This brief overview of the economic development of the Galeana district of northwest Chihuahua in the 30 years before the revolution is a limited, but worthwhile, contribution to the considerable literature recently emerging on regional Mexico during the Porfiriato. The author emphasizes the centrality of foreign investment and settlement and the coming of railroad systems to the previously marginal area. The work’s dimensions and implications are circumscribed, however, by its heavy reliance on published materials and official state periodicals as sources. Thus, Lloyd cannot speak extensively about the local social impact of this sudden growth nor about the various business ventures which appeared as a consequence of it.
The late nineteenth-century peopling of the region resulted from migration from nearby settlements and from an officially sanctioned Mormon colonization endeavor. The Terrazas and other notable families invested heavily there, utilizing the railroad to ship livestock to the United States. Sharper social bifurcation replaced the paternalism which had earlier characterized the area. Seemingly, however, the new elite did not displace the self-sufficient farmers who had long dwelt scattered throughout the district. The latter remained locally oriented, not attempting to compete against the new enterprises. Nonetheless, they benefited through working on estates and by serving as transporters and storekeepers. Higher wages and diversification of employment improved the living conditions of the lower classes.
The depression of 1907-1909 is depicted as a major impetus toward the revolution. Unemployment became widespread as different parts of the economy shrank simultaneously. Nationalism and hostility toward the elite increased as foreigners and the wealthy weathered the economic setback better than other groups did. Both the middle and lower classes turned to political movements against the established regime. Finally, attacks on foreigners became so rampant that the Mormons abandoned their colonies in 1913.
