Imperial (210 page)

“Citrus fruits provide the largest parts of the agricultural revenue . . .”—Ibid., p. 15.

Description of Etiwanda the Beautiful—Ibid., p. 469.

111. Market Prices (1950)

Epigraph: “But it is presumably all for the best . . .”—Veblen, pp. 396-97 (
Absentee Ownership
, 1923).

1950 market prices in Los Angeles and San Francisco for produce—
California Farmer
, April 8, 1950, vol. 192, no. 7. These price quotations were on the Los Angeles market, dated 29 March 1950.

1925 prices in Los Angeles for cabbage, carrots, celery, squash—
California Cultivator
, April 4, 1925, vol. LXIV, no. 15, p. 410. Only local celery had been available in 1925 (best quality: $3.75 to $4.00 per crate). On the subject of this commodity, Chula Vista comes into my definition of Imperial, so I’d better list “Sturdee & wirebound crts.” of it, “Chula Vista $2.00-2.50,” much higher than local Los Angeles celery. Strangely enough, there’s no Imperial Valley celery on this fine March day.

1950 Imperial County totals for various commodities—Imperial County Agricultural Commissioner’s papers, 1950, pp. 3-4.

Richard Johnson, Jr.—
California Farmer
, vol. 210, no. 12, June 6, 1959, p. 598 (Richard Johnson, Jr., “State’s Farm Workers Paid Adequate Wage”).

Jack T. Pickett—Ibid., p. 597 (Jack T. Pickett, “Organized Labor Sabotaging Mexican National Program?”).

112 . Crop Reports (1946 -1957)

Epigraph: “If a year’s crop were good . . .”—Jackson, p. 56.

Crop reports—Imperial County Agricultural Commission papers. Various Agricultural Commissioners, annual reports 1946-57, inclusive. Before 1946 there are no comments on real farm income.

113 . Cantaloupe Anxieties (1958)

Mr. Frank R. Coit—California State Archives. Department of Food and Agriculture. Bureau of Marketing. Marketing order files, Box 6. State of California, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Markets hearing on a marketing order for California cantaloupes. Thursday, July 24, 1958, beginning ten o’clock a.m., Fresno, California. Pp. 15-16.

Dr. Braun—Ibid., p. 19.

Mr. F. J. Harkness, Jr.—Ibid., pp. 26-33.

Mosaic disease; former melon acreage in Imperial—Griffin and Young, p. 180.

114 . The Braceros (1942 -1965)

Epigraph: “. . . . Imperial would not be the Magic Land it is today . . .”—Harris, p. 31.

Javier Lupercio—Interviewed in Mexicali, April 2004, José López from Jalisco translating.

Don Ezekiel Pérez in Montana, 1947—Marilyn P. Davis, p. 18.

“After five months his contract ended . . .”—Crosthwaite, Byrd and Byrd, p. 61 (Isaías Ignacio Vázquez Pimentel, “Ña’ a ta’ ani’ mai”).

Claude Finnell and his wife—Interviewed in their home in El Centro, April 2004. Shannon Mullen was present.

Number of braceros, 1942-62; poster from 2002—Bigelow, p. 39.

Naked bracero being sprayed with DDT—Street,
Photographing Farmworkers
, p. 115 (Leonard Nadel photograph, taken at an unnamed “border processing center”).

A Mexican leans out the window of his train . . .—Described after Dorothea Lange, p. 172 (“After Five Days’ Travel, Mexican Field Workers [‘Braceros’] Arriving in Sacramento, California, October 6, 1942”).

Bracero figures, 1943, 1957-onward—Salazar, p. 131.

Señora Socorro Rámírez—Interviewed on 19 February 2004 in her restaurant. Terrie Petree interpreted.

Braceros as a quarter of California farmworkers; accommodations at the former San Bernardino jail (Cone Camp), firefighting duties and compensation—Wagner, pp. 60-61.

Ray Heckman’s costs—California State Archives. Department of Food and Agriculture. Bureau of Marketing. Marketing-order files, Box 4. State of California, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Markets hearing on proposed marketing order for Coachella Valley green corn. Wednesday, April 9, 1947, 10:15 o’clock, a.m., Coachella Valley Water District Building, Coachella, California. Pp. 6, 45. Some costs are calculated by me from data provided on those pages.

Kay Brockman Bishop—Interviewed December 2006 on her ranch just west of Calexico. Terrie Petree was present.

Zulema Rashid’s recollections—From 3 interviews in the Sweet Temptations Coffee Shop in summer 2003. Larry McCaffery was present for the third interview.

C. H. Hollis, corn grower in Thermal—Same 1947 Coachella Valley green corn marketing-order hearing, p. 45.

Kerouac in Fresno—
On the Road
, pp. 78, 89, 91.

Pickers needed and harvest sizes in the San Joaquin, 1949 and 1950 San Joaquin cotton crops—
California Farmer
, vol. 193, no. 1 (July 1, 1950), p. 2.

Paul S. Taylor on labor contractors—UC Berkeley. Bancroft Library. Paul S. Taylor papers. Carton 4. Folder 4:33: “Irrepressible Conflict? Draft & Notes, Aug., 1943,” probably unpublished. Typescript, page 5.

