Chapter 7
Between Cultures:
Towns on the Line

After 1880, increased trade and the completion of the Sonoran railroad led to the founding of border towns such as Nogales, Sonora, and Nogales, Arizona. Prior to this period, no communities had existed along the Sonora-Arizona border. Cross-border relations did not develop along a linear plane, and face-to-face contact did not lead to acculturation and the emergence of a new border culture shared by all fronterizos (border residents). Rather, border society reflected an ongoing process of conflict, exchange, adaptation, and reinvention propelled by class, the character of economic exchange, the area's relation to the national economy, gender, and immigration. These factors influenced the nature and character of border relations and the development of common sets of practices between border towns.

Class interest appears critical to an understanding of early relations along the Sonora-Arizona border. Ambos Nogales, the American and Mexican communities, owed their existence to economic exchanges between both countries. Unlike their counterparts along the Rio Grande, and later in California, Arizona's settlements depended almost exclusively on trade or mining with Mexico for their survival.^[1] Mexican and American merchants established an early rapport, influencing relations between both towns. Economic interdependence forced a degree of accommodation not usually witnessed elsewhere along the United States-Mexican border.

Economic integration also established the framework for a broad exchange of social and cultural practices between American and Mexican border towns. To speak of a distinct border culture shared only by fronterizos remains problematic. Rather it would appear that direct exposure to Mexican and American culture expanded the cultural repertoire of fronterizos, permitting each to function in the world of the other. Americans incorporated Mexican customs yet still preserved their own traditions. Likewise, Mexicans adapted American practices while retaining their previous norms. Mexicans did not become Anglicized any more than Americans became fully Mexicanized. Rather than cultural stripping, this sharing produced a complex layering of culture.^[2]

The often-cited notion that people along the border forge their sense of identity only in relation to the other, to the American or the Mexican, does not fully capture the complex social layers found in border society. Here again questions of class, generation, immigration, and other issues complicate how individuals, or even a society, view themselves or their relation to others. In particular, class must be considered in an assessment of identity and border relations. Elites and the middle classes whose livelihood depended on economic exchange had a vested interest in promoting good relations. Economic interests on both sides shared a common vision and sought to impose their views on the local communities. In the early years, while the towns population remained small, they succeeded in implanting their perspectives. Other social groups, especially recent arrivals, did not see a direct benefit from close exchange and, at times, impaired elite plans. As populations increased on both sides of the border and interaction led to conflicts, officials of both nations sought ways to limit contact between Mexicans and Americans.

Rancho Los Nogales

Prior to the arrival of railroad workers, a patch of walnut trees along a small stream marked the site of the future Nogales. Acquired in 1841 by José Elías, the area known as Rancho Los Nogales straddled both sides of the future border. The property changed hands on several occasions, a portion being purchased in 1857 by Tomas Robinson and finally by José Camou of Hermosillo in 1871. The demarcation of the border in 1853 began the transformation of the once peaceful walnut groves. William Emory, a member of the United States Mexican bound-

ary commission, reported visiting "Los Nogales" sixty-nine miles south of Tucson to begin survey operations on the border. He described the area surrounding Los Nogales as "refreshing to the senses, . . . clothed with green verdure."^[3] After completing its mission, the United States-Mexican border commission erected a stone monument at the site of Los Nogales, officially demarcating the territory between both nations. With the American acquisition of Arizona, title to the land on the American side became mired in controversy.^[4]

To control the growing contraband trade, the Mexican federal government in August of 1880 declared Los Nogales an aduana. The first Mexican agent assigned to the site, Jacobo Andonaegui, operated the customshouse from a under a tattered tent.^[5] Not long after, Nogales began to draw the attention of Mexicans and Americans. On the Sonoran side, José Juan Vásquez opened a small store and a rustic posada (inn) for travelers.^[6] On the Arizona side, Jacob Isaacson established a shop, operated a post office, and tried to function as the de facto authority of the American camp. Even with the arrival of the customs station and the presence of Vásquez and Isaacson, the future of Los Nogales remained in doubt.^[7]

The initial railroad contract with the Mexican government called for a line to El Paso, not Nogales. As tracks moved north, the company convinced the federal government to abandon the Texas route and proceed directly to Arizona. In part the decision reflected the rapid pace of rail construction in Arizona by the Southern Pacific (from California) and by the Santa Fe (from New Mexico). Engineers still had not resolved a crossing point into the American territory, and no consensus existed as to where to lay the tracks. Originally the company proposed to run the line from Hermosillo toward Ures and then Bacuachi, following the course of the Sonora River. The area was home to powerful hacendados and included some of the state's most productive lands. Still, the valleys and steep mountainous terrain would dramatically increase the cost of construction. The Mexican engineer assigned to the project, Leopoldo Zamora, estimated that the Sonora River line would cost $850 thousand compared to $496 thousand for the flatter Magdalena route. Cost carried the day and assured the future of Nogales and the demise of communities along the Río Sonora, including the old state capital, Ures.

As railroad crews moved north and made their way through the Cocospera Canyon in the district of Magdalena, people began to trickle

into Nogales. Railroad workers and a few shrewd merchants constituted the first wave of residents. Even during this embryonic phase, differences between both settlements became apparent. One of the first permanent settlers of Nogales, Arizona, John T. Brickwood, recalled that buildings on the American side had been constructed from wood frame and on the Mexican side from adobe.^[8] Still most observers did not think the settlement had much of a future. In October 1882 the Mexican consul at Tucson reported to Mexico City that the encampment along the border had no importance whatsoever: it consisted mainly of railroad workers who established there a small outpost "which they will undoubtedly tear down as soon as the work is completed."^[9] Several American observers who visited the site echoed the consul's sentiments. Ripley Hitchock, a railroad engineer, described Nogales as "a dozen shacks and tents and as many mountains of empty beer bottles."^[10] Since male railroad workers constituted the core of the early population, the encampment had a considerable number of gambling saloons, dance halls, and brothels.^[11] A retrospective of the town done by El Monitor, a Nogales newspaper, claimed that the early camp had few redeeming qualities since workers squandered their earnings at two temples, one to Bacchus and the other to Venus.^[12]

October 25, 1882, the day anxiously awaited by both Sonorans and Arizonans, finally arrived. With great fanfare, the two rail lines met at Los Nogales thereby assuring the future of both towns. Agnes Morley, daughter of the American engineer in charge of the project, described the meeting of the rails.^[13] Mexican flags draped the engine of the Sonoran railroad as it approached Nogales, where American and Mexican women smashed bottles of champagne on the locomotive. Within two years, Nogales, Sonora, had a population of over one thousand residents and officials declared it a state municipality.^[14] To secure land for the Mexican town, the Sonoran government signed a formal contract with the Camou family. J. J. Vasquez became the Mexican town's first police comisario, a post he held for many years. Whereas towns throughout the interior of Sonora waited years to be declared a municipality, Nogales achieved this status in short order.

