Sierra Gorda Research Articles

Merchant Adventurer: The Story of W. R. Grace by Marquis James

BRIEF NOTICES1 39 a preacher. The remainder of the text narrates Serra's missionary years, first his success in the Sierra Gorda of Mexico, followed by his brief stint in Baja California, and his subsequent presidency of the Alta California Franciscan missions from 1769 until his death, August 27, 1784, at Mission San Carlos Borromeo in present-day Carmel. One striking chapter is devoted to "The Missionary's Doctrine," which illuminates the approach Serra and his confreres used in their evangelization of California native peoples. The book is worth its price because of the compactness and freshness of the narrative, superbly complimented by the sumptuous and profuse illustrations. Doyce B. Nunis, Jr. (University ofSouthern California) James, Marquis. Merchant Adventurer. The Story of W. R Grace. With an Introduction by Lawrence A. Clayton. [Latin American Silhouettes, Studies in History and Culture.] (Wilmington, Delaware: SR Books. A Scholarly Resources Inc. Imprint. 1993- Pp. xxxiv, 385. 824.95.) Two unusual features claim attention. The first, as Professor Clayton recounts in a substantial introduction, is the fact that this book is now published almost fifty years after it was written. Marquis James, a Pulitzer prize writer, had been commissioned by the Grace heirs; the biography he produced after sound research was ready in 1940, and even the galleys printed when the executives of the Grace interests decided that the publication had to be suspended. Secondly, that this classical American success story did not start in New York, Chicago, or the West coast, but, of all unexpected places for an Irish emigrant, the Peruvian port of Callao. There, in 1851, with his Irish parents, William Russell Grace, nineteen years old, landed. The young Grace was able to establish himself, first as employee, then as partner, in a prosperous business ofship-chandler, i.e., provider ofnaval equipment and supplies. Many ships then came to Callao, from Europe and North America, braving the distances and the dreaded Cape Horn in search ofguano, the malodorous but miraculous fertilizer, unique source ofwealth for underdeveloped Peru. Soon Grace and Co. became the main trading house of the country. In 1865, William Grace moved to New York where he set up the same kind of business, while his brother and associate, Michael, took charge of the activities in Peru and neighboring republics. Their network of friendly relations among shipowners and sea captains, the tactful dealing with local authorities , established the brothers as leading promoters and agents of business relations between North and South America. They were inspirers also of the so-called "good neighbor policy" of the pre-Roosevelt era. The Grace brothers had a most beneficial influence on the emergence of a modern economy in Peru: railway and road building, nitrate mining, sugar plantations, etc. They served as financial advisers, and occasionally political mediators. Before they 1 40BRIEF NOTICES consolidated their various interests under a single joint-stock Company, they held full or partial ownership of some sixty private business firms. William 's personal wealth was estimated at ten millions. As a prominent citizen and member of the Irish-Catholic community, Grace involved himself in local politics. Twice, in 1881 and 1885, he was elected mayor of New York. Thereafter he remained a major influence in the Democratic national party, helping to seat Cleveland. This book review might be an occasion to discuss the changes that have occurred in the literary genre of biography in the past half-century. Let us say only that the years have not altered the high degree of readability of the style of Marquis James. G. de Bertier de Sauvigny (Paris) Kauffman, Christopher J. Faith and Fratemalism: The History of the Knights of Columbus. Revised Edition. (New York: Simon and Schuster. 1992. Pp. xxix, 529. »45.00.) Originally published in 1982 to mark the centennial of the founding of the Knights of Columbus, Kauffman's history was widely praised and quickly became the standard work on the subject. This revision, done by Kauffman to coincide with the quincentenary of the first voyage of Christopher Columbus, retains all the strengths ofthe original: thorough research, inclusion ofawealth of detail on both the institutional history of the Knights and on twentiethcentury American Catholicism generally, and insightful interpretive observations...

