| EL FUERTE: A small colonial town with cobblestone
streets located about 50 miles east of Los Mochis, El Fuerte, “The
Fort,” was founded in 1564 by Spanish Conquistador Don Francisco
de Ibarra as a military post. For three hundred years it served as a
trading post for gold and silver miners. |
 |
| CEROCAHUI: A small, peaceful farming village of about 600 residents,
Cerocahui is located at an altitude of 5000 feet. The valley is dotted
with apple and peach orchards and is surrounded by the Sierra Madres.
A narrow dirt road leads from Cerocahui down to the village of Urique
in the bottom of the Urique Canyon. |
 |
| URIQUE: A small village at the bottom of the canyon, Urique
was founded in 1690. It remained isolated until it was connected by dirt
road to Cerocahui in 1975. Gold mining is still conducted there on a
small scale and the town serves as a county seat and economic center
for this rugged and remote section of the mountains. |
 |
| EL DIVISADERO: “The View Point.” At an altitude
of nearly 8,000 feet, this magnificent vista point overlooks a whole
series of intertwined “barrancas”
(canyons) with rivers deep in their bottoms. This is also the point where
most visitors first encounter the remote and cave-dwelling Tarahumara
Indians. El Divisadero provides many photo opportunities and short hikes
to local caves, a Tarahumara school, balancing rock, and several dramatic
viewpoints. |
 |
| CREEL: Situated at an altitude of approximately 7,200 feet,
Creel is a small lumber town located in the high Sierras close to Copper
Canyon. At one point the terminus of the Chihuahua al Pacifico rail line,
Creel is now the midway stopping and departure point for several Indian
villages in the area. From Creel, many Tarahumara caves can be visited
along with beautiful lakes, waterfalls, pine forests and strange rock
formations. |
 |
| BATOPILAS: Located at the bottom of Copper Canyon, Batopilas,
now a sleepy little village, was once one of the richest silver mining
areas in the world. A visit to Batopilas is a step back in time. Cowboys
ride their horses down its dirt streets while Indians pack their burros
with supplies for their remote villages. On the outskirts of the town
are the ruins of a Gothic mansion built in 1880 of adobe by Alexander
Shepherd, an American entrepreneur and the last territorial governor
of Washington D.C., and a 400-year-old Jesuit mission known as the “Lost
Cathedral” of Satevo. |
 |
| CUAUHTEMOC: A modern Mexican city, Cuauhtemoc lies en route
to the state capital of Chihuahua. Named after the mighty Aztec leader,
Cuauhtemoc is now the home of several thousand Mennonites who came to
the area shortly after the Mexican Revolution to farm lands which were
formerly owned by William Randolph Hearst. The Mennonites live in a series
of numbered “campos” just outside of the city and still preserve
their traditional pious lifestyle. They are very prosperous farmers and
market their crops throughout Mexico along with their famous cheese. |
 |
| CHIHUAHUA CITY: Capital of the state of Chihuahua, this large
Mexican city is one of the most important cities in Northern Mexico.
During both the War for Independence and the Mexican Revolution, Chihuahua
was an important center of activity. Father Miguel Hidalgo, champion
of Mexico's Independence, was executed in what now serves as the government
palace. This was also the headquarters for famous leaders such as Benito
Juarez and the Revolution's controversial hero, Pancho Villa. Here, visits
can be made to several interesting sites, including the Chihuahua State
Museum, the home of Pancho Villa and Museum of the Revolution, and the
Chihuahua Cathedral, which took one hundred years to complete. |
 |
