New Book includes Arizona Spaniards Mineros

[Phylis]

Hi, it was a while ago that I asked to hear from families with Arizona connections, but no luck. Still I persisted and have just finished a book on how the EuroLatins (Italians and later Spaniards) were treated in the copper mines of Arizona, alongside Mexicans. A trip Spain's Rio Tinto copper mining district, first mined by Romans, piqued deeper interest in Spanish miners in the Southwest. Asturians migrated south at some point to work in Heulva's copper mines.


Here is a blurb about my book, which is available on Amazon (with an author's page about yours truly).
Phylis Cancilla Martinelli Undermining Race, Ethnic Identities in Arizona Copper Camps, 1880–1920. University of Arizona Press.
Undermining Race rewrites the history of race, immigration, and labor in the copper industry in Arizona. The book requires a reinterpretation of the way race was formed and figured across place and time. EuroLatins (Italians and Spaniards)—were not considered completely “white” in Arizona .Martinelli looks closely at two “white camps,” Globe and Bisbee, and at the Mexican camp of Clifton-Morenci.

Undermining Race: Ethnic Identities in Arizona Copper Camps, 1880–1920

Phylis Cancilla Martinelli's author page

Phylis

[is]

Interesting story about the Italian miners in Arizona, Phylis. Where are/were these copper mines and when were they in operation? Why did they attract specifically Italian miners?

As far as I know, most Asturians that migrated to the US in the 20th century were specialized in zinc and steel, not copper (there is no large-scale copper mining operation in Asturias).

But I'd be curious to know if the Spaniards you documented in Arizona were in fact Asturian or Galician.

[Phylis]

Hi and thanks for your interest.
The copper mines I write about are in eastern Arizona. True most Asturians were not copper miners, but some did migrate to southwest Spain looking for work, as I document. There they became part of a migratory labor force that worked in the Rio Tinto and other copper mines owned by British and French firms. I traced a movement of capital and workers from Huelva to Arizona.
In Arizona in the early 1900s Spaniards (who were recent labor migrants) were credited with being major contributors to the labor resistance to corporate injustice in one area, Clifton Morenci. They were also a dominant force in other AZ copper towns.
Like Italians Spaniards faced some discrimination and while their European heritage was a plus their Latin roots were a minus.
Let me know if you have further questions
Phylis

[Art]

It's not copper, but there were a number of Spanish coal miners in West Virginia. There were Asturians among them, but they were a minority.

From the stories I've heard, it seems as though the coal miners and the zinc workers lived in different areas: coal miners mostly in the southern West Virginia, zinc workers mostly in the central and north.

Also, I don't think the two groups were very connected socially. In part, that could be because of the distance, but I suspect another reason may be that many of the zinc workers were not just Asturians but family and friends from specific region around Arnao and Avilés in Asturias. Many of them knew each other before coming to West Virginia, so it was a very tight group. (I wasn't there, but this is what I have heard from others. Let us know if you've heard otherwise!)

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No es de cobre, pero había un número de mineros del carbón españoles en Virginia Occidental. Había asturianos entre ellos, pero eran una minoría.

De las historias que he escuchado, parece que los mineros de carbón y los trabajadores de zinc estaban en diferentes áreas: los mineros del carbón en su mayoría en el sur de Virginia Occidental, los trabajadores de zinc en su mayoría en la zona central y norte. (Tal vez estaban más mineros por el norte, donde había minas de carbón, pero no sé de investigaciones sobre este asunto.)

Además, no creo que los dos grupos fueron muy conectados socialmente. En parte, esto podría ser debido a la distancia, pero creo que otra razón podría ser que muchos de los trabajadores de zinc no sólo eran asturianos, sino familiares y amigos de la región específica en torno Arnao y Avilés en Asturias. Muchos de ellos se conocían antes de venir a Virginia Occidental, por lo que era un grupo muy unido. (No estaba allí, pero esto es lo que he escuchado de otros. ¡Dinos si has oído de otra manera!)

[is]

True most Asturians were not copper miners, but some did migrate to southwest Spain looking for work, as I document. There they became part of a migratory labor force that worked in the Rio Tinto and other copper mines owned by British and French firms. I traced a movement of capital and workers from Huelva to Arizona.

Wow, fascinating story there about migration from Asturias to the region of Huelva in Andalusia, southern Spain. As far as you've researched, where did those Asturians come from? Were they working in gold mines or coal pits in Asturias before migrating to Huelva?

As Art says, the Asturians that gravitated to West Virginia in the early 20th century were from the Arnao area near the port town of Aviles. I think kinship ties were very important in maintaining a sense of community and that community eventually led to this website.

In eastern Arizona, with Spaniards from other regions, that sense of kinship probably didn't exist or was expressed in political terms through trade unions. Workers in Spain tended to be more anarchist than socialist or communist.

From New Mexico, I know that there is a very stratified ethnic division with people identifying as Anglo or Spanish (a local term in New Mexico for the descendants of 16th century settlers), but very few willing to identify as American Indians. What was it like in Arizona?

