"On arriving at the colonies they found that every house had been looted and everything of value taken, sewing machines and furniture ruthlessly smashed up and lying around as debris, while house organs, which were to be found in nearly every Mormon home, were heaps of kindling wood. The carcasses of dead animals lay about the streets, doors and windows were smashed in, stores gutted and the contents strewn everywhere about, while here and there a cash register or some other modern appliance gave evidence of the hand of prejudice-destroying ignorance."
In October, Consul Dye of Douglas made a formal inspection.
Some of the colonists returned when conditions apparently had bettered, and there is at hand a record of what may be considered to have been the final abandonment. In the first days of May, 1914, at Douglas, 92 Americans from the three Sonora colonies, arrived in 21 wagons, being the last of the colonists. They practically had been ordered out, after having been notified by the American Secretary of State that the protection of their country would not be extended to them. Most of their property was left behind, at the mercy of the Mexican authorities.
Congressional Inquiry
In September, 1912, at El Paso, was an investigation under the terms of a Senate resolution, which sought to find whether the Mexican troubles had been incited by American citizens or corporations. Senator Smith of Michigan was chairman of the committee. At the hearings there was repeated inquiry apparently seeking to demonstrate that the Standard Oil Company, to a degree, was responsible for the Madera revolution. There also was considerable inquiry, apparently hostile, seeking to define ulterior reasons why the Mormons should have chosen Mexico as an abiding place. The investigation covered all parts of Mexico where American interests had suffered, and only incidentally touched the Mormon settlements. There was ample evidence to the effect that the Mormons retained their American citizenship and American customs, that they had lived in amity with the former stable Mexican government, that any troubles they may have had were not due to any actions of their own, but to the desire for loot on the part of the roaming national and revolutionary soldiery and that their departure was forced and necessary. No especial definition seems to have been given to the exact amount of the loss suffered, but there was agreement that the damage done to these American citizens was very large. At the outbreak of the revolution, according to evidence presented, guarantees had been received by the Mormons from both of the major Mexican factions, but, when these guarantees were referred to, General Salazar sententiously observed, "They are but words."
Repopulation of the Mexican Colonies
A few valiant souls returned to the colonies and remained as best they could, forming nuclei for others who have drifted back from time to time, though neither their going nor coming was under direct Church instruction.
Early in 1920, President J.C. Bentley of the Juarez Stake told of the revival of the Mexican missions, and in the latter part of the same year, A.W. Ivins, returning from the Chihuahua colonies, told that 779 colonists were found, approximately one-fifth of the total number of refugees. To a degree their property had been maintained and their orchards kept alive by the few who had remained over the troublous period. The academy at Colonia Juarez had been running some time, with 100 students. He told of the great work of reconstruction that would have to be done, in restoration of fences and homes, and expressed confidence that all now would be well under the more stable government that has been provided in the southern republic.
There was restoration of order in Mexico in 1920 and assumption of an apparently stable political government under President Alvaro Obregon, a Sonora citizen, with whom is associated P. Elias Calles, who had somewhat to do with the Morelos-Oaxaca troubles. Assurances have been given that protection will be extended to all immigrants, the Mormon land titles have been accepted and a fresh movement southward has been started across the border. But there are many, possibly a half of those who fled, who will not return. They have established themselves, mainly in Arizona, under conditions they do not care to leave. So, it is probable, further extension southward of the Church plans of agricultural settlement will be a task that will lie upon the shoulders of a younger generation.