Miners & Mayos Communities of working people that exist
simultaneously in both the US and Mexico are older than the
border itself. Before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo took most
of the US southwest from Mexico in 1848, placer miners --
gambosinos -- migrated between Sonora, Arizona and Alta
California. Their descendents still live in both countries. The
old gold mining communities of Sonora are disappearing, yet the
memory of Joaquin Murrieta is more important than ever. Two
interviews document the historical influence of the Murrieta
family, both on US Chicanos and on their descendents in Mexico.
From early in the 20th century, copper miners from the same
families have worked in modern industrial mines in Cananea,
Nacozari and the mining towns of Arizona and New Mexico. The
links to the north, of families and common work, have provided
important support during strikes. A series of interviews record
two instances, one during the 1960s and another in 1998. As a
result of the transformation of Cananea by priv