¡Welcome, Bienvenidos!
Ávalos…Te Recuerdo is a blog celebrating a cherished time in the lives of my family and the people that worked, lived and raised their children at La Fundición de Ávalos and Ciudad Chihuahua.
This blog was created by Liz Delgado Marquez with the guidance and memories of my mother, Florence (Flossy) Wilson Delgado, and her sister, Catherine (Catina) Wilson Shupe and our cousin Catherine Austin Thomas as a testament to our family and friends who worked and lived at La Fundición de Ávalos in Chihuahua, Mexico. We invite you to share your stories and photos as a remembrance of a golden time.
It's me! Liz Marquez with my husband David and our son Paul.
Ciudad Chihuahua, Mexico
In 1905, the Guggenheim family persuaded Porfirio Diaz to allow them to build a smelter for the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) in the town of Ávalos, east of Ciudad Chihuahua, Mexico, along the Mexican Central Railroad. The land was owned by the prominent Terrazas family and now is immediately recognizable by the old ASARCO smokestack. In the 1920′s, the Ávalos smelter was the largest lead smelter in the world.
Ciudad Chihuahua
Avalos Smelter
“The Colony” was a gate-guarded American-style company town and included housing for supervisors and their families, as well a school, hospital, pool and plaza. Segregated housing for workers was outside the Colony.
The Colony
I’d love to hear from you. Please contact me at avalos.blog@gmail.com or leave a comment on any post.
Hi my name is Martha I was born in Avalos on Oct.08,1953, my parents are Abraham and Rafaela Saenz. My father worked in at the smeltering plant until 1956 we then moved to California. My grandparents on my mothers side lived in Rancheria until they both passed their names are Hiploto and Cruz Navarro. My fathers parents lived there also , their names are Miguel and Siria Saenz. I still have relatives living in Rancheria today My uncle Santos Navarro there are other relatives scatered from Rancheria,Avalos, and chihuahua.I remember going to visit my family during summer vacation, and I would always see this huge wall, and I was told that that was a little city within never knew who or what exactly was behind the walls, but I’m glad to find you just seeing and reading all the info you have provided has educated me more on my little home town
Martha,
My family also lived there the are the De La Riva Family not sure if you heard of them
Joe, i do. Now I live in Guadalajara as well as Jorge De la Riva and we just found out about 6 months ago when we casually met in a coctel party.
Wow, I just finished saying in a long comment how names kept popping up in our home in Avalos and that seeing the same names in these pictures brought many memories. Well, I just read a comment from the lady in San antonio where she mentions that her God mother is Josephina Andreani and that she keeps in contact with Nena Navarro and those two ladies were friends with my mother, Tola Lobo- Guerrero in Avalos and later in El Paso. Small world!
I may have messed up my comment earlier or maybe it takes time to see it on the blog.
Memories of living outside the colony is what I blogged and added the joy of seeing the pictures of INSIDE the colony after so many years of imagining what it was like inside. I am 64 years old now. Good thoughts from California!
Hola, Sra. Magdalena Lobo-Guerrero Mi Nombre es Luis Gomez Granados, Mi papa era Rafael Gomez y mi Mama, Sara Granados , Viviamos en la cuadra 15ª # 24 esquina, Juanto a la casa de sus abuelitos, no se si me recuerde, me decian Luisito, sus papas que en paz descansen, por cierto aun conservo recortes del periodico sobre las esquelas de los fallecimientos de sus papas, Dn. Enrique y Doña Tola, a quenes apreciabamos como de la familia, en algunas ocaciones los visitaba, y en las ultimas visitas le lleve a conocer a dos de mis hijos mayores y les lleve a mi papa para que los saludara,
En una ocacion me escribio su mama Doña Tola en la cual muy contenta me decia que les habia comunicado a ustedes que tenia un hijo en Chihuahua, y es que le dio mucho gusto, que la Felicitara el dia de las MADRES aqui en mexico es el 10 de Mayo, y le llame para felicitarla, aun conservo esa carta com si en verdad fuera de mi madre, ya que me inculcaron mis padres un cariño muy especial para con todos ustedes,pero no sabia como comunicarme, para platicarles, me acuerdo mucho cuando venian a visitar a sus abuelitos, quienes eran nuestros vecinos en la cuadra 15ª y yo jugaba con Quique, y recuerdo que a LUiS su herman le pusieron asi por mi nombre, en la ultima ocacin que fue al Paso con sus papas me toco saludar a GIL. pero despues ya no lo pude contactar, tenia su telefono y nunca me logre comunicar, Saludos a todos:MAGDALENA,VICKI,MAVI,DAVID,QUIQUE,LUIS CARLOS,
A T E N T A M E N T E: LUIS GOMEZ GRANADOS.
