, 1892-05-19
TOPOLOBAMPO.
The Success Of the Colony in
Old Mexico.

The Attempt TO Abolish Poverty
Among a Glass OF People by Hav-
ing All Things in Common.
what the New system is Doing.
Perhaps the most serious, thoughtful
and comprehensive attempt that has been
made in recent times to abolish poverty is
the Credit Foucier company, which for the
last six years has had pioneer colony
holding down its fine site at Topolobampo
bay on the Pacific side of Old Mexico
Every year since the beginning, sensational
reports have appeared in the newspapers
about the wildness of the scheme and the
consequent hardships and suffering which
deluded victims have endured. Either
those stories were willful exaggerations, or
else the people who have lived there from
the first settlement are miracles of endur-
ance, for the colony Is still in existence,
and instead of being ready to suspend, it
has not yet begun to operate. During the
last year, however, it has made some ex-
tensiye preparations for BEGINNING the
work as planned, the chief object of which
is the near completion of canal, or irri-
cation ditch, seven miles long, six feet
wide at bottom, and from twenty to sixty
feet deep, capable of watering twenty
thousand acres of as fertile soil as ever the
sun shOne upOnA The ditch has been built
by the people who expect to use it; not
dollar has been borrowed outside the col
Ony's own friends and members.
The unusual drouth which for two years
has caused a scarcity of feed for the ami
mails employed, and which has also in
creased the cost of table board for the
UOrkmpp has added ornatlv tO what mn,
der normal conditions, would have been
the cost of the work. But now that the last
mile of eXCaVating is well under way an
enthusiasm prevails, the like of which
has never before been known in the colony.
The ditch, when finally completed, will be
over thirty miles long and will be otherwise
enlarged, so as to be capable ofirrigating the
100000 acres of the company's lands. |
These lands are in every way equal to the !
rich lands of Southern California, and only !
need water and cultivation and access to |
markets to make them equally valuable.
The construction of a railroad from the col |
Ony's port on the Pacific coast to the Rio |
Grande river, distance of seven hundred |
miles, is already under way by the colony |
1t will be the first railroad ever owned and |
controlled by the people who perform the
labor of construction. The com pany's har-
Dor is said by such disinterested travellers
as Lieutenant SchWatka to be the finest on |
the Pacific coast, south of San Francisco. |
Indeed, he went so far as to prOphesy in |
one of his published letters, that TopOlo- |
bampO bay with northern energy and cap
ltal would easily prove successful rival to |
the metropolis of the Golden Gate. As
far as the natural scenery is concerned, a
visit to the place warrants me in declaring |
it one of the most pleasingly picturesque |
have ever seen.
In the colony paper bearing date May 1st, |
one of the resident directors, a gentleman |
personally known to me, and known |
to be man not easily betrayed |
into false assertion, declares |
that "the colony is now s0under than it /
has ever been, and is full of Yigor and hope |
and nearly past all danger points, Al |
though a number of families have been |
living there from four to six years. they |
have been occupying only temporary |
houses. Next fall they expect to begin |
building their permanent houses at bay /
side. -Four thousand dollars have already |
been raised and sent to Puget Sound to |
buy a ship load of fir lumber with which to |
begin the work.
The TopolabampO colony isnot organized |
on the principle of communism, all things |
in common, it is organized, however, on the /
fraternal principle of working together for |
common ends and helping to secure to each /
member an equitable share of the results |
of his toll or Investment. Lawyers, preach /
ers, tax gatherers, landlords, coupon clip |
pers, saloon keepers, insurance agents and |
secret societies are not recognized or per- !
mitted as such in the colony. The COM |
pany is organized to do the entire business
required for a high state of civilization, and |
as each member is a stock holder and voter, |
women as we'll as men, the competitive |
system gives way to entire or integral CO. |
operation. There is but one organization |
and that undertakes to supply all desired
forms of public service.
PlOtOpraDhS of the barhOr and oitU site |
the river, the colony lands and their pro-
ductions may be seen by calling at NJ. |
Wisner's Office on Main street.
NAPOLEON HoAGLAND.