- 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. [End Page 621]
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Bill Steen has worked as a photojournalist, primarily in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. His photographs have appeared in a number of books he and his wife, Athena, have published on vernacular, natural and straw bale building. In addition to his photographic work, he is also the director of the non-profit organization, The Canelo Project, dedicated to connecting people, culture and nature.