Very soon the conspirators arrived at the lodging of the major which was the waiting room of the Inter-California railway, and at that time the only habitable place in Mexicali.
                     He placed them in a formation and spoke to them in the plain and eloquent simplicity of a true captain. He confronted them with the treason which they were about to commit against him and their country which had sent them to that desert, isolated from all communication, that they should commit a crime.
                     "Here you have me alone, unarmed," he said to them.
                     "Kill me. Here is your leader, assassinate him."
                     The troops remained stationary.
                      "You wish to betray your country. Very well, kill me and betray it if you are bad Mexicans."
                      Behind Major Cantu was a small, tricolor flag, a sacred symbol which seemed to tremble under emotion upon hearing that vibrating call. The faces began to blanch. Finally one of the conspirators spoke and said that he repented of his intentions.
                      Things were now in his favor,  the better thought prevails, the plot was crushed.
                      Colonel Cantu had been awake since 2 o'clock in the morning. The heat of the season, the watchfulness and the difficult situation had tried him. He said to the repentant conspirators:
                      "Now, I'm going to sleep and you are going to watch over me. You are going to care for your chief. If you still care to kill me you can do it while I am sleeping."
                     He manned the guard. He told one of the men that he should fix him a bed and then he retired. Upon waking the troops were watching. The hour indicated by the conspirators who were on foreign soil had passed. These had given the signal agreed upon but all had been useless upon the hearts, which he knew had spoken to them of honor, duty and patriotism. The young commander who had shown that in truth he was such, called the guard and took his leave as usual and sent the soldiers to their barracks. Those who went out enemies returned enthusiastic  friends of that real gentleman whose reputation began to grow. It spread from the barracks and flowed in all directions, forming an aura of sympathy and popular appreciation which later must make of him a governor.

FORCES ARRIVE FROM MEXICO

 
                     On the following day, that is, the 19th day of September, 1911, in which Major Cantu had saved the difficult situation which has just been related and without his foreknowledge or expectation, two hundred and fifty men arrived from Mexico from the 25th regiment of infantry under Colonel Francisco Vasquez.
                     The 25th regiment, which had furnished such good service to Colonel Cantu and which is now the state troops of the northern district, was at the beginning of 1911 on garrison duty in the territory of Quintaui Roo. When the trouble broke out in Lower California the central government called the regiment to the capital of the republic and after a brief rest sent it to Lower California. It set sail from the port of Manzanilla for Ensenada on December 25th, and made the trip over the mountains to Mexicali. At that time Colonel Vasquez was still commander of the 25th and the captain of the 2nd was the present Lieutenant-Colonel Hipolito Barranco, now commander-in-chief.
                     Almost at the same time that the 25th arrived in Mexicali came forces from the 8th regiment to Algodones, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Juan Vasquez, brother of Colonel Francisco Vasquez. Upon the arrival of the 25th, Colonel Vasquez was chief of the garrison at Mexicali, and as he left in October, Major Cantu again assumed the command. At that time there was organized a troop of cavalry under command of Major Cantu which, by order of the government, took the name of its leader and has ever since been called the "Esteban Cantu." Also this organization still serves in the northern district of Lower California.
                     At the end of 1912 Major Cantu received permission to make a trip to Monterey ti visit his family; but he did not make it, because he was called to Ensenada by the military commander, General Cordillo Escuadero, who advised him to pursue Tirso de la Tora, who was operating very close to Tecate. De la Tora had an encounter with the government troops near the ranch "To Topo," where his followers were scattered, he going into the United States.
                     From the end of 1912 until the middle of 1913 Major Cantu remained in Tecate as chief of the garrison and later was sent to Mexicali. While Lieutenant-Colonel Augustin Laguno was in command, Colonel Juan Lojero followed him in command.

COLONEL CANTU MILITARY COMMANDER

 
                     We now come to the month of August, 1914, the month that will be famous in the history of Mexico because in that month the routine of the old political life of the nation was changed definite, and it will be famous also for Lower California, because at the rebounding here of the sensational happenings of the capital of the republic, the life of the peninsula also suffered a radical change which coincided with the accession of Colonel Cantu to a prominent place in public affairs.
                     Being chief of the plaza of Mexicali, the said Colonel Lojero and Colonel Cantu, his subordinate officer, Lieutenant Jose Cantu, brother of the Colonel, came to Calexico. Lieutenant-Colonel Cantu brought to his brother the news that the revolution had triumphed completely, that Carbajal had gone from Mexico and that the federal regiment was to be disbanded in the city of Puebla, things that so far were not known. At a moment of noble frankness and comradeship, Colonel Cantu repeated to Lojero the conversation he had had with his brother, which was enough to frighten Lojero and without considering that Colonel Cantu was a perfect gentleman, believed him capable of deceiving him. Lojero was so frightened that he suggested to Vasquez the shooting of Colonel Cantu. This shooting did not take place because the persons charged with fulfilling the order refused, knowing the unimpeachable honor of the colonel.
                     Things were thus when Lieutenant-Colonel Fortunato Tenonio denounced General Francisco Vasquez at Ensenada. The imprisonment of this man and his brother, Juan, and the election of Municipal President David Tarate to be chief administrator by the town of Ensenada also took place.
                     Lojero passed from fear to terror and fled from Mexicali, leaving the garrison without a commander. There then followed a series of negotiations between some officials of the garrison at Mexicali and Colonel Cantu, who had succeeded in obtaining his retirement from the army, disgusted with the imprudence of Lojero.
                     Colonel Cantu was in Calexico and the officials called him to Mexicali. The colonel refused to come because he did not wish to be an active factor in the local disturbances, but when his fellow soldiers explained to him the difficult situation of the city and its garrison and explained that he was the only one who, by his prestige with the troops and the people was able to save the day, he resolved to put himself at the front of the troops as he did on the 29th of August, 1914.
                     With the imprisonment of Vasquez and the flight of Lojero the army officer of the highest rank remaining in the district was Colonel Cantu; the garrison recognized him at once as their commander, the colonel having, by virtue of the facts stated, arrived to be in military command and later the political situation was so established that tranquility reigned.
                     But the former prestige of the colonel and the excellent way in which he exercised command of the town which gave him fame in the district made him stand out as a brilliant figure, as Zarata never did, so that little by little he came to be in fact governor of the entire region. When the convention of Auguascalientas was organized it was believed there that from it would emanate the government of the unified nation and a representative was sent who was to see things in close quarters, to study the situation nationally from the center of the republic and to cement this district with the nation, for it was never Colonel Cantu's intention to raise a local flag.
                     Their representative, instead of carrying out his commission in the manner indicated, conferred with Jose Maria Maytorema, who was governor of Sonora, and in accord with him and brought with him as civil governor, one Baltazar Aviles.

