(First of two parts)
Published in Diario de Colima
On August 5, 2007 Miguel Chavez
MICHEL * FROM
learned from our childhood higher than the water is indispensable for human life, animals and plants that we teach not to waste. We were also told that the great civilizations flourished in the valleys of large rivers and many of them disappeared when water supplies failed or were not used correctly.
These were part of the teachings he gave us in pleasant talk, my maternal great-grandmother Julia Araiza Garcia Plazola widow, who night after night, sitting in a equipal surrounded by grandchildren and childhood friends, we marveled at the skies, the stars and the beautiful spectacle that gave us the sky.
then, transitábamos the first half of the decade of 1950. Armory only had a small light plant that operated in split shifts: from eight to ten in the evening for household energy supply and low lighting fixtures and 4:00 to 7:00, to supply electric power to the mills of nixtamal of Don Juan Cervantes Saldivar, Tomás Gutiérrez Pineda, Juan Sanchez, J. Jesus Ortiz Martinez (Colonia Independencia), Heriberto Silva and Maria Hernandez Herrera. This spontaneous
family communication scenario where, from generation to generation, passed on the experiences of life and customs of the time and now know as oral history, my grandmother we outlined how he met in 1930 the then ranch Armory, which was composed of the hull of the estate (house of wood and clay tile), inhabited by an old barn workers and their families, scores of reed and thatched houses they lived in a little over a hundred avecindados flag and a railroad station.
At the time, told us that to provide water to the population there were only two wheels, one inside the property and one on the outside in Logar known of the descent, the nozzle gap ( road to wellness now Paradise). At the last wheel, which was termed the "well of the descent" concurred the avecindados to stock up on this vital fluid used in their domestic services and also to give water to the beasts, mules, donkeys, horses, cattle, etc.
In response to our children's questions recapitulated that the reason for their presence in Armory was to visit a friend of our grandmother Ines Garcia Araiza named "Cuca Almazán, who received an invitation to settle in Cuyutlán. In this regard, we explained that in February 1932, our grandmother Agnes Araiza installed a "catering" in Cuyutlán to sell food to the salt workers and workers of the railroad tracks. He continued stating that in June of that year there were strong earthquakes in southern Jalisco and Colima state, prompting, that our grandmother was transferred immediately from Cuyutlán to Cihuatlán to see his daughter, or our mother Magdalena Michel Araiza, who as a child was in care of our grandmother Julia Garcia Plazola, where he also lived his sister Rita Garcia Severa Plazola Plazola and our great grandmother.
Elaborating on details, he revealed that my grandmother found in Cihuatlán Inés, Jalisco, they learned that the June 22, 1932, "the sea had gone out and that had ended Cuyutlán." Thereupon, in order to sell their few possessions, as they could, between 25 and 26 June, my grandmother and great grandmother went to horse Cihuatlán to Manzanillo and then in a "harmonic" of port Cuyutlán, where they observed a large hill of sand and rubble strewn across what was the unforgettable people and gloom, he stressed, "there were only standing about a dozen houses in the village of way to the beach, the wineries of the salt makers flooded with water and many people crowded into the train station. Everything was desolate stench of death, crying and panic in the faces of the survivors. "
Following this adversity, according to testimony my parents, the majority of tsunami survivors were left to live in Armory, among others, my grandmother Agnes Araiza Garcia, Cuca Almazán, José Mary Michel Corona (Don chemita) with his wife Maria Rincon (parents of Peter, and Eusebio Pachita Michel Rincón), Francisco Linares (Linares Ernestina's father Michel de Herrera), Don Guadalupe Rodríguez (a) "Comino" Don Francisco Perez and his partner Lara Francisca Cárdenas, Prisciliano Ernestina Carrillo Velázquez's husband, Isaac Ramirez Barajas (a) "dog", Don Estanislao Delgado (father of Professor J. Felix Delgado Velázquez), Miguel Camacho, Luis Gómez Michel (a) " The Esquiline "Irenaeus Córdova Rodríguez, Nicolás Rodríguez, who arrived with the first car in place and his brother J. Refugio Rodriguez in a truck stakes, supported by his wife Maria Villaseñor sold fruits and vegetables. Thus, in 1934, all my ancestors, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, great grandmother and three uncles, Plazola Rita Garcia, Maria Garcia and J. Araiza Trinidad Araiza Garcia Cihuatlán migrated to lie in Armory, until his death.
family in review, more than once heard the voice of my mother, Magdalena Michel Araiza, when the victims of Cuyutlán stayed to live in Armory, soon, the government planned the town and offered in a batch fertilizers urban land and that his mother bought at ninety dollars Inés A lot of puebla street number 19 where they built a tavern and inn (now father's house.)
