El Rosario

History

The area was home to three peoples, the Totorames, Xiximes and Acaxees. The town dates its founding to August 3, 1655, and tells it as a legend. A foreman named Bonifacio, out looking for lost cattle, lit a campfire for the night and found melted silver stuck to a rock under the ashes the next morning. He marked the spot with his rosary beads before going to tell his boss, and the mine and the town took their name from that rosary.

Mining went on for close to three centuries, and El Rosario became the richest town in northwestern Mexico. More than 70 kilometers of tunnels were dug, and people say there are more tunnels underground than streets above. The church of Nuestra Señora del Rosario was consecrated in 1731 and finished in 1759. When the tunnels made the ground sink beneath it, the faithful took it apart and moved it stone by stone to its present place on the main square.

The singer Lola Beltrán grew up here, and a small museum keeps her memory. Today the town makes pottery, furniture and leather goods, and it joined the Pueblos Mágicos program in 2012.