East-west thrusting and anomalous magnetic declinations in the Sierra Gorda, Betic Cordillera, southern Spain

Structural and palaeomagnetic studies in the Sierra Gorda (Sierra de Loja), located in the External zone of the Betic Cordillera, indicate that westward-directed thrusting is not associated with significant rotations about a vertical axis. Detailed mapping and slip vector analysis show that the Sierra Gorda is a thrust complex composed of three thrust sheets. The uppermost thrust places Early Jurassic pelagic carbonates on top of Jurassic to Oligocene sediments that form a large doubly-plunging footwall syncline. The eastern limb of this syncline has been overturned and is tectonically thinned as a result of the overthrusting.Palaeomagnetic results from Mesozoic and Tertiary sediments both within and around the perimeter of the Sierra Gorda indicate that: (1) the average remanence vector of the seven Late Jurassic localities sampled within the Sierra Gorda has a direction (D = 328° and I = 38°) that is not significantly different from the expected declination for the Upper Jurassic of stable Iberia; and (2) there is no significant difference between the remanences in the two upper thrust sheets indicating that differential rotation did not occur during the initiation and displacement on the thrusts. In contrast, the one Late Jurassic site that was sampled to the west of the Sierra Gorda is rotated, like the rest of the Subbetics, 60° clockwise of the reference direction. The unrotated directions obtained in the Sierra suggest, either that it has rotated in a clockwise sense concordant with the rest of the Subbetic zone and has then been backrotated, or that it has never rotated relative to stable Iberia. In the latter, simpler hypothesis the unrotated declinations may be explained in terms of orthogonal convergence along an irregular continental margin.

Espacio social y crisis política: La Sierra Gorda 1850-1855

The Sierra Gorda forms a portion of the Sierra Madre Oriental, a vast region in central Mexico which became a haven for discontented and politically persecuted groups in the nineteenth century. This article examines the manner in which local socioeconomic interests came into conflict with the project of Santa Anna's government to convert the area into a territory. It also considers how the rebellions of 1854 and 1855, which initially reflected local concerns, expanded to become part of the larger Revolution of Ayutla.

El Movimiento Regenerador de Sierra Gorda (1847- 1849)

Abstract/short description:
 Sierra Gorda is a region consisting of the northern part of the Mexican state of Querétaro, and smaller portions Guanajuato, Hidalgo and San Luis Potosí. Between 1847 and 1849 the region saw the emergence of a peasant movement known as Movimiento Regenerador de Sierra Gorda (The Regeneration Movement of Sierra Gorda) which initiated the Sierra Gorda Rebellion at the same time. The article describes the history, characteristics and goals of this movement.
 Short description written by Michał Gilewski

Paleomagnetic rotations and the kinematics of the Gibraltar arc

Paleomagnetic investigations of a Mesozoic limestone sequence around the Gibraltar arc show that there have been large systematic rotations about a vertical axis and imply that there must have been a significant component of westward motion within the Betic-Rif orogenic belt. Rotations of the Late Jurassic and Late Cretaceous limestones in the Betic Cordillera of southern Spain are clockwise, with the exception of the unrotated Sierra Gorda, whereas the Jurassic sites in the Rif Mountains of Morocco are rotated counterclockwise, except in the area around Tetuan. These data are generally consistent with formation of the arc either by a westward-moving Alboran microplate or by extensional collapse of a collisional mountain chain. The former model, however, fails to recognize the nonrigid, nonplate-like character of the Alboran domain and lacks a definable driving mechanism. A model of a collapsing east-west-elongated ridge that takes into account the obliquity of the convergence along the active margin may provide mechanisms both for the observed rotations and for the large westward component of motion, and therefore can explain the geometry of the Gibraltar are.

California in the Dreams of Gálvez and the Achievements of Serra

Let me introduce to you, or rather reintroduce, the two great characters, thedramatis personaeabout whose dreams and achievements I invite you to a brief reflection.The action begins in July 1768. The Majorcan Father Serra had spent already twenty years working as a missionary in various places on the Mexican mainland. Of all of his accomplishments, the best known were his achievements in the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro where, accompanied by his former student and always active assistant Francisco Palou, he had established five missions. Serra certainly deserved the reputation he had of being not only a sincere and religious friar but also a distinguished theologian, indeed a scholar, and besides a man who knew how to carry out what he considered ought to be done. Now at the age of fifty five, he had a new and difficult task as president of the California missions, replacing the just-expelled Jesuits. There, at the old mission headquarters of Loreto, he was learning about the demographic collapse of the natives and the general situation of the peninsula. Before him lay the task of reorganizing those missions whose future appeared to him so uncertain.