The federal government assured the future of Nogales by granting the northwest special trading status. Building on earlier policies initiated by Benito Juárez, Porfirio Díaz extended the Zona Libre to include the most important ports of entry in the Mexican north: Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo, Piedras Negras, Paso del Notre, and Nogales.^[15] In 1884

Díaz decreed that foreign goods stored and consumed by border cities would not be subject to taxation,^[16] and in November of that year, the federal government assigned new customs agents to take charge of the Nogales aduana.^[17] Despite American pressures, the Zona Libre eventually incorporated all of the northern border^[18]

Early Settlement Patterns

The population of Nogales, Sonora, did not resemble the stereotypical mining or frontier boom town. In its early phase, the number of immigrants seeking work remained small. While the growth of cattle, agriculture, and smelting served to entice laborers to El Paso-Ciudad Juárez, similar conditions did not exist around Nogales.^[19] Sonora's principal mining and refining operations lay inland at Minas Prietas, Nacozari, and Cananea. Economic activity in Nogales centered on trade and cattle, neither of which required large numbers of workers. The records of the largest ranches in the area, La Arizona and Santa Barbara, showed a stable number of laborers, mostly Yaqui Indians.^[20]

Nogales's earliest residents included a sizable number of aspiring merchants as well as former government officials seeking to take advantage of expanded ties with the United States. Many of these, like the Camou family, had already profited from trade with Arizona and moved to the border either to expand operations or to initiate new ventures. Because the town was at an altitude of over 4,000 feet and had a mild climate, many of Sonora's affluent families, some from as far away as Guaymas, built summer residences in Nogales. The border town became a favorite retreat for Sonorans trying to escape the hot July and August nights of Hermosillo and Guaymas. These merchants and their allies in the aspiring middle classes, took over the reins of this nascent community and charted the town's development. Nogales' relatively small population-by 1893, for example, it still only had about 4,000 inhabitants-facilitated their control of the border community.

Among Nogales' first influential settlers were Manuel Mascareñas, a hacendado and politico, Ignacio Bonillas, an engineer born in Tucson, and businessman Próspero Sandoval. Most of these individuals had been minor players in the interior. On the border, however, they acquired status as international traders or customs brokers, selling and ordering goods from the United States for Mexican clients and shepherding the goods through a maze of customs regulations instituted

by both countries. With its majestic marble pillars and bell tower, the Mexican customshouse in Nogales, Sonora, dominated the urban landscape, symbolizing the importance of commerce to the survival of border towns.

Manuel Mascareñas Porra appears typical of the Mexicans who established operations in Nogales. He arrived in Guaymas from Durango in 1873 and married Luisa Navarro, spending most of the decade of the 1870S in the port, where he dabbled in commerce and politics. He served several terms on the Guaymas city council. Subsequently, he moved to Hermosillo where he formed a partnership with Rafael Ruiz and opened a small retail business. Mascareñas continued to take part in politics, being elected several times to the Hermosillo town council. In 1883 he joined the land rush to the north and purchased the hacienda Santa Barbara which consisted of more than 15,000 hectares. By 1900, after acquiring adjacent lands, he had amassed more than 36,000 hectares.

At first Mascareñas focused his attention on cattle ranching, importing American Herefords to breed with Mexican cattle. In a few years he had one of the most productive and profitable cattle enterprises in the north, exporting large amounts of beef to the United States by rail. The ranch also produced wheat, corn, and other agricultural staples, which grew along the fertile bottom land adjacent to the Santa Cruz River. Together with the neighboring La Arizona ranch, owned by Guillermo Barnett, Santa Barbara supplied much of the agricultural products consumed by the two Nogales.^[21] It wasn't long before Manuel Mascareñas became involved in Nogales politics. By 1887 he had been elected municipal president of Nogales, later becoming the Mexican consul in Nogales, Arizona, and serving in that capacity until the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution.

Anglo-American inhabitants of Nogales, Arizona, had previous experience in trade and mining in California and Nevada. Settlers in Nogales included long-time miners in the southwest such as John T. Brickwood, John J. Noon, and George Christ, as well as recent immigrants from Europe such as Luis Proto. John Brickwood reflected the experiences of many of the first Anglo-Americans who settled at Nogales. Born in Illinois in 1849, he migrated first to California in 1869. After less than one year, he relocated to Prescott, Arizona, where he continued to work in mining. Attracted by the news of railroad construction in the southern portion of the state, he moved to Tucson

in 1879 and, in his words, became involved in the "saloon business." He arrived in Nogales in 1882, married a Mexican woman named Guadalupe Cañes, and had ten children with her. Beside a saloon and hotel on the border, he also acquired more than eighty acres of land along the Santa Cruz River which produced wheat and corn.^[22] He took an active role in politics and served as mayor of Nogales. Born in Greece in 1854, Luis Proto emigrated to California in 1878. After a stint in Tombstone, he relocated to Nogales, Arizona, where he opened a grocery store. As appeared to be the case with most American settlers, he acquired land in the Santa Cruz valley and also owned several mines in Sonora.^[23]

Ambos Nogales

On the United States and the Mexican sides, several different names surfaced for the new towns. The Mexicans settled on the name Nogales. In 1889 the Mexico City Club Democrático Romero Rubio attempted to have the city renamed Ciudad Dublán, after the Mexican finance minister Manuel Dublán. Ramón Corral, then governor, opposed the name change, and the state legislature never acted on the proposal.^[24] On the American side, the local postmaster, Isaac Isaacson, sought to name the town after himself. Isaactown, however, did not prove popular among early residents and the name quickly faded. Most early residents began referring to the American town as Line City, denoting its border status. Eventually, Americans also christened their town with the name Nogales. The change in name underscored the growing interrelationship between the towns.

From their inception, the two Nogales became links in the thriving copper mining and commercial trade between Sonora and Arizona. Economic activity in Sonora, principally in mining and agriculture, became the motor which sustained these communities. The limited mining and cattle ranching on the American side could not ensure the growth of the Arizona community. The number of stores in the Arizona town surpassed the demand of the local community and the Santa Cruz Valley. With most economic activity centered south of the border, merchants in the American town slowly grew dependent on their Mexican customers. Reliant on trade with Sonora, Americans in Nogales, Arizona, had a vested interest in promoting cordial relations between the two cities.

