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Great Plains Quarterly
Great Plains Studies, Center for
10-1-1981
Beyond The Borderlands: Mexican Labor In The
Central Plains, 1900-1930
Michael M. Smith
Oklahoma State University
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Smith, Michael M., "Beyond The Borderlands: Mexican Labor In The Central Plains, 1900-1930" (1981). Great Plains Quarterly. Paper
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BEYOND THE BORDERLANDS:
MEXICAN LABOR IN THE
CENTRAL PLAINS, 1900.. 1930
MICHAEL M. SMITH
compact area. The rising tide of Mexican migration to the northern and central plains states
after the turn of the century, when conditions
in both Mexico and the United States encouraged immigration, and the Great Depression,
which witnessed the ebb and finally the outward flow of the vast majority of Mexicans
from the region, have determined the chronological parameters of the study. This is a general
spatial and occupational survey that does not
attempt to present a detailed account of social
conditions or wage scales.
The northern and central plains states, lying
well beyond the Spanish borderlands and
containing no great urban metropolises, have
received scant attention in published studies of
Mexican migration to and Mexican labor in the
United States. Although this region did not
attract Mexican immigrants in large numbers,
compared to California, Arizona, New Mexico,
Texas, and Colorado and such cities as Chicago
or Detroit, there was a dramatic increase in
the number of Mexican immigrants to the
plains states between 1900 and 1930. These
persons filled a vital, yet generally ignored, role
in the economic life of the region. 1
This study examines Mexican migration to
Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota,
and North Dakota. Such a spatial limitation
permits a survey of migration and labor beyond
the borderlands and outside the large industrial
centers while providing an opportunity to investigate Mexican labor in a geographically
CAUSES OF MEXICAN MIGRATION
A variety of factors coalesced during the
first three decades of the twentieth century to
stimulate massive migration of Mexicans
across the border and subsequently into the
central and northern plains. During the latter
years of the nineteenth century, the Mexican
peasantry had faced an oppressive combination
of land-ownership concentration; debt peonage,
demographic pressure, static wages, and a rising
cost of living. Faced with the chilling alternatives of flight or starvation, migration was
the only liberation for hundreds of poor
campesinos who roamed Mexico in search of
Michael M. Smith is an associate professor of
history at Oklahoma State University. A specialist in the history of New Spain and Mexico,
he is the author of The Mexicans in Oklahoma
(1980) and The "Real Expedici6n Maritlina de
la Vacuna" in New Spain and Guatemala (1974).
239
240 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 1981
employment. The inhabitants of the populous
Central Plateau-including the states of J alisco,
Michoacan, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosi, and
Zacatecas-most sharply felt the effects of the
social and economic problems that beset
Mexico, and they comprised the largest proportion of Mexican immigrants to the plains
region. Between 1900 and 1910, perhaps as
many as 500,000 Mexicans entered the United
States. Immigration increased even more
rapidly between 1910 and 1930. The Mexican
revolution and its attendant physical destruction, social upheaval, agricultural collapse,
and inflation produced widespread suffering
and drove people from the land. Although
traditional studies have credited the revolution with causing the massive exodus of Mexicans to the United States in the twentieth
century, more recent works have shown that
it merely intensified a movement that had been
under way for over a decade. 2
Concomitant with the expanding supply of
highly mobile Mexican labor was the economic
development of the American West and Southwest. Railroad constI;uction and maintenance,
mining, and the enormous expansion of agriculture in this area of low population density
created a mushrooming demand for workers.
American laborers, whose wages and standard
of living were rising rapidly at this time, disdained these opportunities when they could
find more attractive and more remunerative
employment elsewhere. While American workers refused to take these jobs in the West, traditional sources of foreign labor progressively
diminished during the period. The Chinese
Exclusion Act (1882) and the "Gentleman's
Agreement" with Japan (1907) effectively
excluded orientals. The outbreak of World War
I and the Immigration Acts of 1917, 1921, and
1924 curtailed the immigration of Europeans.
As a result, railroad, mining, industrial, and
agricultural interests grew increasingly dependent upon laborers from Mexico. Many employers considered Mexicans as the ideal solution
to their labor problems. The Mexicans' pattern
of working for brief periods in the United
States and then returning home seemed to pose
no threat to the "American way of life." Prior
to the Great Depression, Mexican workers were
routinely exempted from the restrictions imposed upon others by the various immigration
acts. 3
The presence of Mexicans in the plains states
was closely associated with the railroads, which
provided the major arteries of migration from
Mexico to the United States and were the
major employers and distributors of Mexican
labor throughout the region. By 1904 railroad
lines bridged the desert between the Mexican
heartland and the Texas border towns of El
Paso, Eagle Pass, Laredo, and Brownsville. As
immigrants crossed the Rio Grande, agents
obligingly facilitated their contact with a
variety of employers, who either sent their own
recruiters to the border or utilized private
agencies that were exclusively engaged in securing Mexican workers. El Paso, which had direct
rail contact with the Central Plateau as well as
the mining centers across the border, was the
paramount recruiting center. The primary
railroads of Oklahoma and Kansas-the Atchinson, Topeka, and Santa Fe (Santa Fe); the
Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific (Rock Island); the St. Louis and San Francisco (Frisco);
and the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas (Katy)all had direct or indirect connections with El
Paso and Laredo and drew heavily upon the
pool of cheap, unskilled labor there. In an
eight-month period between 1907 and 1908,
six El Paso companies supplied almost 16,500
Mexicans to various railroad corporations.
