Wheat

The photographs in this portfolio were taken between 2008 and 2012. The original intent was to document the flourmills that played an important part in the regional economy of the Río Sonora valley. However, in addition to several mills in that area, the effort extended into the area around Magdalena, Sonora, further west to the mill at Oquitoa, and ultimately to the Hayden Flour Mill in Tempe, Arizona, on the banks of the Salt River. All of the mills represented here were originally hydro powered, although over time all were converted to alternative forms of power. By the end of the 19th century, there were close to sixty flourmills operating in Sonora. A variety of economic and other forces brought about their demise. In the mid-1960s, Conasupo—Mexico’s now defunct federal food agency—instituted aggressive regulatory practices that, in a very short period of time, contributed directly to the closing of the Sonoran mills. Exceptions to this were the mill in Ures, which closed during the late 1990s. Tempe’s Hayden mill also closed. These photographs reflect an era when the production of high-quality wheat was carried out on a local and regional basis.

Mill in Banámichi, Sonora (top & bottom)

Bran Duster in Huépac, Sonora

Mill in Huépac, Sonora

Interior of Ures mill

Mill in Ures, Sonora

Funnels, Ures mill

Making tortillas de agua, Ojo de Agua, Sonora

Mill near Magdalena, Sonora

Hayden Mill, Tempe

Inside Hayden mill, Tempe

La Fama Mill, Hermosillo, Sonora (composite photograph using I-Phone stitch)

Mill in Magdalena, Sonora

Mill in Oquitoa, Sonora

Inside mill at Oquitoa, Sonora

Sonoran wheat pottery, by Rina Swentzell

Making tortillas de agua, San Pedro El Saucito, Sonora

Wheat fields on Native Seeds/Search farm, Patagonia, Arizona

Equipment in Huépac mill

Marco Bianco, owner of Pane Bianco Restaurant, Phoenix