Economic and Social Cooperation

The pattern of stable relations is attributable in part to the lack of direct competition between American and Mexican business interests. Arizona merchants specialized in products not easily obtained in Mexico, such as mining equipment, agricultural implements, and a wide array of American consumer goods, and the large Mexican houses featured imported European products and luxury items made prohibitive in the United States by elevated import duties. In addition, Mexican businessmen also established small-scale textile operations, importing American fabrics and manufactured clothing which then, much to the chagrin of merchants outside the Zona Libre, reappeared as Mexican goods.^[25] Americans and Mexicans enjoyed the benefits of border commerce. Mexicans purchased many of their consumer goods on the American side, and Americans walked across to the Sonoran side to buy Parisian fashions at emporiums like "La Moda," owned by merchant José Camou. Mexican bakers, butchers, and grocers sold their products on the American side.^[26]

Saloons, dance halls, and other establishments of ill repute also proliferated in both towns. Initially, some of these businesses, such as Brickwood's Saloon, actually straddled the border; patrons could evade the laws of either country by simply moving from one side of the room to the other. By sitting astride the border, Brickwood's Saloon, known as the "Exchange," developed an ingenious method of circumventing the laws of both countries. For instance, if American customers wished to purchase imported cigars prohibited in the United States, they simply moved over to the Mexican side of the counter to make their purchases. First-time American visitors to Nogales were urged to "eat and sleep on the Arizona side and drink and smoke on the Mexican side. The purchasing power of the American two bits doubles on the Mexican side of the line."^[27] In the opinion of the American journalist, John Reed, "the inhabitants of the American town go across the line to get good things to eat, to gamble, to dance and to feel free; the Mexicans cross to the American side when somebody is after them."^[28]

The early American residents of Nogales, Arizona, recognized the importance of maintaining good relations with Mexico and its people. Unlike the history of conflict which marred border exchanges in Texas, the Americans of Nogales spoke of a growing interrelationship with the Mexican town. Local officials took pride in the fact that no physical barriers separated their towns. In describing their interdependence, the

Oasis, a Nogales, Arizona, newspaper, asserted that "we speak of the two towns,-as one, for they are really such, being divided by an imaginary line only; which passes along the center of the international strip, or more properly speaking street."^[29] A stone marker in the middle of Calle Camou on the Mexican side and International Street on the American side delineated the limits of both towns.^[30]

Out of practical necessity, business interests in Ambos Nogales learned to cooperate with each other. Retailers on both sides formulated agreements to regulate the hours that stores opened in order to avoid undue competition and "the mid-day heat."^[31] By closing during the noon hour, American businessmen incorporated a Mexican custom. American and Mexican merchants also freely accepted either the peso or the dollar in commercial transactions, a practice frowned upon elsewhere in Arizona.^[32] The merchants of Nogales, Arizona, directly competed with their Tucson counterparts for control of the Mexican trade. The absence of a direct rail line to Tucson until 1907 and the refusal of many merchants in the old presidio to accept the Mexican currency benefited Nogales merchants.^[33] As competition for Mexican business increased, the Nogales Monitor argued that Mexicans should shop where their currency is accepted and where merchants treated them with respect.^[34]

Border newspapers recognized the economic advantages of publishing bilingual editions. In 1885 John Ginn announced that his publication, the Nogales Frontier, had become the "leading paper of Southern Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora, being a bilingual journal published immediately on the border."^[35] Since Ginn had no competition, his claim went unchallenged. Not long after, in 1886, El Monitor, a Mexican publication also began to print an edition in both languages, proclaiming that it was the only Mexican "bilingual paper this side of the Rockies, with circulation in both the United States and Mexico."^[36] While not printed in Spanish, the enduring Oasis newspaper, published by Allan T. Bird, maintained a regular section entitled "Sonora Shifting," which reported the latest news from the Mexican state. Bird became a de facto publicist for Sonora. His Land of Nayarit, published by a local business group, and Sonora, Mexico, sponsored by the Sohoran railroad, promoted trade with Mexico and received wide distribution throughout the United States.^[37]

Spanish became as common on the American side as it was in Mexico. Delos Smith, the United States consul at Nogales, recognized the advantage of having Americans learn Spanish, arguing that it "would

secure to [Americans] the double advantage of business and pleasure."^[38] Our of necessity, American merchants and their employees learned Spanish. Most hired Mexican employees, while others went even a step further. Charles Bracker, scion of one the Arizonan town's merchant families, eventually began sending his children to Mexico City to the Colegio Franco-Español to learn Spanish. Upon graduation his offspring returned to work in stores which served the ever-growing Mexican community. ^{[ 39]}

Elite Consensus

Mexican and American civic leaders met regularly and exchanged views on matters involving their towns. Many, like A. L. Peck, George Marsh, Edward Titicomb, Anton Proto, Ignacio Bonillas, Manuel Mascareñas, and Prospero Sandoval, belonged to the same social clubs. The Nogales chapter of the Masons, Lodge 9 of the Free and Associated Masons, promoted the rapport between both towns. Arizona's "pioneer lodge," the Aztlán chapter, received its charter in 1886.^[40] Since no Masonic organization existed on the Sonoran side, the American group sought and obtained special permission to accept Mexicans as members of their lodge.^[41] Mexicans such as Manuel Mascareñas, Ignacio Bonilla, and others became officers, achieving the highest ranks of the organization.

The growing rapport between Ambos Nogales extended to the government of both cities. Town leaders sought to resolve local matters on a personal basis without involving officials from their respective governments. A letter from the leaders of the Masonic lodge of Nogales, Arizona, to Mascareñas, then president of the Nogales, Sonora, city council recognized "that petty international questions are almost unavoidably owing to our peculiar international situation. We believe that such questions, not affecting the dignity of either nation can best be settled among ourselves without involving our respective governments in vexatious international controversies."^[42] This collaboration included practical matters, such as commerce, defense, the law, and even personal favors among leading residents of both communities.

Mexicans and Americans developed separate social and political organizations yet openly cooperated with each other. Here again, the elites who led these organizations played an important role in assuring cooperation. In 1890 a group of leading Mexican citizens of Nogales, Sonora, founded the Sociedad de Artesanos de Hidalgo and the Club Filarmonico. Mascareñas served as the first president of the society.