By 1928 the Santa Fe alone employed a total
of 14,300 Mexicans. With a turnover rate that
once reached 300 percent annually, the Santa
Fe required a constantly renewable supply of
workers. Thousands of Mexicans were shipped
every year from El Paso to Kansas City, which
became the major distribution center of Mexicans in the Midwest. Thus, the web of railway
lines facilitated the dispersion of Mexicans
throughout the plains states and fed labor to
employers in the region. 4
A peculiar characteristic of Mexican workers in the northern and central plains was the
"leapfrog" nature of their migration. Reaching
BEYOND THE BORDERLANDS 241
the American border, natives of the Central
Plateau found that their compatriots from
northern Mexico had already taken the jobs in
that area. Thus, they comprised the vast majority of those who traveled beyond the border
directly to the plains states. Studies of Mexicans in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and North
Dakota confirm this phenomenon. S
Mexicans in the plains states differed markedly from their European counterparts in their
generally transitory residence. Land ownership
held an overpowering attraction for many
European immigrants. They frequently established themselves in rural ethnic enclaves,
bought farms, and became permanent residents
and citizens. 6 Mexicans, on the other hand,
because of the nature of their employment and
their own preferences, rarely became landowners. 7 As migrant or temporary workers,
they came for the season and then returned to
the border or their homes in the interior. At
first most came as solos-bachelors or married
men traveling alone-who took back or sent
money to support their families who remained
in Mexico. The proximity of their homeland
and the practice of railroad companies and
other employers to provide free or reduced-rate
transportation to the border encouraged transience. 8 Although conditions in Mexico and,
later, the railroads' attempts to secure a less
volatile labor force often induced them to bring
their families north and prolong their stay for
many years, most Mexicans in the plains states
were visitors who rarely became settlers and
citizens.
DISTRIBUTION IN THE PLAINS STATES
The accompanying table and maps show
that significant numbers of Mexicans were
present in the northern and central plains
states between 1910 and 1930. These figures
must stand, however, as estimates rather than
precise statistics. The published federal and
state censuses did not always include Mexicans
as an enumerated group in all states and in all
years under examination when reporting
inhabitants by county or in the smaller cities
MEXICANS IN THE GREAT PLAINS STATES: 1900-1940
1900
1920
1910
1930a
1940
Oklahoma
70 b
2,645
6,884
7,354
1,425
Kansas
71
8,429
13,770
19,150
5,122
Nebraska
27
289
2,452
6,312
1,773
South Dakota
13
13
68
816
76
North Dakota
1
8
27
608
56
182
11,384
23,201
34,240
8,452
103,393
221,915
486,418
1,258,317
377,433
Total
Total in U.S.
aThe 1930 census fIgures reflect the "Mexican-stock" population.
bTotal for Oklahoma Territory only. Indian Territory contained 68 Mexican-born.
SOURCE: United States Census
242 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 1981
o
NO/O-2A8
0
200 - . . .
~
!iOD-7'.
o
NO/O-24.
200
0
-~ !iOD-7'.
!'i!!!I7!iO-'"
~700-'"
.1ODD-2911
•
Source:
u.s. c.n....
1DOD-2011
Source:
u.s. c..,....
FIG. 1. Distribution of Mexicans in Oklahoma,
Kansas, and Nebraska by County, 1910.
FIG. 2. Distribution of Mexicans in Oklahoma,
Kansas, and Nebraska by County, 1920.
and towns. In addi5ion, federal census data
represent only those Mexicans counted at a
particular place on a specific date at ten-year
intervals. Little significant data exist for the
intervening years. The timing of the census was
also unfortunate for establishing precise counts
of Mexicans in the region. Censuses for the key
years of 1910, 1920, and 1930 were taken in
the months of April, January, and April, respectively. Mexicans typically would be visiting
their homeland during the winter and early
spring. Undoubtedly many more Mexicans were
in the plains states during the summer, when
track maintenance was at its peak, and during
the fall harvest seasons. It is generally believed
that the federal census and the Kansas state
census, the most valuable of its kind for the
region, represent considerable undercounts of
Mexicans. 9 Finally, there is no way to assess
accurately the number of Mexicans who were in
these states illegally and evaded the census
takers.