PD. en este mismo bloque pero en la parte que dice MY FAMILI, les habia enviado saludos poque no habia visto esta parte, y me dio gusto haberla leido.
Buenas tardes sra. Magdalena Lobo-Guerrero y familia muchos saludos a todos,tengo unas fotos de cuando estaba niño estamos jugando mis vecinos los Lopez, y yo en la cuadra 15 # 24 junto a donde vivian sus abuelitos me gustaria enviarsela para que recordaran, pero no se como o su mail si es que es de su agrado.”My email is l-gomez-g@hotmail.com“
Hi My name is javier and i was born in AVALOS CHIHUHUA on may 2 1957 in the avalos clinic across from iglesia san jose .
My grand father Alejo Salas Orozco ,worked for over 40 years at the smelting company untill 1974. Many of my relatives worked for this company and some of my cousins still live in las cuadras de Avalos.
I went to school in Avalos (ESCUELA ARTICULO 123) and i lived in cuadra 30 and moved to cuadra 29 then moved to California in 1979.
My mother Andrea Salas was an entertainer singer in Avalos and perform at el sindicato de Avalos for the miners day on july 11.
I have many stories and memories to tell about this wonderful and unforgiven town that i will share in the future,and i will try to get some pictures also .
Thank you for all the info you have provided , it feels like a soothing to my soul.
HOLA JAVIER, CREO QUE CONOCI A TU TIA LA QUE NACIO POR AHI POR EL 1950, CREO QUE SE LLAMABA PATRICIA, TAMBIEN CANTABA Y ESCUCHABA A TU TIA ANDREA CON EL MARIACHI LOS ALAMOS, yO ESTABA EN LA CLASE DE LA MAESTRA ARMIDA Y CARMEN ORDONES, YO QUiSIERA QUE ALGUIEN TUBIERA ACCESO A LAS FOTOS DE LA ESCUELITA ARTICULO 123 Y LAS ENTRARAN EN ESTA PAGINA O HABRIERAN OTRA DE PARTE DE LA ESCUELA, PARA DISFRUTAR NUESTRAS PROPIAS MEMORIAS, COMO VEZ.? MI NOMBRE ES MARIA SOCORRO HERNANDEZ LOZOYA, Y AHORA VIVO EN PORTLAND OREGON USA, FUI A LA ESCUELITA HASTA EL QUINTO ANO EN 1962 ESCRIBEME spanishinterpretermmb@yahoo.com
Hi my name is Martha I was born in Avalos on Oct.08,1953, my parents are Abraham and Rafaela Saenz. My father worked in at the smeltering plant until 1956 we then moved to California. My grandparents on my mothers side lived in Rancheria until they both passed their names are Hiploto and Cruz Navarro. My fathers parents lived there also , their names are Miguel and Siria Saenz. I still have relatives living in Rancheria today My uncle Santos Navarro there are other relatives scatered from Rancheria,Avalos, and chihuahua.I remember going to visit my family during summer vacation, and I would always see this huge wall, and I was told that that was a little city within never knew who or what exactly was behind the walls, but I’m glad to find you just seeing and reading all the info you have provided has educated me more on my little home town
+1
I HAVE PHOTOS (HIPOLITO NAVARRO, SANTOS NAVARRO EMILIO NAVARRO AND HIS WIFE CRUZ SOTO DE NAVARRO THEY ARE FROM STA ROSALIA DE CAMARGO
MI E-MAIL MENDEZVIL@HOTMAIL.COM
Hi my name is Jesse, and all my brothers were born in Avalos chihuahua. My Santiago Esqueda, and my father Juan Ibarra Zamarripa worked at the Smelter. My Grandmother, Celedona Murrillo owned the firs “FONDA” or Eatary near the Smelter so that the workers with no family could get a hot meal. It is said that my grand mother had a meeting with Mr. Collins and struck a deal to provide food for his workers. Mr. Collins provided the location (unknown to me) and funded the project to get her started. They tell me she use to collect a “salary” from the Forman who was in charge of payroll, and she made quite a bit of money. they would pay her in cash, and she would collect the money in her apron.
Realmente increible, fascinante esta labor, mil felicidades, yo vivo muy cerca de avalos, es una lastima lo descuidado que está este lugar historico, me gustaría mantener el contacto y me permitiera publicar sus fotografias y relatos en una pagina web que estoy realizando sobre chihuahua, por su puesto se haría respetando todos los créditos y derechos.
