Colonia Díaz

Colonia Díaz
Ghost town, Former Mormon colony
Remaining building in Colonia Díaz, 1916.
Colonia Díaz Location of Colonia Díaz in Chihuahua
Coordinates: 31°10′0″N 108°0′0″W / 31.16667°N 108.00000°W / 31.16667; -108.00000Coordinates: 31°10′0″N 108°0′0″W / 31.16667°N 108.00000°W / 31.16667; -108.00000
Country	Mexico
State	Chihuahua
Settled	May, 1885
Founded by	Mormon pioneers
Named for	Mexican president Porfirio Díaz
Area
• Total	140 km2 (53 sq mi)
Elevation	473 m (1,551 ft)
Population (1912)
• Total	1,000
	Currently uninhabited

Colonia Díaz was the first permanent Mormon colony in Mexico, located along the Casas Grandes River in the northeast of the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. It is now a ghost town bordered on the east by the Sierra Madre Occidental. It was the nearest colony to the Mexico–United States border. By 1900, Díaz had grown to 623 inhabitants. In 1912, during the Mexican revolution, Colonia Díaz was intentionally burned and destroyed. Other neighboring colonies were established after Colonia Díaz in the late 19th century, of which only Colonia Dublán, sixty miles south of Colonia Díaz, and Colonia Juárez, 18 miles southeast of Colonia Dublán, are still inhabited.

Humans have lived in the Casas Grandes area for at least 1,900 years. The Mormon settlement was established in 1885 mostly to provide refuge for plural families escaping the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, especially after the 1878 Reynolds v. United States ruling against polygamy. Therefore, Colonia Díaz is an early example of a planned community. Farming and stock raising became an important economic factor in the valley during the colonists' presence. By the time Colonia Díaz was ransacked during the Mexican Revolution, the colony had approximately 300 families. By the 1st of August 1912, all American families had left Colonia Díaz, none of which returned.

Prior to the arrival of settlers in late-19th century, the Apache people lived in the Casas Grandes valley along the river of the same name. Mexican hunters and trappers avoided the area because of fear for the Apaches. The first Mormon pioneers to settle in Mexico established temporary camps adjacent to the Casas Grandes River. Within weeks Colonia Díaz was established as the first permanent Mormon colony in Mexico. The name came from then Mexican President Porfirio Díaz, whose general policy encouraged foreign colonization. No report has been found of clashes between the Apache Indians and the Mormon colonizers. In 1888 settlers then founded Colonia Dublán, 50 miles south of Colonia Díaz. By mid-1890 the settlers in Díaz had planted some 2000 shade trees, 15,000 fruit trees and 5,000 grape vines in the fertile soil of the Casas Grandes valley, where Colonia Díaz was established. All orchards and pastures surrounded the community, which consisted of a compact grid of about 140 blocks. None of the Mormon colonies had local political leadership. All civil decisions were made locally by LDS bishops and the Stake President. A request was submitted in 1911 to then Chihuahua governor Abraham González for town leadership for Colonia Juarez, Colonia Dublán and Colonia Díaz. The decision for self-government was postponed and never reached due to the civil unrest of the Mexican Revolution centered in Chihuahua.