Work of a contractor: Trolling a Sonora poolhall, etc.—For instance, California State Archives. ALRB restricted files, 1978-1984. Case VC. Civil.

Attempt to bring back “crossing card” system—
California Farmer
, vol. 192, no. 8 (April 22, 1950), p. 371 (Joe Crosby, “Imperial Farmers Battling for Mexican Labor Permits”).

Border Patrolman Dan Murray—Interview of 1999.

The jail cell in 1951—Street,
Photographing Farmworkers
, p. 187 (Loomis Dean photograph for
Life
magazine).

Commuter workers; President Kennedy; Quick, Morales and Yeller; bribes from braceros to Mexican officials—Salazar, pp. 72-74, 78-79, 136-37.

Don Maclovio Medina—Marilyn P. Davis, pp. 27, 30.

Picket signs in El Centro (1961)—Street,
Photographing Farmworkers
, p. 212 (Arthur Dubinsky photograph).

115 . Operation Wetback (1954 -1955)

Epigraph: “Why is it estimated that at certain times of the year . . .”—Salazar, p. 252 (“The ‘Wetback’ Problem Has More Than Just One Side,” April 24, 1970).

Jack T. Pickett
—California Farmer
, vol. 210, no. 12, June 6, 1959, p. 597 (Jack T. Pickett, “Organized Labor Sabotaging Mexican National Program?”).

Ruben Salazar—Op. cit., p. 252 (“The ‘Wetback’ Problem Has More Than Just One Side,” April 24, 1970).

Details of Operation Wetback—Marilyn P. Davis, p. 24.

Victor Orozco Ochoa—Ibid., p. 293. This raid took place in 1955.

Undated image of Rotary International float (possibly the same “Cavalcade Parade” as cat. #P95.30.23)—ICHSPM photograph, cat. #P95.30.18.

116 . Mexicali (1950)

Epigraph: “During the 1940s and 1950s . . .”—Munguía, p. 161 (José Luis Castro Ruiz).

Description of the corn farmer in 1955 and the pyramids of hay bales: AHMM, photo album 9: “Chata Angulo, Valle de Mexicali,” cat #29.CHA/166/29 (Serie de Agricultura. Lote 27 colonia cuatro division II. “Rancho Roa” arréo a corrales y establo. 1955.); and cat. #29.CHA/166/13 (Serie Irigación. Perforación de un pozo profondo en el lote 17 del colono J. Jesús Sánchez María en colonia Elias B.C. 1955).

End of Baja California’s 47-year wet spell—Whitehead et al., p. 307 (Eduardo Paredes Arellano, Secretaría de Agricultura y Recursos Hidráulicos, Mexicali, “Water, the Most Important Natural Resource for the State of Baja California, Mexico”).

Mexicali population, 1950 and 1955—Gerhard and Gulick, p. 16. This differs slightly from Ruiz’s version.

Population in entire municipality of Mexicali (Mexicali Valley), 1950—Munguía, p. 162 (José Luis Castro Ruiz, Table 2).

I see a dairy ranch in Colonia Rodríguez.—Information from AHMM, photo album 9: “Chata Angulo, Valle de Mexicali,” cat. #29.CHA/166/1/50 (Serie de Agricultura. Lotes 9 y 10 de la colonia Rodríguez. Colonos: Isidro y Guillermo Canchol. Detailles: Ganado lechero).

The Coasters’ 1956 hit song—Unfortunately, I have not been able to hear it. I rely on the description in Pike, p. 309. My copy editor now advises: “Go to
http://www.last.fm/music/The
+Coasters/_/Down+in+Mexico.”

“Many times people come to Mexicali hoping to cross to the other side . . .”—Señora Socorro Ramírez, interviewed on 19 February 2004 in her restaurant. Terrie Petree interpreted.

Señor Francisco Arellano Olvera’s purchase—AHMM, Chata Angulo collection, box 9, marked simply “34 expedientes,” folder “Francisco Arellano Olvera, Sup. 657.76 metros cuadros. Packard. PAGADO.”

Mrs. Claude Finnell’s recollections—Interviewed with her husband at their home in El Centro, April 2004. Shannon Mullen was present.

Kay Brockman Bishop—Interviewed December 2006 on her ranch just west of Calexico. Terrie Petree was present.

The Dharma Bums’
description of Mexicali—Op. cit., pp. 94-95.

View from Mexicali across the line into Calexico—AHMM, photo album 1, cat. #29.AHMM/166.1/11.

Dashiell Hammett on Tijuana, 1924: “Still the same six or seven hundred feet of dusty and dingy streets . . .”—Op. cit., pp. 228-29 (“The Golden Horseshoe,” 1924).

Major Ben C. Truman on Los Angeles, 1867: “Crooked, ungraded, unpaved streets . . .”—
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County
, p. 101.

Remarks of Lupe Vásquez—Interviewed in Mexicali, 2002.

