A Little More from "Modesto Rolland and the Baja California Peninsula"
Modesto
Rolland was born and baptized in La Paz, but he spent most of his childhood in
the small but bustling mining community of Santa Rosalía.[1]
His family was part of a contingent of fifty Mexican and sixteen foreign,
mostly French, families with which the company El Boleo founded the townsite.[2] Santa Rosalía was a mix of ugly and
beautiful. The miners stripped the hillsides, filled the air with smoke, and
contaminated the soil with heavy metals and processing chemicals. Boats came
and went regularly, bringing new people and supplies. These ships also brought
wood from Canada and the United States, with which carpenters, including
Rolland's father, built stylish French-style buildings along the coast and hillside.
Many of these structures still stand today as homes, hotels, and a museum,
giving the city a look unique to most of Mexico. The miners and mixed-ethnic
community breathed a rough but always interesting life into the community.
Bajacalifornianos mixed daily with Mexicans from other parts of the country and
French, German, American, and Chinese immigrants. The sun was hot. The air was
humid next to the water, but dry beyond the hills. The stars in the night sky
pulsed with an amazing brilliancy, their light reflecting off the Sea of
Cortez.
[1] Baptismal record of José Modesto Rolland Mejía, Catedral de Nuestra
Señora de La Paz, Libro de baptismos, no. 4, pg. 337, part. 1942; Pablo L.
Martínez, Guía familiar de la Baja
California, 1700-1900 (México: Ediciones Baja California, 1965), 479, 502,
549, 553, 577; Max Calvillo Velasco, “Prólogo,” Informe sobre el Distrito Norte de Baja California (México:
Secretaria de Educación Pública y la Universidad Autónoma de Baja California,
1993), 5-7. Although baptized as José,
Modesto Rolland never publicly went by that name.
The old El Boleo post office, now a museum. It is typical
of the carpentry work of French immigrants.
Photo by author.
Saludos,
Justin Castro