Federal census data clearly indicate the significant increase of Mexicans in the region and
general patterns of their distribution between
1900 and 1930. In 1900 federal enumerators
found only 182 Mexicans in the five-state
area. By 1910, however, the Mexican population had risen to more than 11,000, with approximately 8,500 in Kansas and 2,600 in Oklahoma. The 1920 census recorded an even more
dramatic increase. Kansas reported nearly
14,000 Mexican-born (the seventh-largest
Mexican-born population in the United States),
while Oklahoma counted almost 7,000 and
Nebraska nearly 2,500. Although the first
shock waves of the Great Depression had already rippled through the plains states by the
beginning of 1930, the Mexican-stock population surpassed 34,000 in the five-state region.
Well over half-19,150-resided in Kansas.
In addition, there were more ,than 7,000
Mexicans in Oklahoma, 6,300 in Nebraska, 800
in South Dakota, and 600 in North Dakota.
By 1940, however, only about 8,500 Mexicanborn remained. 10
Since Mexicans came into the northern and
central plains as migrant or temporary workers,
BEYOND THE BORDERLANDS 243
DND/D-...
D 250-_
~
~
500-'"
'50-."
.1DDO-.I1'
movement into Nebraska as well. More than
600 Mexicans lived in the railway and meatpacking center of Omaha, while thousands
more. were employed by the Union Pacific
and Burlington railroads and in the sugarbeet-producing North Platte valley in western
Nebraska. By 1920, growing concentrations
of Mexicans resided in the region's impo~tant
cities. Oklahoma City, Topeka (where the
Santa Fe had its national headquarters), and
Wichita each contained about 800 Mexicans.
More than 2,000 lived in Kansas City. The
census of 1930 reveals the full extent of the
distribution of Mexican labor in the region.
Tens of thousands worked in Oklahoma,
Kansas, and Nebraska. In addition, hundreds
of Mexicans labored in the sugar beet fields
in and around Belle Fourche in western South
Dakota and in the Red River valley of North
Dakota, more than 1,500 miles beyond the
border. l l
FIG. 3. Distribution of Mexicans in Oklahoma,
Kansas, and Nebraska by County, 1930.
labor needs dictated their distribution in
the region. By 1910 the dispersion of Mexicans
in Oklahoma and Kansas was already indicative of later patterns of distribution as well.
Mexicans in Oklahoma lived primarily in the
counties and towns along the state's four major
railroads-the Santa Fe, Rock Island, Frisco,
and Katy. The coal-mining district in southeastern Oklahoma and the cotton-producing
southwestern quadrant of the state also contained significant numbers of Mexicans. The
railroads-principally the Santa Fe and Rock
Island-were the primary employers of Mexicans in Kansas. The importance of the Santa
Fe is illustrated by the fact that more than
68 percent of the state's Mexican-born resided
in the 28 counties (of the state's 105) through
which that company's lines passed. In addition, Mexicans worked in meat-packing plants
in Kansas City, Wichita, and Topeka, in and
around the southwestern sugar beet center
of Garden City, and in the salt mines of central
Kansas. The census of 1920 demonstrates the
MEXICAN LABOR AND THE RAILROADS
By far, the primary employers of Mexicans
were the railroads. Mexicans began working
on railroads as early as the 1880s and 1890s in
Oklahoma and by 1902 in Kansas. The vast
majority of Mexican-born male residents interviewed in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska
have stated that they were railroad employees
at one time or another. Although construction
of the major portions of the region's railways
had been completed prior to the heaviest migration, Mexican workers ultimately developed
a virtual monopoly over track maintenance
operations. Railroads needed track labor from
March to October, and most Mexicans came intending to work only for the season. They
signed contracts for six- or nine-month periods
and received transportation back to the border
if they fulf:tlled their agreement. Many Mexicans returned annually to work for the same
railroad and often in the same geographical
area. 12
Mexicans initially filled positions on extra
gangs. Their principal jobs were ballasting,
laying ties, and ordinary pick-and-shovel work.
244 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 1981
Most came as solos, since life on the extra gangs
was extremely nomadic. Laborers were constantly shuttled to locations requiring emergency
or temporary work. They lived in dilapidated
boxcars that were converted into crude shelters
and parked along sidings. Even though railroad
wages in the plains states were higher than
those for similar work along the border, many
laborers broke their contract and drifted
into other unskilled jobs in the region. The
unsteady nature of employment, the constant
moving about, and a desire to be nearer their
families were the principal reasons for abandoning railroad work.