Description of cotton panoramas,
ca.
1949—AHMM, photo album 9: “Chata Angulo, Valle de Mexicali,” cat. #29. CHA/166/1/50 (Serie agricultura. Siembra de trigo en la colonia “La Mariana.” Al fondo la Sierra Cucapah. 1955).

Mexicali cotton-production figures, 1912-56—Kerig, p. 481.

Footnote: Distribution and timing of cotton—Señora Socorro Ramírez, same interview.

Receipt no. 6669 and accompanying information—AHMM, Chata Angulo collection, unnumbered box (Vtas. 93-103, 414.2/53-62, folder 1: Venta No. 93—Eusebio Melandrez . . .).

Paragraph on Colonia Hindu and Chinese—AHMM, Chata Angulo collection, box 9, marked “simply 34 expedientes,” folder “Aparacion y Annendamientos, Rentos a 31/47.” All the information I cite comes from a 29-page list of
colonias
and their inhabitants drawn up in 1947. It is the only information the archives has about property holdings in the overall Mexicali Valley at this time, so it is as representative as we are going to get.

The 134 Chinese businesses in the center of Mexicali—Auyón Gerardo, p. 41ff. (Terrie Petree’s working translation, slightly polished by WTV.) The census date was 1945. Duncan (p. 646) reports that of the Chamber of Commerce listings in 1951, 7% of Tijuana’s and 10% of Mexicali’s inhabitants were Chinese.

“The yellow octopus” and decline in Chinese population in Baja 1930-40—Dwyer, pp. 80-81.

Señor Armando—Interviewed in the Cafe Canton, 2002. Carlos Guillermo Baja Terra interpreted.

Interview with Xu’s uncle—As mentioned in “The Chinese Tunnels,” my interviews with the “softspoken old shoe-store owner” took place in November 2003. José López from Jalisco interpreted.

Xu’s uncle’s unexpressed feelings about Mexicans—Might have been reciprocated. An old man from Guanajuato who hated Tijuana, hated San Luis Río Colorado, hated the Fiesta del Sol and had lived in Mexicali for 42 years insisted that in the fifties the police had paid $20 per dead Chinese. “I have something in my heart,” he said, touching his temple, “so if I don’t like those kinda people, since I don’t steal, I know only my job.”—“He doesn’t quite make sense,” said the interpreter (José López, 2002).

Javier Lupercio—Interviewed in Mexicali, April 2004, José López from Jalisco interpreting.

Footnote: “About the only reminder of Mexicali’s unsavory past . . .”—Gerhard and Gulick, p. 63.

Señora Teresa García—Interviewed on 19 February 2004, on her family ranch, Rancho García, in Colonia Sieto de Cierro Prieto, not far past the glass factory a few kilometers south of Mexicali. Terrie Petree interpreted.

Señora Socorro Ramírez—Continuation of same interview mentioned earlier.

Richard Brogan—Interviewed in Calexico, April 2004.

117. Subdelineations: Cottonscapes (1796 -20 07)

Epigraph: “Cotton would grow very well if it were sown.”—Arrillaga, p. 88 (20 October 1796).

“No definite conclusion as to the value of Egyptian cotton culture in that region has been reached.”—USDA
Experiment Station Record
series (1903-4), p. 135 (Southern California Substation at Pomona).

Sacramento cotton exhibited at State Fair in 1863—California Board of Agriculture (1918), p. 118.

Statistics on Imperial cotton starting, 1902-17—Farr, p. 189. The ICAC papers report the following for 1916: 39,028 bales ginned on the American side of the Imperial Valley, 24,147 on the Mexican side, 4,636 bales ginned in Riverside County. The California total is thus 67,811 bales.

News of Joe Macdonald—
California Cultivator
, vol. XXIII, no. 18 (November 4, 1904), p. 443 (“News Notes of the Pacific Coast”).

Imperial takes first prize at New York fair, “Cotton Is King,” Hotel King Cotton and number of cotton gins—Imperial Valley Directory (1912-13), pp. xxxii, 307, 326.

Imperial Valley Press
, 1914—Vol. XIV, no. 7, Friday, May 8, 1914, p. 1.

Experience of the CRLC foreman in 1910—Kerig, p. 131. Her figure was 1,500 acres, which becomes 607.29 hectares.

Mexicali Valley hectares of cotton, 1912-27, 1930-31—Duncan, p. 624, who actually expresses each year as part of a 2-year cycle. For example, when I write “1912,” Duncan writes “1912-13.”

Footnote: Mexicali’s Chinese population in 1913, and their cotton acreage—Auyón Gerardo, p. 41ff. (Terrie Petree’s working translation).

“Cotton—the key to Baja’s economic growth and independence”—Ibid., p. 625.

“The yield per acre in the Imperial Valley is much larger than in any other state in the Union” and 1916 yields—California Board of Agriculture (1918), p. 118.

Description of cotton picking and 1933 crop in Kern County—UC Berkeley. Bancroft Library. Paul S. Taylor papers. Carton 3. Folder 3:41: “Documentary History of the Strike of the Cotton Pickers in California, 1933, with Clark Kerr, 1934.” Typescript on letterhead of the University of California, Department of Economics, Berkeley. Pp. 6, 5, 7.