I am fascinated by these accounts. My father, Morgan Hostetter, managed a gold mine in the early 1920′s somewhere near Chihuahua. He told many stories of how the revolutionary army were his mining crew,under the command of General Vista. does this ring a bell with any of the older residents of Avalos. ——==bruce hostetter
HOLA MI NOMBRE LUIS GOMEZ, RECUERDO EL REBOTE EN EL QUE ASISTIA MI PAPA RAFAILITO GOMEZ, CUANDO AUN SE ENCARGABA DE EL ,EL SR.ALFONSO (PONCHO) MEZA, RECUERDO ALGUNAS PERSONAS COMO SR. AGUILERA ,SR.TREJO, CHONITO, Y TANTAS PERSONAS AFICIONADAS, LAS FAMOSAS TREGUAS, YO AUN ESTABA PEQUEÑO CUANDO ASISTIA CON MI PAPA. DESPUES SE CAMBIO AL PLAN DE ALAMOS A JUGAR QUE VENIAN GENTE DE PARRAL, JUAREZ, JIMENEZ Y DE MEOQUI, SE HACIA MUY BONITA COMPETENCIA.AQUELLOS FESTIVALES DEL 11 DE JULIO. QUE BONITO.
S A L U D O S A TODA LA FAMILIA (A V A L O S).
I enjoy reading about all the memories from Chihuahua, tengo muchas memorias de Avalos y toda la gente que conoce, que buena vida fue Avalos.
con mucho carino para todos
Catina
Luis Gomez, attentamente le doy respuesta a su commentario de mis padres, Enrique y Tola Lobo-Guerrero. Le habia contestado por e-mail que me llego pero no se porque parece que no lo recibio. En esa respuesta le informaba de la triste noticia de que Carlos fallecio despues de el Huracan Katrina pues contracto una bacteria fatal. Tambien le decia que recuerdo bien a los Lopez y a Hector que por coincidencia tengo una foto de el con David, mi hermano enfrente de su casa. Espero que le llegue este commentario que repito darle las gracias por ser tan attento con Tola que si recuerdo nos conto de su “otro hijo.” Hasi era ella de curiosa y querida.
Dear Liz, thank you again for all the fond memories and the opportunities to blog. I still laugh at some of the expeditions my brother David and i would arrange with other kids willing to hike to the train stop jn Morse. Our lunch consisted of a bolillo(bun) with a juicy cured jalapeno that we would carefully choose from the giant jar at “El Mananteal” by the bus station. With “un Veinte” centavos we could each get a bun and a jalapeno that we would stuff into the bun and let the juices be absorbed until the bun tasted like a jalapeno. This treat would last the whole trip to the station with a few stops along the way under the shallow overpasses. If we were lucky we sometimes had enough for a cantloupe that tasted like nothing else I have ever tasted since those hot summer days. On the way back we would pick the ripe beans from the mesquites and munch on the sweet pods and spit them out along the way. Little did we know that it was that treat that had us “running” later on in the evening. Oh, what fun! I know for sure that the Solis brothers would join us regularly and Hector Lopez was another regular.
Magdalena Lobo Guerrero, me da gusto saludarle, muchas gracias por contestarme, sobre el envio del Email no lo recibi, repito,lgomez-l@hotmail.com
no se si ya vio las fotos que envie en este blog. Checando archivos de Marzo encotrara algo sobre la cuadra 15 # 24 ahi encontrara las fotos en las que estamos Memo Quintero Lopez Hijo de Emma Lopez a la izquierda al centro estoy yo, Luis Gomez y a La derecha Hector Lopez, yo vivia en la pura esquina de la cuadra y sus Abuelitos dos casas ante de nosotros, eramos sus vecinos,tambien quiero informarle que Hector Lopez Fallecio Hace como dos años, ahora somos casi vecinos de Nuevo Las Lopez y Memos vivimos cerca de la cd. Deportiva no se si recuerde, frente a la Universidad UACH.
Me gustaria que me pudiera saludar a todos sus hermanos, espero si me recuerden, aunque no nos hemos visto siempre los hemos apreciado, ya que mis padres me inculcaron, verlos como de la familia, al ultimo que vi de ustedes fue a Gil en casa de sus papas en el PASO TX. hasta me dio llevo al pente de Juarez, bueno espero seguir en contacto,
Me dio muchisimo gusto contactarnos, y de nuevo saludos a todos.
PD: A proposito del MANANTIAL, era de los Martinez sus hijos estubieron con -migo en la escuela de secundaria, JORGE Y ENRIQUE MARTINEZ ESTE ULTIMO TAMBIEN YA FALLECIO.
Magdalena Lobo Guerrero Corrigiendo EMAIL l-gomez-g@hotmail.com
Me emocione y lo anote mal anteriormente.
A T E N T A M E N T E :
LUIS GOMEZ GRANADOS.