Iron Horse Imperialism: The Southern Pacific of Mexico, 1880–1951 by Daniel Lewis (review)

was the place of the Cocopah during these struggles, another Native people split by the border. But this is an extremely minor quibble. Meeks’s work is a welcome study of how Natives, Latinos, and whites come to be viewed as such, a useful work for anyone in multicultural studies, critical race theory, or southwestern history. Alamo Community College District Al Carroll Iron Horse Imperialism: The Southern Pacific of Mexico, 1880–1951. By Daniel Lewis. (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2007. Pp. 196. Illustrations, map, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 0-81652-604-4. $35.00, cloth.) This well-researched book makes use of previously untapped archival material to offer a detailed picture of the day-to-day operations of the Southern Pacific of Mexico, as well as insight into the interactions between United States companies in Mexico and the Mexican government. The tracks of the SP de Mex ran from Nogales, Sonora, to the port of Guaymas, on the Gulf of California, and down the Pacific Coast through Mazatlan before veering inland and terminating in Guadalajara. It operated between 1898 and 1951, carrying domestic passengers and freight, as well as providing international service to and from the United States. Surprisingly, despite helping to connect the previously isolated Mexican northwest to the rest of Mexico, and linking some of the richest Mexican mineral and agricultural production to the U.S. market, the SP de Mex enjoyed only five years of profitability in all its time in Mexico. Daniel Lewis seeks to explain how that happened and what kept savvy and experienced American railroad men invested in a losing endeavor for so long. He finds the answer in the combination of a stubborn industrial/imperialist mentality that extolled conquest over natural and human obstacles on one hand, and in the Mexican government’s ambivalent attitude toward the railroad, on the other. Due to the history of U.S. aggression toward Mexico, the proximity of the U.S. border, the railroad’s ability to move troops quickly, and because Americanowned railroads drove deep into Mexico, the Mexican government remained more involved in those operations than it did in other areas where foreigners had interests such as mining, oil, timber, or agribusiness. Wary of the physical penetration of Mexican territory and attempting to exert influence over the national infrastructure, the government created the National Railways of Mexico (NRM) in 1908. The NRM bought railroad stock from American corporations that owned railroads in Mexico in order to gain a controlling interest in the major lines without alienating U.S. investors, or antagonizing their government. The NRM became the majority shareholder in several of the most important railroads in the country. That did not lead to real sovereignty, however. The board of directors of the NRM had twenty-one members, nine of whom met in New York City. That situation prevailed until full nationalization under President Lázaro Cárdenas in 1937. The Southern Pacific of Mexico, however, continued to operate largely outside of government control because it made no public-stock offering. The relative independence of the SP de Mex did not always benefit the line. It 336 Southwestern Historical Quarterly January *jan 09 11/26/08 12:00 PM Page 336 did not receive the same kind of assistance as national lines and because it was foreign owned, it was taxed at a higher rate. Meanwhile, the railroad and government engaged in constant legal wrangling over taxes and claims for reparations following the Mexican Revolution (1910–1919) and the Cristero Rebellion (1926–1929). Labor relations presented another major point of contention. Hoping to avoid the tax on foreign corporations, the company moved its headquarters to Empalme, near Guaymas, and set up a segregated company town. It had an American section with tennis courts and other amenities, and a Mexican part with inferior services. The ploy never worked. Variously plagued by revolutionary nationalism, other civil unrest, the Great Depression, and probably fearing nationalization after 1937, the management of the SP de Mex allowed their rolling stock and other physical assets to go into decline. The Mexican government finally bought the run-down line in 1951. Cutting through rugged mountains and spanning plunging gorges, Lewis demonstrates...