Extra gang employment frequently led to
securing a position on a section crew, that is, a
maintenance group assigned to a specific portion of the track line. In major railroad centers,
Mexicans also found employment in the shops,
roundhouses, and yards. They almost always
filled the low-level ranks, seldom advancing to
positions as section foremen or to the skilled
and more responsible jobs in the shops. The
reasons most frequently given for excluding
Mexicans from the better positions were their
lack of requisite skills and their inability to
speak English. Many Mexican workers, however, clearly perceived that prejudice in a racially conscious society also obstructed their
advancement. 13 Since few had year-round employment, many Mexicans returned to the
border after completing their contract. Others,
however, saw little advantage in going home
and sought alternative jobs until the railroads
needed them again. Many track employees
worked the Texas and Oklahoma cotton harvest, which began almost at the same time of
year that their contract period ended. Some
found work in mines and industries, on farms
and ranches, or as municipal employees. Others
joined the great migrant agricultural pool and
followed the sugar beet, tomato, strawberry,
wheat, and corn harvests in the plains states or
beyond to Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan,
Minnesota, and elsewhere. 14
By 1912, railroad companies were already
endeavoring to attract Mexicans on a more
permanent basis both because of the difficulty
of keeping track workers and in recognition of
their positive performance. To encourage employees to bring their families and settle more
permanently, the Santa Fe built crude houses
on railroad property and rented them for a low
fee. Constructed of scrap pieces and cheap,
second-hand materials, these dwellings provided
minimally adequate shelter.lS Not all workers,
however, enjoyed even these rudimentary
accommodations. Many continued to occupy
boxcars and tents pitched along the right-ofway. The companies encouraged those who did
not live along the right-of-way to settle nearby.
They preferred that the labor force reside in a
compact unit so that the entire crew of a section could be summoned immediately in case
of an emergency.16 This residential pattern
established Mexican settlements "across the
tracks" in almost all major centers in the plains
states.
The Great Depression significantly affected
the employment of Mexicans by the railroads
in the region. Pressured by federal officials,
congressional committees, labor unions, and
unemployed CItizens, railroad corporations
drastically reduced the number of their Mexican employees or removed them from their
payrolls entirely. A major exception to this
pattern was the Santa Fe in Kansas, which
maintained a large Mexican labor force throughout the period. 17
MEXICANS AND THE
SUGAR BEET INDUSTRY
The sugar beet industry ranked second only
to the railroads in the concentrated employment of Mexican laborers in the northern and
central plains states. The protection that the
Dingley tariff offered American sugar interests
in 1897 stimulated the production of sugar
beets throughout the United States. Farmers
had raised some beets in the Arkansas valley
of southwestern Kansas and in the North Platte
valley of western Nebraska as early as the
1880s and 1890s. The proven profitability of
the crop led to the construction of the first
sugar beet mill in Garden City, Kansas, in
BEYOND THE BORDERLANDS 245
1906. In 1908 the Great Western Sugar Company (the largest producer of beet sugar in the
United States) began growing beets in Nebraska
and built a factory at Scottsbluff in 1910.
Later, farmers turned to raising beets on the
northern plains in the Belle Fourche region of
western South Dakota and in the Red River
valley of North Dakota. By 1928, Nebraska had
become the second-largest producer of sugar
beets in the United States. 18
Mexicans began to replace other immigrant
laborers in the beet fields as early as 1910.
When world War I caused a severe shortage of
labor in the industry, the United States lifted
all restrictions on the importation of Mexican
agricultural workers. Between 1918 and 1920,
about 20 percent of all the hand laborers came
directly from Mexico. In the latter year, the
Great Western Suga~ Company spent $360,000
to recruit workers all along the Rio Grande.
The company shipped them north on special
trains, paid their fare and meals, and then
distributed them to farmers who needed
field hands. In 1926 the Great Western spent
another $250,000 to supply more than 14,000
workers. 19
Sugar beet production required arduous and
monotonous labor. Usually the head of a family
contracted to work a specific number of acres
for a stipulated wage per acre. An experienced
hand could tend about ten acres, while a very
skillful one might handle as many as fifteen.
By 1927, the average wage per acre was from
$23 to $24. The six-month work cycle, which
ended in November or- December, was comprised of three separate operations-blocking
and thinning, hoeing and weeding, and pulling
and topping. Entire families worked in the
fields together, as women and children aided
in the hoeing and pulling chores. Employment
was not continuous over the entire season,
however, and the field hands' total work days
averaged only about 50 percent of the whole
cycle. Between operations, they had to seek
temporary jobs elsewhere.
By the 1920s "beet workers" and "Mexicans" were nearly synonymous terms in many
areas of the plains states. In 1927 one writer
Mexican boys working in the Kansas sugar beet
fields, 1922. Courtesy of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka.
reported that from 75 to 90 percent of the
beet field hands in the north central states
were Mexicans. Another observer stated the
following year that 5,000 Mexicans were working in Nebraska's North Platte valley. When
congressional committees in 1928 and 1929
conducted hearings to consider stopping the
flow of migrant workers from Mexico, representatives of the sugar beet interests testified
that if they could not continue to use Mexicans, their industry would be ruined. 20
The following statistics reveal the close relationship between the sugar beet industry and
Mexicans in Nebraska and the Dakotas. In 1920
the leading beet-producing counties of Nebraska contained 20 percent of the state's
total Mexican population; by 1930 they held
over 50 percent. In the latter year, the two
major beet-producing counties of South Dakota
registered 77 percent of all Mexicans in the
246 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 1981
state, and the four principal beet counties of
North Dakota reported over 80 percent of all
Mexicans. 21
Because there were usually few job opportunities during the winter months in the beet
regions, most workers returned to the border
or to Mexico after the harvest. Although the
Great Depression virtually stopped the flow of
Mexican workers to the United States, Mexicans and Mexican Americans continued to
dominate the beet labor force on the plains
during the thirties.
