THE HISTORY OF SAN FELIPE, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO

CHAPTER X: PERMANENT SETTLEMENT

The first permanent residents arrived at San Felipe during the period 1910 to 1915. Northern Baja California offered them the Mexicali Valley's rich soil for agriculture in addition to the gulf's fish resources. During this time towns and villages of permanent residences took form, and the village of San Felipe was established.

I. BEGINNINGS OF THE TOTUAVA FISHERY

San Felipe first attracted fishing folk from Guaymas. The totuava was held in high esteem by the fishermen of Guaymas. Chinese residents of that Mexican mainland port discovered that the sound or swim-bladder of the fish was of unusual character, and not dissimilar to that of fishes in the Orient, which, when properly dressed and dried, sold for astonishing prices. [George Roger Chute, "The Totuava Fishery of the Gulf of California," California Fish and Game XIV (October, 1928), p. 276.] The product secured from the swim-bladder is called "buche" and is made simply by removing the bladder and as much of the peritoneum as possible and drying it in the sun. Sometimes as much as three pounds of this dried material is secured from one fish. Today's market for "buche" is not as large as it was fifty years ago, but the $1.50 to $2.00 price per pound still remains the same. The Chinese consider it a great delicacy, and use it in chop suey and other dishes. [Craig, loc. cit.] [Chute, op. cit., p. 277.]

The people of China took so well to the new product that a regular sound-drying business arose in Guaymas at the turn of the century. Many Mexicans, induced by the high prices offered for sounds of "buche", set to sea in dug-out canoes in quest of the fish. Eventually, so many of the totuava were caught that to capture more became exceedingly difficult. A group of former German seamen also were attracted to the Guaymas fishery. When local scarcity reduced their revenue, these eager men went sailing into virgin waters to discover the "buche"-yielding fish where it might be plentiful. These Germans found rich fishing grounds far to the north on the opposite side of the gulf, fifty miles from the mouth of the Rio Colorado.

II. SETTLEMENT AT SAN FELIPE

At the foot of a high rock headland, in the curve of San Felipe Bay, the German fishermen built shelters of desert brush and adobe. They found fresh water available and commenced work. This settlement, about one-quarter of a mile north of the present-day site of San Felipe was called Campo Uno (plate 9).

Plate 9. Site of Campo Uno at the Base of San Felipe Point.

Fishing was rich and the venture highly productive. The Germans sailed back to Guaymas with canoes loaded with bales of "buche". The spectacle of their splendid success so emboldened the natives that each year thereafter increasing numbers of them followed the pioneers across the gulf to San Felipe. Only men went the first season but during the second, wives and children were brought; in this way the village grew. San Felipe grew from an original five Germans to many hundreds of Indians and Mexicans. [Ibid.]

Analysis of recent photos of Camp Uno reveals five or six remnants of the original shelters. Some of the adobe walls have been weathered to ground level, leaving only a square discolored pattern visible in the soil (plates 1-13). Water was piped from the lowland area behind the beach ridge at the present site of the village today. [Statement by Jose Hernandez Limon, personal interview.] The Campo Uno site at the base of Point San Felipe offered the settlers good protection from northerly winds. Affording further protection, was a small inlet which fronted the site within the larger bay of San Felipe.

Plate 10. An Old Spanish-built Wall at Campo Uno.

Plate 11. Rubble at the Site from Adobe Walls that once stood at the first Camp.

Plate 12. Further Evidence of Dwellings at Campo Uno.

Plate 13. Ruins on the Beach.

Soon Camp Uno could no longer support the sudden arrival of great numbers of people who flocked from Guaymas. The settlement expanded southward to encompass the present-day site of San Felipe adjacent to the small tidal estuary. Shelters were made of desert bush, adobe, and tents. The number of shelters gave San Felipe its first semblance of permanent settlement.

III. FISHING AT THE SETTLEMENT

The equipment used in catching the totuava was small. In 1927 the largest boat in the fleet was a sailboat about thirty-eight feet long, with a small auxiliary gasoline engine. The smallest boat was a flat-bottomed skiff which could accommodate two fishermen (plate 14). Between these two extremes were round and flat-bottomed row boats, very small launches propelled by small gasoline engines, and Indian canoes or skiffs were commonly used. The skiffs were made from huge longs hollowed out by the Indians on the mainland. They averaged from twenty to twenty-five feet long, and were about two feet in diameter. These canoes were equipped not only with sails, but three or four fishermen, each of whom worked a paddle. [Wiley V. Ambrose, "New Game Fish Lures Sportsment to Gulf," Touring Topics, XIX (January, 1927), p. 39.]

