Preservings 11 (1997) - Plett Foundation

A typical 4-seater buggy once common in the
Cuauhtemoc area. Pulled by spirited quarter horses,
these buggies filled the roads until two decades ago.
Today they are historical time-pieces and no longer
to be found in the Cuauhtemoc area. Courtesy of
Deutsch Mennonitische Rundschau, Nummer 17, Sept.
1997, page 9.
voting rights and closed down Mennonite newspapers
as a threat to national security. The constitutional
issue regarding the Christian private
schools of the Mennonites was litigated but a
fair hearing could hardly be expected under the
circumstances.
Mexico 1922.
Realizing this was a battle they could not
win, the Old Colony Mennonites—who by now
also had large settlements in the Hague and
Swift Current areas in Saskatchewan—elected
delegates to travel to Mexico where they were
granted a Privilegium. This document guaranteed
them the rights which the Manitoba government
had so heinously abrogated. To insure
that the same thing would not reoccur, the Bill
of Rights was approved by the Mexican Parliament.
The delegates purchased a tract of land
northwest of Chihuahua from the Zuloaga family
consisting of 600,000 acres. The Zuloagas
were so wealthy they had a magnificent miniature
cathedral on their Hacienda laid out on
the foothills of the eastern mountains overlooking
the Bustillos valley. As required by the purchase
agreement they built a railway line up to
the land purchased.
By 1922 6,000 Old Colonier and 1000
Sommerfelder (a branch of the Bergthaler denomination)
from Manitoba and
Saskatchewan—roughly a sixth of the total, decided
to leave Canada where they had pioneered
and prospered for half-a-century. It is well documented
that the exiles included some of
Canada’s finest and most progressive farmers.
Between 1922 and 1926 36 chartered trains
loaded with emigrants, household goods, livestock,
farm tractors, draft horses, Holstein cows
and steam engines left Manitoba and
Saskatchewan. The first Old Coloniers arrived
in San Antonio de los Arenales in March, 1922,
followed in August by the Sommerfelder. The
settlers detrained on a level plain traversed by
creek beds, framed on both sides by ranges of
the Sierra Madres, known locally as the ‘Tara
Humara’. Hitching horses and tractors to plows
they made the first tentative furrows, turning
over rich red soil.
The newly-built train siding became the
No. 11, December, 1997
modern city of Cuauhtemoc. With a population
of 116,000 it is now the third largest in the State
of Chihuahua. The growth was mainly articulated
by the adjacent Mennonite colonies.
The Old Coloniers from the Winkler area
settled in the “Manitoba Plan” immediately adjacent
to Cuauhtemoc and those from Swift Current,
Saskatchewan, settled to the north in the
“Swift Plan”. The two settlements were separated
by the “Grentz boach” (border mountain),
a stone behemoth projecting from the valley
floor. Another settlement was located further
south in Durango.
Modern Cuauhtemoc.
The original 7000 settlers have increased
to 65,000, half of whom live in 144 medievaltype
“Strassendorf” street villages spread out
over a 80 kilometre area northwest of
Cuauhtemoc. The others, often the poorer
people, have moved on to various newer settlements
across Mexico.
The majority of the 35,000 Mennonites in
Cuauhtemoc are farmers. Not far behind is a
thriving business sector made up of small repair
shops, factories and retail establishments.
The modern-day Mennonite settlement
stretches for 40 kms northwest of Cuauhtemoc
sprawling out for 5-10 miles along each side of
a recently-completed 4-lane highway all the way
to Rubio, a small Mexican town, and beyond
to Jagueyes and Santa Clara, 80 kms to the
north.
I last visited the State of Chihuahua and
Cuauhtemoc in 1985. Even casual observation
reveals incredible growth in the northern part
of the State. Factories line the freeway south
of Juares (El Paso) to Chihuahua City for 20
miles. Free trade has provided an employment
boom and money for modern infrastructure
which other North Americans have enjoyed for
several decades.
For example, the district of Jagueyes, settled
23
by 1200 Kleine Gemeinde from Steinbach and
Rosenort, Manitoba, in 1948, did not even have
decent gravel road access to markets in 1985.
In 1997 the colony has paved highway access
on 3 sides and there is talk of a major highway
to connect Juares with Cuauhtemoc which will
traverse the settlement within a few years.
Changes have also occured within the community.
The unique “top buggies” pulled by
spirited quarter horses are no more. Although
the conservative Old Coloniers long shunned
the automobile as a symbol of the evils of modern
society, the breeding of fine horses was
highly developed.
The steel-wheel tractors for which the Old
Coloniers were famous have long since been
replaced by air-conditioned John Deeres and
self-propelled corn harvesters.
Each side of the 4-lane highway north of
Cuauhtemoc for 20 miles is lined with prosperous-looking
repair shops, small factories and
spacious homes built of concrete slab with all
modern amenities, including a few satellite
dishes.
The signs of the burgeoning industrial
growth needed to provide work to an ever increasing
labour force are visible. 1292 Mennonites
are employed in factories, cheese production
and retail enterprises in the Manitoba and
Swift Colonies alone. Local wages are about
$90US per day. The minimum wage is $30US
per day. Mexican day-labourers earn about
$20US per day.
Since most firms are family run this does
not reveal the extent of local business operations.
The inventiveness of the Old Coloniers
for manufacturing, often equipping their small
factories with machines of their own design and
construction, is evident everywhere. Products
range from plastic PCB fertilizer containers to
gas stoves and all manner of agricultural implements.
“Electrisola” a modern factory which will
A view of the 75th anniversary grounds. In the foreground, Peter Enns Rempel, chairperson of the anniversary
committee. Rempel is a large-scale apple grower and merchant who has provided the leadership for many new
cultural activities in the Cuauhtemoc area including a historical society and credit union.