On the Arizona side the men's athletic club, which was established in 1898, sponsored fencing exhibitions and weekend dances attended by Nogalenses from both sides. Affluent youth also formed the Nogales Yacht Club, and when the rain-swollen Santa Cruz River permitted, they tried to sail flat bottom boats to Tucson.^[43] The Nogales Arizona Women's Beneficence Club, and later the Woman's Auxiliary, brought together elite women from both sides of the border. Its leaders included Adelaida and María Camou, Luisa Mascareñas, and other prominent Mexican women.^[44] The Nogales Women's Club sponsored programs on the culture on both countries, including offerings on "Mexican music" and on "American Negro folk songs."^[45] Mexicans and Americans could be found at activities sponsored by any of the area's social clubs. When the women's club staged a fund-raising dance, the Estado de Sonora reported that the hall was filled with "bankers, merchants, government employees and the cream of the youth of ambos Nogales."^[46]

Over time, relations between Ambos Nogales extended beyond economic self-interest to include family and a lifestyle which drew strength from both sides of the border. Since the Mexican municipio lacked funds, many Sonoran children attended school on the American side. According to Ada Jones, an early school teacher, the first school in Nogales, Arizona, started by gathering all the Mexican children in the towns, whether they were citizens or not.^[47] Teachers in Nogales, Sonora, regularly crossed the border to work in private American schools that paid higher wages. The American consul at Nogales boasted that family relations straddled the border and most residents had relatives on both sides.^[48] Marriage among Mexicans and Americans also occurred frequently, especially among American and Mexican notables. By marrying the sister-in-law of Ramón Corral, Captain James L. Mix, a building contractor and mayor of Nogales, Arizona, acquired important political and economic connections.^[49]

As social interaction increased, American practices became familiar on the Mexican side, and Arizonans gradually adopted traditional Sonoran customs and diet. Americans regularly patronized public events held in Nogales, Sonora.^[50] During Christmas, Americans frequented dances and posadas held on the other side or "el otro lado."^[51] One Christmas, Nogalenses from Sonora actually raised funds to buy an American Christmas tree and had it shipped from Oregon. The fully decorated tree was displayed in the city's central plaza.^[52] Mexican festivities commemorating the Battle of Puebla and Mexican independence on September 16th usually drew large numbers of North Ameri

cans.^[53] Processions for the festivities invariably crossed the border as both towns joined in the celebration.^[54]

On occasion, the cities cooperated and staged joint events. Efforts to promote commerce and tourism fueled much of these early cultural exchanges. Beginning in 1895, Ambos Nogales sponsored a "Latin American" carnival. Promoters on the American side compared the border celebration to the New Orleans' Mardi Gras and launched a campaign to attract tourists from nearby states. Accordingly, they announced that "the fiesta will be remarkably successfully and will draw a large concourse of people from all parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Sonora."^[55] The sight of Americans and Mexicans dressed in costumes, riding on carros alegoricos and "throwing flour on each other" even attracted the attention of the New York Times, which described the event as "an international episode of the most commendable sort."^[56] The next year both towns once again sponsored the event, which this time culminated in a masquerade ball in Nogales, Arizona.^[57]

Festivities provided the opportunity for the beginning of a new political tradition, the meeting of American and Mexican presidents, as well as governors, on the border. The first such formal meeting between the governors of Sonora and Arizona occurred on the occasion of carnival in Nogales in February 1895. Sonora's governor, Rafael Izábal, accompanied by Ramón Corral and Arizona's governor, L. C. Hughes, and several military officers exchanged views on trade and commerce in Nogales. Hughes's final public comments summarized the character of the exchange between the governors: "I believe the time is coming . . . when this Western hemisphere will be a sisterhood of republics, will be bound together by international bands of steel reaching from Hudson Bay to the uttermost ends of Tierra de Fuego. Then will the destiny of the Western Hemisphere be fulfilled."^[58] One hundred years later, this view still dominates public discourse between border officials.

Border Law Enforcement

With no fences between Ambos Nogales, the enforcement of two sets of laws had the potential of complicating relations between both towns. American and Mexican officials regularly circumvented laws to apprehend prisoners without concern for formal legalities. In 1885 Mexican municipal authorities arrested J. J. Vásquez, the Nogales, Sonora, chief of police for having delivered an American, John DuBois, to the United States sheriff without formal extradition proceedings. Corral, the gov

ernor of Sonora, ordered him released, insisting that Vásquez served as his "personal extradition officer."^[59] In another case, Sheriff Roberts, of Nogales Arizona, crossed the line to break up a fight between two intoxicated Mexicans. Both spent the night in the American jail. The next morning Roberts turned them over to his Mexican counterparts.^[60] Despite local protest, police continued this informal cooperation.

Cross-border exchanges involved more than just criminals and attest to the level of accommodation which existed between authorities of both towns. In one instance, Sonoran officials, including the governor and the Mexican consul, conspired to transfer a mentally impaired individual from Guaymas, where no medical facilities existed, to Phoenix, where a new territorial mental hospital had just opened.^[61] The person was moved from Guaymas to Nogales on the night train "so that suspicion could be avoided." At the border, Mascareñas arranged an elaborate ruse with the Nogales, Arizona, constable James Speedy, a Chilean by birth, to sneak the man over and then have him arrested.^[62] Mascareñas informed Governor Corral that "the precautions which we took to bring him on Wednesday are because at night the Odd Fellows are sponsoring a dance to which all the police force belongs, thereby leaving the streets empty for this discreet effort."^[63] Although Speedy arrested the man, the scheme did not go as planned. The next day at the "arranged" court hearing, a visiting territorial officer, Sheriff Brochman, wanted proof of the detainee's nationality. His actions forced a local judge to release the imprisoned Mexican. Mascareñas quickly intervened and under orders from another judge, the authorities rearrested the man. In a touch of poetic justice, the presiding magistrate, a personal friend of Mascareñas, ordered the territorial sheriff who had derailed the plot to personally accompany the man to the asylum in Phoenix.

Not everyone in Mexico viewed the growing cooperation between Mexicans and Americans with approval. After the completion of the railroad, differences between Sonorans and officials in Mexico City surfaced. With the union of the Sonoran railroad with the AtchisonTopeka and Santa-Fe, local officials commissioned the construction of a depot at Nogales to be shared by both nations.^[64] Without a formal station, the depot and express offices had been operating out of a train car.^[65] In order to facilitate cargo and passenger inspections, Sonoran officials built the station atop the actual border, one half of the structure in Mexico and the other half in the United States. As usual, local authorities forwarded copies of the building's blueprints to the secre

taría de fomento for approval. Officials in Mexico City became outraged, and after consultations with President Díaz, the minister of development informed the governor that under no circumstance would the federal government approve "a common station for both countries."^[66] Sonoran officials won a temporary reprieve complaining that funds did not exist to build a new station. Eventually, however, the old station fell, and a new structure built "exclusively on Mexican territory" was approved.^[67] For merchants of Ambos Nogales, placing the station astride the border represented good business practices-questions of sovereignty did not intrude into their thinking. The Mexican federal government closely monitored developments along the border, and Sonoran officials gradually lost their previous autonomy.