Jurassic magnetostratigraphy, 1. Kimmeridgian-Tithonian of Sierra Gorda and Carcabuey, southern Spain

Two coeval sections of red to white ammonite-rich pelagic limestones spanning the complete Kimmeridgian and most of the Tithonian were sampled in detail. All samples were treated by progressive thermal demagnetization to remove a present field overprint. Characteristic magnetization is carried primarily by magnetite. Polarity intervals are easily identified and correlate well between the two sections. The Tithonian polarity sequence can also be correlated to sections in northern Italy. The similarity between the polarity sequence and the M-sequence of marine magnetic anomalies, coupled with the precise biostratigraphic control, allows assignment of the following ages to the M-sequence: the Late/Early Tithonian boundary is correlated to the end of M-20, the Tithonian/Kimmeridgian boundary to the end of M-23, the Late/Early Kimmeridgian boundary to the latter part of M-24, and the Kimmeridgian/Oxfordian boundary within or slightly after M-25. The mean directions of characteristic magnetization have α 95's less than 3° and demonstrate extensive differential block rotation within the Subbetic province. Paleolatitudes during the Kimmeridgian/Tithonian are in the range of 16–24°N.

Caractéristiques générales du karst dans le secteur central de la Cordillère Subbétique (Andalousie)

ABSTRACT The Subbelic Cordillera shows, as one of ils more characteristic morphologie features, the great development of the karstic landscapes. In this paper, we present a short description of the essential features of the main mountains in the central sector of that chain : Sierra Magina, Sierra de Cabra, Torcal, Sierra Gorda and Sierra Arana. We also point out some conclusions obtained from the study of karst in this sector ; chiefly what agents (climatic, lithologie or structural) prevail in the development of the subbelic karst and in what proportion.

Crystal structure model for metavoltine from Sierra Gorda

The crystal structure of metavoltine from Sierra Gorda, Chile, has been solved from photographic X-ray data by the heavy atom method. The space group used wasP3 witha=9.575(5) andc=18.17(1)A; cell content: K2Na6 (Fe2+, Cu, Zn)Fe 6 3+ (SO4)12O2·18H2O. From the relatively small number and the somewhat poor quality of the X-ray data, the least squares refinement did not give very satisfactory results-especially so for the light atoms. Therefore, steric considerations and information from the Fourier maps were also used when choosing the final atomic coordinates. The salient features of the structure are clusters of Fe 3 3+ O(H2O)3(SO4)6 with Fe3+ in octahedral coordination, and Fe2+(H2O)6 octahedra. The Na+ ions show octahedral coordination, the K+ ions irregular nine coordination.

The North Chilean hexahedrites: Variations in composition and structure

Determination of Ni, Ga, Ge and Ir in 9 of the 12 hexahedrites from northern Chile shows that these irons have not resulted from a single shower, but rather that a minimum of 4 falls are necessary to account for the observed variations. Structural evidence indicates an additional grouping, and that at least 5 falls are involved. The chief distinguishing property is their Ir content: six (Rio Loa, Tocopilla, Puripica, Filomena, San Martin, Coya Norte) have Ir contents of about 4.0 ppm, whereas Negrillos, Sierra Gorda and Mejillones (1905) have Ir contents of 65, 48 and 2.5 ppm. Sierra Gorda and Negrillos also have unique Ni concentrations. The irons cannot be distinguished on the basis of their Ga and Ge contents. The structural groups are the same as those based on Ir content, except that the structure of Puripica differs from that of the other irons containing 4.0 ppm Ir, and Sierra Gorda and Negrillos have rather similar structures. Mejillones (1875) appears to be identical to Mejillones (1905) on the basis of microprobe and optical studies. There is no reason to believe that the strewn field of the similar objects is extraordinarily large compared to those found in observed meteorite showers. There appears to be no connection between these hexahedrites and the irons from Campo del Cielo, Argentina.

On paratacamite and some related copper chlorides

In the course of a study of the corrosion products formed by seawater sprayed at a temperature of 85° F. on brass and copper sheets, a pale green compound was isolated which proved on chemical analysis to have the composition Cu2(OH)3Cl. The X-ray powder diffraction pattern of the substance was found on visual comparison to differ from that of atacamite, which has the same chemical composition. The atacamite pattern was obtained from a specimen of the mineral from Moonta, on the u peninsula, South Australia, that had been authenticated by both morphological measurement and optical study; identical patterns were obtained from a number of other specimens labelled atacamite. The pattern of the corrosion product proved to be identical, however, with that of two specimens in the Harvard collection labelled paratacamite. These were labelled as from Remolinos, Vallinar, Chile (no. 97523), and from Sierra Gorda, Chile (no. 82883).

