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A Filibuster's Report on Colonization in Baja California -- The Stephen Birch Copy

A nice example of Sanchez Facio's report on the colonization efforts of the International Company of Mexico's activities promoting resettlement in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.

The Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, (1922) Volume 16 (p 155) describes the work as:

 A report with numerous documents concerning colonization in the peninsula, especially concerning difficulties of the Mexican International Co. of Colonization and its colonies at Ensenada and San Quintin shortly before this report.

As noted in American and English Influence on the Early Development of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

With the intent of convincing those who had been against the colonization activities that were taking place in Baja California, the Porfirian government requested that one of those opponents directly inspect the site of the events, and chose for that purpose an ex-deputy of the opposition, Manuel Sanchez Facio. He was asked to determine the number of colonists, the material improvements that had been made, and the land sales that had taken place. In general, he was to substantiate if the colonization contract signed by the Ministry of Development was being fulfilled.  

Sanchez Facio arrived in Ensenada on January 1, 1888, and after five months of performing his duty he rendered an extensive, detailed, and critical report. He declared that the company was giving false data in its census report, and, besides other things, was inflating the number of colonists. He stated that there was an "artificial creation of colonizers in which the bad intentions of the company and the malignant or unconscious compliance of the inspectors had collaborated.” Of the 1,373 inhabitants of Ensenada, according to a census requested by the political chief of that place, only 243 had a colonist’s certificate and the requirement that 30 percent of the colonists should be Mexican was not obeyed. Several of the material works were not finished and some were merely projects. Sanchez Facio also reported that Maximilian Bernstein, agent of the company in Ensenada, had obstructed his work of inspection, delaying for four months the information he requested. He charged that the company, without a legal right to do so, had constituted subsidiary companies and had granted them land deeds that were signed before notaries from San Diego, California. Finally, he indicated that in several cases, the surveys of the vacant lands were not made in good faith and thus produced damages to third parties, some of whom were well known in the region.

The report was published in English in early 1889 in San Francisco, California, under the suggestive title The Truth about Lower California.   Perhaps it was designed to cause an impact in the financial circles of the United States, the opinion of which was deemed important to the government of Porfirio Diaz and the International Company. As can be imagined, the report had a strong impact.

The role of Sanchez Facio may have been more than that of conducting a straight forward examination of the Ensenada activities of the lnternational Company. There are documents in the historical archives of Mexico’s Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores, that mention that in 1890 Sanchez Facio was in San Francisco, California. According to the local Mexican consul, he was there contacting persons who wished to obtain legal rights over Baja California lands. It was also stated, in newspaper articles as well as diplomatic communiques, that he was involved in a filibuster movement centered in San Diego, California, that planned to take over Baja California. Sanchez Facio’s participation in this movement is not completely proven in such documents. Possible links to filibustering call into question the validity of his report on the International Company.

Full Book Title is:

The Truth About Lower Baja -- Forfeiture Of the Contract made by and between the Mexican Government and the "Mexican International Company of Colonization,"  Demonstrated by the Official Report of M. Sanchez Facio, C.E. . . . Frauds Committed by the "Mexican International Company," under the Protection and Sanction of the present Administration of Mexico . . .  1889

Rarity & Provenance

The pamphlet is very rare on the market. We last note a copy offered at auction by Swann Galleries in 1987.

Provenance:  Stephen Birch, founder of the Kennecott Copper Corporation in Alaska and President of the Alaska Steamship Company.  In 1936, Birch bought acquired the old Rancho del Otay, suggesting the pamphlet was purchased by him after 1936.