MEAT PACKING, COAL MINING,
AND AGRICULTURE
The meat-packing industry in Kansas City,
Omaha, Oklahoma City, Wichita, and Topeka
also employed many Mexican laborers. Since
these cities were important railroad centers,
it is difficult to determine precisely the number
of Mexicans who worked in the packing houses.
Although Mexicans had found employment in
Kansas City's packing plants in 1908, a congressional immigration commISSIOn report
noted only eleven Mexican-born in that industry in 1909. The same survey reported only
three Mexican employees in the South Omaha
meat-packing district. The number of Mexican
laborers in the industry increased sharply
during World War I. By 1921, approximately
two to three hundred Mexicans were employed
in the Armourdale district of Kansas City after
they had served as strikebreakers during labor
disputes. Many of Wichita's "north colony"
Mexicans found employment in that district's
stockyards and packing plants, but somewhat
fewer were employed in Topeka. A large
number of Oklahoma City's railroad workers
lived in the southwestern "Packingtown"
neighborhood, and at times several hundred
former section laborers worked for the nearby
Swift and Wilson companies. 22
In 1923 Omaha's Mexican population reached
nearly one thousand; approximately six hundred resided in South Omaha, which contained
the city's three largest packing plants. By 1927
about twelve hundred fifty Mexicans lived
in the city. Although many workers from the
warmer climes of Mexico disliked toiling in the
cold lockers, the work had some advantages.
Most Mexican employees were common laborers, but many held semiskilled positions and
received better wages than their compatriots
in other industries. Packing houses usually
offered year-round employment and were
therefore much more attractive than the
railroads. A study of three Omaha plants
conducted in 1927 revealed the relatively permanent residency and steadiness of employmen t in the meat-processing industry. Mexican
employees averaged between six and one-half
to eight years of service with those three com. 23
pames.
A significant number of Mexicans worked in
the coal mines of southeastern Oklahoma,
principally in Pittsburg County. Mining, which
had begun in the 1870s, led to the extension of
a line of the Katy railroad through the area.
By 1890 Mexicans who had been employed on
construction crews began to abandon railroad
work for better-paying jobs in the mines.
Later, additional Mexicans migrated from coal
fields in Texas and Colorado and the gold- and
silver-mining districts of central and northern
Mexico. In 1910 the congressional immigration
commission reported that several hundred
Mexicans worked in the area and comprised
the fourth-largest ethnic group in the mines.
Nearly 50 percent had been miners in Mexico.
Coal mining was the only industry employing
large numbers of workers in the area, and 100
percent of employed Mexicans worked in the
mines. They found employment for between
six and nine months a year, averaging about
one hundred seventy days annually. Much of
the time lost was due to the suspension of
operations from April to June. During this
slack time, most Mexicans sought work on the
railroads and then returned to the mines when
operations resumed. The majority were common piece workers, because operators preferred
Americans or English-speaking immigrants for
the most skilled or responsible positions.
Although Mexicans were not segregated,
they preferred the company of their own
BEYOND THE BORDERLANDS 247
Display at the Mexican Independence Day celebration at Anadarko, Oklahoma, September
16, 1901. Father Hidalgo, who started the revolt against Spain, is in the center top photograph. Courtesy of the Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma.
countrymen on the job and during leisure
hours. The pick-mining system of labor that
prevailed in the mines required two-man teams
to work in areas often located hundreds of feet
from the entrance and isolated from other
teams. All miners chose their partners from
within their own ethnic group, and therefore
it was not only among Mexicans that fathers
and sons, brothers, close relatives, and friends
worked together.
Mexican miners earned an average of $375
a year, but a few earned over $600. Almost
all Mexican families surveyed had to supplement the father's income in some way. About
20 percent of the households took in lodgers
or boarders, and women frequently washed and
ironed for the single men. No Mexican women,
however, worked outside the home. Including
all sources of income, the average Mexican
family earned about $470 a year in the mining
district. 24
Between 1920 and 1930 the Mexican population in the coal-mining area increased markedly, with most still residing in Pittsburg Coun ty.
Average daily wages for Mexicans reached
$3.60 in 1917 and as high as $7.50 in 1925.
The decline of the coal industry in Oklahoma,
however, had already begun by the latter year.
The increasing use of gas and oil for fuel and a
severe strike between 1924 and 1927 hastened
its demise. During the labor disputes, coal companies hired 1,200 Mexican strikebreakers and
forced an open shop. By the early 1930s
declining wages and deteriorating safety conditions revived the union and caused more strikes.