Also, as you probably know from Italy, there is little kinship feeling between Asturians/Galicians with say Andalusians, Castilians or Catalans. They inhabit fully different worlds with the northwest of Spain being its own isolate, so to speak, because of the mountain barrier. Few would identify with the term 'Latin', for example.

[Art]

In southern West Virginia there was at least one Spanish social club, with members from all around Spain, so I think that once out of their native land, the Spanishness took over as a source of social and cultural identity.

Here are some threads related to this topic:
http://www.asturianus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=151
http://www.asturianus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=191

And here's a page about our main source, member Tom Hidalgo and an article he wrote in 2001:
http://www.wvculture.org/goldenseal/spaniards.html

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En el sur de Virginia Occidental hay al menos un club social español, con miembros de toda España, así que creo que una vez fuera de su tierra natal, su sentido de ser española dominó como la fuente de su identidad social y cultural.

Éstos son algunos temas relacionados con este tema:
http://www.asturianus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=151
http://www.asturianus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=191

Y aquí hay una página sobre nuestra fuente principal, un miembro del foro, Tom Hidalgo y un artículo que escribió en 2001:
http://www.wvculture.org/goldenseal/spaniards.html

[Phylis]

I certainly know about intense regionalism, among Italians being from the North of Italy vs the South is a major division (I come from a "mixed marriage between N & S) but within a region the commune you come from makes a big difference. too When I was interviewing Piemontese my grandfather's background was not close enough to their commune to let me into their group 100% but at least it opened the door.
In New Mexico the Hispanos (self-identity) tried to separate themselves from later arrivals who were fresh from Mexico. I think in Arizona Spaniards were in the middle due to the status of Mexicans. For many Anglos Spanish speaking meant inferior! So Spaniards were often relegated to Barrios but self-segregated within. I look at various communities to see how the Spanish speaking groups fared.
In West VA there were also many Italians and despite some history of hostility within Italy toward Spain in the U.S. new identities emerged. They influenced residential proximity, which then led to intermarriage at times for 2nd generation, and also cooperation in the labor force.
Complex!
Query, did priests from Asturias care from their US flocks? I was surprised to see several religious migrants who went to towns where Spaniards were concentrated. One such priest was from Barcelona and that became the informal name for that community.

[Phylis]

Hi,
I had a moment to check my notes and here are some of the names of immigrants who listed Asturias as their place of departure. Other northern areas were Galicia and Cantabria.
There could be more from Asturias because some only listed their small town, which I couldn't "Google" to find the region.

Yavapai County (Jerome main copper town)
Ramon Arguellis (entered from El Paso, TX)
Francisco Soto (left 1901, Entered from El Paso)
Rosendo Albarez (left 1915 Entered from Mexico)

Cochise County (Bisbee copper)
Cesario Arias (entered 1905 from Cuba)
Manuel Rodruguez (entered 1911 from Eagle Pass, Tex.)

Greenlee Co (Clifton)
Fermin Palicio (well known Merchant) 1906 ?

Cordially, Phylis

[is]

Ramon Arguellis (entered from El Paso, TX)
Francisco Soto (left 1901, Entered from El Paso)
Rosendo Albarez (left 1915 Entered from Mexico)
Cesario Arias (entered 1905 from Cuba)
Manuel Rodruguez (entered 1911 from Eagle Pass, Tex.)
Fermin Palicio (well known Merchant) 1906 ?

Phyilis, All the family names you list here are or could be Asturian. The correct spellings today would be Arguelles (with umlaut over the 'u'), Soto, Alvarez, Arias, Rodriguez. About the last one 'Palicio', I suspect it may be misspelled and should be 'Palacio'. That last one is not necessarily Asturian, but general in the rest of Spain. It would be interesting if you have data about their birthplaces in Asturias as it would you an idea of where they were migrating from and why.

[Phylis]

Hi,
All the names listed were those of people who self-identified as being from Asturias when they filed a "Declaration of Intent" to apply for U.S. citizenship. This makes them a bit different from the average migrant who might want to come for work but not settle down. Then you have those who stay but don't become citizens.
So this small sample (@ 1900-1920) are those who want to stay and to participate in their new society to some extent.
As I said the list is far from complete because many only listed thier home town plus most are hand written, which can be hard to interpret.
But there were at least a few who used their mining skills in another mineral in the U.S.
Also those in Jerome were brought to the U.S. because of their skills in putting out fires; they were recruited for being skilled. In contrast many of the other Arizona miners were used for brawn.
Phylis

[Phylis]

Hi,
Wow you have good eye sight! I only knew of the copper mining. However according to a website:
"The first Rio Tinto mines were developed in 3000 b.c. by the Iberians and Tartessans. Tales of mineral wealth (gold, silver, and copper) drew the Phoenicians (2800 b.p.—2600 b.p.) and then the Romans (2000 b.p. - 1800 b.p.), who made some of the first coins from Rio Tinto's silver and gold."
I've also learned of some other gold mines in Spain where Romans literally destroyed mountains to get at the gold. Environmental pollution is nothing new for humans!
PCM