Batopilas

History

The Rarámuri, or Tarahumara, called this canyon Bachotigori, place of the enclosed waters, and Batopilas is a Spanish reworking of that word. They likely knew of the silver long before a Spanish explorer found gleaming white ore in the riverbank around 1632. The town was formally founded in 1708, when a mining claim was registered, and it grew as more veins were opened. Men such as Juan José de Rivolta, Rafael Alonzo Pastrana, and Ángel Bustamante made fortunes here in the 18th century and turned the Hacienda San Miguel, across the river, into a walled compound. Fires in 1740 and 1845 destroyed most local records.

After independence the mines fell idle, and by 1840 only ten families remained. A merchant from Culiacán, Manuel Mendazona, began reopening the mines in 1852, and in 1861 they were sold to John R. Robinson, an American backed by Wells Fargo financiers. Silver went out by mule to Mazatlán and from there by ship. Alexander Shepherd later acquired the mining rights and invested heavily; the town grew to several thousand people and was among the first in Mexico to have electricity.

Mining faded from the early 20th century and the town shrank with it. Batopilas, whose official name honors native son Manuel Gómez Morín, was named a Pueblo Mágico in 2012.