Mexican workers joined the union and supported
248 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 1981
its demands, but when the full impact of the
Great Depression struck the area, most Mexicans abandoned the mines, moved to Tulsa or
Oklahoma City in search of other jobs, or
simply left the state. 25
Migrant Mexican workers undoubtedly played
an important role in the cotton and grain harvests in the central and northern plains. Unfortunately, the paucity of information on the
subject makes it impossible to tabulate their
number or describe their role precisely. The
rapid expansion of cotton acreage in southwestern Oklahoma after 1907 required a large
seasonal labor force and attracted Mexicans
who had already joined the picking cycle in
Texas. An observer reported in 1908 that Oklahoma planters often sent farm managers or
foremen to the border to recruit one hundred
or more men and their families. They preferred,
however, simply to hire their field hands away
from the railroads by offering higher wages.
In 1907 workers could earn from $.50 to $.75
per hundred pounds of cotton picked. By 1925
they were earning as much as $2.00 per hundred. All members of the family participated
in the pizca (as Mexicans called the cotton
harvest) and, as a unit, could pick from two to
three hundred pounds a day. Living conditions
during the picking season were primitive
throughout the period under study. Large
families, often with ten or more children, lived
in tents, crude shacks, or canvas-covered carts.
They lacked adequate supplies of water and
even the most rudimentary sanitation facilities.
Still, Mexicans went to the fields annually. In
a recent study of Mexicans in Oklahoma, virtually every long-time resident recounted his or
her experiences during the harvest season and
remarked on the number of Mexicans who
labored in the fields. 26
It is difficult to analyze the extent to which
Mexican laborers participated in the harvesting and thrashing operations in the great wheat
belt that extends from north central Oklahoma
through North Dakota. Some Mexicans most
certainly joined the annual stream of laborers
through the plains. As early as 1908, many
Mexicans left railroad gangs to work in the
grain fields of northern Oklahoma and Kansas.
Some railroad contractors reported that they
lost nearly one-third of their labor force for
that reason. 27 Despite the massive shortage of
labor for harvests during the War years and the
annual requests for tens of thousands of workers in the wheat-producing states, documents
reveal little information concerning Mexican
laborers during that time.
The foregoing survey demonstrates that
Mexicans played an undeniably significant role
in the economic life of the plains states between 1900 and 1930. Thousands of Mexicans
performed the work that most Americans and
other immigrant groups disdained. They
worked from the far southwestern corner of
Oklahoma to the most distant counties in
North Dakota. Several of the region's most important industries-particularly the railroads
and sugar beet production-depended almost
exclusively upon laborers from Mexico. Yet, for
the most part, scholars have ignored their
contributions.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
To a large degree this lack of attention may
be explained by the relatively few Mexican
residents in the area compared to the borderlands, where the massive numbers of Mexicans
have made a lasting impact upon the physical,
social, and linguistic culture. Mexicans, who
were often an "invisible element" in the past,
remain a relatively "invisible minority" in the
northern and central plains today. Most people
in the region are not only ignorant of their
contributions but unaware of their very presence.
This spatial and occupational survey provides a starting point for examining the role of
Mexicans in a regional context. Corporation
and union documents (still extremely difficult
to obtain or examine) and state, county, and
local records should contain much valuable
data. Newspapers, family papers, photographs,
and letters will give us a much better idea of
life in the plains for Mexican immigrants. The
most revealing sources, and certainly the most
BEYOND THE BORDERLANDS 249
eXCItmg from the researcher's point of view,
are the immigrants themselves. Unfortunately,
scholars may have waited too long before
initiating the oral history projects that have
been and are being conducted in Oklahoma,
Kansas, and Nebraska. Most of the Mexicanborn residents in these states are in their
eighties, nineties, or older. Many more of the
original settlers have died; let us hope that
their history has not died with them. Mexican
ethnic enclaves still exist in the major cities of
Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. The Mexican
immigrants' experiences have intimately linked
them to the region'S past, and they should be
incorporated into the body of history that
all will share in the future. Mexicans and their
descendants still preserve a living culture that
greatly enriches the social fabric of life in the
northern and central plains states.