Naco and Agua Prieta

By the 1890s the expansion of mining in Northeastern Sonora, principally at Cananea and Nacozari, led to the founding of other border towns, such as Naco and Agua Priera. American counterparts to these communities soon evolved. Opposite Naco, Sonora, appeared Naco, Arizona, and across from Agua Prieta sprang up Douglas, Arizona. As had been the case in Nogales, modifications in language and customs became readily apparent in these communities.^[68] After its initial settlement in 1899, Naco, Sonora, grew rapidly. Railroad workers and employees of the new aduana became its first settlers.^[69] The first census recorded a total of fifty-nine Mexican residents-fifty-one men and eight women. The numerical imbalance between men and women resembled that in other new northern settlements. Usually men settled first and families followed after the town's founding. The establishment of a new border settlement also lured foreigners including seven French and seven American men as well as three French women.^[70] Naco attracted established figures as well as young upstarts who hoped to duplicate the earlier success of Nogales. Wealthy merchants such as Leon Horvilleur and the Donnadieu brothers established operations in Naco. Both ran stores in Nogales-Horvilleur in partnership with the Camou family and the Donnadieus as a family business. The 1899 census also recorded the presence of a young Plutarco Elías Calles, who hoped, as did many residents, to improve his fortunes by settling in the new border town of Naco.^[71] Calles later became mayor of Agua Prieta, another nearby border town.

The first urban plan drawn up for Naco, Sonora, coincided with the

layout of Naco, Arizona. Blocks were mapped out identically on both sides of the border so as to give the towns a degree of continuity and "symmetry pleasing to the eye and providing greater access."^[72] Streets on the Mexican side corresponded with streets on the American side. In this manner, homes on the Mexican side faced north and on the American side faced south. On the Mexican side, behind the homes, back alleys ran east to west. By incorporating alleys, Mexicans adopted a typically American construction design to keep unsightly trash out of view. But with few public services, they soon became deposits of refuse, according to the district prefect.^[73]

Manuel Terra, the prefect of Arizpe, oversaw the initial development of Naco, Sonora. Beside alleys, homes in Naco represented the pattern of construction design along the border-half the homes were made of wood frame and half of the traditional Mexican adobe.^[74] The first settlers built their dwellings in conformity with this plan. Unlike Nogales, Naco and Agua Prieta had sources of employment across the border. American smelting and mining operations attracted people to the northeastern Sonoran border. As newcomers arrived, the initial urban scheme quickly broke down, and the police constable, the highest authority in the town, allowed immigrants to build homes as their means allowed. As property along the border acquired value, most border towns, including Naco and Agua Prieta, witnessed long, drawn-out conflicts over land ownership. The price of land, especially on the Mexican side, became prohibitive as Mexicans and Americans speculated with border property.

Allegedly concerned by the haphazard manner in which Naco developed, in 1899 the state government ordered engineer Ignacio Bonillas, a trusted ally, to draw up a reorganization plan for the settlement. This review of Naco appears to have been conducted at the behest of American interests who owned the land. In drawing up the urban plan, Bonillas ceded property to the municipal authorities for public buildings and a central plaza. Under instructions from the American company, he then planned to review property titles, expel those who had settled illegally, and sell the remaining lots to the many newcomers. The new plan also reduced the size of lots to accommodate the growing population. In reality, the American company simply wanted to profit from its property, which had increased in value since the settlement of the town.

The problem at Naco had many layers of complexity. More than sixty men and women sent a letter to the governor, pleading that their dwellings should not be adversely affected so that "newcomers could

take over from the people who had struggled in this place when times were difficult."^[75] Ironically; the complaints included the wealthiest merchants, such as Horvilleur, Donnadieu, and Sandoval, who feared that their business interests would be harmed by the changes Bonilla envisioned. They had other reasons for concern. In the early months of the town's founding, they claimed possession of upwards of five lots on the principal streets, hoping to speculate on future property values and expand their commercial operations as the town grew. Unable to own the land outright, they acquired the lots employing the age-old practice of presta nombres. Jacobo Mendoza, the local police constable, confirmed that several leading merchants obtained lots using other people's names.^[76]

Beside protection of their land holdings, another issue appeared foremost in the minds of merchants. They did not want a new urban plan to upset Naco, Sonora's symmetry with Naco, Arizona. Instead, they hoped that physical continuity between the towns would facilitate interaction and attract American customers to their stores. They feared that urban growth, especially giving land to poorer residents, who would build haphazardly, would upset their plans. The constable wrote Hermosillo for direction on how to proceed. The governor's office instructed Mendoza that the Americans "were within their rights and could proceed in the defense of their interest as they saw fit."^[77] Not satisfied with the response, the wealthy merchants continued to apply pressure on the state, blaming the local comisario for the town's problems. The state eventually drew up a new urban plan, but it did little to resolve the predicament faced by Naco. Residents continued to complain that a few influential individuals monopolized land and they could not obtain title to their lots.^[78]

Nearby Agua Prieta confronted similar problems, in this case inspired by Juan P. Camou, who sought to profit from the land he had purchased earlier. Camou won clear title to the property after the state government denied a claim by Plutarco Elías, Sr. After winning the case, the older Camou set about demarcating town lots and trying to sell them at inflated prices. Eventually, even members of his family took issue with his practices. They argued that the Camous should strive to control the commerce of the fifteen hundred residents, not monopolize the town's land. In one letter, Rafael Camou chastised his father, arguing that "with the prices you are charging not only are you not selling lots, but families are beginning to move to the other side."^[79] The elder Camou's plan to profit backfired. Facing outrageous prices in Agua

Prieta, Mexicans moved in larger numbers to Douglas, Arizona, where they could purchase lots from Americans for fifty pesos, paying in installments of five pesos a month. The avarice of Sonoran notables drove some Mexicans from their own country.

Cultural dilemmas also surfaced. During a visita (official inspection) in 1901, the new district prefect, Ramón Cárdenas, reported that in Naco no one used the metric system-lots for houses had been measured in feet, and merchants sold goods by the pound, not the kilo. The signs in stores, cantinas, and hotels were in English. Merchants charged for goods in oro (American dollars), not Mexican pesos.^[80] Fearing a loss of sovereignty, the prefect ordered that all lots be measured only in meters and that English signs were to be taken down, but few merchants paid attention to his orders. In Agua Prieta similar changes also transpired. Forty-five residents signed a petition in 1907 complaining that the town's principal avenues had become a haven for saloons, prostitutes, and opium smokers.^[81]