THE ARRIVAL OF AVILES

 
                     Aviles established himself in Ensenada in September, 1914, while Colonel Cantu remained stationed in Mexicali, as military commander since the convention had not touched upon the matter of this appointment. Aviles began a series of abuses and persecutions which provoked a general discontent among the people and the troops of the garrisen. The people as well as the soldiers and a great part of the officials looked upon Colonel Cantu as the only man capable of saving that disastrous situation.
                     Aviles and Lieutenant-Colonel Arnulfo Cervantes, then commander of the 25th regiment, worked in perfect accord with Aviles. They separated themselves little  by little from the colonel, making silent war as well on those who sympathized with him, parties who were then in Ensenada: Barranco (then major) captain and later major, and Doctor Hipolito Jaurgin had great influence among the soldiers of the 25th. The conspirators plotted to rid themselves of the 25th battalian in order to deprive Colonel Cantu of elements of order to the extent that they resolved to send it to Guaymas. They embarked the troops on board the steamer Herrerias, on November 28, 1914. Commander Miranda was in charge of the ship and Cervantes embarked with the battalian. This was done without the knowledge of Colonel Cantu, who was the military commander. The Herrerias sailed to the south and upon crossing Magdalena Bay met up with an American merchant boat which stopped and signaled the Herrerias, that it should stop also. When the boats were alongside the American commander informed Miranda that the day before the gunboat Guerrero, headed northwest, had sailed from Mazatlan and that there it was said that the gunboat was going to take the Herrerias in tow and imprison all the troops. Cervantes, who was at that time merely a pirate and the victim of the designs of Aviles, said nothing, and Miranda, without consulting anyone, turned the ship about and returned to Ensenada, where it arrived at night on the 30th day of November.

END OF GOVERNMENT OF AVILES

 
                      When the Herrerias arrived at Ensenada its passengers learned the news that Miguel Santa Cruz was chief of the town at the head of an armed mob. Aviles, seeing that the situation was beyond his scope, had fled to Tia Juana, getting together all the money he could. Lieutenant-Colonel Cervantes left the ship and got into communications with Aviles. He sent an order to the ship that the battalian should be released and had Major Barranco arrested as well as Captain Escudero and Doctor Jauregin. Aviles also ordered the detention of Cervantes and again tried to escape from Ensenada to Tia Juana, being threatened by Santa Cruz, who asked him for money with which to pay off the troops.
                     Santa Cruz took the prisoners and with them followed the steps of Aviles and pretended that he intended to shoot them in Ensenada, Sauzal, Vallecitos, Cerro Colorado and Tia Juana, in the latter place at the international line in a place where still remains the stables of the Hippodrome and where his jurisdictions ceased because when they arrived at the city of Tia Juana, they found that Colonel Justina Mendiota had not entered into the plans of Aviles and had remained faithful to Colonel Cantu. It seems that Santa Cruz never intended to shoot the prisoners but to hold them as hostages to sever the good will of Colonel Cantu.
                     In the meantime in Ensenada, there being no leader to put himself at the head of the garrison, Lieutenant-Colonel Arnulfo San Germain, Judge Advocate, took "accidental" command, and at once took the side of Colonel Cantu.
                     Colonel Cantu then left with troops to put down the uprisings of Santa Cruz and Aviles. When he arrived at Tia Juana it was not necessary to fire a single shot because the majority of the revolutionists fled, or abandoned their arms and declared themselves for the party of order.
                     With the flight of Aviles and Santa Cruz terminated the misfortunes and misgovernment of the northern district of Lower California, for Colonel Cantu was invested by the people and soldiers with the office of civil leader and military commander  which he held until the time he was made governor.
                     With the foregoing words ends the recital of the culminating deeds of the military career of Colonel Cantu and explains his entrance into political life. If the deeds of the valiant soldier, worshipper of duty and patriotism are admirable, very admirable are also the deeds less strenuous but equally important of the statesman, organizer, lover of public weal, and enthusiast for throwing himself into every progressive enterprise.
                     The contents of this biography of Colonel Cantu deals with the lesser and earlier activities of this young military and political leader and explains with sufficient details the campaign of the colonel in Lower California and how, at first, he began to have an influence in the life of this region; how later he came to be the leader of its remarkable economic development.
                     At the same time nothing is said here of the administrative activities of Colonel Cantu, of those to which he fully dedicated himself as soon as peace was established and his government consolidated.

 

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta

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