NOTES
1. At present, only two published works,
both introductory surveys, have examined the
Mexicans' role in the northern and central
plains states: Michael M. Smith, The Mexicans
in Oklahoma (Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press, 1980) and Ralph Grajeda's chapter on
Nebraska's Mexican heritage, "Chicanos: The
Mestizo Heritage," in Broken Hoops and Plains
People (Lincoln: Nebraska Curriculum Development Center, 1976). There are a number of
excellent and informative graduate theses
examining Mexicans in Kansas. These include
Marian Braun, "A Survey of American Mexicans in Topeka, Kansas" (M.A. thesis, Emporia
State Teachers College, 1970); Hector Franco,
"The Mexican People in the State of Kansas"
(M.S. thesis, University of Wichita, 1950);
Judith Ann Laird, "Argentine, Kansas: The
Evolution of a Mexican-American Community,
1905-1940" (Ph.D. diss., University of Kansas,
1975); Socorro M. Ramlrez, "A Survey of the
Mexicans in Emporia, Kansas" (M.S. thesis,
Kansas State Teachers College of Emporia,
1942); and Larry G. Rutter, "Mexican Americans in Kansas: A Survey and Social Mobility
Study, 1900-1970" (M.A. thesis, Kansas State
University, 1972). J. Neale Carman's published
Foreign Language Units of Kansas, Vol. I,
Historical Atlas and Statistics (Lawrence:
University of Kansas Press, 1962) and his unpublished and extremely valuable "Foreign
Language Units of Kansas," Vol. II (unpublished typescript at the University of Kansas
Library) are indispensible for the study of
Mexicans in that state. Although very helpful
in providing the general outlines of the Mexican
experience in the plains states, Paul S. Taylor's
monumental ten-part Mexican Labor in the
United States (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1928-1934) contains little specific
information on the region. Other works on the
subject generally ignore the northern and central plains.
2. The most recent studies of the causes of
Mexican migration include Lawrence A. Cardoso's excellent Mexican Emigration to the
United States, 1897-1931: Socio-Economic
Patterns (Tucson: University of Arizona Press,
1980) and Arthur F. Corwin (ed.), Immigrants-and Immigrants: Perspectives on Mexican Migration to the United States (Westport,
Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1978). Less valuable
is John Ramon Martfnez's Mexican Emigration to the United States, 1910-1930 (San
Francisco: Rand E Research Associates, 1971).
Still indispensible are Manuel Gamio's OJ,tantitative Estimate, Sources and Distribution of
Mexican Immigration into the United States
(Mexico, D.F.: Talleres GrHicos y "Diario
Oficial," 1930); Mexican Immigration to the
United States: A Study of Human Adjustment (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1930); and The Mexican Immigrant: His Life
Story (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1931).
3. Arthur F. Corwin and Lawrence A.
Cardoso, "Vamos al Norte: Causes of Mass
Mexican Migration to the United States," pp.
38-53, and Arthur F. Corwin, "A Story of Ad
Hoc Exemptions: American Immigration Policy
toward Mexico," pp. 136-48, both in Corwin,
Immigrants-and Immigrants.
4. Samuel Bryan, "Mexican Immigrants in
the United States," Survey 28 (September 7,
1912): 728; Rutter, "Mexican Americans in
Kansas," pp. 46-47.
5. See, particularly, Gamio, Quantitative
Estimate, which provides much insight into
the origins of Mexican migrants through an
250 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 1981
analysis of money orders sent from the United
States to Mexico between 1920 and 1928;
Smith, Mexicans in Oklahoma; Grajeda, "chicanos"; Carman, "Foreign Language Units of
Kansas"; and George T. Edson, "Mexicans in
Our Northcentral States" (unpublished typescript in the Bancroft Library, University of
California, Berkeley, c. 1927), p. 170.
6. Frederick C. Luebke, "Ethnic Group
Settlement on the Great Plains," Western Historical Quarterly 8 (October 1977): 405-30.
7. There is some evidence, however, that
residents of the same town worked in the same
area of the plains region and often congregated
in significant numbers in Mexican colonies in
Kansas. There was a large group of Mexicans
from Tangandcuaro, Michoacan, in Argentine,
Kansas. Topeka contained numerous Mexicans
from Silao, Guanajuato. See Laird, "Argentine,
Kansas," pp. 87-88; and Bill Wright, "Heritage
of the Colony," Topeka Daily Capital, December 17-22,1961.
8. Victor S. Clark's pioneering work,
Mexican Labor in the United States, Bulletin
of the Department of Labor no. 78 (Washington, D.C., 1908), ably describes this phenomenon.
9. Gamio's Quantitative Estimate provides
some material on the plains states between the
censuses of 1920 and 1930; Taylor's work contains much valuable data for the intervening
years, but little treats the area under consideration here; Mark Reisler, By the Sweat of Their
Brow: Mexican Immigrant Labor in the United
States, 1900-1940 (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1976), p. 272; Laird, "Argentine,
Kansas," pp. 66-69.
10. U.S., Department of the Interior, Census Office, Twelfth Census of the United States
Taken in the Year 1900: Population (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Census Office, 1901), I: clxxiv;
U.S., Department of Commerce, Bureau of the
Census, Thirteenth Census of the United States
Taken in the Year 1910: Population (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1913), III: 50-67, 466-79,
674-93; U.S., Department of Commerce,
Bureau of the Census, Fourteenth Census of
the United States Taken in the Year 1920:
Population (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1923),
III: 358-59, 606, 722, 818-27; U.S., Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census,
Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930:
Population (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1932),
III: pt. 1, p. 27; U.S., Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Sixteenth Census
of the United States: 1940: Population (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1943), pp. 88-89. Hereafter, all cited as U.S. Census.