Physical Asymmetry

Gradually, urban conditions in border towns like Nogales became unequal. The American town slowly acquired advantages in many areas including school buildings, public administration, and municipal services such as lighting. For Sonorans, the American towns invariably became a point of comparison for their own conditions. Many could not understand why their community could not keep pace with changes on the other side. An editorial in the Estado de Sonora, a local publication, summarized the view held by many Mexicans and argued that Sonorans should be entitled to the same advantages enjoyed by the neighboring Arizona community.^[82] To keep in step with the Americans, they demanded that Nogales be assigned a judge of the first instance and that the local school be improved. When the city council of Nogales, Arizona, approved an ordinance for licensing dogs, the Mexican town, not wanting to be left behind, quickly passed a similar law. Since canines did not respect international borders, both cities eventually recognized the other's licensing system.^[83]

Clash of Cultures

Local notables could not always ensure harmonious relations between border towns, and at times, differences between Americans and

Mexicans erupted into open conflict. Although commonly described as "twin sisters," Ambos Nogales, according to the Arizona Graphic, a Phoenix magazine, still maintained different public identities, "one blonde and the other brunette."^[84] Shared locale or not, Nogales, Sonora, still represented the traditions of Mexico, and Nogales, Arizona, those of the United States. Border life involved a intricate balance of diverse cultures and interests. As the border attracted immigrants from the United States and Mexico, life along the line became increasingly complex. With no obstacles barring contact, conflicts between individuals frequently spilled over the border. Clashes ran the gamut, including those between estranged couples, common fistfights, and on occasion, even major international confrontations such as occurred during the Mexican Revolution. Local government officials-Mexican and American-repeatedly tried to negotiate amicable solutions to disputes between Sonorans and Arizonans. If not resolved quickly, personal clashes between Mexicans and Americans could escalate into international incidents.

One such case occurred when the commander of the Mexican federal garrison in Nogales, Colonel Francisco Arvizu, who was romantically involved with a Mexican woman living on the American side, dispatched a squad of men under Lieutenant Benjamín Gutiérrez to bring her to him.^[85] Once on the American side, the troops engaged in a shootout with the sheriff of Nogales, Arizona. Although the Mexican soldiers escaped with only light casualties, "excitement ran high on both sides and further trouble was anticipated."^[86] Town leaders tried to diffuse the crisis, but to no avail. In the middle of the night, Colonel Arvizu returned to the American side, commandeered the saloon, and "threw a glass of liquor into the face of a Mexican woman, claiming that she was too friendly with Americans."^[87] Authorities had hoped to contain the matter locally, but newspapers quickly reported the incident throughout the Southwest. Sensationalist headlines in West Coast newspapers proclaimed "Frontier Fight, one of the trespassers shot dead, the greasers threaten more trouble."^[88] A contingent of the United States cavalry from Fort Huachuca arrived, and tensions along the border heightened. To resolve the incident, President Porfirio Díaz dispatched the governor of Sonora, Luis Torres, to Nogales where he remained for nearly two months.^[89]

For many Sonorans, the Arvizu case exposed the duplicitous nature of the Sonoran government. In Nogales, Governor Torres, who in his words had sought to make Sonora "safe" for foreign investors, publicly

regretted "that a bunch of soldiers under a drunken commander should ruin in a moment, what has caused me years to accomplish."^[90] Torres came under intense attack for attempting to appease the Americans. El Eco de la Frontera, which supported the candidacy of José M. Maytorena in upcoming elections, attacked him for "groveling before the Americans."^[91] As criticism mounted of Torres' handling of the Nogales incident, the governor ordered a general crackdown on the opposition press in his state. In Guaymas the editors of El Sonorense, Alejandro Wallace, David Oviedo, and Miguel Campillo, were incarcerated. Likewise in Hermosillo, authorities apprehended the staff of El Pueblo, including J. M. Salido and Agustin Pesqueira. The arrests made the front page of the New York Times, which predicted that further reprisals could be anticipated.^[92] Publishing from the safety of Arizona, El Eco de la Frontera continued to criticize Torres, accusing him of embezzling government funds from the recent sale of several mines to Americans. Unlike many Sonorans, however, officials in Arizona looked positively upon Torres' intervention in the Arvizu matter. When he continued to be attacked by El Eco de la Frontera, Arizona officials obliged his request and suppressed circulation, declaring the Spanish-language publication to be libelous.^[93]

The Arvizu incident symbolized the asymmetrical relationship between Mexicans and Americans, and the case tapped into a deep-seated stream of popular resentment against the Americans. In referring to conflict between Mexicans and Americans, newspapers commonly made mention of Arvizu.^[94] Torres' handling of the Arvizu case made him a political liability in the upcoming elections. Díaz ordered him to remain in Nogales until tensions decreased throughout the state. Lorenzo Torres, (no relation), a military commander who had gained fame in fighting Apaches, became the government's candidate in 1887. After winning the election he requested a leave, and Corral assumed the governorship. Don Luis took an extended vacation to the United States.

Government troops eventually captured Arvizu and his men. Díaz instructed that under no circumstance should Arvizu be turned over to American authorities, indicating that "although he is a miserable man, he still is Mexican."^[95] Díaz ordered that his trial be held in the interior of Mexico, away from the border and the American press.^[96] A military tribunal eventually sentenced both men to die by firing squad. Merchants in Nogales, Arizona, recognized that the death of Arvizu might permanently sour relations between both towns. Already one attempt had been made to assassinate the American sheriff involved in the inci-

dent with Arvizu.^[97] To diffuse the conflict, a group of Nogales, Arizona, merchants approached Mascareñas and suggested sending a letter to Díaz asking that Arvizu's death sentence be commuted. Díaz eventually acquiesced, and both men spent their remaining years behind bars.

Conflict Demarcates the Border

As friction continued, Sonoran officials proposed various ideas to lessen the likelihood of direct contact between Americans and Mexicans. In the aftermath of the Arvizu fracas, Governor Torres proposed to President Díaz that the federal government establish a special zone of approximately 100 meters on the Mexican side to be designated a "neutral zone" between the two towns in order to prevent future confrontations.^[98] In addition, he suggested transferring the federal troops, who were seen as outsiders by the Nogales population, and having their duties assumed by local authorities. Rather than federal troops under the direction of Mexico City, Torres suggested an increase in municipal police who reported to local authorities.^[99] After a baseball game between American and Mexican teams at Naco degenerated into a brawl, Consul Mascareñas proposed the construction of a "steel fence between all neighboring border cities" in order to prevent potential conflicts.^[100] In addition to limiting conflict, Mascareñas believed that the fence would end "jurisdictional problems on the border, deter contraband and prevent cattle rustling."^[101] Other factors also motivated Mascareñas.

