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Topolobampo Collection
MSS 0106
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Topolobampo Collection
Creator:
Owen, Albert Kimsey
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0106
Physical Description:
2.3 Linear feet
(4 archive boxes and 8 oversize folders)
Date (inclusive): 1872-1910
Abstract: The Topolobampo Collection contains Albert Kimsey Owen's business records and promotional materials related to the colony
and railroad enterprise established on Topolobampo Bay, Sinaloa, Mexico between 1872 and 1910. Materials include business
correspondence, writings by Owen, legal documents, descriptions of corporate entities, promotional materials, images of the
colony, maps, and plans of Pacific City. Prominent correspondents include C.B. Hoffman, John W. Lovell, J.H. Rice, and Arthur
E. Stilwell. Corporations represented in the collection include the Credit Foncier Company; the Texas, Topolobampo and Pacific
Railroad and Telegraph Company; the Mexican Western Railroad; and the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway Company. Materials
that describe day-to-day life in the colony are not represented in the collection.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Topolobampo Collection contains Albert K. Owen's business records related to the promotion and development of the land,
railroad and community at the bay of Topolobampo, Sinaloa, Mexico, between 1872 and 1910. It provides a unique example of
foreign capitalist development and colonization in late nineteenth-century Mexico. The collection contains correspondence,
writings, legal documents, notes, published articles, maps, and plans that document the origins of Topolobampo, the ideas
associated with the formation of the colony and highlight the ensuing legal and social problems that plagued the community.
Materials that describe day-to-day life in the colony are not represented in the collection.
Arranged in four series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE, 2) WRITINGS BY OWEN, 3) SUBJECT MATERIALS, and 4) MAPS AND PLANS.
Albert Kimsey Owen was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, on May 17, 1847. In 1863, Owen moved to Fort Craig, New Mexico, and
by 1870 he was working as a surveyor in Chester. In the spring of 1872, he was hired by William S. Rosecrans and William J.
Palmer to survey the west coast of Mexico for an extension of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad; it was then that he first
reconnoitered the bay of Topolobampo, Sinaloa, Mexico.
Owen immediately realized Topolobampo's commercial potential as a port for the mining regions of northern Mexico, as an outlet
for trade with Asia, and as the terminus of a railroad that would connect the eastern seaboard with a southern point on the
Pacific coast. After Palmer and Rosecrans failed to obtain a railroad concession, Owen surveyed and planned a town at Topolobampo
harbor and, in 1880, organized a corporation with a group of New England investors called the Texas, Topolobampo and Pacific
Railroad and Telegraph Company. In 1881, with the help of Porfirio Diaz, he obtained a concession to build the first section
of track, to establish a colony and to build a city surrounding the harbor.
Owen's vision for the colony reflected his notion of utopian socialism, which he called "Integral Co-operation," and as chairman
of the Credit Foncier Company, the corporate owner of colony lands, he was able to determine much of the character of the
community. Colonists were required to subscribe in writing to the tenets of the company, which espoused eliminating private
wealth and the use of money in favor of a system of credits for labor. Eight hours of sleep, eight hours of work and eight
hours of culture and entertainment were among the guidelines that attracted colonists. Moreover, colonists were assured that
they would build, operate and own the railroad, telegraphs, banks, water supply, and that they would share equal stakes in
all aspects of running the town. All members were seen as equals and had to share equally in working the land and building
the colony.
The first twenty-seven colonists arrived on November 10, 1886. Disorganized and without sufficient funding, the colony soon
moved thirty miles inland to farm more productive land; later, they also rented agricultural lands at La Logia. The inability
to secure a reliable source of water for agriculture and human consumption plagued colonists, and in 1891 colonists began
"Los Tastes Ditch" to divert water from the Fuerte River toward Topolobampo Bay. Eventually, silting and low river flows made
the canal unreliable. Colonists were also aided by Christian B. Hoffman, who created the Kansas-Sinaloa Investment Company
to raise capital.
In the early 1890s, many colonists favored individual land ownership rather than corporate ownership. This dispute divided
the community and eventually caused Owen, a supporter of corporate ownership, to leave the colony and abandon his faith in
the ideals of "Integral Co-operation." Subsequently, he engaged Joseph Hampl as his agent in Topolobampo. In 1900, Owen convinced
Arthur E. Stilwell and a group of Kansas City bankers to form the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway Company. Work began
in 1903, and the line to Topolobampo was in operation by 1909. The colony was abandoned by the turn of the century.
A selection of material from this collection has been digitized.
Digital copies of this material are intended to support research, teaching, and private study. This work may be used without
prior permission. The original manuscripts for this collection are held by Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
Topolobampo Collection, MSS 106. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
Acquired 1975.
Topolobampo Collection, 1836-1979. MSS-1002. Special Collections Research Center. Fresno State Library.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Railroads -- Mexico
Mexico -- History -- 1867-1910
Topolobampo (Mexico) -- History
Real estate development -- Mexico -- Topolobampo
Utopias -- Mexico -- Topolobampo
Utopias -- History -- 19th century
Utopian socialism
Railroads -- Mexico -- Maps
Texas, Topolobampo and Pacific Railroad and Telegraph Company
Stilwell, Arthur Edward, 1861-1928 -- Correspondence
Rice, J. H. -- Correspondence
Mexican Western Railroad Company
Lowell, John W. -- Correspondence
Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway Company
Hoffman, C. B. (Christian Balzac), 1851-1915 -- Correspondence
Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915
Credit Foncier Company
Owen, Albert Kimsey -- Archives