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Edges of Empire

KNW 2399: Edges of Empire

Railroads of Mexico During 1885-1899

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http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/mex/id/2833

http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/mex/id/2833

Abel Berituet’s 1885-1899 album “Views of Mexico” contains photos of local people in Mexico City, Chapultepec forest, and the Acambaro or the Ozumba railroad bridges and trains. This specific photo Locomotive with Workers on Railroad Bridge depicts a railroad bridges going through a small low-income village. The majority of the people pictured are younger children and early aged men. The photograph portrays the village’s inhabitants garbed in white clothing most likely made from cotton. In the foreground of the picture, a patch of foliage, usually seen in dry locations, is growing. Just behind the vegetation some men dressed in dark colored suits are driving a slightly hidden wagon. These men seem to have a better monetary stance due to the nicer clothing and transportation shown above. The middle ground of the photo depicts houses containing a Spanish architectural style. A large amount of the white cladded children are herded together by some of the women of the village. The attention of this group is directed toward the central cluster of men standing on the locomotive in the background of the photo, as if they are watching it pass. The environments appearances seem to be dusty and polluted from the train’s exhaust, which seems present. In the picture, the viewer can see a forest containing tall trees. This forest is almost certainly were the inhabitant’s found their daily resources for everyday survival. The Mexican men in this photo were undoubtedly employed by a railroad company to complete the bridge; Mexican workers could see this as an opportunity to improve their present economic conditions therefore bettering the population’s dependency. The people behind the production of the bridge require the monetary gain from export and transport of materials for personal advantage. I predict that the company paid below the standard living wage for these workers to do the manual labor without complaints. This process of labor not only took a sufficient amount of time, but also offered the workers little relief with the pain that they endured. When looking at this picture, I question whether the villages were built with the purpose of the railroads being a monetary gain for the current and future men of the village, or if the village was built with no regards of the location of the railroad. It also makes me wonder what the background behind the location of the railroad is since they are a divider between the forest and the village. A possible answer being that these railroads were planned and designed specifically in the center of each town to make the commerce and trade accessible to all.

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