The Arvizu case and the Naco incident revealed the underlying tensions that existed between the border communities. Despite the perception of social harmony promoted by Mexican and American notables, not all residents of the area shared this experience. Border life consisted of many levels of interaction, and the reality confronted by common Mexicans and Americans did not correspond to the tranquil image projected by those in power. Disparities in treatment, racial prejudice, and diverse cultural experiences and attitudes toward life strained community relations. Elites recognized the potential for conflict. Business, governmental, and social institutions promoted the model of harmonious relations. But these institutions had limited power, and when they failed, officials took more drastic measures. Business interests relied on the perception of peace and stability and feared that unrestricted contact could degenerate into clashes. By using force, separating communities, constructing a fence, and regulating exchanges, elites hoped to

limit contact between Mexicans and Americans. At first President Díaz rejected any unilateral proposals that might be seen as ceding land to the Americans. Eventually, however, the federal government ordered all structures adjacent to the border removed.^[102] A few years later the Arizona settlement followed suit when the American president required a space of sixty feet to be cleared from the border.

In 1893 the residents of Nogales, Arizona, had reason to celebrate. In that year, federal judges accepted the position of the Nogales Protective Association and ruled against the Camous claim to the land of Nogales, Arizona. The magistrates' decision appeared to be a foregone conclusion. To rule in favor of the Camous would have devastated American interests. Much of the case presented to the courts rested on the work of Lieutenant Henry Ossian Flipper, the first black American to graduate from the West Point military academy. The government introduced the surveys drawn by Flipper and used him as their only witness.^[103] Flipper had opened a surveyor's office in Nogales in 1891 and operated a lucrative business surveying property in the United States and Mexico.^[104] He lived with Luisa Montajer, acquired knowledge of Mexican mining laws, and learned some Spanish.^[105] Other American blacks also settled in Nogales. Many Buffalo Soldiers (American blacks) stationed in the town during the Mexican Revolution married Mexican women and settled there. By 1917, according to Doris Mcguire, an early supervisor of the city's elementary schools, the American city established a segregated school for blacks, known as "Frank Reede . . . in honor of a local Black killed in World War I." It became known as the "colored school," since most of the students "were descendents of the soldiers stationed at Camp Little, many of whom had married Mexican women."^[106]

Institutional Relations

With the land dispute settled and the Arvizu case fading from memory, relations between Ambos Nogales resumed their previous course. Most early cooperation between both towns had been informal. When a handful of Yaquis who were associated with Teresita, a local spiritual leader also known as the Santa de Cabora, attacked the Sonoran aduana in 1896, Americans sent reinforcements to help their Mexican neighbors.^[107] By the early 1900s, with the rise of such organizations as the Nogales and Santa Cruz Board of Trade, the Nogales chamber of

commerce, and the Wonderland Association, relations between both towns became institutionalized. Trade associations took the lead in promoting a positive perception of the border throughout the United States. When in 1906, in the wake of strikes at the Cananea mine, the Los Angeles Examiner reported that a revolution in Mexico threatened United States companies, the Nogales and Santa Cruz Board of Trade fired off an angry telegram to the newspaper: No "revolution is on in Sonora and [reports] that two thousand men march on Mexican town [is] considered utterly false and without foundation. Such reports are very damaging to this section and we strongly condemn such action of the Examiner in publishing such article."^[108] Since negative perceptions of Sonora would prove damaging to American interests operating along the border, Arizona business groups came to the defense of Mexico.

The Mexican Revolution

Confrontations during the Mexican Revolution temporarily derailed the cooperation that existed between Ambos Nogales. However, Mexican and American leaders proved adept at negotiating the troubled waters of the revolution. With access to arms, Nogales inevitably became a target for both revolutionary and federal forces. Fighting on the Mexican side between the forces of Alvaro Obregón and Emilio Kosterlistky in 1913 and between Obregón and Pancho Villa in 1915 spilled over to the American side. Along International Street, people ran for cover as "bullets fell on the American side."^[109] Neither encounter directly involved Mexicans and Americans.

In response to these early conflicts, the United States government stationed troops along the border to ensure that fighting in Mexico did not "spill over." Hundreds of soldiers from Utah, Colorada, California, and other states arrived at Nogales, Arizona. In addition, the army stationed a contingent of the Buffalo Soldiers in Nogales, to serve as border sentries. Soldiers bivouacked outside the town at a site known as Camp Stephen Little, named after an American killed by a stray bullet during the 1915 border fight between Villa's and Obregón's forces. With the experiences of Veracruz still fresh in their memories, many American soldiers did not hold Mexicans in high esteem. One publication which circulated among the soldiers in Nogales, Arizona, summarized the earlier American invasions of Habana, Manila, and Veracruz, and declared,

Out there are the dam' Mexicanos
That sneered at the Red, White and Blue,
Here's ten thousand Yanks, that's asking no thanks
But are spoiling for something to do.^[110]

Local Nogales authorities, who for years had managed to orchestrate relations between both towns, became subordinate to the new military commanders. Arizona's adoption of strict prohibition laws in 1914 also increased confrontations.^[111] With no liquor available in Arizona, those who wanted to drink, especially American soldiers, regularly crossed the border into Mexico and patronized the numerous cantinas that had opened along the international strip. Whether induced by alcohol or not, conflict between American soldiers and Mexicans became common.

With no barrier between both towns, the U.S. Army began stationing soldiers every one hundred yards along International Street, thereby ending random traffic between both communities. Border crossing became formalized and could only take place next to the railroad station, where Americans had established a new immigration checkpoint. The Mexicans followed suit and also established a border-guard station, and restrictive immigration policies soon went into effect. Mexicans who worked in the United States and lived in Sonora could only cross the border twice a day.^[112] Other Mexicans would only be allowed access to the Arizona side once a week. For a community long accustomed to free movement across the border, these restrictions proved difficult to accept. Mexicans complained of the treatment they now received from the new military border guards who did not speak Spanish. A report prepared by Brigadier General D.C. Cabell affirmed the Mexican charges, indicating that "Mexicans are peculiarly sensitive to rude treatment and bitterly resent the loud, contemptuous and sometimes profane language of American customs guards."^[113] The Mexican consul at Nogales, Arizona, José Garza Zertuche, echoed these complaints, insisting that soldiers regularly ridiculed Mexicans unacquainted with the forms required to cross the border.^[114]

By the summer of 1918, clashes between border guards had already left two Mexicans soldiers dead.^[115] For civilians the new restrictions also produced tragic results. Several Mexicans who continued to use the old Bonillas Bridge to cross over the border had been killed by American border guards. In one particular case, Gerardo Pesqueira, a deafmute who did not obey a command not to cross over the bridge, had

also been shot and killed by American soldiers.^[116] The death of Pesqueira, son of ex-governor Ignacio Pesqueira, sent shock waves through the Mexican border community. As border incidents became common, anti-American sentiment increased on the Mexican side.

