History of San Felipe: Desert of the Chinese Logo
History of San Felipe: Desert of the Chinese

 
 

THE HISTORY OF SAN FELIPE, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO

CHAPTER IX: EL DESIERTO DE LOS CHINOS

An interesting, yet tragic side-light to the historical past of San Felipe is the story relating to the desert lying just north of San Felipe Bay. This desert is known locally as El Desierto de los Chinos (Desert of the Chinese).

This designation is given to that portion of the Colorado desert bordered on the north by the Rio Hardy, on the west by the Sierra Pinta and Sierra de los Cocopahs. To the south it is pinched off where the Sierra San Felipe reaches into the gulf. The Desert of the Chinese is thus an area roughly ninety miles long and up to twenty-five miles wide. [Ibid.]

The desert received its name as a result of a tragic occurrence that cost the lives of thirty-five Chinese out of a party of forty-two. This party in quest of Mexicali, attempted crossing the desert with a guide interested only in his pay, ignorant of the desert's blistering wastes. Far from their China homeland, these new arrivals to Mexico heard of great agricultural developments beginning along the lower portion of the Colorado River. Thus the long unemployed group set out for Guaymas in order to gain passage as far as San Felipe on the "S.S. Topolobampo." The group arrived at San Felipe on August 20, 1902. There they met Jose Escobado who had come to San Felipe to participate in the fishing industry, which unfortunately was closed for the season. Without funds and anxious to leave San Felipe, Escobado quickly sold his services as a guide to the party of Chinese wishing to reach Mexicali. Escobado had only traveled the desert route once, and then he was guided by an experienced miner who knew the desert well. But the Mexican sold himself by a bit of clever misrepresentation. [Ibid., p. 38.]

The grueling story of their march is tragic. Of the forty-two who began the march, thirty-five perished less than forty miles from San Felipe. The remnants of the group made it to the life-giving waters of the Rio Hardy. Fourteen bodies were recovered and buried within walking range of today's highway that whisks vacationers between San Felipe and Mexicali in two hours. The bones of twenty-one of the party still remain somewhere in the desert bleaching under the fiery hot sun of El Desierto de los Chinos.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: HISTORY OF SAN FELIPE SITE EVOLUTION, BY THOMAS ANTHONY TERICH

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