Plate 14. An Original Log-hewn Fishing Vessel.

The tackle used by the fishermen was a line composed of quarter inch rope with heavy wire leaders and on the end was a hook about seven inches long. They used a fish called Corvina as bait. Corvina resembles sea trout, being about twenty inches long and weighing up to four pounds. When the large hook was baited with one of the Corvina, the line was carried to the bottom with heavy sinkers, and the fisherman waited for results.

During a day's catch, some of the boats would take as many as six or eight of these fish. That was all that could be carried in boats of that size. Each fish would bring one to two dollars worth of "buche". The carcass of the fish was left to rot. Only the swim bladders or sounds were saved, these being cleaned with exact care and dried in the intense heat of the desert sun.

IV. AMERICAN BUYERS

It is impossible to calculate the tons of fish these people wasted securing only the swim bladder. News of the presence of the fishing camp and the waste of fish reached the border town of Calexico. In 1924 two wholesalers from the United States struck south in their Model T trucks to investigate San Felipe and the story of the large fish. They finally arrived after two and a half days of hard traveling over the sand dunes and salt flats of the Colorado desert. [Statements by J. J. Camillo and Harry Orfanos, personal interview.] The wholesalers, recognizing the possible value of the totuava in United States markets, bought some of the fish at five cents apiece from the eager Mexicans. In the United States the excellent eating fish sold well, encouraging the wholesalers to continue the business. Soon afterwards other fish buyers came to San Felipe and engaged in the business of buying and selling totuava. By 1927, San Felipe had become a well-known fishing port to fish wholesalers in the United States. By this time the Mexican fishermen were selling the totuava at four cents a pound, thereby realizing a good profit from their fish catch.

In 1927 there were fifteen trucks hauling totuava from the small gulf port to the United States border. Short traveling time with a full load of totuava was important to prevent spoilage. Within a short period of time the fish buyers were able to negotiate the trip to Mexicali with a full load of fish in ten to twelve hours. At the border an ice truck waited to carry the totuava to processing plants at San Diego and San Pedro.

The following is an account of a traveler who in 1927 made a run to San Felipe:

It would be hard to describe realistically the road across these flats. Generally speaking, it was nothing but two ruts, and the travel had cut them down about to the depth of our axles. As may be imagined, the roads were winding, full of chuck-holes, and a speed of over six miles an hour was impossible. In various places turnouts are found where vehicles may pass without sinking in the spongey earth.

This entire barren waste glittered in the sunlight like silver, on account of the white salt which had dried on it, and the only signs of human touch in the whole great distance were piles of decaying fish which we found in great numbers. These fish had been unloaded from trucks coming north from the fishing camp of San Felipe, the trucks having broken down or become stuck and forced to unload. We also ran across a number of trucks and machines that had broken down and had been abandoned, standing out, as great derelicts, against the horizon. [Ambrose, op. cit., p. 38.]

The records of the United States Customs at the entry port of Calexico show that a sportsman brought the first totuava across the border there in 1923.

"Seventy-five pounds sea bass-two fish." reads the meticulous record, and that ended the business for the year. [Chute, op. cit., p. 278.] The following year, with the arrival of fish wholesalers from the United States, the importations rose to 170,000 pounds. The following season's annual increment exceeded one million pounds.

"Totuava Catch of the Gulf of California by Seasons, July First of One year to July First of the Next. [Chute, op. cit., p. 281.]

1923.....None

1924-25.....171,000 lbs.

1925-26.....664,000 lbs.

1926-27.....1,039,000 lbs.

1927-28*.....1,838,000 lbs.

*To April 25

During the summer months many of the fishermen of San Felipe would wander away from the bay, following the migrating schools of totuava down the gulf. But in autumn, once again the men would straggle home to San Felipe. Again the truckers would begin their seasonal hauling of the totuava to ports in the United States.

Probably no other food fishery has sent its product to market by so strikingly a method. It is believed that the four hundred mile Gulf-to-San Pedro route is the longest motorized fish transit known... [Ibid.]

The superior food fish and wholesale price made the transit very profitable for the wholesalers and pleasing to the Mexicans who made extra money. Perhaps the most important effect was the encouraged permanent settlement of San Felipe Bay.

V. STABILIZATION OF THE VILLAGE

The initial boom of the totuava industry began to level off in the 1930's, but the demand for the excellent food fish continued. Mr. J.J. Camillo, a seafood broker, is credited with introducing totuava to restaurants in San Diego and Los Angeles. The totuava became a prized delicacy, with initial demands exceeding the supply. Originally, all the totuava was hauled to California markets, but the mid 1930's found increasing amounts sent to Phoenix, Kansas City, St. Louis, and other inland cities.