On August 28, 1918, months of frustration exploded into open conflict. An altercation involving a certain Severiano Gil precipitated a fire fight between American and Mexican guards and brought both towns to the edge of war. In English, American guards demanded that Gil stop and submit to a search before he crossed the border into Mexico. The Mexican guards who witnessed the event urged him to continue. When an American soldier drew his pistol and pointed at Gil, the Mexican guards opened fire. After Mexican and U.S. border guards exchanged gunfire, American military troops joined the fracas and crossed over into Mexico.

The regular Mexican army stationed in Nogales under Captain Adalberto Abasolo refused to participate in the clash. With resentment already running high, Mexican civilians took up the fight against the Americans. One group captured the American consul and held him hostage. Amidst the chaos, Mexican snipers took aim at American businesses in Arizona. Bullets riddied most homes in the vicinity of the border, including the house of General Obregón. His wife and daughters, inside the house at the time, sought shelter with American friends.^[117] The Battle of Nogales, as it later came to be known, lasted until 5:45 p.m., when military officials on both sides agreed to a conference. The officers agreed to a cease-fire, and the American troops returned to the Arizona side. In the conflict many Mexicans and Americans died, including the municipal president of Nogales, Felix Peñalosa, and the American captain of the 10th Cavalry, J. D. Hungerford. The cease fire did not hold, and throughout much of the night Mexicans continued firing on the American community. Venustiano Carranza, the Constitutionalist president of Mexico, dispatched Plutarco Elías Calles, then governor and military commander of Sonora, to Nogales. The United States ordered General C. Cabell stationed at Douglas to the border.

On the afternoon of the twenty-ninth, Calles and Cabell conferred and tried to resolve the issue amicably. After several meetings in which both expressed regret over the course of events, Calles convinced Cabell that the entire incident had been the work of German spies and several disgruntled Mexicans who had since fled the area. Privately, however, American military communiqués continued to insist that Mexican border officials were responsible for the clash. One American intelligence

officer blamed Zerabia Aguirre, a customs agent who had been involved in a similar border clash at Ciudad Juárez and El Paso.^[118] Mexicans insisted the affair resulted from months of ill treatment on the part of Americans.^[119] The American consul in Nogales refused to acknowledge the pattern of abuse, focusing instead on the immediate border clash.^[120] Officially, however, both countries circulated the account of German spies, and slowly the hostilities ebbed. To ensure the peace, Calles declared martial law over the Mexican community and ordered all weapons held by civilians confiscated. To prevent future altercations, General Cabbel recommended that a permanent fence be built to separate both towns. The Mexicans built a monument to honor their dead; American soldiers received "Mexican service badges" for their involvement in the incident.^[121] The most lasting legacy of this episode became the construction of a permanent fence separating both communities.

Normalcy

After the clashes of the revolution, local business groups did everything in their power to resume normal relations between both towns. For business interests in Ambos Nogales, there was simply too much at stake to let the conflict escalate. Heading south from Guaymas, the SudPacifico railroad had reached Mazatlán by 1912, opening up the fertile agricultural valleys of Sonora and Sinaloa. In addition to agriculture, leaders of Ambos Nogales also saw opportunities to expand tourism, still a nascent industry on the west coast of Mexico.^[122] As the SudPacifico railroad extended south, Nogales promoted itself as the "key" city to the entire west coast of Mexico. Sonoran interests hoping to capitalize on the increased trade shared their counterpart's view. By the early 1900s, most important business concerns in Sonora had established outlets in Nogales. The Nogales, Sonora, chamber of commerce, founded in 1918, actively cooperated with their colleagues on the American side to improve relations. Alvaro Obregón, who had established an office in Nogales to promote the sale of his garbanzos to the United States, became the Mexican chamber's first president.^[123] The chamber publication summarized the consensus between leaders of both towns insisting that "at no other port on the Mexican border is there that happy relationship of cooperation and good will as exist between Nogales Arizona and Nogales, Sonora. This had been brought about through the influence of the Nogales, Arizona Chamber of Commerce, an organization of business men which first of all respects the

viewpoints of Mexicans. This is good business and fair dealing."^[124] The chamber spent thousands of dollars to place advertisements in magazines such as National Geographic, Forbes, Colliers, and the National Business Journal .^[125] In letters to business groups throughout the country, chamber members regularly championed the benefits of Nogales, highlighting access to cheap labor and the burgeoning markets of the west coast of Mexico. The chamber of commerce maintained an immigration and international committee to promote better relations with Sonora and the fair treatment of Mexicans in the United States. The chamber's various committees actively lobbied in Washington against all legislation which placed a quota on Mexican immigration. They maintained a watchdog committee to oversee the treatment that Mexicans received from American immigration officers, and they pressured United States officials to allocate funds so that the border could remain open twenty-four hours a day. To encourage trade the chamber regularly dispatched delegations to surrounding Mexican towns, such as Cananea, Magdalena, Altar, and Santa Ana, inviting Mexican officials to visit the border.^[126]

With the support of both Obregón and Calles, the chambers of commerce of Ambos Nogales sponsored joint railroad excursions of Sonora and Sinaloa in order to "develop a deeper spirit of mutual trust, comprehension and friendship between merchants and businessmen of Mexico and the United States."^[127] This was not a new practice-on several previous occasions the Porfirian government had sponsored railroad excursions throughout the state by American businessmen.^[128] As a declared presidential candidate, Obregón sought to normalize relations with the United States. His previous contact with the Nogales, Arizona, chamber of commerce proved useful. Sonoran business interests supported Obregón's attempt at rapprochement with American interests, especially since many had retreated after the revolution. They hoped to show American investors that Mexico had achieved peace and stability. Calles, as governor of Sonora, ordered local officials along the route to cooperate fully with the chamber's excursions. The American excursionists, from Nogales, Tucson, and Phoenix, stopped at all the major towns along the Pacific coast, where local officials staged sumptuous celebrations.^[129]

When Obregón became president of Mexico, the Nogales and Tucson chambers of commerce sent a special delegation to Mexico City to attend his inauguration. To show his gratitude, Obregón presented the chamber a huge Mexican serape with an embroidered portrait of

George Washington. The policies pursued by elites of Ambos Nogales yielded positive results. By 1920, agricultural exports from Sinaloa and Sonora had reached significant proportions. City leaders boasted that Nogales had become the largest port of entry on the "Mexican border exceeded only in import business with Mexico by New York."^[130] At the root of this success continued to be the economic interdependence which fueled the existence of both towns. Isolated from the rest of the state, Nogales, Arizona, needed trade with Mexico. Economic ties with its southern neighbor remained Nogales's principal asset. Unlike other border towns, where asymmetrical relations became pronounced, in the case of "Ambos Nogales" a climate of cooperation endured throughout the first half of the twentieth century.