Educational Methods of the Franciscans in Spanish California

The Mission, so fundamental in the transformation of colonial Hispanic America, has been characterized as the “kingpin” in Spain’s New World frontier system. The culminating stage in the evolution of the mission system, as well as the final fling of Spain’s “aggressive-defensive” in America, is to be found in Alta California. For the missionary sons of St. Francis, the achievements of their Fernandinos on our present Southwest Pacific slope constituted a fitting installment in a long series of “spiritual and temporal conquests.” During the sixty-five years between 1769 and 1834, over 80,000 Indians appear to have been baptized by the Franciscans in California. These savages were not only converted to Christianity, but also, in greater or lesser degree, habituated to Christian practices and morality, civilized, agriculturalized, industrialized and Hispanicized. This despite the fact that the California natives were described as a heterogeneous lot of culturally destitute, peripheral peoples, among the most backward and abject of American red men. For the Franciscans, the Gospel and whatsoever might be necessary thereto must be taught to every human creature. The distinguished lineage of mission methods in California may be traced back to the Sierra Gorda and southern Texas, to the plains of Paraguay and the jungles of Brazil, and—still further—to the labors of missionary monks among the rude barbarians of early medieval Europe.

Agriculture in the Days of the Early California Padres

The study of agriculture, as it was practiced by the early California Padres, should begin in the rough, mountainous region of the Sierra Gorda of Mexico. There, in 1744, Franciscan missionaries began the work of evangelizing the Indians of the central belt of that region. Fathers of the Dominican Order had already established missions along one side of this range, while others of the Augustinian Order were laboring among the Indians of the other side, leaving the middle strip untouched. The Reverend Father Fr. Pedro Pérez de Mezquía, Superior of the recently founded College of San Fernando in the City of Mexico, had accompanied the Franciscan Padres to aid them in the founding of five missions. From his experience in the missions in Texas whither he had gone with Fr. Margil, Fr. Mezquía had formulated a set of rules and regulations for both the spiritual direction and the temporal government of the Indians of the region. Unfortunately the climate of the Sierra Gorda did not agree with most of those first Padres. Some became ill and were obliged to retire to the College, others died, making frequent changes of missionaries necessary. Few stayed long enough to acquire a knowledge of the language of the Pame people, consequently little progress was made in the conversion of those Indians.

Agriculture in the Days of the Early California Padres

The study of agriculture, as it was practiced by the early California Padres, should begin in the rough, mountainous region of the Sierra Gorda of Mexico. There, in 1744, Franciscan missionaries began the work of evangelizing the Indians of the central belt of that region. Fathers of the Dominican Order had already established missions along one side of this range, while others of the Augustinian Order were laboring among the Indians of the other side, leaving the middle strip untouched.The Reverend Father Fr. Pedro Pérez de Mezquía, Superior of the recently founded College of San Fernando in the City of Mexico, had accompanied the Franciscan Padres to aid them in the founding of five missions. From his experience in the missions in Texas whither he had gone with Fr. Margil, Fr. Mezquía had formulated a set of rules and regulations for both the spiritual direction and the temporal government of the Indians of the region. Unfortunately the climate of the Sierra Gorda did not agree with most of those first Padres. Some became ill and were obliged to retire to the College, others died, making frequent changes of missionaries necessary. Few stayed long enough to acquire a knowledge of the language of the Pame people, consequently little progress was made in the conversion of those Indians.

Historical Heritage of the Lower Rio Grande: A Historical Record of Spanish Exploration, Subjugation and Colonization of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and the Activities of Jose Escandon, Court of Sierra Gorda together with the Development of Towns and Ranches under Spanish, Mexican, and Texas sovereignties, 1747-1848

Historical Heritage of the Lower Rio Grande: A Historical Record of Spanish Exploration, Subjugation and Colonization of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and the Activities of Jose Escandon, Court of Sierra Gorda together with the Development of Towns and Ranches under Spanish, Mexican, and Texas sovereignties, 1747-1848