Little is known about San Felipe during the 1930's and 1940's. Reports of the fish crossings at the border and population of the village were the only subjects printed about San Felipe during these years.

Totuava was the basis for other small mainland fishing camps on the gulf. These villages also sent their fish to the United States across the border at Calexico. Generally speaking, San Felipe accounted for 85-90% of the total totuava catch passing the border, and today San Felipe still enjoys this same percentage.

The period 1930 to 1040 was rather static in the life of San Felipe. The village was still isolated from much of Mexico and California. The inhabitants resided in rather crude habitations made of adobe, desert brush, some wood, and occasionally metal secured from auto skeletons. The village had no electric power. Water was available from wells easily dug in the ground. No tourist accommodations existed, for only the hardiest of vacationers attempted the route to San Felipe. Village supplies were obtainable at a bay-front grocery owned by a Chinaman who lived at San Felipe since 1916. Of course, the most popular spot in town was the cantina that helped the menfolk of San Felipe pass many idle hours. Similar to most Mexican villages the life in San Felipe stabilized to a slow pace as the residents became permanent.

No population statistics exist for the years 1910 or 1920; in 1930 the census of population classified San Felipe as an "Embarcadero" or port, with a total population of 287, of whom 192 were men and 95 women. [Censo de Poblacion 15 Mayo: Baja California Distrito Norte (Mexico,, D.F. Estados Unidos Mexicanos 1932).] The 1940 census reclassified San Felipe as a "Pesquiera" or fishing village, with a total population of 427; 284 men and 143 women. [Estados Unidos Mexicanos 6º Censo de Poblacion 1940 Baja California Territorios Norte y sur (Mexico, General de Estadistica 1948).] In a ten-year period from 1930 to 1940 the population of San Felipe doubled. However, the 1930 population was quite small, therefore, the 1940 doubling of population is not particularly unusual.

VI. THE VILLAGE, 1940 TO 1950

The mid 1940's found a new highway to San Felipe under construction. This Mexicali-to-San Felipe link guided the village from isolation. The completion of the highway was one of the most dramatic occurrences in the history of San Felipe. The village was in ready access to the large cities of Baja California and the United States border. This easy access to the north immediately offered the village better and swifter transportation of its number one resource--fish. The village also gained greater attention of fish wholesalers from the United states who helped San Felipe develop and expand its fishing industry. Easy passage to the gulf coast village offered San Felipe the greatest opportunity for future development with the arrival of tourism.

VII. FISHING BECOMES BIG BUSINESS

United States interests saw profits to be made in San Felipe's fishing industry. The village was not only in proximity to the totuava fishing grounds, but also near the shrimp of the upper gulf. With the proper negotiations, the United States' interests agreed to supply the fishermen of San Felipe. Large, thirty-five to fifty foot long diesel fishing boats and equipment were given in return for fifty per cent of the catch.

In order to aid San Felipe and other fishing communities of Mexico, the Mexican government initiated fishing cooperatives. The cooperatives were organized on three levels: local, regional, and national. The government also organized a bank from which the local cooperatives could borrow money at low interest to improve their methods of fishing. But today in San Felipe, as in other fishing villages, most of the needed funds come from the foreign interests rather than the government banks.

In order to fish commercially at San Felipe, a fisherman must belong to one of the four local co-ops in the village. The local co-ops are composed of a group of twenty to eighty fishermen who unite and pool their resources. Through the cooperatives the catch is sold. Without the co-ops fierce competition among the individual fishermen results in very low prices for their catch. By means of the co-ops, fish prices can be somewhat regulated and equipment can be purchased easily by the greater cash reserves of the co-ops.

Each local co-op called "Cooperativa de Produccion Pesquiera," pools its members' catch and sells it to the regional co-op known as the "Federacion de Cooperatives de Produccion Pesquiera," who in turn sells to wholesalers. Each regional cooperative may administer ten to twenty local cooperatives. Owners of the fishing vessels receive approximately fifty per cent of the vessel's catch. The other fifty per cent is then shared among seven to eight crew members on the vessel. The captain receives one and one-half shares; the engineer one and one-quarter; and the crew receives one share apiece.