11. U.S. Census, 1910-1930.
12. Carman, "Foreign Language Units of
Kansas"; Smith, Mexicans in Oklahoma; Rutter,
"Mexican Americans in Kansas"; Laird, "Argentine, Kansas"; Grajeda, "Chicanos"; Bryan,
"Mexican Immigrants," pp. 726-30; Clark,
Mexican Labor, p. 477.
13. Interview with Gregorio Martinez, Oklahoma City, Okla., February 22, 1979; interview with Miguel Gonzalez, Lawton, Okla.,
April 23, 1979.
14. Smith, Mexicans in Oklahoma; Rutter,
"Mexican Americans in Kansas"; Laird, "Argentine, Kansas"; interview with Simeon
Urende, Oklahoma City, Okla., February 27,
1979; interview with Gregorio Martinez; interview with Miguel Gonzalez; interview with
AgustIn Romero, Broken Arrow, Okla., March
24,1979.
15. L. C. Lawton, "Erecting Mexican Laborers' Houses," Santa Fe Employees Magazine 5
(September 1911): 75-76.
16. Interview with Aurora RamIrez Helton,
Tulsa, Okla., April 18, 1979.
17. Rutter, "Mexican Americans in Kansas,"
pp. 92-93; see also the statement of E. E.
Mcinnes, general solicitor for the Santa Fe, in
U.S., Congress, House, Western Hemisphere
Immigration: Hearings before the Committee
on Immigration and Naturalization, 71st Cong.,
2d sess., January 28, 1930, pp. 101-13.
18. Esther S. Anderson, The Sugar Beet
Industry of Nebraska, University of Nebraska,
Conservation and Survey Division, Conservation
Department Bulletin no. 9 (Lincoln, 1935),
pp. 19-33; Carman, "Foreign Language Units
of Kansas," pp. 426-42.
19. Carman, "Foreign Language Units of
Kansas," p. 427; Lawrence L. Waters, "Transient Mexican Agricultural Labor," Southwestern Social Science Quarterly 22 (June 1941):
58; Harry Schwartz, Seasonal Farm Labor in
the United States (New York: Columbia University Press, 1945), pp. 109-12; George O.
Coalson, "Mexican Contract Labor in American Agriculture," Southwestern Social Science
BEYOND THE BORDERLANDS 251
Quarterly 32 (December 1952): 228-29; U.S.,
Congress, House, Seasonal Agricultural Laborers from Mexico: Hearing before the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, 69th
Cong., 1st sess., 1926, pp. 27-31.
20. Waters, "Transient Mexican Agricultural
Labor," pp. 57-58; Anderson, Sugar Beet
Industry of Nebraska, pp. 52-54; Edson,
"Mexicans in Our Northcentral States," pp.
161-76; Jay S. Stowell, "The Danger of Unrestricted Mexican Immigration," Current History 28 (August 1928): 763-66; U.S., Congress,
House, Seasonal Agricultural Laborers from
Mexico, pp. 102-206; U.S., Congress, House,
Immigration from Countries of the Western
Hemisphere: Hearings with the Committee on
Immigration and Naturalization, 70th Cong.,
1st sess., 1928, pp. 427-522.
21. U.S. Census, 1910-1920.
22. Rutter, "Mexican Americans in Kansas,"
pp. 65-67; Carman, "Foreign Language Units
of Kansas," pp. 892-94, 940; interviews with
Simeon Urende and Gregorio Martinez.
23. T. Earl Sullenger, "The Mexican Population of Omaha," Journal of Applied Sociology
8 (May-June 1924): 289; Edson, "Mexicans in
Our Northcentral States," pp. 8, 178-79;
interviews with Simeon Urende and Gregorio
MartInez.
24. For a general overview, see Smith,
Mexicans in Oklahoma, pp. 41-47; U.S., Congress, Senate, Reports of the Immigration
Commission, Vol. VII, Immigrants in Industries, pt. 1, Bituminous Coal Mining, 61st
Cong., 3d sess., 1911, pp. 16-126; interview
with Agustin Romero; interview with Heginio
Casillas, Tulsa, Okla., March 27, 1979.
25. Frederick L. Ryan, The Rehabilitation
of Oklahoma Coal Mining Communities (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1935),
pp. 61-76, 89; interviews with Agustin Romero
and Heginio Casillas.
26. Clark, Mexican Labor, pp. 467, 471,
476, 482; Charles E. Webb, "Distribution of
Cotton Production in Oklahoma, 1907-1962"
(M.A. thesis, Oklahoma State University,
1963), pp. 9-11; interviews with Simeon
Urende, Gregorio Martinez, Miguel Gonzalez,
and Agustin Romero.
27. Clark, Mexican Labor, p. 483.