We also described that the first problem faced by the newcomers from the Armory was the lack of drinking water, since, by the historical population growth, the "well of the descent" was insufficient. Hence, through the efforts of the Agrarians, daily train left the station in front of a van full of water that transported from the station "Villegas." That
to these facts, his primary teacher, Professor Ricardo Guzmán Nava undertook the task of organizing and jointly agrarians and domiciled began negotiations with the authorities of Manzanillo and Colima to support them with the necessary work for the introduction of potable water services. We said, in parallel with these activities, Don Rosendo Corona and Don Leonardo Jaramillo Silva, leaders of the ejidos Armory and Independence, respectively, after concession to divert water from the river, had already begun construction of irrigation canals "The Armory" and branching "Independence."
which in turn, Mr. Jaramillo authorized to Don Margarito Cardenas, a resident of Manzanillo, which supported the agrarians in the construction of irrigation channels, to initiate studies allowed to bring topographic, gravity, the precious liquid from one of the grounds of the estate of "crossing the River" that was located on the old road to "coated" and that he identified with the name "water hole" stream "green puddle."
Thus, with the support of state government which provided the materials, Don Esthefano Gherzi Eugenio, owner of the property, granted permission to build a dam in that "water hole", so how to roll out the pipe from there, until the new population center. Don Margarito Cardenas made the outline of the pipeline and all the inhabitants, without exception, organized by the teacher Guzmán Nava, were given "homework" to excavate the dump and support in laying the pipeline. To place and join steel pipe was fitted as a plumber, the village policeman, Mr. Pascual Escobedo, who by the way, until his death, was the local plumber.
For the distribution of water, built "hydrants" of cement in the corners and two huge piles of water, a front garden and one in the colony "Independence." That until the forties, was started through the streets, the laying of pipes to provide water service through of household connections. And, to increase water pressure, we built a storage tank at the south end of the "hill of the cross" (now there are remains of that tank in the cut they made to the said hill to build the road in 1949 Colima - Manzanillo, today Cuauhtémoc Avenue, next to what was the tolerance zone). How popular story, also told us that the said storage tank was never used, because the water never rose.
Many years later, commenting to my friend the engineer Enrique Acevedo Alcocer the problems we faced to supply drinking water to colonies City Armory, I glossed the causes for which in 1961 changed the "green pool system" which supplied the household water by gravity, by the "pressure system" by drilling a deep well and the construction of a new storage tank.
Among other words, explained: "In the cyclone of October 27, 1959, Tuesday by the way, so abundant rainfall of the coming of the river armory demolition including road bridge, broke or disintegrated around the aqueduct that leave the pond green because the pipeline was located exactly in the lane on the right bank of the river, which led, that growing up the river, clogging the clear half of the bridge, which caused to be made a haven which favored to climb much water levels, destroying the strength of the current, the entire pipeline. "
"Consequently, Armory ran out of water. Four days after the storm has passed, the engineer Arturo Noyola Reina was the Manager of Water Resources and server engineer Alcocer Enrique Acevedo was Resident General Tecoman works, we walk the journey in reverse starting from railroad bridge, where it was already torn up the pipe green puddle to go detecting the damage suffered and immediately make the proper connections with the new injection line, and in turn, coupling the sections that had been disconnected from the main lines of "
" Total in a week service was restored to that action, but there after analysis of the problem, it was decided to no longer depend on the green pool, by the high levels of pollution showed that water from birth (green pool), which was not suitable for human consumption, since there , watered cattle and beasts and moreover, people would bathe. Result, water quality was frequently criticized for aspects of health. Conclusion, it was decided to drill a deep well. "
continue next Sunday ...
* The author is a member of the State Council of the Chronicle, Colima Association of Journalists and Writers, and Writers' Association of Cities and Towns of the State of Colima.
chavezmichel@colima.com
chavezmichel@gmail.com