VIII. MODERN FISHING METHODS

The fishing boats are from thirty-five to fifty feet and use gill and trammel nets. These net boats have replaced skiffs and canoes of earlier days. The nets used in the fishery are usually from 1000 to 1500 feet long and the gilling mesh between ten to fourteen inches stretched measure. The nets are generally fixed perpendicular to the shore in shallow water, being set at high tide and left in position from one to three days, depending on the availability of totuava. During the set, the boat lies at anchorage just beyond the offshore end of the net. Two crew members in a skiff run the length of the net every two to three hours removing totuava, sharks, and porpoises.

"Camaron" or shrimp are captured by a purse net, which is dragged near the ocean floor while the fishing boat maintains a speed of about four miles per hour. A small net is lowered while the boat is working and then raised every half hour to check on the amount of shrimp in the area. A heavy catch indicates what is happening in the big purse nets and they are raised and emptied accordingly. By law, one-third of the shrimp harvested in the gulf must remain in Mexico, but the other two-thirds usually goes to the United States where prices are higher than domestic markets.

IX. OUT OF ISOLATION

The one hundred and twenty-five mile long highway between San Felipe and Mexicali was completed in 1950. This highway put the village within easy and direct communication with Mexicali and the United States border. The trip to the border requires two hours auto traveling time, a far cry from the two and one-half day journey that the first buyers experienced.

The highway opened new economic horizons for the village. Now tourists could easily travel to San Felipe, taking advantage of the pleasant climate and excellent sport fishing. The first to see the future possibilities was Sr. Jose Hernandez Limon, now residing in San Felipe. In 1946 Sr. Limon had heard of the pending highway construction to San Felipe. Realizing the attractiveness of San Felipe to tourists, Sr. Limon and his partner purchased thirty-two thousand acres of land surrounding the bay. Included were the village lands, which he turned over to the government in order that the villagers could claim their land holdings legally. [Discussion with Jose Hernandez Limón.]

The village was not prepared for the influx of tourists that came in the first few years after 1950. The village offered nothing to the visitor. There were no tourist accommodations, no electricity, and poor sanitary conditions. These initial tourists were telling others about the poor conditions they found at the village. Therefore, the future of tourism for the village was bleak. Sr. Limon and others approached the Mexican government and pleaded for financial support to help San Felipe acquire electricity and proper sanitary conditions. The result was a study in 1952 by the government of the existing conditions found at San Felipe. [Enrique Santos de Prado Rojas, Estudio e Informe General Sobre las Condecciones Sanitarias en el Puerto de San Felipe, Territorio Norte de la Baja, California. (Mexico, D.F. 1952), p. 17.] The report well illustrated the problems of the village. The 1952 study estimated the population at seventeen hundred inhabitants, thirteen hundred fixed population, and four hundred transient. The inhabitants of San Felipe were in the immense majority Mestizo with a small nucleus of Chinese.

According to the report, the village was not formed according to any preconceived plan. The majority of the streets were, and still remain, sinuous and narrow, crossing the land freely within an idealistic grid pattern. Much dust invades the houses contaminating the air and drinking water. In 1952 there was no public lighting. The majority of the dwellings were illuminated with petroleum or gasoline lamps. Only a few shops possessed auxiliary generators. The report found that a majority of the houses were fabricated from the trunks of ocotillo with the gaps filled with mud. The soil was the floor.

The report summed up the section on housing:

The hygienic conditions of these inhabitations leaves much to be desired; each one houses about eight persons, including the elders, a transmissible disease will be felt in a major or minor part by the total family. [Ibid.]

A major portion of the inhabitants in 1952 consumed the local well water. This water is hard, and contains many carbonates that tend to discolor the teeth. Only a few of the inhabitants bought decanters of purified water at a price of three pesos (25 cents) brought from Mexicali. The report discovered that the well water produced many digestive problems. The dominant maladies of the population at that time were respiratory problems, digestive ailments, and venereal diseases. [Ibid., p. 28.]

In 1957, five years after the Sr. Limon's initial plea, work was begun on a one million peso (80,000) electrification project for the port of San Felipe. Cost of the power plant, distribution lines and other facilities were underwritten jointly by the local businessmen and the state government. [News item in the San Diego Union, November 14, 1957.]

In subsequent years Limon's partnership was dissolved, and the vast land holdings were subdivided and sold. Sr. Limon retained a beach front tract of land just south of the village, and there began construction of a trailer court for tourists. Soon other villagers followed in Limon's footsteps by constructing motels, hotels, and trailer courts, thereby offering appropriate tourist facilities and enhancing the future of tourism at San Felipe.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: HISTORY OF SAN FELIPE SITE EVOLUTION, BY THOMAS ANTHONY TERICH

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